"You must be the sister?" I heard his unmistakable voice out on the shop floor and froze in place.

When I lost his number I figured I'd never see Magnus Bane again. I had accepted it and moved on. How stupid was I to not consider that he could be a regular customer?

My heart pounded in my ears. If he was a regular I'd have to quit. No question about it. In the meantime I eyed up the small window in the corner as a possible escape route. Maybe if I climbed out through it I'd get fired and I wouldn't have to quit…

"One sec." I heard Izzy say. Moments later she popped her head into the room. Her hair was already flopping out of its loose bun and she was clearly ticked off. "You told me it was a fake number!"

She really was too loud. I wasn't sure that I'd ever moved as fast in my life; and I did track and field. I darted over, pulled her into the back room and shut the door. I signaled for quiet with a finger to my lip. She furrowed her brows and started to tap her foot at me. When I realised how childish I must have looked I shoved my hands into my apron pockets.

"Well?" Izzy said. That was how she demanded an explaination.

"I lost it..." I mumbled, "Well actually I threw it out. It was an accident."

"You're an idiot." She declared. Like I didn't already know that. She didn't have to say it out loud. I nearly snapped back a retort about her grade in maths but before I could register what was happening she had her hands on my shoulders and was pushing me out of the room.

I had to put my hands against the doorframe to keep from going out there.

"What are you doing?!" I hissed. She was putting all her weight into the push; I grit my teeth with the effort of pushing back. Anybody looking must have thought we were insane. If they weren't busy bitching about the kids arguing in the back room while nobody was there to serve them their fix.

Isabelle stopped and hit me none-too-lightly on the shoulder. "Somebody has to man the till, Alec."

"Yes, you do." I replied. It was dumb to relax my guard. The second I put my hands down I got shoved into the storefront. Damn her. It was hardly fair, Izzy didn't know how to do anything in the back room so once I'd done her job for a while I was going to have to fix whatever mess she made of it.

There were a lot of occupied tables. Scanning the room I recognised a few familiar faces. There was the little redhead, Clary, and her boyfriend with the glasses. She always shot my friend Jace down for dates because she was dating glasses-guy. Her loss, Jace happened to be a great guy. Really fun. Majorly attractive.

Speaking of majorly attractive, Magnus wasn't in the booth I where I met him the first time. Now he was waiting at the till, talking to some girl in the huge line behind him. His hair was colour-free; which looked much better than it had looked with all the streaks in it.

Why did he have to find a magical way to look better the next time I had to talk to him? It was hard enough the first time around. And now I had to face up to the fact I never contacted him. I almost wished the number really had been a fake. It might have been a little less awkward now.

"How can I help you?" I put the work-tone on and stared at the till instead of Magnus' face. A week of absence was not enough to make me ready to see him again. I braced myself for some kind of snide remark but all he did was order.

We made our transaction as if nothing had happened. He didn't seem mad or effected at all. Of course he wasn't affected. He never wanted me to call. He made his order and took his drink to go. When his back was turned I closed my eyes, telling myself to breath, relax. It had passed; I could pretend it never happened.

"Just so you know." I very nearly jumped when he started to talk again. I thought he'd left. "I very rarely give my number out."

"I'm sorry. I had to wipe something up and it was in my pocket and-"

The next customer in the line coughed impatiantly. I rolled my eyes and started serving her. Magnus came to stand just beside her instead of walking away. I couldn't fathom why he was still talking to me. Why would he want to? We didn't know eachother and I didn't look like anything much. He should have been moving on to somebody else. Somebody better who knew what to say and wasn't just a highschool kid.

"Well that is a pity." He said in a contemplative tone. I turned around to make more coffee. There were two sets of gaze on my back; the annoyed customer's and his.

"Sorry about the wait." I smiled as best I could to the girl who snatched her drink from my hand and stalked out. One of those 'I need my caffine fix or I'm going on a killing spree' people.

"You should be saying that to me." Magnus smirked into his coffee. The next customer's look was just as irritated as the last.

"One second, sir." I excused and swivelled to look Magnus up and down. He was casual, entertained. The waistcoat he was wearing instantly dressed up his t-shirt and tight jeans and he had a pack slung on one shoulder as if he was a student. He looked too old for that but you never knew. Some people start late. "You can see that I'm working, right?"

"How can I help you?" Came Isabelle's singsong voice beside me. She'd come out of nowhere to relive me from my post. How did I not see that one coming? It was majorly predictable Izzy behaviour. Now I felt trapped with no excuse not to speak to Magnus.

Why didn't I want to speak to him? I did want to. It wasn't that. I didn't know what was stopping me.

It was like going skydiving. Like I'd willingly gone up in the plane to the point of no return and was too afraid to jump. Izzy was egarly trying to push me off just like she pushed me over the threshold of the back room. Magnus was the instructor, the one who knew exactly what to do. Being patiant and determined at the same time. Waiting for me to give in.

"Can you take a break?" He asked knowingly.

I sucked in a breath. Now or never. Time to jump.

"Sure."

And so it begins. Thanks to anybody who is reading. The next chapter is in the works: "Age Is Just A Number"