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~ I have been thinking lately, and I feel that it is not fair for the guests who don't have any notification to know when a story had been updated. So, this is me telling you that the update of my stories will be done between Friday night and Sunday night (UK time). Sometimes there will be several updates of the same story, if I'm not too busy, and if my Beta isn't too busy as well. Don't forget that two persons are beyond each stories, now. The writer, and the editor. 😉
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Chapter 5: Explanations (3,0K)
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Clary's PoV.
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(Four days after the date with Jace)
"You lost again," I playfully tease Mrs Herondale as I beat her once again at tarot.
It's Monday morning, and since I have the morning off, I decided to stay with Mrs Herondale at her apartment for the morning. We've been playing cards for almost an hour, and, strangely I keep on winning. I guess that life can't suck all the time. I can't have bad luck everywhere (my past, my two weeks in the streets, the pervy DA). For this all yin and yang thing to work, I also need a little luck somewhere in my life. So I guess that luck strikes in the games. Maybe I should get the best of it, and play at the lottery, tonight. I definitely should, tonight's lottery is above the million. So, if my luck stays with me, I'll be a millionaire. Which means that I'll be super rich, and that I'll be able to start my pretty little bakery …... and I should really stop day dreaming like that!
Mrs Herondale snorts at me and takes the cards with a little attitude, so she can mix them up again. But still, I can see that she's trying to hold back a small smile. I guess that she's glad that I stick around from time to time. I know life isn't really easy on her. Her family never drops by, too swamped by their own unimportant worries to take care of that precious life that is their elderly. People. Sometimes their selfish actions just annoy me.
Mrs Herondale has been very kind to me ever since I moved in. Though Magnus Bane is my landlord, she is Magnus Bane's boss; so I guess that she is my indirect landlord. But she never acted like one. When I'm with Mrs Herondale, I feel like I'm with the grandma that I never had. She gave me the addresses to the cheapest supermarkets in the area, she lent me some sheets for my first week, she even helped me pay one week, when I let it slip that it was a hard week for me. Of course, at the time, I didn't know about Magnus Bane being her employee and all. I learned that later on, by spending time with her.
I actually enjoy spending time with her. She has had a very full life full of wonders. I wish I'm like her when I''m her age. Not sick, and still able to remember that there are many amazing things that happened to me. She travelled the whole world! She worked in a circus in her youth, travelling all over Europe before she met her husband who took her to the US. There, she decided to become a teacher, but when it became obvious to her that children weren't her thing, she worked as a flight intendant since her husband was already a pilot. For five years she worked as such, but it was too exhausting for her.
So she decided to settle and let her husband have the crazy hours. She had two kids before she started getting bored with the life of a housewife. And so she studied to become an estate agent. Now, she owns a whole company that is in the hands of Magnus Bane, because she says that she's too old now to worry about all of that.
When I asked why she didn't legate her company to one of her four children or one of her four grand-children, she said that she didn't want them to rely on another's hard work, even if it was hers. So they still touch a percentage of what the company makes, but they won't inherit it in any way. Mr Bane will, because she says that he earned it, and that he will take a good care of it and make it grow properly. She took him in, when he was fresh out of school with his brand new degree, and they've been working together ever since.
As Mrs Herondale deals the cards, someone knocks at her door; and so I get up, telling her that I'll get it. She thankfully smiles to me, because walking around is kind of painful for her even though she says that she doesn't mind, because the pain is a reminder of her wild youth.
But as soon as I open the door, I slam it right back in the face of the person standing there.
It's the freaking DA.
As in the DA who let me an enormous tip in order to get in my pants. He probably came all the way here to collect 'his goods'. How does he even know where I live?!
Oh my God! That creep followed me into my building! Didn't he understand that the fact that I gave him back his bill means that I am not interested in his indecent proposition? What if he doesn't take no for an answer? What if he tries something? What if … What am I going to do? And Mrs Herondale? What have I gotten her into?
"Clary? Who is it, sweetheart?" She asks me, unaware of the creep standing in our hallway. Poor Mrs Herondale, why did I have to bring her all my back luck?
I start looking around for something to defend us against the creepy DA behind the door. I won't lie, I completely panicked.
What are we going to do?
On my tippy-toes, I go back to Mrs Herondale, and I ask her, very scared out of my mind: "Do you have a baseball bat, or something? There's a creep at the door!"
Mrs Herondale looks at me with big goggling eyes, probably lost by my request. She looks at me as if I'm talking gibberish and I guess she's right. How is she supposed to know that my luck is valid only around cards, and not further than that?
Still, there is a creep at her door. Because of me.
For a microsecond, she doesn't say anything, her piercing brown eyes steady on me; and then, she bursts in laughters and painfully gets up. "It's not because a man is wearing a nice suit, that he's a creep, darling. It's probably only the DA who's coming to see me regarding this case building up against my grandson, William," She explains me, and so I internally curse my fate.
Why does stupid fate keep on picking on me? I've always been a good person. I mean, in my few years of existence, I've always been someone good. I brushed my teeth, I helped others, I never raised my voice, and I've taken more shits than most people did in their lives. When I complain, it's only to myself, and the only crime I ever committed was to create a fake ID so I could fit into the working world. So why me?
Mrs Herondale smiles at me and goes to open the door, currently reminding me of the pressing problem behind her door. And so, as the door opens slowly under Mrs Herondale steady grip, I do my best to disappear behind her.
You know, so the DA doesn't see me. (Though it's complete wishful thinking with that stupid hair of mine). It's awful, because I feel like I'm living in a horror movie. The door moves slowly and deliberately, as my eyes grow bigger and bigger with fear. As the door finally opens, the DA appears, still standing there; and his dark brown eyes immediately land on me, obviously surprised to see me there.
I immediately look down on my shoes, mumbling to Mrs Herondale that I will let her be and that I'll drop by tomorrow; and I rush out of her apartment. I dash to my apartment, realising that fate really isn't on my side at this moment. Mrs Herondale and I both live on the same floor, so I don't have any other choice than to enter my own flat under the DA's very attentive eyes. The guy didn't blink away from me even once. Life is way too awkward, sometimes.
As soon as I slam my front door behind me, I slump against it, doing my best to calm my heart, and not to cry. I inhale deeply through my nose and exhale loudly through my mouth, wishing that I did not have such a problematic life. I keep on doing that for a couple of minutes, thinking that I should stop being paranoid. I mean, Mrs Herondale did talk to me about her grandson encountering some problems with the law, and that he was probably going to go to court. So the DA was possibly just shocked to see me at the place of one of his witnesses. It had nothing to do with the tip. I'm the only one who keeps on thinking about it.
Once I am finally calm down, I get up, thinking that I should eat a little before going to work. But before I can do anything, someone knocks on my door. I literally freeze on the spot, because my first thought is that it's the police who're here to take me back there. After all, I am a runaway kid. I try not to shake too much as I look through the peephole in the door, and I heave of relief when I see the DA.
Really, Clary? You are relieved to see a creep!
That's really damaged. I ponder on pretending that I'm not home; but he knocks again, a little bit louder, this time. I grimace, knowing that I can't really pretend. Especially since he literally saw me getting in my apartment just two minutes ago. I really really hate fate, right now.
I creak the door open, only popping half of my face out as I squeak with a voice that I wish was less shaky: "Yes?"
You know what's crazy? The guy smiles to me. He literally fondly smiles to me. As if we were old friends and that he was just happy to see me. What's wrong with him? And you know what's crazier? It's that my eyes automatically fly to his dimple as soon as it appears! I really have mental problems. I don't see any other explanations to the fact that I am more preoccupied by a dimple than by the presence of a creep right before me.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" He asks me with a very courteous voice. I'm sure it's the voice that he uses when he's in Court, trying to get the jury to side with him.
"Not really … I was about to go out," I lie, and I can tell by his face that he knows I just lied. Really? How does he do that?!
Oh, right- he's a lawyer.
It's really annoying to not being able to tell a white lie whenever I want to get out of an awkward situation like this one.
"I just want to clear up that 'tip problem'," He tells me with confidence; and I frown, finding within me an unsuspected assurance as I strongly retort:
"There's nothing to explain. I don't want to do with you that thing that your tip implied. I don't know what I look like to you, but I'm not a girl who opens her legs to someone ready to sugar daddy her. I mean, it's actually really disgusting to think that just because I work as a waitress in a bar, I am ready to do whatever you-"
"I gave you that as an encouragement for your future bakery. Take it more as an investment of my part than as a tip," He cuts me off, and I suddenly find myself stupid. Now, I appear like a pretentious girl who thinks highly of herself and thinks that everyone wants to get in her pants. I tell you: fate hates me.
"So, I guess that you owe me a cupcake for thinking those awful things about me," He confidently says with his dimple smile, already pulling a bill out of his wallet; and I can feel that he's going to push me into accepting his offer. Aargh, I hate dealing with lawyers. They always know how to mess with your mind so you forget your conviction. Jace pulled the 'I'm paying for dinner' thing, and now, his boss is trying to do something similar.
Still, I remind him: "Well, you did wanted to touch my hair. And that is creepy, no matter what you say about it."
He frowns, as if he's struggling with what he wants to say. He actually longly looks at me, his brown eyes saying something that I don't understand. But before I can linger on that, he smiles back and justifies himself: "It was never in my intentions to freak you out. I guess that being a lawyer makes me forget how to properly interact with people, sometimes."
Geez, he seems really shaken by the idea that I think that he is a creep. Which isn't entirely true. I don't think he's a creep. I think he acted like a creep. What with all that hair touching... but I did like talking to him. I liked having a grown up who listened to my career plans and didn't mock me. And apparently, he was even trying to help me.
For a second, I look at him, the same way I analysed him when I first saw him in the bar. To be honest, if you put the suit apart, he doesn't scream lawyer. He looks more like a henchman from an action movie. First of all, he's very tall. I'm sure he's taller than Jace by a good head. Yeah, I'm surrounded by giants. Then, his face is very closed when he doesn't smile. I'm sure you could read 'I'm ready to kill you' on braille on his face. And finally, let's not forget those broad shoulders. He could kill me in an embrace too tight for sure.
With a small sigh, I twitch my mouth a little to the side as he tries to give me back his bill. I don't want to actually accept it, because I still feel weird about it- but I don't want to offend him. I mean, he is the freaking DA So, I tell him: "Let's just say that you don't give me any money right now, but that you will be my first big customer when I open my shop."
He agrees with a small nod, putting back his bill in his wallet, his dimple smile still on as he tells me: "Though, I might come back to taste more of those cupcakes. I really enjoyed our little talk, last time."
I did too. But I'm not going to tell him that. He probably already thinks I'm nuts, I don't want to add any more weirdness into the picture. I'm grateful enough that he cared enough to explain the whole misunderstanding instead of just running off the hill when I literally accused him being a perverted manwhore.
"Well, I shouldn't make Mrs Herondale wait any longer, I'll leave you to your activities. Bye, Clary. See you soon."
He waves (I could swear that he emphasised on the 'see you soon' a little bit too much), and walks back to Mrs Herondale's as I try to understand how he knows my name. I know his name is Valentine because Jace let it slip when he was talking about his boss (unknowingly crushing my dreams of finding my father), but how can he possibly know mine?
For five good minutes I try to wrap my head around his knowledge of my name, when it finally tilts. Mrs Herondale must have told him. After all, he didn't came to knock at my door right way, so he probably asked Mrs Herondale who I was. And if she is not the one who gave him my name, I remember that Kaelie said my name back at the bar.
So it's with a lighter heart and mind that I eat and get ready for work, thinking that I might actually make it to the end in this new life. I mean, I know I started my 'acquaintance' relationships differently and that none of them are my age- but I am still on the way to get a diverse social life, which I never had. It's already so good when I hang out with Mrs Herondale, I can only hope that it will be the same for Jace and Valentine … who knows?
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💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚
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~ What did you guys think of the elaboration of Mrs Herondale. Previously, she was always a part of Clary's life in my mind, but I never laid down the idea. But still, she was. She is important, because she is Clary's first friend (Kaelie is Clary's friend, but she came with work). Jace isn't everything to Clary, and neither is Valentine. They are small parts of her life, and she is actually rather open to them, because Mrs Herondale and Kaelie opened her to the world of friendship.
~ And we saw a little tiny bit of Magnus here. 😉
Anyway, Cassandra Clare owns the names of the characters from the Mortal Instruments franchise, everything else is mine.
Kiss💋 Kiss💋 Bang🔫 Bang🔫.