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- Hey, Isabelle, I want to talk to you.
Simon took her wrist, while Isabelle was going to Amatis Herondale’s house to get ready for the evening with Clary, that night they would shoot fireworks.
- Of course - she said, turning around - what do you need?
Simon was nervous, his face a bit flushed, even though he was a vampire.
He kept on torturing his hands, clearly embarrassed.
- I, well, you see, iwouldliketodtrwithyou.
- What?
Simon calmed down, took a deep breath and spoke clearly.
- I would like to dtr with you, because our relationship is only physical, and I feel more than physical attraction, but like this I feel used, why would a girl like you want someone like me?, that’s absurd, Isabelle!
- I don’t get it, do you want to end our relationship?
- On the contrary, Isabelle! - he took her hands - I, well, would like us to become a thing.
She withdrew her hands.
- Simon, I... I can’t.
Simon’s expression wasn’t disappointed, it was more of an “I-knew-it” look.
He looked away, drawing with his eyes the silhouette of the mountains of Alicante, standing tall against the sky, painted by the twilight.
- I knew it - he whispered - I shouldn’t’ve asked you, I’m sorry.
He turned around and began to walk in the opposite direction.
- Simon! Simon please...
But he didn’t turn around, he just kept on walking and Isabelle, with tears at the angles of her eyes and a lump in her throat too hard to swallow, turned around and rang the bell of Clary’s house.
Said girl showed up at the door, with a smile on her face that died as soon as she’d seen Isabelle’s face.
- Woah, Isabelle, what happened?
- Let’s go to your room, please.
She said, in a broken voice.
Clary took Isabelle’s hand and they went up to Clary’s room.
Locked the door, Isabelle let the crying impulse take over her, as some tears streamed her face, under Clary’s worried look.
- Isabelle, will you tell me what happened?
- Simon and I...
Clary sat on the bed next to her, putting her arm around her.
- What happened?
- He asked me to dtr, because he said he felt used, but I hadn’t been able to say yes, so I said I couldn’t.
- Is it real that you can’t?
- No! I mean, yes! I can’t trust people enough to give them my heart!
- Izzy, if you don’t give your heart now that you’re 16, to a golden boy who would treat it like the most valuable thing he has, when and to whom would you give it?
- I have no idea, Clary! I love Simon, not how I love Alec or Jace, but I just can’t trust anyone, every time I try to throw myself out there, there’s a rope withholding me!
- Cut this rope! Let yourself go, Isabelle, live your life! You are a beautiful, smart girl, if you don’t live at the top, who will?
Isabelle smiled shyly, dried her tears with the sleeve of her jumper and spoke.
- You’re right, tonight I’m going to tell him everything, if he still wants to deal with me, but now, it’s make up time!
- No Isabelle please!
Said Clary, while Isabelle dragged her to the chair in front of the desk.
A few hours later, at 10, Clary and Isabelle got out of the house.
The first one had her hair half up, a knee-length dark green wool dress and a pair of black heels, Isabelle’s.
Instead her wore a short tight red dress and a pair of boots that went up to her mid thigh, where the dress ended, and finished with a tall heel, that Isabelle dominated perfectly.
Her hair was tied up una low chignon, with some strands of hair falling on her face.
The party was in the square, and the fireworks would begin at 10.30.
Isabelle immediately went to find Simon.
When she called him, he turned around, and Isabelle didn’t even give him time to put up an expression that she said: - I want to talk to you.
- Isabelle...
- Simon, please.
Isabelle looked at him seriously, and Simon nodded.
Isabelle took Simon’s hand, as he felt the chill that ran down his whole body every time that Isabelle touched him.
She dragged him in the garden behind the Gard.
The clacking of Isabelle’s heels on the dark concrete made Simon even more nervous: what was she going to say?
No one ever knows anything, when it comes to her.
The sky was enlightened by tons of small, little stars, and the moon was peeping form the mountains, now black against the night sky of Alicante.
The darkness of the night was, however, lighten up by the witchlight, that intensified as Isabelle arrived.
She turned around to face him, and locked her eyes with his.
- Simon, so, I wanted to give you some explanations for how I behaved earlier.
You know that I never trust anyone...
Simon laughed coldly.
- Now there’s the “it’s not you, it’s me” or the “don’t take it personal” part?
-Simon, listen to me. - said Isabelle, steadily - You know how hard it is for me to put my heart on my sleeve, don’t make it harder.
-In my life - continued the raven haired girl - I have loved only 5 people, my family, and then you came and brought with you a lot of new things that I’ve never felt; but you know my problem, I can’t trust people...
- I get it, Isabelle, there’s no need for this conversation because honestly, it is only making me feel worse.
He tried to turn around and go, but Isabelle stopped him, holding him by his wrist. He turned around and she stared at him deeply in the eyes.
- I want to trust you, Simon. I am trusting you; and if your offer is still on, my answer is yes.
Simon just stood there, staring at her, repeating in his mind times and times again what Isabelle said.
- Simon, please say something!
Simon said nothing, he just got closer to her and hold her waist, as she put her strong and thin arms around the boy’s neck.
Their foreheads touched, and Isabelle shut her eyes.
- You stole my heart, Isabelle Lightwood.
Simon placed his mouth on Isabelle’s, a light brush of lips, while above their heads the fireworks were bursting across the sky, turning it into bizarre colours.
- I love you.
Confessed Isabelle, whispering, it was barely audible, but Simon heard it, and those three words, pronounced by Isabelle, became his new favourite words.