Roommates & Soulmates

Ch56: Simon's Renewal

Simon found himself exactly where he hadn't expected to be: the University dorms. It was strange to feel like he had no reason to be here while also knowing that this was where he was supposed to be.

This was the start of a new chapter in his life, discovering who he was without Clary. Simon couldn't exactly remember when he'd fallen in love with Clary. All he knew was that it had been somewhere between the day he'd met her and puberty. Either way, it felt like his whole life up to this point had been defined by her, and that needed to change. Simon needed to find new ways to define himself. He'd always thought in terms of Clary, her playmate, school partner, buddy, defender, listener, comforter, friend, pillow, and boyfriend, but Simon was more than just Clary's something. He just needed to figure out what he was. For the moment, all he had was university student, bassist, friend, brother, and son. He'd have to work on adding to that list.

After Simon unpacked, he texted Maia and asked if she wanted to hang out. She replied that her crazy new roommate had dragged her out, and she was currently chatting up some guy in a bar named Neil. Simon had to admit she was surprised Maia had let herself get dragged away like that. This new roommate of hers must be quite persuasive.

Simon really wasn't sure what to do with himself this evening. He supposed he could ask if Jace wanted to hang out, but that friendship was still a little strange what with Simon being in love with his girlfriend and all. He did text Eric and make plans for later in the week, but that didn't help him tonight. Simon thought it rather pathetic that he had more of a social life here than back home. Giving up, Simon turned on his laptop and started up his laptop. After watching two episodes of the Netflix original series Sense8, Simon got a text from Maia.

'Date turned out to be creepy so I went home to find my roommate naked with some guy. Is that offer to hang out still good?'

Simon texted back it was definitely still good and asked if she wanted to meet somewhere, or just hang out in his dorm room. Maia replied that she would suggest the orientation party in the Quad, except for the fact that it was basically over now. Simon suggested watching sci-fi on his laptop, and pretty soon there was a knock at his door. Maia smiled as she entered, or maybe it was more of a grimace. She moved quickly across the room, laid down on his bed, and covered her eyes with her arm.

"Rough day?" Simon asked her.

"I think my roommate wants to be my sponsor," Maia groaned. "I mean she's fun and all, but so high maintenance."

"High maintenance friends are the worst," Simon laughed.

"I mean boyfriends sure," Maia continued. "But friends shouldn't be so much work."

"Speaking of which, would you like to watch Galaxy Quest?"

"Hell yeah," Maia laughed, sitting up and focusing on the laptop screen. Simon hit play and they settled in for a good dose of comedic science fiction.

It was nice just sitting there with Maia, enjoying something they'd both seen before. Sometimes you don't have the energy to watch new shows, and yes, Simon knew exactly how lazy that sounded, but he didn't care. Tonight he just wanted to laugh at jokes he'd heard before and watch bad CGI and corny comedic timing in the company of a friend. Tomorrow school started, and the summer holidays were officially over. When the movie ended, Maia was still laughing.

"This one gets me every time," Maia said.

"How many times have you seen it?" Simon asked her.

"Oh like a billion," Maia replied. "But the self destruct button timer gets me every time."

"That is a beautiful parody of a sci-fi trope," Simon agreed.

"It can only stop at one second till boom," Maia chuckled. "Even if you click it minutes before hand!" She paused, grinning. "Priceless."