We’re back in the park again, sitting side by side but on a bench this time. He was throwing pebbles out on the small, murky pond in front of us, not saying anything. I touched my right hand, still stinging from his cold grip. Why is he always so cold? Is he sick or something? I was about to ask him when finally spoke.
“How are you, Flo?” he asked, catching me off guard.
“I’m fine, Simon. Thank you.” What was that about? Why don’t you want me to talk to Clary? What does she wants to say?
“No, what I mean is, how are you now that your brother is back? How is he?”
I scratched my forehead, unable to read into Simon’s mind. He acts like he doesn’t care a thing about me but he kept asking me these things. He is confusion personified. “I…I have never been better. Dan’s doing great, too. He has explained his actions and I have forgiven him. I have my brother back.”
Simon nodded, looking pensive. “He seemed to be hanging out with Maia most of the time. How did they know each other?”
That’s the kind of thing I am not allowed to tell anybody, not even to Rae and Amy. They would totally freak out. But how do I explain Dan and Maia’s growing closeness? Dan said it was a werewolf thing. They could feel and read each other’s mind. They are linked. But what do I tell Simon? “They knew each other before and I think they’re rekindling their past friendship.”
“I don’t remember Maia mentioning a Dan.”
Crap! I forgot that they have been friends longer that I knew Maia. “Well, you have to ask my brother about that,” I suggested.
“So, how are you?”
“I-I told you I’m fine—”
He stared at me. “You don’t look like it.”
“Simon,” I said in exasperation. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing. I’m just asking. What did Clary wants to say to you?”
“I—” I was about to tell him I don’t know when I suddenly realized that I have the right to not tell him anything. And because I am feeling too much now, with all his strong opposition of Clary talking to me, I let him in on how I feel. “I don’t know why you’re asking how I am Simon when you don’t even let me know things about you. But I get it. You don’t care. What I don’t understand is what you are trying to achieve by pretending to be interested in what I do with my life. ”
Simon looked at me for a few more moments, his face unreadable, before turning back to the pond. “I know I may pull off like I don’t Flo, but I do. I know you’re reaching out to me and everytime you do, I take a step back. Just believe that I’m doing that for your own good.”
I stood up. “Alright, that’s it! What are you so afraid of telling me that you’re sure I would get hurt? You don’t tell me anything, Simon. You told me there was a girl and that you didn’t end up together and then nothing. I am not blind. I know that it has everything do with you and Sebastian, Jordan, Jace, and Clary. I won’t be this…desperate to know something if Jace hadn’t said that.”
Simon looked at me, unsettled. “Wh-what did Jace say to you?”
“That one thing about you letting me hear it. What did he mean by that, Simon?”
