The Bershires' Annual Hamptons Gala had been the talk of the area for the past three months, not that Clary had heard any of it, but apparently it was a beyond enormous deal that she was going, according to Isabelle. She babbled on and on about how it was the event of all events, or at least tried as hard as she could, with the pins in her mouth as she knelt at Clary's feet to fix the hem of the smaller girl's dress. It was designer, and the number on the tag made her head hurt. How someone could spend so much on a piece of fabric, she would never understand. But she had to admit… it was a pretty impressive piece of fabric. The dress was a deep yet vibrant red that fell down to her ankles, molded to her chest perfectly and then gathering below the bust and falling loosely down the rest of her figure. A gold pattern had been attached to the very top and decorated the whole of the chest area.
"Uhvryuns ginta dee winay sheeyoo," Isabelle mumbled as a pin fell from her mouth. Clary, who had become an expert at translating Izzy's jumbled speech from the past two hours experience, understood that as 'Everyone is going to die when they see you.'
"If they even remember who I am," Clary said as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.
Isabelle muttered something under her breath that sounded like 'peshumuft', but probably meant 'pessimist'.
Clary chuckled and twirled once around, her hands holding the sides of the dress with gentle hands. For the first time in her life, she understood what Isabelle and all the other girls at Abbotsleigh probably felt every weekend. She felt graceful and light and expensive and royal. "I could definitely get used to having Chanel dresses and styling rooms and Hamptons holiday houses."
"Trust me, it's not all it looks to be," Isabelle rolled her eyes.
Easy for you to say, Clary thought surprisingly bitterly. You've never lived without it.
As if reading her thoughts, the dark haired girl looked up with apologetic eyes. "I know I sound like a spoiled brat who isn't grateful for anything, and Jace has made me aware that I've been sounding like that all weekend, but I promise I don't mean to, Clary. I know I sound ungrateful, and truth be told I probably am. I should be happy to have money and be in elite social circles and already have a guaranteed spot in an Ivy League school, but I'm not. Clary, you might wish to have a life like this now… but after a year of living with my parents who don't even realize or really care if I'm in the same house as them and having a better relationship with your driver than your little brother, you'd be wishing to go back to your New York life."
As lovely as Maryse and Robert had been the night before at dinner, Clary had sensed the disinterest and boredom oozing from them when Isabelle had tried to discuss her awards at school and her hobbies. "You have a little brother?" She asked, partly just to change the subject.
Izzy's smile was the most genuine the other girl had ever seen it. "Yeah. Max. He's nine. He's a total goofball, and completely obsessed with comics and anime. And then there's Alec, too. He's almost twenty."
"How come they aren't here this weekend?"
"Max is at our home with the staff to take care of him. Mom and Dad decided that this weekend would be too 'mature and boring' for a boy of his age," she scoffed. "And it's Alec's first year Anne Arundel, so he decided to stay to get settled in."
"Anne Arundel?" Clary said in obvious surprise. "As in, the community college?"
Isabelle laughed. "When he told our parents, the almost disowned him. There had been this whole plan to send him to Yale because of their amazing English department, but then he met this guy, Magnus. He completely changed Alec. Showed him there was a world outside of money and scandals. He convinced my brother to go to his local community college with him, for a try at a somewhat normal and middle class life."
"That's amazing," Clary said in awe.
"That's definitely not the word Dad used when he kicked my brother out because he was gay," Isabelle replied sourly, stabbing the last of the pins into the pincushion violently.
The younger girl panicked at the sudden anger that had burst out of her friend and searched for a subject change. "So, this Gala. What's the whole deal with it?"
Izzy sighed and set the pincushion aside. "It's a traditional rich people society event. Champagne, dancing, more champagne, some sucking up to other rich people, most likely some more dancing. Oh, and my favourite part… the competition between the teenagers of 'Who Can Gather The Best Date?'" Isabelle exclaimed with fake excitement.
"Dates? You didn't say anything about dates," Clary's eyes widened.
Iz laughed. "Take a deep breath, girl. I've already arranged for Mom's friend's son, Jordan Kyle, to be your date. I'm still deciding between Meliorn and some French guy whose name has slipped my mind at this particular moment in time. He's cute though, I remember that much."
"How did you get this mysterious Jordan Kyle to agree to go with me?"
The dark haired girl dropped onto a seat beside the wardrobe and shot Clary a mischievous smile. "Jordan's always has an interest in fresh meat."
Clary let out a nervous laugh, twitching her fingers as she tried to sound casual. "What about Jace? Is he going?"
"Unfortunately. I'm not responsible for my brother's date, but I assume he's taking one of the unsuspecting, innocent Hamptons' vacationers he's met throughout the past couple of years after being declared the most wanted bachelor within a one hundred mile radius."
"Iz, you're not still angry at him about the whole Sebastian thing, are you? I mean, you don't even know he did anything. He says he didn't."
"How did you know about that? Actually, never mind. Word travels around here quicker than Abbotsleigh, and that's really saying something. Listen Clary; all I know is that I really liked Sebastian. He was my number one choice for the Gala! I wouldn't officially call it a crush, but it was definitely in development of becoming one. And then Jace had to go and be a cocky bastard like usual for some reason or another and beat the living shit out of the only guy I was interested in."
A chill made its way up Clary's spine. "Trust me, Izzy. You don't want to have anything to do with Sebastian. Ever."
∞§∞
Isabelle had been right about everything she had said about the Gala. There was champagne and dancing and sucking up to rich people and most noticeable, the ogling of Jace Wayland. Everywhere she turned, she saw teenage girls mouths drop open at the sight of the golden haired boy in a suit and tie. Clary didn't let herself think about how amazing he looked in the suit, because if she did she probably would have found herself eye-raping him with the rest of the girls at the party.
Jordan Kyle was perfectly nice, she thought. He'd told her she looked beautiful when he'd picked her and Isabelle up with Meliorn in the shared limousine and held his arm out for her to wrap hers around as the entered. He'd fetched her nonalcoholic beverages and introduced her to people whose names she had already forgotten. But in all honesty, she wasn't interested in him and she had a feeling that the feeling was mutual.
Luckily enough, it seemed that Aline and Kaelie had decided to spend their weekend tanning somewhere else far, far away from the Hamptons. Isabelle had been pointing out students from Abbotsleigh since they'd arrived before she'd gone off to dance with Meliorn, but Clary hadn't recognized anyone and none of them made an effort to do so much as smile at her. In fact, they'd all shot her bewildered looks, obviously wondering how she had been invited to such a high-class event.
"The song's over. Do you want another drink?" Jordan asked politely as he took his hands off her waist and stepped away.
Clary opened her mouth to reply when she was cut off by a voice on the speakers.
"And now, if you would all find your dates for the official waltz of this afternoon."
The girl looked at Jordan with wide eyes.
A throat was cleared behind her. "Do you mind if I cut in for this one?"
Clary spun around to see Jace staring at her with those smoldering amber eyes. Don't think about the suit; just don't think about the suit. So instead of thinking about the suit, she focused on his face. His cheekbones and lips and eyelashes…
"Uh, yeah, that's not a problem. I'll go get those drinks," Jordan touched Clary lightly on the arm.
As the violins started, Jace took a step towards Clary and put one hand to her waist. Electric currents pulsed from her hip to every other inch of her body as they made contact.
"I have no idea how to waltz," she admitted sheepishly.
"Well lucky for you, I'm an amazing teacher. And anyways, it's a modern sort of waltz. Just put your hand in mine, and…" They started to move. All of a sudden, it was like Clary was floating. She knew what step he would take next and what direction to move. They moved slowly but fluidly. Perfectly. And the whole time, they never broke eye contact.
"Why are you here?" She asked finally, having found the rhythm of the song.
"I was invited."
"I mean right here. As in dancing with me in this very spot."
"You seemed bored and my date was getting on my nerves. I thought it was a win-win situation."
"And how do you know this isn't boring me?"
Jace lent his head down to the side of hers and put his lips next to her ear. "You're speeding pulse and heavy breathing tell me otherwise."
Clary moved her head backwards and let out an exasperated laugh. "So this is how it's going to be?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"This. This friendship. If you can even call it that. One night you tell me that I mean nothing to you and the next it's back to flirting and flashing that smirk of yours?" She took a step back and let her hands drop to her sides.
"I never said you mean nothing to me. I said that one night of spooning does not mean we're in a relationship. And as far as I was aware, that's all there was to it; flirting. I'm sorry if you thought something else, Clary, but…"
"Oh, so what?" Clary interrupted, fuming. "You just expect me to go around believing that you beat up all of your flirting candidates' love interests and then taking them back to your bedroom, kissing them on the forehead and staying with them until the morning?"
"Like I said," Jace said in a quiet, deadly calm voice. "You were upset and I was there to comfort you. That's all there was to it."
"Then you won't care if I leave," Clary snapped.
"What are you doing? You don't have to go."
"Suddenly I'm not in the mood to drink champagne and make small talk with billionaires," the girl rolled her eyes and turned away from Jace. She pushed through the people dancing and found her way from the garden back to the house that she had come through from the driveway. She just hoped there was a car that could take her back to the Lightwoods'. As she stepped inside the house, a hand caught hold of her wrist and pulled her through a door into what looked like a guest bedroom off the side of the living room.
Before she could even register what was happening, the door was slammed shut and Jace's lips were on hers.
