Chapter 5

"Clary," someone shouted, shattering the sweet darkness she had been blissfully lost in. Clary shot up, inadvertently colliding with something just above her head. And that something hurt.

"Ouch, Angel," said Jace, rubbing his chin and narrowing his eyes at Clary, who was rubbing her head as well, "What did you do that for?" Jace sounded incredulous that Clary would have the nerve to attempt to mess up a face as beautiful as his.

"Me?" cried Clary, glaring back at him with an equal amount of fervor, "No one told you to invade my personal space and shout so that I would wake up."

"Fine, next time I'll let you sleep," said Jace, rolling his eyes and opening his car door, "but I thought you might want some answers. My mistake." Jace slammed his door and began to strut away, leaving Clary to scramble out of her seatbelt and out the car door, not realizing where they were until she caught up to him.

"Where are we? What happened to Pandemonium?" asked Clary warily, though she already knew the answer.

"Oh, you want to talk to me now, do you? And I changed my mind about Pandemonium. Too many people there are native New Yorkers. One of them might have recognized you." said Jace, raising his eyebrow cockily. When Clary didn't react, Jace's cocky expression faded into one of concern. Clary's eyes were wide and she was scanning the street desperately.

"Clary," now Jace's voice grew wary, Clary's frantic searching catching him off guard, "What's wrong? Are you looking for something?"

"Someone," whispered Clary. Jace wouldn't have known what she said if he hadn't been expecting it.

"Let's go," said Jace, swiftly spinning around and linking Clary's arm in his and attempting to pull her back toward the car. Clary let out a soft gasp and Jace paused for just a second, turning around just long enough to see what Clary saw.

Simon wasn't looking at them. Members of his band surrounded him, and they were all laughing and having a great time. Clary let out a strangled sort of whimper and Jace whipped them back around, half dragging her to the car.

Jace looked at Clary in concern but didn't say anything as he pushed her into the car and buckled her seatbelt. Clary was taking deep breaths, trying to calm down. She hadn't seen Simon since her trial. She hadn't realized it would hurt this much.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jace broke Clary's racing thoughts. She looked up in surprise at the moment of tenderness from him. He didn't even sound awkward like most guys get when talking about 'feelings.' She stared at him for a moment, saw herself reflected in his golden eyes as he leaned in to brush a tear away from her eye. He pulled back as soon as he'd done it, a strange look in his eyes like he hadn't actually meant to act on his thoughts. Clary sniffed and turned away, brushing away more tears she hadn't realized had been falling.

"I'm sorry," sniffed Clary, trying desperately to stop crying so Jace wouldn't have to see her like this, "It just kind of caught me off guard, seeing Simon."

"Was he your boyfriend?" Jace asked, his voice tense in a way that Clary didn't understand. She almost laughed at the question, but she couldn't quite bring herself to.

"No," said Clary, mustering up a smile, "not even close. He was my best friend." Her voice broke, but she took another deep breath. She just wanted to get it all out. "During my trial, after the verdict… he told me that he had loved me. And then he told me that he hated me."

Clary turned away from Jace, staring out the window. Jace sucked in a breath a couple of times, almost as if he wanted to say something, but never did. They backed out of the parking spot and away from Simon and the band. Clary resisted the urge to turn around and watch as they drove away.

"Hey," said Jace finally, shooting Clary a mischievous grin, "I think I know something that will cheer you up."

They pulled down a small alley way deep in the heart of the city. The alley was dark and dirty, a dumpster at the end was surrounded by even more trash and a few hobos. Clary looked around skeptically, her tears long dried by now and her usual sarcasm was back in full force.

"Wow you really know how to treat a girl well."

Jace looked at her cockily, "You should see where I take the girls I don't like." Before either of them had time to process what that statement meant, Jace had hopped out of the car and opened Clary's door, "My lady." Jace gave a small little bow and Clary couldn't help but giggle.

"Such a gentleman," she said liltingly, holding her hand out for him to take. He surprised her and pulled it to his lips, gently kissing the top of her hand but keeping eye contact with Clary the entire time. Clary sucked in a breath and forgot to pay attention to what she was doing, missing her step down from the car and falling straight into Jace's arms.

"You know," said Jace, the moment over, "if you wanted to touch me, all you had to do was ask." Clary rolled her eyes and shoved him off of her, dusting invisible dirt off of her… jumpsuit.

"You know I really can't keep walking around like this," said Clary, gesturing at the bright orange beacon, "Someone's going to realize that orange isn't really the new pink and call the police." Jace was already rolling his eyes. Why didn't that surprise her?

"You already know that's not what people see when they look at you," said Jace, gesturing toward the tattoo on her arm in case she'd forgotten. She gave him a look that clearly indicated she hadn't forgotten the fact that he had singed a symbol onto her arm that miraculously turned her into someone else.

"Yes, but you said that someone at Pandemonium might have recognized me. It can't last forever," Clary said, starting to get exasperated. If he could break her out of prison, he could certainly spring for some jeans and a t-shirt.

"Okay, okay," said Jace, taking Clary's arm and pulling her toward a door she hadn't noticed before, "as soon as our 'date' is over, I'll take you somewhere to get new clothes." Said Jace, emphasizing the word 'date' in as sarcastic a tone as he could muster. "Until then, would you just try to enjoy the experience? This is going to be the best food you've had in months."

Clary sighed in exasperation but nodded and allowed Jace to pull her through the dark door, bracing herself for something she was going to wish she'd never seen. However, what she saw surprised her, and not in a bad way.

While she'd been expecting some underground club, or at least a bar, it seemed like nothing more than a mom and pop diner.

"What is this place?" asked Clary in wonder, admiring the vintage booths and boom box as they took a seat in a booth near the window. Clary glanced out the window, frowning at the fact that it didn't seem like anyone was coming in through the front door. No one even looked at the building.

"Just a little place only locals know about," said Jace, winking at a cute waitress as she passed them, interrupting Clary's thought with a different, more pressing one. Clary smacked Jace's arm, trying not to think about how hard and muscled it was.

"What was that for?" Asked Jace; although it seemed like Clary's smack had hurt her more than it had hurt him. She didn't respond, instead trained her eyes on the waitress that he had just winked at.

"Oh, Becca? We've been friends forever. Just playful banter…" said Jace, trailing off when yet another attractive waitress walked by. Clary waited until he had finished watching her walk away to smack him again.

"I understand that you have a flirting quota you need to fill daily," said Clary, gesturing at all of the pretty girls in the room, "but I'm going through a pretty major life event at the moment and I'd really appreciate it if you could focus."

Jace just smirked and trained his eyes on Clary instead, giving her a once over. "This could be entertaining as well." Clary subconsciously folded her arms, sighing in relief when a waiter walked over to hand them their menus. She could almost feel Jace's disappointment, and decided that she could have some fun with that too.

"Oh thank you so much… Jacob," said Clary, trying to sound sultry but refusing to look at Jace to see if it bothered him. She put her hand on Jacob's arm, smiling at the fact that it was almost as defined as Jace's was. Jacob's icy blue eyes crinkled as he smiled at her.

"What's the best thing on the menu?" Clary asked Jacob, still in as sexy a voice as possible. Jacob cleared his throat and shook his head before responding. Either Clary was really good at flirting or really bad at it. She was hoping for the former.

"Well, for drinks, I'd have to say the Sex on the Beach is absolutely delicious," said Jacob in a low voice. Clary tried not to blush and smiled flirtatiously instead. It seemed like it was working. "As for food-,"

"I can take it from here." Said Jace tersely, turning to glare at Jacob. Jacob held his hands up and backed away, sending a parting flirtatious smile at Clary. Clary smiled back and finally allowed herself to look at Jace.

She was somewhat disappointed—his face seemed as relaxed as usual. But she could tell by the hardness in his eyes and the way he clenched his fists that she had affected him.

"What's wrong?" asked Clary sweetly, widening her eyes at Jace in innocence.

He shook his head and spread his hands.

"Do you want to hear what I have to say or what?" Asked Jace curtly, all teasing gone.

Clary leaned in, eyes on his. "I'm listening."