Okay so, ANOTHER CHAPTER! In the same night. I don't even know if anybody even likes the story yet, because I put up the first chapter only like an hour ago. I doubt anyone's even read it yet.

Anyhow, to the story!

DISCLAIMER: you know the deal. Don't own anything. Now on with it.

It was almost two in the morning when Clary slipped into the driver's seat of Simon's car. She had called Isabelle and Simon, who were far too drunk to drive, a cab and sent them back to Simon's mom's house.

"Thanks Clary," He'd slurred at her, "You're a really good friend. You know that, right?"

She, herself, had only drunk one glass of champagne. She felt drained, for some reason. She felt like she just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up.

Clary hated herself for it, but she couldn't push away that burning in her chest whenever she thought about Isabelle and Simon getting married. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for them; she was. But she couldn't help but think about how even when her two best friends were moving forward, Clary wasn't moving anywhere. She wasn't even moving out of her house when college started in September, seeing as the University was only a half hour drive out of town. She was stuck. Things weren't changing. She was in almost the exact same position she'd been in this time last year, except this time she didn't have her two best friends standing beside her. She was completely alone.

Simon and Isabelle were moving on, and they were leaving her behind.

She stopped at the red traffic light and rubbed her eyes, shaking her head. She wasn't supposed to think like this. She was supposed to be thinking about the positives. But there she was, two hours after her birthday, one week after graduating from high school, and already wishing she could go back to when everybody was moving at the same pace. Back to when she didn't feel like she was watching everybody in her life go on forward without her.

Staring out the windscreen of Simon's car, the headlights from the car illuminating the road in front of her, she noticed her vision start to go blurry. Sighing, she turned into the car park of the local 24 hour diner, Lucinda's. She needed coffee, unless she wanted to crash into a tree.

Great, now I'll never be able to sleep tonight.

She sat down on a stool at the counter, not paying any attention to anyone around her. The diner wasn't anything special; pale yellow walls, red linoleum stools and booths, cheesy, 50's style decorations hung on the wall.

"Anything I can get you Clary?" It was Barb, the blonde, middle aged woman who had managed the place for five years, ever since Lucinda had retired. Clary had often found herself turning up at the diner with Isabelle and Simon after school for coffee and cheesecake, so most of the staff knew her by name.

"Yeah, a coffee thanks." Clary forced herself to smile at the older woman. This was odd, she thought, because she usually had no problem smiling at Barb. Barb was loveable.

Barb poured the dark liquid into a white ceramic mug. Clary picked it up and sipped from it, breathing in the rich, bitter aroma through her nose. She hadn't noticed the pair of golden eyes that had looked up to stare at the mention of Clary's name.

"You know, if you wanted to see me, I'm in the phonebook. No need to resort to stalking." Clary jumped as the voice interrupted her hazy thoughts.

"Jace." She said her voice flat.

"Yes?" He smiled innocently at her. She ignored it.

"I think you may be the one stalking me, Wayland." The coffee was starting to kick in and her thoughts were clearing, helping her to regain her composure.

Clary noticed glanced at Barb from the corner of her eye. The blonde was facing away from them, seemingly sorting through paperwork on the back counter, but Clary could tell by the stiffness in her shoulder and the slight tilt of her neck that she was listening in. She looked at Jace and motioned to the waitress with a tilt of her head. He looked in the direction she'd gestured to, nodded and got up, taking his coffee with him. She followed, mug and purse in hand. Sliding into the booth next to the boy, she let out a small, involuntary giggle.

Jace chuckled a long with her. Both of them had been living in the small town long enough to know that even though Barb was lovely; she was also the town gossip.

"So," Jace begun, "What's keeping you up so late?" Clary picked up her now half empty mug, motioning at him with it.

"Coffee. I didn't want to fall asleep at the wheel and run off a bridge or something."

"Well you don't have to worry about that, seeing as Middleton doesn't actually have any bridges."

Clary chuckled. He was right.

"Middleton doesn't have anything," She pointed out.

"That's true." He agreed, "This place is as dry as Texas in summer. And it's not even in Texas."

Clary laughed. It felt good. It had been ages since she'd laughed like this. They were silent for a while. Jace absent mindedly gazed out the window, and Clary studied him, getting a proper look at his features.

He had a very stunning face, his cheekbones high, complimenting his nicely angled jaw line. His eyes were a smouldering dark gold, like melted chocolate and honeycomb and his hair was a very light blonde. Clary almost craved to see how it would look in the daytime, with the sunlight reflecting off it like it would off Lake Lyn. Which wasn't really a lake, if you really thought about it. More like a large pond or a swamp. When he smiled, she noticed a chip on his right incisor. Some people might have seen this as an imperfection. Some people might have said that it was a crack in Jace's otherwise flawless face. Some people might have been put off by it. But not Clary; For Clary, it just made him more real. More palpable. It made him less perfect, but it somehow made him even more beautiful than before. It was funny how she hadn't even really looked at him before that night. She's always known he was good looking, but she'd never really thought about how beautiful he was until then. Not just attractive, but true beauty. The type of beauty that isn't perfect, but has flaws that are just as amazing as the perfectness, perhaps even more so. It almost took her breath away.

She blinked, snapping out of her reverie. What was going on with her? She had never had a crush in her life, not even in middle school. She had been asked out a couple of times before in high school, and she'd accepted. She only said yes because she thought they were nice and she didn't want to hurt their feelings or embarrass them, but they had both ended on the first or second date, mainly because she just didn't have the energy or the incentive to go deep into relationships. And to be honest, she hadn't been all that attracted to them anyway. She just couldn't do the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing.

Clary Fray had never been really attracted to anyone in her life.

Yet here she was, gawking at what might as well be a perfect stranger.

She shook her head, suppressing a sigh. The silence was interrupted by Jaces voice.

"Have you ever thought about leaving?" Clary blinked, unsure as to what his question implied.

"What do you mean?" She asked, putting down her coffee mug. She was starting to feel uncomfortable in her dress; the pretty pink chiffon that had seemed so soft at the beginning of the night was now starting to scratch uncomfortably at the back of her thighs.

"I mean, have you ever just wanted to go. Just get on a plane or get into your car and leave." Jace was looking t her with a certain sort of desperation in his eyes. She didn't answer him.

Her mind flashed to her off white, used Toyota sitting on the curb outside Isabelle's house. She wasn't answering him because she didn't have an answer. She had an answer alright.

Clary wasn't answering him because she was scared of what would happen if she did. Scared of what she might let herself do. So she stayed silent.

"We could do it, you know." Jace was staring at her intently, like he was reading her thoughts, and his voice had gone soft, husky. "We could just jump into my car. We could just name a city, a state, a town. And then we could just drive. Drive and never look back."

She remained quiet, her mind screaming at her to say something, anything. The thing was that she didn't want to refuse the offer. She wanted to take it. The idea was so tempting. It was crazy, but tempting. But she couldn't. She just couldn't.

"Jace," her voice seemed distant to her own ears, and she saw the boys face fall at the tone of her voice. But he still had that desperation in his eyes. "You know I can't. I have... I have college in August and there's still so much I have to-" He cut her off, placing his hand over hers. Her entire body tingled with electricity that came with the contact.

"You don't want to go there." He said, eyes boring into hers intently. She blinked at him.

"Jace, what are you talking about. Of course I want to go; I'm taking a course in visual arts. I love art. It's all I've ever wanted to do."

"I know, I know, but you don't want to go and sit in some classroom all day. If you go there, Clary..." He seemed to struggle for words, grasping for the right thing to say, "... Clary, it will smother you. You'll lose it. You'll lose all the emotion and all the feeling that goes into your work. You might still have your talent, but you'll lose everything that makes your art beautiful. Clary, going to that crumby college will kill you."

"Well, what do you know about it?" She snapped, "You don't know me. How the hell do you know anything about my work anyway?"

He was making her angry again. He was making her angry because he was right. She knew he was right. But what he was suggesting was insane. It wasn't... it wasn't what girls like Clary did. Girls like Clary were quiet, nice, predictable girls. Girls like Clary were girls who helped little old ladies across roads, were nice to their parents and did as they were told. They went to college and married quiet, nice predictable boys. Boys like Simon. They didn't throw away every plan they'd ever had to run away with boys they didn't even know on a whim. Especially not boys like Jace.

"I used to see your paintings drying in the art room after school. They were beautiful." She looked into his eyes, searching for any hint of sarcasm or deception. There was none.

"If we left together," he continued, "you could paint anything you liked, whenever you liked." His voice held so much promise in it.

"Jace," She wanted so badly to yes. So badly. "It's not that simple. We can't just get in a car and leave. The idea is there, but these things, they cost money-"

Jace shook his head. "You don't have to worry about money. That's all taken care of" She wondered what he meant by this, but let it go.

Clary sighed, "Okay, fine. But, what about my parents? What about Izzy and Simon? I can't just leave them."

Or can you? Said a rather loud, annoying voice in the back of her head. They don't need you anymore. Simon and Izzy have each other now and your parents haven't needed you for years. You don't have any obligation here.

Shut up. She told it. Shut up shut up shut up.

"Look, Jace." She slid out of the booth, leaving three dollars on the table in front of her. "I want to." It was true. "But I can't." Not true. It was the voice again. She ignored it. "I don't even know you, not really. I... I just can't." She turned on her heel, about to walk away when she felt a hand on her elbow, the heat from Jace's body burning into her skin.

"Clary, please." He slid a napkin into her hand, "Just think about it okay? Call me anytime. I'll be there." And with that she tore away from him, tripping on her heels, knowing that if she stayed any longer she would give in to him. And she couldn't do that.

Because that's not what girls like her did.

Okay, so first I want to apologize for putting Lake Lyn in there. I always hate it in AU's when people do things like make the town "Idris" or make the High School "Shadowhunter High" Or "Shadow High" or "Idris high" or "The Institute" or some shit [excuse my French]. I mean seriously, what is that? Sorry, but I find it tacky and unoriginal ("You're tacky and I hate you" idk where that's from, I just know the quote). Anyway, I honestly couldn't think of any better names for a Lake (I know I'm such a hypocrite). So I'm sorry. Forgive me?

Anyhow, all ranting aside, please review! It would really help, you know, motivate and stuff.

Thanks for reading, I'll see you next chapter.

Love,
Beth