Hey, beauties :)
Clary was very glad that she had gone out and gotten a new dress for the date tonight, because she was pretty sure nothing else in her closet would have been up to standard for Nino's. In fact, she was pretty sure even her new dress wasn't up to standard, but Jace was sitting opposite her, eyes practically glued on hers as though she was the only important thing in the whole room, and it was fucking electric.
The servers were attentive and quick and the food service than pretty much anywhere else Clary had ever been, although, to be totally fair, most of the places she went to her shoes stuck to the floor from all the grease and oil.
It got a little awkward when Jace ordered a bottle of wine for the table and the girl in her crisp dark red and black uniform turned toward Clary—probably for the first time since they had sat down, actually, most of the focus on Jace since it was clear that he was the one most comfortable in this space—and asked to see her ID.
Clary handed it over and met the girls eyes defiantly as she looked between the piece of plastic and then Clary, and then back down at the ID. So maybe Clary had been hungover the day before she had gotten the photo taken for her ID, and maybe she'd also been letting Helen's friend who was going through beauty school dye her hair so it was a tacky black the week of the photo, and maybe she was naturally small for her age so she understood having to do a second take, but she had a feeling that by the third look up, the girl was just trying to rub it in.
"Is there a problem?" Jace asked, voice sounded a little terse, which was weirdly attractive, and that prompted the server to quickly give the ID back and flash a smile and assure them that she would have the bottle of wine brought over shortly and be back to take their order. Clary tucked her ID away, back in her clutch and then looked across at Jace, who was smiling over at her.
"So," Clary stated.
"So," Jace responded easily.
"This place is nice," Clary looked around, and she was glad that they had gotten a table near the back, tucked away from all the bustle.
"Yeah," Jace nodded. "I've only been here a couple of times, but it's always been good." Because of course he had come here before—Clary could literally only come here because someone else was footing the bill, but this was probably just a casual stop for him. "I take it things went well with Izzy, then?" There was a small smile on his face and Clary felt so much more at ease than what she had expected, even though she had technically expected to feel at ease? Because she had had a good time with him before and that was why she was here in the first place? So why was she surprised?
"Yeah, she did," Clary nodded, taking a sip from the iced water in front of her. "She just said that we couldn't have sex in this dress, since it's one of our shared dresses." Jace's eyes widened at that and he blinked at her in surprise, and Clary couldn't help but let out a laugh as she reached out to pick up her glass of water and take a sip.
"Right..." Jace said slowly, picking up his own glass and drinking from it a lot slower than Clary had. Clary wasn't sure what she was expecting when sex was brought up for the first time, but she just wanted to get it off her chest, make sure he knew that it was on the table.
Because it definitely was.
Hell, she wanted to be on the table, right here, right now if he was willing.
"How has work been? How's Helen?" Jace asked as he recovered quite quickly, putting down his glass but leaving his hand on the table so that his fingers were gently resting in her space on the table. But Clary couldn't help but feel her eyebrows pull together as she looked back up at Jace.
"You remember me mentioning Helen?" She couldn't help but ask.
"Of course," Jace smiled at her easily, not looking offended. "She sounds important to you." There was a stupid fluttery feeling in her stomach at that. She was pretty sure she had only mentioned Helen once or twice, generally when Jace was messaging her while she was at work, and it wasn't as though she was as close to Helen as she was with Izzy, Simon and Jordan, but she was still a good friend.
"Yeah...She is," Clary couldn't help but smile, and then the waitress was coming back with the bottle of wine, flashing a big smile at Jace and ignoring Clary again, even as she was pouring their glasses. Clary arched an eyebrow as the waitress stepped back and then glanced between them quickly before her gaze settled back on Jace.
"Are you ready to order?" She asked them and Jace looked over at Clary, who made a face and picked up the menu.
To be totally honest, looking at the menu was purely a facade, because she had gone online and looked through the menu at least six times since Jace had said that this was where he was going to bring her, and she had decided on her dinner long in advance.
"I'm ready if you are," Clary smiled brightly over at Jace and he nodded, placing his order first. Jace got a fancy sounding marinara and Clary got the costolette di agnello, and then the waitress was leaving them again. Clary picked up her wine glass and took a sizable mouthful, which she really shouldn't have done, because this was decent red wine, and it was a bit of an assault on her senses, and she swallowed like a champ, because she had years of practice, and then looked over at Jace again.
"So?" He prompted gently, not looking bothered by waiting. "Work? Helen?"
"Oh, right!" Clary's stomach did that stupid fluttering thing again because he sounded so genuinely interested in her even though his life had to be so much more fun. "Well—me and Helen saw someone watching furry porn in the labs the other day?" Clary snorted in a very unladylike manner and then she froze for a second, because she was in a nice as fuck restaurant and she had just brought up furry porn. Her eyes flicked up to Jace, who was sitting opposite her—looking all fancy and rich in his fitted suit—and he was holding his glass of wine in his big hand with his thick fingers and he was laughing.
Thank fuck.
Most of her nerves from earlier had disappeared, but in that moment, she actually felt them all disappear.
Things just felt easy.
Jace loved Star Wars, which thanks to Simon and Jordan, Clary had seen every single one of the original six movies three times over and all of the new ones and the new show with the adorable baby Yoda, so Clary could keep up with any conversation he wanted to have on that front.
She nearly left when he admitted he'd never seen an episode of RuPaul Drags Race, and he clearly saw his mistake because his eyes widened at the horror on her face, but then when he admitted that he had watched The Great British Bake Off religiously, she decided to settle back in her seat.
"You're on thin ice, though," she grumbled and Jace smiled across at her, eyes all sparkly, as though she was the most charming thing in the world.
Which she was.
The food was brought out and it was amazing, the best thing that Clary had eaten in forever, and she was practically orgasming over her plate, not realizing how loud she was being until she looked over at Jace and the way he had a forkful of food halfway to his mouth and was staring at her with dark eyes.
Clary couldn't help but lick her lips slowly as they held eye contact, and her stomach did flips and her heart fluttered stupidly in her chest, and Jace was the first one to break their gaze, looking down at their food. Clary couldn't help but stretch her legs out a little under the table, and her ankle pressed against Jace's leg as she braced the heel of her shoe against the ground. She felt him tense for a moment, then his eyes flicked up again, a smile pulling at his lips, before he tipped his leg to the side a bit so that he was returning the pressure.
Clary grinned as she went back to her ridiculously priced meal.
It turned out that Jace preferred dogs to cats but he wasn't home enough for it to be fair for him to have a dog of his own. Sad as all hell, but understandable. Clary and her friends couldn't have pets because of their apartment rules, but if they were allowed to, she would one hundred percent have a cat.
He loved travelling, and it seemed as though he had been everywhere that Clary wanted to go, although most of the time it had been because of work. Boring as shit. Although it made her grin and giggle into her expensive wine when he said that maybe he could take her next time he had to go somewhere for work.
He had lived in New York for the past five years but before that had grown up in Los Angeles and been based there. So they had that in common, since Clary had been here her whole life, her mum and Luke only moving after she had moved out and Luke had gotten a promotion.
The last concert that he had been to was Elton John—and not one of the farewell tours that he was on now, but his Greatest Hits Tour, which was when Clary was thirteen and she didn't even want to think about what age he was, so that was something. The last concert Clary had gone to was Yungblud at an underground club with Jordan, and they'd gotten so drunk that Izzy had sent snapchats to everyone of the pair of them crying over how brilliant the artist had been.
Maybe things should have been awkward, since this was only the second time that they were probably spending time together alone, but it wasn't.
Jace looked at her with a smile and glittering eyes as though he was interested in everything that she had to say, and he was funny and made her laugh and he looked damn good doing it.
Their dinner plates were taken away and they were offered the dessert menu, which Jace looked over at Clary for, and she rolled her eyes.
"We already got dessert," she reminded him.
"Yeah, but we got that to takeaway," Jace smiled over at her. "You could get one now, and then have that one tomorrow."
"Or I could have it when I get home. There's no law against having two desserts, Jace," Clary replied as she pointed her wine glass at him and Jace's smile just grew, the smile lines in his face deepening.
"We'll get those menus, thank you," he said, looking back up at their waitress, and she nodded as she passed them over, her attention once again on Jace, rather than Clary. But Clary really didn't care, because her leg had been pushed up against Jace's under the table all night, and he had reached over at one point and traced his fingers gently against the back of her hand and she was wearing an amazing red thong under her dress that made her feel like a total babe, so she wasn't intimidated by the waitress who seemed intent on ignoring her.
They decided on a tiramisu to share, although Jace blatantly let Clary have more than half, and Clary couldn't help but briefly wonder if she was the type of girl who wanted to be fed a bit of the dessert off a lovers fork in the cutesy way.
She wasn't.
She had her own fork and Jace scooped off smaller mouthfuls than she wanted.
Even after they had finished their dessert, and were down to the last dregs of the wine bottle that Jace had ordered for the table, they were still talking, and Clary's cheeks were flushed red, from the company and the flirting and the alcohol. It was going on quarter to twelve when Clary looked down at her phone and saw that she had multiple messages from her flatmates, as well as Helen blowing up the group chat with Izzy trying to find out how the date was going and then she finally looked around the restaurant and blinked when she saw that there were only a few other people still there.
"Oh, shit," she giggled. "I didn't realize how late it had gotten." Jace glanced around and his eyebrows lifted, and it was nice to know that he hadn't been looking around either, that he hadn't noticed how late it had gotten.
She was good company and clearly he was aware of that.
"I should probably go up and pay," Jace said. "And then I'll get you home, okay?" He leaned back in his chair, and for the first time in several hours, they were no longer touching, and Clary's ankle immediately felt cold.
And he was taking her home?
Jace was already standing up and taking his jacket off the back of his seat where he had hung it an hour or so ago when he had warmed up, and Clary couldn't help but pout as she did the same. He smiled over at her and then stopped when he saw the way her bottom lip was sticking out, and he arched an eyebrow, his smile turning to something else, something a little darker that made her thighs want to clench together and have her flipping up her dress and showing him the fucking sexy, expensive underwear.
"Come on, love," Jace's voice was soft as he reached out an arm, and Clary blinked up at him.
He clearly saw that she wanted to not go home.
Or, she wanted to go to a home, just not hers.
She wanted to go to his.
And let him have his way with her—because she damn well knew that it was going to be amazing.
Although!
She did like being called love.
Clary took his arm and let him lead the way up to the counter. He paid quickly, with a wave of his credit card, and Clary didn't even get a glimpse at the price. She was pretty sure she would have had a heart attack even if she did, though, so that was probably for the best. Jace gave her arm a squeeze as he lead the way out of the restaurant, stepping in front of her and letting go of her arm as he pushed open the door and waited for her to exit in front of him.
There was a tension in the car on the drive home, and Clary didn't even make a fuss about plugging her phone into the radio even though she generally couldn't stand the radio playing it's ads and the stupid talk back between hosts, and she was pretty sure Jace saw the way her knees were pressed together and her thighs clenched a few times, because there was an ache between her legs.
An ache that it didn't seem as though Jace was going to be fucking relieving, given they were making a very direct route back to her apartment building.
When he parked opposite her building and turned off the car, the lights all flicking off and leaving them in relative darkness, other than the lights that were coming through the windows in tiny puddles from the street lamps, and even though Clary was aware that there were cars passing them on the street outside and there were at least three different types of music being played in the shops and buildings around them, but it honestly felt like they were in their own little bubble, and the only thing that Clary was listening to was the sound of their breathing.
"I'll walk you up," Jace said quietly, reaching out and brushing a few fingers against her bare knee, and Clary tried to ignore the sparks that skittered over her skin. His smile seemed darker, and Clary wasn't sure if it was because of the shadows, but it made her stomach dip and twirl like she was on a tilt-a-whirl. Jace got out of the car first, and as Clary was reaching for the door handle, Jace was already quickly walking around to the passenger side of the car and grabbing the door, opening it for, and Clary flashed a smile up at him once she was steady in her heels.
"You know there's still time, right?" Clary prompted him with a raise of her eyebrows. Jace tilted his head to the side as he looked down at her.
"Time for what?" He asked softly and Clary narrowed her eyes because he knew what she meant.
"To go back to your place," she said, and maybe her voice came out a touch sulky. Jace's lips stretched in another smile, and they were out of the car and right underneath a lamp now, so she could see that there was some darker intent in the smile, but he still didn't lunge at her mouth and devour her like she wanted him to.
"Come on, love," Jace reached down and took her hand, thick fingers sliding between hers. "Let's get you upstairs." Clary huffed a bit under her breath because this wasn't fair.
She couldn't remember the last time she had been on an actual date, because that's not how people operated when they were in college—at least not to this degree—but she was pretty sure that most actual dates resulted in some sex? At least some under the shirt action? Even if it was just some fooling around in the car?
She really wanted to fool around with Jace!
They took the elevator up to her floor and walked slowly toward her apartment door, not saying anything. There was loud music coming from the corner apartment, but there always was on Friday and Saturday nights, sometimes on the Thursday as well, and then there was also the faint smell of weed coming from the apartment door opposite Clary's, definitely nowhere near as fancy as what Jace was probably used to, but she liked it. It was theirs. They reached the door and came to a natural stop, although neither of them let go of the others hand.
"So..." Clary murmured, glancing over at Jace from underneath her thick eyelashes. If it was some random college guy, she'd invite him in and not care that she only had a single bed with a Hannah Montana duvet cover since her other one needed to be washed.
But she really didn't want that, even though she didn't want this to be over.
"So," Jace smiled down at her, and the slyness from earlier was gone, which was both good and bad, but his hand was still tightly wrapped around hers. "When can I see you again?" Clary blinked up at him, and then her cheeks began to heat up. She could feel the tips of her ears turning hot and Jace's smile widened, looking completely endeared.
Rightfully so. She was adorable.
Even when her body was being all embarassing.
"Do I get a kiss goodnight?" Clary asked, clearing her throat so it didn't come out quite as high pitched as it initially would have.
"Do you want a kiss goodnight?" Jace's smile was a teasing one, which just wasn't fucking fair.
"Course I do," her lower lip stuck out a little in a pout, and Jace let out a laugh under his breath before he was leaning in, and even in the heels that she was wearing, he towered over her. He crowded her in, body warm and smelling subtly of cologne, and she hadn't realized that she had taken a few steps back until her back came in contact with the wall beside her door, and the thing was—he didn't stop moving. He kept crowding her, surrounding her, his thighs pinning hers to the wall, one hand gripping hers tightly while the other moved to press to her hip, a thumb firm against the bone while the fingers curled around her hip. His nose brushed against hers, once, twice, and Clary's breath caught in her throat as his lips finally grazed hers.
She had thought that their first kiss had been good.
This one left it in the dust.
Jace kissed her firmly, intently, thoroughly, first with his lips molding over hers and letting go of her hand to come up to her chin and held her face in the way that he wanted it, and her whole body felt as though went boneless under his touches. When she felt the tip of his tongue touch to her upper lip, a shiver went through her and she couldn't stop her gasp as her mouth opened, letting him in. Jace's tongue slipped inside without hesitation and Clary felt heat pool in the pit of her stomach and Jace's hands on her face and on her hip felt like a brand that was burning into her skin and her hands came up to grab at his shoulders, because it honestly felt as though her legs were only seconds away from giving out from underneath her. His tongue smoothed over hers and then flicked up at the roof of her mouth before she felt his teeth gently press against her plump lower lip and another shiver went through her.
When Jace pulled back, it was slowly, and his hands were still on her, and he gently leaned his forehead against hers as he waited for her to catch her breath.
"Shit," Clary whined out a little, tugging at his jacket with her fingers and Jace huffed out a laugh under his breath as he pulled back more to look at her face, cupping her jaw and gently running his thumb over her bottom lip.
"Thank you for letting me take you out tonight, love," Jace said, and his voice was deep and a little raspy, and it made Clary squeeze her thighs together, feeling the lace of her thong stretch tighter between her legs. "When can I see you again?"
"Um..." Clary cleared her throat again and she was glad that was being held up between the wall and Jace's body or she might be melting in a puddle on the ground at the sound of Jace's voice, which was clearly deeper and raspier because of how the kiss had effected him, and that was fucking hot. "Anytime you want." That was clearly the right answer, because she got another blinding smile, and then Jace was leaning in again.
This time, though, she only got a brief kiss on the corner of her mouth, but it still made her knees weak.
"I'll message you in the morning," he murmured and Clary nodded before Jace was stepping back, hands slowing falling back to her side.
He waited until she fumbled in her bag for her keys and unlocked her front door.
He was maybe still waiting as she shut her door and let out a squeal of happiness.
She didn't care.
So obviously it's been a while, and there's a lot of songs that I haven't recommended! I've just decided to log into that website thing that shows your top tracks, so these are my short term top ten. 1) She - Harry Styles. 2) Radio - Lana Del Rey. 3) Living Proof - Camila Cabello. 4) Hazel - Carlie Hanson. 5) September Song - JP Cooper. 6) We Made It - Louis Tomlinson. 7) All My Friends - AJ Mitchell. 8) The Sound - The 1975. 9) Wrong Direction - Hailee Steinfield. 10) Dazed & Confused - Ruel. Bonus song would be You Should Be Sad by Halsey, which is fucking amazing, so far my second favourite of the released tracks from Manic.
There's been a lot of amazing TV shows that have recently come out; The Witcher/His Dark Materials/Watchmen/The Mandalorian. These are all amazing, incredible acting, the sets and scenery and costume design is just A+. Also Spinning Out was really good, I absolutely loved Mandy and Marcus. I love when there are strong side characters that I can fall in love with, and it had good story lines.
I've also been to a couple of concerts that were great; Greta Van Fleet, Ruel, Shawn Mendes and Khlaid. All bloody brilliant.
Now. I don't want to say much about how shit 2020 has been because we're only 14 days in and holy shit, I feel like there's a lot going on. A fucking lot. For me, what hits closest to home is Australia on fire. On the fifth of January our skies turned an apocalyptic orange because the winds changed and the smoke reached us here in New Zealand. I just want to say to everyone who is dealing with anything right now—it doesn't matter how big or small—I love you and you're not alone x
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Twitter: CalamitySerene