Clary rubbed her hand, as she always did at this time, over the blank patch on her arm. It had been there as far back as she could remember, since before she could even notice. She was sitting alone in her favourite spot, the quaint coffee shop slowly emptying as the evening drew to an end. She put her pencils down and gave up. As soon as the sun went down, she knew there was no chance of getting any drawing done. She heard the door bell jingle and ignored it, assuming it was one of the employees going for a smoke break before closing up. She was here so much, they felt comfortable leaving her alone, treating her as one of their own.

She heard an impatient huff and turned around to see who couldn't wait ten seconds for their order. She saw a tall, blonde man in a leather jacket, his back turned towards her. She rolled her eyes and called out, "They'll be back in a second. They're nearly closing up anyway, so I'm not sure if they'll serve you."

He turned to look at her, and into eyes that were as familiar to him as his own. He frowned, partly at her and his reaction to her. "Did I ask for your input?" he said.

Her initial reaction was shock, at both the words and his striking, bright golden eyes. Then he scoffed at her, and his rudeness finally registered. "What did you just say to me?" she said haughtily, trying to muster up every bit of sass she had inside of her small, 5 foot frame.

"Wow, are you hard of hearing as well as interfering?" he retorted.

"Sorry, who are you?"

"More like who are you? Waiting for a date that never showed up, are we?" he smirked, causing Clary to flush bright red as the man turned back to the counter, where a worker was now standing, openly watching the quips with undisguised curiousity.

Clary implored the barista with her eyes to refuse him service, just to annoy him further, and she followed through, happy to help her friend and regular. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm afraid you're going to have to leave now; we're closing up for the day." the barista said, a fake smile plastered over her face.

The blonde rolled his eyes before narrowing them at Clary, suspecting foul play and replied, "Whatever. Can get better service elsewhere. Later." he waggled his fingers at Clary and slammed the door behind him on his way out, giving her daggers the whole way out. Clary internally rolled her eyes and gathered up her things, ready to leave. If there was one thing Clary couldn't stand, it was people without any manners, and that man certainly had none.

Jace shook his head at the thought of the redheaded girl. Why did she have to butt in like that? If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was when people interfered. He strolled down the dark street, confident in his stride and soon found another shop that was more than willing to serve him. All he wanted was some damn coffee, without a side dish of drama. As he entered the warm shop, he ordered his preferred drink of coffee (black, three sugars), and sat down to relax after a long day. However, his encounter with the girl had left him so unsettled. Those green eyes were stuck in his mind, and he pondered why some mediocre, average girl had eyes that struck deep into his soul and felt like coming home.

He chuckled at himself and mentally told himself to pull it together. Eventually, he shook it off, drained the last dregs of his coffee and set off home. He knew it was going to be a long night, as it always was. However, he was pleasantly surprised when he quickly fell asleep, just as he was when his dreams were full of eyes as green as the canopy of a tropical rainforest.

Jace woke up, feeling lighter than he had in a very long time. He smiled and stretched out, ready to start the busy day ahead of him, knowing it was going to be a good one. After throwing his covers to the floor, he padded to the bathroom barefoot, undressing in front of the mirror to shower. Just as he was about to turn the water on, something black on his back caught his eye. He manoeuvred so his back was facing the mirror and he could see it. He saw the black of intricate patterns, and in the middle, a sentence. The skin around it was raw and red, showing the writing was fresh. Written was, "What did you just say to me?"

His eyes widened and he said, "You have got to be kidding me."

At the same moment, miles away, Clary was also awakening. She too, felt incredibly well rested and turned over to get more comfortable and settle in before she had to get out of bed. She had a good feeling about today, and was mentally planning what she could do with Simon to keep this good mood going. As she was turning to get her phone to text him, she noticed the white patch on her arm, the most familiar part of her body that hadn't changed for 18 years, was filled in with writing. She squeezed her eyes shut, immediately knowing what this meant and simultaneously wanting and abhorring the change it encouraged. She took a deep breath and plucked up the courage to read it aloud; "Did I ask you for your input?"

She read it again, confirming the words in front of her. She groaned headfirst into her pillow and wondered why bad things happened to good people. Happy or not, she knew that the irritating, entitled boy she met in the coffee shop last night was the man she was destined to spend the rest of her life with, and bleakly said, "Well, damn."

So, please bear with this story! I have a feeling it's going to end up being quite long. Please review this to tell me what direction you'd like to see this going in, and remember to check out my profile for my other stories! Thanks for reading.