Alright! Guys here's a chapter! It's decently long, but I must admit I cheated a bit. Part of the reason it's so long is there's dialog in there from yesterday's episode. So don't read if you don't want spoilers. Although if you do read, lemme know if you could even tell the difference between my writing and abcfamily's. It would be so cool if you couldn't!
Speaking of last night's ep. How awesome was that? Best episode yet? I think so! Paul/Alek for the win. haha. If you've read my other story Sacrifice (If you haven't go read it. It's my baby) you know how much I love Paul's sidekick awesomeness.
R&R
"Hello?"
"Jasmine,' Chloe let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding when Jasmine picked up, "What the heck I'm supposed to bring to this?" Chloe was packing for the trip, but she had no idea what she was supposed to bring. She was currently rooting through her closet with Jasmine on speakerphone.
Jasmine chuckled over the phone. "A range of clothes. Probably an evening dress, maybe something suitable for business, I don't know. Don't worry too much. We're getting your dress for the ball in L.A. and we can pick up whatever you need when we're there." Jasmine explained, but her head seemed to be somewhere else.
Chloe sighed. "Can you just come over and help me pack? Please?" Chloe pleaded.
"As much as I wish I could, I am currently stuck in a meeting with my mother. Plans have to be made. Alek's watching you right now. He's been to this kind of stuff, ask him."
"Alek? I'm supposed to ask Alek? For fashion advice? You do realize all he ever wears are v-necks and Henleys?" She rolled her eyes, remembering that yesterday he had worn a sleek button down, which of course she noticed.
"You'd be surprised if you saw his closet, Chloe. He owns far more than just Henleys." Jasmine responded and hung up.
"Ugh!" Chloe cried, looking in her closet for things to bring. "Stupid boy in his stupid, tight v-necks." She muttered turning and running into v-neck-clad chest. "Oof!"
Alek smirked. "Need help?"
Chloe admired him. She loved his tight Henleys and v-necks. They did so much for his muscles. She noticed he had a brown cardigan pulled over a grey v-neck today. She had to admit, he actually looked stylish and hot today. Rarely could guys pull of style without looking gay, but Alek managed to. "No thanks. Don't act like you weren't listening. I happen to only own one v-neck shirt." Chloe sassed.
"Oh please. You love it." He smirked, raising his eyebrow, sexily.
She blushed. She hated how easily he could get under her skin. "You look like you're going to suffocate. Maybe you should buy your shirts a size larger. Try something of mine on, it might fit you better." She shot back.
"I happen to know that it is much loved by the girls at school. Even a certain best friend of yours, but if you think it's too tight maybe I should just toss all of them out." He said, literally ripping off his shirt and tossing it backwards over his head into her trash bin. "He shoots, he scores," He smirked at her. He was now left in only his brown cardigan.
Chloe could only stare. She planted her feet firmly on the floor, afraid she was going to leap onto him in a lust filled haze. Her eyes traveled up his body. Her eyes went from the V of his hips and lingered along the light dusting of hair near his navel before moving to his well-defined 6-pack and up to the contours of his chest. Finally her eyes wandered up to his beautiful face and into his the pools of brown liquid he called eyes. He was smirking at her, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
He heard he heartbeat speed up. He even thought he saw her eyes flash green slits. He liked that even if there was nothing between them, he could still get to her with his looks. He knew his ego was oversized, but could you blame him? Since he turned Mai, he was able to not only notice the looks, but here what people said about him too. Anyone who heard they were a sex-god all day would become cocky too.
She turned back towards the closet, successfully breaking the trance. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Oh, who was she kidding, she had managed to memorize every curve and outline of his body. She smiled to herself, imagining the dreams she would have that night. She sighed. More like fantasies. He had every human girl as well as every Mai girl in love with him. He was more likely to come out of this ball with a few girls than she was to come out with guys. Oh god, the amount of guys that would be there! And not just any guys- these boys-men were going to expect the great and gallant Uniter. When they found out it was only her, she was going to disappoint them all.
Alek heard her heartbeat calm down, only to speed up shortly. But this time, it wasn't the sound of reacting to an attractive, shirtless teen. No, this time Chloe was genuinely freaking out. He moved closer to her, resting his hand on her shoulder. "My taste can't be that bad," he had actually been hurt by her original words. He tried to dress well – for her. "I'll help you find something to wear." She looked up at him, with a smile.
"For the record, I don't think you dress that bad. The shirt you wore yesterday was nice. And you looked good today. I liked the cardigan." She said softly, recognizing that she might have actually hurt the invincible Alek Petrov.
"You noticed." He said it as a cocky statement, but he was genuinely pleased and surprised. "Most girls like the cardigan." He said, referring to the fact that he was only wearing a cardigan.
"I meant before." Chloe blushed.
He raised an eyebrow, questioningly. They turned to the closet and started rooting through it.
"What about this?" He pulled out a simple black dress. She had worn it to a bat mitzvah in 7th grade. It was now about 10 times too small.
"It's too small," She said, dismissively.
"Actually, I'm pretty sure it's just right." He smirked. She hit him playfully on the arm, and they turned back to the closet to seriously help her pack.
Alek walked to the coffee shop next to Varese's. He knew that it was "the gang's" favorite hang out spot. He was hoping to catch one of them. The bell rang on the door as Alek entered. 'Perfect,' Alek smiled to himself. Paul sat alone at the table typing on his laptop.
Alek ordered a coffee, glancing over at Paul every once in awhile. The barista, who was giggling and smiling a little too much at him, handed him his coffee with a napkin. He looked down seeing 10 digits written on the piece of paper-cloth. He smirked, tossing the napkin away as he went to sit down across from Paul.
"Hey," Paul said. He was expecting some sort of news about Chloe. He hoped she wasn't in trouble, but he doubted that, seeing as Alek was calmly sipping his coffee. If Chloe were in danger, no one would be able to stop Alek from going after her, no matter how stupid or pointless his rescue attempt was. Paul had recently noticed how Alek looked at Chloe. It was the same way he looked at Amy. Paul knew for sure he was in love with the over-dramatic girl, and he was pretty sure Alek loved Chloe just the same. His conjecture was confirmed when he told Amy, and Amy had laughed at him saying she had known for a couple of weeks. When Alek didn't respond, Paul continued, "Did you…want something?" He asked.
"Can't I just sit and have a coffee?" Alek responded.
Paul looked down at his computer, confused. "You know it's Saturday. Chloe's not working."
Wow, he could be dense. Alek was going to have to spell this out for him, wasn't he, "I do other things besides follow Chloe around." Actually, that was a bit of a stretch. He did, but lately she was taking up most of his time. If he wasn't following her, he was thinking about her. It never ended. The only reason he was there was because Chloe had gone to see Brian. He 'apparently' had called her last night and said he needed to see her. She had gone, against his pleas that she wouldn't. He couldn't stand to watch her if they got back together. He didn't think he could handle it.
Paul looked back at his computer, guessing that it must be true. He was the most popular guy in school. He had to be social to get to that position. It just seemed like he was always either with her, or on the roofs watching her – At least, that's what Chloe said he did. He had never actually seen him on the roof.
"You've known her a long time, haven't you?" He said, not quite a question, not quite a statement.
"Almost my whole life." He said naturally, still staring at the screen. Alek wished he could say that on reflex. He actually wished he were in Paul's position. That thought scared Alek. He was king of High School, yet here he was, wishing he were a comic-geek at the bottom of the pyramid, all for some girl. But she wasn't just any girl. No, she was Chloe King.
"Has she always been…" He searched for the word. No words could quite describe her, but he settled on, "Difficult?"
Paul looked up, Alek having finally caught his attention. "Chloe?"
'No, not Chloe,' Alek thought, 'hadn't he been paying attention?'
"Naw, She's…" Paul trailed off, a smile forming on his face. Finally, he understood what Alek wanted. He closed his laptop, facing Alek fully.
'Shit,' Alek thought. He knew that look. It was his look. It screamed 'I have something up my sleeve.' "What?" he asked.
Paul leaned back in his chair, giving his best impression of the Godfather. "You're here to ask me for advice. You want me to give you advice on how to get Chloe to like you."
"No." He said a bit too quickly, "I don't. And she likes me just fine." Alek said, his look of mischief on his face. Where it belonged.
Paul smirked. "I do not believe you."
Alek was losing patience with this kid. How dare he mock him. Chloe DID like him just fine. Sort of. As friends. He sighed internally. "I don't really care what you think." He snapped. "And I certainly don't need you to tell me what her favorite color is and all that rubbish." He had gotten that information from her diary already.
"Blue." Paul said smugly.
"Ok, seriously. You have to stop smiling." It was starting to creep him out. This guy was too proud that he knew Chloe's favorite color. It was really getting on his nerves that he knew more about her than he did.
"Ok, here's how it's gonna work." Paul leaned in. "I ask a question, then you ask one. Someone doesn't answer, Game Over."
"I'm not here to play games." The idea of Chloe being a game pissed him off.
"Too bad, because I know a lot about Chloe." Paul said rubbing it in.
Alek thought it over. As annoyed at Paul as he was, he wanted- no needed - to know about her. "Okay, fine. But I go first." That way I can get at least one question in before I rip his throat out, Alek thought.
"Why does she insist on doing stupid, risky things with no backup whatsoever." Alek understood that she cared, but seriously a phone call would be nice. He worried about her.
"The worst thing you can say to Chloe is, 'You can't.' She's 꽤 완고한." At Alek's confused look, Paul translated. "Headstrong."
"How do I fix that?"
"Nope. A Mai question. How many different races are there? Y'know, Mai, Jackals…" Paul's face lit up.
"Every ancient God had human offspring." Alek answered. That wasn't so bad. He was expecting a question more like 'do you like catnip?' "Study your mythology."
"You can't fix Chloe because she's not broken." With an attitude like that, he was never going to win Chloe's heart. "All she really wants to do is help people." Paul's face lit up, signaling another Mai question. "Toilet? Or Litterbox?"
Yep. There was the type of question he was expecting. Except worse. I mean really? Obviously the answer is litterbox. He thought about giving that sarcastic answer, but decided Paul might actually believe him. "What are you, 12?" His face turned serious, as he asked the question he was most dying to know the answer too. Except he was a bit afraid of the answer. "Why does she keep seeing Brian, even though she knows it can never work?"
"They're friends. There's nothing more important to Chloe than friends." Paul said. Chloe had said they were over for good, but he wasn't sure. After all, she was currently meeting with him – at least that's what Amy had told him. He never got the answer straight from the source. But he was pretty sure she had moved on to another guy. He wasn't completely oblivious. He was pretty sure she kept seeing Brian because he was one person that had no idea about Chloe's race, and that made her feel normal. But he couldn't tell Alek that. He was pretty sure the idea that Chloe wasn't happy being Mai would upset Alek, and he wasn't sure how he would handle that anger. He was pretty attached to his throat. "Look, You obviously really like Chloe. You just have to be…less Mai protector and more… regular guy."
"It's my job to protect her." Alek replied. Not only was it his job, he felt he needed to. He wanted to.
"But you should do it because you want to." Paul explained. Alek thought it was obvious he did, but maybe it wasn't. "Not because you have to."
The talk was helpful. Not to mention, Paul was actually a pretty decent guy. The talk eventually strayed away from Mai talk completely. Paul was pretty cool. They bonded over a mutual love of comics. Paul vowed not to breathe a word about Alek's secret love of comic books. He was just happy a bromance was brewing between the two.
I asked KiHong what he said in the ep. He told me he basically said 'quite stubborn' in Korean. I'm pretty sure that's not the direct translation, but it's as close as I could without knowing how the heck to speak Korean. Let me know if you know what he said, and I'll change it.
Okay so whaddya think? Tell me by clicking that button down there that says 'Review' Seriously they make my day.
So the next chapter is going to be the car ride to L.A. There will be plenty of Chloe/Alek banter, but I need help writing it. Sound off any ideas or cutesy banter in a review or PM. Please. The sooner I can figure out how to write it, the sooner you get to read it!
Also for fans of my story, Sacrifice, I apologize I haven't gotten a chapter out in awhile. I've been trying to figure out exactly how to write it. I sat down to write one today, but instead this came out.
Much Love to all my reviewers. I love you all!
