Pontus

Part Two

Alyssa shot daggers at her younger brother after having watched a slimy trail of bright orange juice slide down her blue top. She had come up from behind Lucas as he was taking a thirsty gulp of his drink. She calmly placed a hand on his shoulder and he freaked out, spilling his drink everywhere, including his sister's shirt.

Lucas innocently smiled back at her. "It was an accident, Lys. Besides, you were the one who snuck up from behind me," he protested, hiding a big grin behind his cup as he took another small sip of a new cup of freshly squeezed orange juice.

Alyssa scowled angrily at him. "Well, thanks to you, my shirt is now ruined. I have to run upstairs and change. You two better behave while I'm gone. Don't wander out of this room, understand?"

Lucas nodded, shooting a sly glance at his brother.

Evan followed Lucas' example and nodded his head.

As soon as Alyssa disappeared from view, Lucas whirled around to face his brother. "Let's blow this pop stand, Evan. This kid party's getting' dull. Why don't we go to the teenager's party up on the next level?"

Instantly, Evan's eyes lit up. "I was just askin' Alyssa if we could go to that party instead. This one's purty boring'." He looked around at all the three, four, five-year-olds running everywhere like crazy. Before he could say anything more, Lucas grabbed his left hand and dragged him to the stairs.

"Why are we goin' up the stairs, Lucas?" he asked, puzzled.

"Because then Alyssa wouldn't be able to see us, silly," retorted Lucas, rolling his eyes.

Evan giggled. "You is sooooo smart, Lu. I'm glad you is my brother."

They scampered as quickly as they could up the stairs to the next level where they were welcomed by even louder music blaring from gigantic speakers, longer tables of buffet foods, and many couples out dancing and having a good time on the dance floor.

Evan took it all in, staring and admiring all the fancy lights that must have took a long time to set up.

On the other hand, Lucas didn't care about scenery and headed straight for the buffet tables.

Evan broke out of his stupor and realized his brother wasn't standing with him. "Lu!! Lucas!! Where are youuuuu???" he droned, his eyes searching for a familiar black-haired kid. After a few minutes of searching, he gave up and decided to go dancing. With a goofy grin on his face, he made his way to the dance floor to go show off his "moves."

"That Lucas is way too much," Alyssa mumbled to herself as she changed into a black sparkly tube top with a pretty white half-sweater. She checked her make-up one last time before exiting her room and heading back to the party downstairs. She wasn't paying attention and barely made it to the elevator when she bumped into something, er, someone. She fell backwards with a small groan and landed roughly on her bum. She winced. However, she did look up to see a hand held out to her. She grasped the hand and pulled herself up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, miss," a deep masculine voice said above her, "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

Alyssa's sea-green eyes clashed with steel blue. Her eyes widened as she stared at him. He was the handsomest man she had ever seen in her entire life. "Broad shoulders, narrow waist, long muscular legs," she blushed, and then noted as she examined his face, "Beautiful steel blue eyes, fringed with long dark eyelashes, a slender, straight nose, kissable lips, all wonderfully framed by wavy dark brown hair, styled very nicely, with a lock of hair drooping over his right eye."

The man cleared his throat.

Alyssa broke out of her daze and started blushing a deep pink. "I'm…uh, very sorry, sir, I didn't mean, to um, to stare at you, cause, um, well, you're very…" her voice faltered as her gaze drooped to the floor.

"Apology accepted, miss…?" he grinned, that famous "Karalis" grin.

Alyssa's head shot up and she replied, with all the dignity she could muster in this awkward situation, "My name is Alyssa Bloom, sir."

"Please, call me Aaron, you know, instead of "sir." It makes me feel like I'm my father," Aaron teased. He was starting to like this girl very much. She had a great sense of humor. Something that was really hard to find in women nowadays.

Her blush deepened, and she stammered, "Yes, sir-er, I mean, um, Aaron."

Aaron laughed. After he composed himself, he asked her, "Where you headed?"

"Oh, uh, to ummmm…the, uh, you know, to the …" she hesitated, waving an arm to her left where the elevator doors were wide open.

Aaron chuckled but said seriously, "Take your time, it'll come to ya." Then he smirked teasingly at her.

Alyssa felt her face turn the color of ripe tomatoes. He was making fun of her!!! How...cute. "Man, I must' a fallen for him harder than I thought. He's making fun of me and I think that's cute? Sheesh!! Have I got it bad for him or what?" she contemplated in her mind. She giggled when he waved both of his hands in front of her face.

"So, anyways, back to the point…where are you going?" He said, ever so slowly, as if trying to annoy her.

Alyssa took a deep breath and replied, "I was going to the party, you know, the kids' party on the main floor. I have to, uh, pick up my two little brothers, because they want to go to the big people's party on the next floor, so yeah, um…"

"She's very cute when she's nervous," he thought silently, watching her.

"…I should go and get them now…" she finished. Her face flushed as he studied her. She quickly said, "Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, si-Aaron, um, see ya around." With that, she ran towards the elevator and paused just a moment to glance at him one last time. Then she pressed the "Close" button and patiently waited for the doors to close. She breathed out a sigh of relief after she pressed the "8th" button. She closed her eyes for a few minutes while wondering to see if her two brothers actually obeyed her or if they ran off somewhere, heading for trouble. "Guess I'll just have to find out now, won't I?" she said with an amused smile.

"That was quite an experience. Such a pretty girl," Aaron mused, as he entered into the large ballroom, where couples were dancing happily on the dance floor to Fergie's singing one of her solos, people were flocking at the buffet tables, others were talking to each other, and few were playing several card games on empty tables. After Alyssa had hurriedly deserted him, he figured he could just jog down the stairs and still be able to meet the Mayor and his daughter without being much too late. He glanced down at his gold watch and was amazed to see that he was only 3 minutes late. He looked up when he heard someone call out his name. He shifted his eyes in the direction of the voice and focused on a short stuffy bearded man in a navy blue suit escorted by a beautiful blond-haired lady in a tight gold backless floor-length dress walking towards him.

"My dear boy, so glad that you came. May I introduce my daughter to you?" Mayor Thorn greeted, shaking Aaron's outstretched hand. He wrapped a short stubby arm around his daughter's slender ones and said, "This is my only daughter, Amanda Mai Thorn. She's nineteen years old and what a beauty! She must' a gotten it from her mother, I tell ya!" He chuckled.

Aaron laughed and politely kissed the hand that Amanda gave him. "Pleasure to meet you, Miss Amanda," he drawled, earning him a dazzlingly smile.

"Please call me Mandy. I despise being called Amanda…such a tacky name, isn't it? Mandy seems more trendy, isn't that right, Daddykins?" Mandy purred to her father, who was talking to another important person.

Mayor Thorn shot his daughter a look and she sneered at him. "Why in the dang world did you name me Amanda, Daddy? Mother wanted to name me Diamond because she simply adores diamonds and she says that I was just the most attractive, lovable, charming baby she's ever seen. I wish you'd have listened to her…"

Aaron rolled his eyes. "Oh, boy, not another one of those girls…"

Elena glanced behind her shoulder. "Hope no one sees me," she whispered to herself. She hastily sprinted from door to door, occasionally looking behind her to see if anyone noticed she was trying to sneak away. After having changed into normal clothes instead of her waiter uniform, she quietly escaped through the back door of the kitchen, heading for the second floor where she'd overheard that there was a New Year's Party for teenagers being held. She darted into the hallways and froze in her tracks when she heard someone say behind her, "What are you doing?"

Hey, how's it going? Finally finished the second chapter of "Pontus of the Deep Sea." Sry that it's coming along slow. I'm really busy doing schoolwork and my job and all that so, pls be patient with me. I'm sooooo into this story. I think it's my most favorite story that I've done. Anyways, enjoy!

Stay sweet,

Jade Ocean