The Last Hours

2: Matthew

"That was a good one, eh?" I said with a smirk.

"You got lucky." James said, amused.

We were in the training room of the Institute. We were having a competition to see who could throw more knives in the centre of the target. It had been a year since Alexa had left, and yesterday I had come back from visiting her. I was slowly getting over her, but I wasn't having much luck.

Cordelia had been in Paris for the past year, and James hadn't been well with it. In the first few months you could barely get two words out of him. Aunt Tessa, Uncle Will and Lucie kept trying to ask him what was wrong, but he wouldn't say. He still hadn't gotten over Grace yet as well.

"It's called skill, not luck." I said with a cheeky grin.

James just rolled his eyes amusedly at me.

"How was Alexa?" He asked me.

A pang went through me. Even her name did that to me.

"She was well. Scarlett was asking about you." I said with a smirk.

James then blushed a bit. He had admitted that he had a bit of a crush on her about a month ago. I had been very surprised, I hadn't noticed it.

"Did she?" James asked.

"Yup. She was quite disappointed when she saw that you weren't there." I replied. "Logan also asked about you too."

"Bloody worm." James muttered at the sound of Logan's name.

James hated Logan because Cordelia had kissed him.

"He asked about Cordelia as well." I said hesitantly.

"Of course he did, the idiot." He said angrily.

"And I said that she was dating you." I smirked and James's head snapped up.

"What?" He said.

"You should have seen the look on his face when I told him." I said.

James grinned devilishly. "Well done, Welsh."

I chuckled. "I was quite pleased with myself."

"Mr. Herondale, Mr. Fairchild, supper is ready." Said Bridgette, who had walked into the training room.

"We will be on our way in a few minutes, my dear Bridgette." James said with a cheeky smile.

Bridgette looked unfazed. Ever since I had dared James to tell her that he loved her, he had been teasing Bridgette mercilessly. Bridgette then left.

"When are you going to stop teasing her?" I chuckled.

"Hey, you brought it upon yourself." James said, laughing.

We then started to walk to the dining room. My mother, my father, and Charles were all in Idris. They had asked me if I had wanted to come with them, but I couldn't leave James. They had been gone for about two weeks, and I missed my parents dearly. Charles, not so much.

When we got to the dining room, supper had already been served. James and I took a seat beside each other. Aunt Tessa, Uncle Will, and oddly enough Aunt Cecily were sitting at the table.

"What are you doing here, Aunt Cecy?" James asked politely.

"I was visiting your father, and I decided to stay for dinner." She replied with a smile.

Aunt Cecily was very pretty. My mother says that I used to have a crush on her when I was eight. I used to bring her a flower every time we saw her, and at parties I would follow her around. Though when my mother spoke of it now I always denied it furiously, even though I knew that it was true.

"Where's Lucie?" I asked.

"She's in Paris visiting Cordelia." Aunt Tessa said.

Beside me, I felt James stiffen.

"When is Cordelia moving back here to London?" I asked.

"Next week." Uncle Will answered.

At that, James dropped his fork on his plate and it made a clattering noise. Oh no, I thought to myself. He's probably not going to talk for another week.

"Are you okay Jamie?" Aunt Cecily asked.

"I'm fine." James said, his voice cracking a bit.

"Oh I forgot to tell you two!" Aunt Tessa then exclaimed. "Since Cordelia's family had sold their house when they moved to Paris, until they find another house, their going to be living here in the Institute."

James then choked on his food, and I patted his back as he coughed. Uncle Will was looking at James with a strange expression.

"What?!" James exclaimed, after he had stopped choking.

"Yes. So I expect you two boys to be polite to Alastair." Aunt Tessa said.

I groaned. "That's like being drowned in Thames."

I looked over at James expecting him to laugh, but he had a worried expression on his face.

"They-they can't live here." James stuttered.

"Why not?" Uncle Will asked.

Instead of responding, James got up and stormed off dramatically.

"What in the world is wrong with him?" Aunt Cecily said.

I shot them all an apologetic smile, and went after James. I finally found him in the library, sitting in the very corner of the room with "A Tale of Two Cities" in his hand.

"A Tale of Two Cities?" I questioned.

"My parents love it." James mumbled, while tossing the book aside.

"Are you okay James?" I asked him warily.

"No." He said while going and standing beside the window.

"I thought Cordelia moving back here would be a good thing." I said.

"It would be if she still had feelings for me, but she doesn't. Now I have to see her fall in love with someone else. At least if she lived in Paris, I wouldn't have to." James explained, bitterly.

"You don't know that she doesn't fancy you." I pointed out.

James laughed dryly. "Trust me, I know."

I sighed and took a seat in one of the armchairs.

"And to make things worse, my parents will probably not leave me alone about why I stormed off." He said while throwing himself into a chair.

"Well to be fair, that was kind of your own fault." I said.

James chuckled. "I guess it was."

He then sighed dramatically. "What am I going to do, Matthew?"

"I don't know." I said truthfully. "But you have a week to prepare."