College - Part One
Simon hated parties.
They were too loud, too crowded, and too dirty. But Clary had wanted to come to one, so he'd agreed to tag along. Clary had slipped into the crowd somewhere, going to greet someone from one of her classes. He craned his neck and tried to see where Clary might be, but it was useless. A giant disadvantage of having a short friend: they were really hard to find when surrounded by dozens of other people.
After a very embarrassing encounter when he misidentified someone as Clary and almost spilled his drink on her, he finally found Clary again. He slowly made his way towards her and then noticed that she was heading towards the kitchen, where all of the alcohol was. It also happened to be at the opposite side of the room, so Simon sighed and started slowly making his way back through the crowd while keeping an eye on Clary.
He watched her as she poured herself a drink. The blond dude looked at her, and the overprotective brotherly side of him urged Simon to walk a little faster so that he could defend Clary if necessary. The blond dude seemed to be surprised, and he started talking to Clary. Clary seemed shocked when she saw him, and they started talking. Maybe it was another one of her classmates. He didn't know a lot of her new classmates, since she was an art major and he was a business major. Knowing different people felt weird to Simon; Clary had grown up with him, and Simon couldn't remember a time when he and Clary had known different people. Even in high school, when they'd had different classes, he still knew the people in her classes. Part of him wondered if knowing different people would affect their friendship, but so far, nothing had changed significantly.
Simon eventually reached Clary and nudged her arm. The blond boy noticed him and narrowed his eyes. "Hey, Clary," Simon said, refilling his cup with tap water. (He wasn't a fan of getting drunk. Bad, embarrassing things usually happened. And hangovers were the worst.) "Who's this?"
Clary turned towards him and rolled her eyes. "Don't you remember Jace?"
Jace… The only Jace he remembered was… "Herondale?"
The blond boy smirked at him, his features now seeming more familiar and recognized. "The one and only."
Simon nodded at him as a sign of acknowledgement as he took a sip from his water. "What were you guys talking about?"
"We were just catching up," Clary said. Simon wasn't sure if she'd seen that look on her face before. There was a small smile on her face that Clary had hidden pretty well, except for the fact that her eyes were still sparkling. Simon glanced at Jace, who was glaring at him. Simon wasn't an idiot. He took the hint and left the kitchen, leaning against the wall in a spot where he could still keep an eye on Clary but wouldn't be able to hear their conversation.
He had a few conversations with some of the people in his financing class, but he never let Clary out of his line of sight. Simon hadn't paid much attention to the popular people during high school, trying to keep close to the walls and stay unnoticed. But even he knew about Jace Herondale - the dude had a reputation for breaking hearts. If he was planning on tearing Clary's heart apart, Simon was prepared to fight him (even though it would probably result in his demise).
But after watching them for a few minutes, Simon wasn't sure if he needed to worry. Clary clearly liked him - her face was practically glowing. Jace was the one to watch out for, but Simon caught a glimpse of his face. The way he was smiling down at Clary… It reminded him of the way his father used to look at his mother.
Maybe Clary would be okay.
Simon waited for a few more hours, chatting with people from time to time but still watching Clary like a hawk. Clary seemed to really like Jace, and Simon couldn't see Jace's face most of the time, but from what Simon could interpret from Jace's body language and occasional glimpses of his face, Jace didn't plan on using Clary and throwing her away like a dirty tissue - not tonight. Either way, it was best if Simon kept an eye on Clary, as he wasn't sure how many drinks she'd had. He didn't want her to make any decisions she'd regret later on in life.
Someone bumped into Simon, and Simon turned around, taking his eyes off of Clary for half a second. By the time he turned back, Clary and Jace were gone from their spot in the kitchen. Simon panicked. I let her out of my line of sight for one second, he thought angrily, and Jace Herondale whisks her off to do who knows what with her. He detached himself from the wall and started looking for Clary - again.
"Simon!" He turned around to see his favorite redhead.
He silently breathed a sigh of relief. "Clary. Where were you?"
She raised her eyebrows at him. "Could've asked you the same thing."
"I was looking for you. Where did you disappear off to?"
Clary looked confused (and slightly tipsy). "I was here."
"I guess I didn't see you in the crowd since you're so short," he teased, earning an elbow to the ribs. "Where's Jace?" he asked.
She looked amused. "Are you into Jace? It sounds like you're into Jace."
"He's really not my type. Are you avoiding the question?"
Clary rolled her eyes at him. "Jace left because his sister called him." A memory of raven black hair and dark brown eyes flashed through his head before he shoved it into some dusty corner of his head. Clary cleared her throat and stumbled a little. Simon moved to steady her, frowning.
"You okay?" he asked.
She waved away his concerns. "I'm fine."
Simon eyed her suspiciously. "How much did you drink?"
"I don't know. Three, maybe four drinks?"
Clary was a bit of a lightweight, and Simon knew that Clary shouldn't drink more or else the next morning would be an absolute disaster featuring a lot of vomit. (He spoke from experience.)
"Maybe we should go back to the dorms," he suggested.
"No, I'm fine, Simon. I could totally have another screwdriver."
The thought of orange puke wasn't pleasant. "Well, I'm leaving. If you want a ride you should come with me."
Clary made a small noise of complaint, but she followed him as he wove through the crowd and led her out the door, down the street, to his friend's van.
A/N: Slowly but surely working on this during summer while also tutoring and practicing violin and doing things. So basically, there will be a new chapter up sometime soon, but it might take me a month or so. Who knows?
I'll also go through Just Another Clace AU sometime, but I don't really feel up to rereading my crappy writing anytime soon, so...
Related side note: There's probably going to be 3-5 chapters of intro. Which is weird, but oh well.
Unrelated side note: I just got a haircut and I hate it but oh well.
Review if you liked it, review if you hated it.
