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Simon didn’t know what he was doing here.
Well, actually, he did know what he was doing there. Clary invited him, she said she wanted his company and didn’t want him to be alone on a Saturday night, and how it was about time he met her new friends.
He just didn’t know why he stayed. This place was obviously not his scene.
Simon wouldn’t say he was poor, or that he was rich. He was in that weird space in between, they called it middle-class now, a space that was growing more each year. He was glad for that, that not as many people would have to live in poverty. But Clary’s new friends were rich . And so was Clary now, he guessed.
Recently, she found out that her mother’s family was secretly super rich, and her mom had ran away from them when she was young because of a failed marriage or something. Clary had found some people who knew her mother when they were teenagers, and those people happened to be super rich. It had been a huge shock.
And now she had invited him to one of their parties, and then she had been lost in the crowd, and Simon had no idea what he was supposed to do.
He fiddled with the cuffs on his sleeves, feeling horribly out of place. Everything here was just so fancy. The wood floor beneath his shoes shone, and the candle lighting cast everything in a soft glow. The women wore extravagant dresses, their hair up in curls. The men wore shimmering waistcoats and tall top hats.
And then there was him, in his father’s old suit that probably still smelled dusty. Fun.
“Oh, Simon, there you are!” he heard someone say, and he had to suppress a sigh of relief.
Clary, his best friend, bounded up to him. This probably wasn’t a place for bounding, but she didn’t care. Her red hair, up in a braid-bun hybrid, bounced as she moved. She grabbed his arm and started to pull him somewhere.
“You have to meet my friends, come on,” she said.
She led him to a group of four people, all in nice clothes and looking unfairly good. There was a blonde boy with golden eyes who was looking at Clary in a strange way, a brown-skinned man in very colorful clothing, and two siblings. One was a black-haired boy with the bluest eyes Simon had ever seen, but he wasn’t the one who caught his attention. That was his sister.
She had ink-black hair that fell down her back in waves, her dark eyes sharp and pretty. Her skin was as pale as snow, and her dress was the brightest red he had ever seen. It matched the necklace that hung from her neck.
Simon tore his eyes away from her before she could notice him staring.
“This is my best friend, Simon Lewis,” Clary said.
He waved a little. “Hello.”
She pointed to her friends as she introduced them. “Simon, this is Jace.” The blonde boy smirked. “Alec.” The black-haired boy smiled politely. “Magnus.” The fashionable man blew him a kiss. “And Isabelle.”
Isabelle. The beautiful girl. The name suited her.
“This is Alec and Isabelle’s parents’ party,” his best friend continued. “Well, their company’s party. Lightwood Industries. What is the party for again?”
Lightwood Industries. Simon wasn’t a high society person, but he had heard of Lightwood Industries. Everyone had. No wonder this place was so fancy.
Alec sighed, exasperated. He didn’t seem to like Clary very much. “Our father’s birthday.” He did not seem happy for his father, but that was probably an issue Simon did not want to get into.
Clary nodded. “Right. Do you think I should wish him a happy birthday?”
Jace snorted. “No. It’s a nice sentiment, but our dad was never great with emotions. He’ll probably knock over the punch bowl if you do, and Mother will get mad.”
“Don’t bring that up, Jace,” Isabelle said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Wow. “Remember my debutante ball?”
The three shuddered at the same time. Magnus just smirked, amused.
“What happened?” Simon asked. All five of them turned to look at him, an intimidating sight, considering they were all so good looking.
“A boy I was talking to, Meliorn, kissed me on the mouth during a dance,” Isabelle told him. She was smiling as she talked, making her look a little more approachable, like she was a little less goddess and a little more girl. “Father went mad. Almost fell into the food table dragging him out, because he didn’t court me properly. I didn’t know what the big deal was, we had kissed already. And kept kissing after.”
Oh. The fact that she was taken was disappointing, but not surprising. She was gorgeous after all. Isabelle Lightwood probably had many admirers, of a higher social status then him.
“I never liked Meliorn,” Alec grumbled.
“Please. You don’t like anyone,” his sister shot back.
Jace snickered. “That’s true. Besides Magnus.”
“I’m always the exception,” Magnus said, shooting Alec a strange look. Simon wondered if he was missing something.
“Anyways, we should probably go talk to father,” Alec continued. “He’ll be mad if his children aren’t by his side for at least five minutes during one of his parties.”
“I thought he would fall in a punch bowl if you talked to him,” Simon said. Isabelle giggled, and he felt a surge of pride in his chest.
Alec shook his head. “That’s only for strangers, not his children.”
He and Isabelle started to leave to find their dad, talking to each other in the way only siblings did, while Jace raised Clary’s hand to his mouth and kissed it.
“I’ll see you later,” he said.
“See you,” she echoed as he hurried to catch up with his siblings. Wow. He had never seen her look like that at anyone, and he had known her for ten years.
“Well, as fun as this was, I have a friend to meet,” Magnus said. He and Clary standing next to each other almost looked funny, he was so much taller than her. “Goodbye biscuit, Sheldon.”
“It’s Simon,” he called after him, but he had already disappeared off into the crowd.
“Do you like my friends?” Clary asked him immediately, lifting two champagne glasses off a server’s tray and handing one to him.
He sipped it. “Yeah, I do. They’re all weird and annoyingly attractive, but they’re mostly nice.”
“They get nicer once you get to know them. And meaner, I guess. I think Isabelle liked you.”
Simon choked on his champagne, just barely keeping himself from spitting it out. “Isabelle?”
Clary nodded. “Yeah, Isabelle. She was smiling at you. I think she thinks you’re interesting.”
“Isabelle Lightwood thinks I am interesting?” The thought was laughable. “No way. Besides, doesn’t she have an understanding with that Meliorn guy?”
“What? No. They broke up last month, because he went back to England. Also because he’s British.”
Oh.
Well. That did change things a little.
But only a little. Just because Isabelle was single didn’t mean she would be interested in him, or that he could successfully woo her. He was Simon Lewis. He couldn’t woo anyone, especially not girls like Isabelle.
“You should talk to her,” Clary said.
“I’ll try,” he promised.
“Okay, good. Now, I need to introduce you to some more people!”
“How many people do you know?” he asked, but she was already leading him somewhere.
That’s how the next hour was, chatting with Clary and her friends and the other people at the Lightwood’s party. He met a sullen boy named Raphael who did not want to be there and a pretty girl named Maia with scars on her neck. He listened as Alec made snide comments about other people at the party, as Jace made louder snide comments, much to Clary’s chagrin. He wasn’t sure if her friends liked him or not, but Simon thought they were funny. They weren’t like he’d expected rich kids to be.
The only thing bothering him was that he couldn’t see Isabelle. He hadn’t seen her since their first conversation, if he could even call it that.
It didn’t even matter anyway. He had just met her, and while she was beautiful and nice, she was still mostly a stranger. It wasn’t like it was love at first sight. More like interest and awe at first sight, which was perfectly normal.
After another half an hour, he went out onto the balcony of the ballroom to get some fresh air, and to look at the garden. That’s how Simon knew they were really rich. They had an actual garden and balcony in the middle of New York City.
He loosened his collar and sighed, leaning on his forearms on the rail of the balcony. He breathed in the night air, sweet and a little smoky, and took a moment to enjoy the sounds of the city he called home.
“It’s nice out here.”
He glanced back, recognizing the voice immediately. Isabelle strolled next to him, leaning on the balcony and sipping her champagne. She still looked completely put together, like nothing could ruffle her.
“It is,” Simon said. “People don’t like New York City because of the noise and the smog and the chaos, but that’s why I like it. It’s fun. Nothing ever stays the same here.”
“I never noticed that,” she said. “I’m a little sheltered, if you can’t tell. I try to get out into the city when I can, that’s always fun.”
“Where do you go?”
“Anywhere. Everywhere. Pubs and cafes like Takis or Pandemonium or Hunters’ Moon. Jace and Alec usually tag along, Jace because he likes it and Alec because he worries about us.”
He grinned at her, recognizing some of the pubs. “I’ve been to Pandemonium. It’s pretty fun there.”
“Oh really?” Isabelle asked, her smile changing a little, becoming a little sharper. She moved closer to him, so their bodies were only inches apart. “Tell me all about it.”
He could feel his face going red, but he cleared his throat and continued. “The alcohol is good. A little strong. The bartenders are nice, they always know everything that’s going on in this city.”
“Sounds interesting,” she murmured, trailing a finger up his arm.
“It is.”
“You should take me sometime.”
Huh. Simon hadn’t really expected her to make the first move, but she did seem like that kind of person. And god knew he wasn’t going to.
He hadn’t expected her to show any interest in him either. He didn’t know her very well, but he could tell that she was way out of his league. But hey, maybe she thought differently.
“Sounds like a plan,” he said.
“Good,” Isabelle said. She quickly glanced over in the direction of the party, her eyes darting to the right. They had little flecks of gold in them. He hadn’t noticed them before.
Then she leaned in and kissed him.
Her lips were hot against his, hot and soft. She tasted like champagne and something a little sweeter, and Simon reached out to grab her hip on instinct.
They broke away after a few seconds, but the kiss had seemed to last longer. He could tell he was gaping at her like an idiot, partially because that was the kind of thing he would do after a kiss and partially because of her amused smile.
“I’ll see you around, Simon,” she said, picking up her champagne glass and walking back into the party. He watched her go.
It was almost hard for Simon to understand what had just happened. Isabelle Lightwood had flirted with him. She had kissed him. She was interested in him.
And maybe it was just an infatuation. Maybe she only wanted him to rebel against her parents. Maybe she would end it like she had ended her relationship with Meliorn.
But right now, all Simon knew was that Isabelle wanted to spend time with him, and that was enough.