Chapter 3 Just a game
Magnus POV
"My family was the main reason that I got into fashion. My parents were always fighting and I was always trying to find some way to escape, I had always loved clothes and I found that the most calming thing I could do was sketch clothes. It relaxed me and everyone always told me I was really good, but my parents never approved, it was not something that the only female heir to the Lightwood fortune should be doing. I never really cared but they refuse to come see my shows." She was looking at the newest dress that we were attempting to put on the model with a kind of sad look on her face.
I knew what she meant, my parents were never the greatest people ever and when my mom overdosed on heroin my dad went crazy and tried to kill me, saying that I was the reason that she died. Everyone had grown up hearing tales of the prestigious Lightwood family and all of their money and fame, but I had always wondered what secrets lie behind the glamour.
"Yeah I mean my parents were totally screwed up, but when you hear about some celebrity family like the Lightwoods being the same way it's kind of a shock." She absently nodded her head and went back to work trying to work all of the zippers on the next dress.
"I don't think about it much anymore but used to it was the only thing me and my brothers could think about, they were like me and weren't approved of by our parents," she said "I think that's the reason why all of us are so successful; we had to do something to tune out the screaming."
I never knew that the Lightwoods had more than one kid; I hated to pry but now my curiosity was getting the best of me.
"What are your brothers like if you don't mind me asking?" she turned to look at me surprised but slowly she smiled and went back to fitting the model.
"No I don't mind to tell you. My two brothers Jace and Alec are probably the only reason I even stayed in the family, was to see them. They were always my best friends and when they broke away from me to do their own thing it almost killed me. At least they stay in New York most of the time but I feel like the only time I get to see them is when I watch their hockey games on TV. Jace is literally and figuratively the golden boy, he isn't really our biological brother but we adopted him and gave him the Lightwood name, blonde hair and amber colored eyes that every girl loves to drool over, and he knows it to he's a bit of a player always has been. Alec on the other hand is almost his exact opposite in looks and personality. He looks like a black and white painting, he has dark hair and pale skin like I do, but instead of dark eyes like I have his are this striking blue that everyone seems to love, everyone but Alec. He tries to hide everything and sometimes I have to force answers out of him. Like when I asked him if he was gay, he wouldn't answer me and finally I got him to admit that he was, and it was like he relaxed around me in a way that he hadn't been in a while. It's his huge secret and if the team ever found out they would fire him."
I was shocked; one of the Lightwood was gay. It was the biggest secret of the century and by the way she clasped her hand over her mouth she hadn't meant to let it slip out.
"Oh hell, I just told you. Oh Alec is going to kill me if he finds out please don't tell anyone. I didn't mean for that to slip out its just you're easy to talk to and I didn't think anything of it…"
"Izzy calm down and breathe. I'm not going to tell anyone I don't even know him and there's nothing wrong with your brother being gay. I mean obviously I'm not straight and my life isn't ruined, if anything its better because I don't try to date people I'm not attracted to, I have no room to talk and I would never rat you out if by chance I ever met Alexander."
She relaxed again and just went back to helping the model into the dress. We didn't talk about her family again or the fact that I knew one of the Lightwood families greatest secrets. Instead we talked about Fashion Week and whose shows we were excited to see. The conversation was fun and I found that I liked this girl, she was sweet but sassy and she wasn't afraid to tell you just how she felt once she got to know you. It was a refreshing change from all of the fake people that tended to hang around just trying to get something from someone.
Still even as I said goodbye to the young designer and wished her luck at her show, which just happened to be the one right before mine, I was still thinking about her brother and the fact that blue eyes and black hair was known to be a favorite combination of mine.
Alec POV
This place was packed with all kinds of strange people; I think I saw one lady wearing what looked to be like a bear coat as a dress, complete with the head and everything. I walked through the doors and handed the lady my ticket, she smiled at me and winked as she led me down to the front row, Izzy always sent me the best tickets because all of the editors and huge fashion designers sat in the first two rows, people like that one designer she seemed to be in love with that had such a strange name. She was always gushing about his shows for weeks after she had gone to see one and I never got so sick of hearing her say one person's name in my life, and now when I was trying to remember the name I had heard a thousand times before I couldn't remember it. Something Bane or some weird name like that.
I think I sat through at least twenty shows of the same boring shit before I heard her name being called over the speaker system. The seat next to mine had remained empty throughout the entire show and even though I didn't like these things I found it odd that someone would miss Fashion Week especially someone whose seat had a reserved sticker on it.
It was five minutes until show time and I was nervous for her, I had seen her newest collection and thought it was amazing but I knew next to nothing about fashion. I felt someone sit down in the seat next to mine and I looked over to see who it was that was so late to the show and why it was they had turned up just in time to see the last two shows. I almost gasped when I saw the man sitting next to me, he was gorgeous and even in the dim lighting I could tell that there wasn't anything about this man that wasn't perfect. He was also very obviously gay in a way that I would be terrified to be. His hair was spiked up on his head and streaks of what looked like purple glitter were in it, he was wearing skin tight leather pants that left almost nothing to the imagination, a dark shirt that shimmered every time he moved and a purple vest that was studded. As if feeling my eyes on him he looked over and I gasped, his eyes which were heavily lined in black and covered in purple glitter were green and gold and the pupil was slit like a cats, I wondered if they were contacts. He smirked at my reaction and I could feel myself blushing. I was the easiest person to get to blush, the team always made fun of me for it.
"Can I help you with something blue eyes?" he asked raising an eyebrow at me. This only made me blush harder and I cursed myself for blushing so easily.
"N-No," I stuttered and the man smiled, "no I was just wondering why it is that you missed most of the shows but show up for the final two." The smile on his face grew wider and I feared that I had said the wrong thing and he was going to kill me.
"I was helping someone out, they were having a bit of a hard time getting the models dressed and ready for the show. She was about to have a mental breakdown when I walked over and helped her. Talent like that is hard to find these days when everything is so commercial but Isabelle Lightwood is a much needed change," he said still looking at me in a way a cat might look at a new toy it just wanted to play with.
Isabelle Lightwood he was a friend of Izzy's. Funny she hadn't mentioned anyone new she met; she must have just met him today. Now I was curious as just who exactly this guy was, I was just about to ask him his name when the lights dimmed again and Izzy walked out onto the runway. She looked tired but other than that she looked fine, relaxed even and when she saw me in the audience she smiled and her gaze flicked over to look at the man next to me. He smiled at her as she gave her introduction and then everything went black. The music started and the first model walked out, the outfit was pretty and as the models rotated through the clothes I started wondering what look she would close with. Probably the red dress.
Against my better judgment I looked over to see the man's reactions. He was watching the show with interest and a small smile playing on his mouth as if he was remembering something funny. As the show wound down the last model came out and I was right, she was closing with the red dress. The model walked down the runway and I followed her with my eyes, even though I knew nothing about fashion I knew that the best shows captivated the audience.
When the model had gone back behind the runway the final walkthrough started and I watched the models go by again. I looked over to see what the man next to me had thought about the show, but he was gone. Izzy came out with the final model and the audience clapped all of them looking unimpressed, but none had said anything bad.
The lights went up again and I thought about leaving, but with only one more show to go I decided to stick around and see Izzy after it was over, she always wanted me to watch the entire thing but usually I couldn't stand to sit and watch overly skinny girls walk around in hideous clothes.
I was so caught up in my thoughts that I missed who the last designer was but it was probably some stupid girl or guy that wouldn't know fashion if it bit them in the ass. I knew I was one to talk since I usually bought my clothes at Wal-Mart but still, none of them were as good as Izzy. None that I had seen anyway.
The lights dimmed again and I heard the name this time over the loud speaker, Magnus Bane. That was that guy's name that Izzy was so obsessed with, she was probably jumping up and down back stage barely able keep from screaming. She was like in love with the guy. Well now at least I get to see what's so great about Magnus Bane.
He walked out onto the runway and my eyes almost popped out of my skull, it was the guy that had been sitting next to me during Izzy's show, the guy that had helped her backstage, and the guy who was so unbearably gorgeous it almost hurt. It was obvious now what he looked like, the guy just oozed confidence and he had that look that said that he knew something you didn't, that he knew your secret.
Our eyes locked and he dropped one eye in a wink, I felt myself blush and people around me roll their eyes. He obviously loved to play games with the audience, to keep them begging for more.
"Before I start the show I have got to tell everyone about something that I thought was hysterically funny, and because this is the last show I won't get yelled at by the producers for talking too much although most of you will probably want to kill me by the time the story is over." He smirked at the audience and a few of them laughed.
"I was backstage getting ready for my marvelous show when I noticed this young designer by the name of Isabelle Lightwood was having problems getting a garment to lay right on the model. Now most of you saw the final look of her show, well the train on the dress was hopelessly tangled so I go over and try to help her. I tell her how to fix it and she doesn't turn around and look at me so she doesn't know who I am and she basically tells me to go away.
"Well ever since I've become a successful fashion designer most people don't tell me to go away, usually it's me trying to get them to leave me alone. Well I was shocked, and the model who had recognized me was trying to get Isabelle to turn around. Well she finally gets her attention and Isabelle says 'yes I know the creep is still behind me' well that was even funnier for me and I was trying not to laugh. The model on the other hand looked absolutely terrified and when Isabelle turned around and saw it was me she had just called a creep well let's just say that it wasn't good. Well certain things that you don't care about happened and I just wanted to tell you this because well I thought it was funny and it's funny to embarrass her like this. Seriously though I think that she one of the best designers of this show and if you don't think she's much because she's new at this well then you are mistaken. If I was a woman, which I obviously am not, I would wear all of her clothes. Hell I might wear them anyway. Ok I've kept you waiting long enough and without further or do I present my marvelous show."
I was staring open mouthed at the place where Magnus had disappeared in shock, not only was he absolutely impossible to keep your eyes off of but he had complemented my sister to the entire fashion community of New York. This was going to make her career.
The lights dimmed and music started not the normal fashion show music which was calming and quiet but loud music that shook the floor like it would at a club. Music that made you want to dance and music that was defiantly something that I would expect Magnus to listen to. Then spotlights turned on and four models draped in cloth fell from the ceiling, unraveling as they did to land on their feet. The dresses underneath were interesting to look at and each one seemed to be a contradiction. The four girls walked down the runway and disappeared into the back and four more dropped from the ceiling. The show was defiantly not boring and you could hear people in the audience talking about how gorgeous the clothes were and how great a designer he was. It was true he seemed to live up to the reputation that he has and he was defiantly not what I was expecting.
As the show ended I felt myself wanting to know this man, to find out what inspires him to do this and why it is that he is like he is, flamboyant attitude and all. I wanted to know Magnus Bane.
Backstage was chaos and I looked for Izzy in the crowd. Finally I saw a familiar head of black hair and tried to shove my way across the sea of people to congratulate her. I failed to notice that she had her arms wrapped around someone in what looked like one of her bone crushing hugs. As they broke apart I saw who the other person was, none other than Magnus Bane.
I thought about turning around and leaving, I could just congratulate her later on the phone. There was just something about that man that made me nervous in a way that wasn't entirely unpleasant. He was different and I found myself wanting to go over and talk to Izzy just to see his reaction.
I took a deep breath and walked over to her and scooped her up in a hug making her squeal at me to put her down. When I finally released her she was out of breath and was looking at me with the look of a ten year old that didn't get what they wanted.
When I looked over at Magnus he looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh. When our eyes met there was a spark of something that looked kind of like recognition in his eyes. He remembered me from the show, he looked between us and when he finally said something it shocked me.
"So Izzy I'm guessing this is Alexander, I thought he might be a boyfriend but now I see that you two look very much alike." He said still looking at the two of us, his expression was unreadable.
"Izzy I'm guessing this is the Magnus Bane that you've been in love with for years," she blushed and hit me lightly on the shoulder. Magnus however was smiling like a Cheshire cat.
"Isabelle is this true," he was looking at her like she had just committed a crime and wouldn't confess. Izzy on the other hand was blushing like crazy looking down at the floor with her hair covering her face. I decided to be a good brother and save her from humiliation.
"No Izzy isn't in love with you just your clothes although the way people talk it seems like people can't help but fall in love with you after they've met you." I was shocking myself, since when did I say things like that to people, I sound like Jace.
Magnus's eyes flashed as he looked at me and I fought the urge to shrink away from his eyes. They were startling in the way they looked at you, like they could see your inner most secrets. They were also fascinating to look at and I could look in them all day and never even begin to tell where the green ended and the gold began.
"And what about you Alexander, have you fallen in love with me yet?" he teased. I could feel myself blush and I looked down at the floor like Izzy had done just seconds before. He laughed and I wondered why it was that he had this effect on me. I had never met someone so open, with everything and so obviously used to being the center of attention.
"It's Alec not Alexander," I corrected.
"Ok then Alec," he said "would you and Isabelle do me the honor of showing up at my party tonight?" I hated parties, but before I could say anything Izzy had already accepted saying we would both be there tonight, and to think I was actually planning on staying in and doing nothing tonight. Of course with Izzy there wasn't ever a party that she would turn down.
"Good, that settles that now if you excuse me I have to go before Ragnor has a stroke. He really hates it when I pull stunts like I did tonight, but it's worth the speech about why I shouldn't do things without asking him first. God it's like he's my mother. Goodbye Isabelle. Goodbye Alexander."
With that he disappeared into the crowd and before Izzy could say anything I was already talking. "Izzy you know I hate parties and now I have to spend the rest of the night with him." she was trying not to laugh at me and I knew that I was being kind of ridiculous but Magnus made me nervous and I was going to try and avoid him.
"Alec the way you were acting I don't think you would mind spending the rest of the night with him. I've never seen you do that with anyone." She raised an eyebrow at me and I blushed again.
"Besides the way he was looking at you I don't think you have a choice 'Alexander'" she said mimicking the way he said my name. I had to laugh at that and soon we were both laughing on the way back to my car, Izzy wanted to go out for lunch so we were going to Taki's our old favorite hangout.