Simon found himself exactly where he hadn't expected to be: the University dorms. It was strange to feel like he had no reason to be here while also knowing that this was where he was supposed to be.
This was the start of a new chapter in his life, discovering who he was without Clary. Simon couldn't exactly remember when he'd fallen in love with Clary. All he knew was that it had been somewhere between the day he'd met her and puberty. Either way, it felt like his whole life up to this point had been defined by her, and that needed to change. Simon needed to find new ways to define himself. He'd always thought in terms of Clary, her playmate, school partner, buddy, defender, listener, comforter, friend, pillow, and boyfriend, but Simon was more than just Clary's something. He just needed to figure out what he was. For the moment, all he had was university student, bassist, friend, brother, and son. He'd have to work on adding to that list.
After Simon unpacked, he texted Maia and asked if she wanted to hang out. She replied that her crazy new roommate had dragged her out, and she was currently chatting up some guy in a bar named Neil. Simon had to admit she was surprised Maia had let herself get dragged away like that. This new roommate of hers must be quite persuasive.
Simon really wasn't sure what to do with himself this evening. He supposed he could ask if Jace wanted to hang out, but that friendship was still a little strange what with Simon being in love with his girlfriend and all. He did text Eric and make plans for later in the week, but that didn't help him tonight. Simon thought it rather pathetic that he had more of a social life here than back home. Giving up, Simon turned on his laptop and started up his laptop. After watching two episodes of the Netflix original series Sense8, Simon got a text from Maia.
'Date turned out to be creepy so I went home to find my roommate naked with some guy. Is that offer to hang out still good?'
Simon texted back it was definitely still good and asked if she wanted to meet somewhere, or just hang out in his dorm room. Maia replied that she would suggest the orientation party in the Quad, except for the fact that it was basically over now. Simon suggested watching sci-fi on his laptop, and pretty soon there was a knock at his door. Maia smiled as she entered, or maybe it was more of a grimace. She moved quickly across the room, laid down on his bed, and covered her eyes with her arm.
"Rough day?" Simon asked her.
"I think my roommate wants to be my sponsor," Maia groaned. "I mean she's fun and all, but so high maintenance."
"High maintenance friends are the worst," Simon laughed.
"I mean boyfriends sure," Maia continued. "But friends shouldn't be so much work."
"Speaking of which, would you like to watch Galaxy Quest?"
"Hell yeah," Maia laughed, sitting up and focusing on the laptop screen. Simon hit play and they settled in for a good dose of comedic science fiction.
It was nice just sitting there with Maia, enjoying something they'd both seen before. Sometimes you don't have the energy to watch new shows, and yes, Simon knew exactly how lazy that sounded, but he didn't care. Tonight he just wanted to laugh at jokes he'd heard before and watch bad CGI and corny comedic timing in the company of a friend. Tomorrow school started, and the summer holidays were officially over. When the movie ended, Maia was still laughing.
"This one gets me every time," Maia said.
"How many times have you seen it?" Simon asked her.
"Oh like a billion," Maia replied. "But the self destruct button timer gets me every time."
"That is a beautiful parody of a sci-fi trope," Simon agreed.
"It can only stop at one second till boom," Maia chuckled. "Even if you click it minutes before hand!" She paused, grinning. "Priceless."
"Personally I loved the giant rock monster," Simon commented.
"It's just all amazing," Maia agreed, clearly unwilling to pick favourites. Maia was so easy to talk to, and the only real new friend he'd made on his own here. Though he supposed he'd only met her because of Clary setting him up, but Simon chose to forget that little detail.
"I don't like that clock," Maia commented a second later. "It means we can't watch another movie."
"Well we could," Simon disagreed. "But only if you want to fall asleep in class tomorrow."
"Urg," was Maia's detailed reply. She got up looking rather grumpy about it.
"I am sure we can find time for more dorky movies soon," Simon laughed at her unhappy expression.
"First days of classes are so boring," Maia complained, and Simon knew it was really about this, and not her grand need for more sci-fi. "They are just basically about the prof introducing himself and handing out lots of paper like he's never heard of email."
"They do waste a lot of trees here," Simon agreed.
"So many trees!" Maia exclaimed. Then with a sign and a wave, she turned to say. "See ya later."
"Bye," Simon waved back. As the door closed behind her, Simon did the responsible thing and went to bed.
Before he fell asleep he wondered when or if his roommate would show up. The bed on the other side of the room was still unmade with an empty dresser beside it. Simon remember only too well the disaster of his last roommate experience. Then he'd had no roommate for the rest of last year, and now Simon found himself quite apprehensive about meeting the person he'd be stuck living with for the next eight months.
There was still no sign of his roommate the next morning when Simon left for class. However when Simon returned after lunch, he suddenly found a man unpacking his things on the empty side of the room. He was tall, with brown skin and dark hair. It was longer than Simon usually saw on guys, but seemed to suit him well. The guy was wearing a t-shirt with a metal band logo on it.
"Hi," Simon greeted his new dormmate. "I'm Simon."
"Jordan," the guy replied. "It's been a crazy morning. I only got into town this morning and had to rush right to class. I feel like a nomad, not even slightly unpacked yet."
"It's just one day," Simon told him kindly. "I am sure you will be all organized in no time."
"Organized," Jordan laughed. "Not so much. I have to warn you now, I don't really like cleaning."
"Who does?" Simon laughed.
"No, I mean I don't clean," Jordan said. "Drove my last dorm mate crazy so I figured I should warn you now."
"How about this," Simon replied calmly. "You can keep that side of the room however you like, as long as this side can't smell it?"
"Deal!" Jordan chuckled. "I can already tell that you are so much cooler than my last roommate."
"Same here," Simon replied. He was sitting on his bed watching Jordan unpack and put things away. The guy wasn't kidding when he said he was messy. Simon was pretty sure Jordan was just throwing his clothes into the closet in a pile and stuffing things in drawers without caring which went where. "My last roommate drank, smoked, and partied till 5am. At least he did before he got reported."
"Oh not such a nice guy huh," Jordan remarked. "I didn't peg you for the guy who tattle tails."
"And you'd be right," Simon sighed, leaning back a little to gaze at the ceiling. "A friend of mine told on him for me… at least I think he's my friend."
"That sounds like a good story," Jordan said, somehow asking for details with his tone of voice.
"He's my best friend slash ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend," Simon explained, awkwardly.
"Okay that is definitely a good story," Jordan exclaimed as he finished his ridiculous unpacking and settled down, sitting on the bed across from Simon.
"You want the short version or the long one?" Simon sighed. He wasn't sure why he was talking about this, but there really wasn't anything else to do. He didn't have class for another few hours.
"Short," Jordan replied.
"Fell in love with my best friend as a kid, but she never loved me back, though that didn't stop her from dating me and falling for another guy while we were together," Simon summarized the worst part of his life for a total stranger. "I even followed her to this school, got halfway through my first year, lost her, then realized I had no life back home anyway, and here I am again." Simon leaned all the way back, and just laid on his bed staring at the ceiling.
"Wow," Jordan whispered.
"Yep," Simon sighed. "I know, I am pathetic."
"No, that's not what I meant," Jordan replied. There was a serious tone to his voice that Simon hadn't heard before. "I know exactly how you feel."
"Really?" Simon asked surprised, sitting up to stare at Jordan.
"I didn't have class this morning," Jordan confessed. "I was looking for my ex. She's, huh, going to this school, and I want her back so I came here to try and find a way for her not to hate me anymore."
"Why would she hate you?" Simon asked.
"Because I am clingy, and messy, and a horrible boyfriend," Jordan groaned, his head in his hands.
"Maybe changing schools to be with her isn't the answer," Simon consoled him, moving across the room to sit beside him. "Not that I don't want you for a roommate, but as someone who followed a girl to university, I can tell you that it doesn't work."
"You said this girl of yours never loved you," Jordan replied, looking up from his hands his eyes glossy. Simon nodded. "This is different. She did love me once. I know she did. I just totally ruined it!"
"By ruined you mean?" Simon inquired.
"I was scared I'd lose her, crazy jealous all the time," Jordan explained. "Yet like the stubborn fool I am, I couldn't stop myself from holding my ground when we fought. Silly things you know like, ah, cleaning. One day she said she was sick of it and left. I tried to reach out to her, chase after her and tell her how much I loved her, but then I saw her kissing some guy at a club, and I kinda lost it."
"It?"
"My cool," Jordan replied. "Not like I had any of it to start with, but yeah."
"Maybe instead of spending your mornings skipping classes for some light stalking, you should try and move on," Simon suggested. "Date someone else. It's what I have to do."
"I am not ready to do that," Jordan explained.
"Well how long ago did you break up?" Simon asked.
"Just before Christmas last year," Jordan explained. "She left to come here after we broke up. She enrolled for the January semester."
"And I thought I had it bad," Simon sighed, patting his new friend on the shoulder in what he hoped was a consoling way. "My friend Eric and I are in a band called the Immortal Instruments. Judging by the logo of your shirt, you'd probably like hanging out with us."
"I sing," Jordan muttered, as if it didn't matter.
"Great," Simon exclaimed. "We need one."
"When are you holding auditions?" Jordan asked.
"Right now," Simon stated, trying to cheer him up. Jordan rolled his eyes but he did sing a few bars, and Simon declared him part of the team. Jordan rolled his eyes and said he wasn't good enough, but Simon wasn't taking no for an answer.
Wow this story has been SO neglected. Though I am not going to say sorry for not updating because on a whim I recently read ALL the author's notes for this entire story, and me saying sorry for slow updates is about half of them. Yeesh! Who wants to read about that. *scolds past self*
Let's just state for the record, that I am always sorry for slow updates and move on!
Royal Dilemma is almost over. Just about three more chapters to go. It's going to end at 20 chapters I think. Then I shall only be updating one fic! Woot! And it will mean that I have started and completed FIVE fanfics since I started this one. LIKE WTF!
Sneak Peek Chapter 57
It was Magnus fourth, and if he didn't mess it up, last year of university. He'd lived with Tessa for three years and it was going to be very strange living without her, even if he was excited to live with Clary.
"Where should I put this?" Clary asked holding up a painting of hers from last year. They were unpacking. Magnus's living room was full of boxes and bags of clothes.
"That one I quite like," Magnus told her. "Why don't you put it on the wall behind the tv?" Clary moved across the room and stuck her painting to the wall with tacts, while Magnus opened another box.
"Have you heard from Jace?" Magnus asked.
"No," Clary sighed. "But I saw him today, just around the school."
"Why didn't you say hello?" Magnus asked confused.
"I-" Clary stared. "It was kinda weird so maybe I'll see him later in classes or something."
