Next chapter, pretty people!
"Clary," Simon put his hands on her shoulders and gave her a little shake. Clary had been on the verge of having a panic attack since two days ago. Simon, Lydia and Raphael had been managing to stave them off by handing her joints, forcing her to finally catch up on sleep that she had fallen behind on and making her get out of the apartment to get some fresh air. They couldn't really do any of that right now though, because they were an hour before the show case was about to begin and Clary needed to calm down so that Lydia could finish her hair and Magnus could get her dressed. She and Magnus had gone out shopping about a month ago and brought a red dress that he was going to adjust for her slightly and add a few things to. She hadn't seen it yet, but since it was coming from Magnus, she knew that it was going to be flawless. "When was the last time you breathed?"
"I'm literally breathing right now, what do you mean—when's the last time I breathed? Right now I'm breathing!" Clary snapped at Simon, huffing away on the cigarette in her mouth. She had never really been a regular smoker before—at least not of cigarettes. She would have them on a weekly basis, but it wasn't as though she needed to have them on her at all times. At least, she didn't before. But that was different now. She was almost going through a pack a day for the past two weeks, given how stressed she was.
"I mean air, not smoke," Simon sighed as he took the cigarette out of her mouth and stubbed it out. "We absolutely need to break this habit because we're not able to afford to keep this up." Clary sighed and even though she wanted to light another cigarette up, she didn't. She took in a few deep breaths and then shook out her shoulders and rolled her head.
"Come on," Lydia said encouragingly. "Let's do your make up and hair now." Clary nodded. She was perfectly capable of doing her own make up, although Lydia was definitely better at doing hair. But she let Lydia do it, because Lydia loved fussing over hair and make up and she knew that she had kind of been a shitty friend recently, so she didn't put up a fuss. She'd been burying herself in her work and even when she had managed to finish it all and get it submitted, which was two days ago, she had still been in a bit of a haze. Lydia had work submitted, but she didn't have as much as Clary, since her degree wasn't exclusively in the arts. She wanted to become an graphic designer, and was taking this as one of her side classes, so she hadn't been quite as obsessed as Clary.
"How's our girl?" Magnus sounded worried as he came into the apartment and spoke quietly to Simon.
"She's fine," he answered, although wasn't a hundred percent certain of that fact.
"She will be," Magnus agreed. "Especially once she see's this," he grinned as he held up the coat hanger with the red dress that they had brought and Magnus had adjusted for her. Simon flashed him a small smile before waving his hand down the hallway, gesturing toward Clary's room, which was where Clary and Lydia now where. Magnus headed down the hall while Simon sat down on the couch in their cramped lounge, drumming his fingers against his knee as he waited for the others to finish getting ready. He had been dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a button down shirt that he had even ironed for the past hour, since he knew that he was going to have to run point on the whole 'calm down Clary situation' and he was glad that Magnus was there now. Kaelie was going to meet them at the showcase with Raphael, since both of them had been working that day and had to rush to get there after.
"Okay, sweets," Lydia said as she leaned back and looked over at Magnus. "I'm gonna get put on my own dress and we'll leave here in ten minutes, okay?"
"Have you got the uber coming? I don't want to be late and if we wait too long to call the uber then we might —"
"The uber is eight minutes out," Lydia assured Clary with a smile after checking her phone. "Don't worry, it's all taken care of. You just get your dress on and come out to the kitchen, okay?" Clary let out a shaky breath and smiled at Lydia gratefully.
"Thanks," she murmured and Lydia smiled before skipping out of the room. Clary turned to look at Magnus who was regarding her with raised eyebrows. "What?" She asked nervously, her hand going to her hair as though she was worried that Lydia had messed it up.
"I'm just excited for you," Magnus said with a smile. "And proud of you, because you've done an amazing job."
"Don't jinx it," Clary said warningly, lifting her thumb to her mouth and biting down on the nail nervously.
"Hey!" Magnus swatted her hand away, saving the french tip nails that her, Lydia and Kaelie had gone and gotten yesterday. "Get dressed. I'll see you out in the lounge." Magnus handed over the dress and practically glided out of the room in the dark blue suit that he was wearing that shimmered just a little when he moved from side to side, undoubtedly from the hint of glitter that Magnus managed to find a way to add to most outfits. Clary looked at the dress that Magnus had handed her and she couldn't hold back her smile.
When she and Magnus had brought the red dress, it had been pretty but simple. It was a red spaghetti strapped dress that was tight around her breasts and torso and loosened just a little from her hips, but was still form fitting all the way down to her ankles. Magnus had removed the straps and drawn in the waist even more, accentuating her slim waist and curved hips, and he'd added a spray of sequins on one hip, where he had gathered the material. Then he had also cut long splits into either side of the skirt, not high enough to be indecent, but definitely enough to show some leg.
It was gorgeous.
Clary's parents had wanted to come to the show case, but Jocelyn had understood how nervous Clary was, and didn't want to make it worse. Clary had always had an incredible talent when it came to art, but she never seemed to realize how good, and so she was always nervous that she just wasn't good enough.
By the time they got to the show case, Clary was so nervous that she was worried that she was going to throw up. She had only had one piece of toast in the whole day, and even then, it had felt as though she was forcing it down. Simon took her hand as they walked in, not complaining once as she gripped his hand so hard that his fingers clicked at one point. The modern building where the art exhibit was taking place was already full when they arrived, since Clary and Lydia hadn't wanted to get there right at the start and awkwardly stand around while people were filtering in.
"Do not drink this all at once, I know that you haven't eaten much," Simon murmured as he swiped two glasses of wine from one of the waiters walking past and handed her one. Clary nodded and sipped from it. "Now, do you need me to come with you? Or —"
"Clarissa! There you are!" Madame Dorothea glided over, looking every bit the art professor in her floaty pink and blue dress and mismatched earrings in her ears. "I've got a few people who would like to talk to you about your work." Clary's eyebrows shot up and Simon gave her a nudge.
"Go on, be awesome," he grinned at her encouragingly and Clary made a face at him before Dot took her elbow and lead her away. Simon glanced around, seeing if he could spot anyone else since Magnus and Lydia had headed in the opposite direction to them when they had come in the front door, and then he noticed Kaelie and Raphael, holed up beside the table with the food, and he quickly made his way over to them.
Clary's head was spinning a couple of hours into the evening.
She'd never heard so many people talking about her art before.
Or, she'd heard people compliment it, tell her that she had a real flair for it, but it had never been so many people who were in a position of power. There had been several curators and illustrators and even a creative director for a prominent magazine in the city and they had all been interested in her work. She had been given a couple of cards and Dot had given her a wink and her arm a comforting squeeze and had then moved on with them to discuss other work.
She was actually shaking with how shocked she was.
"You look surprised," came a low voice from behind her and Clary nearly jumped out of her skin at the familiar voice. She turned around and blinked up at Jace, who was wearing a slim fitting suit with a maroon button down shirt that looked unfairly good on him. His hair was loosely falling just above his shoulders and she noted that it looked a little shorter than the last time she had seen him.
"Uh," Clary cleared her throat. "I guess I just..." she shrugged her lips and paused to draw herself up, something she had been doing frequently that evening, knowing that she couldn't show any weakness. "What are you doing here, Jace?" Jace looked around, his eyes going over her shoulder to look at her paintings that were hanging on the wall before he looked back at her.
"This was one of my mums favourite things to do," Jace replied, and Clary was so surprised by such an open and honest answer that she didn't have a response. "We would come here, every year. When she died a few years ago, I kept on coming. I don't really understand a lot of art, especially the abstract stuff, but it just feels right, you know? Like I'm doing it for her." Clary still had no response as Jace lifted his wine glass to his lips and finished off the gold liquid inside. "I don't know if mum ever really got it either, but she loved looking at it. I think she would have really liked your stuff."
"Thank you," Clary said softly, finally managing to find her voice. Jace nodded, pursing his lips together as he took in a deep breath. Clary looked down at her hands, in one she had her wine glass and in the other she had the few business cards that she had been given.
"I'm not going to hold you up," Jace told her quietly. "I know this is an important night for you, which is another reason that I wanted to be here." It wasn't fair that that statement made her stomach squeeze. "But can we talk? Later?" Clary wasn't sure if he meant later that evening or later as in another day, but she nodded, agreeing to either option. Jace gave her a tiny smile and nodded his head forward. "Good luck for the rest of the evening," he told her as he saw a few other people approaching her work, Dot leading them there. "Although you've got so much talent you don't need it." With another nod, Jace walked away, leaving Clary feeling even more off-kilter than she had all day.
Alright! Another mass update! I'm just...In a super shitty place right now, completely mental, my life is actually in a really good space—isn't it great when that happens? But writing is generally therapeutic so...Here we go.
Movies I would recommend would be Where The Heart Is, which is an old time favourite for me, and How To Be Single, which I actually quite like, even though I don't like Dakota Johnson. It's like my love for Leslie Mann cancels that out though. Haha. I don't know...Both of these movies make me really sad and happy at the same time, so it's good.
Songs that I've recently fallen in love with are Perfectly Wrong by Shawn Mendes, Chateau by Angus & Julia Stone, You Make It Easy by Jason Aldean and Marry Me by Thomas Rhett. Recommend any songs that you guys have had on repeat recently :)
Hope you're all doing well, and please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter because I love your comments x