Hey I'm back - aaaaand things are heating up! Will update pretty soon hopefully, and... yeah, hope you enjoy!

7: Slurred Words

Will

I knew it was a bad day when I woke up.

My head felt tight, everything too sharp and real. I'd barely slept the night before, and going to school was the last thing I felt like doing.

Cecily dragged me there, of course. She and Jem talked quietly in the front seats of Jem's car while I sprawled out in the back and closed my eyes.

Ella was imprinted on the back of my eyelids.

I didn't remember anything about school, just a blur of classes and glares from teachers and Tessa's lavender perfume as she sat next to me. I could tell Tessa was very concious I was there by the way her eyes went to everything in the room apart from me.

I tried not to look at her either, it wouldn't have ended well. But I kept thinking about how I'd called her a few nights ago, and how easy it would be to do it again.

How easy, and how selfish.

By the time I got home, my head felt tight enough that I had to take some aspirin. I stayed in my room, sick of London, sick of myself, sick of life. I wanted to forget. About Tessa, London, Ella, everything.

I had enough strength of will to hold out for a few hours, but by the time the sun had set I was going half mad. My bedroom walls were pressing in on me, voices in my head building up to shrieks.

I had to get out. I had to forget.

It was easy to slip out of the house, easy to wind through the dark streets to the already rowdy bar. I knew I'd get in, when the place was this full of wasted uni students I'd slip in unnoticed.

Turned out I didn't have bother to be secretive. The security guy - Nigel - beamed at me when I approached. "Will!" he exclaimed. "Long time - "

"No see." I said. "Yeah."

"No drink, is what you mean." Nigel said. "And I think we can fix that." He waved me inside.

The place was all too familiar - shrieking with rap music and loud voices and clinking glasses. I was jostled by legs and elbows and hips, nearly swept up towards the dance floor. But I had another destination in mind.

I recognised the bartender - a uni student barely older than me.

"Magnus!" I said - or shouted, really, over the noise.

"Will!" Magnus clasped my hand. His hair was spiked up with glitter, his cat-like eyes gleaming in the flashing lights. "How you doing? How was the big apple?"

"Far better than here." I told him.

Magnus frowned at my expression. "You look like you need a drink, my friend."

"Oh, I do." I said, and as he turned away to grab a glass, I added under my breath; "And a lot more than one."

Tessa

It was dark, and Nate still wasn't home. I'd texted, and called, but he hadn't replied.

Typical.

I was too annoyed to be worried this time, and yet I did my homework in the kitchen instead of my room so I could answer the door when he came. Yet another thing to add to the list of my pathetic-ness.

When the doorbell finally rang, I was glowering as I got to my feet. "About time!" I snapped, flinging open the door.

Will Herondale blinked confusedly back at me.

You have got to be kidding.

He was a startling sight - a ghost of the darkness. Leaning against the doorframe, his hands braced for balance, he looked unsteady and out of place. His hair was mussed, his eyes were glinting strangely and there was what looked like a lipstick smudge on his neck.

He was unquestionably, irrevocably drunk.

"Tessa Gray." Will said. His words were slurred - of course. He took a step forward.

"No." I snapped. "You are not coming in."

I made to shut the door but he wedged his foot next to the doorframe. "You don't have to be so rude."

"Yes, I do." I told him, pushing the door hard against his foot. "Will, you're drunk."

He grinned. "In - indeed I am. It took a lot of work to get this far, I'll ha'you know, but I made it."

"I'm calling Jem." I threatened.

Will sighed. "Don't, T- Tessa, you know he's seen me like this too many times before."

"Cecily, then."

"Cecily…" he said sadly, "…will kill me."

"Fair enough." I glared at him.

Will managed to shove the door open and stumble through, until he was standing beside me in the kitchen.

"It's quite… small." he remarked, staring round.

"You are unbelievable." I was mad at him, mad at myself for letting him in, and desperately trying not to think about the fact that Will Herondale was in my kitchen.

I stalked over to grab my phone, intending to call Cecily, but instead I clicked on Jem's number. No matter what Will said, Jem would be far calmer.

At least one of us wouldn't be freaking out, then.

I narrowed my eyes at Will while I waited for Jem to pick up. He stumbled over to the table and grabbed hold of one of the chairs for support.

"Tessa? What's up?" Jem's easy tone calmed me slightly.

"Who're you calling, Tessa Gray?" Will asked, pulling out the chair so he could sit on it.

"Jem, I need your help." I ignored Will. "Are you free?"

"Of course, what's the problem?"

I sighed. "Will is - "

"Stunningly handsome!" Will announced, standing up on his chair to make his declaration.

"Completely wasted." I said. "He's at my place, for some reason, and I - I don't know what to do."

I heard a long-suffering sigh from the other end of the phone. "I'll get Cecily." Jem said after a moment. "We'll - "

He stopped talking when Will fell off the chair and landed ungracefully in a heap with a loud crash. "Ughhhh…" Will moaned.

I could almost hear Jem rolling his eyes. "We'll be there as soon as we can." he finished.

"Thanks, Jem." I closed my eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Tessa." Jem said softly. Meanwhile, Will seemed uninterested in getting up from the floor.

"Yeah." I said. "Hey, Jem, my brother's going to be home soon, and - and he'll kill me if he sees Will here. Would you maybe - "

"I'll call when I get here, and you can let us in when your brother's out of the way." Jem said quickly.

"Thanks, Jem."

"Will you be alright… with him?" he asked.

I looked over at Will, who was finally getting to his feet by gripping onto the table leg for dear life. "Yeah. No problem." I said.

"Hang in there, Tessa. We won't be long."

When Jem hung up, I almost missed the flashing text message that had popped up on my screen.

Sorry tessie, I'm nearly there - a minute or two away from home. N

Nate was almost here.

Crap.

"My brother cannot see you." I hissed at Will, frantically spinning round the kitchen looking for places to hide him.

Will had gotten up and was busy looking round, picking up things and dropping them.

"If you break that teapot I'll - I'll let Cecily kill you when she and Jem pick you up." I snapped.

Will put the pot down, only after shaking it next to his ear. "Nothing in here." he said sadly. "I only... only wanted a drink."

"Another drink is the last thing you're going to get." I grabbed his arm and half dragged him out of the kitchen. "I'm taking you to my room."

"Your… room?" Will smirked. "Tha' seems un-usually forward of you, Tessa - "

"Shut up. Please."

Will stumbled through the apartment next to me. "The - the lovely thing about being drunk," he told me cheerfully, "is that I'm unable to shut up."

"Well you'd better learn, because my brother is going to kill you if he hears you." I hissed, dragging Will into my room.

Another time, I might have been embarrassed about how much smaller it was than Will's, about how it was dusty and cold and nearly empty. But Will barely seemed to notice the room, and he made a beeline straight for my bed.

"Don't - " I began, but broke off with a sigh as Will collapsed onto the covers.

"Jus' leave me here." he mumbled. "I'll sleep it off."

"Will - "

"Your bed… smells like you." he said, rolling over to face me.

I stared at him. "Maybe that's because it's my bed?"

"La - lavender." Will told me seriously, his eyes brighter than I'd ever seen them. "And ink… like the kind from old books…"

Something in my stomach tightened, and - the front door clicked open from downstairs.

"Tessie!" Nate's voice echoed from below. "I'm home!"

Crap. Crap.

"Hide!" I told Will, grabbing his arm and pulling him up.

"Tessa?" Nate called. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

I had to half-shove Will under my bed, trying not to think about his arm burning under my touch.

"S'not comfortable down here." Will told me wearily. He coughed. "Too dusty."

"Will, you have to stay absolutely silent. You understand?"

"Absolutely silent." he repeated, and then groaned.

I glared at him, miming zipping my mouth, and then stood up and threw myself onto my bed, grabbing a book and opening it just as Nate opened the door.

"Tessie?"

"Nate!" I tried to smile up at him, it came out as more of a grimace. "I was just - reading."

"Of course." he rolled his eyes, leaning against the doorframe. Why did Nate suddenly have to be a normal brother now, of all times? He'd been barely talking to me the last few days, but today he wanted to see me. Go figure.

"Hey, Tessa," Nate looked uncomfortable, "I just wanted to say that I'm… sorry I've been - "

He was cut off by a groan from under the bed.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

"What was - " Nate began, eyes narrowing.

I clutched my stomach and tried to imitate Will's groan. "Sorry, that was me - I have… uh, cramps."

"Cramps?" Nate raised an eyebrow, still looking towards the bed.

I stood up quickly, blocking his view. "You know, girl cramps."

He looked thoroughly alarmed by this, and took a step backwards.

"It's that time of month," I said sweetly. "You should probably go, Nate. I don't feel well. I think I'll go to bed early."

Nate backed out of the door. "Alright, I'll leave you alone. You sure you don't want, uh… medicine or something?"

"I'll be alright." I said hurriedly. Nate was almost gone, if I could just close the door -

"If you're sure." he said awkwardly. "Well, then, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Nate."

I was just about to shut the door, breathing out a sigh of relief, when Will groaned again. That idiot.

Nate shoved the door back open. "Tessa, what's under your bed?"

"Nothing!" I squeaked, trying to block him - but he dodged round me and strode closer and closer to Will -

"Nate!" I yelped, grabbing his hand. "Don't - that's… my stuff!"

He turned to look at me - so close to the bed that Will could have grabbed his foot. Please let that not happen.

"Your stuff?" Nate asked me.

"My stuff." I tugged him away from the bed. "Like, my cramp stuff."

Nate shuddered. "Right. Yeah." He seemed to have forgotten Will's groan.

"Which is totally none of your business." I said, half-shoving him out the door.

Nate rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"I'll throw up on you." I warned him.

Nate threw up his arms. "Fine. I'm leaving."

I shut the door behind him and slid down the back of it, sighing in relief.

"Can I come out now?" Will asked, startling me.

"You did not help." I said, but my anger was half-hearted now.

Will took twice as long as he should've to awkwardly crawl out from under my bed and get to his feet. He leaned against the bedpost. "Your brother is… scary, Tess - Tessa Gray."

"It's just Tessa." I said, staying a careful few feet away from him. "Not Tessa Gray."

Will took a step closer to me. "T - Tessa."

Something in my chest fluttered, much to my annoyance. "Tessa. Not T-Tessa."

He gave me a lopsided smile. "Tess."

I threw up my hands. "Yeah, that's fine."

He took another step closer, and I stepped back. "Stay away from me."

"Why?" Will stumbled slightly, having to lean against the wall for balance. "Ugh."

"Because - " I glared at him. "Why do I have to explain myself to you? You're drunk, and I'm mad at you for coming here. What were you thinking?"

Will blinked, like my storm of words was too much for him to process all at once. "I wasn't thinking." he said finally, words slurred. "That's the point."

I noticed that we were actually standing quite close - enough that I could smell the bitter tang of alcohol. Enough that I could get lost in his vast and dark eyes.

Which was why I looked away.

"Tess." Will said, surprisingly gently. My name in his voice made me shiver. He was so close…

"I just wanted to forget - you know?" Will let go of the wall so he was swaying on his feet. "I - I needed to forget."

"Forget what?" I'd meant to sound sharp, but my voice was unsteady.

Will's jaw worked, and he looked away. "Everything," he sighed. "London. New York. E - Ella. Jem and Cecily. You."

"Me?" I blurted.

Will laughed under his breath, grabbing the wall again to keep his balance.

I should have let it go, but then again I've always being known for my curiosity - and nosiness, I suppose. "Why me?" I asked.

Will appeared not to have heard me. "I s-suppose my plan backfired, then." he said. "I was trying to forget you, not - not end up drunk at your house…"

"Will - " I began. He was so close to me now, I was dizzy. My thoughts dried up into a sudden spark of… something…

"Don't be mad at me, Tess." Will said softly, unevenly. "I didn't want to hurt you." He reached out a hand as if he was going to brush my cheek - and then dropped it.

"How can I believe that?" I asked, my voice more desperate than angry. He was all I could see.

Will's eyes fluttered half closed, and I could see the shadows under them from this close. "Something you should know about me, Tessa Gray…" he paused, swaying slightly, "I hurt everyone I'm close to. And I don't want that to be - to be you."

"Get over yourself." I snapped - or tried to. It came out as more of a whisper.

"It's you I have to get over, Tess." Will said, the side of his mouth curving up without humour. "And I can't."

I opened my mouth, closed it, considered punching him, considered kissing him.

But in the end it was Will who leaned forward. His eyes had slipped completely shut, and as he leant against me I wasn't sure if I was holding him up or he was holding up me.

And then we were kissing.