Though unemployment was rather new to him and a bit scary, Simon did have to admit it had its perks. For example, if he had woken up this morning at the crack of dawn to go serve coffee to strangers, he wouldn't have been able to enter his kitchen just before noon to witness his stunningly beautiful girlfriend dancing and singing along to her bluetooth speaker at the top of her voice. Izzy must have just taken a shower because her hair was wet, and she was wearing nothing but that velcro towel dress she loved so much. Simon couldn't help but stare in wonder at her. The bold contrast between her dark hair and pale skin stood out even more with her shoulders exposed, and despite the towel's effort to hide them Simon could see her curves hinted at as she moved to the music.
"But I can't stop the rush, and I can't give you up. No, I know you're no good for me. You're no good for me," Izzy sang while moving her hips to the music. Then she tilted her head back and began the chores while slowly running her hands down her body. "I fell in love with the Devil, and now I'm in trouble. I fell in love with the Devil
I'm underneath his spell. Oh send me an angel to lend me a halo. I fell in love with the devil, please save me from this hell."
It was just then that Izzy spun around and noticed Simon watching her. She promptly stopped dancing and her voice fell silent.
"Don't stop on my account," Simon chuckled, moving closer to wrap his arms around her. "You are beautiful when you dance."
"This isn't real dancing," Izzy argued, though accepting his embrace.
"Looked like dancing to me," Simon smiled.
"Real dancing is those classes I had as a kid," Izzy explained. Then she started counting them off on her fingers. "Waltzes, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Bolero, Rumba, Cha Cha, Tango..."
"I didn't know you had dance lessons as a kid," Simon smiled at her.
Izzy laughed. "I had every lesson under the sun," she continued. "Horseback riding, swimming, calligraphy, dancing, singing, you name it."
"That explains why your singing along to Avril Lavigne was so well harmonized," Simon beamed at her. "Though it doesn't explain why you chose that song."
"I just finished binge watching all of the new Lucifer episodes on Netflix," Izzy explained. "Felt like the appropriate song given Chloe's situation."
"Let me guess," Simon inquired. "She's in love with the devil?"
"Well duh," Izzy said, then continued with real energy. "Who wouldn't be in love with Tom Ellis! Like really? I just can't get over how gorgeous that man is! And then somehow when he's Lucifer he's even hotter! Like he was carved out of marble to be the perfect eye candy for women everywhere."
"Okay no one is that hot," Simon scoffed.
"Oh yes he is!" Izzy argued. "And I have proof." And just like that she was googling on her phone. "See," she said, holding the phone in front of his face.
Simon found himself looking at the picture of a guy getting out of a hot tub. He couldn't claim to be the best judge of male attractiveness, but even so he could tell the guy wasn't ugly.
"I thought those little side lines on guys hips were a myth," Simon mumbled. "Like a guy can't actually get his muscles to do that. It's gotta be photoshop."
"Trust me," Izzy said grinning lustfully. "Those are real."
"You can't know that from a picture," Simon argued.
"Oh, that isn't how I know," Izzy chuckled. Just then the toaster popped and Izzy turned away to get her toast. Simon made a mental effort to stop his thoughts in their tracks when he began wondering how Izzy knew.
"Anyway so about the new season," Izzy began as she spread jam on her toast. And then Izzy started talking about the newest season of the show that despite only being online for less than twelve hours she had already watched all of. Okay yes, so Simon wasn't really listening to her passionate take on the plot points. Despite her attempts to get him invested, Simon had never really taken to the show, but watching her so full of life, so happy and expressive somehow made her more beautiful, if that was even possible.
"You so need to watch it!" Izzy concluded as Simon tuned back in. "Though sorry I guess I kinda just spoiled most of it, but I promise the journey is totally worth seeing anyway, even if you know how it turns out!"
"Maybe one day," Simon chuckled. "I'm glad you are enjoying it at least."
"Your loss," Izzy sighed, looking at him like he'd decided to skip dessert for the rest of his life.
"Anyway," Simon said, still smiling at his girlfriend's drama. "We still on for tonight?"
"Of course," Izzy grinned at him. "You know I keep a standing reservation tonight every year since we made things official." She smiled at him. "There really isn't any other way to get a table at North 54 on Valentine's day."
"Right yeah," Simon smiled.
And suddenly he wasn't looking forward to dinner at all. Between knowing Izzy would be paying since he couldn't, and listening to her gush about that actor guy, Simon was feeling quite insecure. Rationally he knew he had no reason to be, but still he couldn't quite silence the feeling.
What he wanted to do was go sulk in his room, but that didn't seem like a very good idea either. Izzy gave him a kiss then turned her music back up and went off to her laptop.
Deciding he needed some time alone to get a decent poker face in place before dinner, Simon followed suit and headed off to his own computer. Maybe video games would clear his stupid over analyzing brain. He was making mountains out of molehills and he knew it, but even so he couldn't stop the emotions.
By the time they left for dinner, Simon had quite composed himself. After all, everything was fine. He just needed to not be so insecure. Izzy hadn't given him any reason to think she wasn't in this with him. There was nothing to worry about.
Izzy was wearing a stunning dark blue dress with a plunging neckline, and tight fabric that hugged her in all the right places. It was long, falling past her knees, but there was a slit in it that went all the way up to her thigh. Simon couldn't help but let his eyes follow the curves of her hip and beasts when he looked at her. The trouble was that every other man in the restaurant, along with some of the women, were also looking at her that way. All eyes turned to Isabelle Lightwood when she walked into a room. Simon had long ago understood this, even if he didn't like it.
It was moments like this when Simon couldn't help but wonder why she was with him. The days Izzy wore her sweatpants and sat on the couch he didn't worry so much about it, but when she looked like she was meant for a runway he felt like a schmuck next to her, even if she had picked out his suit for the night.
"Do you like my dress?" Izzy asked once they were seated with menus and the waiter was gone.
"What's not to like?" Simon smiled at her. He knew she wanted him to answer in the affirmative, though if he was being really honest, Simon would have been more comfortable if she'd just worn jeans.
"I was actually out shopping with Clary when we found this," Izzy explained.
"You are beautiful in it," Simon told her with a smile. Truer words were never spoken. He just wished everyone else wasn't so aware of it.
"Is everything okay?" Izzy asked.
"Yes," Simon assured her. He had to let it go. This was just the price to pay for falling in love with a woman so very out of his league. Simon just had to count his lucky stars that she loved him back, and stop winding himself up.
The waiter came over a few moments later to take their drink order. Izzy asked for a glass of wine while Simon just requested water.
"You know we aren't driving home right?" Izzy asked, when the waiter left.
"I know," Simon smiled, trying hard not to think about exactly what he was thinking about.
"Silly," Izzy smiled back before consulting the menu.
It wasn't long before the waiter returned with their drinks and took their food order. Izzy asked for a steak and Simon - after balking at the price of the steaks - changed his order to a sandwich.
They talked a little about how Izzy's classes were going and about Simon's total lack of finding a job, but then the topic shifted back to Lucifer. As he listened to her talk, Simon noticed a pattern. Though Izzy cared about the plotlines and the other characters, her main focus seemed to be on Lucifer and Chloe in the show, specifically their relationship. The thought made him wonder if he'd missed a theme before. What had been her favourite part of Poldark: Demelza and Ross. When Jordan had tried to get her to watch Inuyasha, hadn't it been his relationship with Kagome that Izzy had focused on? In fact, Simon could not recall a single instance where Izzy hadn't gotten emotionally invested in the couple of a show or movie over the plot or villains. Even now as she sat across from him, explaining in detail how these two characters fell in love he could see the spark in her eyes.
Isabelle Lightwood was a hopeless romantic. Simon smiled at the thought. Somehow it calmed him. She believed in love, and she believed she loved him.
"I thought that was you," a voice called out to them. Simon turned to see a tall annoyingly good looking guy in what had to be an expensive suit walking towards their table.
Izzy turned to see him and for a moment the look on her face seemed to indicate she didn't know him, but then recognition dawned.
"Mr. Suit," Izzy chuckled at him. "Been a while."
"Three and a half years, but who's counting," the guy replied.
"You it would seem," Izzy chuckled.
"It was a memorable night," he replied, smoothly looking right at her, and acting like Simon didn't exist.
"If I recall correctly it was more like a memorable few minutes," Izzy smirked. "Ending in me finishing myself off and kicking you out of my dorm."
He was visually jolted by her reply, though not enough for him to leave. "Still good to see you again," Mr Suit continued as if hoping to recover from her burn. "My name is Patrick by the way. I think about you sometimes. I'd love to maybe get a coff-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there," Izzy said sharply. She turned to look at Simon then back to Patrick with a pointed look on her face. "Let me get this straight. I'm sitting in a restaurant on Valentine's day with another guy and you decided that was a good time to hit on me?"
"Him?" Patrick said without even looking at Simon. "Oh, I figured he was just your friend or something. Brother?"
Izzy shook her head firmly to answer his question before asking one of her own. "And why did you 'figure' that?" Izzy asked, clearly quite annoyed.
Patrick just shrugged. "A brilliant and beautiful woman like you, one who can pick out cashmere at a glance in a dark bar shouldn't be slumming it." He smiled in a way Simon could only compare to a movie villian's grimace. "You need someone who can take care of you."
"You are being very rude," Izzy said firmly. "I can take care of myself. Now go away." And with that she turned away from him to very purposely look at Simon.
Simon couldn't help it. He was still watching Patrick who just smirked and pulled a business card out of his suit jacket pocket. "For when you come to your senses," he said as he laid the card on the table.
"Idiot," Izzy said with a roll of her eyes once Patrick was out of earshot.
Once again Simon found he couldn't stop himself. He reached forward and picked up the card. Reading the words there Simon suddenly felt like dirt on someone's shoe.
Simon even recognized the company that this guy was the CEO of. There was no way Patrick wasn't rolling in Rolexes.
"Jerk," Izzy huffed. "Like read the room buddy wow."
"Yeah," Simon said in a small voice. He knew he should have stood up to the guy hitting on his girlfriend right in front of him, but he hadn't. Simon had just sat there and witnessed yet more proof he was out of his league.
"Sorry about that," Izzy smiled at him. She looked over his shoulder before saying with a smile. "Oh look, our dinner is here."
You can thank the Lucifer references in this chapter to my recently becoming obsessed with Deckerstar. I actually Just started uploading a Lucifer Fanfic on June 6th 2021 that is at the moment about 60,000 words long... yes the spaz is back! The story is called "See Me As I Am" and is a butterfly effect type story of what the show might have been like if Chloe had found out he was the Devil in season 1 episode 4. If you watch Lucifer please I'd love for you to check it out. I'm updating that story 1-5 times a week at the moment. If you don't watch Lucifer well you are missing out! It's awesome!
In other news, not sure if you guys have noticed but I recently got a very anti-Clary review. Like an essay level of Clary hate. It was crazy. Never got a review like that before. So bizarre. Hopefully, the rest of you don't hate Clary as much as that person does and still want her to get back with Jace. Because Clace together is the end game here. I know I messed with them bad. I actually messed with them more than I had originally planned but it all just kept getting worse even as I tried to make it better. I've gotten so tangled up in my own plot, climbing out is proving harder than I'd imagined. *insert awkward emoji here*
And please don't be upset with Izzy over this chapter. I really tried to show that she did nothing wrong, even if Simon is feeling low about it. But don't worry. These two will figure their shit out too. Rainbows and sunshine ending in the works people!
Sneak Peek Chapter 190
As they walked back into their apartment a third option occurred to her. Slowly, her eyes fixed on Simon, Izzy moved closer. She wrapped her arm around his side and began to kiss his neck. Then she moved up, kissing under his ear and along his jaw line until she reached his lips. Izzy opened her mouth and explored the well known caverns of her boyfriend's mouth.
Simon's hand was at his hip now, but other than that and his lips he hadn't moved. The fear built up in her again. Maybe he really was bored with her. Overwhelming with some combination of fear and love, Izzy deepened their embrace, pushing Simon up against the wall. It seemed to work. She felt Simon's other hand slowly move up her exposed leg and under the slit of her dress.
Just as Izzy was starting to believe everything would be okay, the door to their apartment opened and in walked their roommates.
"Get a room!" Maia chuckled.
They'd had the whole apartment to themselves until a moment ago, but it was fine. Izzy grabbed hold of Simon's hand and guided him to their bedroom down the hall.