Songbird

Chapter 3 ~ Magic

Jace stood there, leaning against the bar counter, sipping his whiskey, his mind on the girl next to him. She was so beautiful, with her brown, wavy hair with blonde highlights streaked through. Perfectly curvy, her hair pulled back from her face slightly, her skin tanned... How is she real?

He didn't think he'd be able to take his eyes off her if he had kept talking. He was kicking himself now for not saying something more. Then, Jace finally got the courage.

When he turned to the girl, he saw that she was also turning toward him at the exact same time, her mouth opened like she was about to speak, just as he was. They caught each other's eyes and laughed at their situation. Wow, her laugh was contagious. She was beautiful. Okay, stop staring, thought Jace.

"You first," said Jace, finishing his drink and setting the now-empty glass down. He was only going to make awkward small talk, so he was more than willing to let her speak first.

"I was just going to make small talk, honestly," she said, her cheeks glowing red slightly.

Jace laughed. "So was I." He paused, glancing at her. "How have I never seen you before?"

The girl smiled and shrugged. "It's a big city," she said. Her hazel eyes sparkled under the club lights. "It's strange, though. Usually, the attractive ones are arrogant and rude, but you aren't."

She seemed to realize that she called Jace attractive because her face flushed a deeper red.

"How do you know I'm not?" asked Jace, an eyebrow raised, a smile forming.

City laughed. "I just know."

"Well, you aren't either. Arrogant and rude, I mean, for being attractive," said Jace quickly, stumbling over his words.

This loosened the girl up a bit because the red in her face went down, and she smiled rather brightly. It was cute that he was getting nervous.

"I'm City, by the way. Felicity Turner." The beautiful girl played with a strand of her wavy brown hair nervously.

"Jace Knight," he said with a crooked smile.

City cleared her throat. "So, tell me..." she began, leaning on an elbow propped up on the counter, imitating Jace's posture. "What brings you to Indigo?"

"I'm celebrating my birthday, which is tomorrow. Or, today. Not quite sure."

City checked her phone. "It's 2:34am."

"Then I suppose I'm 22 now."

"And you're all alone? No girl? No friends?"

Jace pointed across the room to Isaac. He was talking to two beautiful ladies and very obviously flirting intensely. "There's one, and..." He scanned the dancefloor. "Ah, there's the other." He pointed out Devin, who was dancing wildly, a huge grin on his face, his square, black-rimmed glasses threatening to slip off as he spun around in circles. He looked ridiculous.

"Why not join them?"

"Devin... needs his own space to dance," said Jace. They both watched and laughed at Devin. He was so clearly drunk, Jace knew, because he'd never dance like that if he were sober. "And Isaac likes the girls' company."

"And you don't?"

"Eh. I set them up with him if that counts."

"Of course. They came up to you and you sent them to your friend..." City said in disbelief.

"That's what happened."

She stared at Jace, realizing he wasn't joking. "Why?"

He shrugged simply. "I don't want their company."