Izzy was sitting in her favourite spot at the bar scoping out the room. It was a fairly average day all things considered, except for one rather important difference. Why did she want to hit on the nerd in the corner with the classes? Why wasn't she interested in the sexy black haired guy in the suit, or the blonde with the beach body? Why did she feel more like doing shots by herself than getting laid tonight? Downing her shot in one go, Izzy got up from the bar and almost at once heard her phone ringing.
"Hey Alec," she answered after reading the caller ID.
"Izzy!" Alec replied, his voice was so exatic it almost broke her ear drums.
"Inside voice," Izzy grumbled. "Are you trying to make me deaf?"
"I asked Magnus to marry me, Iz," Alec said excitedly. "And he said yes."
"That's great," Izzy said, choking back the strange feeling in her chest.
"Thanks," he said. She could tell he was grinning, even over the phone. "I want to have a party, and Magnus has agreed which is crazy. I was thinking Saturday after exams. Do you want to help?"
"Course," Izzy said, putting on a smile.
"Thanks Iz," Alec replied, giddy as all hell. "So can we meet up tomorrow then?"
"Sure," Izzy agreed.
"I'll text you. Gotta go," Alec continued. "Thanks again." And he hung up. Instead of going home, Izzy decided to have another drink.
She kept telling herself she was happy for her brother. All she'd ever wanted was for Alec to be happy, so why was his happiness making her so miserable? It was her job to be happy for him, her job to be supportive, and smile with him. Izzy wasn't supposed to be envious; she wasn't supposed to want to run and hide.
Izzy did two more shots, one after the other. The glasses hit the bar with a dull thud that was somehow satisfying. She lifted the glass again and made the same thud noise, but it wasn't the same so she ordered another shot.
"How are you getting home tonight?" the bartender asked her.
"Walking," Izzy replied as she downed her shot, and heard that satisfying thud as she placed it firmly back on the bar.
"Alright," the bartender replied. "If you'd said driving, it would be about now that I'd take away your keys."
"Fair enough," Izzy replied. She decided to slow down a little, and ordered wine next. The glass was more fragile and not nearly so satisfying, but it make a nice gentle click when she tapped it with her nail.
"Now what is a beautiful girl like you doing drinking alone in a place like this?"
Izzy turned to see the beach body blonde she'd scooped earlier sitting beside her. She usually liked a guy in a suit, but tonight she was drunk enough that she didn't care.
"Brother's engaged," Izzy explained.
"Even more reason not to drink alone," the man replied. Izzy looked him up and down. Rationally, she knew this was what she usually did. In fact her, for lack of a better word, vulnerable state was acting like a honey trap, saving her the bother of hunting down the bees. Izzy was pretty sure the bartender was gay, but every other guy in this bar had checked her out at least once since she'd sat down. If Izzy had known about this trick before, she would have had a way easier time, but Izzy had never been like this before. She'd never been pathetic, and she hated it.
"See, usually I'd jump your bones about now," Izzy told him. She got off the stool and teasingly hiked her leg up onto him as she spoke. "Drag you off and-" She trailed her fingers down his bare arms. The guy was wearing a muscle shirt, which was in part how she'd been sure about his excellent abs. Izzy moved forward to whisper against the skin of his neck. "Have my way with you."
"But there is just one problem with this plan," Izzy whispered, leaning even closer, both her hands dancing over his skin.
"What's that?" the guy whispered back, breathlessly.
"I don't feel like it," Izzy scoffed, pulling all her limbs back and turned to face her wine again.
"Damn girl," the guy said, clearly rattled.
"I know," Izzy sighed. Then with a wave of her hand, she added, "Move along."
She heard him leave, but didn't turn to look. Why was she thinking about Simon? Sure, they'd gotten very good at the sex thing, and he was altogether a pretty cool guy, but what did that have to do with her need to find the bottom of her glass? Maybe Simon would know? Maybe he could tell her why nothing made sense? Yes, this was a plan. Izzy was set on it now. Paying her tab, Izzy got off her stool with as much grace as she could muster, slightly drunk and in heels.
She walked in rather a more straight line than she'd expected from the bar, and down the street to the cross walk. She waited for the light, which didn't seem to come. Realizing she'd forgotten to push the button, Izzy pressed it about five times before crossing the street. Setting foot on campus, Izzy headed to the dorms. She would just pop in and… say what? Well, Simon should come to the party, because then she'd get to see him, so she'd start with that. Then she really needed him to tell her what the hell was wrong with her.
Izzy knocked on a door, but when it opened she didn't recognize the guy standing before her. Turning to read the number on the door, Izzy realized her mistake. Waving and murmuring sorry, she kept moving. The next door she knocked on turned out to be the right one.
"Hi, Simon," Izzy said, smiling. She was thinking very hard at the moment, using what little mental energy she had to try and not appear drunk.
"Hey," Simon replied. Did he look happy to see her or was that surprie? She couldn't tell.
"Can I come in?" she asked, again focusing on not slurring her words.
"Sure," Simon said, taking a step to the side. Izzy walked in, impressed at how steady her walk was. Maybe she wasn't as drunk as she thought?
Izzy only noticed Jordan's presence as he moved past her and out of the dorm.
"Don't mind him," Simon said. "He's just being… well him. What's up?"
"Brother's engaged," Izzy said slowly, thinking hard about the shape of her mouth as she spoke.
"Oh that's great," Simon smiled. "Glad those crazy kids figured things out." He looked so adorable when he smiled.
Izzy mumbled something, but she wasn't sure what. She was gazing at Simon's face. Why were his lips so lovely? Why did she want him and not the hotter guy at the bar before?
"Is there something you needed?" Simon asked, taking a step away from her.
"Engagement party," Izzy said. "Saturday after exam week. You wanna come?"
"Sure, I'll be there," Simon replied. "Thanks. Should I bring a gift?"
"Nah," Izzy replied, waving his idea way.
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yep," Izzy said.
"Okay," Simon replied. She stared at his face, trying to read his mind, but her foggy brain wasn't getting very far. Instead, she was focused on the pull she felt. Izzy wanted to be in his arms. She wanted him to kiss her, hold her like before. She wanted to feel him inside her again, the possessive nature of her feelings confused her.
She must have moved closer, or maybe Simon was getting bigger? Either way, she acted on her instincts without inhibition, gently pressing her lips to his. For a moment it was wonderful. She felt Simon's hand on her hip, and her mind was melting, thinking of his hands other places. Then very suddenly, he was gone. Izzy opened her eyes to gaze at him.
"You can't just come here whenever you want and do that!" Simon exclaimed, moving away. "I know I shouldn't have texted you that I wanted to stop, and I'm sorry about that, but that doesn't mean I am just going to change my mind if you kiss me."
Izzy stared into his eyes, unblinking. There was anger there, fury and loathing. She balked, feeling as if something in her chest were being compressed. How could she get rid of this feeling? All she wanted was not to feel like this anymore. Turning away, Izzy did the only thing she could think of. Trying to ignore the tears running down her face, she ran.
Somehow she found her way back to her dorm and flung herself into bed. Maia was either too polite to ask what was wrong, or hadn't noticed that Izzy was silently crying. Izzy had mastered the art of hiding her emotions over the years, and could usually cry on command when it suited her, as well as hide the sounds when it didn't.
Izzy must of cried herself to sleep, because the next thing she knew, she was waking up fully dressed in her bed, sun streaming in the window.
"What time is it?" she asked covering her face with the pillow to block the light.
"About ten thirty," Maia answer. "How was the bar?"
"Too many shots," Izzy moaned, rolling over and trying to sleep again. She could feel the beginnings of a hangover, and was regretting not drinking any water before bed.
"Your phones been going off," Maia told her.
"Burn it," Izzy groaned.
"It's your brother," Maia continued.
"Definitely burn it," Izzy confirmed.
"I promise I wasn't snooping," Maia said. "But there is something here about meeting up later today."
Izzy groaned. Why had she agreed to play wedding with Alec? WHY? Was she stupid? Or just masochistic?
"I can't get past your lock screen," Maia said. "So if you want to cancel, you are going to have to text him yourself."
"No, it's okay," Izzy sighed reluctantly rolling out of bed. "I'm getting up."
With another groan, Izzy reached a standing position, and collected her phone from her roommate. Quickly texting Alec back to confirm, Izzy went to shower. After a light breakfast, and an hour indulging in television, Izzy left to meet up with her brother.
Upon entering the cafe, Izzy instantly saw Alec sitting alone in the corner. She ordered herself a strong coffee, and a glass of water, then waiting till they were ready before sitting down opposite Alec.
"Rough night?" Alec asked. Izzy grunted.
"I am not officially awake until I drink all of this," Izzy said, gesturing to her coffee and water. After the first sip, it seemed like the world was slowly righting itself. Izzy held her coffee close, and settled in for some seriously sappy Alec time.
"We were thinking of having it at our place," Alec began. He had a pad of paper in front of him, and was thoughtfully playing with the pen in his hand. He gazed off thoughtful for a moment, grinning as if he couldn't stop himself. Izzy drank more of her coffee. "But do you have any food ideas? Magnus was thinking potluck, but I wanted to just get it catered."
"That doesn't at all surprise me," Izzy said, shaking her head. "How big a party are we talking here, Alec?"
"Well there's us two," Alec said, ticking off people on his fingers. "Jace and Clary. Magnus is inviting Tessa and her family, which is four people. Clary will probably want to invite Simon."
"I think I invited Simon," Izzy said slowly.
"Great," Alec said. "So is that everyone?"
"There's Maia," Izzy said. "My roommate. We all went out with Tessa once. If you want more people, you could invite her."
"Good idea," Alec said, scribbling on his paper. "The more the merrier."
"In that case I suggest you cater it," Izzy added.
"Agreed," Alec grinned.
"Magnus is so going to regret letting you throw this party," Izzy laughed. "He'll be counting up the bills after."
"Oh, but I have a plan," Alec said grinning wickedly. "I am not going to show him the bills."
"Sneaky," Izzy said sarcastically. "Because everyone knows if you don't see the bill, there isn't any charge."
"That's right," Alec laughed, totally missing her sarcasm. He was so happy, Izzy was sure nothing short of the apocalypse could bring down his mood today. Izzy secretly wanted to smack him for being too cheery, but she settled for half listening to him while she drank her coffee and sipped her water. She was feeling more human by the second. Last night had been some kind of strange flook, and she wasn't going to think about it ever again. Life would get back to normal, and she'd find a way to genuinely be happy for her brother rather than faking it. Maybe she should be an actress?
"You alright Iz?" Alec asked. Then again, maybe she wasn't as good at this as she thought.
"I'm fine," Izzy smiled back.
"You sure?" Alec countered.
"Of course," Izzy replied, trying to smile better. Alec was still giving her a weary look, so she changed the topic. "It sounds to me like you have everything under control, and we have a week's worth of exams to get through before the party."
"I know," Alec said.
"I actually have an exam in the morning," Izzy lied. "And I should probably study at least a little." She laughed.
"Alright," Alec said. "Why don't we get together again after exams to finalize plans?"
"Sounds perfect," Izzy smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, my hangover and I have some laying in the dark to do." Alec laughed. They both stood up, and Izzy took the opportunity to give her brother a hug, so he wouldn't worry so much about her before making her leave.
For the next week Izzy dedicated her time to exams, and some much needed alone time. Simon didn't contact her, but that was good. She needed to get a grip before she could see him. Everything was fine. After these exams she was going home for the summer and when she got back all would be right with the world.
You can thank tscott21 for the slightly early update. I had planned on not updating until tomorrow, but it turns out I managed to get some writing done tonight because I put in the effort to start after reading your review. So thanks. Because of my sneak peeks I can't update unless the next chapter is at least started and until a few hours ago the next chapter wasn't even remotely started. It was nothing but a list of ideas. Now it's 2000 words so yay!
In case you didn't know, I have a FictionPress account, with the same username: Writesalott
For those of you who don't know what that is, its basically just like fanfic but for original stuff. Instead of fandoms the stories are organized by gene. The link to my FictionPress profile is listed on my Fanfic profile, but you can also find it by searching writesalott on fiction press under writer just like on fanfic. The two sites are even laid out the same way, but FictionPress is red and Fanfic is blue. I am also uploading my originals on wattpadd and ao3 now.
If you've read my story 'Elusive Love' than you will probably like my original story 'Her Early Bird' since it's an original characters version of that story. I re-wrote the whole thing, changing all the characters and fixing all the plotholes and little things I didn't like. It's the same basic plot concept but not much else is the same. The whole thing flows better and is very different, with new songs and poems and stuff. The first two chapters of that are online as of now but the whole book is mostly finished so I will be updating it often. (Update: This story is complete and a have a few more originals on this site now though I do still write alot more fanfic than originals.)
So if you like my writing style or just want to support me go check out my original stories or just stick with my fanfic if you'd prefer that. Thanks :)
Sneak Peek Chapter 90
"Hey," Jace said smiling as knocking on Magnus's bedroom door. "I'm here early to help set up. That fiance of yours is talking to the caters."
There was a long slow exhale of breath before the door opened.
"Hi Jace," Magnus said. He looked a little bit stressed out, but he was clearly trying not to be.
"You okay?" Jace asked.
"I am activating trying not to think about it," Magnus replied with a calming breath.
"About what?" Jace asked, worried about how devastated Alec would be if Magnus got cold feet.
"How much money Alec is spending on a party that isn't even a wedding," Magnus explained and Jace couldn't help but laugh.
"Smart man," Jace laughing, clapping Magnus on the shoulder smiling.
"What do you think the chances are that Alec would agree to elope?" Magnus asked hopefully.
"Slim to none," Jace chuckled.
"As I suspected," Magnus said, wistfully.