Clary hummed trying-and failing-to to ignore Simon's voice in her head saying 'Don't fall for him, Clary you'll regret it in the end. He'll just end up hurting you' as she reached up for the Lord of the Rings book, huffing in frustration when the book was too high for her to reach. "Stupid height" she muttered to herself as looked longingly at her favorite book. She looked around for a ladder but found none. She swore colorfully, she had a copy at home of course, but the one in the library was better. It had that old book smell and unlike the one in her home, didn't have the movie cover. She wondered if she'd be thrown out of the library if she kicked the shelf if she kicked the shelf in frustration.
She glanced up at the book which seemed to be laughing at her. Then she remembered that it was a copy of Lord of The Rings, which meant it was the best book ever. She was fully aware that she could just ask the librarian for help, but she was in denial about the fact that she was so short. An idea sparked in her head and slowly a smile twisted her lips. Her mother's voice warned her that she'd regret it, but she ignored it. The word 'regret' only fueled her frustration. Hadn't Clary's argument with Simon-who was he to tell her who she could like and who she couldn't, anyway?-been the reason she'd been trying to find comfort in her favorite book?
She bent her legs and jumped swiping her hand at the book. She missed and held on to the shelf in her panic, as soon as she realized what she was doing and that the wooden shelf could fall on top of her, she let go. Luckily she landed on her feet, but the wooden shelf was already swaying dangerously. She held out her hand trying to steady the shelf. Fortunately, the shelf did not fall, unfortunately the books did.
Clary was starting to hate books. They seemed so small when you finished reading them but, damn, they hurt. She waited there, buried under the books she had loved so much, for Amatis-the librarian-to come and kick her out. She was very kind but when it came to her books she could be really cruel. She'd probably get banned and hadn't Amatis mentioned a son who was in high school? Great, everyone at school would know, too. She groaned miserably wishing dragons still existed so that one could swoop in and gobble her up.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" A very familiar voice which reminded her of honey said. Her head snapped up from where she'd been trying to suffocate herself in the pages of 'The Two Towers'. Fate wouldn't be that cruel to her, she closed her eyes and prayed for the earth to just swallow her. She opened one eye and took a peek at the owner of the voice, nope, she hadn't hit her head too hard on one of the books and started hallucinating, Blondie was still there.
"Hey?" she muttered feebly sitting up and trying to pretend she wasn't sitting in a sea of books-though sea of books or not, she wasn't ready to see him so soon again, not after she'd argued with Simon over him. Simon, whom she couldn't remember fighting with before this. "When mom told me about your klutziness I didn't believe her, Clarissa Fray."He told her his voice solemn, though his lips were twitching. "Mom?" She asked confused, trying-and failing- to ignore the fact that her stomach and heart were flip flopping at the fact that he knew her name. "Amatis" he said jerking his head towards the front desk where Amatis usually sat. "So-so you are Jace?" she asked while her mind went into overdrive trying to figure out if she'd ever said anything about Blondie-sorry Jace-to Amatis who was apparently her son. No she hadn't, her heart started beating again.
"How do you know my name?" she asked. She'd seen him at school a couple of times-he probably was a year above her- and couldn't see how he knew her name since she wasn't exactly one of the popular kids. He shot her an impatient look, "I told you. Mom, told me about you and besides, Izzy wouldn't shut up about how lucky you were to inherit your hair and height." She hadn't noticed before, but when he said mom he got a strange look on his face as though like her, he was just coming to terms with the fact that she was his mom. Then she blinked and blinked. Isabelle Lightwood-it would have to be Isabelle because he hung out with her all the time, not that she was looking.-was jealous of her hair and height. That was really weird.
Then she realized that she was still sitting in that sea of books, her face which had just returned to her normal color returned to the color of her hair. She got up and tried to pick the books up. "Where's Amatis, anyway? She should have come and kicked me out by now." She said. Jace looked up. "Oh! Mom makes me mind the store sometimes. Thinks it'll make me humble." "Then why-," the question died in her throat when she straightened up and noticed how close he was. He smirked, "Yes, I know I'm terribly attractive but try not to stare, Clarisssa." She elbowed him. "Call me Clary. So," she raised her eyebrows moving away from him, still cramming books into their respective places. "Are you going to kick me out?" she asked hoping he wouldn't. "No, mom told me how much you love this place. I came to help you. I learnt the hard way not to come between a book lover and her books." He said grimacing.
She looked at him amused. "That's a story I'd like to hear." He considered her head cocked to the side, "I can tell you some time. How about over drinks?" She grinned, "Sure. It's a date." She had returned all the books to their respective places and she turns to him giving him her full attention. "Tomorrow at Taki's. Seven."
As she walked out of the library with a goofy grin on her face Simon's words 'you'll regret it in the end' tried to bother her, but she ignored it. Whenever 'the end' came she'd deal with it then.
So this one's for ThatBlondeALB also known as anon user me, I promised her a fic and ages ago then didn't write it so this is compensation. (Also why are my strikethroughs and line breaks disappearing?) Thank you for reading! Should I continue? I dunno. Waiting for your opinion.
-I love you,
Lakshmi