Thanks so much for the awesome response! It was more than what I was expecting and I greatly appreciate it. I really hope I don't let ya'll down with this story and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Jace sits down next to Clary and smiles warmly at her. He looks down in her lap at the comic that she was so studiously reading just moments ago and nods to it as he says, "I thought comics were just for nerds with pimples and glasses."
She rolls her eyes with an amused smile on her face. "That's only something popular pretty boys like yourself say."
"So you think I'm pretty?" Jace asks with one brow raised.
"Probably not as pretty as you think you are." she replies in a playfully snarky tone. A smile slowly spreads across his mouth at her answer. She's witty. He likes that. It's so boring when women are constantly agreeable; which happens a lot with him. They always want to make it seem like they have stuff in common with him but he gets the feeling that she won't do that for him.
He lets out a little chuckle and enjoys the smile that turns her lips up just a little. "But seriously, you looked so engrossed in it. What's it about?"
"It's just that I have been waiting to find out what happens with my favorite characters for two months. This is actually the second time I've read it since I got here this morning."
"That good, huh?" Jace asks as he looks back down at it. He never understood why someone above the age of ten would want to read a comic.
"It is." she says very surely. "But usually my friend comes with me to read it. He had some kind of family emergency though and had to cancel."
Jace notices when she says 'him' and makes a mental note for later inquiry. He doesn't want to get in the middle of some lovers tryst if this guy is like a friend with benefits. "Well, I guess that is good for me though. I would have been less hesitant to speak to you. Usually girls guy friends are huge cock blocks."
Clary immediately bursts into laughter and Jace is momentarily mesmerized by the way her laughter lights her face up. She is absolutely stunning. "I can't believe you just said that!" Clary spits out when her laughing quiets.
"It's true." Jace says defensively. "You can't honestly tell me that whoever this guy friend of yours is has never gotten in the way of someone trying to get your number."
Clary raises her hand to her chin and looks off in the distance for a moment as she makes a show of thinking hard. "Now that you think of it, Simon is kind of a cock block. Every time a guy hits on me, he scares him away and then says he was just trying to do me a favor because he didn't think I was interested in the guy. That's probably why I have only ever had one boyfriend since me and Simon are always together. He's like my brother."
Jace's brows raise in surprise at her words. "You have only ever had one boyfriend?" he asks her. Surely that can't be true with how beautiful she is.
"Yeah." she says as Maia drops off her coffee. She reaches for it as she says, "It only lasted like a month and Simon was smug when we broke up. He said he knew it would happen all along."
"It sounds like this Simon guy might have the hots for you." Jace says knowing this to be true. Her friend Simon, whether she knows it or not, likes her. He knows this even with what little she has said about him. If you are a guy, you don't invest all of your free time into your best friend, who is a really hot woman, just because she is your best friend. He would be out chasing other women and trying to get laid with his guy friends if he didn't like her as more that a friend.
She lets out another little laugh as she says, "No way. We're like siblings." She then sets her coffee back down and then looks back to Jace. "But enough about that. What do you do for a living, Jace? I can't tell by what you are wearing."
Jace looks down at his attire and nods his head in agreement. He is wearing dark wash jeans with a button up white shirt and a navy blazer with brown heavy construction site boots that are meant to look like some sort of dress shoes. "I'm a real estate developer." Jace replies with a smile. "I buy old buildings and restore them or renovate them and then sell them for a profit."
"That sounds amazing." she says and her eyes light up a little. "I'll bet picking out the finishes are fun. Do you keep some of the old character of the buildings?"
"I do. I think old architecture is beautiful and where ever I can keep it, I do." Jace answers easily. "There is so much beauty in the world, man made and natural beauty, that I try to preserve as much as I can of the old designs. What about you? What do you do?"
"I study art at NYU." she says taking Jace by surprise. "I have always had talent for drawing and painting that I inherited from my mother. I want to one day have my own art gallery where local up and coming artists can come hang their pieces."
"Is that part of the reason you like graphic novels?" he asks her as he nods to the comic in her lap. "The art?"
She looks back up at him, looking pleasantly surprised. "Yes. That is part of it. I am surprised you picked up on that. Most people just assume that I just like it for the story line since that is what they would be in it for. Some of the art is actually breathtaking. The way they can bring a certain tiny emotion to life with the flick of a pen and a strategically placed wrinkle in the character's forehead."
"I know what you mean." Jace says in reply with a soft smile. "When I take someone's picture, I like them to be one hundred percent authentic. None of those fake plastered on smiles that you see in sefies that flood your social media."
Clary, once again, looks pleasantly surprised. "You take pictures?" she asks curiously as she raises her brows in surprise.
Jace lets out a short and dry laugh. "Don't act so surprised." he says playfully. "I actually always wanted to be a professional photographer. I wish I could travel the world and capture all of it's beauty one frame at a time. I want to get lost in some tiny country that I can't pronounce the name of and just decide to stay there for a while and live like the locals there."
Clary looks absolutely enraptured by what Jace is saying. So much so, that she has subconsciously started to lean towards him. "I have always wanted to do that since I was a little boy." Jace all of a sudden looks down and at the drink in his hand and then puts one of his tiny and forced smiles on his face. "But I guess adulthood and reality caught up with me and now I have a 'real job' as my father always wanted."
"Well that sounds horrible." Clary says.
Jace looks back at her with nothing but surprise and amusement and after a few seconds, he lets out a loud but short laugh. "That isn't the reaction I usually get. Most people tell me that 'it's better this way' that I have a stable job and I am their version of settled."
Jace watches Clary as her eyes suddenly change. They go from someone who was listening to the eyes of someone who just got an idea. The next thing Jace knows, Clary gets a knowing smirk on her face and it makes him sit up a little as he wonders what is about to happen. Because the way she is looking at him, something is definitely about to happen. Just as he is about to ask what she is thinking, Clary hurriedly shoves her comic in her messenger bag and then is swiftly standing up and swinging the bag over her shoulder. She then reaches down and takes Jace's coffee out of his hand and sets it on the table in front of him and then she is grabbing his hand and pulling him up from the plush brown couch.
"What is going on?" Jace asks while raising one eyebrow inquisitively and a small smile tugs on his lips.
"We are going to go capture the beauty of the city today. You with your camera and me with my sketchpad." Clary says and then pats her messenger bag to indicate that she has a sketchpad tucked inside.
"But I have work..." Jace says and Clary cuts him off.
"Call in sick. I think your work will survive a day without you." Clary tells him this in a way that leaves no room for argument, and Jace for some reason, finds that to be very attractive. "Now come on." Clary says pulling him out of the coffee shop by their interlocked hands. Just as they are walking out of the door, Jace hears Maia call her name sounding a little worried but she doesn't hear.
"My truck is this way." Jace tells her and points to his left. "I always keep my camera bag there."
"I guess that means you are driving." she says with a contagious smile that spreads to him. "I don't exactly have a lot of money for a cabs. I do have a subway pass though."
"There is no need for that." Jace says as he pulls his keys out of his pocket and holds them up for her to see. That is when he notices that she is still holding his hand and then he is pulling her along with it. When she gets up next to him, she deftly removes her hand from his and starts to dig in her bag.
"I just have to text my friend and tell him that I will be busy all day." she explains as she produces a phone. "We are supposed to meet for lunch but I guess my plans have changed." She looks up at him with an easy smile and he can't help but let his face show her just how taken he is with her. Every muscle in his face is pulled up with and ear splitting grin. So far, she isn't like anyone else he has ever met. She doesn't seem to let anything hold her back from what she wants to do. Her eyes hold a wildness to them that Jace gets completely sucked into every time she looks at him. Her bright red hair reflects that about her personality beautifully. The way it seems untamed and perfectly wavy at the same time while her whole body emits a carefree attitude that holds a promise of amazing things and experiences he can expect from the day to come.
Without breaking eye contact with her, he reaches into his pants pockets and pulls out his phone. He then reluctantly breaks eye contact with her and finds the number he is looking for and hits the call button. After a few rings, he can hear his project manager, Jordan, pick up. There are saws running in the background and men shouting and Jace is suddenly relieved beyond belief that he isn't there. "Hey Jordan. I'm not going to make it in today. I'm not feeling too good."
The fact that Jace have never once called in sick is why Jordan then responds the way he does. "Is everything okay man? Do I need to call your father?"
"God no." Jace says hurriedly. "I just don't feel that great. I am sure I will be fine by tomorrow so I am going to let you handle everything today."
"Alright. Get better." Jordan says and then the line goes dead as they reach his truck with the words 'Herondale Construction and Development' written on the door. He then opens the passenger door for Clary and she hops in just as her phone pings. She looks down at the screen and then surprises him by turning her phone off completely. She looks back over to him and shrugs when he looks at her questioningly. "How can we both escape from our lives for a day when we are getting constant reminders of it by our phones?"
At her words, Jace looks down at his phone and feels a small rush of euphoria rush through him as he powers down his phone. She sees this and smiles hugely at him. He then shuts the door and practically jogs over to the drivers side. The idea of forgetting everything else and just taking pictures all day is something that he hasn't done in literally years. His work schedule never permitted it.
When he reaches his door, he swings it open and jumps up into the truck and shuts the door behind him. He then shrugs off his blazer and tosses it onto the back seat. Jace reaches down and grabs his shirt and then pulls his white button up out of his pants where it was tucked in and runs a hand through his perfectly styled hair leaving a carefully rumpled look in it's wake.
"You look like a kid on Christmas morning." Clary suddenly says in the silence of his truck.
He immediately looks over to her and sees that she has been watching him with those intense eyes of hers and says, "That's because I feel like one. I haven't done anything like this in years."
"Well then you are well overdo." she replies and smiles at him. "Where are we going first?" Jace asks her.
"Just drive until either one of us sees something we like. How does that sound?"
"That sounds perfect." Jace says back to her as their eyes lock together. Jace fumbles with his keys for a second before sticking them in the ignition blindly and turning over the engine. He then regrettably breaks eye contact with her as he then focuses on driving and pulls out into the traffic feeling like he can breath for the first time in months.
Sorry this was a short chapter but this was the only logical place to stop it in my mind. The next chapter will definitely be longer because I want to take my time with their day together. I promise.
Like always, don't forget to follow and review. Your feedback is always welcome!
