Freeze

Chapter 2

Wow chapter 2 already. I hope you like it so far!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They are owned by Cassandra Clare.

Enjoy! :)


As the guests were leaving Isabelle strode towards her elder brother. She hadn't seen him all night since he stormed off. "Hey Izzy," Alec said. Isabelle frowned. He's acting suspiciously.

"Hey," she responded slowly. There was something wrong with her brother – very wrong. Alec was meant to be angry at her, but he seemed... neutral. Even when he wasn't angry, he was grumpy or scowling, or both, but never neutral. Plus he had never let go of a grudge that quickly. She knew her brother too well and she knew something was up. And she intended of finding out what it was.

"I saw you talking to Magnus earlier," she began to walk alongside him. "Where is he?"

"Oh, he had to leave," Alec answered absently. He had spent the whole night talking to Magnus and, to his surprise as much as anyone else's, he actually didn't mind. In fact, he really liked Magnus. All his life, Alec realised, he had never had a proper friend. He had always been surrounded by his family, but for once he had someone who he got along with who he wasn't obliged to get along with. And it felt really nice. "He had to feed his cat."

She eyed him worriedly. He didn't look drunk. There had to be something she was missing. Her eyes fell upon something he held in his hand. "What's that?"

He looked down at his hands. "Just my phone," he replied, trying to act casual about it.

"Can I see it?" the words were hardly out of her mouth as she snatched the phone from his hands.

"Isabelle..." Alec helplessly protested. He didn't feel like arguing again. His sister stared at the phone screen. A number stared back at her – a phone number.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "You got his number?"

"Shush!" He glanced around. When he saw nobody was around to hear, he continued. "Yeah, I got his number. And...?" He hadn't planned on Isabelle finding out as her reaction was sure to be crazy. He really didn't understand how his sister's craziness worked and although it rarely happened, he didn't want to provoke it.

"Do you have any idea what this means? Do you like him, Alec?" She searched his face for an answer.

It was Alec's turn to look surprised. "W-why would you think that?"

She ignored his question. "Oh my god you do! You like him! And you have his number already. Wow I thought I worked fast but this is incredible – especially for you!" She was talking incredibly fast.

"Iz! What are you talking about? It's a phone number, that doesn't mean anything." Does it?

Her face dropped. "You aren't serious are you?" Isabelle looked at him unbelievingly. Alec seemed convinced of what he was saying. "Oh my god you are. Alec: my poor, sweet, naive brother. You don't know anything about this do you?" They now stood alone in the hallway.

"W-what is there to know? He asked for my number, we exchanged numbers. That's it." Alec was confused as to why his sister was making such a big deal out of a phone number. It was just that wasn't it? It was just a phone number.

Isabelle shook her head. He clearly was beyond lost when it came to things like this. She had to put this in simple terms. "Alec, when someone asks for their number it means they like you." How does he not know this?

"But we're just friends." Alec said tiredly, but there was a nervous tone to his voice. He hadn't considered what having another person's phone number could possibly imply.

"So at the party...?"

"He was just joking!" But even he wasn't convinced by his own words. He had completely forgotten about the party. "Isabelle, come on. We're not... And you know I'm not... He's just a friend."

She sighed. This wasn't going to get them anywhere. And she needed to give him a break. Obviously this was all new to him and he wasn't going to learn overnight. Better to let him figure things out on his own. "Okay! I believe you. Now come back inside, we need to say goodbye to the guests."

"No," he said stubbornly. "I'm going to my room. I've spent too much time wearing this stupid suit anyway." And with that, he stormed away for the second time that night.

Isabelle looked at him as he did. What was she going to do with him?


The next week passed by rather slowly. Alec was constantly working or training, and receiving the occasional knowing glance from his sister which he tried desperately to ignore.

On the whole, it was awful. Although he was used to the daily routine, Alec often got tired from doing nothing but work. But somehow since his talk with Isabelle, everything seemed more complicated than it was.

When he finally found some spare time he went to his room and collapsed on the newly made bed at let out a huge sigh.

At that moment something lit up on his bedside table. His phone!

Alec reached for the phone and looked at the message on the screen.

How's life little Shadowhunter? It was from Magnus.

Awful, he sent back. And it was true. Not only was she pestering him, since his parents had left Isabelle had gone back to cooking and he hadn't eaten anything properly in days.

The phone lit up again. How about you take a break? There's a nice little coffee shop near me. Meet me there?

Sounds great, he replied.

As Alec pressed send, Isabelle's words came back to haunt him. Do you like him, Alec?

Just because they were going out for coffee didn't make them more than friends, did it? What if it did? Alec began to panic and wished he knew about these sorts of things. Come to think of it, how did Isabelle know about these sorts of things? He'd have to interrogate her later.

But in the mean time, what was he supposed to do? He wished he could ask somebody what to do, but there was nobody to ask. He couldn't ask his sister, who had been warning him about this happening. She would just make things worse. But he couldn't ask anyone else either. He didn't want to give them any ideas about him being gay. Because he wasn't, was he?

Alec's thoughts were getting more and more confused. They were just friends, weren't they? It's not as if Magnus had implied he wanted to be more than friends – oh wait, he had. But he was just joking wasn't he? And that talk about Alec not being out pretty much eliminated being anything more than just good friends.

So it was settled. They were just friends.

The phone screen lit up once more. :)

Just good friends.