Fifteen minutes later, Izzy pulled up to an apartment near Greenpoint, NY. Lights danced wildly in every which direction, though they all originated from the same two floors of windows. Clary could hear the music from at least two blocks away (which was the only available parking spot they could find.)

"Magnus?" I perked up perceivably and Simon – who had, at some point, arrived at my house and was riding with us – chuckled lightheartedly.

"Of course!" Isabelle nearly yelped. "Who else would I bother spending my precious partying time with?"

"Well, if you had told me we were going to Magnus', you could've made that whole 'Jace nearly crushed me on the stairs trying to get me to allow Izzy to burn my hair into weird shapes' situation a lot easier. I love Magnus," I told them as I pushed my way out of the car.

Being at Magnus' really did help. At least I knew him and as familiar with his house, including the library where I might just find some paper to sketch as I hide from the scary people.

"Love him more than me?" Jace asked pathetically as he locked his elbow with mine. He made a puppy face.

"Of course. Magnus feeds me." To be honest, I probably did love Jace more but I was too hungry to worry about Jace's truck-sized ego.

"Nope! You can't eat anything at Magnus' parties, remember?" Isabelle reminded me as Jace pretended to sulk, though he hadn't disentangled himself from me.

"Relax. I'll just have him order food from Taki's, or something," I countered.

"Ha! Good luck with that. Sometimes Magnus doesn't even show up to his own parties. Even if he did, how do you expect to find him? There'll be at least two hundred people in there," Simon added.

This fact made my stomach tumble, but I artfully ignored it and kept going. "Then I know where his secret stash of chips is." I made that up. "Besides, why are you guys so hell-bent on not letting me eat? I need food to survive."

No one really answered. No one needed to. We had arrived. Isabelle could barely contain herself before lunging for the door. Simon was right behind her. I required Jace's assistance to hobble up the stairs.

"So you really prefer Magnus' company over me, huh?" Jace only half-joked. "Guess I'll have to change that."

0.o.O.o.0

It'd been an hour since we showed up at the party. I had spent the entire hour desperately trying to find Magnus to give me food, with no luck. Multiple times, I was tempted to take just one of Magnus' provided snacks. But I refrained. I guess fainting from hunger was more appealing to me than waking up for school tomorrow with what could only be described as a hangover.

Finally, I made my way to Magnus' library to draw. A calming mechanism of mine. Knowing my own self, I'd probably spend the rest of the night there.

But as I grew close to the door, I heard something. The sound of what I think was a couple passionately making out were creeping out through the door. Ugh. Fantastic. But I needed to draw.

So I slowly and silently pushed open the door and tried to creep toward the desk. It was dark (not dark enough to induce a panic attack, thank God) but I could find it easily.

And that's when you know your anti-social habits are getting to be too much.

I fumbled around for the door that held paper and pens, and then was horrified to find the couple was on the desk. Or at least, one was sitting on the desk with the legs locked around the other, who was standing just in front of the desk.

I was even more horrified when the door creaked open a hair more, and the intruding light allowed me to identify the couple.

The first was easily recognizable by the sheer amount of glitter just – everywhere. Magnus. Okay. Magnus was fine. Magnus was normal.

But the black-haired, blue-eyed, seemingly grumpy teenage Lightwood he was kissing was not.

I was so utterly shocked that I fell backwards and a choking noise escaped the depths of my throat. Alec noticed me first, seeing as he was the one sitting on the desk and facing me. Just one eye fluttered open. He stopped returning Magnus' kiss but left his arms tangled around his neck and didn't make any move to push him away. At least, for a few, stretched out seconds.

I used those seconds to stand so I could obtain a better position for my 'WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING' lecture. Then Alec's body snapped into action, literally, I heard a few bones make noises they shouldn't be making, and he shoved Magnus away.

Magnus looked hurt for a second until he surveyed the room. Then his cheeks flushed, but only momentarily. Magnus? Magnus was embarrassed? Impossible! Magnus had abundant confidence. He radiated confidence. He had more confidence than Jace- actually, no. No, that's not true.

But I didn't have time to process or try to understand because suddenly I was slammed against the wall, though not enough to hurt me, and held several inches above the ground.

Screw Alec the tree.

"NO!" he whisper-shouted.

"Wha- Alec? What do you mean 'no?'" I demanded. I wasn't struggling to get out of his grasp because Alec was much bigger, stronger, and faster than me. I was also maybe a tiny bit worried I'd do something similar or worse than what I did on the stairs.

"No, you cannot tell anyone!" He was frantic. He was panicking. He was –

Straight.

Or at least, that's what Jace and Izzy and everyone else thought. My shoulders slumped and my defenses fell. The poor boy was more terrified then I'd ever seen him in his life.

"You know Jace would never feel differently about you, right? Nobody would. We all love you, Alec. We just want you to be happy," I told him in a soft voice.

Alec's cold grip softened. His gaze was calculating, as if he was trying to see if I was telling the truth. "I'll tell them myself," he promised. "Just give me time."

It was like a switch flipped on in my brain and I was in mother-mode. I wiggled my index finger at Alec. "You better do it soon, Alexander Gideon Lightwood, or I'll do it myself! And you," my attention shifted to Magnus though I was still pinned to the wall. If someone walked in at this moment, it would be very bad. "If you break this boy's heart, I will be forced to commit severe damage to multiple – if not all - regions of your body. Do you understand me?"

"Why me?" Magnus shrieked. "Why not him?"

I gave him a look that said you really think this one would break your heart? But all I said was, "He's cuter than you." I turned back to Alec, whose eyes were wide in shock. "Do you understand me?"

Alec answered with a sharp nod. Excellent. They were scared of me. Desired reaction. After a few uncomfortable moments of silence, Alec seemed to notice what he was doing and released me, stepping about a mile away afterwards. I smoothed the dress down over my hips and made for the door. When I had my hand over the doorknob, I felt a firm hand wrap around my wrist, turning me back towards him.

It was Magnus. "What you said to Alec," it was quiet enough for Alec not to hear. "That was really sweet. He deserves that."

"I know," I told him. Then, louder, I added, "Continue."

The two of them were back in each other's arms before the door had a chance to shut behind me.

0.o.O.o.0

"Hey, Redberry," Jace chirped as soon as I was out of the library. I could vaguely hear Magnus and Alec in the background. Oh, God. My pulse jumped. Must distract the Blondie!

"Redberry?!" I demanded, astonished. "What the heck?"

"Well, you chose a less-than-flattering nickname for me, so I chose one for you. I couldn't choose between Redhead and Strawberry. Though it's a little long, I might have to shorten it to Red. What do you think?" he asked.

"I think if you shorten it to Red, I'll have to shorten yours to Devil," I told him through gritted teeth. "Did you get me food?"

"I did," he answered as he laughed. He held out a bag of food from Taki's. "Went there myself."

"You went to Taki's?" I asked while taking the bag greedily from his hands. "All for me?"

"And me," Jace chuckled and took the bag back from me. My stomach cried.

Jace held out a hand for me to take, but then froze. "Are there…people in there?"

"Ahh, yes," I said, but my body tensed in the doorway.

"Then why were you in there?" He asked.

Crap. Monumental crap. "Uhh, I wasn't in there."

"Yes, you were," A mischievous grin lit up his face. "Getting a little down and dirty, are we, Red?"

Quick! Topic change! "Red is so basic, don't you think? I like strawberry better, don't you? Or maybe Robin? Or Rosie?" I babbled.

"What are you trying to hide from me, Rosie?" Well, at least he was listening. Jace tried to go for the doorknob, and I body blocked him.

"No!" I shouted. I'd realized it was loud, but maybe it would at least alert Magnus and Alec. "You can't go in there!"

His eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

"Because it's private!"

Jace's eyes shifted above me, as if he could see through the door. "Sounds…familiar…somehow," he mumbled.

"That's impossible!" I screeched. "You can't recognize someone by their kissing noises."

"So there was hot business in there?" His playful gaze flicked back down to me. "And they're still going? Without you?" He just thought that was the funniest joke. Jace knew better than anyone how inexperienced I was. I'd never even been kissed.

"Seriously?"

"No, of course not."

I cringed. "Thanks for the confidence."

"No, Rosie, it's good. You're pure. Untouchable. Desirable."

I almost choked. "Desirable? What is up with you today? First angel, now desirable?"

Jace fell silent. His eyes grazed over each part of my body. A true smile fell lightly at the corners of his lips and his gaze came back up to rest on my eyes. He didn't look joking or teasing or fake. He simply looked happy.

Uh-uh. Too weird. Jace has been too. Weird. "Gimme that food and let's go."