Author's Notes: Hey Guys! It's been a long, long, long time since I've touched my fanfiction account and now - having just finished City of Heavenly Fire - I am determined to write an actual story that I'm not going to give up on this time. Let's do this!

Cassandra Clare owns The Mortal Instruments Series.


Chapter One: Blind Dates and Ill Fates

Clary looked at herself in the bathroom mirror of Del Posto's Restaurant. Her fiery red hair, which started out in bouncy curls, had now eventually transformed into limp waves down her back. Her makeup had also begun to smudge under her eyes, mildly resembling that of a panda. She lifted her top lip and was greeted with the sight of broccoli stuck between her two front teeth. Oh God, how embarrassing. At least he doesn't even care enough to look at me, let alone notice it. Clary mentally kicked herself. If that wasn't an indicator of how horrendous the night was going, she didn't know what was. Fishing a length of floss from her clutch, Clary managed to remove the bit of food from her teeth. She then proceeded to run her fingers through her hair and wipe at the black smudges on her face. When she was somewhat pleased with her appearance, she washed her hands and then faced her reflection once more.

"How did you get yourself into this mess, Clary?" She muttered to herself, but of course Clary knew how she got into this position. If it wasn't for Isabelle and her persistent pleas for Clary to get a boyfriend, she wouldn't be faced with the unpleasant situation that awaited her outside the bathroom doors.

She remembers the conversation that started it all. Clary had been invited over to her best friend Isabelle's apartment for lunch, in which Isabelle had announced her engagement to Simon, her boyfriend of 5 years. Clary had been more than happy for her two closest friends, but being her usual meddlesome self, Isabelle had believed that Clary was upset that she did not have her own relationship to 'love and nurture' and felt somewhat guilty of her newfound fiancée status.

"Izzy, it's not a damn baby! And it's not like I'm alone and depressed," Clary rolled her eyes, "I have Alistair, don't forget."

"Alistair is a cat, Clary! This is exactly what I'm talking about." Izzy massaged her temples and leant her head against the couch in defeat.

"I still don't understand why you're so hell-bent on me being in a relationship. I don't cry over the lack of male attention I receive." Clary shrugged her shoulders at her best friend.

"I know you don't, Clare. It's just that," Izzy leant in closer to Clary, her hand resting gently on hers. "I don't want you to become a crazy cat lady who turns 60 and still doesn't know that there's such a thing as male companionship out there."

"I hope you know that the world doesn't revolve around the amount of guys that check you out, Iz." Clary laughed, "Also, you know I've had boyfriends in the past. It's just chance that I don't have one now."

"Chance? Really? And that's what a crazy cat lady would say." Clary let out a laugh. It was easy for Isabelle; she had never been a victim of B cup breasts, or the height of a leprechaun. Clary remembered attending St Xavier's High School with her and noticing that her best friend was never without a boyfriend or a long list of teenage testosterone chasing after her at any given time. Clary wasn't saying that life for Izzy was always easy, but when it came to the male department, Izzy had never known rejection.

With that being said, it would be safe to assume that the lucky guy who did manage to sweep the dark haired princess of her feet would closely resemble that of an Abercrombie and Fitch model. However, you are poorly mistaken. During high school, while Izzy would be deciding which guy to delete off her contacts list in order to make room for another 50 new phone numbers, Simon would be spending his time battling his band members in Dungeons and Dragons in the living room of his grandma's house.

It seems the saying that opposites attract does not apply to any other couple more than Izzy and Simon.

After listening to another 20 minutes of Isabelle bantering on about the importance of a strong, male presence in the household, Clary finally gave in. She also found it funny that it was Isabelle saying this when she was the one who was engaged to Simon.

"Fine, I'll do the blind date-" Clary had started.

"Yes! Thank you so much, well you should actually be thanking me for setting this up, but I promise you will not regret this!" Izzy gave a large smile and clambered over her friend in order to wrap her in a tight hug.

"One date, Iz. That's all I'm doing for you." Clary reminded her.

"Trust me, I think after one date with this guy, you're going to be begging for another one." Izzy gave her a sultry wink and led her to her bedroom in order to get ready.

Her date for tonight went by the name of Jace, and was apparently a close childhood friend to the Lightwood siblings, Izzy and Alec. Izzy had assured Clary that he was attractive and proved to be a laugh. However, Clary set her expectations low considering it had been a year since her last relationship and she was not intent on barrelling right back into the dating game.

Clary pushed open the doors to Del Posto's Restaurant and was led by the hostess to a table that sat a young golden-haired man. He was busy typing away on his phone and only acknowledged her presence when Clary had pulled out her seat and sat down. Even then he gestured to her with one finger, as if to say 'one second', and then continued to tap on his cell phone screen.

Clary fidgeted in her seat and couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in the given situation, which she found was surprisingly not because of the strapless black dress Isabelle had put her in.

"So…" Clary began.

"I'll be one second." He said, still not even showing her the courtesy of eye contact when he spoke.

"Right." Clary took a sip of from the glass of water in front of her and gave a small sigh. Five minutes of silence had hung in the air between them, no one speaking a word.

Suddenly, he placed his phone on the table and looked up to meet her eyes.

"Jace." He nodded at her and then made a gesture to one of the waiter's for a menu. Was this guy for real? Clary thought to herself. After not even addressing my existence, all he has to say is his name?

"Hi I'm Clary." She gave a small smile at him out of politeness and allowed the waiter to place a menu in front of her.

Jace drummed his fingers along the edge of the table in a rather irritating manner and scanned over the assortment of dishes on the menu.

"What looks good to you?" She asked him, in an effort to create small talk.

"I think I'll have the penne." He pursed his lips and then shut the menu. Not even attempting to keep the conversation flowing, much to Clary's dismay.

The waiter soon arrived by their table. "Are we ready to order?" The waiter asked, his brown eyes gleaming in delight.

"Yep, I'll have the Penne thank you." Jace nodded, handing him his menu.

"Wonderful sir, and for you miss?" He asked her.

"The Mongolian stir-fry, does it have peanut oil in it?" She asked the waiter.

"No miss," He assured her. "Peanut allergy?" He asked.

Clary nodded in confirmation.

"Don't worry, me too." He shot her a wink and left the table.

"What a skeeze." Jace rolled his eyes from behind his phone.

"Excuse me?" Clary asked in astonishment.

"That waiter. He's a skeeze, he just wanted to hook up with you." She imagined Jace thought this due to the wink the waiter had given her, but even then he had no right. Usually, she would have let this slide but given that her date hadn't even bothered to notice her, Clary was in a rather angry mood.

"At least he actually acknowledged me." Clary crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Sorry that the world doesn't worship the ground you walk on, Princess." Jace scoffed, still continuing to look down at his phone.

Clary gaped at him, her eyebrows raised and mouth forming an 'O' shape. She looked over Jace, his golden coloured hair stuck out in all the right places which suited him, but also gave off the impression that he hadn't even tried for their date. He wore a navy suit with the top buttons of his shirt undone, showing a pattern of ink peeking out under his collar. He had a tan to his skin which looked natural and complimented his appearance only more. Clary imagined that his looks were the only thing he had going for himself.

"Like what you see?" Jace smirked. Clary ripped her eyes away from him and felt the anger boiling in her body.

"I wasn't checking you out." Was all she had managed to say, which was a lie was of course.

"You keep telling yourself that," He laughed. "Don't worry; it's not anything new to me." He looked up and shot her a wink, his mouth turning up at the corners in a smirk.

Clary could not believe the ego on this guy. No wonder he was on a blind date, he probably couldn't hold a girl for more than five seconds after they had a conversation with him. This was of course hypocritical for her to think as she was also on a blind date.

Just then, the waiter appeared with two dishes in his hands. He placed the penne in front of Jace and the stir-fry in front of Clary. She mumbled a thank you, in which he gave her a bright smile before proceeding back towards the kitchen.

Jace rolled his eyes as he scooped a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

"So, Izzy tells me you're a lawyer?" Clary spoke, which of course came out as more of a question.

"The best in all of Manhattan." He smirked.

"And so modest, too." She replied.

"Comes with the job." He shrugged, continuing to shovel the pasta into his mouth.

Clary rolled her eyes as if to say: Of course it does.

After another round of awkward silence between the couple, Clary had finally had enough.

"Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom." Within a second, she was up and heading towards the female toilets.

Once inside, she shook her head as if it was all a bad dream. There was no way that one person could manage to singlehandedly ruin a blind date so fast. Of course Jace wasn't a freak or a stalker which obviously was a plus. His face also earned him a few points, but his ego was so big that there was not enough room for Clary on that table. After freshening up, she felt for her phone and opened a new text.

Date is a complete train wreck.

I'm going to kill you!

She sent the text message to Izzy and after a few deep breaths, headed back towards the table.

She found Jace had already finished his meal and was pulling out his wallet. After leaving a $100 bill on the table, he began to stand up and leave.

"Are you seriously leaving?" Clary said, her eyes widening in disbelief.

"I came to eat and I've finished eating." Jace responded, as if to say 'Duh'.

Clary felt her cheeks begin to burn in embarrassment. "You are the worst date in the world." She shook her head and reached for her clutch, about to exit the restaurant.

"And you are such the pleasure yourself." Jace tore his eyes away from his phone to give the red head a wink and continued on his way out of the restaurant, leaving a very disbelieving and fuming Clary in his wake.


Author's Notes: How did everyone like the story so far? I understand that the first chapter is always a bit slow and tedious but I did need to establish the setting of the story, but I promise that the next chapter will have more characters and will create a bit more of a plot.

Thank you so much for reading, please feel free to leave me a review, it makes my day a million times better to know what you guys think about it. Thanks again guys!

Bianca X