The first people I spoke to when I decided I was ready to move in with Magnus – besides Magnus himself, and Camille, I suppose - were my roommates at the time. Of course, this meant Kyle and Simon. They were both good friends of mine, so the first response I got had less to do with the fact I was leaving and more to do with my social decisions.

"Have you told Isabelle yet?" Asked Simon. Just like Camille had asked.

It was no surprise. My little sister was the central point of our friendship network. I know that sounds like a strange way to look at it; because Isabelle was a seventeen year old gossip, not an omniscient being. But somehow information just had a way of getting back to her by association. Izzy heard from somebody, who heard from somebody else, and so on.

I groaned and flung my head back so it hit the back of the seat.

With Camille's presence becoming more and more engrained into my social group, I had to take into account that what Magnus' ex-wife knew, Izzy would inevitably come to know. That was just the way things worked. Which meant I really needed to talk to my sister quickly before she heard the news from somebody else.

Ironically it was for this exact reason that I had to see the guys I lived with before her. If in the astonishing (but not unlikely) event my sister found out first, she was bound to tell Simon whatever she knew… Or thought she knew. And I didn't want my current roommates to get the wrong idea.

All in all, I really wished that Magnus hadn't said anything to Camille. At least not within the first half hour of me saying I thought I wanted to live with him. I did, don't get me wrong, but a little more talking about it would have been nice. Now I didn't have a whole lot of wriggle room when it came to spreading the news.

I'd need to deal with my sister's wrath later.

"No, I didn't tell her yet." I said, already resigned to my fate. "She'll be moody, I know."

"Moody is one word for it." Kyle commented, only half under his breath. Either Simon or I should really have reprimanded him for making Izzy sound bad, but he had a point.

"She can't be the first to hear everything." I reasoned. Mainly for my own benefit. "And it kind of concerns you guys more."

"So, this is like your notice?" Kyle asked, launching us into the real matter at hand.

Although we were friends, Kyle had no strong feelings about where I decided to live. We saw surprisingly little of each other even though we shared the place. That was probably because more often or not we were both out doing things elsewhere.

Simon was a little more on the iffy side about me leaving, although he tried not to show it. I guess it wasn't the ideal situation for him to be left in. I'd been the one to invite him to the apartment after all. Logic didn't exactly state that I should leave before he did.

"I thought you'd take my room." I told him. "But I'm not sure how much you're actually making with this after-school job of yours."

"Not enough to split things fifty-fifty." Simon admitted, giving a reproachful look towards Kyle. "I'm just about managing the third."

I nodded. That was to be expected. Simon was a student minor working at the Alto Bar; there were limits on what he could do, as well as how long and how late he could do those things. It was hard enough to get by without those restrictions. I worked through every weekday and I didn't have much money going spare.

"So I'll keep paying my share until you find a new guy." I promised, despite my own funding issues. I mean, it was only right. In theory I shouldn't even be leaving until that spot was filled.

This was the crux of what I needed to get across. I needed them to know I had no intention of leaving the two of them high-and-dry, even if I did choose to abandon ship a little faster than was the norm.

"Maybe I should move out." Said Simon, to my surprise. "I'm not exactly an asset."

"And go where?" Kyle asked. He shook his head and made it sound as though the idea was absolutely preposterous. "You haven't exactly worked things out with your Mum."

I looked back and forth between my friends and wondered what Kyle had meant by that. It sounded like there'd been a new development where Simon's family life was concerned. Maybe I was more like my gossiping sister than I thought because I was surprised that I hadn't heard about it until now.

"Did you go to see your Mum?" I asked curiously.

"I thought I'd pick some things up from my old room." Simon explained.

Fair enough; Simon hadn't gotten to take much with him when he left the house. He'd been living with just the contents of one rucksack for quite some time. Which was doable in a pinch, but it must have been difficult knowing all his things were just sitting in a room somewhere while he was making do.

I took it that the trip home didn't go so great, though. Simon looked strangely defeated. I instantly felt terrible for him.

"She was pretty mad that I wasn't giving in on the whole medical school thing." He muttered and looked off to the side.

"That's awful." I offered as a pretty pitiful condolence. I really had no idea what to say to him. Disappointed parents were the worst.

"There's no problem with you staying here." Kyle told our friend firmly. "You've got, what, a year before you leave school? Then you're probably going to move into a dorm someplace anyway."

"Any ideas where you're going?" I asked. I never really gave much consideration to what Simon was planning to do, or where he was going to go. I'd been preoccupied with myself and Isabelle's futures recently.

Simon just laughed at me. "I might as well be at home, the way you two go on like parents."

"I knew if we adopted him he'd throw it back in our faces some day." Kyle jested. "You're tearing this family apart, Alec."

"Yeah, I'm a real home wrecker." I got up and rolled my eyes. "In all seriousness, though, you're going to stay here, right Simon?"

"I guess." Simon half-mumbled back. I think he was still concerned about overstaying his welcome.

"And you'll start looking for a third roommate?" I checked with our other friend.

"Geez, guys, am I doing something wrong?" Kyle asked with a grin on his face instead of replying to the question.

"It's all your crazy strict rules." I joked. Kyle actually had very little to say about anything anybody else did. He was very laid back as long as nobody messed with his things; which I was never inclined to do anyway. "I'm allowed to have pets at Magnus' place."

"I let you have a Simon, didn't I?" Kyle asked with an exaggerated gesture towards our friend.

"I see how it is." Said Simon. "You'd rather have a kitten."

"It's nothing personal." I shrugged. "I guess I'm just more of a cat person."

If this chapter was boring, you have my apologies. I kept trying to make it work but I'm not sure how successful I was. Even so, I should be posting the next chapter, 'Analysis' some time soon, and I hope you're still enjoying the story.