Hold Me Down

chapter 21

"How was work?" Clary asks me when I get home.

I smile at her as I put my things down and wash my hands. "It was great. My office was great, and I made a friend."

"That sounds amazing, I'm so happy for you Tessa," my friend gushes. "I'll make a celebratory dinner."

"What are we celebrating?" I dry my hands on the washcloth and head to my room to strip out of my blouse and skirt.

She scoffs. "Your first successful day of work, silly."

I carefully fold my clothes before placing them at the bottom of my laundry hamper. "I hardly think that's something to be celebrating," I laugh and come out of my room.

"Yes it is. It can be a dinner party. Text Jem, tell him to come over. It feels like forever since I'd last seen him," Clary said.

Thirty minutes later, Jem appeared at our doorway looking as if he'd just rolled out of bed.

"What's with your hair?" Clary teased as she stirred pasta in the kitchen. I was chopping up carrots and looked up. He had a cowlick on the left side of his head. I wiped my hands on my apron and headed over to where he was standing.

"Here," I licked my thumb and fixed his hair. I enjoyed the pleasant feeling of the soft strands between my fingertips. I stepped back and smiled when I was done.

"I just got out of bed," he said sheepishly.

"What were you doing in bed so early," I scolded. "You'll mess up your sleep schedule!"

"I was just studying and I fell asleep," he shrugged.

"Studying? We're graduating Jem!"

"I was preparing for med school," he grinned. "Clary do you need help with that?"

I leaned against the wall as I watched my two best friends cook pasta. It was amusing to see the height difference between the two. Jem was so much taller than Clary. I imagine that must be what I looked like when I stood next to Clary, seeing as I was nearly the same height as Jem.

"Tessa you're not done cutting the carrots," Clary called. I stepped off from the wall and returned to my post. I turned to Jem, who was on my left setting the table.

"You seem taller," I tell him. "And more muscular too. Have you been working out?"

"I only seem taller because I was just next to Clary. She's so tiny," Jem laughs.

Clary turns from the stove and holds up her ladle threateningly. "Call me tiny again and I'm poisoning your food."

"You do that, shortie," he jokes and turns to me again. "It's running season, so I'm getting back into shape."

"You've got so much on your plate," I frown. "Med school, running, violin... It's so much."

He nods. "It pays off in the end. My recital is in a couple weeks."

"We'll be coming, obviously. I can't wait," I smile at him.

"So how was work yesterday?" Jem asks me.

"It was good, it was really good. I met a girl, Sophie. She reminded me of you."

"That's great. You'll have someone to keep you out of trouble."

"You and I both know that out of the two of us you are more likely to cause trouble," I say. "Isn't that right Clary?"

She snorts. "You two are as boring as Tessa's aunt. All you do is read, loser."

I pretend to be offended while Jem laughs at me. "That is true. Your nose is always stuck in a book."

Clary continues. "I think out of the two of you, Tessa's more likely to start something. You're quite stubborn. Remember when you left in the middle of your interview with Will because he was being rude?"

I huffed. "He was getting on my nerves. He insulted me, for goodness's sake!"

Jem shook his head. "And now you work for him. I wonder how that's going to work."

"I mean, the two are as close as they can be," Clary says. "She's already had sex with him."

I feel Jem's gaze on my and I blush. Even though Jem is my best friend, I don't think I can talk about those things in front of him.

"Can we not?" I groan. Clary is adding the spaghetti to the saucepan while I plate the vegetables I'd been cutting. Jem helps us carry it to the dining room table.

"You can talk about it with me," Jem says. "I won't judge."

"What about you," I ask Jem. "How's your sex life, or love life, or whatever? Talking to any girls? Or guys?"

"Yeah Jem," Clary added while seating herself to my left. "Talking to anyone?" I dig into my pasta. Clary is an excellent cook.

"That's not fair," he protested. "You two are ganging up on me."

"It was just a question," Clary shrugged, her mouth full.

"How about you?" Jem questions her back. "Jace? Is that his name?"

Clary goes red.

"You don't like it do you?" He teases.

"If you don't stop, she'll turn as red as her hair." I laugh.

Clary recovers quickly. "Well if you insist on knowing. This was two days ago. So we're eating dinner right? And then we're talking, I forget about what. And then boom. Our clothes are off. And I'm looking up at him, because he's so tall, and I feel something touch my stomach. So I look down and it's his-"

"Okay," Jem interrupts. "We're eating, there's no need to-"

"Wait wait wait, I didn't finish," Clary juts in. "It's huge. It's like a foot long. Massive. My mouth went dry looking at it. I remember thinking, how is this going to fit-"

"Please!" Jem pleads, and I chuckle as I place my dishes in the sink. I quietly excuse myself to head back to my bedroom, needing to sleep in order to wake up on time the next morning.

.

I'm reading a book when Jem's head pokes through my doorway.

"Hey," he smiles. I save my page and put the book down.

"What's up?" I ask. It was ten at night, and I would've thought that Jem needed to be home already. I sat up in my bed as Jem sits at the foot of my bed. I was suddenly self conscious of my pink sheets, which was silly because it was Jem. I quickly disregard the thought.

"I was just about to head home. Clary's asleep on the couch," Jem laughs softly. "I just wanted to say goodnight before I left."

"I'll walk you out to your car," I offer but he protests.

"It's fine, Tessa. I can take care of myself," he says as he stands up.

"No, I want to. I just feel like I haven't been seeing you enough these days."

We walk out of the apartment and stand in front of his car. Like back in my room, I felt a bit awkward standing by him. I lean against the cold metal of the black automobile and look down.

"Thanks Tessa," my best friend says. I smile and tell him goodnight before heading back into my apartment.