I cursed at Luke and Clary under my breath the whole way to meet Simon. And I couldn't forget Alec. Oh no. I had a special set of curses for him too.
I just couldn't believe they would leave me out of this. I mean, I was helpful!
Well... sucks for them. Now I had a another friend to worry about.
I got out of the cab once it reached the park where Java Jones had its food truck. And sitting at one of the tables they had set out was Simon. And he was... Touching his teeth?
"Err... Got something in your teeth?" I commented as I sat in the empty chair in front of him, eyeing him oddly.
Simon removed his fingers out of his mouth, embarrassed. "I was checking for fangs." He explained.
"Oh... right. That makes total sense now." I rolled my eyes at his foolishness. "Not."
"Mia, this is serious. I have urges I didn't have before and-" His speech was interrupted by the waitress who arrived with Simon's order.
"A coffee." She stated as she placed the respective drink kettle on our table with a teacup. "And a garlic bagel with extra garlic." You have got to be kidding me...
"Extra garlic?" I raised my eyebrows at him once the waitress left. "Simon you're being ridiculous. Not to mention your breath will stink so bad..." I felt the need to add that, shivering at the thought of garlic breath.
"I have to know if I'm turning into a vampire." He persisted with this absurd theory.
"And you think overdosing on garlic will tell you?" I laughed. "Dude, you're not a vampire. If you were you wouldn't even be able to be out in the sunlight." I gestured to the rays of sunshine above us.
"How do you explain everything else then!" He spoke dramatically. I shook my head as I reached for the kettle. I needed caffeine.
"Ah!" I cried as the object burned me. "Hot."
Simon stared at the kettle, then back at me, then did something stupid. He reached out and full on wrapped his hands around the kettle.
I eyed him as he did so, both impressed and freaked out. "...How are you not burning yourself?" I furrowed my eyebrows. That thing was scalding hot.
"This is what I've been trying to tell you." Simon clarified. "I can do things I couldn't do before and..." He trailed off, removing his hands from the kettle, and using them to pick up the garlic bagel.
I stared in disgust as he took a large bite.
Simon munched through it, tasting the garlic in his mouth, and looked relieved. "I still love garlic." But as he spoke I saw blood coming out of the side of his mouth.
"Uh... Simon?" I pointed at his face where the blood was oozing out, and with a puzzled face he picked up the kettle to stare at his reflection.
"What the..." He touched the blood with his hand. It had dried already, thank god, and was very little. "What's happening!" He panicked, his arms flying everywhere.
"Okay, calm down, maybe you lost a baby tooth." I suggested.
"I'm eighteen." Simon pointed out, still freaking.
Right. Probably not the best explanation.
"Look all I know if that you can't be a vampire. There's a whole process to it." I wasn't sure exactly what it was but I was certain Simon wasn't one of them. I would have smelt it on him. Right now all I smelled was garlic.
"I'm scared." Simon admitted, and I placed a hand on his in comfort.
I was about to open my mouth to reassure him further, but I felt my phone buzz in my back pocket. "One sec." I said as I pulled out my cellphone, placing it to my ear. "Yellow?"
"Mia." I heard Clary's voice utter through the device. "Where are you? We called Magnus but-"
"I'm with Simon, why?" I snapped, still pissed at her for leaving me behind.
"Is he okay?" What about me, huh? You know, the person you stabbed right in the back.
"He's fine." I said, glancing over at Simon who was definitely not fine.
"Good... Look I'm sorry about this morning. I know you're mad but-"
"Yeah I am." I confirmed, interrupting her apology.
"We need your help, Mia." Clary finished off. "Luke got himself arrested for something and they took all his belongings."
Well look who comes crawling back. "Mh, I don't know, I mean I am pretty angry at you..." I trailed off in a only-if-you-beg kinda tone.
"I'll buy you lattes for a whole month." Clary offered.
Interesting. "With a donut?" I pushed, figuring I might as well get a good deal out of this.
"Yes." Clary agreed, exasperated.
"Mmh, and a muffin too." I added. "Make that chocolate chip. You know, just in case the donut doesn't fill me up." Which we all knew never did.
"Whatever you want. Just please come over to the NYPD. Now." She begged, and I agreed to go.
Then I put my phone away and turned to Simon. "I have to go. Duty calls." I informed him, then seeing the worried look on his face I added: "you'll be fine, Simon. It's nothing. I promise. I'll call you when I'm done to make you don't jump off a cliff or anything." He let out a small smile at that, and then we said our goodbyes before I left for the NYPD.
•••
I arrived just in time to see Jace, Clary, Isabel and Alec, all standing in a circle in front of the police department.
"This is a disaster." I heard Alec's voice commenting as I walked up to them.
"No demon pox is a disaster. This is an inconvenience." Jace retorted, trying to be positive.
"So," I started, everyone turned to look at me. "What's the plan?" My eyes flickered to to Jace and Clary, then Isabel, and then met Alec's gaze. He was staring at me apologetically, almost trying to ask for forgiveness through looks, but that wasn't gonna get him anywhere.
I broke off the gaze as Clary spoke. "We don't know yet."
"Well this is off to a great start." I muttered. "Have you tried that invisibility thing you guys do?" I questioned.
"Yeah." Clary sighed.
"We can't use glamour. Whoever is working for Valentine will see right through it." Jace explained.
"Huh." I pursed my lips. I had no idea what I was even here for. They didn't even have a plan! "So I came all this way for nothing?"
Clary sighed at my snappy comment. "Mia I know you're mad but this is important. We have to get the cup back and-" She was interrupted by Jace.
"I have a plan." He said, all eyes turning on him as he grinned.
A moment of dramatic silence passed before I spoke up. "Care to elaborate?"
"Clary you come with me. Mia, you and Alec go distract the lady at the front desk and get her keycard to go in, Izzy you use the card to turn all the power off, that way the cameras won't see Clary and I going through Luke's stuff." He explained the plan, but I stopped listening after he said "you and Alec". I mean, what is up with him always teaming us together? Was there a sign on my head I didn't know about saying "please team me up with Alec". I DON'T THINK SO.
"Got it?" Jace asked the four of us once he finished the play-by-play. They all nodded. I just glared at him.
Jace and I made eye contact and he shrugged before smirking. I knew it. He did it on purpose! The bastard.
I scowled at him as we all started going in our separate direction. Clary and Jace walked over to the back entrance, ready to sneak into the precinct, and the rest of us walked through the front door. In silence. Very awkward silence.
We stopped after reaching the lobby. I recognized the lady at the front desk as I had been here many times before to meet up with Luke. However, events of my past cringe-worthy moments arose in my mind, and I realized I definitely could not be seen from her.
"Okay, can we stop with the awkward silence." Izzy announced, grasping our attention. Alec's eyes flickered to me before turning back to her. I knew he wanted to talk, I could feel it, but that's exactly what I didn't want.
I felt betrayed. I thought I could trust him but he just lied straight to my face, especially since we actually talked last night, like really talked, it felt real to me, as if I was finally getting to know him. Guess I was wrong and he was the same ass he's always been.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I shrugged, feigning being oblivious.
Izzy gave me don't-shit-with-me look. "You guys need to talk things through. So I'm going to wait by the door." She gestured to the door far off which led to the power switch. "But hurry up, we have a plan in action." She winked at us before leaving.
And now it was just me and Alec. Standing in the middle of the NYPD lobby. I would have probably clawed at him already if there weren't so many people around.
"Izzy's right. We need to talk." Alec said, his tone apologetic. I could tell he was uneasy, and for good reason! "I'm sorry for last night, okay? I was afraid you'd do something stupid and sneak off to join in on retrieving the cup, so when Luke asked if I could keep an eye on you, I agreed." He explained, his eyes searching mine for signs of forgiveness.
He wasn't gonna find any. "So you lied to my face?"
"I was trying to protect you." He defended.
"I told you this before: I don't need you, or anyone else for that matter, to protect me. And guess what? I'm here anyways." I gestured to my surroundings. "You just wasted your night keeping me away from something for no reason." It was pretty stupid to be honest.
Alec seemed hurt at my words, but spoke again after a moment, regaining his composure. "It wasn't wasted."
His eyes bored into me as he said that, trying to meet my gaze, but I kept staring at my feet. The ground seemed really interesting right about now. "We should get the key card." I said finally, stirring the conversation back to the plan.
Alec glanced down disappointed, but nodded regardless. "Uh, I'm not really good at the whole distracting-thing." He admitted as we started walking over to the lady at the front desk.
Oh no, he was not letting me do this. That lady would eat me alive. "What? Nope, you're the one who's going to distract her. Besides, I'm not really her type." I pointed out at the fact I was a girl, although in reality I was just trying to avoid facing her again.
"Mia I'm not kidding. I suck at this." Alec used his serious tone.
"Well you don't really have a choice now. Also, you owe me one." I gave him a light push towards the lady. "Take one for the team."
Alec rolled his eyes at me. "Fine. I'll talk, you take the card."
I agreed, keeping a distance from the desk as Alec tried charming her. From what I could tell it wasn't going to well. When she was the most distracted I snuck behind Alec and subtly grabbed the keycard from her desk.
I managed to slip it in my pocket, and I was about to walk off when she noticed me. "Can I help you?" Crap. I slowly turned around with a sheepish grin, hoping she wouldn't recognize me. "You." She eyed me. Okay, she recognized me.
"Hi." I greeted awkwardly. Alec glanced between us, confused at this exchange. I felt like she was about to say something else so I took the opportunity to leave as soon as possible. "Kay bye." I pulled Alec from his sleeve towards the door where Izzy would be waiting, but he stopped me halfway.
"What was that about?" He questioned, raising his eyebrows at me.
"Uh... I may or may not have congratulated her for her pregnancy a while back." I explained. Alec gave me a puzzled look, still not understanding. "She wasn't pregnant." I concluded, dropping my head. It wasn't one of my finest moments.
Alec couldn't hold back the laughter. "Of course you did."
"Hey, in my defense she lost a lot of weight." She really had. Who knows? Maybe my "insult" even motivated her. So.... I had done a good deed. Sort of.
We went to the door where Izzy stood. "Did you get it?"
"Yup." I pulled out the keycard, waving it. Izzy grinned, taking it from my hand. "So what now?"
"Now I take the power out." She replied. "You two stay outside. Keep guard for any demons."
And with that, she entered the power room using the keycard.
I groaned. "Great. I'm stuck with you."
"I could say the same." Alec retorted, but his frown suddenly turned into a small smile. "But it does give me a chance to be forgiven."
"Ha. Not happening." I brushed past him, storming towards the exit. I was not happy about all this collaborating with Alec, and the worst part was I knew Izzy and Jace were in on this.
"Mia, c'mon you can't avoid me forever." Alec insisted, easily keeping up with me. Damn why is he so fast?
"I can try."
"I said I was sorry. What more do you want?" We were out of the NYPD now, in front of the entrance.
I turned to face him. God why did he have to be so annoyingly attractive? Had he been ugly this wouldn't have been so hard.
"I want you to leave me alone, okay?" I snapped. "I will agree to be... civil-" I then considered it for a moment. "-ish. But you need to stop acting like you give a shit about me when you don't."
Alec furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm not acting like I give a shit about you. I do. I just-"
"Just what?" I questioned.
"Y-you're confusing me, okay?" He stuttered. "When I first met you, I didn't like you, or Clary." Well that's a shocker. "Maybe it was because you're a downworlder, and the two of you were distracting us with your own problems. But then I got to know you, and..." He trailed off, searching for the right words. "And something changed."
My eyes met his, and somehow I knew he was telling the truth. "So I meant what I said: I care about you. And I'm sorry if I made you doubt that."
I pursed my lips, trying to seem as though I was actually considering his apology, but deep down I had already forgiven him. "Alright. Apology accepted."
Alec let out a small smile. "So... Friends?"
I glanced up at this. Not understanding why that word made me so uncomfortable. Maybe it was because we had almost kissed a few days ago.
"I don't know..." I forced a playful grin. "I mean, do you really think a downwolder and a shadowhunter can be friends? Won't it upset the laws of nature or something?" I teased, reciting what oh so many shadowhunters would say.
Alec grinned. "I'll settle for you not hating me then."
I laughed. "And that's already a lot to ask for."
Although my best friend was up in the precinct retrieving some majorly important object which could determine the future of our world, all I could think about what the raven-haired shadowhunter standing before me, and him wanting us to be friends.
Alec and I. Friends. Was that ever going to work? But more importantly, why did it bother me so much that he just wanted to be friends? I mean, he was probably still in love with Jace, maybe that almost-kiss was just an almost-rebound for him.
One thing was certain: I had just been friendzoned.
________
MERRY CHRISTMAS BEAUTIFUL HUMAN BEANS. I hope you're having amazing holidays and here's another chappy which I wrote whilst tipsy after a few drinks too many.
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