Hello hello. Wow, I've been productive today hehe. Here's another outtake for you.
I'm posting this here and not in MLG because it's out of chronological order now. So…yeah. Deal with it lol.
Cassie Clare is the bomb diggity. She owns these awesome characters.
Chapter Song: The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice (This is the song Simon sings by himself. Gorgeous, and it's meant just for her.)
This scene takes place at the end of the week that was introduced in MLG chapter Glitter Littered Rivers. Isabelle had agreed to go to a show that Simon's band, The Boys in the Band, is playing. It starts about an hour into the show, and the rest of the boys are about to take a break.
She sat at her booth on the left hand wall, sipping an iced tea slowly to prevent her stomach from protesting again. She'd gotten off pretty free tonight, with minimal nausea and only a slight craving for ice cream. Maybe she'd ask Simon to go with her to the ice cream shop down the street after the show. It occurred to her that she was becoming quite a sap when it came to Simon, but she figured it was part of the hormones. She'd almost resigned herself to her fate. She still had a few days before her period was actually late, but the signs were everywhere. The cravings, the morning sickness (or rather, all-the-time sickness), the mood swings. She was pretty sure she had a bun in the oven, even if she was still scared to take a pregnancy test. She wasn't sure what she'd do about it yet, but for the moment, she was resigned.
The band was doing a very impressive rendition of Long Road to Ruin, with Simon channeling Dave Grohl with finesse, belting it out and strumming his Fender. She found herself staring at him unblinking for long periods of time. He really was cute, with his tattered Kings of Leon tour shirt, black skinny jeans, combat boots and mussed hair. As the song came to a close, the audience erupted in applause, like they had intermittently for the past hour. The band was actually very good, Isabelle was surprised to find out. She had enjoyed herself thus far, which was a lot more than she'd expected.
The rest of the band set down their instruments, shuffling off stage, leaving Simon alone at the mic. "The band's gonna take a little intermission for a few minutes. Hope you guys don't mind just me for a little bit," he said. The crowd responded with a few "Wooo"s and claps, which pulled a crooked smile across Simon's face that made him look 5 years younger. It was absolutely adorable. He removed the electric Fender from his shoulder, setting it against an amp at the side of the stage. She wondered if he was going to tell jokes. She didn't think she could take that, no matter how cute he was. That was just pathetic. But he bent down over the side rail next to the stage, reaching down and pulling up a beautiful black and red acoustic guitar. He slung the strap over his shoulder and adjusted till it was comfortable. He was going to serenade them acoustic style like he was John Mayer or something. She had to admit, she was intrigued. She'd basically heard him half screaming, half whining for the whole show. She wasn't actually sure if he could sing per se. She was about to find out.
"So uh…this is going to be kind of touch and go. I've never performed this song before. I wrote it a week or so ago, and it's kinda rough," he said, pulling a stool up to the microphone and settling down on it, getting comfy. She found his awkwardness endearing. He tuned up the instrument and started strumming. "This uh…this goes out to a special lady in the house," he said bashfully, then shot a look at her, smirking that crooked smirk again. She knew she started blushing, and was hoping that no one noticed. No one looked back at her, so she relaxed, but Simon's eyes stayed glued on her as he started playing.
The first few words were almost spoken, then he started to actually sing the verses. The gentle strumming of the guitar behind his tentative voice was soothing. She listened to the words, trying to understand why he'd thrown the song out to her. It was beautiful, and it made her blush at the words. While he sang, she studied him as he studied her. She saw messy, curly brown hair that made him look younger than he really was. She saw chocolaty brown eyes that were full of sincerity. She saw a strong jaw and defined nose. She especially liked his profile. He was tall, but not gigantic. Her eyes drifted to his slender yet toned chest underneath the t-shirt he wore. He had semi-toned arms, with long nimble fingers that strummed and struck the strings with precision and grace.
She found herself cataloguing his features, combining them with her own. She saw a little boy of about five, with mahogany hair and dark eyes. He had Simon's defined nose and her delicate chin. His cheeks were rosy with exertion from playing with the birds in Central Park. She could hear his childlike laugh and it was infectious. She wondered if he'd have a nice singing voice like his father. Would he play guitar? Surely Simon would teach him as soon as the kid could hold a guitar. She smiled to herself at that. While he was singing to her, Simon smiled back through the crowded room from the stage. Her heart tugged. She already felt drawn to him in that intangible, inexplicable way. Like they were linked for life. She guessed they were.
As the song came to a close, he stared straight into her eyes, and she felt like she might have a burst of intuition and run up and hug him. But what would he think? He had no reason to think that she was having an internal struggle about her situation in life at the moment. He liked her a lot, she could tell. And she liked him, she admitted. He was cute and shy and she had that creeping instinct that he would make a good father. She didn't know where it came from, but she had these kind of intuitive thoughts about him now. She supposed it was motherly instinct rearing its ugly unwanted head.
She decided then and there that she wouldn't tell him until she absolutely had to. She would not steal away the innocence left in that face, not for anything. She didn't want him to quit what he was doing now, because he was so good at it and he seemed to enjoy it. And she somehow knew he would quit if she told him. He was just like that. The kind of man that owned up to his responsibilities. No, she wouldn't do it. She would not ruin this high he carried himself on.
Later, after the second half of the show had been played and the rest of the band and audience had gone home for the night, Isabelle and Simon sat in the booth and talked for hours. She listened to him talk about his father the DJ and his failed attempt at doing Sunday comic dialogue for money. She told him about her parents and how she felt pretty underappreciated by them. She supposed both her brothers felt the same. He talked about his and Clary's childhood growing up together. Oddly, Isabelle wasn't jealous. It was the way he talked about Clary, like she was his sister and he would do anything in the world for her. Somehow this translated to family values for Isabelle, and she went off on a tangent in her mind, mentally meshing their features and turning them into a small child via her mind's eye.
Hope you liked it. I know you guys are kind of sad about Isabelle losing her career over this, but all I have to say is, if you've read my stories, you know there's ALWAYS a twist. So…yeah. I try to keep you guessing. Mind and Heart WILL be up later today.