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“My roommate, Lydia,” Maia says, nodding towards a blonde as the enter apartment. “Lydia, please make my new friend and I the strongest drink you know. We met working at the same bar,” she explains to Izzy.
Lydia frowns, pulling out a bottle of vodka with a distinctly Russian label. “Everything okay, Mai?”
Maia responds by gesturing at Izzy. “This is Isabelle. Simon’s girlfriend.”
“Simon. . .your boyfriend, Simon?” Lydia asks bewilderingly. Maia nods, and Izzy feels like crying and throwing things all over again. “Damn.”
“We decided we were both too pretty to fight over a boy,” Izzy says some time later, alcohol warm in her veins, and Maia nods. Her hand is solid on Izzy’s bare thigh. She keeps nodding as Izzy continues, “Maybe for revenge we should fuck instead.”
“Oh my god,” Lydia says, nearly dropping the glass she’s holding, “I had a dream like this once.”
Maia shrugs, shot gunning her beer and slamming it down. “You’re hot too. Come with us.”
~
The sex is good. The sex is really good.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to doing this again at a future date,” Maia says, panting from both Izzy’s and Lydia’s mouth on her.
~
Somehow, Izzy finds herself spending a lot of time at the Robwell apartment, as the tacky sign on the front door declares. And most of it is sex, but not all of it.
They get into a vicious argument over who had the best dress on Four Brides. Isabelle complains about how the undergrad working in her lab is literally the most incompetent person on the planet. Lydia and and Izzy commiserate about the struggles of grad school, and Maia reads them aloud the poems she’s working on. Maia and Izzy quiz Lydia extensively over what they can legally do to Simon as an act of revenge, and Lydia shoots down all of their more creative ideas. Maia and Lydia swap bartender horror stories and have a competition as who can make the most creative cocktail. Izzy tries to make her own and Lydia and Maia both drink it encouragingly. It isn’t until Izzy tries it for herself that she realizes it’s completely disgusting, tasting both of cinnamon and vinegar, but neither Maia and Lydia say anything.
~
The sex continues to be really good. Maia is incredibly talented with her mouth, and Lydia is more creative than Izzy could have ever imagined a serious law student would be.
“I’ve only ever had sex with women,” Lydia says nonchalantly when Izzy mentions this, “I’ve had a lot of time to practice.”
~
In the middle of a My Cat from Hell marathon, Maia’s phone dings. “Oh my god,” she screams, “I got the grant!”
“That’s amazing, Maia,” Lydia says, pride evident in her voice. Maia’s been working on applying for a prestigious poetry grant for weeks, head buried in a notebook every time Izzy comes over.
“We have to go dress shopping for the ceremony,” Maia continues, talking a mile a minute. We shouldn’t coordinate, but. We should look complimentary, I guess?”
“You want us to come?” Izzy asks.
“Of course,” Maia says, bouncing with excitement. “Who else would I want there?”
~
They celebrate later by tying Izzy’s silk scarves around Maia’s wrists and making her so out of breath she finally stops talking.
~
“Is it weird that this is kind of doing it for me?” Izzy says, cocking her head as she and Maia watch Lydia fix the broken kitchen sink.
“Yes,” Maia responds. “But for the record, it is for me too.”
“I think it’s a competence kink. Women fixing household shit is really hot.”
“Also,” Maia swallows. “I mean, that ass.” Izzy nods in complete agreement and thanks God for inventing Soffes.
“We can role-play sexy handy woman later!” Lydia shouts, and then swears as something disturbingly clanks from under the sink.
~
One truly terrible day at work, all of Izzy’s experiments seeming to go wrong at once. She’s stuck in the lab for hours trying to fix everything, and it isn’t until she’s on the train that she realizes she’s headed to Maia and Lydia’s apartment. She’s so exhausted that she practically starts crying when Lydia opens the door, hair in a bun and zit cream dotting her chin.
“Hey, come in,” Lydia says, tugging her wrist.
Maia puts down the book she’s reading, frowning behind her dorky glasses as Lydia pushes Izzy onto the couch. Maia pulls her head onto her lap, soft fingers stroking Izzy’s scalp. Lydia lifts Izzy’s feet before sitting on the couch and pulling Izzy’s feet back down. She pulls off Izzy’s painful but beautiful red heels off and digs her fingers into the arch of Izzy’s left foot. Izzy eventually falls asleep, and when she wakes up, wrapped in Lydia’s favorite blue paisley blanket, everything seems much less horrible.
~
Izzy slams her head down onto the kitchen table, groaning. Alec jumps in alarm, and Magnus frowns from where he’s making them coffee. “I think I’m dating two people.”
“Izzy,” Alec tsks. “That’s exactly what you rightfully dumped Simon for.”
Izzy hedges. “Well, not exactly? They sort of are dating too. And one of them is the other girl Simon was dating.”
Magnus takes down a bottle of Baileys and pours it liberally in each of the coffee mugs. “Okay, talk.”
~
“Are we. . . are we girlfriends?” Izzy asks one night, more afraid than she’s ever been in her life.
There’s a moment of silence, and then Maia snorts. “Oh my god, we have to rub this in Simon’s face as much as possible. We started dating and we scored better than he did. He’s gonna be so pissed.”
“That one’s legal,” Lydia mutters, already half asleep.
~
The three of them fall asleep in Maia’s giant bed. Izzy is squished in the middle, Lydia’s arms encircling her from behind and Maia’s head on her chest. And Izzy can’t imagine anything more perfect.
~
(“Don’t be pissed,” Jace says later, firmly out of Izzy’s throwing range, “but I’m sort of. . .sort of seeing Simon.”
Izzy just laughs.)