So you're probably wondering why this chapter is called 4.5. Or you didn't notice or don't care, but we're gonna explain anyway. It's because we wrote chapter 4, and then we wrote chapter 5, and then we decided we needed a chapter in between and this happened. And somehow it's one of the longest chapters. Oops.
Free Lunch Break
Clary pulled a tray of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from the oven, placing the tray on the counter to let them cool down. She went to the fridge and retrieved her lunch, leaving the kitchen to meet Jace at their usual spot.
She sat down with Jace at their little table by the window, unwrapping her sandwich as he smiled and slid a cupcake over to her. "How's your day going?"
Clary shrugged. "I've had better days." She seemed tired, a bit overwhelmed. She picked up the cupcake Jace had offered her with a small smile, setting it aside for later. "How about you?" she asked, not looking up from her sandwich.
Jace knew she wasn't trying to be rude. She had days like this, where she was more quiet. Days where it was harder to make her smile. But Jace didn't mind. He always liked a challenge.
"Have you seen Megan Fox's thumb?"
Clary looked up, confused. "What? Why?"
"Because it's fucked up, look." Jace held out his phone to reveal a picture of Megan Fox smirking at the camera, her finger in her mouth as though she was trying to be seductive, but it gave a perfect view of her oddly shaped, almost triangular thumb. (AN: Google it. It's nasty)
Clary cackled at the picture, taking the phone from Jace to get a better look at it.
After that Clary seemed looser, less tense. She was more open to conversation and easier to joke around with.
The conversation turned from Megan Fox's thumb over to painting, and then the Avengers.
"You can't be half worthy," Clary argued. "You're either completely worthy or completely unworthy. There's no in between!"
"Of course there is. Cap could have been on the way to becoming worthy," Jace retorted.
"Listen," Clary said, pointing at him with her entire hand. "Cap has been worthy since sperm met egg. He didn't pick up the hammer because he didn't want to embarrass Thor. Because he's a good person. Bitch."
Jace smiled. He liked when they got into playful heated arguments like this. Especially when she playfully called him bitch. He tried not to stare as Clary so adorably shoved her entire cupcake into her mouth. He reached up with a napkin to wipe some frosting from her nose, but she just swatted his hand away, choosing instead to attempt to lick it off. The struggle was adorable, and Jace finally reached over and scraped the icing off with his index finger and licked it off.
Clary could feel her cheeks turning a bright red. She turned away, trying to hide her blush. There was no way Jace knew how damn hot he was. Everything he did made her panties wet. She chose instead to glance out the window in attempted casualness. From here, she could see Sebastian's shop across the street. Erchomai Coffee was a small brick building, with a black sign hanging over the dark wooden door. The few tables outside were mostly empty, except for a young couple eating lunch together and a man with dark hair looking in their direction.
Clary looked away, feeling ready to look back at Jace without creaming her pants, before her eyes snapped back to the man with dark hair.
It wasn't just any man.
It was Sebastian.
And he was staring right at her.
He met her eyes from across the street, smirking. He lifted his hand and waved before standing up and disappearing inside his shop.
Clary closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She knew she was safe here.
"You ok?" Jace asked, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Clary nodded her head. "I'm fine," she said, more trying to convince herself than him.
Jace clearly didn't believe her, but he (thankfully) didn't press her any harder.
He stood from their table, taking Clary's hand to guide her back to the kitchen. "I have a surprise for you," he said, opening the door for her.
Clary stood at the kitchen's island, her eyes shut and her back to the fridge as Jace opened the stainless steel doors and told her not to look. There was a clacking sound in front of her, like porcelain hitting marble. Though it was not loud or jarring, she flinched. Jace put a hand on her shoulder, steadying her, and told her to open her eyes.
On the counter in front of her was a triple decker cake with red frosting that read Happy One Month Anniversary! (of working here)
"I had Jordan make it for you. I told him you like carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I would have made it myself but I couldn't bake if my life depended on it." Clary giggled, still staring down at the cake. "And I made sure that Jordan didn't tell John about it. So you have this cake all to yourself."
Clary laughed again, feeling her eyes well with tears. "Thank you," she said, barely audible. "This is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me."
Jace scoffed. "What do you mean? John does this kind of stuff for you all the time."
"Yeah, but the food never actually gets to me. I know it's the thought that counts, and I appreciate it, but having the food actually here with me… it's a whole new experience," Clary said, wiping a single tear from her cheek.
Jace and Clary sat together as she devoured the entire cake, after having cut him a small slice. Jace made conversation with her as she mumbled responses around mouthfuls of cake. But eventually they knew their lunch break would have to be over.
Jace left the kitchen so Clary could clean up and setup everything for tomorrow.
After setting out the cookies she had left to cool and scrubbing the dishes, Clary gathered all the garbage from around the kitchen and brought it outside to toss into the large dumpster at the back of the building.
Hands curled around her waist, pulling her against a tall and broad chest. "I've missed you," Sebastian whispered in her ear, shoving her chest against a wall and pulling her back against him as his hands creeped up her shirt.
"Get off me," she pleaded, already feeling the tears begin to fall. And to her surprise, he listened.
Or so she thought.
She turned just in time to see Alec slam his fist into Sebastian's jaw, followed by a kick to the chest. He picked Clary up by the arm and dragged her back inside, locking the back door behind them.
Alec sat Clary down on a stool, waiting for her to catch her breath. "You ok?" he asked, getting her a glass of water.
Clary covered her face with her hands, taking deep, heaving breaths as she attempted to calm down. She gulped down the water Alec had gotten her, taking one more deep breath, and stood. "I'm fine," she said.
Alec placed a hand on her shoulder, as though he was afraid she might collapse. "Alright. But we should probably tell Jace about this."
Clary shook her head violently. "Nononono you can't tell anyone about this. Not Jace. Not John. Not anyone."
"But—"
"Please, Alec. Promise me."
Alec gritted his teeth, clearly opposed to the idea. "Fine. But if he comes for you again, I'm telling Jace. And your cop brother."
Clary nodded her head, trying to keep her breathing even. She wiped her tears away quickly as the door swung open. "Clary," Raphael called. "We need your help out front."
Clary sighed, trying to keep it together as she went out front to help take orders.
The shop was busy for this time a day, the line of customers almost out the door. Jace stepped away from the till to let Clary stand at the register and take people's orders, scribbling on cups and shoving money into the register until the line finally started to dwindle. Everyone else was running around frantically making drinks and clearing tables. Clary was grateful that she could just stand in one place for a little while.
And god, did she need a coffee right about now.
As the crowd in the shop started to thin, Clary saw that Jace was standing at one of the back tables with Kaelie, her dainty fingers curled around Jace's arm as she pushed her chest out and smiled seductively. Jace was speaking to her quietly. He didn't seem to be pulling away from her or rejecting her advances.
Clary frowned, trying not to let it get to her. She knew that she and Jace weren't together. She knew that she never had a chance with him. Jace was big and strong and smart and handsome. He obviously prefered girls that were at his level. Girls that were tall and pretty and didn't have a panic attack every time there was a loud noise.
Clary tried to ignore them as Kaelie stepped closer to him, her breasts pressing against his chest.
Jace stepped away, finally moving her hand from his arm.
Clary scribbled another order onto a cup as she watched Jace try to walk away, closer to the register as Kaelie followed, bringing them close enough for her to hear their conversation.
"Come on baby, don't be like that," Kaelie whined, trying to grab his arm again, but he shrugged away from her.
"I've already told you a hundred times that I'm not interested. If you keep coming here just to hit on me without buying anything then I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Kaelie frowned, seeming like she was going to say something, but instead turned and left.
Jace walked back over towards the register and nudged Clary aside to take her place. She nudged back. "I got it," she said, nodding her head towards the drink making station. "You can pour the coffee."
Jace smiled, heading over to start filling orders.
He stood next to her while he poured someone's espresso. "So," Clary said awkwardly. "Why'd you turn her down?"
Jace smirked, not looking up from the espresso he was taking his sweet time to pour. "I've got my eye on someone else," he said, finally looking up and winking at her. Clary looked away, trying not to shit herself. "Plus," he added. "She has Megan Fox thumb," he whispered in her ear as he headed back to the drinks counter.
Clary laughed. "Can I help who's next?"
"I'd like a medium low fat soy macchiato with a little bit of sugar, but not too much sugar, topped with whipped cream, but not too much whipped cream. Three cherries on the side, no more, no less, and shaken, not stirred," the guy adjusted his hipster glasses and looked up from his phone, locking eyes with Clary. "You," he hissed, baring his teeth.
Clary smiled nervously, hoping that he would just pay and move on.
"I take it you don't have goat's milk," he sneered.
"We do, actually," Clary said, her nervous smile still not faltering. "Is that all?" she asked politely, scribbling the order onto the cup.
The douchebag smirked. "Nice to know you got fired. Shame they hired you here."
Clary could feel her face heating up, either with embarrassment or rage, she didn't care. All she knew was that she had never before wanted to run away and punch someone all at once. She opened her mouth to say something, to defend herself, to correct him, and decided against it.
"That will be $7.55 please."
The guy handed over his money, obviously disappointed that she didn't take the bait. He seemed to be staring at her arm when his smirk returned.
"Nice bruise," he said, slowly moving over to the pick up line. "Looks like someone finally gave you what you deserved. Just wish it had been me."
Clary looked down at her left bicep. She hadn't realized that Sebastian had left a mark. Just barely visible was a light purple bruise shaped like a hand curled around her arm.
Her breath hitched as she stepped away from the register, stumbling back and falling against Jace's chest. He caught her before she could fall over. "You ok?" he mumbled, pulling her away from the customers as he snapped at Isabelle to take over.
He pulled Clary back into the kitchen and sat her down in the same place Alec had before, turning her to face him. "Clary, it's ok."
She put her head down on the cool marble, counting each beat of the pounding of her heart, trying desperately to calm down. She clamped her hands over her ears, blocking out as much sound as she could. The clamor of the coffee shop outside, Alec yelling at the guy to leave, Jace's reassuring voice, everything, Everything but the pounding of her own heart.
A few minutes pass, and finally Clary felt like she could take a deep breath. Her hands shook wildly, and she couldn't still them no matter how hard she tried. But her breath was even. Or at least even enough.
"Clary, I think you should take the rest of the day off," Jace mumbled, rubbing slow and soothing circles on her back.
Clary shook her head, slowly getting to her feet. "I'm ok."
"I don't care," Jace retorted. "I'm sending you home. Don't worry, I'll still pay you for the hours. But I'm calling your brother and you're going home to sleep. Ok?"
After a moment, Clary nodded, standing more steadily.
"I'll walk you out." Jace placed a protective hand on her back, leading her out of the kitchen and through the front door.
"Finally, we've been standing here for almost an hour!"
Clary looked up to see Magnus and John standing on the sidewalk outside the shop. John was holding a bright blue balloon in one hand and a bright swirlie sucker in the other. "Clary!" he squeaked enthusiastically, like a child. His smile faded quickly when he saw Clary's red eyes and trembling hands. "What happened?"
Clary shook her head, not wanting to ruin his mood. "Nothing. Just had a bit of a rough day."
John's childish smile returned. He skipped over to Clary, scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. "Well your day's about to get a whole lot better! Magnus is taking us to the carnival!"
Magnus handed Clary a yellow balloon and a lollipop like John's, patting her on the head.
Jace chuckled. "Ok, well I guess you'll be properly taken care of."
Yaaaaayyyy so weird how this filler chapter somehow ended up being one of the longest and also has more plot than some other chapters? *cough* chapter 3 *cough*
Anyway, as we said before, we're needy bitches that require attention and validation so please review :)
xoxo
-R&A