Chapter 10. The Mortal Instruments
They reached Drake's place after some time. It was chill cold and Kate eagerly waited to be home. Judy, Drake's mother greeted all of them with her usual warm smile.
"Oh, you guys are her! Come in, come in. Oh Kate so that's Zayn and Alexa you mentioned about before? Hey there! I'm Judy, Drake's mom," she said.
"Yes, just that they're Zay and Alexis, you're so bad with remembering names. Thanks for having us though," Kate said, laughing and hugging her.
"Oh dear, my bad. But you mentioned that it's just four of you coming over. Why do I see five pairs of shoes?" Judy asked furrowing her eyebrows.
Kate was used to Judy's humor and she stifled a laugh when she got what Judy wanted to say.
"Seriously Mom? How can you forget your own son? I came here to have a good time and honestly I'm feeling so attacked right now," Drake complained.
"C'mon drama queen, stop bickering, I was just kidding. Now come on in. Consider this your own house, make yourself comfortable Zay and Alexis. Drake, show them a place to keep their bags and freshen up if they want," Judy said.
"Yes Ma'am, on it! Guys, it's the room upstairs, the second on the right," Drake announced.
Alexis lifted the bags, "Thanks Drake," she said and headed upstairs. Kate was washing her hands before she could go and help Judy when she heard shouting from upstairs.
"Who the hell- What are you doing with a bag? You're in the wrong house miss. Just get- get out," the voice screamed. She rushed upstairs to see what was happening.
"Why are you screaming Ethan? What's the matter?" Drake asked when Kate stepped into Ethan's room to see an awkward Alexis, angry half-naked Ethan and confused Drake.
She moved closer to Ethan and whispered to him so that only he could hear her, "you scared the girl, Eth. Manners next time."
"Some heads up would have been better you know," he whispered back.
"Ohhk, this is awkward I see. Well, Ethan this is Alexis and Alexis this is Ethan, Drake's brother who loves bands-" she was stopped as Ethan stepped on her foot which earned him a death glare from her.
"Umm Hi Ethan, I'm Alexis . I- uh...Sorry for breaking into your room like that. I guess I just entered the wrong room. But I realize, you've got a great taste in music," Alexis said shyly looking around the room which was decorated with posters of literally all boy bands.
"Guess?? Excuse me Alexa or whatever your name is, incase you haven't noticed, this is MY room. So if you just get out and let me be, it'll be really great," he said earning a slap on his head.
"C'mon Eth, it was an accident. This is Zay by the way, they're my friends-" Kate was interrupted yet again.
"And that's Alexis, my new friend. She's really cute. Now be a good boy and say hi," Drake said placing his arm around Ethan's shoulder.
"Kate's friends? I thought we were your only, amazing friends," he said looking at Kate. "Oh, well then Hi.. I guess. Now, do you guys mind getting out or you want me to come down like this?" Ethan said laughing awkwardly which was not so much Ethanly.
She looked back at him before leaving the room, "Waiting for you, come fast," she said.
"Will be right there my lady," he said as she went downstairs.
"Dinner is ready! Drake...Come down. Oh Alexa, Zayn, its good that you guys came down. My efforts are saved," Judy called busily as Kate entered behind them.
"Drake and Ethan are coming down in a bit. It's Alexis.... and Zay actually," Alexis said shyly.
"Oh, my bad. You guys like lasagna, right? Oh, here they come. Never on time," Judy sighed.
Drake, Ethan and Kate sat on one side of the table while Alexis, Zay and Josh sat on the other. Judy served them all and then sat on her usual seat, at the head. They all prayed before digging in.
"So how do you like the food," Ethan asked Kate.
"Well, Judy is the only person who can cook so well. And hanging out here for most of my time I am used to eating delicious food. But today it's more delicious, did you cook it?" she asks him.
"How much ever I can dream of cooking, Queen mother doesn't like us Prince brothers' interference. So no, I didn't."
"Oh Eth, you must be sad."
"Yeah. But you know your smile made my day. I'm not sad anymore."
"Yeah okay," Kate rolled her eyes.
Just as he was about to say something Drake spoke up.
"Heyyy... I just realized something. Alexis, do you sing?" Drake asked.
"No not much, why?" Alexis asked.
"I was just thinking of making a band. Like Ethan, could play guitar, even if I sing like a llama going through labour, I can sing. Kate can write songs for us.... What do you do Zay?" Drake asked.
"Huh? Oh I actually play piano, not much, just a little bit," Zay said rubbing the back of his neck.
"So you can do the piano, Alexis can do backup vocals. Now that's perfect," Drake beamed.
"What are you upto now, Drakey?" Judy asked without looking up from her plate.
"Okay Mom, you were not supposed to call me that but let's just leave it there. We are a band now, with our very own photographer, Josh. Here I announce the formation of 'The Mortal Instruments'! Yayy," announced Drake.
"Aunt Judy, I guess Drake needs more bacon and cranberry sauce," Kate pointed.
"To Shut him up? On its way, Kate," said Judy.
"Seriously Drake? Again?" Ethan rolled his eyes.
"Not a bad idea though, we could do that sometime," Josh spoke after a long time that Kate had forgotten he was there.
"Aunt Judy, the food is really tasty. I'd have regretted my decision if I hadn't accompanied Zay," Alexis smiled.
"It's my pleasure to have you two with us this evening. I like meeting new people," said Judy, always happy when her guests love her cooking.
"So time for tradition," Drake said walking out of the kitchen.
"We do this a lot here, whoever is new to this house has to sing. Besides, its Christmas so who's gonna sing? Zay? Alexis? Oh, a nice romantic duet would do too!" Drake said glancing at Zay.
"My ears are always open for art!" Kate said, winking at Zay.
"Well, I could have asked Joshate, but I ship you two more.... Zalexis, no! Zaylexis," Drake said.
"Nononno, we're not a thing, just friends," Alexis laughed. Kate didn't miss Zay's obvious blush though.
"Zay, you're up. As your sister, I order you to sing," Kate said.
"I..uh, okay, well...This song is kinda sad but I like the meaning," Zay said, looking at Alexis from the corner of his eye.
"You and I, we're like fireworks in symphonies exploding in the sky.
With you, I'm alive, like all the missing pieces of my heart that finally collide.
So stop time right here in the moonlight 'cause I don't ever wanna close my eyes."
"Without you I feel torn like I'm half of a whole.
Without you, I've got no hand to hold. Without you.... I'm just a sad song," Alexis joined in.
Kate saw Zay's eyes light up as he bent down to whisper something to Alexis.
"Whoa there both of you, I'm backing the vocals. I hereby announce that these two will be the lead vocalists for 'The Mortal Instruments'," Drake squealed.
"Your voices complement each other pretty well. You should definitely work together," Ethan said, again not so Ethanly, Kate thought.
Kate was looking around for Josh who was nowhere. Did he fled away. He must be remembering his brother she thought.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. "Who is it right now," she asked as she opened the door to see Josh holding two bags in his hands, "oh Josh, where were you?"
"It's Christmas, so we gotta get the vibe right?" Josh said entering.
"I got gifts for all of you. You know, Christmas without gifts is not fun at all," he said placing the bags on the chair.
"F*ck," Drake cursed which earned him a glare by Kate.
"I mean shit, I forgot about the gifts," he continued.
"Don't worry dude, I got you covered," he said handing one bag to Drake.
"You're the best, man," Drake said fist bumping Josh.
"No problem, man," Josh said.
"Well, here you go. Zay, Alexis these are for you, Merry Christmas. Ethan, this one is yours. Drake and Aunt Judy, these are yours," he said handing everyone gifts.
Then he approached Kate, "This is for ya, thanks for everything and Merry Christmas," he said giving her the gift. She was ready to rip the packing being her excited self but Josh stopped her.
"Not right now. Open it when you're home," he said while Drake was giving away the presents.
"Why not now? I'm excited," she said.
"Patience Kate. Open it later. And tell me if you like it or not, okay?" he said going towards Drake.
Well she had also brought gifts for everyone. She went over near the stairs below which she had kept the gifts.
"Hey Zay, and Alexis I've got something for you two." Kate said taking out two gifts wrapped in pale blue paper. Both looked similar. She handed it to both of them.
"Zay actually didn't tell me who he was bringing along exactly so... I hope you like it though."
Zay pulled the paper and took out his gift while Alexis carefully opened the present, "Wait, Oh my gods, how did you know- This is just perfect. Thank you so much Kate, you're an angel!" she exclaimed.
"Umm, is it too big for you. I just assumed that he's bringing along a guy, so I got same sized hoodies for you two." Kate gave her a questioning look.
"No, really Kate, it's awesome. Thank you so much. Besides I like dark stuff and oversized outfits," Alexis said hugging the hoodie.
"I'm happy that you liked it," saying that she headed towards Ethan.
She was happy that Alexis had liked her gift. She gave Ethan and Judy their gifts and then moved towards Drake and Josh. They both were chatting about something and stopped when they saw Kate approaching. She raised her eyebrow, "What's going on?" she asked.
"Nothing," Drake replied.
"You stopped talking when you saw me coming. I saw that happen."
"It was nothing Kate. We were just talking about college and stuff," Josh said.
"Oh really? Your college has not started if you remember Josh."
"About his college. He was telling me about this guy he met. Someone named Smith."
"There is no Smith in our whole college. You know, I go to same college as him."
"Oh, you don't know him. He's new. I met him day before yesterday."
"Seriously Drake. It was a Sunday. At least lie properly."
"F*uck, my bad," he muttered under his breath.
"Kate, seriously it's nothing. We were just talking about something which I don't remember now and we saw you coming so we just kinda stopped because we thought you wanted to give us gifts," Josh said pointing to the two boxes in her hand.
"Take it. Merry Christmas. And don't think that I'm gonna forget what you did. Just because we have guests I'm gonna leave you both," she said narrowing her eyes at both the boys.
"Thank God she stopped," Drake said to himself.
"I heard that," Kate said.
"I didn't mean it girl. I was just kidding," he said laughing awkwardly.
"You cannot do a single thing properly, can you?" asked Josh.
"Hey. Why you taking her side now?"
"Seriously? Just stop talking Drake. Kate ignore him. We were just talking general, I promise."
"With the looks you both had on your faces I don't think it was 'something general'. Leave it, I can't stand you guys right now. I'm tired, it was a long day. So I'm gonna head home," she said and turned to Zay and Alexis.
"Hey you two! I was gonna call you Zaylexis, but I don't wanna offend you. We're leaving, next stop, my place." Kate announced.
"Yeah actually I was gonna leave too. Thanks aunt Judy for having me, I enjoyed every bit of the evening," Josh said.
"Just call me Judy, Josh. And it was my pleasure to have all of you here," she said.
"Don't you ever forget me Alexis. Fanwarriors forever!" Drake said hugging Alexis goodbye.
"Of course I never will. Fanboys are a rare species afterall. Oh, also thanks aunt Judy, the food was amazing," Alexis said.
With lots of goodbyes, hugs and see you laters, they left for Kate's place.
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They reached her place after about 15 minutes of walk.
"So, yeah this is my safe haven. Make yourself comfortable," Kate said bringing out glasses of water for both of them.
"Alexis, you okay?" Zay asked, "You are staring at the water... anything' wrong?"
"No, I just.. I'm kinda tired and sleepy so...." Alexis said shyly.
"Oh, is it? I thought we all could have a small chit chat, it's fine though. Just take the first room up right. I'll be in the second one if you need anything, " Kate peeped out of the kitchen door smiling.
"Yeah, thank you so much Kate. I'll see ya tomorrow morning. Goodnight," she waved and started going upstairs.
Zay was just about to ask where he was supposed to sleep but was interrupted by Kate herself.
"Mind if we talk for a while Zay, I wanna make sure you're doing well back home," she asked, "unless you're tired and wanna take rest."
"Actually I am tired but let's talk. It's been a while I've not had a talk with someone sisterly."
"Ok then. Go get fresh. First room upstairs, right hand side, come over there when you're done."
She headed towards her own room and changed into sweats and a full sleeves oversized tshirt. She put her hair in a messy bun and sat on her bed waiting for Zay.
It had been few minutes when there was a knock on her door.
"Come in Zay," she said.
"How did you know it was me?" he asked as he went over and sat at the foot of her bed while she was sitting her back to the head board.
"Quite obviously as Alexa is asleep."
"Alexis, her name is Alexis."
"Yeah sorry. My bad. I tend to forget names."
"Yeah, alright."
"So how are your parents, you know with Cleo gone..."
"They are fine I guess. I mean I never saw them cry once, drowned in their work as usual."
"So like, they are not sad?"
"Not exactly like that but you know, my Dad was real close to her than her mom while she was alive. But after she passed away he kinda just ignored it and worked even more. And with her mother, well she also worked more than she used to, spending more time in her office and when home, in her study. They kinda forgot that they have a son who is still alive, who needs them."
"Oh my god Zay. Are you alright? You didn't mention anything when I called you. Not even once. Do you want me to talk some sense in them?" she asked, her eyes wide with shock.
"No, it's fine, I'm fine. And I didn't want you worrying here about me, that's why I didn't tell you. I'm good though. Thanks to you. You called literally every night to see if I'm good. It helped me a lot to move on. And then there was Alexis too."
"Oh about that, you really seem to like her, don't you?"
"What? No, I mean I do like her but not in the way you are thinking," he said blushing.
"Is it?"
"Yeah."
Kate raised a single eyebrow which made Zay confess, "Hell, who am I kidding with? You are like my elder sister. She always knew what I was thinking, " he said sadness lacing his tone at the mention of his sister.
"Tell me about her, I'm really excited. It's not like I have these talks daily. C'mon go ahead, don't hesitate," she said trying to change the topic.
"She's really amazing. I mean, after Cleo passed away, she was the one who filled my void. You know, she was the one who noticed that I existed. She once came to the band room, where I was playing the old piano and tried to comfort me. That was the day I decided I'd rather be her friend than nothing. She might not be one of those popular girls at high-school, she might not fit in, but she doesn't need to. She lives in her own world where she cares about those near to her. If only others could see her through my eyes, they'd know what true beauty is. If only I could tell her what she means to me. If only I had the guts to tell her the way her brown eyes drives me crazy, pulls me in the world where it's just me and her, the way her nervous glance when she faces crowd makes me wanna hold her tight and tell her that I'm right there with her, always... All I want is her hand in mine and that beautiful smile on her face to take me away from all the darkness, some place where she'll be herself without anyone to be afraid of. Damn I like her. If only she knew..." he trailed off.
"You are in love little brother. You need to tell her. I- uh... oh sweet lord, I didn't know you were so much into her. I say, go get your girl before it's too late."
"Yeah, I don't think this is the right time. I mean she's asleep and I don't wanna wake her up just to confess. She'll not even wake up in the first place, she's a sleepy ball," he said scratching the back of his neck with a smile on his face.
"You know, I've never experienced this excitement before. I mean, Drake has said a few things about few guys he'd had crush on, but the intensity of your words, the love you put in there is nothing compared to that."
"Ya, while on this topic, what's between you and that Josh guy?" he asks raising his eyebrow.
"Why does everyone think that Josh and I are a thing. We're just friends. We met like a week or so ago and here I've people asking me if we're a thing," she said rolling her eyes.
"No but seriously, he's a nice guy. He seems to care about you a lot. He works with you. He knows how to make you smile. What do you think about him?"
"Well he is a nice guy, no doubt. But we just met Zay. I'm not that desperate to have a boyfriend that I'll just date a guy I met. And well, I don't want to make him feel that way. Right now I need to be his friend than anything else. He needs me as a friend. "
"But if time comes and if he asks you out, you'll say yes right?"
"I don't know. I've never thought about it."
"Giving me love advise, were you? Well to tell the truth, you care about Josh, you know? And he does too. Just think about it. I saw the way you looked at him when he gave us Christmas presents."
"Now are we talking about my love life? Alright, if I must, then let me tell you, I am not gonna think about him in that way, at least not right now. I'm gonna focus on being his support system, his good friend. That's what he needs."
"If you say so," he says shrugging. "Well, where am I supposed to sleep?" he asks as a yawn escapes his mouth.
"Oh, I forgot. Actually I have only two rooms. I was gonna tell Alexa to share my room with me but she was too tired. And I'm really sorry but I cannot sleep anywhere other than my room, it scares me from the time my mom died. So if you don't mind, you'll have to share the room with Alexa."
"Alexis Kate, her name is Alexis," he nearly yells.
"I'm sorry," she apologizes with pleading eyes, "you'll have to share the room with Alexis. Sorry for that too."
"And Drake's mom was bad at remembering names," he said rolling his eyes.
"I said I'm sorry."
"You must be. Well, do you mind if I crash on the couch in the living room," he said playing with his thumbs.
"I don't mind but you must know that that couch is very uncomfortable... and you're my brother so I don't want you to hurt yourself-"
"Nah, don't worry I'll be fine. It's just that it is kinda awkward for me to go n sleep with her."
"Well, you can sleep here, I'll go and sleep with Alexis, it's just matter of a night."
"No, you sleep here. You would wake her up screaming in your nightmare. I'll- uh, I'll go and share the room, as you said it's just a matter of a night."
"Strict warning, I don't want to hear any moans while I've my beauty sleep."
"Oh God Kate, you're too tired, just sleep, goodnight. I won't disturb your beauty sleep, don't worry," he says as he closes the door behind him.
She sighs as she starts making her bed. Her attention is caught by the gift Josh had given her on her night stand. She thinks for a while and decided to open it next morning as she's tired with the whole day. She falls asleep just as her head touches her pillow.
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The full song lyrics of I'm just a sad song...
Why do people write sad songs:( it makes me cryy...
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End of the collab guyss:((
It took lots of efforts, as you can see the length... but i hope you guys liked it!!
What do you think about Ethan??
How did you like Zay's confession??
Comment your thoughts!!
Well to know more about Zaylexis read 'On the other side' by none other than nobody_morgenstern :))
And to know about Joshate or whatever you ship, continue reading 'Beneath the stars' :))
I'll update soon...
Ps: it's gonna be a fun chapter with Doug;)
Thanx guyss!!
-------B. H. :D