First Fanfiction! I hope you enjoy it! (No copyright intended, all characters belong to Cassandra Clare)

CASTLES MADE OF SAND, CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

A Day in the Life

"He didn't notice that the lights had changed, A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before, Nobody was really sure
If he was from the House of Lords."

"Hey, do you want to meet me at Sage's right now?" Magnus spoke into his phone, as he stood against the cracked grey slate curb beside his car, right outside the door of his favorited bar. Mainly he loved it because of his familiar relationship with the owner Sage, and secondly for the pleasantries that he was allowed access to the bar and alcohol which was restricted to minors. Sage was a long time friend of Olive's, quite possibly—in Magnus' opinion—they were even closer than just friends; but neither one of them would admit to that, in the long run.

"Give me fifteen minutes, and I'll be there."

"Okay, sounds good. I'll just be inside at the end, where we usually sit." And with that Magnus clicked his phone off. The sky was pitch black at the time—he had dropped Alec off at the edge of his driveway mere minutes ago, and needed a soothing drink to slip down his throat, to essentially cool of the blazing burn that Alec left on him. He still felt extremely strung up on the memory of Alec there, beneath him, their naked chests moving over one another in a feverish rhythm. Magnus couldn't deny the fact that he yearned for more and in that respect he let his mind wonder to what possibly could have happened if old man Penhallow hadn't showed up. It could have went further, much further, but in retrospect Magnus was thankful that it hadn't. He didn't want to rush into things, for fear of destroying what little they already had together.

It was staggering to Magnus that he even had thoughts such as these; it wasn't a usual thing for Magnus to be so infatuated with one soul person—he just wasn't necessarily that type of person in the least. He was more so the person that took a small amount of trepidation in being submerged into a relationship; also he was very physical—sexually—which was mainly why his past relationships hadn't lasted. It was all about the heat and pure lust in a relationship to Magnus, and when it came down to the emotional part of relationships he became a closed of stoic person. He never felt as if he could trust anyone with the regret and longing thoughts within his mind; it was a personal gateway into who he truly was, and yet he could never succumb to allowing anyone obtain the key to that gate.

But, nevertheless, Magnus wanted—for some reason he was unsure of—Alec to uncover everything that made Magnus, Magnus. Now depending on if they were ever going to get to that point, only time could tell.

Magnus walked through the cherry colored mahogany door, into Sage's bar. Pungent smells of hard liquor and weathered wood wafted around the room, and straight to Magnus nose—a mixture of smells he so famously loved. It created this sort of haven for Magnus, because essentially he had always loved the smell of the back woods interwoven all around their houses, and whenever there was a recent down pour sheeting the trees in slick rain drops—it made it that much better. At the same time, he loved the smell of liquor because it was something he had become accustomed to over the years: rich and decadent. The bar was packed with other towns people who were the regulars at Sage's intermingled with a few newer patrons. Magnus spotted Sage behind the sleek black bar, preparing rounds of drinks for a couple of girls in tight barely-there cocktail dresses. He was dressed in his usual wear: a loose dark green flannel top with a black t-shirt underneath and dark blue distressed jeans. His hair was cut stupendously around his face, outlining his hard jawline, which was littered with brown-grey stubble.

Magnus slid into his usual red leather seat, down near the left end of the bar, and sat there fiddling with his iPhone for a second or two, before Sage made his way on over to where he was situated. "Magnus, Magnus, Magnus." Sage shook his head back and forth as he wiped his hands with a blue and white checkered rage.
"Weren't you and Will just here a couple of days ago?" His dark chocolate eyes danced with amusement.

"You know I cannot resist my alcohol," Magnus teased as he leaned forward on the edge of the bar top on his elbows, tucking his hands under his chin.

"I swear if Gerald ever found out about how much you can take down, you'd be in a whole lot of hell, boy." Sage gazed at Magnus pointedly, with a small knowing smile tugging at his lips. Sage would never be the one to stop Magnus from drinking—even if he didn't particularly condone it. "Now what'll it be for you tonight?"

"Sex on the beach." Magnus replied briskly, without hesitation.

"Oh? You've got a new catch don't you?" Sage asked earnestly as he began to busy himself with preparing Magnus' drink behind the bar.

"What would make you assume that?" Magnus questioned.

"Please Magnus, don't insult me. Whenever you order a Sex on the beach, I know that you've found yourself someone new." Magnus made to protest, but Sage held his hand up in front of him. "Because when you start getting drunk you tell me all about this someone in pretty fine detail. And because I can remember the first time you got drunk off of the lot of these, and you dubbed it as your 'relationship' drink or what not." Sage shrugged, as he pushed the drink forward across the short space in front of Magnus.

"You are very observant," Magnus grinned and raised the cup to his mouth, letting the cool refreshing liquid buzz its way down his throat—settling in the base of his stomach.

"I've been told that on occasion." Sage shrugged his shoulders up. "Now go on, tell me all about this new someone, you're in a relationship with."

"Can't," Magnus replied as he downed the last drops of his drink, slamming it down atop the bar.

"Oh?" Sage said more so in question.

"Because—I'm not technically in a relationship. I don't exactly know what we are..." Magnus glanced down at the empty cup furrowing his eyebrows tightly together, as he searched through his thoughts. "Can I have another?" He gazed up at Sage earnestly.

"Of course, but when I'm done making this one, and tending to my other customers we are talking Bane." Sage smiled, and hastily whipped together another Sex on the beach for Magnus, settling it in front of him, before he made his way to the other side of the bar to prepare the others drinks.

"Well, look who we have here. None other than Magnus Bane himself," Magnus groaned internally to himself, closing his eyes briefly before swinging around in his chair to face the voice of those words.

"Willow," Magnus offered a disheartening smile her way, and hopefully she had distinguished that as a clue to leave him alone. She stood their in front of him—a little too closely—with a tight slinky green tank top on, which had a plunging neckline showing off the expanse of her tan ample chest and harshly defined collar bones. She also had on a tight pair of black skinny jeans and bleak white pumps to round out her outfit. Very subdued and toned down—in Magnus' opinion—from what she usually wore. Her ashy brown hair was in loose curls around her head, framing the heart shape of her face; and her pale golden eyes were rimmed with a thick layer of silver eyeliner.

"What are you doing here sitting all alone at Sage's?" She asked, as she sat down in the seat next to his. Magnus sighed. Willow was the last person he had wanted to see. He could do without the constant badgering of his ex-girlfriend, to be quite honest.

"I won't be alone for long. How about yourself, Willow," Magnus more so hissed her name, as if there were venom lacing his tongue. "What brings you here all alone?"

"Can't a girl get away for a couple of hours by herself?"

"Can't a guy?" Magnus shot back.

"Hmm, I suppose," Willow leaned over closer than Magnus would have wished her to be, and laid one perfectly buffed finger nail on the front of chest. "But you never like to be alone."

"That shows how little you know about me," Magnus muttered, taking another slow swig of his drink. Willow still had her finger perfectly poised in the middle of his chest, and slowly she began to trail it up, causing Magnus to cringe in a small amount of disgust. Finally her finger stopped right underneath his chin, and she crooked her finger slightly, tilting his chin up.

"You seem different Magnus." She whispered, staring directly into his eyes.

"It must be the lack of makeup I'm wearing. I'll have you know, I haven't been home since yesterday."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Willow batted her eyelashes, and smirked.

"Oh on the contrare, that should surprise you. I rarely go a day without doing up my appearance at home. Once again—that shows how little you know about me." Magnus grinned cynically as Willow's smirk dropped from her pretty face.

"Can you act civil around me, Magnus? What did I ever do?" Willow leaned back in her seat, and crossed her arms structurally over her chest, giving Magnus a hard look; narrowing her eyes.

"You cheated. Does that ring a bell?" Magnus quirked his left eyebrow high in defiance. "Now please, we don't need to be having this conversation right now. I'm sure you can be alone somewhere else." He was being harsh; he had specifically known he was being harsh, but in some respect he couldn't help it. Willow was the epitomey of someone who you regretted to date—someone who was not to far off from the personality of your own, that you just tended to hate them after some time. The fact she had cheated on Magnus was not actually that big of a deal to him—yes, it was terrible nevertheless, because no Magnus didn't like to be cheated on; but more so he didn't like her because she was a persistent overbearing person, who Magnus desperately wanted to get away from.

She looked hurt. There was slight regret in her pale golden eyes, and her mouth was set in a quivering hard line. "Magnus!" James voice flooded its way over to Magnus' ears, and in that moment Magnus praised the lord that he had finally showed up.

"I guess that's my cue to leave," Willow looked disgruntled, and scowled briefly in the direction of James. It was obvious enough that she wanted to continue the conversation Magnus wanted to end; and now that James had finally shown up, she would have to wait for a later date. "I'll see you around Magnus," she gave him one last half-hearted smile, which didn't meet her eyes, and turned around on the balls of her toes—sauntering over to the other side of the room, fading in with the crowd of people. Magnus knew he was being rude towards her, but he couldn't help it. She was trivial in his mind after their fallout, and Magnus Bane wasn't one to dwell on trivial things.

"Was that—?" James began as he had finally found his place beside Magnus at the bar, now occupying the stool which Willow had been previously perched upon.

"Willow," Magnus injected, sighing lightly to himself. He swung around in his bar stool, his knees scraping against the front half wall of the bar. "I didn't expect her to be here." Magnus fiddled with the empty cup in front of himself; he wished Sage was done attending to his other customers, long enough so that he was able to refill the drink that Magnus had a burning need for. James sat down as well, and placed his right elbow upon the bar top—leaning his head over to rest upon his hand, and gazed at Magnus with nostalgic liquid silver eyes. In the slight darkness of the bar, James' features stood out more predominately: the almond shape curve of his eyes, the subtle inset cupids bow lining his top lip, the straight soft lines of his angular buttoned nose, and the way his sleek silver colored hair wavered over to the left side of his head—swooping up at a fantastical angle.

"I can tell by the look on your face that you didn't quite enjoy the chance meeting either." James grinned at him, and despite Magnus' will power, he felt the corners of his lips tug up.

"Was it that obvious?" Magnus drawled sarcastically, smirking. He could see Willow from the corner of his eye, lingering in the distance. She was a small blip on his radar however, and far too soon he became distracted and forgot about her standing there.

"When it comes to her—yes, it was that obvious." Sage began to make his way over to James and Magnus by then, and as he did so James reached into the back pocket of his jeans briskly. Once Sage had fully perched himself in front of them, James slapped his hand down hard on the sleek black wood finish of the bar top, a green bill under his hand. "Scotch. And make it dirty." James stifled back a low laugh, but continued to smile gleefully anyways. Sage quirked his left eyebrow in question to James' motions, and then shrugged it off, getting to work on James drink.

"Is there something wrong with you Jem?" Sage asked a bit too starkly, as he finished up his drink, shifting it swiftly across the wood top into the waiting hands of James.

"No, no. I'm absolutely, positively, incredibly, fine." James bellowed, raising the glass to his lips, throwing his head back, and downing the drink within a few brisk gulps.

"Jem, you're beginning to scare me as well." Magnus laughed and shook his head at the pure enjoyment plastered across James' face.

"Guess who has the keys to his fathers cabin out by Idris?" James beamed; his smile couldn't get any bigger. Magnus let his mouth slowly fall open, and just as quickly he regained his composure. He gaped at James, essentially, taking in his words—conjuring up his own thoughts of what that could entail. "And," James continued. "Guess who was given the okay to take everyone up there in two weeks? Without the parents—just all of us, alone."

"Jem, have I ever told you that I love your father?"

"No, I don't believe you have."

"Well, I love him." Magnus laughed, and instinctively reached into his front pocket for his phone. For some reason, he wanted to tell Alec immediately—whether he was invited or not—Magnus was going to make damn sure that he was going. On top of the infamous rush of thoughts going through his mind, of what possibly could happen at the cabin, Magnus decided that this is what he needed after the harsh trials of his life that were vastly approaching. Five days... And another year would have passed; in its wake taking a piece of Magnus away from him, as it went. At the thought of that, he felt the smile fall from his face and involuntarily his eyebrows knit together.

"You're thinking about it, aren't you?" James leaned in close to Magnus, whispering lowly as to not gain anyone attention. Sage had took the secretive gesture as his hint to leave the two of them alone.

"How can I not Jem?" Magnus hissed. He didn't intend to come off so harsh towards James, but he couldn't help it for the life of him. "I'm surprised I'm actually functioning properly right now."

"It's because of Alec," James implied with an impassive warm smile on his face. Magnus jerked his head back slightly at that. His eyes widening in a mixture of wonder and horror.

"What do you mean, James?" Magnus asked hesitantly, trying not to let his voice crack under the uncertainty of the situation. James couldn't know what had just happened on the boat earlier between Alec and Magnus. He couldn't know about them, unless he had witnessed them kissing at Sebastian's party. Or unless William had mentioned it to James out of confidence.

"I don't know. He seems like a genuine guy that I can see you putting your trust into." James merely shrugged his shoulders up, and with that a small amount of tension released from within the tightly wound muscles of Magnus' back. "I just thought that maybe the reason why you seemed a bit more... Yourself, especially around this time of year, was because you've found a new person to confide in."

"Jem, I always have you to confide in." Magnus offered with a sheepish smile.

"Yes, but I'm not always around am I? I wish I could be, but I can't. I have Tessa to deal with you know," James teased and nudged Magnus lightly in the ribs with his elbow.

"Mmm, that is true." Magnus frowned and turned his gaze back down to his still empty glass. He had forgotten to ask Sage to give him a refill, but maybe that was what was best for him at the present moment. He didn't need to continue drinking—he knew the only reason sometimes why he did so was to dull the harsh pain the thought of Palmer brought to him. "I could never be partial to you for it Jem. I hope you can believe that,"

"Of course. I'm just glad you have someone else to go to. I like him—Alec. He's a good person, from what I've seen."

"Yeah. I like him too." Magnus muttered, too low for James to hear. Truthfully Magnus wanted to confide in Alec, tell him about his past, make him see the consistent side of himself—but he was a bit weary to the idea. He rightfully didn't know many of the sides to Alec, and how could he trust that all those pieces would accept Magnus' deeper inner most thoughts? How could he trust that Alec would for sure not bestow pity on him? Sure, Alec had understood that Magnus wasn't as objective to others pitying him; but that still didn't help ease his doubts. Because no matter how many times he had told James and William that he didn't need their remorse, he could still see remnants of pity etched in the pits of their eyes.

"God knows Will has his own problems. So yes, I am deciding in my mind that Alec is a good thing." Magnus' ears perked up to that, his attention being aroused. He turned in his seat to face James directly.

"What do you know about the way Will has been acting lately?" Magnus cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes searching James' silver ones for any form of reasoning that could be hidden there.

"You mean the fact he has been more closed off for the past week?" Magnus simply nodded his head and straightened his back out. "I—I don't know anything about it really. But... I'm worried about him, Magnus. He seems so disgruntled about something, just pacing around his room randomly. I'm sure he will get over what is bothering him soon, but still I tend to worry a lot."

"And he won't talk to you about it?" Magnus asked earnestly. He knew that this had something to do with Alec, or quite possibly it could have been completely directed to something else—and Magnus wouldn't know. As of late, Magnus and William hadn't been talking deeply—not that they regularly did—but William was distancing himself but at the same time wrestling his way back in with Magnus. James gave Magnus a sly look, and rolled his eyes at Magnus' insinuation.

"Do you not know Will at all? Must I remind you that he is the least likely person to spill his frustrations out on a whim?"

"And again: that is true." Magnus winked. "Sagimir! Get over here," Magnus called down the bar playfully, earning him a deathly glare from Sage—seeing that he was flirting with one of the girls in barely-there clothing at the end of the bar. Sage leaned in close to the girl, and spoke lightly into her ear before making his way over to Magnus.

"What did I tell you about using my name Magnus?"

"I don't seem to be able to remember." Magnus smirked and ran his fingers throughout his hair, remembering briefly how dressed down he was. "Another round of drinks, yeah? I'm feeling a bit more loose."

"When have you never felt loose?" Sage chuckled and earned a full hearted smile to capture James' lips. Magnus only pouted slightly at the implication, but waved it off anyways. "You still want a Sex on the beach? Or do you want to go back to your usual hard liquor?" Sage wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Magnus had to think for a moment if he did want to succumb and give into something he had previously decided he did not want to do. Drinking away his problems was never the answer, and he absolutely knew that. But at the present moment, it seemed like a pretty goddamn good option. He didn't want to worry anymore; he didn't want to feel the pang of longing and regret anymore; he didn't want to see the image of his mothers flowing hair whipping around in the breeze in his memories; he didn't want to image her hands cradling him close at night when nightmares struck him hard; he didn't want to think of the promise he had made with William; he didn't want to think about what he was doing to Alec.

He didn't want to feel anything at all. "Let's go back to the hard liquor."

A/N: Ugh, I am actually so dissapointed that I didn't update sooner. I kept putting off some things in this chapter, and I couldn't get into it for a bit—but ever since last night, I go the inspiration to finish it the way I wanted it to be. I know it might be a bit confusing as to the age of Sage; he is in his forties (and pretty good-looking) and Olive is in her fifties (she's a cougar, yes). Say hello to Willow! (Loosely based upon Woosley Scott, although I believe I don't give him enough credit). And don't worry, she won't create too much havoic... Woot woot, camping trip! I've already been preparing for those chapters (: it won't be like only one chapter about the Carstairs cabin, it will span out over maybe three to four? It depends on how much time I have really. AND YOUR REVIEWS. I'm slowly attempting to ease you guys into the mind of Magnus around the anniversary of Palmer's death. James, oh how I love James! I can't get enough of him. When I first planned this out, I didn't even include Jem in it at all. BLASPHEMY!

Guys, please review ): ? I know, it may be quite cliche for me to (sort of) beg for reviews... But I really do love reading them, and I want to know what your guys' concerns are, or what you like about it. Can we get it to 400 and make my dreams come true? Please review! (that rhymed lol).

Amber,