Characters belong to Cassandra Clare and Beckoning of Lovely belongs to amy krouse rosenthal
Beckoning of Lovely
Clary yanked her bag after deciding to just go simple, a white dress with tights. It looked like it was going to rain so she slipped her yellow umbrella, dotted with small flowers into her bag. The sudden, stirring air of her movements picked up her paper, unnoticed by Clary as she walked out the door. The paper wobbled in mid air as it glided down gently to her desk near the window. The surface was wrinkled from her hands clenching and folding it. She hadn't looked at it before she left.
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Clary was honestly very curious as to what Jace had in store for her. Her mind couldn't stop thinking as she rode the train all the way uptown to the East Entrance of Central Park. Her phone buzzed with a new message.
I'm waiting by the Bethesda Fountain…make sure to make your entrance grand ;)
Confusion muddled Clary's mind. Make a grand entrance? How was she supposed to do that?
Jace sighed as he glanced around, ignoring the roar of the fountain. He twisted his fingers; his stomach was brewing with nervousness. Maybe this was a bad idea, maybe she wouldn't like it. He crumpled his own paper in his hand before smoothing it again. Where was she?
At first, it was a glint in the corner of his eyes, and then as he noticed it was moving he looked closer. There she was, with her shock or red hair and her yellow umbrella raised high in the air. She danced and twirled down the steps, side stepping people, brushing them with her umbrella. They stared at her in pure confusion and some laughed, some walked quickly away and some just stared. She danced clumsily, without music but boy was she grand. She hummed as she skipped over to him.
"Nice dancing." He said. She shrugged.
"You said make my entrance grand." Jace suddenly glanced at her yellow umbrella and started laughing. Clary looked at him, confused and a bit offended. She gently hit his arm.
"Hey, my umbrella is awesome okay? You'll be sorry when I leave you in the rain." Jace shook his head chuckling.
"No, I'm not laughing at you umbrella…just…"He shook his head. "Forget about it." Clary glanced around at the pedestrians and dogs running around.
"So what are we doing here?" He smiled at her, picking up his canvas bag which was full of random things.
"Well since you've been completing them, I think you deserve an act of kindness." He reached in and pulled out a purple flower. Clary gasped as she took it, rolling it around with the stem.
"What type of flower is it?" Jace bit his lip thoughtfully.
"A surprise flower," He said finally. Clary nodded slowly as she looked around. She played with its petals for a while before walking away. Wide eyed, Jace raced after her.
"Hey! Hey!" Clary didn't stop walking. "Where are you going?"
There was a little boy sitting on a bench, his mother chatting with her friend. He sighed as he looked around, bored out of his mind. Clary walked up to him and bent down. Jace couldn't hear what she was saying but his face lit up as she gave him the flower. His mother turned around and they exchanged a few smile and words.
"I hope you have another one of those." Clary said casually as she walked back to Jace. He grinned as he opened his bag, yup; this date was working out perfectly.
"I have plenty." So that was how the first hour went by, they walked up to complete strangers, old, young, men and women and gave them each a flower and sometimes, a hug. It felt odd to Clary to be doing this, to be performing truly random acts of kindness that were actually unplanned and not from the paper…she smiled as she saw a man sniff a flower. It was better this way, a lot more meaningful. She laughed as she sat down next to Jace, her feet were worn out but she was breathless.
"Hungry?" Jace asked as he pulled a paper bag out of his canvas bag. Clary eyed the bag suspiciously.
"Jeez what do you keep in there?" He shrugged.
"Surprises." He smiled as he opened the bag. Clary laughed as she saw what was for lunch. She ripped open a pop tart as Jace stirred and shook the Kool-Aid in a water bottle.
"I haven't had this since I was ten." Clary giggled as she took a swing. The sweet liquid flowed down her throat, reminding her of the hot summer days with her mom by the YMCA pool. Jace broke off a piece and put in it his mouth. Clary laughed suddenly.
"You eat it weirdly." Jace raised an eyebrow.
"I wasn't aware there was a proper way to each a pop tart." He said. Clary shook her head.
"Well I'm here to educated you. You open your mouth…and try to cram it all in." Jace looked at her.
"It's a giant rectangle." He said.
"That's the fun part, when you bit down and everything crumbles in your mouth." She demonstrated for him. "It's delicious." Jace shook his head. He had never really eaten pop tarts before. His cook always whipped up the most extravagant breakfasts. He smiled as he took a bite. But this was so much better.
At one point, they just ended up listening to music…being given a moment of peace by the song emitting from Jace's ear buds...that is until Clary saw the balloon man. She yanked the ear bud out as she ran after him leaving a startled Jace behind. She returned with one balloons one was red.
"Remember the walk?" She grinned. He snorted.
"How could I forget…I wonder where that balloon is now…" Clary smiled as she gripped his hand.
"Why don't we send another one so that it's not lonely?" Just like that night on the Brooklyn Bridge, they raised their arms, releasing the balloon watching it disappear into a small speck, floating high above the world.
They looked up to the sky, the rolling gray clouds when Clary blinked; feeling a drop of moisture hit her face. There was a loud sudden crash as rain poured out of the sky, hitting them without warning. Clary gasped, laughing at the suddenness of it. It was the little, insignificant surprises in the life that were the most meaningful.
"Wait!" Jace yelled over the roar of the storm. "There's one more thing we have to do!" He suddenly leapt into the air, pulling Clary with him. They both landed, splashing water everywhere, giggling like children. Jace then pulled Clary under the shelter of a tree.
"What was that?" Clary asked, still chuckling. Jace smiled.
"A jump for joy…"He looked up. "And we get our grand exit." Clary laughed as she pulled Jace down to her face.
"You, Mr. Herondale have given me the loveliest date so far." His hands wrapped around her waist.
"I'm glad." He whispered. Their lips connected as Clary could taste him, like Kool-Aid and chocolate pop tarts mixed in with the metallic scent of the rain. They spent the rest of the storm, kissing under the tree, reveling in the loveliness that they created.
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The rain pattered through Clary's open window, staining parts of the paper. It rolled over a bit and it's crumpled and smudged ink revealed the task.
Make the world a lovelier place.
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Big thanks to Liberty Hallway for translating my fic to french. If you know french go check it out because she's awesome for doing this. Okay so how was their first date? I got this idea while watching amy krouse rosenthal's film of Beckoning of Lovely. It is a beautiful project and I encourage you guys to Google it or check it out. I hope you this chapter and thanks for reading!