Chapter 11: Some Old Friends, Some New Friends
Hello everyone! Thank you for coming back for another chapter, and being so understanding about the new upload schedule. I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
The thing about being in big cities, is that it's easy to keep a low profile. Wear a hat and sunglasses, and keep your head down, and most people don't look at you twice. Of course there was the occasional run in with a fan, but they were always nice. That's why Clary loved being in London so much.
People were so caught up in their own lives that you could sit back for hours and just watching, never being disturbed. Clary spent days doing this - watching people. Trying to figure out their stories. It was an amazing change of pace; to watch instead of be watched.
She would wander the streets, soaking up the history and the atmosphere, letting it settle. Letting it heal her.
She was doing this when she came across a bar that looked familiar. She racked her brain; how did she know this pub? When she used to tour with the band, they would rarely leave the hotel room. And the guys didn't really like her drinking, so there's no way they would take her to a pub. So who did?
Intrigued, she heads over to the pub, and the moment she pushes the door open, she's met with a wave of warm air. With the hearty laughs of men, and the delighted squeals of children. There's a band set up in the corner, and a big hearty fire. There are two big cushioned chairs set up in front of the fire that look vacant, so she heads over to those, deciding this would be a good place to get a drink and maybe some dinner.
It's the person sitting in the chair that brings all the memories back. She wonders how she ever could have forgotten.
"Will!" she calls out, raising her voice a little so he can hear her over all the other noise.
"Clary?" he asks, clearly very surprised to see her here. "What…"
"I recognised the pub and thought I'd come take a look. I never thought I'd see you here," she says, a little amazed.
"Ditto," Will says. He's sitting alone in front of the fire with a beer, and Clary realises that he probably wants to be left alone.
"I saw you and just thought I'd say hi - I'll let you get back to it," Clary says, turning away.
"Wait," he says, "join me? I could use the company."
Clary nods, shrugs off her jacket and takes off her hat, and sits in the chair across from him. She quickly orders a beer from the waitress, and then turns back to Will.
"So how are you? How's it all been? You guys seem to be everywhere now," Clary asks.
"Yeah," Will says, quickly running his fingers through his hair. "It's a lot. But it's good. I'm good."
"You going somewhere soon?" Clary asks. When he'd brought her here what felt like a lifetime ago, he said that he liked to come here whenever he was about to leave London.
He turns his head to the side a little, but has a playful smile. He'd never expected her to remember small details about him like that. "We leave for America tomorrow..." he says slowly. "Starting the tour."
"Well then, I better give you a proper send off," Clary says, and asks a passing waitress to bring him another beer.
"What about you! Going out on your own…" Will says.
"It maybe not going as well as I'd hoped," Clary says with a little laugh. "That's why I'm here. Trying to figure out what I want to say…"
"You'd be surprised what my little pub can show you about yourself," Will says, smirking.
"Is it a magic pub now?" Clary asks playfully.
"Everything's got a little bit of magic in it," Will says, "there's just more in some places than others." He's looking at Clary weirdly, as if he's just realised something about her.
Wanting to move on, Clary asks, "anyway, I haven't seen you in ages! How's it all going. Are you seeing anyone?"
Will seems to snap out of whatever mood he was just in to answer her, "uhhh, no. Not since you, actually. I guess I really missed my chance there..."
Out of habit, Clary plays with her rings, Will quickly looks down at her hands and shakes his head. "Of course - congratulations! I should have said earlier…"
"No it's fine," Clary says, quickly stopping the fidgeting. "It can be hard , I know. Everything you can give goes towards the music for a bit. But you'll find someone one day."
Will nods appreciatively, and quickly finishes his beer as the waitress brings him a new one.
"It really is a lot? Isn't it?" Will asks, sounding relieved that he finally has someone to talk to about it all.
"Essentially it's why we stopped," Clary tells him. "Probably not what you wanted to hear."
"You think?" Will answers, laughing.
"If it helps, the years I spent in the band were some of the hardest, but they were also the most fulfilling and fun. I don't think you're allowed one without the other. At least that's what I've found."
"I don't know. It's just kind of surreal. You know you spend all of these years trying to achieve your dream. And when you finally do, there's just this insane pressure to keep pushing, and make what you do next better than what you did before." Will says, leaning back into the big chair.
"And the pressure comes from everyone," Clary adds understandingly. "I'm just trying to figure out if the pressure is worse than the fear of having no idea what you're going to do next."
"Oh, as if," Will says, leaning forward again. "You're Clary Fray! Of course you know what you're doing next."
"Well," Clary says, "truthfully, I don't really know who Clary Fray is. She's some character I built to face everyone and I've been hiding behind her for a while. I think I'm trying to find the person underneath. Show the world a little bit of her."
"So you do have a plan!" Will says, smiling triumphantly.
"Easier said than done. And what about you, Mr London?" Clary says, referring to the nickname she used when they were dating. "What's your big plan?"
"It's pretty simple really," Will says, taking a long sip of beer. "Tour this album, write another one and then tour that."
"Well I'm glad you've got everything sorted out," Clary says, smirking at him.
"I just like to live an organised life," Will says shrugging, crossing his legs and leaning back in his chair. "If you work hard, you too can one day achieve this lifestyle."
"Is that right?" Clary asks, laughing playfully. Suddenly, Clary has this feeling of regret - not that she should have chosen Will over Jace. There is no one she would ever choose over Jace. More regret at ever choosing Will at all. If she hadn't been so determined to make a point to everyone by dating Will, and just decided to be friends with him, everything would've been so much Clary truly believes that they would have had a great friendship. But at least they were there now.
They keep talking for another couple of hours; light and fun discussion about Will's upcoming tour, new music or art they'd discovered and just funny stories they'd collected in their time apart. They called it around 9 o'clock - Will had an early flight the night morning, and Clary didn't want the wrong idea to come out in the photo's she'd seen people taking.
They part ways outside the pub, not knowing when they'll see each other again, but glad to have reunited even if for a short while.
The next day, Clary's walking down St John's Wood High Street when she heard a violin. She looked around for the source of the music, and saw a man a little further down the street playing. There was a park bench across from him, so Clary went down and sat across from him and listened for a while.
He didn't seem to notice that anyone was watching, and after a few songs Clary looked for a case to put some money in, but there wasn't one. She sat and listened to one more song, which she didn't recognise before going up to him.
"Hi, I noticed you didn't have a case for money or anything, and I was wondering if I'd be able to take you for a cup of tea," Clary asks him.
"Oh, I'm flattered, thank you. But I'm married so…" the man says, looking slightly awkward.
"I'm sorry, that came out wrong," Clary says, quickly backtracking. "I'm married as well," she holds up her hand to show him the rings on her finger. "My name's Clary. I was hoping I'd be able to talk to you about your music - I'm a musician as well."
"Well in that case," the man says, placing his violin into the case that was resting on the wall behind him , "my name's Jem."
"It's a pleasure," Clary says, shaking his outstretched hand.
"There's a great little tea shop just down the road," Jem tells her, leading the way.
Once they're settled in the cafe and have taken their orders, Clary asks, "that last song you played. I didn't recognise it. I usually have a pretty good ear for that sort of thing."
"Oh yeah," Jem says, looking shy. "I wrote it - for my wife."
"It's beautiful," Clary tells him.
"What about you, do you write your own music?" he asks, looking genuinely curious. He clearly didn't know who she was, and that made Clary like him more.
"Yeah, I write a bit. Not anything like you do, but I try," Clary says.
"Well maybe I'll get to hear you play one day," Jem says. The waitress brings their tea and a plate of biscuits over.
"So do you only play the violin?" Clary asks, hoping to talk more about him than herself.
"No, I play a few other instruments. I'm most confident in violin of course, but I can play the double bass, bass guitar and some piano. What about you?"
"Umm, mainly the guitar and drums," she tells him, "but I can play the bass and piano. I tried the trumpet but…"
"So you're more into rock and pop I take it?" Jem asks.
"That's primarily what I write and play, but I'll listen to anything," she tells him. "What about you? Are you interested in playing anything outside of classical music?"
"It's definitely the genre I'm most comfortable in," he says, "but my wife tells me that I'm too old fashioned, so she's trying to get me into more modern music."
"How long have you been married?" Clary asks, resting her elbows on the table and her head in her hands.
"I've been married to Tessa for over four or so years," he says, looking excited. "She's pregnant at the moment, so it's all very exciting."
"Congratulations," Clary says. She can see the excitement and anticipation for the future all over his face.
"Thank you. What about you? You seem very young, if you don't mind me saying," Jem asks, looking slightly afraid that he's been rude.
"No, don't worry. I'm twenty-two. I've only been married for a few months," Clary answers.
"And is your husband in London with you?" Jem asks, clearly assuming that the newly weds would be travelling together.
"No, he's back in Los Angeles working. I'm just doing a bit of solo travelling for now," Clary says.
"So you're from L.A.?" Jem asks.
"I'm actually from New York, and Jace, my husband, was born in France, but we're both living in L.A. at the moment. Are you from London?" Clary asks, making an effort to shift the conversation a little more onto Jem. She hadn't brought him in here to teach him about herself, but he seemed eager to learn.
"We're living here at the moment, but Tess' from New York as well. I was born in China but moved over here when I was pretty young - hence the accent."
"Do you go back to China often?" Clary asks. She'd never been before, but it was somewhere she'd always been excited to travel to.
"Every few years," Jem tells her. "It's nice to go back and remember, but London is home now. For both of us." Clary loved how often he brought up his wife - he was clearly very in love.
"So you'd never consider a move to the states?" Clary asks. Another part of this trip was to find potential band mates, and Jem seemed like just the type of person she was looking for.
"Potentially, if it was the right move for us. I know Tessa misses her home sometimes," he says, clearly thinking everything out. "Would you like to see a picture?"
"I would love to," Clary answers. Jem pulls out his phone - a noticeably early model iPhone, and begins flicking through a few photos of his wife. She's pregnant in the last few, and holding a cat, which Jem informs Clary is named Church.
"Do you have any photos of… Jace, was it?" Jem asks.
"Yeah, of course," Clary says. She pulls out her phone and flicks through the more recent photos she'd taken of him - they're mainly photos of him around their house, or pictures he didn't know she was taking, so he couldn't pose. The last picture she flicks to is of his Sunflower tattoo, and she smiles at the memory of him coming home and proudly showing it off to her. For your love of Van Gogh, he told her.
"He looks familiar - what line of work is he in again?" Jem asks, trying to get a better look at his face.
Clary hides her smile, "uh, he's an actor."
"Would he be in anything I've seen before?" Jem asks.
"Potentially," Clary answers. "I feel a bit awkward telling you this now, and I probably should've mentioned. He's Jace Herondale. He was in the David Bowie biopic, and he's been a bunch of other pretty high profile movies."
"Oh I saw that movie!" he tells Clary excitedly, "it was really good. Who did he play in it?"
"Ah, David Bowie," Clary says, trying to play it casual.
Jem goes a little red, "well now I'm just embarrassed."
"You shouldn't be! Really, it's my fault for not saying anything sooner - and he looked quite different in that film to how he usually does. And I don't expect everyone to know who he is - it'd actually do some good for his ego."
"So I'm assuming you too, are some high profile person I should've known about and I'm just making a bigger fool of myself." Jem says, looking embarrassed.
"I'm just Clary," she tells him simply, smiling back at the older man across the table.
"Well it's been wonderful to chat, Clary Herondale. But I must get going," Jem says, standing and getting his violin.
"I hope I see you again one day Jem…" she says, realising now she doesn't know his full name.
"Carstairs," he fills in. "I hope to see you again one day too. I'll keep an eye out for your husband!" He shakes her hand and heads out into the street, and for the first time for a while, Clary has true inspiration to write a new song.
She quickly sits back down and takes the notebook out of her bag and leans her phone with the picture of Jace's sunflower tattoo on the wall and gets to writing.
I hope you liked that chapter. If you could have your pick of any characters who are not yet in this story to be in Clary's new band, who would you want? I have an idea of who I want but I'm very open to suggestions! Hope you all have a great week, and I'll see you at the next chapter :)