Simon was early. He'd taken a bus rather than ask his mom to drive him. He knew she wouldn't approve. Driving himself had been Simon's first thought before he remembered that he wasn't sure if he owned a car let alone where it was. He knew the person he should ask was Isabelle but he wasn't quite ready for that yet so bus. What he was ready for was being here in this cafe waiting to talk to the woman he'd believed to be the love of his life until he'd woken up from a coma three days ago.

Hearing the door open Simon looked up. It wasn't her. He looked back down at his hands holding his tea and tried to get a grip. She would be here when she got here and looking at the door every thirty seconds wasn't helping! Stupid bus schedules sucked at getting you where you wanted to go exactly when you wanted to be there. Early or very late had been his options.

Simon took another sip of his tea and stretched his legs a bit. Staying with his mother had gotten a little easier over the last few days, or at least he'd stopped bursting into tears as often. Sleeping on the couch was, however, turning out to be very bad for his back. If he stayed there much longer Simon would have to consider investing in a blow up mattress.

He heard the door chime again and couldn't resist looking up. It was just some bald guy with two kids running around his ankles. Simon turned back down to look at his tea. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous. As far as he could remember he'd seen Clary just days ago, but he knew his memory here was wrong. No matter what he didn't want to believe, Simon had to admit some things. The Clary he remembered would have been at his bedside in the hospital. The Clary he was hoping to meet today felt like an entirely new person. It was like they were separated by time, or rather, his lack of remembering their time.

The door chimed again and Simon glanced up to see a young happy couple walking into the cafe. They were holding hands and smiling in that way you do when you are young and madly in love. Simon thought maybe the bald guy with the kids had felt that one once too, probably before the kids. Simon had once imagined what his and Clary's kids might have looked like. He remembered always hoping they'd have her beautiful red hair.

Simon took another sip of his tea. When the door opened once again he looked up but didn't bother registering who was there since they weren't his ex-girlfriend

Ex-friend. What a strange thing for her to be, but there really wasn't any other word for it. They had been together, and now they weren't. It was the word that applied best, but Simon couldn't help thinking about how they'd been friends before they'd dated. Really good friends so why had their breakup resulted in this total and complete separation? At the very least he'd have hoped they'd exchange Christmas cards or something.

Keeping up his habit, Simon glanced up again to see who had entered the cafe. He saw it was just some guy and moved his attention back to his tea which was almost empty. He wondered if maybe he should buy another one. It was at least something to do while he passed the time. Simon supposed he could have played a game on his phone or something but the entire device still felt very foreign to him. The few games he'd found on it hadn't been familiar to him.

The door chimed and once again Simon found himself turning to look. Some other lady walked in, and Simon looked away again. He knew he was being silly, but he couldn't help it. Smiling to himself he thought that at the very least this ridiculous compulsion of his would mean she couldn't sneak up on him.

"Hey Simon." It was her voice and he jumped about a foot in the air before spinning around in surprise. Of course, she'd come in the back door no one used, so he hadn't seen her. So much for his silver lining.

"Hi!" he replied, a bit frazzled.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Clary said, which meant Simon's jump had been a lot more obvious than he'd hoped. Great. Just fantastic. He had to resist the urge to smash his forehead into the table - he was such an idiot - instead he took her in. She was just the way he remembered. Beautiful red hair, pale freckled face, frumpy sweater, with a too large purse flung over her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it," Simon replied. "I was clearly watching the wrong door." She laughed lightly, or at least politely, and sat down.

Simon was so happy to see her and he knew his expression showed it. He could tell she was uncomfortable and he did his best to tone down his excitement so as not make her even more uncomfortable, but he'd never been any good at this and knew he was failing. Concealing his emotions was not something Simon had ever learned.

"What did you wanna talk about?" Clary asked. She clearly wasn't interested in small talk. She wanted to get to the point and leave. Simon could tell by the way she had her body angled towards the door as if she could get up and dart away at a moment's notice.

"It's hard to explain, but see I was hit by a car," Simon began. Before Clary could so much as look sympathetic he continued. "And I was in a coma for two weeks and when I woke up I didn't have any memory of the last three years or so. Everyone says we broke up two years ago, but as far as I can recall we were doing great and I just really need to understand what happened."

"Oh boy," Clary said with a sharp intake of breath. Despite her nervous tone her body relaxed a little in the chair. This had very clearly not been what she was expecting.

"Why did you break up with me?" Simon asked.

"That's just it," Clary said. "I didn't. I should have but I was too chicken."

"What happened then?" Simon said, confused. "Cause there is no way I broke up with you."

"You did actually," Clary smiled at him. Simon could hardly believe her. "But it wasn't unprompted. Oh this is so weird to be the one telling you because I can see you have no idea-" She took a deep break then confessed. "Things weren't working out. We were drifting apart, feeling more and more platonic every day, but the coward that I was, I still couldn't break up with you, so I did something even you couldn't forgive and you dumped me."

"What did you do?" Simon asked in a whisper.

"I cheated on you Simon," Clary said softly. "I'm not proud of it, and if I could take it back I would. An honourable person would have broken up with you properly then moved on but I- well I didn't do that."

"Who was he?" Simon asked slowly. It felt like she'd punched him in the gut. He knew it was ridiculous. The way she recounted everything Simon felt sure it had happened quite a number of years ago. It wasn't fresh for her, but to him it felt like she was breaking up with him for the first time.

"Does it matter?" she asked.

"Yes," Simon replied. "Are you still with him?"

Taking a slow breath, Clary held out her left hand. Simon stared at the simple gold band on her finger. "We got married," she stated.

There was a long silence while Simon tried to process everything. It had been falling apart before? Betrayed? How could this be? Round and round in his head her words went until he was swimming in them, but he had to believe her. He could see the truth of it all in her eyes. He stared at those eyes, willing them to explain what his memories could not.

They stayed like that for a long time, and slowly Simon started to accept her words because of what he saw on her face.

"They tell me I'm engaged," Simon said after what had probably been a ten minute pause in their conversation. "I just have no idea who she is."

"You didn't know me once either," Clary smiled at him. "Get to know her."

"I suppose," Simon said. "It's just all so confusing. Schools over. I haven't even asked if I've got a job, and my dads gone. You're gone. It's like my life isn't mine."

"I can only imagine how confusing that is for you," Clary said kindly.

"Why didn't we stay friends?" Simon asked her. "We were friends first right?"

"I hurt you pretty bad," Clary reminded him. "I think you needed time before you'd have even considered staying friends, and by then, well… we just didn't keep in touch."

"Yeah, I know," Simon said. "Your number wasn't even in my cell phone."

"How'd you text me then?" Clary replied, confused.

"I memorized that back in high school," Simon smiled at her. "You know, back before people relied only on their cell phones to remember things. I was just glad you hadn't changed it!"

Clary chuckled. He remembered that laugh so well. Hearing it again was like traveling through time. It wasn't a deep laugh, more of a polite one, but it still felt so familiar it hurt.

"And on that note I should be going," Clary said gently. "I hope things get better for you Simon, I really do."

"You don't have to go," Simon said. "You haven't even ordered a drink."

"Jace wasn't super thrilled about you randomly getting in touch," Clary chuckled. "He isn't usually the jealous type, but because it's you I think he worries. I'd like to end his anxiety as soon as I can. Besides, you have a fiance to fall in love with." She smiled at him in a very sisterly way. "Chop, chop."

And with that she stood up, turned, and walked away.

Simon started after her for longer than he cared to admit, just thinking about everything. So her husband's name was Jace, huh? What kind of name was Jace anyway? A stupid name, that's what.

Taking a deep sigh, Simon looked down at his tea again. He supposed there was no point in getting another anymore. He should probably consult the bus schedule to figure out how to get home.

Home. Technically speaking he wasn't even sure where that was. He'd gotten the closure he'd been so sure he wanted, but had it even helped? And what was he supposed to do now? If he took Clary's advice - and he supposed his mother had basically said the same thing - the next thing he should do was talk to Izzy.

Of course, he didn't know where Izzy lived, or rather, where he lived. So weird. Chugging the last few mouthfuls of his tea, Simon got up. It was time to face the music. He knew it. He had known it for days, but had been putting it off with the excuse that he wanted to talk to Clary first. Well that was over and done with and it was time to - for lack of a better word - meet his fiance.

He headed back to the bus stop. He would need to get a ride from his mom if he was going to get to Izzy's place. Sleeping on her couch couldn't be any worse than sleeping on his mother's couch, right? He hoped at the very least her couch had less pointy springs. And his stuff was there. Simon really missed his computer. Maybe he had some good video games that had come out during the time he lost and he could play them all over again for the first time. How many people got to do that, right? For that matter he should really do some research about any tv shows or movies he missed that would be worth catching up on.

The whole bus ride back, Simon kept up a steady stream of things he could think of that would be good about going to the apartment that had nothing to do with Isabelle. He found his mood had greatly improved by the time he reached his mother's house.

When he walked in the door, his mother was nice enough not to ask where he'd been. She seemed genuinely thrilled when he asked her to drive him to the apartment.

"Let me just message Izzy and let her know," Elaine said smiling.

"Won't she find out when we get there?" Simon inquired.

"It's Tuesday," Elaine stated. "She works evenings on Tuesdays."

"Oh," Simon said lamely. It hadn't even occurred to him that Izzy wouldn't be home. In fact, he hadn't given her much thought at all except to be overwhelmed by her. That wasn't very fair.

"Don't worry about it then," Simon said. "I'll just go over and wait for her to get home."

"Do you have a key?" Elaine asked.

"No," Simon answered. "Didn't I give you one?"

"I used to have one," Elaine admitted. "But you took it away."

"Urg do I even wanna know?" Simon groaned.

"Probably not," Elaine chuckled. "Anyway I'll just call Izzy."

Despite being at work Isabelle picked up the phone at once and seemed quite able to abandon her work day to let him into their apartment.

Simon wasn't sure how he was feeling as he sat in the passenger seat of his mother's SUV on his way to see his apartment for the first time. To top that off he was also going to meet his fiance for the second time. And he was feeling anxious again. Taking a deep breath Simon tried very hard not to think about it. Instead he looked out the window at the stores going by. Some he recognized and others seemed new, but overall it felt very much like his hometown which calmed him down a bit.

His mother parked and turned to face him. Simon knew he had to get out now and be alone with Izzy for the first time - or at least the first time as far as he was concerned.

"Have fun," Elaine said in that automatic parent way. "But not too much fun or I suppose that would be fine too- I mean you are adults and- on second thought pretend I said nothing."

Simon couldn't hold back his smile at how awkward his mother seemed. He could tell it was important to her that he and Izzy hit it off. Such an odd first date he thought; my mother is more into her than I am. Then he remembered this was only a first date for him.

He closed the car door and his mother pulled out into traffic. Her car turned the corner and she was gone.

"Hello." He didn't know the voice well enough to recognize it, but he could guess at once who it was. The sound made him tense up a bit but at least he didn't jump. What was it with women sneaking up on him today?

Turning toward the sound, Simon saw her. Isabelle was wearing a simple, but rather lovely, dark navy coat with a lighter scarf. She had a large purse draped over one shoulder and her hair was down, long and straight. She was stunning. What the hell was she doing with him?

"Hello," he said. He knew it was Izzy because he'd seen her at the hospital, and in all those photos on his phone, but that was about all he had to go on. She was looking at him with such warmth and affection Simon hardly knew what to do.

"Umm," he said.

"Oh right, yes, you wanna go inside," Izzy said, then quickly turned to walk him towards the building doors.

As they walked in silence into the lobby and towards the elevator, Simon couldn't help but think that they both had to have good jobs. His old apartment definitely did not have a lobby. This wasn't much of a lobby, no staff or anything, but still it felt very fancy to him.

"We're on the third floor," Izzy said.

"3rd Ave to 3rd floor," Simon commented. "Doesn't feel like such a change."

"That's what you said when we got the apartment," Izzy smiled at him.

"Oh," Simon said and shut up.

When the elevator stopped, Izzy got out and walked straight down the hall a ways before turning right and pulling out a key to unlock the door.


What do you think of Simon's journey so far. He's doing his best guys. It's alot to wrap your head around. ^_^ As always I'd love to hear from you. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. Cheers!


Sneak Peek Chapter 4

Simon watched as Izzy took off her shoes and dumped her bag on the table. It was a nice table. Made of wood with coloured panels on the top. Beside Izzy's purse was a large rather beautiful bowl Simon had to assume was so putting keys and similar items the moment you walked in. Feeling more comfortable though not exact at home, Simon took off his shoes and placed them beside hers.

"Come in," Izzy said gently, moving farther into the hallway. "I'll give you a tour."

"Oh my own apartment?" he replied.

"As far as you are concerned you've never been here before," Izzy answered with far more understanding than he'd been expecting. "So I thought a tour would be nice."