This one is paced a little different than what I'm used to, and it's a little sadder. I hope you still enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.
It was almost eight thirty.
She always came in by eight thirty.
Jace Herondale chewed down on end of the blue highlighter, trying to focus on the textbook in front of him, but he always got twitchy the closer it got to eight thirty, the closer it got to her coming in. The barista behind the counter was giving him knowing looks, because clearly he wasn't being subtle about how he felt toward this girl.
This girl that he hadn't even spoken to, and he only knew her name because it had been called out a hundred times when she collected her coffee in the morning.
There was a rush of cold air from outside and a laugh, and then she was walking in, with a couple of other girls. They were all bundled up warm, and all three girls were attractive, but none of them were as pretty as the red head in the middle. She was in jeans and ankle boots and a thick sweatshirt, a scarf wrapped around her neck. Her cheeks were pink and she was wearing a dark coloured lipstick that Jace usually hated but that looked really, really good on her.
Clary.
She flashed him a smile as she walked past him, and maybe her cheeks looked a little bit pinker as she did, but he might have been imagining things. Her and her friends went up to the counter and placed their orders before moving to the side to let the next person through. One of her friends looked over her shoulder in Jace's direction and then giggled and looked back at the other two, saying something under her breath.
So now they were talking about him.
Not necessarily a bad thing, he had always been pretty used to girls talking to each other about him, looking at him through thick eyelashes and speaking behind their hands as they blushed when he looked in their direction. It was just something that came with being attractive, and Jace was more than okay with it. He would saunter over, introduce himself, and a few hours later they would be back in his apartment, rolling between the sheets.
He had never been like this, though, where he wanted more than that. Jace didn't usually want anything more than a relief of tension and a quickie, he didn't have time for that. He had a plan, and it wasn't something he was ready to throw away for some girl. Sure, later on, he definitely wanted to be married and have kids. But at this stage, he was twenty-two, he needed to finish his joint degree in Criminal Justice and Political Science, and then go to Cornell.
But with this girl...Jace licked his lips nervously as her name was called out and she got her coffee in it's takeaway cup, and her friends got their drinks as well. He put down the highlighter, screwing up his nose a little as he looked down at the end which was covered in teeth marks, and pushed his chair back from the table. They turned around, all three girls looking over at him, Clary's cheeks still pink as she smiled at him on their way past him to the door. The girl behind the counter was looking at him pointedly, like she had been for about the past month, and Jace rolled his eyes at her.
There would be another time.
A better time.
When he hadn't showered since yesterday morning, and his clothes weren't all crumpled up because he had fallen asleep in the library again and then come directly to the coffee shop for a caffeine fix and some extra studying, and when he had actually brushed his teeth.
Except what if there wasn't?
The University year was almost over, and he didn't even know her last name—he didn't even know what she was studying, or if she was going to be in the city during break, or if she had a boyfriend she needed to go back to. What if she was in her final year, like him, and he never saw her again, and never got to find out if he was just imagining everything about her, or if there really could be something?
Jace took a deep breath and stood up, spinning around just as she was about to disappear out the front door.
"Hey!" He called out and she paused, her red hair bouncing around her face as she turned back to face him. "Um," he stepped closer and attempted a smile. "My name's Jace."
Jace looked down at the Rolex strapped to his wrist and made a face. It was almost ten o'clock at night. He was really hoping that he could have met with his client at a better time, preferably not late on a Friday night, but apparently this was the only time that he was available. His secretary, Kaelie Whitewillow, had pressed the client for an earlier time, and she could usually be very persuasive, but there was no wiggle room. The club owner had meetings all day and then needed to run his club at night, but had some time before it got too busy.
So here he was.
Although who was he kidding, it's not as though he has had plans other than work on a Friday night for a long time. The earliest he went home in a week was usually a Sunday, and that was around five or six, and even then, most of the time he took work home with him to do in his study.
The club was loud, and Jace wrinkled up his nose. It had been a long time since he had been in a club. In fact, the last time was probably about three years ago, for his cousin Alec Lightwoods bachelor party. The corners of his mouth quirked upwards at the memory, at Alec getting so drunk at the gay strip bar that they took him to that he ended up on the bar with a couple of the strippers, singing You Give Love A Bad Name by Bon Jovi at the top of his lungs. At the memory of his cousin, Jace frowned, wondering when the last time he saw his cousin was. It used to be they wouldn't go more than a few weeks without seeing each other, but now he couldn't even remember the last time he saw him.
"Are you waiting for Mr Kellen?" Came a squeaky voice from behind the counter. Jace glanced over at her, a tiny blonde with bouncy hair and tits that were pushed up near her throat.
"Yes," Jace replied shortly with a rise of an eyebrow. "Is he ready?"
"He will be soon," the blonde flashed a smile. "I'll just go and see if he's available." She disappeared behind the bar, where Jace knew that there was a hallway leading to the offices. He had only been there throughout the day, and the place had a whole lot less blue and purple flashing lights during the daylight hours. It was also a lot less crowded, he had only been inside for about ten minutes, and there had already been about six different girls come up to him and offer to buy him a drink, or put his silk tie into good use somewhere else. The blonde came back and gave him another wide smile. "He'll be out in about five minutes. If you wanted to wait just around the corner? It's a little bit quieter there," she waved her hand to where the bar curved and there was a wall that separated the club from the other room.
"Thank you," Jace gave a short nod and continued through the archway into the next room. The second room was quieter, although not by much, but there was steady lighting rather than the swirling flashlights, so that was a step in the right direction. It seemed like this room had some older people in it, not old, but not a bunch of college kids out to get drunk. Jace sat down at the bar, putting his suitcase carefully on his lap because there was no way that he was going to put it on the sticky ground or bar. There was another blonde serving, this one wearing a black v-neck shirt that showed off almost everything.
"A little overdressed there, handsome," the girl smiled. "Want a drink to unwind?"
"I'm fine, thanks," Jace nodded at her politely. "Just waiting on Mr Kellen." The girl shrugged and moved on. Jace watched her go, more out of boredom than interest. There was a time when leggy blondes who wore too much make up and not enough clothes were his thing, but those days were long over. Jace shifted his gaze around the room. There was a door that opened up to the outside where a couple of people were smoking, there were groups of people in booths and some others sitting along the bar. There were a group of girls at the end of the bar, all of them laughing loudly and two of them with their arms around each other and singing.
"Hey! Girl!" A man leaned in close to Jace, calling out to the blonde behind the bar. "I'd like to order a round of drinks for the ladies down there." The blonde smiled and nodded, beginning to pour what looked like tequila shots. The man turned and leered at Jace, jerking his head in the direction of the woman. He didn't look drunk, but definitely on his way there, and seemed to think that Jace was going to praise him for hitting on woman in the most classic way in a bar.
Buying them a drink.
Jace managed what he hoped was a cordial smile, glancing back toward the woman. Two of them had their backs to him, and there was one who actually looked vaguely familiar, and he frowned at her, trying to place her. She had curly dark hair, amber eyes and tanned skin, for some reason the name Maia was coming to mind, but he couldn't quite figure out where he knew her from. There were a two blondes in the group, and one of the girls who had their back to him was petite with red hair. She seemed to be the one that the man beside Jace was eyeing up with that hungry, almost predatory gaze.
She was wearing a green dress that clung to her slim figure that was practically backless and she had on a pair of high heels that made her calves look amazing. Jace's weakness had always been blondes, until a certain red head had come along and completely destroyed him for anyone else. Strangely enough, this red head looked a hell of a lot like his red head.
"From the gentleman over there," Jace vaguely heard the bartender say as she pushed the tray across the counter top toward them. A few of the girls looked in the direction of the man, giving him smiles and calling 'thank yous', clearly none of them interested. The red head didn't turn around though, although it seemed as though most of the attention was focused on her. They kept nudging her, toasting her, and when the next song came on, they all cheered and poked her in the side, it looked as though they were urging her to start singing.
"Prudes," the man muttered when it seemed as though he was going to get any more attention. Jace frowned, ignoring the man and trying to see past him to the six woman. The song was getting louder, it seemed to be the same one that was playing out in the club. He was momentarily distracted when a group of drunk people stumbled out of the club area and into the bar, heading for the open doors on the other side of the club.
"Jace!" Jace turned around when he heard his name, his client standing there, looking exactly like a man who had too much money to spend. The jewelry he was wearing was flashy to the point of almost gaudy, and there were a couple of buttons undone on his shirt. Harrison Kellen reached out for the blonde behind the bar, giving her a kiss on the mouth and slapping her ass, and Jace made sure his expression was schooled into a blank one.
This was the sixth sexual harassment suit that his firm had needed to come and smooth over with Mr Kellen. Usually sexual harassment was something that was far below when he dealt with as a non-equity partner, but Mr Kellen was one of their biggest clients. He owned some of the biggest clubs in Los Angeles and had expanded out into New York. Jace didn't always have to be the one to deal with the suits, thankfully, but he drew the short straw out of the partners in the office, so here he was.
"Let's head back to my office, aye?" Mr Kellen said with one last lecherous grin toward the bartender and then waving a hand at Jace to come around to the side of the bar. Jace got off the stool, trying not to think about what sort of substances were on the stool that he had had been sitting on and what they were going to do to his thousand dollar suit. The bartender lifted up the partition in the bar and Jace walked through. Behind him, there was another laugh from the girls, and Jace couldn't help but look over his shoulder at them.
The red head, she was laughing, and she had her arm around the one that Jace was still trying to remember where he knew her from. There was a song playing, an old one that Jace remembered from when he was back in University. The group of girls all seemed to recognize it as well, especially the red head, who starting bouncing up and down excitedly.
"Ain't no other man...Can stand...Up next to you!" He would recognize that voice anywhere, but he didn't quite believe it until the red head and the dark haired girl turned around partially and he blinked.
It was his wife, Clary Herondale-Fray.
She looked happy, and free, and her cheeks were flushed a pretty pink, and now that he knew it was her, he focused on her left hand and saw the glint of the ring that he had saved up for from his meager part time job when he was twenty-three. He had told her time and time again that he would buy her another one, they could afford a nicer one now, a bigger diamond, a prettier band. But she had been adamant that this was her ring, this was the one that she wanted to wear. In fact, she had looked pretty annoyed about a year ago when he had taken her into an exclusive jewelry store and pointed at some other options, saying that he proposed to her with this ring, that was the one that she wanted on her finger.
As he stood there staring at her, it hit him like a punch in the stomach that this was the first time that he had seen her smiling in maybe months. At least smiling like this, wide and unguarded. In fact, this was the first time in maybe two weeks that he had actually seen her awake, given she was usually asleep by the time he got home.
"Hey—lawyer man!" The bartender looked as though she was getting annoyed at holding the heavy wooden partition up. "You going through or what?" Jace took in another breath, memorizing the curve of Clary's neck, the gorgeous dress that he didn't recognize and the small diamond ring on her finger, before ducking through the bar and following in the direction that Mr Kellen had gone.
Right! So...How was it?
I've got lots of recommendations I want to make coz I've been away for so long, but I'll just throw a couple out there. Movies—Moana! It was amazing. So was Rogue One, which I didn't expect to like because I'm not a big fan of Felicity Jones, but it was incredible, and Diego Luna is my new love. And a couple of songs I'm in love with at the moment are Falling For You by Lyon Hart and Dangerously by Charlie Puth.
Alright, so, tell me...Did you guys all have an amazing Christmas/New Years? Me and my hubby always travel for Christmas to see extended family, but it was just a quiet one at home with a couple of his family members, so that was nice. And for New Years we rented out a house by the beach with a couple of our close friends, so that was amazing.
Tell me what you guys got up to, and leave a review.
And if you guys want a preview of the next chapter, just ask, and I'll throw one out there ;) Don't forget to check out the new multi-chapter stories, which you guys all voted on, as well as a bunch of new oneshots I've written. I've gone and put some of them up :)