Chapter Text
Maia sighs as she presses her back against the wall of lockers. Beside her, Alec opens his locker to drop some of the books he’s been carrying around all morning.
She felt her best friend’s eyes on her and looks back at him with raised brows. “What?” She asks while Alec grabs the other books he needs for the next two classes and closes his locker with his elbow.
“Why do you look so upset?” He asks.
“It’s almost Valentine’s Day,” she says with another heavy sigh falling from her lips. She hates that she doesn’t have anyone to spend this day with. Alec rolls his eyes, not even trying to hide his dislike for the holiday.
“Why do you even care about it? It’s grossly commercialized and it just exists to make you waste money on roses that die days later or on stuffed bears you end up throwing away because you don’t know what to do with them,” Alec explains gesturing his hands around to point at the ridiculous red and pink hearts that decorate the boring hallways of Idris High.
Alec starts walking down the hall and Maia has to run a bit to catch up with him while adjusting her bag on her shoulder. “Wow. Magnus is so lucky to have you,” Maia says with clear sarcasm in her voice.
Her best friend looks at her with an equal sarcastic smile that quickly fades away as he speaks again. “I’m just saying… you don’t need a specific day to tell people you love them and making them feel special.” Alec’s smile is now big and proud, letting Maia know that he’s indeed a romantic and shows his boyfriend how much he means to him and doesn’t need a commercialized holiday to do so.
It’s Maia’s turn to roll her eyes – she spends too much time with Alec and she figured that maybe it was time to make more friends.
“What about the person who’s been leaving notes in your locker for weeks?” Alec questions when Maia doesn’t answer his comment.
“What about them?” Maia shrugs. She doesn’t want to admit how fond she’s become of those little notes that would appear on her locker from time to time written in a baby blue paper with a typewriter font. Most of the time, they were doodles drawn next to an adorable little pun that never ceases to amaze her. Of course, Maia thinks that the whole concept is a bit cheesy and too extravagant, but it always manages to brighten up her day when she opens her locker and the piece of paper falls to her feet.
“Do you have any idea of who they might be? Did they say anything about wanting to meet?” Alec rests the weight of his body against the locker next to Maia’s.
“No. They don’t give me any clues… just compliments, and terrible puns.” She smiles to herself, remembering the note she got the day before with two slices of pizza drawn on the paper followed by the sentence you’ve got a pizza my heart.
“I can’t believe people still do these stuff. It must be a girl.” Alec chuckled.
“Why?”
“Because… do you think a straight guy would go through the trouble of doing things like this just to get a girl?” Maia laughs at her best friend’s words.
“You’ve got a point,” Maia smiles and opens her locker and just like it has been happening all week, a note falls to her feet. Alec picks it up for her, handing it with a smirk on his face.
“We need to find out who this person is,” he says when Maia accepts the note. It isn’t a blue paper like it always is. This time it’s a white envelope with two little hearts doodled in one of the corners.
Maia forgets all about the books she needs to pick up and the classes that start in just a few minutes. She doesn’t lose time in opening the envelope and there it is: the familiar baby blue paper but it isn’t just a little note with a pun or a compliment.
“A full paragraph? Damn,” Alec comments as he peeks at the note. Below the paragraph there's a drawing of a typewriter that says You're just my type and Maia snorts. “What does it say?” He asks when Maia finishes reading it and she looks up at him with a wide grin softening her features.
“They want to meet,” she answers putting the note back in the envelope.
“Really?”
“Yeah. They said there was no pressure for me to show up but if I want, we can meet at the coffeehouse across the street after school.” Maia shrugs, trying not to look too excited or nervous. She doesn’t know why she was hiding her excitement from her best friend. She knew Alec wouldn’t judge her for being excited about this. But the thought that it could be a prank and nothing more than just a bad joke keeps haunting the doubtful side of her brain.
“Are you going?” Alec sports an easy smile on his lips as he looks down at her with an understanding expression.
“Maybe. I really want to know who they are. And… we’ll meet at a public place. If they end up being a psychopath, I scream.” She laughs slightly and Alec snorts.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he assures and Maia feels the weight of her nervousness being lift off her chest. She nods and closes her locker after picking up the books she needs.
-
After school Maia makes her way to the coffeehouse across the street. The familiar smell of freshly brewed coffee takes over her senses as she sits on the table in the corner. Thankfully the place isn’t packed with chaotic teenagers and Maia lets out a deep breath she’d been holding in for what felt like hours.
At least she’s surrounded by the sense of security and comfort from the place. It’s been her favorite place to hang out at with her friends since they were old enough to start obsessing over iced coffee.
The waitress comes to take her order just a few seconds later, smiling fondly at her when she recognizes Maia. Maia simply asks for a cappuccino and focuses her attention back to the world outside the coffeehouse through the big window. She could see people still walking out of school and a group of people makes their way to the coffeehouse but no one that she recognizes.
Maia takes a look around her trying to figure out if someone’s looking at her but her eyes stop searching the place when she spots Clary sitting on a stool by the bar. She is playing with a pencil between her fingers and a notebook rests on her lap and she sports a relaxed smile as she talks to her step-dad, who’s also the owner of the place and one of the best people Maia knows.
Maia knows Clary since they were in 9th grade and they share a lot of the same classes. Magnus is the only one of her friends who knows this, but Clary was the first girl Maia ever had a crush on.
Back then, Maia thought she was just jealous of Clary and of how much people seemed to adore her but when Maia came to terms with her own feelings, she’d realized that it wasn’t that simple. Obviously, she doesn’t have feelings for the redhead anymore. It’s been 3 years and they’re now good friends who share book and movie recommendations over a cup of coffee and sometimes hang out together with their groups of friends. But then, back in November they got paired for a chemistry assignment and became closer than ever and Maia’s been trying to convince herself since then that whatever she feels when she’s around Clary, is nothing more than platonic admiration, and appreciation for the friendship they share.
Maia shakes her head, denying all those thoughts to come back and leave her confused. For a moment, she allows herself to think that there might be the tiniest possibility of Clary being the person behind those cute little notes but after long seconds of staring at the other girl and realizing that she was not looking back at her and probably hadn’t even noticed her presence, Maia comes to the conclusion that Clary isn’t there because of her.
“Here you go, sweetie,” the waitress says, interrupting her racing mind full of wild thoughts and scenarios that would never come true. She smiles back at the older woman and watches her walk away before looking at her order. Maia only ordered a cappuccino as she waited for the mystery person but next to her drink, is a slice of Maia’s favorite blueberry cake. A little note is folded next to the cake and her heart skips a beat to the sight of the too-well-known blue paper.
She immediately grabs it with shaky fingers and tells herself to get her shit together. You’re berry cute and I can’t cake my eyes off you. This one was the worst she received so far, but whoever wrote this was lucky that Maia was a sucker for bad puns and dad jokes.
Maia can’t help the grin that takes over her lips as her fingertips trace the adorable doodle of two pieces of cake with loving smiles while looking at each other and holding hands.
“Can I sit here?” A voice asks and Maia’s eyes meet Clary’s green ones with golden specks on them.
“Um… I was kind of waiting for someone,” she replies with an apologetic smile. Clary giggled and Maia’s heart danced to the sweet sound.
“I know.” Clary grabs the chair from the other side of the table with a questioning look. Maia simply nods and the other girl sits in front her with a soft look on her face.
“Oh,” Maia says seconds later when she notices Clary’s gaze switching from Maia’s eyes to the folded piece of paper on her hands. “Oh. It’s… you?”
Clary’s smile slowly fades away with the surprised tone on Maia’s voice and her attention drops to her hands that play nervously on top of the table. “Are you disappointed that it’s me?”
“What? Oh. No. No, of course not.” Maia reaches for Clary’s hands in a sudden movement and almost spills the coffee. “Shit.” A smirk is now present on Clary’s lips when she sees Maia stutter and Maia can’t do anything else other than laugh at herself and at how much of a disaster she is.
Maia takes a deep breath and faces the other girl who patiently waits for her to say anything at all. “I really am not disappointed,” Maia speaks more surely and manages to not break eye contact.
“I’m glad,” she chuckled and grabbed Maia’s hand between her own.
They spend the rest of the afternoon talking about the notes Clary left in her locker and the puns that Maia confessed always managed to brighten up her day. Clary talked about how she was going to wait for Valentine’s Day to ask her to meet up but didn’t want it to be too much and if Maia didn’t feel the same way, Clary didn’t want to ruin Valentine’s Day for Maia in case she wanted to spend it with someone she truly cares about. They talked like they always did – sharing likes and dislikes and Maia talked about a new movie she wanted to see that had Clary blushing when Maia asked her if she wanted to go watch it with her sometime. Clary talked about a book she thought Maia would love to read and Maia could feel herself letting go of the wall she’d built between her mind and thoughts about Clary because she never thought the girl sitting in front of her with a wide grin and stars filling her eyes would ever reciprocate her feelings.
Maia smiles widely to the realization that Clary was, in fact, the person behind the notes and she couldn’t be happier about it.
“Is it okay if I ask you out on a date?” Clary asks suddenly while they walk down the street after deciding to leave the coffeehouse because it was getting too packed. Maia slows down her pace to take a better look at her.
“I’d love that, Clary,” she replies with a soft and sweet smile and she can almost feel the weight that is lifted off Clary’s shoulders. Maia feels the same way.
She stops walking and watches as Clary realizes that Maia is no longer beside her and turns around with a raised brow. “Is something wrong?” Maia doesn’t answer and just takes a step closer to Clary.
Maybe Maia should wait until they go on an official date to do this but she’s wondered more times than she likes to admit how it’d feel like to have Clary’s lips pressed against her own. To feel her so close that all Maia can’t think of anything else other than her.
“Can I… Um…” Maia clears her throat and Clary nods to give her permission to speak. “Can I kiss you?” She asks and the other girl chuckles, holding Maia’s face between her hands.
Maia’s lips brush against Clary’s in a delicate touch, almost like a ghost but enough to make Maia’s knees go weak and her heart to skip a beat. She drops her hands only to rest them on Clary’s waist and pull her a little closer.
There are so many things she wants to say, secrets she wants to whisper and confessions she wants to make but her mind is too blurry and Maia can’t help but think that all of this is nothing more than just a dream. But then Clary presses her lips more firmly against her own and the world around them seems to melt away. Maia was never one to believe in the feeling of butterflies in the stomach but now she’s feeling them all over her body and it’s the best sensation in the world.
Maia can taste the bittersweet flavor of coffee on Clary’s lips and Clary intensifies the kiss when her tongue meets Maia’s.
“Clary,” Maia calls when they separate briefly to breathe. Clary simply hums in response and kisses her again. This one is shorter and sweeter but still wonderful. “What about Valentine’s Day?” She questions.
“What about it?” Clary moves her face away from Maia to take a better look at her. Her arms are now resting on her shoulders and her fingers locked behind her neck as Maia’s hands still hold Clary’s waist and her thumbs move in small circles in a simple gesture.
“Maybe we could have our date on Valentine’s Day,” she suggests and Clary’s smile grows wider.
“That sounds perfect.” Their noses touch when Clary finishes her sentence.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Clary assures her and starts another kiss.
Maia lets herself get lost in the loving, positive and magical energy that surrounds Clary and she can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be able to kiss this girl and to be adored by her warm and kind heart. Maia finds herself wishing that whatever relationship they build, is something that lasts because Clary is worth to be around of and, when Maia gets home that night and lies in bed staring at the boring white ceiling, she can’t wait for Valentine’s Day so she can spend more time with Clary outside school and to tell her how much she likes her.