"You were right," Magnus said, with his hand still on Alec's thigh. They hadn't said anything for what felt like an eternity. "He snores loudly."

Alec seemed relieved and stood up. "He does." Jace woke up from Alec's movement and rubbed his eyes. 

"What time is it?" Jace asked as he patted his pocket for his phone.

"Almost 7." Alec told him as he looked at his phone. He had a 2 new messages. "Shit."

"What?" Magnus stayed sitting, his hair had dried and was a little frizzy and curly. Alec wanted to run his fingers through it. He knew it would be so soft. 

"I forgot about Lydia." Alec groaned when there was a knock at the door.

"Oh yeah." Jace pumped his fist. "Go get some."

"Shut up, Jace." Alec shook his head.

"You don't have to go," Magnus said with such weight to his words that Alec was surprised it didn't force him to his knees. "If you don't want to."

"Of course he wants to go." Jace opened the door and Lydia looked cute, really cute, but Alec wished he could stay with the frizzy-haired man that would never be anything less than beautiful.

"Hey, Jace." She smiled and then caught Alec's eyes. "Hey, you."

"Hey," Alec walked over to her. "Sorry for not responding. I just saw your texts."

"You're fine." She smiled sweetly. "Looks like you've been busy." She nodded at the mess of items sitting in the living room and kitchen. Jace raised an eyebrow at Alec. 

"Yeah, but a break would be nice," Alec said truthfully, just to the wrong person. Magnus got up and walked past her to the stairs. Alec wanted to go after him but instead, he closed the door and walked to the other set of stairs with Lydia. 

"What are you studying?" Lydia asked as they walked along the sidewalk. 

"Criminal Justice and Linguistics," Alec said falling into easy, fake conversation. "I'm a double major."

"Oh, so brains and looks." Lydia teased. Alec felt bad for her, but he forced that down and continued to make small talk. She kept hitting him and grabbing his arm until he finally took her hand to get her to stop. He looked up and saw Magnus watching them from his car that was driving by in what felt like slow motion. 

"Here it is." Lydia declared. Alec looked at the ice cream shop and smiled. He did love ice cream.

"Lead the way." He let go of her hand and she skipped ahead of him. She stopped in front of the door and waited for him to open if for her. She winked and walked inside. 

Once they had their ice cream they walked back outside. Lydia kept talking about things that Alec couldn't focus on. She stopped walking and then pushed a button. Once the lights came on they crossed the street to a big park. They walked around it and talked on autopilot. Alec wondered if she could tell that he wasn't part of their conversation. 

"-Alec?" Her voice drew his attention.

"Yeah," He said not sure of what she had asked.

"Great." She hugged him and then kissed his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow?" He tried to remember what she had been talking about to no avail. "Great."

"Okay. Text me." She said and hugged him again at the bottom of the stairs. How had they gotten back to the apartment complex? He had no idea. 

"Bye." He shook his head and ran up the stairs. He saw Magnus's car was back and cringed at the thought of how he'd react to Alec's date. 

"You're finally here." Jace sat down on a tote. "How was it?"

"Fine," Alec said, looking for Magnus. "What have you been up to?"

"I took a nap. Just woke up actually." Jace said with a yawn. "Ready to work on the kitchen? I already told Magnus we'd start when you got back. Then you can tell us all about it."

"You know I don't like talking about dates," Alec said as Magnus appeared in the hallway. His hair was shiny and smooth showing that he had done something to it. 

"Oh, please." Magnus cocked an eyebrow at him. "Tell us all about your date."

"It was fine. We're doing something again tomorrow, I think." Alec put a box on the kitchen table and used his pocket knife to cut it open.

"You think?" Jace asked with a chuckle. 

"I wasn't really listening to her," Alec admitted and made sure to not look at Magnus.

"A true gentlemen," Magnus said with sarcasm dripping from his words.

"You've got to get better at talking to girls if you ever want to get further than a cheek kiss." Jace slapped him on the back and looked at Magnus. "The poor guy can't seem to keep a single girl."

"I can't imagine why," Magnus's gaze caught Alec's and they shared a moment of understanding. Alec tried to apologize to Magnus in that single look and Magnus nodded. Either he read the apology or he was going to just drop the inuendos. 

"Damn it!" Jace declared as he tore through the tote he had been sitting on earlier.

"What is it?" Alec asked him walking over to him. 

"I forgot a tote." Jace hissed. "And of course it's the one with the football playbooks and shit that I actually need."

"We can leave in the morning and then be back tomorrow night." Alec offered. 

"You have your date thing." Jace pouted. 

"I don't care." Alec pulled out his phone. "I'll just tell her something came up."

"No. Don't do that." Jace shrugged. "It'll be nice to have a little me-time before the craziness of college begins."

"Are you sure?" Alec asked as he texted Lydia that he couldn't do anything tomorrow anyway.

"Yeah, you stay." Jace shook his head and punched the tote. cracking it. "I knew I had forgotten something."

"At least take my car," Alec handed him his keys. "Better gas mileage."

"Dude, I'm not leaving right now." Jace took the keys though. 

"I know." Alec blushed. He kind of wished that Jace would leave right away.

Magnus turned on some music and they all worked together to unpack. It was comfortable and they were getting along a lot better than Alec thought they would at the beginning. Alec noticed that Magnus was careful to never be that close to him. He kept a certain distance between them and it bothered Alec more than it should have. 

"Shit." Jace came back from his room after they all took a break from the kitchen being done. "I forgot my phone charger too."

"You can just use mine." Alec offered. 

"No. I might as well go now. Then I can sleep there and drive back tomorrow." Jace shook his head. "I'm such an idiot."

"And you made fun of me for writing a list." Alec teased. 

"Izzy will not let me live this down." Jace walked to the door and got his shoes on. "You two, don't have too much fun without me."

"Can't promise anything." Magnus winked as Jace closed the door. Magnus looked at Alec and then turned on his heel.

"Wait." Alec grabbed Magnus's arm. "I'm sorry if I did something to upset you."

"If?"  Magnus turned on him. "Don't worry, Alec you haven't upset me at all. I just thought you were different."

"She'll be good for me," Alec said about Lydia. "Whatever you think about me, you don't know me."

"Don't I?" Magnus rolled his eyes. "She's pretty, nice, funny, but that doesn't mean you need to date her." 

"It's for my family," Alec admitted. His dad was the mayor of their town and they had an image to uphold. "They don't do well with different."

"I get that, but don't lie." Magnus covered Alec's hand with his own. "It's not fair to anyone."

"I told Lydia that I can't do anything tomorrow." Alec blurted.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to."

"What about when Jace is back?"

Alec didn't say anything. He just watched Magnus watch him. 

"How about we go get a drink?" Magnus was clearly not asking as a friend. He showed Alec with his eyes that he wanted more. 

"I," Alec had no idea what to say. He wanted to but he shouldn't. It wouldn't be fair to lead Magnus on.

"Come on." Magnus stepped closer. "One drink."

"Okay." Alec smiled. "Just one."

"Of course." Magnus walked to his room and Alec waited for him to come back. "Are you coming?"

"I thought we were going to get a drink," Alec called back. 

"We're both 18. How would we get one here?" Magnus asked with a hint of humor.

"Right." Alec felt like an idiot as he walked down the hall to Magnus's room. 

"I brought some with me though." Magnus held up a bottle with a clear liquid.

"I don't really drink much," Alec admitted as he walked inside the room. 

"So innocent." Magnus booped Alec on the nose. "Sit down pretty boy. We're going to play truth or drink."

A/N What are some questions you want to ask? Pick quick and they might end up in the next chapter! Let me know if you want more of this one or if you want me to wrap it up. 💗