Clary POV

"Yes! Beautiful!" the photographer gushed as she took the photos.

I was doing a makeup campaign with the one and only Maia Roberts. Maia and I have done a couple of other projects together, so we knew how to work well with one another. We were somewhat friends, I guess. Not that close but we do hang out beyond the photoshoots and ad campaigns.

"Okay," the photographer stopped to take a look at the photos behind a screen with the creative director. They browsed for a minute or two and the makeup artists started to come and do some touch ups but the photographer raised her hand. "I think we have it," she nodded and the creative director gave a thumbs up.

"Thank God," Maia muttered under her breath as we moved towards the edge of the pool, causing me to chuckle a little bit. She wasn't completely wrong because we were both freezing cold. The campaign was for waterproof makeup and so we did different shots, which included emerging from the ice cold pool. Some crew members immediately rushed over to us, helping us out of the pool and wrapping us in bathrobes as well as giving us towels to dry our hair.

We were quickly ushered to a room where there were heaters on full blast. "Oh my God!" I groaned as soon as I sat down, basking in the warmth and closed my eyes. "I know right!" Maia chipped in. And we just sat there, soaking it all in. We were too cold to move.

A knock came from the door and we opened our eyes. The photographer smiled from ear to ear at the sight of us lounging around with towels on our heads and wearing robes. "I hope it wasn't too cold for you," she laughed as she made her way in front of us. "Just a little," I told her and playfully used my thumb and index as a measurement. She laughed at my gesture.

"Well, I'm here to tell you that freezing your asses off was worth it. We got all the photos that we wanted and more. You guys really did an amazing job and you really listened to any direction. Thanks for an outstanding shoot girls," she gave us each a hug, despite the wetness and the cold- which I have to give her credit for.

Then she told us about this other ad campaign that she was shooting in about a month or so and that she got to pick who she wanted to shoot and the location- which was anywhere in the world. So she invited us to part take in it and said that we would be contacted by her and her team sometime this week, she just needed to finalize the location and people- which she refused to tell us. She also said that we would be shooting with other models as well and then she left with one more hug for each of us.

Once she was out the door, we got out of all the wet clothes and we started getting changed into the clothes we arrived in. Maia slipped into the black jumpsuit that she arrived in. "So…you still single?" she bit her lip as she made her way to the chairs in front of the mirror and I slipped on a pair of fishnets. I rolled my eyes and proceeded to put a pair of ripped jeans over them. "Define…'single'," I asked cautiously as I put on a white cropped and torn top.

"You know…without a man," she began as she put on an ankle boot on her left foot then paused. "Or woman. I don't judge," she said as she put the other boot on, causing me to laugh. "Then yes, I am without a man," I told her as I started to part my hair down the middle. I groaned in frustration at the texture of it, as it wasn't completely wet nor was it dry. "Could you please braid my hair? I hate it when it's like this and I honestly am too lazy to do anything with it. And I know that if I just sleep with my hair like this, it inevitably will be a bitch to comb through tomorrow morning," I pleaded. She patted the chair next to her and I skipped my way to it, causing her to giggle.

"You know…" she began, as she started brushing my hair. I gave her a curious look through the mirror while she continued to work her magic on my hair. "I can hook you up with someone," she shrugged and then looked at me. I laughed. "Why is it whenever I see you, you always want to set me up with somebody?" I asked her, amused. She laugh with a nod. "Okay. Fair enough. Then why is it whenever I see you, you are always single?" she sassed.

I laughed so hard at her clap back. "Touché," I bit my lip for a few seconds. I mean, I have known Maia for quite a long time now. Sure we weren't best friends but we were good friends. I know that she's a good person with only the best intentions and she's never given me any reason to make me think otherwise.

I cleared my throat. "So…who is he?" I sighed and Maia squealed. She was almost done with my hair at this point, about halfway through the second braid. "Okay! So, he is a musician and he's pretty good friends with Jordan," she began. "Jordan and him have been hanging out a lot these days, actually," she explained. That wasn't completely weird, considering that Jordan was a producer and a song-writer and so it made sense that they would meet in some way. "I don't think he's ever been to jail...I mean- he doesn't look like it," she shrugged and I laughed. "But, he does have a lot of tattoos," she told me and I'm not going to lie, I found that very attractive- even though I didn't have any tattoos myself. "Where?" I asked casually, not wanting to seem too interested.

"I mean, the ones I've seen are on his arms. I guess you will have to tell me if there are any more in other places," she smirked and I turned around to hit her. "What?" she said innocently, "I'd be lying if I said he wasn't attractive," she pointed out and I rolled my eyes. "Okay…does he have a name or…?"

Maia laughed. "Well, yes. Of course he does. But I don't want to give it to you because I know you well enough to know that you'll probably Google the shit out of him or do some background checks on the poor guy," she giggled and I shrugged. I mean, she wasn't completely wrong about that. "I just want you to meet him with an open mind and I want you to get to know him by hanging out with him. Not by me telling you his life story," she said and I nodded in understanding.

"I'm done!" she said proudly and I thanked her before grabbing a pair of my earrings. "Wanna catch some dinner after this?" she asked as we were both in front of the mirror, putting on our earrings. "Dinner…Shit!" I gasped. I totally forgot that I had a dinner date with my best friends. What time is it? Oh my God! "Geez, it's just dinner. If you don't want to, that's cool," Maia joked.

"It's not that I don't want to. It's just that I had dinner arrangements with some friends that I haven't seen in forever and I don't know the time but I know that I'm late," I explained to her as I began to rush and so I was struggling to put on my Vans. Maia laughed at my frustration. "It's fine, I totally get it. I'll probably go and bring Jordan dinner anyway. He's working at the studio tonight with the guy I was telling you about," she pointed out with a smirk. I rolled my eyes.

"Fuck it," I shrugged, giving up and pulling the Vans off completely. "I guess I'll just wear heels," I sighed and slipped on some black, slide on Jimmy Choos. Maia was trying so hard not to laugh at me right now. "I see you," I warned her and she giggled. "Okay," I took my phone out of my bag. Six forty eight. Great. I was supposed to meet them at six thirty. "I really gotta get going now, girl. I will see you soon," I hugged her goodbye.

"Wait, can I set you guys up or not?" she demanded and I laughed. "Okay. Fine. I'm not mad at the idea," I told her just before I was out the door.

"Okay. I'll text you later!" she called after me and I smiled. I checked the time on my phone again. Six fifty one.

Well, it's a really good thing I can run in heels.

"I think I'm here. I don't know if it's the right one though," I explained to Isabelle, one of my best friends, on the phone. "What do you mean you don't know if it's the right one Clary?" she laughed and I rolled my eyes. "I don't know, can one of you just come outside to make sure I'm at the right location. I've never been here," I said and she chuckled, hearing my frustration. "Okay, I'm-" and I didn't even hear the rest of her sentence.

I bumped into someone spilling their coffee all their shirt. "Shit!" I am so sorry!" I cried, trying to search for anything in my purse to soak up the coffee stain. He just chuckled looking down, trying to see the size of the mess. "It's not even your fault. I was the one in a rush," he shrugged and scrunched his shirt up to release the excess coffee. "No, I was the one who should've watched where I was going," I finally found a pack of tissues and I took some out and handed it to him. He raised his hand opposing them before bending down to pick up the brown paper bag that dropped on the floor. Thankfully, it dropped away from the liquid spill. "It's not a problem, really. It's just coffee," he said coolly and then he looked up. Our eyes met- green and gold.

His eyes were the most beautiful colour I had ever seen.

He gave me a smile and I internally swooned, smiling back. "It's really no big deal. Like I said, it's just coffee," he shrugged, the smile still on his face. Oh my God, his face. He was so attractive and he was about five or six inches taller than me. Oh and those arms, covered in tattoos. Holy shit!

He smirked and I blushed, because I knew he had caught me checking him out. I looked down in embarrassment and saw the opened coffee cup. "Well, let me at least buy you a new one," I insisted and he checked his gold watch. Then he shook his head, putting his hand at the back of his neck. "You know what, don't worry about it. I think the hot coffee woke me up enough," he joked and I instantly felt bad, yet again.

"Are you sure? I can totally buy you a new one," I told him and he shook his head. "Seriously, don't even sweat it. I'm already late anyway," he explained and I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose, "I am so sorry," I told him sincerely and he just laughed. "Really, it's no big deal," he smiled then checked his watch again. "I really got to go now," he put his hand through his hair again. "Okay, well at least let me give you some money to buy some coffee some other time," I scrambled through my bag to find my purse.

He touched my arm, sending a rush of electricity through me. "It's okay," he said sincerely and just smiled as he looked into my eyes. He checked the time on his watch yet again and his eye widened. Then without a word, he sprinted past me, clutching the brown paper bag he was holding, tightly, as he ran.

"Wow!" Isabelle said from behind me, clapping slowly. I turned to look at her and she had an amused look on her face as she motioned me to come over for a hug. I walked over to her and we gave each other a warm embrace. "Please don't tell me you saw that," I groaned into her shoulder, closing my eyes but the edges of my mouth started to point up. She released me and looked me in the eye. "The whole damn thing," she nodded and laughed in my face. "Oh God," I joined in her laugh, putting my hand on my face in embarrassment and we made our way inside the restaurant.

When we reach our table, Rebecca immediately jumped up to hug me and I gave her a huge hug back. Then we all sat down. "I'm so sorry I'm late," I cringed because I hate being late. "I had a photoshoot and it took longer than expected," I explained, looking at the menu. Izzy shrugged and Bec waved her hand. "We've all been there. Don't even sweat it," Rebecca smiled. Isabelle took a sip of her lemon water. I noticed that there was already a glass of water in front of me and so, I took a sip.

This was normal. Whenever we went out for dinner, we would all start the night with a glass of water. Izzy and I would always have a slice of lemon in it and Rebecca would have ice, without lemon. Only when we all received our meals, we would order a bottle of wine for the table and have our dinner with that. And on special occasions, well, we would have champagne, of course.

"So how have you guys been? It's been forever," I asked, picking up my menu. I had never been to this restaurant and I'm pretty sure they hadn't either. We always loved trying new places to eat as a group and so far, I was loving this restaurant because it had a super chill vibe. I also haven't seen any paparazzi, which is a huge plus.

"I know right!" Isabelle agreed, "We have all been so busy. It's been really crazy," she put a hand though her gorgeous, straight, jet black hair. Rebecca nodded in agreement, taking a sip of her ice cold water. Just looking at it made me shiver and gave me flashbacks of being inside the pool for the shoot. "But I've been good I guess. Simon is driving me insane though," she rubbed her forehead dramatically and I gave her a look. She sighed. "He wants to change the menu up a little bit, or add stuff to it. I don't know exactly. But all I do know is that he is spending more and more time at the restaurant, way past its closing time, trying to make more recipes and meals and whatever," she groaned, "He even has me come in every other night to do a taste test with him and we grade them together."

"And what the hell is so bad about that? The man is a legend in the kitchen," Rebecca asked, absolutely bewildered. Izzy shrugged. "I mean, I've had to go to the gym more these days to work off the food- which is such an inconvenience," she complained and I rolled my eye while Becca laughed. Isabelle Lightwood was my oldest friend. I met her when we went to the same elementary school back in New York and we've been best friends ever since. We even got scouted together, believe it or not. Simon went to the same high school as us and he and Isabelle have been dating since Izzy was a sophomore and he was a senior. As soon as he finished high school, he pursued cooking and studied in France for about three years, before joining us in California and opening up his restaurant, Muse.

"You are way too dramatic," Bec sighed and a waitress came to take our orders. When we had ordered, she took the menus and left. "I've got something so exciting to share with you guys!" Rebecca squealed. "Well…you know how I've been working on my swimwear line for months now?" we nodded and encouraged her to go on. "Yeah, so I've been back and forth behind the scenes in the factory and with the team and so…they have finally been produced," she smiled proudly and Izzy and I congratulated her.

Rebecca de Marco has always wanted to own her very own swimwear line for as long as I've known her and from what she's told me, she has been wanting to do this line since her first swimsuit campaign. She was also a model, just like Isabelle and I and we actually met through the modelling agency that we are all signed to. But unlike Iz and I, she's born and raised in Malibu and was scouted at a surfing competition. So really, it only makes sense for her to do a swimwear line, considering that she's been in the ocean for majority of her life.

"I was wondering if you guys are free next week?" Becca asked and I gave her a look. "You know what next week is...right?" I asked her, my eyebrow raised. She put a hand through her gorgeous beachy blonde locks, in thought. God, she was so forgetful sometimes. "Oh!" her face lit up and it was as if a light bulb went off in her head. "Bestie Week, right!" she laughed at herself and Izzy laughed as well. "Now that that is clarified," Rebecca continued with another giggle, "I think I have an idea about what I'm going to do for my days."

Bestie Week was a thing that Isabelle, Rebecca and I made up when we all moved into our own places. It was a week where we would spend every single day with each other. Each person would have two days in that week, that they could dictate what we could all do. We did this every year, exactly a month before Fashion Month and each year would be in a different order. We usually didn't tell each other what we had planned, only told what they had to bring with them. It was honestly the best thing that we have come up with because our extremely busy schedules made us not see each other as often as we want and so this week kind of made up for all the lost time.

"Speaking of next week, just checking- my days are Monday and Tuesday, then its Clary's on Wednesday and Thursday and then it is Rebecca for Friday and Saturday," Isabelle asked carefully, checking her schedule on her phone then she looked up at us for confirmation. "Yeah, perfect," I said, double checking my phone as well and Rebecca nodded, doing the same.

Then our food came and we, of course, dug in.

The waitress came by again. "I hope you all are enjoying your meals. Would you like anything else?" she asked and Isabelle immediately nodded. "Yes, could we please have a bottle of champagne for the able," Isabelle asked the waitress. "Which one would you like?" she the waitress asked and Rebecca piped in. "I don't know. Anything that's good I guess. We aren't fussy with our drinks," and the waitress nodded and proceeded to fetch the champagne.

"Champagne, really?" I laughed. "What's the occasion?" I enquired and Isabelle gave me an incredulous look. "Well for starters, we haven't seen each other in a month. Rebecca over here has made her dreams become a reality by making her own swimsuit line," she listed. "And I was just offered to do British Vogue," she announced excitedly. My eyes went wide and so did Becca's. This was such a huge deal. Doing a cover for any Vogue was such a huge deal.

"Oh my God! We're so happy for you!" Rebecca squealed. We had all previously done at least four covers each for different Vogue's globally but it was always such an honour to be asked to do one. "This definitely needs champagne!" I agreed, equally excited and as if on cue, the waitress brought out an ice bucket and another brought out champagne glasses for the three of us.

"Would you like me to open it?" the waitress asked and we all nodded in unison, too excited to say anything more. She unwrapped it then popped open the bottle and filled our glasses three quarters of the way. Once all of our glasses had champagne, she placed the bottle back in the ice bucket and left with the waiter. I raised my glass.

"To my best friends and their achievements. I love you guys," I looked at them with a huge smile on my face. They both raised their glasses. "Oh! And to Clary finally talking to someone of the opposite sex!" Isabelle added quickly just as we all clinked our glasses. "What?" Rebecca asked, confused and excited at the same time. I rolled my eyes.

"Just drink up," I sighed and we all took a sip without any more words.

"Okay, I've taken my sip. Now what was Isabelle saying?" Bec asked, her eyes full of amusement. I let out a breath and Isabelle was sporting a cheeky grin. "So I was on my way outside to collect Miss Morgenstern. The next thing I know, our friend, Clarissa over here," she began, dramatically, "bumped into this mighty fine specimen and spilt coffee all over him." I rolled my eyes. "Okay, you're acting like I purposefully decided to bump into him," I remarked and took another sip of champagne.

"Shush, let me tell the story," Isabelle said lifting up her hand, disregarding what I had just said. "Anyway, as I was saying," she continued, looking at Rebecca, who was listening while she ate her food, "coffee went all over his shirt and you should have seen her, she kept apologizing," Izzy laughed. Becca looked at me with an amused grin. "Maybe she was really sorry," she shrugged, trying to give me the benefit of the doubt. Izzy rolled her eyes, "Yeah, she can be sorry but that's not the point. The point is that she was like full on panicking out there! Then she looks at him for like a solid hour, checking him out!" Izzy had a thing for exaggerating everything. I shook my head as I finished chewing.

Rebecca gave me an incredulous look. "Girl…has it really been that long since you've interacted with a male?" she raised her eyebrows in disbelief. I shrugged shyly and felt a blush creeping on. "Okay, there are two things that you should know, in my defense. One," I lifted up my index finger, "I did not stare at him for 'a solid hour'," I mimicked Izzy. "But it was long enough for him to notice," Izzy muttered slyly, before taking a bite of her food. I shot her a look before turning to Rebecca, who was eating. "And two," I indicated with my fingers, "that man was fucking pretty hot. Even you would've done what I did," I said, admittedly. "I can second that," Izzy raised her glass then took a sip.

"Okay…so?" Becca encouraged Isabelle to carry on and I proceeded to eat my food. "So then it was back and forth high school shit. She blamed herself, he blamed himself. She kept on apologizing and he kept on assuring her that it was okay," Izzy rolled her eyes dramatically. "Then she kept insisting on buying the guy another coffee," she said incredulously, while digging her fork through her Caesar salad and spearing some lettuce and chicken in the process. Then she put it in her mouth and started to chew. She continued once she was done.

"Then, even after he tells her a million times that it's okay, she digs in her bag to find her purse. And this is the best part, by the way," she announces, "He touched her and I swear, you could see the sparks between them," Rebecca looked at me proudly and I blushed yet again. I really have to stop blushing. "And then he just ran off," Izzy said incredulously. "But, nonetheless, he was so into you," she gushed and I shook my head.

"No, I don't think so," I took a sip of the champagne. "Oh come on! The way he kept looking at his watch but never actually going," she then shrugged. "He obviously had somewhere to be but he just kept delaying to leave because he obviously wanted to keep talking to you," she stated, which caused Rebecca to look at me with a smile. "I know I wasn't there but what Isabelle is saying kind of makes sense. This is just textbook shit- you checking him out, him touching you, you wanting to do something about the accident, him checking his watch but never leaving. Classic," Becca shrugged, schooling me on the ways of attraction.

I sighed and took the last sip of my champagne. "I don't know…he didn't even ask for my name or number. He literally just ran off," I shrugged.

"You never know," Isabelle said with a shrug, before finishing of her glass of champagne. "Anything could happen and this could be the first step to you getting yourself out there again."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thanks for all the love and support.

Sorry it took a million years but I hope you liked it as much as I liked writing it!

-AmazyClace