cancer; female!malec au

chapter two

There was silence between the two of them for a moment, the familiar chirping of small birds and the running water crashing against rocks surrounding them like a warm blanket. "What's your name?" Maggie asked her after a few moments, her voice cutting clearly through the cold air. 

Alex looked up from her book, her green eyes reflecting the limited sun brightly. "Alexandra, but no one calls me that. Just Alex." It was the first time that Maggie saw Alex smile, and she would remember the moment for as long as she lived. It would be one of the very few times Alex Lightwood would smile, and the whole world would smile with her.

 "I'm Maggie," She replied, even though Alex didn't ask, watching as Alex folded down the corner of the page she was reading, shutting the book and placing it beside her. She gingerly trapped the cigarette hanging off her lips between her index finger and her middle finger, Maggie watching as the white smoke spiralled from her nostrils. Alex's attention was caught as a small black dog emerged from a nearby bush, its pink tongue flapping happily in its ajar mouth.

Maggie bent down and stroked the dog, attaching the black sausage dog to the orange lead that she had been holding. Alex fought with herself in her mind; a civil war. One side argued to talk to the pretty girl, to maybe make a friend. The other side, fashioning devil horns, argued her to be rude and brush the stranger off, as she would bring nothing but trouble to her life.

Alex finally agreed on something; she would be a coward, and hate herself for it later. She held her tongue, watching as Maggie seemed unaffected by the silence that festered between them. "Have you always lived in New York? My family and I just moved here," Maggie said after a few moments, clearly wanting to pursue Alex's mysterious nature.

 "I was adopted when I was six; before that I lived in Boston. Although, I can't remember much about it. There were a lot of tall buildings, kind of like here." Alex replied hesitantly, hoping that Maggie wouldn't push on why she was adopted. Talk about a downer. Especially as this was their first conversation, and Alex didn't know how many more they would have. This was her chance to make a positive first impression.

Maggie hummed and nodded in response, continuing to stroke her dog's ears down. He was called Aladdin and she loved him more than most things. Yes, he was named after the Disney prince, as Aladdin was her favourite movie and she had always had a massive crush on him. As well as Jasmine.

She took note of the fact that Alex was adopted, not wanting to touch on the subject any more for now, a million and one questions bubbling in her brain to ask Alex, although trying not to be too eager. Alex was visibly not a nervous person; she didn't have any of the nervous tics that Maggie had. Her most notorious tic was rubbing the back of her neck when she felt shy, which was why she had a constellation of thin acne painted across the top of her back.

Alex took her cigarette between her index and middle finger from her pinkish lips, and was about to open her mouth to ask a question, when a faint shout was heard in another direction of the forest. It called out, "Maggie! Come on, we're going!" It was a male voice, although it was distinctly older; Maggie's dad, Alex presumed. Maggie gave Alex a short smile, saying, "It was lovely meeting you, I guess I'll see you around?" 

 "You too, yeah, see you around." Alex replied with a meek smile, feeling dissatisfied with how their conversation had ended. She had much more to ask, but all she knew was her name. Not even her last name. Maggie gave her another large, heavenly smile, and turned around to leave. Alex was shocked at herself as she cried out, "Wait! Sorry, what was your last name? I don't have many friends and you seem really nice." 

It almost pained Alex to say the words, practically wincing by the time she had finished her sentence. Maggie noticed that she did have a nervous tic at this moment; seeing her scratch her forehead with her index fingertip, still holding her cigarette, as she spoke. Maggie felt flattered with her question, turning around slowly, the same smile still on her face.