Roommates & Soulmates

Ch118: Izzy's Heart

It had been the first Valentine's night that Izzy hadn't had sex in a long time, but it had also been the best Valentine's she'd ever had. She and Simon had ordered dinner in, and then spent the evening curled up on the couch under one large blanket sipping hot cocoa and watching netflix.

Izzy woke up the day after Valentine's to the brown haired man who'd made her happy laying beside her. Simon looked different without his glasses, and for a moment she enjoyed watching the peaceful expression on his face. Then it was time to get up. Izzy made her way to the kitchen, and found herself face to face with Maia. To judge by her roommate's extremely hungover appearance, Maia had had a very different Valentine's day than Izzy.

"No talking," Maia ordered, looking up from where she sat at the kitchen table.

"Fun night, was it?" Izzy giggled. Maia just grunted, as if in pain before opening the bottle of pills beside her and swallowing a few with water.

"I'm going back to bed," Maia whined, standing up clutching a water bottle close to her chest as she slowly moved in the direction of her bedroom.

Grinning to herself, Izzy started making breakfast. When Simon made an appearance a few moments later, she offered him eggs on toast with a cup of coffee.

"You might be perfect," Simon said by way of thank you as he began eating.

"You're welcome," Izzy chuckled as she set her own breakfast down and ate across from him.

Simon often spent mornings at her place, since Jordan seemed to have taken up permanent residence in the spare room at Jace and Clary's place. Izzy had told Simon many times that this was unfair, but Simon always said he didn't mind since he was rarely home anyway. Izzy had then decided to let it go, as she was quite happy to steal Simon away from his roommates.

After breakfast they had class and life went on. Her mother had taken to calling Izzy far more than usual to talk about her brother's wedding. Alec was getting more and more stressed out by the day. It seemed like every other comment he made lately had something to do with the wedding, or their mother.

"Do you think mom and dad would disown me if I eloped?"

"Why? Oh why, did I plan my wedding right after exams? Am I stupid?"

Izzy's reaction was usually to say yes to the first question, so Alec didn't get any ideas, and no to the last question, so her brother wouldn't go assuming he was an idiot just because April the 19th was a mere two days after exams. Alec's usual follow up questions were in regards to failing all his exams. It was at this point that Izzy would remind her brother that Magnus was far more important than exams. She knew this in a way she hadn't understood before. The first time she'd been in love everything had hurt, and she'd decided it was beyond her reach. Simon had taught her differently. Had that day in the hospital really only been four months ago, or was it more like five now? Either way, it felt like forever, and yet it had all happened between heartbeats.

Izzy's mind was brought back to the present when she heard a knock at the door. Assuming Maia had forgotten her key or something, Izzy opened the door just to be face to face with definitely not Maia.

"Um hi," the guy said. "Is Maia here?"

"Not at the moment," Izzy replied. "And you are?"

"Oh sorry!" the guy said. "Bat."

"Bat?" Izzy asked dubiously.

"Yes," he replied. Bat had dark skin like Maia's, broad shoulders and a very square jaw. He was very attractive if you liked that casual look of jeans and a t-shirt. "I know it's a weird name. Anyway can I give you something to give to Maia?"