How long did this take? Answer: forever. In fact, it took me long enough to acquire my lovely beta/grammar aficionado: KaseyMeredith. Love her! Now I must apologize for taking so long to do this. On the plus side, you get your longest chapter yet! Filled with Jace and Clary love and witty banter. Also, new points that I know about that you don't. Oh how I love to keep little details from you. Don't worry, you'll get the eventually because I love you. So thank you for being my beta, Kasey, and I'm sorry that I couldn't get this chapter to you. I've started the next one and I'll send that to you but I didn't feel like I could handle waiting any longer than I had. I don't like to keep my lovelies waiting. This is the last typo warning!
DFTBA! and Best Wishes,
KelseyDockry
"We doing Pandemonium this weekend?" Eric asked when I'd walked out of the recording booth.
"Not this week," Simon said.
"You're kidding me. I don't have anything to do on Friday now," He stressed.
"Ask your girlfriend to do something," I offered, taking a swig of my water bottle.
"Well sh-"
"Clary, why are you wearing a ring?"Matt voiced after an hour of not speaking.
"Oh, uh. Jace and I…" my eyes flicked up to everyone else's, "we're kind of… engaged."
"I wouldn't say kind of," Simon put in. "I'd more say that they're the universal symbol of the engagement world."
"Okay, we're extremely, inconceivably, and irrevocably engaged. Now that we have that taken care of..."
"And you didn't think to tell the most important men in your life?" Eric asked, a hand going to his chest in false hurt.
"Oh, we told Robert, Luke, and Alec already. And Jace obviously knew already so I think that takes care of the most important ones, right?"
"Why must you pain me so?" Eric asked.
"It's payback for the poetry," I smirked, taking another drink.
"That was two years ago! Let it go!"
I looked at the others in the band. "Didn't we agree to never let him forget about that?"
"I believe we did," Simon said, stroking his invisible beard.
"My nefarious loins," Matt whispered.
"Shut up!"
"Don't count on it, my inconspicuous brethren," I smiled sweetly.
"Quiet, Shadowhunter," Eric glared.
"That's not an insult. I've told you that I can kick your ass without any trouble. Don't think that I won't," I said.
"I'll help you, Clary," said Simon. "You might need a vamp-y touch to this take down."
"If you need a weak human's help," Matt interjected, "I'm your scrawny man."
"Well look at the time. I'd say that the recording sesh is finished," Eric said, checking his watch-less wrist.
"You've got that part right," a warm voice said at the door. "You ran out your time about forty minutes ago."
"Hey, Jace! My man! You got a ring on the finger of the eternally and sarcastically ever-single! Give me knucks!" Matt said, shoving his fist in the air next to Jace.
Jace looked at him for a moment before gently touching his fist to Matt's.
"Should I be taking offense to that, Matthew?" I asked, glaring.
"One should never be hurt by the truth, Clarissa," Matt said. Jace put his fist out and gave a generous fist bump at that comment.
"Careful, Jace. Remember the power I have over you," I warned, standing up and starting to walk to him.
He scoffed, "You have no power over me. I am a man, handsome, intelligent, crack-open-a-beer-ob-the-antler-of-an-elk, manly kind of man."
I stepped closer to him, putting my finger-tips on his thigh and whispering into his ear, "You wanna bet?" He visibly swallowed. "Goodbye, boys."
I grabbed my bag off of the hanger and walked out the door, Jace a step behind me. We reached the street when I groaned at the rain. He then shed his leather jacket and draped it over my shoulders softly. I looked up at him, golden skin and runes etched under the already damp fabric of his white shirt that left very little to the imagination.
"Enjoying the view?" He asked, drawing my attention back to those devilishly delicious lips of his. We started walking down the street. "Look all you want, baby. I might even let you touch."
"Let me? It's almost like you're talking another language," I said, eyes set on his lips as they pulled back in a sadly breathtaking flirty smile. I had him in the small recess between two buildings that barely shielded any rain. It kept a tiny bit away and we were alone so we stayed.
"N'est-ce pas ce qui vous excite, bébé? " He purred.
"Did you just speak…"
"Françoise?" He looked up at me through his lashes and smirked. "I said-"
"I understood it. Just… keep talking, please," I begged stupidly.
"J'ai besoin de toi, Clary," he whispered back. "Je t'aime."
"Je t'aime aussi, Jace. Je t'aime tellement," I said.
"Clary," he groaned in a low voice, his fingertips ghosting up my arm to the back of my neck, eyes trained on mine.
"Do you really need me, Jace?" I asked.
"More than you know," he said.
I fisted the bottom of his shirt and pulled him closer. "Then take me," I said, rain dropping off of my chin and flowing through my hair, soaking the outside of his warm jacket.
He bent forward, sweeping his nose over mine and lips literally an inch from mine. "We're out in the open," he whispered, his deliciously warm breath washing over my face. I could taste it, taste him, that mint and something else too specific to be anything other than him taste that he always had on his mouth. And I wasn't ever one to be afraid of taking the first taste.
"Has that ever stopped us before?" I breathed back. His lips were close, so close, all I had to do was lean forward, a centimeter maybe and his lips would be on mine.
"I suppose not," he said, grabbing my waist and pushing me back so that I was flush against him and the brick wall. I blinked against the rain for a moment before his hands came to the wall on either side of my head. His face came above mine and the drips from the rain fell down on me. His curls were soaked through completely and made them look darker and thicker. His lips moved down infinitesimally and I heard a car drive fast on the street and the frustrated groan of a young woman near the mouth of the alley way.
"I'm walking here, you son of a- Oh," I heard a voice say. Jace and I turned our heads at the same time to see big blue eyes staring at us, honey gold pigtails frizzed from the rain. She wore jeans and a low cut tank top. "I'm so sorry," she said, blush covering her cheekbones. I hid my face in Jace's shoulder trying not to show too much embarrassment.
"Perfectly fine. You'll understand when you're older," Jace said to her. I looked up at him in with a glare.
"Yeah," the girl said, raising one eyebrow, "I'm sure that you'll understand when you're older that this," she gestured to the embrace that Jace and I were in, "isn't something that you do in public."
"Why are you walking around New York City alone, in the rain, in an alley, wearing that, and talking to strange men you've never met? Poor judgment," he said.
"I think that I can take care of myself," she said, putting her hands on her hips.
"I doubt that you can. You're what, eleven?" He asked.
"Fifteen, actually," she glared.
"The only fifteen year old that I've ever seen that is able to handle New York alone is me. I don't think that you can," he laughed.
"Listen, Mundie-" she started.
"What did you just say?" I asked, shocked.
"The incompetent weakling mind that you Mundies have wouldn't und-"
"You're a Shadowhunter?" I whispered.
"How do you know what a-" her eyes flew wider and she said, "Clarissa Morgenstern."
"How-how do you know my name?" I stuttered, letting go of Jace.
"You're that girl who can make runes!" She said, coming closer to the two of us. She looked at Jace for a moment before saying, "And you're Jace Wayland. I've heard of you too."
"I'd be more flattered if you'd get my name right. It's Lightwood."
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "You two are the Seraph Set! Everyone knows who you are, you defeated Valentine, you met Raziel!"
"Seraph set?" I asked, clueless.
"That's what they call you at the Clave, or in Idris in general. I've learned of you and your brother," she gushed.
"They told you about Jonathon?" Jace asked, fingers tightening against my hip where his hand rested.
"Not very much. But I met him, before he died, I mean. During the war, I was in town at my house. My father died because of it," she said, her eyes clouding over.
"I'm sorry-" I started.
"It's not your fault," she said.
"It was my brother. It is my fault," I told her.
"Clare," Jace whispered in my ear.
"It's not. And that was two years ago, Jonathan's death settled my revenge." She looked at Jace. "Thank you."
"It was the very least that I could do. For Clary especially," he said, eyes darkening.
"Why are you in New York?" I asked her.
"I had to get away from family in Idris, I'm so sick of relatives. I thought that maybe New York would be a better place to spend my time. I was on my way to the Institute," she said, biting down on her lip.
"We'll show you where it is," I told her, walking forward.
"We didn't get your name," Jace said, twining his fingers with mine.
"Roselyn. But you can call me Rose," she said, taking the space beside me.
"Rose," I memorized. "Okay, well if you need anything, Jace and I'll either be here or at my apartment, which isn't too far from the Institute." By this time, we'd reached the elevator and waited for it to screech up to the main floor. Once we'd arrived, we told Roselyn to stay back by the lift.
"Maryse?" Jace called.
"She's in Idris!" Izzy called from the kitchen.
"Iz, get out here!" She appeared in a second, hair fastened with a dagger, apron tied tight around her thin figure. "Go get Alec," Jace said, squeezing my hand.
I went off down the hallway, stopping at Alec's room. I knocked twice on the door. "Ready or not, here I come!" I called to them. My hand was about to wrap around the doorknob when it turned and the door wrenched open.
"May I help you?" A very touchy and glittery Magnus asked.
"This is important," I said. "Get Alec's shirt on and come to the library."
"I have all of my clothes on, thank you very much!" Alec called from the bathroom.
"Just get out here!" I yelled.
By the time everyone had been settled into the over-stuffed chair, questions had already begun to fly.
"Who is this?" Izzy asked, icy eyes squinting like she was trying to find some kind of underlying threat.
"I'm Roselyn, preferably Rose. I just need somewhere to crash in the city and, you know, Institute," she said.
"Yes but I don't really understand why you need to be here. Where's your family?" Alec asked.
"Mother's in Idris, father's dead, only child."
"So where is your mother?"
"Too busy for a family. We were never close and she never had time for me. My father raised me, I loved him so much, and when he died I had nobody. My mother never stepped up and I spent the last two years by myself and I'm done with it."
"Who is y-"
"What's going on in here?" Max asked from the door.
"This is Rose, she'll be staying with us," Izzy explained.
"Where are you from?" Max leaned against the door frame.
"Idris, I grew up there."
"I did most of my growing up there, too," he said.
Magnus chimed in then, "Rose, darling, how do you feel about parties?"
"Magnus, is this really th-" I started.
"Shh, Clary," he said, "this is important."
"Yeah," Rose put in, "I do like parties, I guess. I haven't been to many parties that aren't business-y. My mother's parties were all short heels and knee-length black dresses."
"Oh, I can fix that," Izzy told her with an intense smile that made me feel protective of the girl. However, this let me off of the Barbie Doll hook, so I let it go. Izzy and Magnus towed her off to her room and Max went out to play more of his videogames. After a moment, Alec must have felt awkward because he left the room without a word.
"So… a party tonight?" Jace asked.
"Let's get out of here while we can," I said, grabbing his hand and running to the elevator.
"Clary, I wouldn't be surprised if Isabelle kills you for making us late!" Jace said from the open door of the closet.
"Jace, the party is in an hour," I told him, rolling my eyes.
"Exactly, it takes Izzy about two hours to get you ready. Not that you need it," he amended.
"She's working on Rose. It's a win for all of us."
"I don't see how that's a win for me," he said, one eyebrow rising.
"Well," I said, walking over to him and putting my arms around his neck, "I'm here with you longer. So, you know, we can do things like this," I kissed his neck once, "and this," my lips went up against his skin, trailing along his jaw, "and also this," I pressed my lips against the skin below his ear.
"I guess I can deal with that. It's more of a tie if you ask me."
"How so?"
"You know that you want me exactly as much as I want you."
"I disagree."
"No you don't."
"Why are you arguing about what I want?"
"I'm not arguing," he argued. "I'm simply pointing out that it's just as much of a win for me as it is for you, I'll give you the fact that I'd enjoy it, quite a bit, actually."
"You'd like it more than I would," I said, bringing my fingertips to the side of his jaw. "When was the last time that you shaved?"
"Was that what we were talking about?"
"Was that the last time that you shaved?"
"I shaved yesterday, shut up."
"Hmm," I said.
"Hmm, what? Don't you like the rugged, untamed man-shadow?" He glanced at himself in the mirror behind my back.
"No, I like it. It's kind of sexy, actually."
"I agree," he said to the mirror.
"You would."
"Would you like me to shave before the party?" He asked, arms slipping around my waist.
"I'm good with this." I nipped at his jaw. "Keep it."
"Well if you insist." He trapped my lips in a kiss. After a few moments, he pulled back and said, "But seriously, you need to get ready so that we can leave."
"Can't we just stay here?" I whined, going onto the tips of my toes to kiss him. His lips curled up against mine and he unfolded my hands from the back of his neck.
"No," he said, "we can't stay here. Magnus will kill us."
"But if we stay, it'll be so worth it!"
"No."
"Jace!" I whined.
"Clary," he mimicked.
"I don't want to go."
"I don't want to die. There are some things that you're going to have to do in this relationship and going is one of them."
"But there's so much fun to do here," I said, walking my fingers up his arm and smiling.
"If you don't come willingly, I am going to have to drag you there. Don't think I won't."
"No you won't."
"How do you figure that, ma chérie?"
"Well, I'm in a skirt and a blouse, not party clothes, and you won't change that."
"How much you wanna bet?" He asked, a smirk pulling at his lips while he lifted a hand and popped one button on my shirt.
I slapped at his hand but he caught my wrist and continued on to the next button. "J-" his other hand twisted around my waist and pulled me closer, lips descending on mine. I tried to stop myself from surrendering by breaking off the kiss but he just continued to attack me with his lips as he moved down my neck. "Jace."
"What's wrong, baby?" He asked into my shoulder, one hand coming up to cup my neck and curled into my hair.
I drew a blank for a moment before shaking my head and putting my hand in his hair, pushing him back a bit. He smiled sweetly at me and tucked my hair behind my ear. I drew a blank for a moment before shaking my head and putting my hands in his hair, pushing him back a bit. He smiled with that sexy grin and tucked my hair behind my ear. I noticed then that my shirt was more than half unbuttoned and untucked, showing off the black and lacey bra that I wore in a way that made me blush heavily.
"My favorite color, how'd you know?" He smirked, pulling me back to him.
"Jace," I said, fisting my hands into the jacket he hadn't bothered to take off. I pushed him back slightly.
"Clary, baby, tell me what you want, tell me what to do," he purred into my ear. He took my earlobe in his teeth for a moment. My self control dwindled with the shiver that creeped its way down my spine. It came back when his hand went to the back of my skirt. I broke away and stumbled back one step.
"I'm going to change," I mumbled before going into my closet. The door clicked and my shoulder blades pushed up against it, my eyes closed, breath unsteady, and chest rising and falling uncomfortably fast. Why couldn't I just him and get it over with? I pushed the nagging questions out of my head and went to find a dress formal enough for Magnus' standards. There was one, and only one, in the very back that I hadn't worn before because there was no place to use it. One made of black silk that cut off just under the half way point of my thigh, with a dangerously open and draped back. It had always seemed much too beautiful to hug my near-curveless frame, although it'd gotten better in the last two years. But the dress wasn't so formal that I couldn't wear it to a regular party. What else was I to wear?
"Told you I could get you to change," Jace smirked.
"Th- is that why you did that?"
He shrugged and threw me a sexier smirk than I'd thought possible. "Well, it was a win for the both of us, wouldn't you say?"
"More of a win for you."
"I disagree, baby girl. Touchin' this," he waved his hand the length of his torso, "is always a victory."
"You're so cocky."
"And you get it all to yourself."
"Do I really?" I asked, walking my fingers up his stomach and feeling the muscles tighten and untighten before pushing my palms to slide flat against his chest. I could feel his heart pounding.
"Not right now," he said, I was surprised that his voice could be so even with his heart pounding so strong and fast. He was good.
"Aww, but you said that you were all mine. I like to take what's mine." I leaned in to whisper in his ear. "And I don't like to share."
"As much as I really love when you talk like that," he paused to take a shaky breath, "or when you do that to my neck." I smiled against his jaw. "We should really stop."
"Come on, Jacey. We've got ten minutes to get there."
"It's an eight minute drive if I drove."
"I don't think you know what I can do in two minutes."
"I often enjoy entertaining the idea."
"Come on, baby, live a little."
"Did you just call me 'baby'?" Jace asked.
"What, you don't like?" I had my hands under his shirt and his back pressed up against the wall.
"Oh no, I like. I like a lot," he said.
"I can tell." I fisted his shirt from the inside and pulled him closer.
"Then why haven't you shown me?"
"I think that I've made myself abundantly clear."
"Come on," he purred. "I showed you now you show me."
"You see, I would," I smiled wider and ran my hand into his hair, tugging at it the way I knew he liked, "but I have this fancy dress on. So I can't." My hands slipped from his body and I took one very large step back.
"You are one evil, cruel… unfortunately sexy woman."
"I know, Baby."
He groaned and left to change while I laughed to myself.
Once he'd found me in the corner of the living room he said, "I haven't seen you draw in weeks."
"I just felt in the mood today." I looked down at the rough sketch of the hill of trees and the creek behind the Wayland manor.
"Well, let's go to the party and just get it over with."
I slipped on my shoes and followed as he tugged at my hand. At the bottom of the underground garage parked Jace's motorcycle. Maryse and Robert had decided in the first year of our relationship that they didn't want their son to be flying around in the sky on demon-fueled vehicles, I had to agree even though Jace never wanted to give up his beloved vampire bike.
"Helmet?" Jace offered, picking up the single black helmet on his bike.
"Jace, take it."
"I insist," he said, thrusting the helmet at me.
"You're the one driving, Jace. You're the one that should have the brain bucket."
He didn't respond, just pushed my hair away from my face and put the helmet on my head. "I'm protected by my leather jacket and my rough, unadulterated manliness." He swung one leg over his bike and looked back at me. "You coming, baby?"
I swung my leg over with slight difficulty due to my skirt. All of the uncomfortable feelings bled out of my system when I settled into him, wrapping my arms around his waist and grabbing hold of his jacket.
"Hold on," he said, kicking the bike to a roaring start. The city buildings blurred ferociously on either side of us as Jace gripped at the bike and pushed it faster. We had spent a little too much time… teasing each other at my place and I could tell that Jace was working himself to speed to the party. We shaved about three minutes off of our time that it generally took to get there. I saw a lot of women walking in wearing very short dresses and six inch heels. I could tell two things from that: one, Magnus was definitely having one of his big ass parties, and two, he'd much exaggerated how formal this was supposed to be. Oh well, at least I didn't look like I was going to a wedding and Jace hadn't bothered to be any more dressed up than half ripped and dark jeans and a hot gray t-shirt, I knew he'd chosen a v-neck to drive me insane. It was working. He turned and stopped dead in a spot in the alley beside Magnus' two level home. I pulled that infernal helmet off of my head and shook my hair violently before getting up and smoothing my outfit.
"You okay now?" Jace smirked.
"Almost," I said, leaning up against the bike. "I wouldn't mind leaving."
"We aren't even at the party yet and you're going to complain already?"
"Come on! Let's go to Pandemonium! We can hunt there!"
"I'm not letting you hunt with no weapons."
I pulled out the knife that he'd given me for my birthday the night before in response.
"You had that on your thigh?" He asked, eyebrows raised and clearly impressed.
"Let's go."
He took the knife and lifted the bottom of my dress just enough to show the thigh sheath where the dagger had come from. He gently slid it back into place before looking back up to me with that grin. "You look beautiful, now let's go to this damn party. I don't want to be here anymore than you do."
"Doubtful," I said, walking away from the alley. He followed me out a few steps behind. I saw a throng of people working their way into the door. One of the men with blue spiked hair and a set of black eyes looked me up and down lazily before meeting my gaze and winking at me. I felt an arm curve around me and I was pulled into a cloud of scent: sunshine, laundry detergent, and lime. Jace bent down to whisper in my ear.
"Never pegged you as the jealous kind of boyfriend there, Jace," I said.
"I'm not jealous. I just don't like how he was looking at you, like you were some kind of pastry on a bakery display."
"Jealous."
"I do not get jealous."
"Jealous," I repeated, smirking at the way that it bothered him.
"When have I ever been jealous?"
"I do remember detecting a certain, shall we say, hostility on your part when meeting Simon."
"Well, yeah, but he was all over you and you loved him. Even if it wasn't love, you still love him. But I wasn't jealous, I just didn't want anyone else to have you."
"That's jealousy, Jace."
"No, it's-"
"Shut up," I said, pulling him towards the swarm of people. I know that I should have been shocked when I found out that there was a freaking bouncer outside of Magnus' door, but I wasn't in the least bit surprised. That was who Magnus was and that was what we needed to except, sparkles and all. And the line to get in wasn't really much of a line at all, just a jumbled mess of bodies all trying to gain entrance. I'd never seen most of them but I could tell that they were all different kinds of people: Shadowhunters, vampires, warlocks, werewolves, I even saw a faerie or two scattered around in the crowd. The crowd seemed more intent on speaking and flirting with each other than they did on getting into the party, making it beautifully easy to push our ways to the front. The bouncer looked the two of us up and down before a large hand landed on his shoulder and blue sparks came off of the tips of that hand. Magnus looked like his sparkly self with his black hair spiked and glittered and his black leather clad long legs. He wore a vest over a pink and blue shirt. He spoke above the bashing and pounding music to the bouncer. There was a red velvet rope removal and we were ushered fast into the party.
"Magnus, is this a party or Pandemonium?" I asked, pulling back after his two kisses to each of my cheeks had been placed.
"It's worse than Pandemonium," Jace said, tucking me into his side.
"Now none of that, you two." He gestured to our touching. "I don't want my lovely friends to be nauseated."
"Friends, you say?" Jace asked.
"Yes. These happen to be a fraction of my friends here."
"Really?" I said. "Then who is she?" I pointed to a girl grinding herself against a boy on the dance floor.
"She's…"
"That's what I thought."
"Regardless, you two need to learn to keep your hands off of each other for just a moment. I wouldn't want Jace over here to steal your semi-innocent mind, Clary."
"Is that why you bought her all of that lingerie?" Jace asked with a smile.
"You go, girl," Magnus said, smirking at me. "You use that lingerie."
He walked off before I had the chance to defend myself. I glared up at Jace and he widened his eyes in fake blamelessness. I ignored the reaction that my body had to those puppy-dog eyes and picked the crowd apart with my eyes: group of vamps to the right, some faeries to the back, two tall werewolves out spiking one of the punch bowls, nobody that I really knew. The dance floor was in the middle of the huge room, and yes, Magnus did really have a real dance floor in his house. There are some things that you just get used to after two years. There was a hallway that led to a staircase to the left of the large room and a few doors that led to the kitchen and what not. All of those three doors had paper duct-taped to them, papers that read things like: 'KEEP OUT!', 'STAY AWAY!', 'YOU'RE NOT WELCOMED IN THIS ROOM!'.
Music boomed like thunder through the entire place, seeming to shake the very foundation of the place. I wasn't into that kind of music, rappers trying to rhyme over the belting of pop singers, definitely not my style. But everyone seemed to be enjoying it. I saw a flash of long black hair walking up the stairs: Isabelle.
"Jace, they're upstairs," I shouted to him. He didn't say anything, just pushed me forward into the tide of people. He kept his hands on my hips and I could feel his chest against my back. It had been surprising how well we'd gotten through without being shoved or stepped on too many times. I'd kept my head down the whole time for fear of getting a stiletto heel to the foot. Once we'd crossed the sea, we were much closer to the vampires and the faeries. I recognized one of the faeries to be Meliorn, Izzy's ex. I wasn't sure if they'd dated or just fooled around but he sure didn't seem to want me to see him. He kept his eyes on his friend and pressed himself into the wall, hiding like a pathetic little boy. I ignored him as he ignored me, it wasn't too hard. I looked back at the dancers when we'd gotten to the foot of the stairs. They moved together in the same way that most people did at the club but a lot of them didn't bother being coy about it, you could tell that they wanted each other and didn't plan to take no for an answer. That seemed to always be the difference between Downworlders and Mundanes, Downworlders didn't give a damn about embarrassment, they knew too much to care. Mercifully, the music changed as we ascended the stairs.
Up the stairs was the group that I'd so hoped to see. Seated in the over furnished and over designed room was Izzy, Alec, Simon, Magnus, Roselyn, and, oh the familiarity, Maia. There were also quite a few partiers up here, just not as many as downstairs. Jace had already taken a seat on the small couch and was talking to everyone but Maia.
"Clary, I haven't seen you in an eternity!" Maia cried.
"Hey, Maia, how've you been?" I said, taking a place next to my fiancé on the loveseat.
"Not as well as you two have, I hear you're tying the knot?"
"You could say that."
"Damn, girl," Maia said. "Way to be!"
"What do you mean?"
"He's an ass but he's totally hot. I can't believe that little Clary picked up that sexy piece of man."
I laughed. "Thanks but he's the one who asked."
"Yeah, and you're the one who gets to jump his bones every time you want to for the rest of your lives. Don't get me wrong, like I said, total asshat but hey, you take what you can get."
We both laughed and talked for a while after that, refreshing the budding friendship we'd had six months ago. She'd gone to Idris for a long while and we hadn't really talked much.
I couldn't help my attention shifting to Rose after a while. She looked so much older than she did when I met her a few hours ago. Her honey blonde locks were curled and swept up gently into a messy up-do, her long legs looked even longer in the tall heels and short gold dress, her blue eyes stood out significantly under long fake lashes and golden makeup. She looked like she belonged with the lot of eighteen year olds, even if she was just fifteen. Her high cheekbones and athletically built body didn't hurt her appearance either. She crossed her slightly tanned legs elegantly and looked between Jace and Isabelle as they each spat words at each other in their little quarrel. Izzy had painted her nails a deep green that matched parts of her shoes. She looked beautiful; maybe I should sit a little more still next time she tries to play Barbie with me.
"Hold on, Maia. I'll be right back," I said, getting up and stepping away from the group. They didn't seem to notice much, though Jace tightened his hand around mine involuntarily before I slipped it out from under his grasp.
A beat boomed down the stairs and I descended the stairs. The crowd had multiplied since we'd gotten there about an hour ago. I glanced to the line for the bathroom, why was there always a line like the DMV there? After about two seconds of pondering, I decided to go to the bathroom in the old diner across the street.
Taking the last four steps on the staircase, I became, as always, the shortest person in the room. I'd learned many moons ago that the only way to properly get through a large club-crowd was the dance through it. Green, blue, red, purple, and white beams of light flashed around on the partiers, strobe lights near blinded me. After a moment, my eyes adjusted and I was able to start my little dancing motions. People always move out of your way when your dancing, I'm not sure why but it works. Well, almost everyone moves out of your way, the guy that put his hands on my waist and tried to dance with me was not one of those people. Now I had to pee, I had to pee and I was so not in the mood to be flirted with like that. "Sorry," I held up my ring-bearing left hand about three inches from his face, "you're about two years too late."
He backed off the second he processed this and I scooted my butt out of that place as fast as I freakin' could. My heels clacked against the pavement as I went down to the diner. The bell over the door rang when I walked in and waitresses bustled around the place like rabbits and the customers tried to quiet their squealing children. I shuttered at the tired looks of the mothers that held their kids to try and get them to settle down. That'll be me in a few years…
To my immense pleasure, there was not one single person in line for the bathroom. In fact, the only people even near the bathrooms were a woman and a man, both in their twenties. The woman was tall, extremely tall and didn't need the heels that hugged her feet. Her hair was blonde, bleach blonde, but still looked natural with no high lights. She had an extremely angular face and was thin as paper. The man was shorter than her, five-seven maybe, with an untidy black mop on his head, half curled at some spots. They both stopped talking when I approached but didn't look at me, keeping their heads down and close together.
Once I'd gotten back to the party, everyone was downstairs. I found Jace by the bar, yes an actual bar, he leaned comfortably against it. When he noticed me his eyes lit and his sexy smirk curled up on his lips.
"Hey there," he said when I'd gotten to him. He took me gently into his arms and kissed my forehead.
"You're acting intimidating sweet, baby," I said. "Why?" I turned my head to look up at him.
He tucked my hair behind my ear. "Would you rather I be something else? I can be dirty if you prefer dirty."
"Please don't ruin it," I laughed, pressing my lips to his shoulder.
"Well we can both be dirty. Nobody will know, we can go home and-"
"Stop there," I said, touching my pointer finger to his lips.
"Is that a no?" He said, smiling.
"We talked about this."
"Fine. But I'm going to kiss you, you can't stop me now."
"Don't tempt me, boy," I smiled, moving my hand from his mouth to his neck and the hair that brushed it. He moved his hands down to my waist and pulled me against him. His lips came down on mine softly and caused my eyes to practically roll back in my head. Ugh, I love him so much it's not even funny. I've dug myself pretty deep in this hole and, yeah, no thanks, I don't really want to get out. His one hand curled against the hair that fell over the back of my neck. I pulled him down farther and molded myself to him.
"You know, we ought to stop meeting like this," a voice said from behind us.
I broke off from Jace and turned my torso to see who had interrupted us. Rose stood there with her hands on her hips like usual. She sported an amused smirk and flipped her hair out of her eyes.
"I disagree, I just think that you should stop interrupting," Jace said, mirroring her smirk.
"Well you can finish when I'm done," she said. "Magnus is about to kick the rest of these guys out and we're gonna take off. You guys should probably go or something. Magnus says that he's ending the party in, like, ten minutes."
"Good to know, little one. Now get, I've got business to take care of."
"Yeah, yeah. Use protection or whatever."
"Bye, bye," Jace said, waving her off.
The music changed to a slow song.
"Oh! Perfect chance to show off," Jace smiled. "May I have this dance?" He put his hand out in the air.
"Is this only to show off?" I asked, taking his hand.
"Purely and simply."
He took me out onto the dance floor with the last of the remaining people that swayed slowly in circles with each other. He placed my hands in the right place and put one of his on my waist, knowing exactly what he was doing. He started to glide us around the floor with a grin on his face.
"How have we never done this before?" I asked and we twirled.
"Not exactly the thing that I thought you'd be referring to the first time that you asked me that," he said.
"Shut up. Why haven't we danced like this before?"
"Because we've never had a reason. I thought your mother might kill me if I showed her and Luke up at their wedding."
"I guess this means that we don't have to do those weird dance lessons?"
"I hope not, those things suck."
"Where did you learn to dance like this?"
"When I was eleven I took lessons."
"For the ladies?" I teased.
"You know me so well."
"I definitely do."
I put my head on his shoulder and danced with him for a while before the song drifted out.
"Want to go home?" Jace asked
"So much," I said.
"Let's go before Magnus finds us."
"Hell yes," I said, sneaking through the remaining people on the floor. The bouncer was still there, looking like he was about to fall to pieces. Magnus and Alec must have been upstairs and waiting out their time limit to kick out the last loiterers. We walked out the door and half-ran to the alley way. Jace's black bike sat in wait for us, shiny and pretty, a manly sort of pretty. Speaking of manly pretty, Jace went straight to the bike and put a leg over it. He turned bake and handed me the helmet. I didn't bother complaining this time, just stuck it on. The drive was longer than the one on the way there. I had my head laid down on Jace's shoulder and my hands fisted in his jacket for most of it. When we'd parked in the garage, Jace unhooked my helmet and put it away.
"So I was thinking…" He trailed off.
"Yes?" I prompted.
"June."
"June?"
"Yeah, for the wedding, I mean," he said, looking at me with a half smile.
"Oh. Oh, June. That's in about nine months."
"Well, yeah. But June just sounded… right, I guess?"
"That seems to be the generally accepted idea," I said.
"What do you mean?"
"Like, every Mundie wedding is in June."
"See," he said, grabbing my shoulders gently and beaming at me, "that's the beauty of being a Shadowhunter. Most Shadowhunters marry in September. We aren't Mundies."
"June," I repeated.
"June," he confirmed.
Aww, so cute! June. I love June so much, and it's next week! That must mean summer for you younger readers, I wish you all the best for that. And for my college readers, how's your summer so far? Tell me in the review. Also, tell me what you think of the new found grammar win in this chapter. Thank you, Kasey! My poor hair is suffering from the intense amount of pulling and pony-tail stringing that it's been getting as I made me way through these seven thousand and some words. On Tuesday, there was a conference that I went to for writing and it was heavenly. Seriously, if you are having trouble finding a way to write through the block, go to a website or find some good YouTube videos. It's been helping me. Although there was one guy that criticized my writing more than I'd have preferred, that's part of what I do. Writing is a hard thing to improve and the only way is through practice and reading. Trust me, if you want to write, get it done. And I know that I have a lot of teenage readers or high schoolers, even middle schoolers, and I have one thing to tell you about it: Now is the time to be practicing, to be terrible and to improve. My writing is… meh, but with reading and writing, I'm getting better. High school is your time to, well, suck at writing. Give yourself permission to be bad, and then get better. Beating yourself up about your writing is only going to put writer's block in your way. If you are having trouble with it, switch places that you're writing. If you can't do that, take a little time off, read if it helps, or you could even try to write your way through it. I also suggest NaNoWriMo (Google it). My point is that if writing is what makes you happy, write. Just write.
DFTBA! And Best Wishes,
KelseyDockry