Chapter 7:

Alec walked up the stairs of the hotel at a brisk pace. Although his room was on the eleventh floor, Alec took every opportunity to exercise. The whole time during his climb, Alec was spaced out. Something seemed strange. He reached the eleventh floor without breaking a sweat just as the elevator dinged. Out walked Simon with a hint of a smile on his face. Both of them stopped and stared at each other.

"Uh," Alec started.

"Sup," Simon said coolly.

Alec returned the greeting. They parted ways and Alec picked up his pace. He reached his room and scanned his card.

Glitter rained down while a voice crowed, "Welcome back, darling!"

A man in a pink, silken pajamas laid on his side on top of the bed, his head perched on his head and his left leg raised in the air. Alec shut the door behind him, unsurprised by the flashy greeting.

"How'd you get in?" Alec asked while taking off his jacket.

Magnus waved a VIP card between his fingers.

"You seriously have a Eidolon VIP card?"

"Sweetie I'm a VIP of all the hotels in LA. Hell, hotels and clubs want me to be their VIP."

Alec listened absentmindedly. He took off his shoes and bag and stepped into the bathroom.

"Are you even listening?" Magnus called from the bed.

Alec nodded. Realizing that Alec couldn't see him he said, as best as he could with a toothbrush in his mouth and foam dripping down his chin, "Mmhm you're doing great honey."

He rinsed his mouth and stepped out of the bathroom and almost slammed into Magnus.

"You're not listening," Magnus accused, his shaped brows furrowed in irritation.

Alec hugged his tiny boyfriend and rested his chin on the man's head.

"What do you mean? I was totally listening," he lied.

"Really? Then why didn't you say anything when I was telling the story of how I literally roasted Kim Kardashian so much her boobs literally melted into a pool of plastic? Or when…"

Alec has already tuned out when he saw Magnus's angry face. Alec loves his boyfriend's irritated face because Magnus's nose would scrunch up and his cheeks would puff out in a tiny pout. Like a chipmunk. Yeah. A chipmunk. With soft, plump lips.

Magnus saw Alec leaning down with hooded eyes and before his mind could register it, they were locked in a passionate kiss. Alec yanked his shirt off and tugged at Magnus's impatiently. He was horny. Magnus knew it was going to be a long night.

Alec stared at the ceiling. It was 2 am in the morning. Magnus was asleep and his arm was draped over Alec's chest. Suddenly, Alec shot up.

"Mmmgnh!" Magnus complained.

Alec's eyes were wide open as if he had reached enlightenment.

"Oh my god. Magnus."

"Hmm?"

"I know her."

"Mmmm. Dasss… great," Magnus replied in his sleep.

—

Maia was envisioning her karaoke date with Simon. It was tonight and Maia was determined to show her best. She had imagined and planned 10 different conversations and scenarios, each ending with a kiss. Maia wasn't sure if people kissed on the second date but she really wanted to kiss Simon. Those soft lips with the Cupid's bow upper lip and full lower one.

A customer walked in interrupting Maia's 11th scenario which starred Simon's mouth.

"Hello, welcome to Java Jones. What's your order?"

Maia looked up from her screen to see the customer only to find a familiar scarred face in front of her.

"Oh aren't you-"

"Your blind date? The guy who you ditched at the concert? Yeah."

Maia was baffled.

"Woah, woah, woah. I ditched you?" Maia was getting pissed. Forget stalker, who was this arrogant asshole? "News flash, you ditched me. You were taking me to the VIP seats and suddenly disappeared without a word."

"VIP seats?" Kyle shouted back. "Dude, I was walking you to the normal people seats. How would I know you were a VIP?"

"But," Maia paused. That was actually more likely than him knowing that she was a VIP.

"Wait," Maia began again, "you said I was your blind date. My blind date was Simon."

"Who the fuck is Simon?!"

Bat held up a wrinkled picture of Maia eating ice cream. Maia blushed when she remembered that it was taken at the Boardwalk and the ice cream dripping down her shirt.

"I printed this picture from your Instagram! You know how expensive FedEx is?"

He then pulled out a mile long receipt. On it was the same drink ordered almost ten times.

"I was sitting at that table for a goddamn hour waiting for you," Bat ranted. "Do you know how many pity looks I got? I even got a free dessert."

"That's nice."

"Yeah but the humiliation wasn't."

"But then why did Simon…" Maia trailed off. She mused it over. That would make sense because no way would a singer use Tinder to find a lover. Wait, Maia thought, does that mean Simon ate with me so I wouldn't feel bad? That's so sweet.

"Anyway," Maia continued, "you were the one who was late."

"Umm, no? I came like thirty minutes early? I even reserved a table?"

"Oh," Maia felt so ashamed of herself. "I'm so sorry for standing up the date. I'm already dating someone so," Maia winced. This was so awkward. How do you explain that you went out with the guy who you thought was your date and ended up ditching your actual date?

"Seriously? I bought those expensive tickets for nothing?"

Maia's nose wrinkled as she asked, "Why did you buy them?"

"Cause I saw walking out with the guy—he's the guy you're dating right—on this poster of a band playing nearby and I wanted to ask you why you stood me up only to be ditched."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

A period of awkward silence ensued.

"Well," Bat sighed, "thanks for telling me."

As he was leaving, Maia decided to muster up her courage and called out.

"Hey!"

Bat turned around.

"Do you want to be friends? You were really nice at the concert and I would like to get to know you better."

Bat smiled crookedly. "This is going to be such an embarrassing story to tell my friends that I went to the workplace of the date who stood me up to chew her out only to get friend zoned by said date who turned out to be a decent person."

Hey yall its me. For those of you who didn't start from ch 1 this mustve been hella confusing. So, if u have confusions, start from chapter 1. thx