The soft notes of a piano drifted through the atrium. Above her, flowers embraced each other and decorated the cream coloured walls. On the other side of the room, people gathered around the waiters who carried champagne and other fancy beverages.
Clary stood by the wall in the bridesmaid's dress and high heels, wearing the latter against her will. One of her hands fiddled with the lace on her light blue dress while the other clutched the stem of her glass. As she took a sip of the lemonade, she closed her eyes and tried to calm her stomach down. It would not be good if she threw up at her mother's wedding.
She had been wanting to go outside, but the door was far from where she stood and the mere thought of walking that distance in her heels made her stomach churn. Clary didn't know why she felt sick, all she had had that morning was a cup of coffee.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Desperately, she tried focusing on her breathing instead of on the nauseous feeling in her stomach. It didn't appear to make any difference.
"Excuse me are you finished with your drink?" a male voice said. The voice belonged to a blond waiter dressed in black trousers and a black shirt.
Glancing down at the mint leaves wrinkled at the bottom of her drink, Clary nodded. She placed the glass on the tray balanced on his hand and watched him walk away. Then the sick feeling returned again.
Maybe she should have focused on sounds not her breathing. Yes, that was what she should probably have done.
Closing her eyes, she focused on the sweet tune of the piano, the way that the notes dipped and soared. And, miraculously, her stomach started to feel better, but not completely. So Clary headed towards the piano where it would be loudest.
She dodged a laughing couple, who were clutching champagne glasses, and dodged another waiter brandishing a tray before she made it to the piano.
It wasn't black like she had expected it; it was a magnolia colour. Balanced on the corner of the upright piano was a vase of fresh pink and white flowers. A long bench, with a velvet top, stretched the length of the piano. Upon it sat a man dressed in black like the rest of the waiters around the room.
For a few minutes, Clary just stood by the piano listening to the music, revelling in the absence of her nauseous feeling. Her feet were beginning to ache but she had no intention of leaving the piano in case she started to feel unwell again. So she asked the pianist if she could sit on the bench. He nodded, the music never faltering.
For a long time, she watched his long slender fingers play with more grace than she had in her entire body. But then he stopped. Confused, she turned to him.
"Why did you stop?"
"Look around you," he said gesturing with a single hand.
As she followed his hand she noticed something. The room was empty. Clary swore under her breath.
"Don't you need to go as well to, you know, have lunch and watch them cut their cake?"
Just the thought of food made her stomach protest. "If I go, I know I'm gonna throw up."
His eyes wandered over her face for a moment, presumably taking in her pale face. It was only then that Clary noticed the colour of his eyes. They were gold.
"D'you wanna go outside?" he asked.
Clary shook her head. "Can you play some more?"
Nodding, he turned back to the piano and soon the notes filled the empty room. She watched him play, the way he closed his eyes and the way his body shifted with the music. She was fascinated with the fact that he didn't follow any music sheets and instead played from memory. But once again he stopped.
"My shift's about to finish, do you wanna go outside now?"
"Okay."
Remarkably, Clary was feeling a lot better, but still not well enough to go back to her mum. So instead she followed the blond man who, when she thought about it, looked to be around 20 or so.
When they had made it outside, Clary stopped. Beneath her there was a staircase leading to the gardens below. If there was one thing in life she truly hated it would have to be going down staircases in heels. Every time she took one step she felt as if she going to hurtle down the remaining steps. She almost had that morning.
She had nearly made it through the stairs when she fell. Luckily, she was only on the bottom step. Unluckily, she landed on the ground with piles of lace around her.
"I have never seen anyone trip on thin air," the man said, teasingly.
"I'm wearing thses stupid heels," grumbled Clary.
"How do you trip on those?" he said helping her when she stumbled on her dress, "They're about an inch."
Clary didn't answer him and instead focused on not falling over again. She didn't want a stranger helping her. She didn't even know his name. She probably should have gone back inside but that option seemed boring
"Hey what's your name?"
He glanced sideways at her before answering with, "Jace. You?"
"Clary."
They had arrived at a small stone patio, tucked away from the wedding hall. There was a wooden railing on one side overlooking the golf course below. Jace immediately went over to the railing and leaned over it so that the slight wind combed through his hair.
"So which side of the family have you come for? Bride or groom?" he said, breaking the silence that Clary had been using to observe the grounds below.
"Umm, well my mum's the one getting married but Luke's going to be my step-dad so I guess both."
Jace stared at her for a few minutes, his eyes wide. "Don't you think they'll want you to be with them?"
Clary snorted as she sat down on an old stone bench. "Yeah, right. I'm sure my mum will be really happy if I throw up on her and the cake. She knows I'm feeling ill. She'll be fine."
"Well if you're sure," Jace said, turning around so that he could face her. He had a faraway expression on his face as if he didn't notice the silence settling between them. Clary noticed. And she wanted to break it. She wanted to break it with something witty, creative and interesting. Instead she said, "How old are you?"
He jolted like he had forgotten she was there. "17, what 'bout you?"
"Yeah I turned 17 a couple days ago. But if you're 17 why are you playing at some wedding and not going to school or college?" Clary was genuinely curious.
"I never said I didn't. I needed money for college and I like the piano. So I got the job and play here in the holidays."
"You're good at it."
"Of course I'm good at it."
Clary decided to ignore his remark.
"How long have you been playing the piano?"
Jace laughed, a sound that Clary instantly wanted to hear again. "I've been playing it since I was 5. Don't you have a hobby that you really enjoy?"
"Yeah, art. But I'm not good at it."
"Well next time I want to see your work."
Clary's brain stopped at the 'next time'. What did he mean by 'next time'? He wanted to see her again? Here was a boy, who she barely knew, that wanted to see her again. That just didn't process in Clary's mind.
"Bye."
Her head snapped to the direction of the sound and her eyes took in the sight of Jace's retreating back. Until he had rounded the corner and disappeared, Clary's eyes were glued to the back of his figure.
What the hell had just happened?
She blinked a few times. He didn't seem quite real, their conversation was odd and brief. Maybe this hadn't happened. But she soon realised that it had when she went back to the place where he had been leaning against.
Above the brick, between the moss that filled the cracks, there was a piece of paper. Torn at the edges. With a string of numbers on it and written beneath it, in untidy handwriting, the initials JCH.
She didn't have to call him. Clearly it was her choice and the decision was in her hands. She didn't know him. She didn't even know what the 'CH' in 'JCH' stood for.
She didn't have to call him.
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The bedroom was dark, the curtains were drawn. Beneath the covers Clary lay, holding her phone.
And she did exactly what she had told herself she wasn't going to do: she texted him.
Java Jones 2:30 on the 30th?
She didn't even have to write her name because less than a minute later came the reply.
okay clary
Maybe she wasn't the only one holding her phone, waiting, at midnight.
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Nervous. That was what Jace felt as he sat on a threadbare sofa in Java Jones. Jace Herondale, who was never nervous about anything, was nervous about a girl. A girl. He didn't know what was wrong with him.
Last week,he had been completely absorbed in playing the piano. When he had heard someone ask if they could sit beside him, he simply nodded. It wasn't unusual. Often, some old lady would ask that but when his shift had ended and he finally saw the person sitting next to him, he froze.
Beside him sat a girl with long red hair and eyes like the green scales of a dragon. And he froze. He froze. He didn't have some smooth reply or witty comment. He had nothing. And it scared him.
When they were outside, he had tried to be nonchalant and act as if he wasn't affected by her present. Inside, however, his stomach felt as if it had suddenly been filled with snakes, coiling and uncoiling within him.
Then he had thought about leaving his number for her. So he had. And he left without a glance back, knowing that if he stayed the nervous feeling would return. And Jace didn't like that feeling, but he did like the girl
The scrape of a chair brought him out of his thoughts and into the present. Opposite him, Clary had dropped her bag, smiling at him.
"Hey," she said, catching sight of his coffee, "I'm gonna order, I'll be back in a bit."
Turning on her heel, she went over to the counter where the line was considerably shorter than when Jace had ordered. Even though she was gone, he couldn't drag his eyes from her hair. It was so bright. In the hazy air of the coffee shop, it was like a flicker of a flame in a shroud of smoke.
He only looked away when another person joined the queue, blocking Clary from his sight. Wrapping his hands around his mug, Jace took a small sip of his coffee, breathing in its sharp scent. He was trying to calm his heart down because the thought of her arm brushing his, when he had been playing the piano, had just entered his mind.
"I brought my sketchbook with me, 'cause y'know you asked for it last time," Clary said, effectively breaking him out of his thoughts.
Opposite to him, Clary was now rummaging around in her bag, while her hair fell in fiery tendrils around her face. Jace averted his eyes. Instead, he focused on the drink that she had just purchased.
"Is that just black coffee? Like, does it have any sugar?" Jace asked, purely out of curiosity. Jace couldn't imagine this girl, who was rather small looking, drink something so strong.
"Huh?" Clary said, glancing up from her bag, "Oh, yeah it is. Here's my sketchbook."
At first, she seemed hesitant to give it to him, and clung to it for a few more moments than necessary, but soon she handed it over to him. As he carefully opened the book, he wasn't expecting much, but when his eyes caught sight of the first drawing his breath got stuck in his throat. How could a pencil create something so detailed?
Every stroke of the pencil seemed to fit together and the proportions of the figure were accurate. The hair was drawn in such a way that he could see which strands of it had captured the light and which hadn't. There was only one word for this piece of work: breathtaking.
"This, Clary, this is good," Jace said, once he had recovered from the shock. Clary, who had had her lip between her teeth, smiled. "You think so? You're not just lying?"
Jace laughed, how could she be so oblivious? "Clary have you ever seen anyone else draw?"
"Well my mum, she's an artist, but not really anyone else."
"Well most normal kids haven't advanced from stick figures. I, personally, can't even do that."
Clary laughed at this. "But you're good at the piano."
"Maybe, but in all the competitions I've entered I've never won."
"I don't believe you. They just weren't listening properly when you played," Clary said fiercely. She seemed to have noticed what she'd said and a slight colouring tinted her cheeks.
"Well I auditioned to play with some orchestra in a few months so we'll see if you're right," Jace said, taking a long sip of his coffee.
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"Hey Claaaryyy."
"Claaaryyy."
Clary almost hung up when she heard Simon's voice.
"Simon, it's 9 on a Sunday morning. You better have good reason as to why you woke me up."
"And that I do have, Fray. I need you to come to band practice with me."
"When is it?" Clary asked. All she really wanted was some coffee, then maybe she'd get up. Maybe.
"Around lunch-ish."
"Lunch," Clary muttered, wracking her brain. Something important was happening at lunch... Something like...
"I'm meeting Jace at lunch. So, no I can't come."
"Clary this Jace guy is dodgy."
Clary just snorted.
"You're only saying that 'cause you're not my only friend now. How does the competition feel Simon?" she teased.
Simon muttered something that was lost over the phone.
"What about you and Isabelle, huh? I don't complain about you two."
"But that's because Izzy's my girlfriend."
"What if Jace was my boyfriend?"
Simon made a spluttering, choking sound on the other end of the phone whereas Clary burst out laughing.
"Relax, relax," Clary said in between her laughs, "He's not my boyfriend. He's only a friend."
Even though the words that Clary had said were true, that didn't mean that she was happy with them. Once Simon's choking had subsided, he spoke up again, "At least tell me when you're going to say something like that, Clary, so I can finish my drink."
"What's so wrong about Jace being my boyfriend, huh?" Clary asked.
"He just gets on my nerves, okay?"
"Okay fine, see you tomorrow Si," said Clary, hanging up the phone.
Once she had showered and had got dressed, Clary slipped her headphones into her ear. Whilst she was making her coffee, music blared through the small speakers. She was just lifting the cup to her lips, when her phone vibrated. Sighing, she flipped it over. It was probably Simon trying to annoy her again. She was wrong. It was Jace.
you still free for lunch?
Clary smiled. Whenever Jace sent her a text or called her, it usually made her day better. A lot of the calls had been him asking her if they could meet up someplace. Every one of those meetings had been great days.
yeah but where're we going?that's for me to know and you to find outyou're so annoyingI know but that's why everyone likes me so much including youA smile surfaced upon Clary's face.
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It was that awkward time of the year when summer was officially over but autumn hadn't yet arrived. The trees were beginning to turn into beautiful hues of red and orange, but, occasionally, a warm breeze swept through the leaves, making the fallen ones dance across the floor.
Clary clutched the straps of her cloth bag as she saw Jace arriving. In one hand, he clutched a paper bag and in the other two bottles of water. When he saw her, he smiled.
"Good you're already here. If I had to wait any longer I'd probably eat your food as well."
Jace dropped down beside her, handing the her the paper bag. Inside were some apples, cheese sandwiches and a bar of fruit and nut chocolate, which Clary immediately pulled out.
"I made it myself," Jace said, eyes closed.
"What the chocolate?" she asked incredulously, as she unwrapped it and broke off a chunk. Jace snorted.
"Yes of course the chocolate, Clary. I just do that in my free time," said Jace sarcastically, while he snatched the chunk of chocolate from between her fingers. She retaliated by biting straight into the rest of the bar of chocolate.
Clary watched as Jace's eyes darted to her mouth, where it was undoubtedly covered in chocolate.
"That's disgusting," Jace said, once he looked away from her mouth and to the rest of the chocolate. Clary waved the bar of chocolate, with her teeth marks, in front of his face, teasingly.
"But you'll probably still eat it anyway."
He reached over her suddenly, pulling out the sandwiches from the paper bag.
"Ohhh, you made the sandwiches," Clary said, as she caught sight of the slightly lumpy pieces of bread.
"Finally, she gets it," Jace said, shooting her a grin. He handed her a sandwich. She took a large bite of it.
"Don't tell me that this is not delicious."
Clary swallowed and said, with a smothered laugh, "It's a good attempt."
"These are the sorts of things that hurt my ego."
Clary openly laughed at that. "You have the biggest ego ever. Nothing ever gets through that to you."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, as they finished the sandwiches. Both of them were too hungry to do anything but eat. After she had swallowed the last bite, Clary pulled out her sketchbook. This one was her actual one.
When Jace had asked Clary, at her mother's wedding, to bring her sketchbook to him the next time they met, she hadn't. Instead, when they were at the coffee shop, she had brought a new sketch book with drawings she had done that very morning. Those sketches had not been personal, unlike the ones in the book she was holding now.
Over the past few weeks, Clary had been showing her real sketchbook to Jace and more often than not he'd be stunned. To say that this boosted Clary's confidence, in her artwork, was an understatement.
"I did a new sketch," Clary said, balancing the book on both of their laps. Jace, who had been taking a sip of his water, nodded eagerly. Slowly, simply to annoy him, she began to flip the pages, trying to find the right drawing.
"Oh my God, Clary, can you hurry up?" groaned Jace.
Finally, she turned the last page and handed the book to him. At first, his face was blank but that quickly changed to a look of shock and then awe.
"Wow, that's..."
"I take it that you like it," Clary said, laughing. It wasn't often that Jace was speechless and whenever she had shocked him it gave her a happy and satisfied feeling.
"I just... How? How do you do this?" he asked, his mouth still open.
Clary just laughed and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I don't know how I draw. I just do. But a lot of the skill comes from practice."
"Even if I practised, I'd probably be only able to draw a stick man , maybe with clothes if I got lucky."
"Well, at least I can be better than you in one thing," Clary said, her eyes closing.
Jace grumbled something that she couldn't catch. She felt her limbs begin to get slightly heavy, and the warm, happy feeling inside her was starting to make her feel sleepy. Maybe just a short nap...
"Umm, Clary, I hate to break to you, but this bench is not your bed."
He started jiggling his shoulder, so that her head started painfully bumping up and down.
"Could you be less annoying for once?" Clary said, rubbing her head.
"Not a chance. Now c'mon let's go on a walk."
When Clary just glared at him he said, "It'll wake you up better."
As he held out his hand , Clary took it and slung her bag over her shoulder, putting the chocolate bar and bottles of water inside of it. "Hey, did you still want the apple?" Clary asked, holding one out to Jace. He nodded and took it from her hand, while Clary bit into hers.
With their hands now joined, they walked for a while in a comfortable silence, through the tunnels of trees. Whenever the wind blew through them, their leaves would fall and twirl, like sparks from a fire.
"This time next year, you'll be in college. Are you excited?" Jace asked.
As she chewed on her apple, she thought about it. The prospect of going to college seemed exciting but daunting at the same time. She'd have to go to a new college without anyone she knew. Unsure of her reply, she answered with, "Aren't you?"
He swallowed a bit of his apple and said, "I don't know if I'm even gonna go."
Shocked, Clary asked, "Why not?"
"Well, it's not about the money, it's just that it's not that appealing to me. I mean can you imagine me behind a desk all day?"
"No, but you can sit behind your piano for hours," said Clary, grinning.
Smiling, Jace took the last bite of his apple and tossed it into a bin. "That's different because I like sitting behind a piano and I don't like sitting behind a desk."
Clary was just finishing her apple, when Jace spoke up again.
"Speaking about pianos -"
"We were speaking about pianos. There was a huge gap," Clary said, throwing her apple into a metal trashcan.
"Well we're speaking about it now. I got in!" said Jace, grinning, his grip on her hand tightening.
"You got in to what?" said Clary, slowly.
"You know, that performance I auditioned for."
As he said those, she suddenly remembered when he told her about it, in that coffee shop, weeks ago.
"So I was right," Clary said, looking up at his still grinning face. His smile softened as he said, "Yeah, you were."
"Well in that case..."
She hadn't planned for what had happened next, but she didn't regret any of it. Standing on the tips of her toes, Clary placed her hand on the side of his face and leaned in to touch her lips to his. Immediately, Jace cupped the back of her neck, kissing her back. Her neck and hands were tingling from his touch and she felt as if everything around them had suddenly gone and he was only the ononly thing there. Eventually, they had to pull away and, when they did, Jace rested his head on top of Clary's.
For a while, they were quiet and the silence unnerved Clary. What was he thinking? Had she just ruined their friendship? But then Jace spoke up, "I didn't think you'd ever do that."
"Well I did," Clary said.
"And, God, am I glad that you did. But I forgot to ask you, can you come to see me. It's next month, on the 18th."
"Of course I'll come," Clary said, so glad that nothing had gone wrong between them and that they could just continue on as if nothing major had happened.
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Over the next few weeks, Jace practised hard for his performance on the 18th. Both him and Clary didn't go out that often together, partly because of the weather but also because of how busy he had become. Between rehearsals with the rest of the people he was playing with and practising by himself, time that they had to spent together was rare and, when they did, it was usually in front of Jace's piano.
He could remember one time when Clary had simply sat beside him for three hours straight as he played, with her head resting on his shoulder. That was probably one of the best days he'd had in a while. But now, it was November 18th and it was the day that Jace was performing.
He was currently standing backstage with cables and odd bits of furniture surrounding him. Around him, performers held their instruments. He could hear the sound of a violin being played onstage and the thought that after they had finished he would have to play made his palms sweat.
A few minutes later, a loud round of claps rang throughout the room and, suddenly, people were ushering him on stage. As he walked across it, he tried to compose himself looking straight ahead for the person that would signal for him to begin.
When they did, he took a deep breath and then began. At first, the presence of the audience unnerved him but soon he forgot about them and was lost in the music like always. So, when he finished playing, he was startled to hear claps from hundreds of people.
Standing up, he caught sight of Clary, easily noticed with her bright red hair among muted colours. She was smiling at him and he smiled back. He had been worried that she wouldn't have been able to make it, but she had.
Once he was backstage, he finally let out a deep breath. A few people congratulated him but most were too wrapped up in their own nerves. He stayed there while the rest of the performers played and this time he could appreciate how skilled they were.
An hour later he was in the foyer amidst people wearing formal attire although there was only one person that he was looking for and that was Clary. His adopted mother and siblings were beside him congratulating him and handing him a bouquet of flowers.
"I told you you wouldn't make any mistakes," Max Lightwood, his six year old brother, said gleefully.
"Yeah, yeah, well done. We've heard you play that like a thousand times, we knew you weren't gonna mess up," Isabelle said, "Now can we go. I don't wanna stay around and watch Jace make out with his girlfriend."
"No, you wanna go and do that with Simon," Jace retorted.
Izzy just grinned and said, "Maybe."
"Where's Alec?" Jace asked, though he suspected where he might be. Whenever they all went out he usually didn't come, he was instead with his boyfriend.
"He said he was ill," Maryse said. So he was with his boyfriend.
It was at that moment that Clary appeared beside Jace which caused Izzy to say, "And that's our que to leave."
"Bye Jace and Clary!" Max shouted, as he was dragged away by Isabelle.
Jace waved at Max before he turned to Clary. In her hands she had a smaller bunch of flowers, flowers that were in shades of reds and oranges.
"Hey, I got you these," she said, handing the flowers to him and revealing a grey dress behind them. With difficulty, he took them.
"You know I'm not a flower kinda guy, you didn't have to get me them."
"Yeah, but that's what people do at these things, so suck it up," she said grinning.
"How long have you got 'til you have to get home?" Jace asked.
"Well Mum's at Luke's and Jon's out with his friends so they won't notice that I'm gone. I've probably got all night."
"Good," Jace said. "We can actually spend some time together now."
After dodging a couple groups of people, they finally made it to the entrance and into the cold air outside, where their breaths curled from out of their mouths. At regular intervals, streetlights stood on the sidewalk, creating small circles of light in the darkness.
It took them a few minutes to reach Clary's car as she had parked it in the corner. Once inside, Jace tossed his flowers onto the backseat.
"Hey! Watch it, those were expensive," Clary said, as she pulled out of the car park.
Ignoring that, Jace asked, "Where are we going?"
"Where do you want to?"
"Now that you mention it, I'm kinda hungry..."
"Okay Taki's it is then," Clary said, as she took a sharp right turn onto a small road.
Jace leaned back and closed his eyes. It was only now that the tiredness took over. He only realised now how little sleep he'd had over the last few weeks. In the foyer, everyone had been congratulating him but now that he was alone with Clary he could finally relax.
With his eyes only open a crack, he watched the blurs of gold and black fly by. He kept on watching until his eyes closed all the way.
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He awoke to the smell of French fries. Rubbing at his face, he looked around for Clary and was met with the sight of her eating. She swallowed, before she said, "Finally, the old man awakes."
He just snatched some of the chips from her and stuffed them into his mouth. "Why didn't you wake me up?" he mumbled from around another mouthful of food.
"You just looked so tired. I mean your eyes basically look like they belong to a panda," she said, opening the door and slipping outside. Jace followed her onto the bonnet of the car.
Even though he didn't know where they were, he knew that they were far away from the city because there was no light pollution and the stars were bright. Around them the nearly empty branches of the trees swayed in the slight cool breeze. Jace didn't notice the cold because Clary's hand was in his and he could feel her warmth along the side of his body.
For a while they were just silent, eating their food and enjoying their first proper moment together for a long time. That was until Clary broke the silence.
"What are you going to do now?"
It was a question that could have had many answers. She may have wanted to know what he was going to do with the rest of his life (like college) or perhaps it was just a simple one, about his near future. So he replied with the answer he was most sure with, he kissed her.
He buried his hand in her hair, feeling the way it curled around his fingers. At the same time, her small hands, that were much stronger than they looked, wrapped around his back. They only thing keeping him from falling.
When they broke apart, with Clary's fast breaths tumbling over his face, they only stayed there for a few moments before she kissed him again. Even though this kiss was much shorter, it ended with words that meant more than kisses. "I love you," she said, her eyes closed and face open.
He paused. She had just omitted something incredibly important and she was now before him with nothing. Everything was stripped away and he had the power to hurt her. But he didn't because she trusted him and he her.
And that was why he replied with those same simple words that were so difficult to say, "I love you, too Clary."
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"Is it annoying you that someone else is playing the piano?" Clary asked, while Jace's arms were wrapped around her waist.
"Of course it does! I play way better than them. I just want to march up there and play it properly," he replied, his lips brushing against her forehead.
"I see that your piano means more to you than your own wife," Clary said grinning. The last word still seemed unusual, just like the new ring on her finger, that had only been added earlier on that day.
"You know that it doesn't," Jace said, softly, instantly serious.
"Well that's a relief," Clary said. "It's always good to know that I mean more to you than some pieces of wood."
He rolled his eyes, laughing, before pulling her away from the dance floor and towards a passing waiter from which he stole a glass from. Holding it out to her, he asked, "D'you want some?"
Looking down at it she realised that it was lemonade, in a glass similar to the one that she had drank from years ago at another wedding. "Sure," she said, as he tipped it towards her mouth.
Immediately, she choked on it, the liquid lodged in the wrong airway. Beside her, Jace was rubbing her back, trying not to laugh. "How many times have you done that today? Clearly you're choking on your drinks because you see how good I look in this suit."
"Actually, it's how bad you look in that suit," she said, teasingly tugging on a lock of his hair.
He leaned down quickly to kiss her lips and, just as quickly, moved away.
"Are you wearing heels? 'Cause you're still kinda short."
"Shut up. It's not my fault I'm married to a giant."
"Im not even that tall though, compared to you everyone's a giant."
"Compared to you everyone's tiny," muttered Clary, not angry because Jace was just teasing. Besides she always annoyed him about his irrational fear of ducks.
"Clary! Jace!"
As she turned around, a ball of dark suit and dark hair ran into Jace, wrapping their arms around him. Soon after Izzy appeared, looking dazzling in a short mint green dress.
The dark ball lifted up its head so that Max's pale face could be seen, his grey eyes large in comparison to his small face.
"I haven't seen you all day, Jace. Well apart from when you and Clary were kissing," he said, looking up at Jace.
"When Max? You'll have to be more specific," said Isabelle. "Jace is always kissing his girlfriend."
"Wife, Izzy. Where've you been for the last 5 hours?"
"You guys literally met, like, two years ago and now you're married. So it's not my fault I got your relationship status wrong," Isabelle said, grinning. It was true. They hadn't been dating for too long before Jace proposed and, although Clary had been slightly apprehensive, she had agreed. One of the reasons for her apprehension was that she was still in college, and would still be for a while. However, Jace wasn't and he had a job and an apartment (although the latter was rather small).
"Now if you'll excuse me," Izzy said. "I've got to go find Simon." Her eyes were looking around the room, pausing every few moments, before she darted off into the crowd of milling people.
"Max, I think you should follow Izzy. Simon probably wants to talk to you about the latest comic he's reading," Jace said. Clary knew that this was most likely not true and that he was only saying this to spend his time with Clary alone.
"Okay," Max said, completely oblivious to Jace's ulterior motives.
"You're such a horrible brother," Clary said, when Max left. "You know he looks up to you. The least you could do was talk to him."
"I can do that any other day, but I can't enjoy today any other time. I wanna show you something, come on."
She laced her fingers with his as he lead her away from where they had been and through the many people at their wedding. They had wanted a small wedding and, while Jocelyn thought that it was small, Clary thought that it wasn't, but at least she knew everyone here. There weren't any of her mother's work colleagues that she had never heard of and that was always great.
Between getting stopped by guests to chat and people congratulating them, it took them a while to get to the other side of the room. Once there, Clary slipped through the doors behind Jace and suddenly they were in the quiet atrium where the flowers embraced each other on the cream coloured walls. It was the exact same room that they had met two years ago.
"I thought, I'd play the piano, 'cause you know..." he trailed off, as he sat down on the seat.
"You say this but really you just wanted to get away from the guy playing really badly in there," Clary said, laughter in her voice.
"You know me too well."
She sat down cautiously, trying to make sure her skirt didn't get caught anywhere. When she was seated, Jace closed his eyes and began to play while Clary lay her head upon his shoulder. He played the same song that she had first heard him play. All the memories came back, not only of the first time she'd heard him play, but all of the times.
Gently, she leaned up and placed her hand on his cheek, using it to move his head so that it faced hers and she could kiss him. Slowly, they kissed with Clary clutching Jace's hair but Jace holding her waist so as not to mess up her perfectly styled hair. When they finally pulled away, Clary leaned back in to kiss him and Jace responded quickly but then broke off. He answered her questioning look with, "I haven't finished the song."
With that, they returned back to their original positions, with Clary's head resting on his shoulder.
The soft notes of a piano drifted through the atrium.
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So the plan is to make a bunch of long oneshots because ibmve had so many ideas floating around in my head but I'll probably only continue if you want me to, so if you do please leave a review!Thank you to everyone who read this and made it to the end!(if you've got any suggestions for more oneshots write them below)