Here it is. Chapter 5 of The owner and the tramp. It's been a while, but that's not really a surprise anymore, is it? The only explanation I can give you is that I've been really really depressed lately. Things have been going down hill and I don't think it'll get any better soon. I want to thank everyone who reviewed on my last chapter. Bessie-loves-malec and AngstIsMyThing in particular. I love you guys. Your reviews are amazing and make me smile every time! It does help, you know. I always re-read the reviews when I'm writing the next chapter, for motivation. And motivation is what I need. I'll stop sulking now. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoy reading it too! It's the longest chapter yet. Let this be my attempt to say sorry for being absent for so long again.
For the rest of the week Alec tried not to think about the party and it was going pretty well. Every time he felt his anxiety rising, he found something to do. Clean some dishes, clean the windows again and again, help in the kitchen, anything as long as it kept him from thinking about the party. But it was already Saturday afternoon and he really couldn't postpone his decision any longer. It was eating him up inside. He wanted to go. He really did. But what if he messes up? What if he makes everyone uncomfortable? He probably shouldn't go… But damn, he wanted to. He could try it, right? Yeah, and if it turned out to be a disaster, he could make up an excuse and leave early. He could do this. So Alec mustered all his courage and made a final decision.
It was only 9:30 and the party was a success already. Well, of course it's a success, Magnus thought. It's my party. Magnus was dressed in black skinny jeans and a purple glitter tank top. His hair was styled perfectly (as usual) with a lot of glitter. The room he was dancing in was packed. His original plan was a small party with only the Magic Cup employees, but he made a snap decision and called some friends to join. 'Some' as in 'more than 30' and 'friends' as in 'I think I talked to you at least once and I've got your phone number'. Yes, Magnus knew how to throw a party.
He was about to get a drink when the doorbell rang. When he opened the door he was greeted by ocean blue eyes and a shy smile. Magnus' own smile grew when I saw that the younger boy showed up after all. He was wearing a different sweater, but it was in the same state as the other two Magnus had seen him in. So many questions… Later. Magnus thought.
"Alec! You're here!"
"Yeah, it's not everyday that the pub you work at celebrates it's first anniversary." Magnus smiled proudly as he beckoned Alec inside.
"Come in, come in. The part has already started."
Alec kept quiet as he followed Magnus into his apartment. He wasn't prepared for what he saw once he was inside. The furniture was moved to the sides to make room for a dance floor. The smell of alcohol and sweat was everywhere. People were dancing, singing, just having a good time overall.
"I was about to get a drink. Would you like one too?" Magnus yelled over the loud music.
"Yes please."
Alec followed Magnus trough the sea of dancing bodies into a modern styled kitchen.
"What do you want? Beer, cocktail?"
"Uhm, I- uh, I don't really drink alcohol." Alec said quietly.
"Oh, that's okay," Magnus smiled at Alec "I've got soda too."
Alec smiled back. "That would be great."
Alec was sipping his drink in the corner of the room, watching people dance. Well, if you could call that dancing. He spotted Jordan in the middle of the crowd with his arms around the middle of a lovely girl with curly hair and a green tank top. His eyes wandered around the room again and lingered on the host of the party. Alec sighed. He would never admit this out loud, but Magnus was really attractive. Really really attractive. With his beautiful feline like eyes and caramel colored skin. Alec couldn't take his eyes off him. So he didn't. He watched Magnus dance with several people during the night.
The way Magnus moved on the dance floor reminded Alec of his siblings. They used to go out a lot. He wondered if they still go out now that Alec isn't there anymore to save the day. He smiled a bit sadly. Knowing them they totally do. Alec's smile slowly dropped off his face as he thought about that one night a year ago…
"Alec, you have to come with us! I don't have a license yet and Jace will probably be too drunk to drive. Please, big brother." Izzy knew she'd won when Alec rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Only because I don't want you to get into a car accident."
"Yes! Thank you, Alec." Isabelle swung her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
"Did you convince him?" Jace asked walking down the stairs towards his siblings.
"Of course." Isabelle said.
Jace grinned at Alec and patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't give me that smile. This is a one-off thing." Alec said, even though they all knew he'd do it again the next time if they asked.
"Of course it is, big bro."
The night was going pretty well. Alec was watching his siblings from where he sat at the bar. Izzy was dancing with a tall, sun-kissed, guy who seriously needed to watch out where he put his hands. Alec turned around to watch Jace when he found two chocolate brown eyes staring at him. The eyes belonged to a handsome young man at the end of the bar. His hair matched the color of his eyes and he was wearing a thigh blue shirt. Alec remembered seeing him at school, but they'd never talked. The guy smiled at him and Alec found himself smiling back. Alec's heart missed a beat when he saw that mr. handsome was walking over to him. He didn't really have any time to panic because before he knew Brown eyes was already standing next to him.
"Hey." The guy said. "Your smile lit up the room, so I just had to come over. My name is Ethan, we go to the same school." Alec chuckled. It may be a cheesy pickup line, but it was the first one Alec ever heard directed to him.
"Hi, I know. I'm Alec, by the way. Nice to meet you." Alec said still smiling.
"You know, I was just wondering, what is a beautiful man like you doing so alone on a lovely night like this?"
"Oh, I'm just babysitting my siblings. I'm their ride home." Alec said shrugging.
"And does that mean you're not allowed to have fun tonight?"
"I guess it doesn't…?"
"Dance with me?"
Maybe it was a weird and totally un-Alec thing to do, but he nodded at Ethan.
"I'd like that."
They danced all night long. Their bodies moving with the upbeat music and the occasional slow dance. It was total bliss. Staring into Ethan's eyes Alec let go of all the fear. The fear of being outed to his father, the fear of being called a fag, the fear of being himself. This night had been one of the best nights Alec has had in a long time. He smiled.
"What are you thinking about?" Ethan asked.
"You, me, everything."
"I really like you, Alec…" Alec saw Ethan looking at his lips and he was doing the same thing. He was about to lean in when he heard someone yell loud enough to be heard over the music. "You need to see this, Kyle! This blond pretty boy has pissed of Crazy Chris!"
'Blond pretty boy' was enough to make Alec look away from Ethan. There was already forming a group of people around 'Blondie' and 'Crazy Chris'. Alec didn't have a good feeling about this.
"Uhm, sorry Ethan, but I have to go."
"What? Why? Did I do something wrong?"
"No, no, Ethan, you're amazing, but I really have to go right now. I don't have time to explain." And with that Alec walked away towards the forming crowd to save his stupid brother's ass.
When Alec finally wrung himself to the front line of the crowd, he found what he had expected to find. Jace was there, fighting a big, tattooed guy. Guess that's Crazy Chris. Alec thought.
Crazy Chris was red from rage and looked like he was ready to kill. Jace punched the guy in the stomach but this only seemed to make him angrier.
Every person watching the fight was so enthralled, waiting for the next move. The guy with the tattoos was fast and pushed Jace away. He lifted his leg to kick the blonde boy.
Jace barely had time to breathe, let alone dodge the next blow. But, it was a testament to his experience in fights that he kept the presence of mind to roll to the right in a desperate dodge, towards the wall of the dance floor. Just in time.
The tattoo guy's leg smashed onto the ground so hard Alec swore he heard something break. That didn't stop the guy though. He walked towards the corner where Jace was still lying on the ground. Most people would have allowed their opponent to stand up. But, there are no rules in a bar fight. The guy was about to hit Jace again when someone crashed onto him. Isabelle had jumped on his back and they fell to the ground. Before he could move again, Isabelle was on top of him, yelling the most creative swear words and scratching him with her nails. People were rushing towards the duo to get them off each other when Alec jogged over to Jace who was now sitting on the ground, holding onto his shoulder.
"What the hell, Jace?! What happened? Are you okay?" Alec asked frantically.
"I'm fine. I may have dislocated my shoulder, but nothing serious."
"No- nothing serious?! Are you kidding me?! Everyone was talking about this fight between a good looking guy and some guy named 'Crazy Chris'. And frankly, I wasn't surprised at all to find you there with Crazy. What were you thinking, Jace?!"
"He pushed someone off his chair at the bar, because that is apparently his usual spot. I just asked him if there was a name tag on the chair and-"
"You know what? I don't want to know." Alec said. "You stay here and I'll go find our dear little sister. Don't move or I'll skin you alive."
Alec didn't wait for an answer as he walked trough the crowd. Finding Isabelle turned out to be not so hard. She hadn't moved at all. She was still swearing loudly at the guy as she got hold back by too huge bouncers.
"Let go of me! I'll end the fucking bastard. We're Lightwoods! If you ever touch my brother again, I'll make sure you'll pay for it!" she barked.
"Izzy, stop it!" Alec yelled at her. Alec never yelled at her. She didn't met his gaze and looked ashamed at her feet. The bouncers finally let go of her and she walked towards her brother.
"I'm sorry, Alec. But that guy was hitting Jace and I couldn't just stand there and watch it happen."
"I don't want to hear any of this. We're going to get Jace and then we're going home." Alec walked back to where he left his brother and was relieved to see that he was still there. No one spoke on the ride home. When they arrived at the house Alec ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He looked at his siblings who were sitting in the backseat. Jace had a spilt lip and Isabelle's hair looked like a birds nest.
"Why do you two always have to get in trouble? Why can't you just go out and have a fun night without making a scene."
"Because we're Lightwoods. That's kinda what we do." Jace shrugged.
"Have you ever seen Max or me behave like that?"
"Alec, this guy was being a bully. What should I've done? Let him treat people like that? That's not okay." Jace asked.
"No, Jace it's not. But I just wish that you'd let someone else be the hero for once. And Izzy, I know you were just trying to help, but next time just ask a bouncer to do the job. I know you guys meant well, but this is also not okay. Who's going to explain what happened tonight to mom and dad? Do you really think I'm allowed to take you out again when you get into trouble every time?" The three Lightwoods stepped out of the car and walked towards the main entrance of their house.
"We can talk to mom and dad if you want. Explain what happened and that you had nothing to do with it." Isabelle said.
"No, I'll deal with it. You just go to your rooms. Jace, how's your shoulder?"
"Uhm, I think it's okay. Are you sure Alec?"
"Yes, just go to your rooms." Jace nodded a goodnight and walked into the house. Isabelle looked at Alec. "I'm sorry if we screwed up your night."
"It's okay, Izzy."
"No, it's not. I saw you dancing with Ethan."
"You know him?" Alec asked surprised.
"Yeah, he's Amber's brother." Alec nodded. "You looked happy, you know. It's been a while since I've seen you so happy. I don't want to take that away from you."
"I know, Izzy. But it really is okay. We were just dancing, nothing special."
"You dancing is nothing special?! That's the understatement of the year!"
"Shut up." They laughed for a while and Alec hugged his sister.
"Goodnight, Alec." Isabelle said.
"Goodnight."
"Alexander, how could this have happened?!" Robert Lightwood yelled at his son after he and his wife heard tonight's story.
"Jace was standing up for someone and Izzy was only helping Jace."
"And where were you?" Alec thought about dancing with Ethan. He swallowed hard.
"You are the oldest. You're supposed to make sure Jace and Isabelle don't get into trouble. If we can't trust you with this duty, who can we trust? You keep letting us down, Alexander."
"I- I'm sorry dad."
"You should be." Robert said, his voice without any feeling.
"This is enough for tonight." His mom said. "Go to bed, Alexander."
Alec bit his lip and nodded. "Goodnight."
His father kept quiet. Alec sighed and walked out of the room.
That night had been another eye opener for Alec. Boys only mean trouble and he couldn't afford any more trouble. He talked to Ethan once after that night, but he wasn't interested in Alec anymore. He'd found someone else. That was a long time ago though. He was not going to let that ruin his night. He walked back into the kitchen and grabbed a beer. Fuck not drinking. Why the hell not? It is not as if I need to drive back home tonight. He thought bitterly. So he gulped his beer down. And another after that. And another after that. He stopped drinking when he felt good again and walked back into the living room, onto the dance floor. He danced all night. With employees from the Magic Cup and also with strangers. He enjoyed himself that night, he really did. Alec spotted Magnus in the corner of the room, watching him. Magnus smiled at him and Alec smiled back. This party is amazing. Alec thought. And he danced some more.
There you have it. A bit of Alec's story. I hope you liked it! If you do like the story, please review. If it wasn't for all the nice reviews I get, I would've given up on this story long ago. You guys are amazing! :)
I'll probably see you in a few months. (sorry)
Love, Mariëtte.