Roommates & Soulmates

Ch50: Simon's Decision

When he walked into his mother's house and saw the familiar wallpaper and old family photos, Simon knew he was home. It was good to be back, despite the depressing texts from Clary.

What was he supposed to do with her 'I miss you' and 'you're still my best friend,' texts anyway? Should he reply with 'yeah I miss you too, but not the way you miss me', or better yet, he could say 'I've been in love with you from the beginning so you were never my best friend since I've never had platonic feelings for you!' Okay that was a bit harsh and spoke of bitterness, but Simon couldn't help it. He had decided to just not reply at all. Read, rage, ignore. It was as solution right? Okay maybe not, but Simon was home and he was going to try not think about it.

"Everything is how you left it," his mother, Elaine said, as they walked down the hall. "Though your sister's room has been emptied since she came to pack up her stuff." Elaine's voice softened with sadness as she finished her sentence. Simon had been worried about his mother since his sister Becky had officially moved out for good. At least with him home, she wouldn't be alone anymore.

"Yeah, Becky told me," Simon said. He was in fairly regular contact with his older sister, though she now lived far away in her third year of art school.

"It's so good to have you home!" his mother cried as she pulled him in for another hug. This had been happening basically on the half hour since she had first wrapped her arms around him at the airport. "The house is so empty with you kids gone."

"Mom," Simon sighed, rolling his eyes as he accepted her latest hug.

"And I'm so glad you aren't leaving me again!" Elaine exclaimed. "Do you want to look at local school brochures this afternoon?"

"Sure," Simon agreed. She finally let him go and he followed her into the kitchen where his mother started making them lunch, as if on automatic.

"I never much liked Clary," Elaine scoffed as she spread mustard on brown bread. "I always thought you could do better."

"I really don't want to talk about Clary," Simon whined.

"Didn't I always say she'd break your heart," Elaine continued against his wishes. Simon was sitting at the breakfast bar, but at his mother's words he let his head hit the counter in exasperation. It made a loud thunk, and Simon instantly regretted it as his forehead throbbed.

"You are going to hurt yourself doing that," Elaine warned, turning at the noise. "Oh you should get in touch with Kirk and Matt about your band," Elaine continued her one sided conversation. "Maybe before we look at new colleges. You need to get settled in." Simon patiently listened to his mother's happy ramblings while they eat lunch and for about an hour afterwards, then he politely excused himself. It had been a while since he'd spent so much alone time with mom, and he was definitely not used to it. Though he admitted some of her advice had been excellent. Simon texted both Kirk and Matt that afternoon, though he didn't get a reply. While he waited, Simon went for a walk around his old neighbourhood getting reacquainted with his home town, and trying not to think about all the places he'd visited with Clary. For example that bench was definitely not where they'd had their first taco together, and over there by that fountain was not the place he'd first told her he loved her.

Simon arrived home sulky, but thankfully his mother was too busy talking to notice. The next day she bribed him with a delicious breakfast of crepes, bacon, and fresh strawberries to get him to look into new school options. It turned out, one year of university with an undeclared major wasn't a lot as far as transferring went.

"I won't say I told you so," Elaine said. "But I told you so."

"Really... not helpful mom," Simon sighed. She was referring to his decision to follow Clary to school. His mother, having been one of the ones to warn him endlessly, that it was a bad idea before he'd done it.