Hi, how are you people? Hope you're all doing okay. Enjoy new chapter, feat. the Official Asking Out, immature friends, flower trouble, and fluff. I'll update soon for the First Date Pt. II!

- s.i

10: A Cliche Date

Tessa

Will was suspended for a day, not that anyone particularly cared apart from Mrs. Herondale. Cecily told me it was worth it to see how happy he was, and of course that made me blush.

He also had two weeks of detentions, which seemed kind of harsh and also meant Will barely had free time for a while.

But we still talked every chance we got, and our two am calls became regular occurrences. Although, after a while, we called each other earlier and earlier. We were both sleeping better now, too.

In fact, it was a bit before midnight when Will finally asked me out. I was leaning against my bed frame, my homework a forgotten few books near the door and an actual book lying open where it had fallen off my lap. My phone was hot against my ear because it had trouble handling it when I actually used it. Stupid phone.

"So, Tess." Will said. "I was thinking - "

"Oh no."

"Funny." he said. "I was thinking that after all we've been through - "

I snorted.

"Will you let me finish? I've been planning this." he told me.

"Sure, go ahead." I grinned.

"Well," Will said with dignity, "anyway, I think you deserve a proper, cliche date."

"A cliche date?" I asked.

"You know, like a dinner-and-movie thing. Like you've probably read about in a thousand books."

"I usually skim over those scenes." I said. "They're often kind of soppy."

"Trust me," Will said smoothly, "you won't be skimming over anything with me involved."

I blushed, even though we were just talking on the phone. "Will."

"What?" I could practically hear him smirking.

"Okay." I said finally. "Sure, I'll go on a cliche date with you."

"Oh my God." Will said. I heard him yell as he held the phone away from himself, "Oh my God Cecily wake up - Tessa agreed to go out with me!"

"Oh, shut up." I said, but I was trying not to laugh and my cheeks were still warm.

"So, tomorrow at seven? I'll pick you up." Will's voice was exactly the tone that told me he knew I was blushing.

So, of course, I temporarily had to remind myself to speak. A date with Will Herondale.

"Sure." I said finally.

"Although," he said, "we'll probably have to go to my place first. In fact, Sophie will probably pick you up and I'll be kicked out of my own house for ages."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because," Will said grimly, "Cecily, Sophie and Jessamine are not going to let me take you out without helping you get ready."

"Oh no." I thought of Jessamine ordering me to try on her entire wardrobe while Sophie and Cecily shoved me into high heels.

"Exactly." Will said. "I pity you, Tess."

Then we both burst out laughing.

I'd like to say I wasn't that nervous - I mean, I was over at Will's place all the time and we talked every chance we got - but for some inexplicable reason, I was.

The next day I woke up with an unusual crowd of butterflies in my stomach, and they stayed there right up until lunch, where they were suddenly knocked out by something else.

Something in the form of a girl who strutted over to me as I was about to go join my friends at our table.

I recognised her after a moment. She was in some of my classes, and Cecily had pointed her out to me on my first day - with a warning.

Tatiana Lightwood.

"It's Tessa, right?" Tatiana said. She was shorter and slimmer and probably prettier than me in every way - curling dark locks, wide green eyes framed in eyeliner. Her mouth was a big red bow that always seemed to be pouting slightly - force of habit, I imagined.

"Yeah." I said after a moment. Tatiana had never approached me before, and I had never felt the need to start a conversation with her. "You're Tatiana Lightwood."

She gave me a fake smile. "Done your research, have you? Yes, I'm Tatiana, Will's girlfriend."

I stared at her. "What?"

She saw my expression and laughed. "Oh, I mean, I'm not his girlfriend now, exactly, but I was and I will be again."

"And by that you mean…" I prompted, trying to keep the ice out of my tone.

She smiled again - her too red lips curving up like a sneer. "I mean, Tessa, that Will is not yours. He's mine and will always be mine. So if you know what's good for you, I would stay away from him."

I stared at her again, unsure if she could actually be serious.

"What is this, a Mean Girls reenactment?" I asked finally, trying not to laugh. "Will is not yours, Tatiana, or mine. He's actually, surprisingly enough, his own person."

I gave her a pout and fluttered my eyelashes. Okay, maybe I was getting a bit carried away. But still.

Tatiana glared at me. "That's enough of your smart mouth." she hissed, and she didn't look so pretty now. "You will leave Will alone, or you will regret it."

I pouted again. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. Because Will and I are going on a date tonight."

Her eyes widened, and then she practically bared her teeth at me. "He'd never agree to go out with you!"

"Actually," I said, starting to walk past her to my table, "he asked me."

Her face was one I would treasure as I reached the table and sat down.

"What did Tatiana want from you?" Cecily asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing." I said, trying not to smile.

But as the day wore on my triumph slowly faded, until I was left with a slight nagging doubt. If Will and Tatiana actually had gone out once… Surely Will didn't still care about her, he'd barely mentioned her.

It's fine. I told myself repeatedly. Don't be all paranoid and clingy, you hate that type of thing.

And by the time Sophie picked me up at my house after school, I'd almost managed to put Tatiana out of my mind.

"So," Sophie said with an evil grin as we drove to Will's place. "How do you feel?"

I blushed slightly. "Well I was feeling fine until you made me nervous!"

Sophie laughed. "It'll be great. Just you wait until Cecily, Jessamine and I do you up."

"Why, what's wrong with me looking like my actual self?" I muttered.

Sophie just smiled knowingly. "Oh, you'll look like yourself. Yourself at a supermodel level."

"Oh, angels help me." I sighed.

Cecily and Jessamine burst the door open as soon as we knocked on Cecily's front door.

"Will's been kicked out." Cecily informed me. "We sent him and Jem to go get flowers. It'll take them ages to make up their minds on the right kind, poor helpless things."

"Um - " was all I managed before I was dragged upstairs.

Mrs. Herondale hugged me in the kitchen with bright eyes and a wobbly smile. "I'm so proud," she told me, before Jessamine yanked me away to Cecily's bedroom.

"We have to get you an outfit." she said, eyeing my current jeans and jumper with distaste.

In my defence, the jeans were the nicest pair I owned. But apparently they weren't good enough.

Cecily's bed had been taken over by clothes, much to her annoyance. Jessamine had bought a pile. "Choose a dress, Tessa." she said with a terrifying grin.

"Uh… that white one." I said after a moment, gesturing at a simple dress with no lace.

"Absolutely not!" Jessamine and Sophie said at the same time. Cecily and I shared a look and rolled our eyes.

"What if you spill something on that dress?" Sophie said. "You'll have to go round all night with a huge stain!"

"Fine, fine." I said. "Not that dress. Though I don't know why you bought it if - "

"This one." Jessamine declared, picking up something shimmering and purple. "It says, I'm fashionable and fun, but not overly slutty. I'll let you kiss me but only once."

"How… do you get all that from a dress?" I asked.

"Shh." Jessamine waved a dismissive hand at me, studying the dress. "Don't question the master, grasshopper."

She held up the dress to me.

"No." Sophie and Cecily said immediately.

"No." Jessamine agreed, chucking the dress into a corner to stay there in crumpled shame.

"What, am I not fashionable and fun enough?" I asked defensively.

"Not really." Jessamine said unapologetically, already picking up another dress.

I sighed. This was going to take a while.

Finally, after the 'corner of shame' was full of a pile of dresses and I had tried on enough clothes to make my head spin, we settled on a floaty blue dress that reminded me of a morning sky.

Sophie dragged me over to a mirror. "Look," she said proudly.

"I… wow." I said, staring. The dress drew in and then fanned out, making my waist look small and my hips look curvy. It accented everything it was supposed to, making my eyes bluer and my cheeks rosier.

"That will do." Jessamine said, smiling at me in the mirror reflection.

Next, they made me parade round the room in various high heels, tripping over everything - including my own feet.

"Heels are so uncomfortable!" I complained.

"Beauty is pain." Jessamine said, unsympathetic.

Finally, Cecily convinced her to let me wear flat shoes - thank the angels.

Sophie attacked my hair with a brush, braiding and twirling it with her mouth full of pins. Jessamine touched up my face with various terrifying makeup utensils while Cecily ranted about social media body images and feminism in the background.

Then Cecily and I wiped off half my makeup while Jessamine sulked. I left on a bit of eyeliner and the powder - after all, it would hide my blushes a bit - and finally agreed to let Jessamine colour my lips slightly.

Sophie had twirled my hair half up, half down, braiding it over the top like a crown.

"Wow." I said finally. "Guys, I feel like a movie star. Isn't this… a bit much?"

"Of course not," Jessamine said at the same time that Cecily muttered, "definitely."

Sophie smiled at me, pulling me in for a hug. "You look amazing. Will is going to completely flip out."

"Don't wrinkle her dress!" Jessamine warned Sophie, pulling her away from me. Then Jessamine sighed and hugged me anyway - a rare show of affection that left me staring.

And then Cecily hugged me too, smirking at me. "You'll be amazing, Tessa."

"It's just a date, guys." I said.

"No such thing." Jessamine said. "You've got to give this everything you have. Remember, be cool, don't be too desperate or forward, don't show teeth, smile instead of laugh - "

"Don't scare her!" Sophie said, taking in my terrified expression.

"It's fine." Cecily told me. "It's just dinner and a movie with my idiot brother."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "I can do this."

Just then, the doorbell rang. Sophie yelped, Jessamine started tugging me down the stairs so fast that I nearly tripped, Cecily was running past me with a shout, Mrs. Herondale was trying not to cry while telling me that I looked beautiful, and we were all dashing to the front door.

"I don't see why I have to ring the doorbell." Will's voice was muffled from the other side of the door. "It's my own house!"

"It's a date, Will." came Jem's exasperated answer.

"Yeah, Will!" Cecily yelled, reaching the door. "You'd better have flowers or I'm not letting you in!"

"What am I doing?" I whispered, freezing up as I reached the door.

"We have flowers!" Jem yelled from the other side.

"It's going to fine, Tessa." Sophie said quickly.

"You look great." Jessamine said. "Thanks to me, of course."

"Are you ready?" Cecily asked me, hand on the door.

I let out a breath. "Okay… yes, I'm ready. Oh, angels." I was sort of laughing, sort of trying to remember how to breathe. Sophie hugged me quickly, beaming.

Cecily gave me an evil grin and swung the door open.

Will

Shopping for flowers had quickly turned out to be just as hard as Cecily had said it would be.

"What about these little blue ones?" Jem asked, trying to be helpful. "Tessa likes blue. They're… uh… small."

"Jem," I sighed, "that is not the way to charm ladies. Besides, I said this was going to be a cliche date. I need big, red roses."

I walked over to a pot of them, brushing the dark petals with my fingers.

"Oh no," Jem said, coming up behind me, "they're so… tasteless."

"Cliche." I corrected. "It's like an inside joke for intellectuals."

"Do you even know what's coming out of your mouth half the time?" Jem asked. "Oh, look at those yellow roses. They're roses, and yellow's a pretty colour."

I quickly searched up yellow roses on my phone. "No no no. Yellow roses mean friendship. I can't give those to Tessa!"

"She won't know what they mean!" Jem argued.

"Yeah, but I will!" I looked round at the bursting shop, full of rainbow petals, and sighed. "What's the flower that means catastrophic love?"

Jem snorted. "What's the flower that means hopeless idiocy?"

"Why?" I asked with a smirk. "Do you want to buy it?"

Jem rolled his eyes and elbowed me, and I nearly tripped into a bouquet of syrupy yellow daffodils.

"Excuse me, boys." came a voice. One of the shop assistants had come over with her hands on her hips. "Please don't wreck our shop."

"Sorry," we both said sheepishly.

She sighed. "What are you two looking for, anyway? Maybe I can help before you crush half the flowers."

Jem smirked, pointing at me. "He's going on a date."

The assistant's face transformed into a knowing smile. "Ah." she smirked as well. "May I recommend the red roses? They're a classic - they'll make every girl's heart throb."

Jem rolled his eyes and I grinned at him. "I'll by a bunch of those, then. Thanks."

And so a bouquet of scarlet flowers joined Jem and I as we drove back to my place. I was trying not to freak out - I mean honestly, it was just a date.

"I can't believe you're actually nervous." Jem smirked.

"I'm not!" I said, jerking the steering wheel violently as we rounded a corner.

"Oh, sure." Jem replied. "I bet all the girls have completely dressed Tessa up and they're probably all going to be at the front door laughing at you."

"Thanks." I muttered. "That helps."

Seriously - I was Will Herondale, I'd been on more dates than I could remember, I was never at a loss for words. Why was Tessa suddenly spinning me off balance?

It turned out Jem was right, as I parked the car and we rung the doorbell. I was clutching the roses like a lifeline, Jem was trying not to sneeze from the scent.

I heard running feet and a shriek from somewhere inside - which made my stomach flip. I started grumbling about having to ring the doorbell so I had something to say, and Jem just rolled his eyes.

Cecily's voice yelled something about flowers and I clutched the roses even tighter. There was a flurry of whispers and just as I was about to ask if they were going to ever open the door or just leave me in this torture all night, Cecily finally opened the door.

Oh, angels help me.

Cecily, Sophie and Jessamine were all wearing identical smirks, trying not to laugh at me while I tried to remember my dignity. I didn't have to look sideways to know Jem was trying not to laugh as well. "You look great, Tessa," he said.

She did. She was wearing a blue dress - Jem had been right about the blue, then - and I had to force myself not to stare at the way it curved round her hips and floated out just above her knees. Her lips were almost as red as the roses, and she was sort of looking at me and ever so slightly smiling, and her eyes were big and shy and entrancing and I was totally screwed.

"You look amazing." I said finally, and thank whatever deities and angels that watched over me who kept my voice steady.

She did smile then, and it was like looking straight at the sun. If I stared too long, it would hurt. So instead I held out the roses and said, "Cecily wouldn't tell me the colour theme, but these should go anyway."

Cecily snorted and Sophie was raising her eyebrows at me, and Jessamine just rolled her eyes. But Tessa grinned and took the roses. "They're lovely, thank you." she said. "Very cliche."

And I probably would have just kept standing there trying to remember how to think if Cecily hadn't started pushing Tessa out the door. "You two have got to go on a date, remember?"

And the girls all hung out of the door, laughing as I offered Tessa my hand and we walked back to my car. Jem gave Tessa a hug and me a thumbs up, and Sophie blew kisses, and they all waved like mad as Tessa got in the car and I manoeuvred us out of the driveway.

And then we were alone, driving down the quiet street. "They're probably all holding each other up laughing." I said, looking over at Tessa.

She grinned. "And they'll never let us hear the end of it."