Helllooooo everyone! Thank you SO much for all the lovely reviews! They make me smile so much and I love hearing what you all think and feel. As a reward I am posting this chapter up WAAAYYY too soon (though I have been writing all day long and have a couple chapters written in reserve so it's ok. I just need to resist and try to make it at least three days between posts or I'll probably catch up with myself). Please keep letting me know what you think. Will and Jace are introduced in this chapter and, hopefully, you don't hate me for messing with their relationship. As I said before, it works for this story so that's what you get.
Also, I've decided to do a couple chapters in Alec's point of view. They will cover the same time as the Magnus chapters, just from Alec POV. Hopefully you like them.
To anyone who thought the first chapter was dialogue heavy, bear with me through this one and I promise it gets better. Especially in chapter three.
And yes I am an Anthropology and History major (possibly French minor), so that's where that came from. I'm glad it was so well received (I love my major).
And yes: where there's a Will, there is a Jem... *wink*
Wednesday Sept 20 Chapter 2: How to Stalk Your Future Boyfriend
My roommate, Will Herondale, and I live off campus in a small, three bedroom row house in the heart of the city. Not the safest looking neighborhood, but the crime rate was surprisingly low, as was the rent. Will is a nurse, a grade A pain in the ass, and my best friend. Has been since the 9th grade when he beat up a kid twice his size who had made it his job to trip me as often as possible and call me derogatory names every day. After that, no one ever messed with me again, and if they did, Will would make sure it didn't last long.
That was just the kind of guy he was. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that Will is a big brother and after his parents died he felt like it was his responsibility to look after his siblings, and everyone else he cared about. Will was twelve when his parents had their accident, his sister Cecily was ten and his baby brother Jace was only eight. They went to live with their aunt and uncle, who, as it just so happened, lived in my parent's neighborhood (hence our going to the same high school), and were the nicest people on earth, but Will still felt the desire to get out of there as soon as possible. He hated feeling like a burden to anyone. He took dual enrollment classes during our junior and senior years, while I improved my kissing techniques and mastered the art of liquid eyeliner, and he'd managed to get a job in nursing that paid him enough to get his own place by his nineteenth birthday. He'd been living here since then, working at the city hospital in physical therapy and taking night classes in an attempt to get his RN, which he had succeeded at last year, right about the time I'd moved in with him and started my college career.
I wish I'd had his determination. Here I was a twenty two, starting my second year of college, living with my best friend who was six months younger than me, and a graduate with a full time job. I'd spent the gap between eighteen and twenty one working at a nightclub waiting tables for just as many hours as I needed to pay for my wardrobe full of clothes and shoes and my various cosmetic needs (which turned out to be almost forty hours a week) and partying when I wasn't at working. Eventually I realized, with a lot of help (and by help I mean yelling) from Will, that I couldn't work as a waiter my whole life and I probably should get my shit together.
I slid my key into the deadbolt and unlocked it with a click, pushing the door open with my shoulder seeing as my hands were full of booze and butterscotch.
"The rum is here!" Will shouted as I came through the door.
"I'm so glad to see you too!" I replied sarcastically as I closed the door with my foot and walked over to the kitchen.
Will got up off the overstuffed, orange couch and followed. "So who are we stalking today?" He inquired playfully getting two bowls out of the cabinet while I poured the piña colada mix, pineapple, and ice into the blender. "He must be really cute, you bought the good stuff." He indicated the expensive bottle of rum as he handed it over. I unscrewed the cap and poured; no need to measure. If it wasn't enough we could just add more to taste and if it was too much, well, there's no such thing as too much rum.
"His name is Alec and he is more than cute! He has the most gorgeous blue eyes I have ever seen, no offense," Will was also a blue eyed, black haired beauty, but it looked so different on him than it did on Alec. For one thing, Will wasn't as pale so there wasn't such a stark contrast between skin and hair color. For another, though I love my friend, his eyes held none of that old soul deepness that Alec's did. At least not in my opinion. Just stubbornness and snarky wit, and occasionally hellfire rage. That was something all the Herondale's possessed and it made them a force to be reckoned with.
"None taken. Not everyone is evolved enough to appreciate the piece of heavenly work that is Will Herondale."
I laughed. "I think you've been spending too much time with that bratty kid brother of yours. His conceit is catching."
"Haha probably. I really should limit his nights over here to three a week."
"Or you could charge him rent. At least make him buy his own groceries. Every time I buy a new pack of Oreos they disappear within the hour!" I complained over the noise of the blender.
"Or you could just stop buying Oreos. Do you know what that junk does to your body?" He had that I'm-superior-to-you-because-I-took-nutrition-and-d on't-eat-junk-food look on his face. It was a pretty amazing feat to pull off considering he had a spoonful of ice cream up to his lips.
"Look who's talking? Butterscotch hypocrite!" I poured the piña coladas into their tall glasses, garnished them with some more fresh pineapple chunks and pulled out the wide straws and long spoons from the second drawer down.
This had been a rather common indulgence for us since we'd discovered rum at age sixteen, so our kitchen was well prepared.
Will just shrugged his shoulders and replied "it's organic." As if that somehow counteracted all the other ingredients that were bad for his body. I just shook my head and went back to the den to get comfy on the couch. Will carried our (very full) ice cream bowls behind me and settled down next to me.
"Ok, so his name is Alec and he has blue eyes. That's not a lot to go on Bane. Did you happen to get a last name?" He stretched his jean clad legs out under the coffee table, reclining his head back on one of our Indonesian patterned throw pillows. He'd complained about them when I'd first bought them, calling the hideous and a waste of money, but as soon as he'd put one on his head and realized how much like lying on a cloud it was he'd caved and they'd been on the couch ever since.
"Ah, well he didn't introduce himself with one. Just Alec" I let the name linger on my tongue.
"Of course he didn't. Why would he want to make my life easy? Alright, got any other details that might help identify him?" He huffed through another mouthful of ice cream.
"He's an anthropology teaching assistant for Dr. Stevens, he speaks French and he has great taste in movies. Oh, and he parks in the Lee St. deck."
Will just stared at me for a minute in silence.
"Magnus Bane, have you truly talked to this person or have you gone completely out of your mind and moved up to actually stalking your prey now?" He spoke slowly and delicately as if talking to a mental patient who might snap at any moment. He rested a hand on my lime green jean covered knee.
I threw a piece of pineapple at him and pulled a rather unattractive (even on me) face.
"No I did not stalk him. If I had, I wouldn't need you now would I? This is just all the information I gathered during our brief, but memorable, conversation. And when he left he pointed to his parking deck. I'm not that much of a creep; geez give me some credit!"
"I don't know what you two are talking about, but you're definitely that much of a creep." Jace snickered as he came out of the spare room. He was in an old ratty pair of blue plaid pajama bottoms and a white tank top that also looked like it had seen better days. I thought about commenting on the dismal state of his wardrobe, but caught myself before I did. He'd probably just say they were tattered because some female had been attempting to rip the clothing off of him.
That was Jace, conceited to the core.
"I didn't realize the black sheep was visiting." I said to Will, deciding it was best to ignore Jace's comment altogether. This was my little nickname for Jace. It was fitting too. Cecily and Will looked almost identical with their black hair, dark blue eyes, full lips and high cheekbones, just like their mom. Jace resembled his father and uncle with golden blonde hair that was slightly curly, a narrow mouth, and almost golden eyes. He had the looks to be a heartbreaker and the attitude to go with it.
"Be nice you two, I'm gonna have enough of a headache from this glass of rum Magnus calls a piña colada; I don't need you two adding to it." Will mediated, before the name calling could really start.
"Oooohh can I have some?" Jace yelled, making a beeline for the kitchen.
"No!" Will and I shouted in unison just as we heard a glass being sat down on the countertop. I refused because I had spent good money on that alcohol and didn't want his greedy self to drink it all. Will refused because Jace was only eighteen and he was being hypocritical again.
Jace mumbled something indistinguishable, but we heard the faucet turn on and off and moments later he was in the den, flopping down in our oversized blue suede chair with a tall glass of water in his hands.
"So what has driven you two to this lonely night of liquor and junk food at only eight o'clock?"
I did not want to dish about my future boyfriend in front of Jace, but Will didn't hold the same animosity towards his baby brother that I did so he saw no reason not to clue him in on my love life.
"Magnus is smitten with this guy Alec he met tonight in his anthro class."
"How did he just meet him tonight? The semester is over a month through." Jace continued talking about me as if I wasn't in the room. It was a technique we both employed often and one that drove Will crazy.
He seemed to be under the (false) impression that ignoring someone's presence when they're sitting three feet away from you is childish.
"He was the TA filling in for his sick professor. I'm trying to figure out how I'm supposed to find his online profile or class schedule or some way for Magnus to casually bump into him again when all I have to go on is that he looks like me, only with prettier eyes, speaks French and makes bad choices when it comes to parking decks." Will looked at me for confirmation and I nodded. Yup, that was about it. "I guess you could find out when Stevens' other classes are out and just lurk around Lee St. around that time until you see him. That might be a little desperate though." He added with more sarcasm than I believe was called for.
"Oh wait, I just remembered he mentioned he's taking medical anthropology. I could look that up and see when they meet. Unless there's more than one class..." That seemed promising. I retrieved my laptop from the messenger bag I had dropped on the floor upon entering the apartment earlier and sat back down next to Will. I took a large bite of ice cream as I typed in the school's web address. The smile faded from my face when I clicked on the ANTH 391 link.
Two classes.
There were two class possibilities. Both of which were during blocks of time in which I was in class. No chance of casually running into him when his class let out if I was all the way across campus working on the art of storytelling or photography.
"Shit, no luck there. Back to square one." This called for more piña colada; the ice cream could melt for all I cared, I needed a buzz.
"You are seriously pathetic, you know that?" Jace looked mildly amused at my agony; watching us on the couch as if my plight was more entertaining than his favorite TV show.
I wanted to slap that smirk off his face.
I tried to ignore my violent urges though and focus at the task at hand. I had to think of any way I could narrow down the search. Will was on his phone searching through every 'Alec' that lived within ten miles and went to our school. Holding the phone so that I could see the profile pictures in case I recognized one.
"This would be a lot easier if you knew his last name." Will mumbled. He took a long sip from his melting colada. "Do you happen to know his age?"
"Um, he looked younger than me, but he said this was his was a third year anthro and French major, so..."
Will rolled his eyes at me. I'm positive that if I hadn't helped him find many a date this way in the past he would have thrown his phone down and called it quits. As it was, he owed me and he was going to sit here until I found my dark haired angel.
"Hey, this dude you're in love with," Jace cut in. I shot daggers at him with my gaze but he continued on, ignoring it, "was he kinda shy and slender, wearing all black with weird tribal-esque tattoos on his upper arms?"
I narrowed my charcoaled eyes at Jace. "Slender yes, though muscular. And as far as shy goes, he didn't seem that bad, though I could tell he was definitely nervous to be up in front of everyone talking, and he blushed a lot while it was just the two of us. I didn't notice any tattoos, but his sleeves came almost down to his elbows so I don't know what might have been under them."
He never had tattoos any of the times I'd pictured him without clothes throughout the evening, but I didn't think that counted so I kept it to myself.
"Yup that sounds like him and that tell-tale blush."
I waited open mouthed for him to continue, but he just stared at me, enjoying the power he held in his hands.
"Him who?!" I almost screamed.
"You know, I'm getting pretty thirsty. A rum and coke would be delicious right about now."
I got up and stomped to the kitchen, quickly pouring Jace a rum and coke (more like a coke with a splash of rum) and marched it back to him.
"Ok now spill. How do you know my Alec?"
"Your Alec?" He raised a golden eyebrow and took a slow sip of his drink. "Went a little light on the rum there didn't ya?"
"Jace stop being a jerk; answer Magnus's question." Will intervened on my behalf. Though I pretty sure it may have been just as much on Jace's behalf, as I'm sure Will could tell that I was about to jump off that couch and strangle the little nuisance where he sat.
"Ok, ok. I'm almost positive he's Cecy's new boyfriend's cousin. I met him at the Fourth of July barbeque. He's really reserved, but much more interesting to hang out with than his cousins. His sister is pretty nice too, though she wouldn't stop talking for almost time entire party."
"Cecy has a boyfriend?!" Will questioned in surprise, almost choking on the last sip of his drink.
"This is great! He's practically related to you, do you have his number?" I asked eagerly, ignoring Will's cries of outrage that he was never told about a barbeque and why hadn't he met said boyfriend yet.
"Look, Cecy's gonna kill me when she finds out I told you. I'm pretty sure if it were up to her she'd tell you via wedding announcement." Jace laughed and all the color drained from Will's face.
"She's not that serious with him is she? She's only a baby! She can't go off getting married; she's not even out of college!" He was working himself up into hysterics, and almost made me spill rum on my designer t-shirt. I needed to get this under control.
"Whoa whoa calm down dad. I think you just answered your own question as to why she didn't tell you. And no, I don't think they're that serious yet. She is happy though, so stay out of it."
I looked back and forth between the two brothers.
How could they continue bickering about something so trivial at a time like this!
"Ok, everyone needs to calm down and focus here at the matter at hand. Will, Cecily is an adult and can make her own choices. Jace, DO YOU HAVE HIS PHONE NUMBER!?" My heart was racing and I felt flush. It could possibly have been because I'd brought the rum bottle back into the den with us when I'd made Jace's drink and had been taking large sips out of it to calm my nerves. I don't think it worked...
The Herondale's seemed quite taken aback by my outburst.
Who could blame them? This boy was getting me worked up like no other.
"Yes Magnus, I have his phone number. I'm not sure I should give it to you though, especially not while you're drunk."
"I'm not drunk; I just got a little carried away. And if you don't give me that number I am going to get on your brother's computer right now and upload all of your baby pictures to Facebook and tag every girl in your friends list."
Jace didn't look bothered. "So? I was an adorable baby."
"Yeah, except when you were five and Will gave you a perm. Yeah, I've seen those pictures. And I swear to God I will post them." It was Jace's turn to lose all coloring. Pure fear reflected in his face and he quickly got out his phone, mumbling "bastard" under his breath.
"Here." He handed over his phone and I stared at the contact screen. Alexander Lightwood. Alexander. That was such a beautiful name. It was the kind of name one wanted to shout to the rooftops. Or maybe that was the liquor talking. I couldn't really decide.
"Are you gonna copy his information or just stare at my phone all night?" Jace asked huffily.
I quickly got my phone out and copied the contact info, saving blue eyes under the nickname tab instead of Alec as it said in Jace's phone, then threw it back to him. "Thank you." I stared at the contact screen in front of me. Should I call? Text? Will he think I'm some freak and not reply? Will he even remember me? Or want to talk to me? There were so many questions running through my mind.
"Hey, don't get your hopes up about Alec. Like I said, he's pretty shy and I'm not sure you're really his type. Actually, I'm not entirely sure any guy is his type. I mean, I know he's not seeing anyone, and I definitely can't remember him ever mentioning liking any girls, but he also hasn't mentioned any guys, so I don't know..." Jace shrugged. "Maybe he just doesn't have time to date anyone."
"How many times have you hung out with him?" I asked, slightly bummed at Jace's echoing of my thoughts.
"A lot actually. His sister is roommates with this really hot chick named Clary, so I go over and hang out or study as much as possible and he's usually there too, helping Izzy, his sister, make it through French 101."
I made a mental note to look carefully at the roster next time it was passed around in my French class, just in case the Gods had smiled upon me and by chance placed me in the same class as his sister. Could fate be so kind?
It's unlikely, but a man can dream.
"Hmm... I think I need to sleep on this and decide what to do in the morning. Thank you both for your help, good night." It was only half past nine but I was exhausted. Besides, I needed the extra time to sleep off the effects of the alcohol.
I could hear them starting to argue about Cecily again as I walked down the hall to my bedroom, but I didn't care. Nothing else mattered aside from the fact that I had his phone number. Alexander's phone number. Not that I was quite sure what I would do with it yet, but having it was a start. I threw off my clothes and fell upon my canary yellow bedspread, suddenly exhausted now that I was in the dark and horizontal. I closed my eyes and gave in to the darkness, falling asleep to thoughts of Alexander Lightwood and those piercing blue eyes.
