How I Met your Mother reference in here, see if you can find it!

Starbucks Stampede

There were a lot of things Clary loved about living in New York. There were the beautiful skyline that twisted itself into the sky, there was the smell of car exhaust mixed with hot dogs that she had surprisingly come to love. But there were also the cons. The cramped, crushed subway cars, the sewer water that trickled down the street and most of all, the longest flipping line to ever form, every morning in a Starbucks.

Clary was an addict but her love affair with coffee wasn't enough to stand in the middle a Starbucks, with everyone pushing and shoving, with the baristas calling out the names of people who are not her. Most of all, she hated it when they pronounced her name wrong. I mean how can you mistaken "Clary" for "Swarly".

But here she was, standing in line about to pass out from exhaustion. She got up at 7a.m – how can there be this many people? She sighed as she thought about her next task for the day.

Buy coffee for the person behind you when in Starbucks despite who it is.

She thought this was supposed to make her feel better, not worse. I swear I'm going to stab the next person who screams out for a double mocha cappuccino. She thought angrily. She bit back an insult as she was shoved forward by the crowd behind her.

She casually glanced behind her to see who was getting the lucky, free coffee today. If you looked in the dictionary for "professionalism", "sophistication", or "polished" you would find a picture of this guy. He had a sharp, crisp suit with a tie that was perfectly centered. His gripped his suitcase as if his life depended on it.

Great, I get to treat a Wall Street rat to coffee. Clary thought. This is not fair; didn't he have enough money to buy his own coffee? His phone vibrated as he held it up to his ear.

"H-hello?" he stammered. There was a tirade of squabbling coming out from the other end, nothing she could distinguish but from the look of pure fear of his face, she could tell it wasn't good. "Y-yes Mr. Mortmain." He nodded and she could have heard more but she was called up to order.

"Hi, can I have black, no sugar, and no milk." Clary like the bitter taste of coffee, and considering her state this morning, she desperately needed it.

"Name?"

"Clary and uhm…do you know that guy over there?" The barista raised her eyebrow as she glanced over at the guy speaking frantically into his phone.

"Oh that's Alec Lightwood. Poor guy, got stuck as the worst job ever- assistant to Axel Mortmain." Sympathy welled up inside of her when she heard that. Axel Mortmain was the most ruthless, bloodthirsty, shameless player to ever hit the stocks, going on at about 12 affairs even though he was married. Clary then felt guilt at how she had just assumed that Alec was one of them.

"What does he regularly order?"

"Same as you."

"Well…I'll take his bill." The barista raised her eyebrows but didn't comment as she punched it in.

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"Hey are you Clary?" It was Alec. Clary was still waiting for her coffee.

"Only if you're Alec." There was a light blush on his face as he spoke.

"I just wanted to thank you for buying me the coffee this morning."

"You're welcome." I shrugged, "it looked like you needed it."

"Yea I did…"he paused. "But uhm…ok how do I say this….I'm gay." He blurted out. Confusion struck her as she wondered why he was telling her this…then it hit her.

"Oh god…no I was-I wasn't trying to hit on you." She laughed nervously, "See I'm doing this thing called 30 Random Acts of Kindness and this one was to buy a total stranger a cup of coffee and yea…" She could feel her face burning. This wasn't making her feel very good. Alec cleared his throat.

"Oh well...uhm Clary. That sounds very…interesting. Thank you."

"Alec!" The barista called. "Clary!" They made our way to the table to get their coffee. The barista had a strange, pensive look on her face as she stared at Clary with her blue eyes.

"Have you…ever been to the Idris College Library?" She asked her.

"Yes…I go to school there." Her eyes brightened as she grinned at her.

"Have you ever written a note and put it in an encyclopedia thanking a random person for reading it?" She had found it. Clary glanced at the nametag- Kaelie.

"Uhm…yea." Kaelie started laughing.

"That was the best thing ever, I have to seriously thank you for improving my day and I was having a pretty bad one." Alec looked at Clary and raised his eyebrows.

"Uhm…write a thank you note to someone." Alec cracked a smile.

"Well I have to go. Thanks for the coffee Clary!" With that he walked out the door. Kaelie wiggled her eyebrows.

"Boyfriend?" I laughed shortly.

"So far from it. But uhm..thanks for the coffee Kaelie-"

"Wait, can I get you number? I mean it's so great what you're doing. I'd like to hear more about it."

Clary walked out of Starbucks that day with two acts of kindness accomplished. She had to admit…it made her feel better than she already did.

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Thanks to bookworm24mjk for suggesting the acts and for everyone for reading. Please continue to come up with idea for acts of kindness, who knows, maybe it'll go over 30