#Jace does go all out and puts together the perfect final girl outfit

[whoblewboobear]

Jace would make a wonderful final girl 🤧 Maybe Porter is the slasher. Maybe it’s a roleplay scene they play out bc Jace likes to feel scared and hunted and Porter loves feeling like a monster sometimes.

Perhaps Jace even lets him get a few swipes with the knife in.

[alecmagnuslwb]

New Year’s Eve: Chapter Three

Read it all on AO3 or previous ch. 1, 2

One magical night, five intertwining love stories, all culminating at midnight with just maybe some confessions and kisses as the clock strikes.

This chapter: Meet hopeful backup singer Isabelle trapped in an elevator with her lovelorn neighbor Rebecca who might just slowly be seeing the holiday for the new beginnings it holds and not the past it makes you face.

***

Noon, New Year’s Eve

Isabelle paces her bedroom in nothing but a Green Peace t-shirt she’s fairly certain she stole from her ex-boyfriend contemplating what exactly to do with herself for New Year’s Eve. Jace, her roommate and brother, is out of town spending the holiday in the Hamptons with their little brother and father. Isabelle and Alec hadn’t been keen on spending it with Robert, who’s been all but totally estranged from them since his affairs came to light, but Max had wanted to see him and Jace had drawn the short straw as the sibling support if things got rough and Max decided to come home. So, she’s on her own, her equally as party loving brother unavailable to her for the evening.

Raphael had invited her to spend the evening with him and Meliorn which is sweet, but a little tame for a night that Isabelle loves as much as this one. There’s the party at Pandemonium that guarantees her a midnight kiss from bartender and occasional fuck buddy Lydia. She’s also toying with the possibility of dragging Alec out on the town with her as well.

Not that there’s a chance in hell for that, he’ll probably be too busy moping about Magnus for that.

She picks up her phone about to text Lydia when it begins to vibrate and her Rihanna ringtone blasts out. The screen shows Catarina Loss’ name and Isabelle immediately answers never one to turn down what will no doubt be a gossip session about her brother and Magnus.

“How would you like to get paid tonight?” Catarina says as soon as she picks up, no chance for a greeting.

Isabelle chuckles as Cat’s brashness, always a fan of it, folding herself up onto her bed comfortably.

“That depends,” she says. “What exactly am I getting paid for? If it’s not sexual or illegal I’m probably in. Actually scratch that, how illegal is it? I’m willing to waver a bit there.”

Cat laughs at her a gust of wind pushing through the speaker that tells Isabelle she’s outside.

“Nothing of either sort,” she explains. “I was thinking getting paid for that thing you do professionally you know, singing? Magnus needs a backup for the Edom Records party and your name was at the top of the list.”

“I thought Gretel was doing the Edom shindig?” she muses already knowing Her answer, aside from the money which she definitely wants, she misses Magnus. They’ve maintained a distant friendship since the breakup with Alec, only because she knows just how in love with Alec the singer still is. Isabelle touring with Heidi McKenzie. this past fall has made her unable to work with him on his latest which had been a bummer when she’d realized the timing. It’ll be nice to see him. Bat Velasquez, his lead guitarist, will be there as well and their friendship over the years has always been a strong force in her life, she misses him now that he’s out on tour with Magnus without her.

“Cancelled last minute, Magnus is filling in,” Cat says into the speaker then trails off a little clearly shouting at Magnus. “That is if he ever goes inside!” Isabelle hears a muffled response that is no doubt sassy before Cat returns to her. “So, you in?”

“Absolutely,” Isabelle smiles lifting herself off her bed and towards her closet to find the perfect outfit for the night. She’s glad for the change, a fancy record party with at least a few people she knows well is much better than any of her other options.

“Your brother is catering last minute by the way,” Catarina adds on and Isabelle freezes as she slides open her closet door. That explains why Cat is yelling at Magnus to just go inside the damn building already.

“So, Aline definitely had a hand in the record company reaching out to Magnus to fill in then,” she chuckles. She knew Aline was in charge of the Edom party this year and there’s no way her influence didn’t play a hand.

“Shockingly no,” Cat confirms. “She did however send a very encouraging text to Magnus convincing him to take the offer.”

“And by encouraging I know you mean direct as fuck,” she says flipping through her dresses to pick the perfect one as Catarina hums in response. “I always thought it would be me who cracked first and came up with a hijinks scheme to force them into the same room together.”

“As did I,” Cat says on the other end briefly turning away to talk to someone else, likely Magnus again, before coming back to Isabelle. “But no matter who got the ball rolling, it doesn’t matter as long as it ends with those two sorting their shit out and me no longer having to hear ‘Crimson and Clover,’ just the slow parts, constantly playing in the background whenever I talk to Magnus.”

“At least Magnus’ sadness song is a good song, Alec listens to Avril Lavigne.”

“Shut up, he does not,” Cat says sounding absolutely delighted.

“He does. It’s ‘I’m With You’ like clockwork,” she laughs pulling out a black bodycon dress with silver stripes running down the side and tossing it onto her bed.

“Oh, I can’t wait till they’re back together so I can make fun of him for that,” Cat says filled with absolute delight. She’s pulled away again by Magnus’ voice in the background a little closer now. “Alright, I gotta go Magnus is over his existential crisis about whether or not to go inside. I’ll see you at six for some quick rehearsal.”

They say their goodbyes and Isabelle tosses her phone onto the nightstand to get dressed eager to spend her night onstage doing the thing she loves.

***

“Pleaseeeee,” Rebecca practically begs from her spot on the couch watching as Clary flits around the room braiding her hair and Helen judges her silently from an armchair. Rebecca Lewis is not one to beg, but desperate times and all that.

“No,” Helen says plainly giving her a direct stare. “Why don’t you just ask Simon to go in your place if you don’t wanna go so bad?”

“He’s in Florida with mom,” Rebecca grumbles. Three months ago, at her brother’s insistence Rebecca had signed up for a contest that would allow one person to assist in pressing the button to drop the ball in Times Square. Simon had been giddy with excitement at the prospect as had Rebecca always loving to stay up late and watch the festivity and then somehow Rebecca actually won. However, her giddiness has now faded because three months ago she hadn’t been recently dumped by her girlfriend with no warning and three months ago their mom hadn’t opted to move to Florida to discover herself and dragged Simon along with her to settle in.

Now, she just wants to stay home in her pajamas and watch Star Wars movies and eat at least ten pounds of Chinese takeout while one of her roommates goes in her place. Her roommates however don’t seem to feel the same way judging from the past twenty minutes of desperate pleading.

She turns just as Clary re-enters the room ready to beg, but Clary beats her to the punch not even meeting her eyes as she puts on her black peacoat.

“I’m not passing up on a night with my girlfriend and my dad to fill in for you because you don’t want to put on real pants,” Clary says pointedly. She walks over planting a kiss on Rebecca’s head then one to Helen’s speaking only to her. “Make sure she doesn’t choke to death on a won ton.”

“I make no guarantees,” Helen jokes as Clary chuckles throwing a wave over her shoulder as she heads out the door. Rebecca huffs at them both. They’re her best friends, her newly acquired roommates thanks to the whole being dumped situation, they’re practically her sisters they should be more sympathetic to her plight.

“Come on Helen, it’s a few hours and you get to press a shiny button,” she sits up on the couch leaning forward to hold Helen’s eyes. “And meet the Jonas Brothers.”

“I don’t care about the Jonas Brother’s and you know that,” she says standing and moving to the kitchen, Rebecca reluctantly lifts herself up and follows.

“Oh, come on, I got dumped. Don’t make me go look happy on National television,” she groans lifting herself up onto the kitchen counter.

“You got dumped nearly three months ago by a girl who you told me you weren’t sure you saw future with, that card isn’t going to work,” Helen says putting her hands on her hips.

And okay, Rebecca had said that, but it doesn’t change the fact that she dumped her suddenly just after they moved in together on their one-year anniversary. New Year’s Eve is supposed to be about new beginnings, letting the past year go, and that’s exactly what she wants to do. But she wants to do it with her face buried in carton of fried rice, not with a boy band and the mayor.

The mayor. That’s it.

“The Mayor’s going to be there,” Rebecca starts hoping to reel Helen in. She’s a political science major, an absolute politics nerd, the chance to meet and discuss policy with the Mayor is like offering a chain smoker three cartons. “And some of his staff. At the party thing before as well, which means you’ll have time to actually talk to them, ask them all sorts of questions.”

Helen’s head tilts her deadpan expression gone now replaced with a questioning gaze. Rebecca’s ninety percent sure she’s hooked her.

“Exactly how long is this party thing beforehand?” Yup, she’s got her.

“The rep I talked to said a few hours, the Mayor will be there for the whole thing and was eager to meet the prize winner.”

“And it’s just pressing the button? No other fanfare?”

Rebecca nods her head trying not to look too delighted at having finally swindled her to go in her place.

Helen lets out the most long-suffering sigh Rebecca has ever heard before placing her hands on her hips.

“But I’m supposed to stay here and make sure you don’t choke on a wonton,” she says a clear last-ditch attempt at not crumbling under Rebecca’s pleas.

“Leave me to wallow,” Rebecca bemoans and Helen’s look gets more pointed than before. “I’ll be fine,” she assures. “Go eat some food on the cities dime and geek out about the Mayor, it’ll be a way better New Year’s Eve than being on unnecessary Rebecca watch.”

“Fine,” Helen concedes rolling her eyes with a tiny smile that Rebecca can read as clearly being pleased by at least the Mayor part of the deal. “You sure it’ll be okay?”

“Positive, I emailed the rep this morning and told her I was sending a replacement, didn’t hear back yet, but I assume that’s just cause it’s a pretty busy day for her and all.”

Rebecca slips off the counter opening a nearby drawer filled with takeout menu’s and plucks the one she intends to feast from out before heading back to her burrow on the couch.

“You have to be there by three, have fun,” Rebecca says as she settles reaching out for a pen on the coffee table to circle every item she intends to order.

Helen let’s out a frustrated noise from behind her, “That’s in like an hour. With New Year’s traffic I’m definitely going to be late.”

“So you better get going,” Rebecca says circling six items in a row. She’s not even past the appetizers yet.

Helen huffs again and Rebecca hears the faint sound of her putting on her leather jacket over her t-shirt and jeans.

“You’re not going to change?” Rebecca says still not actually looking up at Helen.

“Clearly I don’t have time,” she says before leaning over the couch and snatching the menu form Rebecca’s hands. Rebecca makes feeble grabby hands at it as Helen pulls away. “You’re also doing the dishes for a month.”

Rebecca reaches out again, Helen pulling the menu back even further.

“Fine,” she huffs as Helen hands her the menu back with a smile. She turns heading for the door and grabbing her keys from the bowl beside it.  

“Don’t choke on a wonton!” she shouts cheerfully as she opens the door, definitely loud enough for the neighbors to here. Rebecca glares at the door for a second before turning back to her menu, happily circling both the cheese and pork wontons.

***

Rebecca wakes to the sound of their intercom buzzing. She blearily looks around realizing she’d decided to take a nap after ordering nearly a hundred dollars’ worth of takeout. She jumps up quickly not wanting to miss the delivery person and shouting a quick be right there into the intercom.

She stumbles into the hall barely remembering to grab her keys and wallet not bothering with her phone shuffling quickly to catch the elevator just as it’s about to close. She tosses herself inside slamming a little heavily into the holding bar on the right side.

“Ouch,” she says rubbing at her hip. A light snort comes from behind her and she twists around to see quite possibly the prettiest woman she’s ever seen standing in the corner of the elevator.

“You okay there?” the woman asks and damn that’s a pretty voice. Rebecca nods a little numbly turning back to the front of the elevator suddenly acutely aware of her outfit. She’s not one to fuss over the finer points of style but the girl behind her is gorgeous in a tight black dress and red leather jacket with hair and makeup styled to perfection.

Rebecca on the other hand is wearing a fuzzy blue robe, a torn to shreds t-shirt with her brother’s bands name printed across it and pajama pants covered in dancing penguins. Her hair is up in a bun that prior to her nap looked neat, but is now more of a bird’s nest. It’s not her finest look and while she’s not exactly been interested in anyone since her breakup she does still have eyes and wouldn’t be mad about this elevator stranger finding her as pretty as she finds the stranger.

***

It’s nearly four by the time Isabelle is ready to go, all done up and looking in her humble opinion pretty damn hot. The trip across town usually wouldn’t require such an early leave, but with the holiday she’s accounting for endless traffic and overcrowded subways.

Isabelle only startles slightly when a girl in a fuzzy blue robe comes barreling into the tiny space left open as the elevator doors closes. And she only snorts lightly when said girl rams into the side of the elevator.

She’s pretty is Isabelle’s first thought, surprised she’s never noticed this girl around the building before. Her outfit’s, well it’s something else, but the sheepish look she gives Isabelle before turning back to face the elevator doors makes it suddenly become a cute look.

They’re quiet after her quick check that the woman is alright after her bump into the wall. The woman reachs out to hit the first-floor button despite the fact it’s already lit when suddenly the elevator makes a loud shrieking noise and freezes completely to a halt somewhere between the second and third floors.

The lights above the door flicker wildly between the two and three as the shake of the elevator sends both women tumbling forward. Isabelle lands pressed right up against the stranger against the wall of buttons face to face. For a tense moment their eyes meet but a dinging sound tears them apart.

“Sorry,” she mumbles as they pull away, the woman just shakes it off, looking down to see they’d hit the emergency button upon their tumble into one another.

“Well at least we skipped that step,” the fuzzy robed woman chuckles. It’s a cute little laugh which just adds to the adorableness of this woman.

“Yeah, but the landlord sucks,” Isabelle huffs pulling out her phone from the pocket of her jacket. “He’ll probably ignore it if he’s even around.”

Her phone immediately lets her know she has no service as soon as she lights up the screen. She holds it up high trying to get a signal to no avail.

“No service. Dammit, dammit, dammit,” she says each dammit getting a little louder. She looks over to the other woman who has an eyebrow raised. “I have to be at work in like two hours so this isn’t ideal.”

“Working on New Year’s Eve?” the woman questions.

Isabelle nods, “I’m a backup singer, a friend needed a fill in at the Edom Records party.”

“Cool,” the other woman says as Isabelle starts banging against the door and pressing the buttons in the hopes something will change. She shouts hoping her voice with its impressive vocal range will catch someone’s attention, but there’s nothing but silence on the other side.

“I’m Rebecca Lewis by the way,” the woman in the robe says after Isabelle drops her hand from the metal door and sighs.

“Isabelle Lightwood,” she replies grateful to have a name to the cute face and grateful that introduction stopped her from breaking her hand by banging on the metal doors so hard. “I don’t think anyone’s out there. I knew I should have taken the stairs.”

It’s been months since the last elevator mishap, but the caution still should be there. She blames her damn heels. She should have gone with the wedges not the stilettos then she wouldn’t have even looked at the elevator. Damn, sexy shoes.

“Does this happen a lot?” Rebecca inquires and Isabelle assumes she must be new to the building if she’s unaware of the great summer elevator fiasco.

“The damn thing broke down a dozen times over the summer. My brother, who’s also my roommate,” she adds on. “Managed to get himself stuck in here three times and it took hours each time. We might be here a while.”

“My foods gonna get taken back,” Rebecca whines as she slides down onto the floor to sit.

“Your food?” Isabelle turns to her incredulously from where she’d still been staring at the doors. “I have literal work to be at!”

Rebecca looks at her like she’s crazy for raising her voice. There’s a chance she is a little bit. It’s just she was so excited about tonight and now she’s stuck in an elevator, with an admittedly cute girl but still stuck and she’s bummed about it.  

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout,” Isabelle says moving to slide down to the floor opposite Rebecca. For the first time since the elevator stopped Isabelle lets herself relax a bit, accepting her fate with a sigh.

Rebecca just shrugs one fluffy blue robed shoulder seemingly nonplussed now about Isabelle’s brief outburst.

“I just love New Year’s Eve,” Isabelle muses continuing on to fill the silence. “And this gig tonight was going to be so perfect for new beginnings and all that and now I’m stuck in an elevator.”

Rebecca snorts at that, a rough almost bitter kind of thing. Isabelle’s head perks up.

“Not a fan of the night?”

Rebecca shrugs, “I used to be, my brother and I loved it. This year not so much. Mostly just ready to put this year behind me.”

Isabelle hums. This girl sounds a lot like Alec, or how Alec will hopefully only sound for a few more hours if things go well tonight with Magnus.

“Well I love it,” she says. Always has ever since she was a little girl. Jace, Alec, her mom and eventually Max would always pass out before the ball dropped, but Isabelle never did. She’d watch with wide eyed wonder as the glowing sphere made its descent counting down in an excited whisper as to not startle her family lounging around her. As she got older it became more than that, it was a night of fun and kissing a pretty girl or boy at midnight, maybe good work if she could find it. But she always looks at it with that wide-eyed wonder she felt when she was little. New beginnings covered in glitter and bright peals of laughter no matter what the year brought always made her feel alive. She says all of that aloud to Rebecca.

She looks up when she’s done and Rebecca is staring at her, expression a little unreadable. Somewhere caught between incredulous, but also a hint of wonderous that Isabelle wants to ask about when suddenly she hears the click of boots in the hallway.

***

“Wait, did you hear that?” Rebecca asks shuffling closer to the door when she hears footsteps outside welcoming the distraction to look away from Isabelle’s glowing eyes as she talked about her love of New Year’s Eve. It’s way too much to be hearing from such a pretty girl, when she herself used to feel that exact same way any year before this one.  

“That sounds like a person,” Isabelle says standing up and immediately banging on the doors in hopes to get someone’s attention. “HEY!” she yells as she bangs her hands harder. “Somebody out there? We’re stuck in the elevator.”

“Isabelle?” a male voice on the other side says.

“Raphael?!” Isabelle says excitedly before turning to Rebecca. “It’s Raphael!” she says it like Rebecca should have any idea who that is.

“How long have you been in there?” the male voice sounds from the other side.

“Not long thankfully, but my phone won’t work in here and I have to be across town to backup for Magnus by six so can you use that weird superhuman strength of yours to pry open this door and get us out?” Isabelle pleads.

“Us?” Raphael, evidently, asks.

“Yeah, one of our neighbors is in here too, now come on super boy!”

Rebecca doesn’t know this Raphael, but somehow some way she can sense an eyeroll through the metal door.

“First, we’ve talked about this, do not call me that,” he says gruff, but with a hint of fondness. The fondness makes Rebecca’s gut twist. A feeling of jealousy she has no right to have just because she thinks Isabelle is pretty. “Second, I’m not just going to bust open the door that could kill you. I’ll text Magnus so he knows you’re going to be late and I’ll go get Meliorn to see if he can figure this out. Stay put, okay.”

Isabelle rolls her eyes, “Stay put? Where exactly am I going to go?”

Raphael huffs out a laugh muffled by the door, “Knowing you Isabelle, I wouldn’t be surprised if you tried to climb out through the ceiling and scale the building up a floor.”

Rebecca widens her eyes at the insane concept of someone not in a John Wick movie actually trying that. Isabelle shrugs, nonplussed and seemingly accepting of the fact she would be the one person outside of a John Wick movie to try that.

“I’ll be back soon,” he continues on his footsteps growing distant as he seemingly goes to find this Meliorn who can supposedly help them. As soon as his footsteps disappear Rebecca feels instant regret that she didn’t ask him to check and see if her delivery was still downstairs. She totally would have paid him back if he saved her precious food.

Isabelle shuffles and sits back down on the cold metal wall opposite Rebecca.

“Raphael will get us out no worries,” she says with a smile and a seemingly endless confidence in this Raphael.

“Is he your boyfriend?” Rebecca asks a little abruptly.

“He used to be,” Isabelle smiles. “We weren’t the healthiest for one another when we were together, better off as just good friends. He’s actually dating my neighbor Meliorn now, who’s ironically also my ex-boyfriend; you might know him he’s the guy everyone calls when they need something from our scary landlord. He has a Zen way of getting through to even the most abrasive individuals, hence why he and Raphael work so well together.”

“I don’t really know the neighbors. I’ve only been here about a month,” Rebecca says and Isabelle looks pleased like she’d assumed that from Rebecca’s earlier inquiries about the elevator and was excited to be correct. “I think I’ve heard Clary and Helen mention him before.”

“Oh, so you live in 4A?” Isabelle inquires interestedly, Rebecca just nods. “Cool. I know them, well not know them, know them, but they seem nice. Say hello when they see you and hold the doors and all that. My brother actually tried to flirt with Clary when we first moved in, you can imagine that didn’t go his way.” She chuckles at that and Rebecca joins in. Whether the flirting in question had happened pre or post Maia it doesn’t change the fact that Clary is so painfully gay and that’s coming from Rebecca who is a lesbian to the highest degree herself.

“He would have stood a better chance with Helen,” Rebecca jokes, knowing that’s also not really true, Helen may be bi, but she’s picky as hell and very particular about dating outside of her workspace and home space.  

Isabelle laughs, “Yeah that’s what I told him. He said she was pretty too, but gave him this death stare every time he saw her after he hit on Clary so he didn’t even bother.”

And yep that sounds like Helen. She’s the sweetest girl in the world until you annoy her, she’s been on the end of that very death stare so she can absolutely imagine running away if she didn’t already know Helen so well.

They lapse into a comfortable silence after that and when Raphael comes back informing them it may be a couple hours till they’re out, but that Meliorn is on his way with tools and some sort of knowledge on how to fix the elevator. They both just settle back down onto the floor this time side by side.

It’s not long before Isabelle starts talking, she doesn’t ask Rebecca about her obvious distain for New Year’s Eve this year which she’s a little grateful for, but she does talk a lot about herself and about her brothers and her career. It’s clearly mostly just chatter to fill the space, but Rebecca doesn’t mind and finds herself happily asking questions here and there and even exchanging her own tidbits of information about her brother and mom in particular.

***

“Wait so not only are your two ex boyfriends now a couple, but one of them has been friends with your brother’s ex, who is currently trying to win your brother back cause they’re soulmates, since they were kids?” Rebecca sorts out a while later. After Raphael’s second exit and a short conversation the silence had started to dwell on Isabelle so she’d just started talking about anything and everything to fill the space.

She wasn’t sure if Rebecca was even listening, but evidently she was which is nice. She even started to throw in her own tidbits of information about her family as Isabelle chattered on. It’s nice to meet someone who clearly loves their siblings and mother as much as she loves her own.

“Yup,” Isabelle says popping the letter ‘p’ at the end. “It’s funny when Raph and I dated I didn’t even know he knew Magnus, he never really talked about his friends mostly because he used to act like he didn’t have any. I got hired to backup for Magnus once and dragged Alec along and they hit it off immediately which was around when Raph and I broke up and the connection was finally made.”

“That’s a roundabout way to find out you have an existing connection,” Rebecca says squinting a questioning eye.  

Isabelle laughs and it makes Rebecca smile a very pretty smile. It’s true, it’s also a stark reminder of how bad of a couple she and Raphael had been. While Raphael’s asexuality had never been an issue, literally everything else between them had been.

“Like I said not so healthy for one another,” she shrugs. “Once we cut the romance out we finally started talking and actually became friends. Then Meliorn came back into my life and I introduced them and it just works. We cook tamales once a month together and mock Meliorn’s abysmal vegan alternatives.”

Rebecca laughs at that and then they slip back into their silence, it’s comfortable but there’s still a question lingering at the back of Isabelle’s mind. Rebecca speaks so fondly of her brother and mother who are both in Florida this year, which seems to be part of why she’s so anti-New Years, but there’s more to the picture and Isabelle is curious.

“What’s with the New Year’s hate this year?” Isabelle says a little abruptly. It’s a trait she’s earned from her big brother over the years. Alec’s bluntness occasionally carrying over into her. “I mean I know you said your brother and mom aren’t here which is definitely a factor, but that deeply indignant snort you let out earlier when I mused says there’s more to it.”

Rebecca sighs leaning her back against the cool metal. Isabelle is about to tell her she doesn’t have to talk about. That she realizes she may have overstepped and that no matter how much information they’ve swapped about one another over the past hour she’s aware they’re still practically strangers.

But then Rebecca is talking before Isabelle can get out the words.

“I was seeing this girl,” she says not looking at Isabelle, but Isabelle takes in the seeing a girl information with an internal smile. Rebecca’s pretty and loves her family and wears weird pajamas and Isabelle’s kind of into it, so the confirmation of liking girls is a nice thing to have. “And it’s not like we were soulmates or anything, but we had just moved in together and it seemed like maybe we were moving forward even if it had felt like we were a little stagnant and then she just dumps me. No warning and I had to move in with Helen and Clary which then right on the heels of that mom moves to Florida, which is great for her,” she stresses clearly not wanting to blame her mom for anything. It’s something Isabelle understands.

“And she drags Si along with her for a month and just all the positive of the year sapped away. I just want to be done with it. Usually I’d be like you, but I just can’t feel it this year. It’s not even a heartbreak thing, like I said we were pretty stagnant, it’s just a lonely thing. I’d rather forget about this year and start fresh tomorrow.”

Isabelle is contemplative for a moment. She knows she can romanticize New Year’s Eve quite a bit and knows that’s not exactly what Rebecca needs to hear in this moment. She gets what Rebecca is saying, while it had been for the best to break it off with Raphael the dissolving of their romance had axis off center and right after that her father’s affairs came to light. These events hadn’t coincided with a year’s end or any holiday, but the understanding was still there. It had all tilted her world even if it was all for the best.

She shares that quietly into the space between them eyes on Rebecca even though she continues to just look straight ahead at the doors.

“So I get it,” she adds on when she’s done explaining. “I get wanting to start fresh the next day because today was just so damn abysmal and not worth celebrating.”

Rebecca smiles at that turning her head to finally meet Isabelle’s eyes. Isabelle smiles back and is suddenly aware of how close they’re sitting. It’s gotten chillier and chillier in this elevator as the hours have passed by and unconsciously they’ve scooted closer and closer together.

It’s probably not the move to make, but the proximity and heart to heart has Isabelle wanting to lean in and kiss this pretty, sweet, slightly messy girl. And Rebecca, well Rebecca kind of looks like she wouldn’t mind it if Isabelle did just that.

She doesn’t get the chance however when the elevator suddenly jolts again. Rebecca’s knee goes up and Isabelle immediately reaches out to grasp it, the touch grounding and the penguin pajama pants soft under her fingertips. And then they’re moving just like an elevator should right back up to where they started on the third floor. The door opening to reveal Raphael slouched down on the opposing wall headphones in.

He looks up and smiles at Isabelle then down to her hand on Rebecca’s knee and raises a brow. Isabelle immediately moves it not needing that questioning eyebrow right now.

***

Isabelle’s words and understanding set Rebecca at an ease she hasn’t felt in months. It’s so nice to have someone who gets it, especially someone as bright eyed as Isabelle Lightwood.

There’s a tense moment after Isabelle opens up to her where for a split second she thinks maybe she’s going to kiss her, but then the elevator jolts back to life, the doors opening to reveal a smiling man she assumes to be the infamous Raphael.

Isabelle’s hand leaves Rebecca’s knee abruptly as Raphael takes out his headphones and walks towards them holding out a hand to help Isabelle up from the ground that she takes easily. He then does the same for Rebecca introducing himself with a kind smile that’s also sort of intense. Perfectly fitting the description of him Isabelle had given.

“It worked,” another voice, soothing and almost melodic says. There in the doorway stands another man, quite possibly the prettiest man Rebecca’s ever seen even from her gayest point of view. He smiles at them.

“Obviously. You’re a genius Mel,” Isabelle says moving forward to finally exit the elevator. Raphael follows and Rebecca then trudges out behind them. Mel, or Meliorn as he introduces himself explains what was wrong quickly as Isabelle pulls her phone from her pocket.

“Shit,” she says as the phone blows up with every message and missed call she’d received while stuck in the elevator coming in all at once. “I have thirty minutes to make it to this party.”

“Go then,” Raphael says ushering her away. Rebecca stands off to the side watching as she affectionately squeezes both men’s arms. She assumes she should probably just leave and go back to her apartment. She moves to do just that when Isabelle turns gripping her arm to stop her.

“This was fun,” she says when Rebecca turns to look at her. Isabelle’s smile is bright and weirdly, maybe a little nervous. “We should probably not do this exact thing again though.” She chuckles bright.

Rebecca laughs about to respond when Isabelle’s phone buzzes loud in her pocket again.

“Okay, I really have to go,” she says moving forward before pausing and leaning it to press her bright red lips to Rebecca’s cheek. Her lips are soft and warm and usually Rebecca would be so annoyed that someone with lipstick just rubbed it all over her cheek, but she can’t even remotely feel bothered by it this time.

Isabelle pulls back with a shy smile not saying a word and taking off rushing past Rebecca at an alarmingly fast speed, especially considering the heels she’s wearing. Rebecca watches her go lifting a hand to her cheek when she hears a clearing of a throat behind her.

Raphael and Meliorn. Right, they’re still standing there.

She turns seeing two of the most amused expressions she’s ever seen before in her life and she blushes, spluttering to say something in explanation.

Meliorn doesn’t let her though just smiles and waves her off ensuring they’ll deal with blocking off the elevator in case his temporary fix didn’t totally do the trick. She smiles gratefully shuffling back down the hallway in her slippers.

Once she’s back in her apartment she pours herself the largest bowl of cereal known to man mixing together the remaining Lucky Charms and Fruity Pebbles in the cupboard into a large mixing bowl. It’s delicious, not quite the dinner feast she had planned, but considering how hungry she is it suffices. She settles on the couch turning on the tv and finding the ball drop hoping to catch Helen on TV.

It’s still hours away but the globe shines brightly at the top of Times Square. She thinks about Isabelle’s musings and about the way she and Simon used to curl up on the couch and watch this very event and suddenly feels a lot less sad about it all.

She thinks that’s mostly because of the few sweet hours she spent trapped with Isabelle Lightwood.

***

Isabelle flashes her ID at the front door and is blissfully granted access to the party with no hassle.

While the rush across town had allowed her single-minded focus now she’s letting her mind wander to Rebecca. Thinking about maybe knocking on 4A’s door tomorrow and seeing if she has dinner plans.

When she enters she already hears the familiar chords of Bat’s guitar signaling they’re about to hit the stage taking her back to that single-minded focus. She pushes herself to run one last time, those final few floors, avoiding the hotel elevator cause she’s not trusting another one of them tonight.

She tumbles backstage and quickly reassures Magnus’s concerned eyes with a smile and as the music swells and Bat tosses her a friendly wink everything else falls away. It’s just her and the band and the music and only a tiny corner of thoughts about Rebecca Lewis.

***

It’s nearly an hour till midnight watching that ball shine and listening to Ryan Seacrest prattle on about the Jonas Brother’s when it hits Rebecca that she didn’t ask for Isabelle’s number or anything of the like. She doesn’t even know what apartment number she lives in and she’s suddenly hit with a wave of regret. It’s not that they couldn’t run into one another again, but there’d been a spark and much like her brother Rebecca has been known to let sparks fly and then die because her nerves get the best of her. But right now she doesn’t feel nerves, she just wants to ask Isabelle Lightwood on a date, the problem is she can’t.

Or at least she can’t in any way that’s sane and doesn’t involve rushing across town to a party she definitely won’t get inside.

Unless.

Before she knows what she’s doing Rebecca slips her slippers back on her feet securely grabbing her things from the table by the door and heading out. She should probably change, but she should also probably not be doing this.

But that spirit she once had about New Year’s Eve feels a little brighter in her veins and she feels a pull that tells her tonight has to be the night she does this.