The Tale of Forgetting Truths and Trusting Liars.
Cerri left the Norse Mythology book on the side for Loki to read whilst he was bedridden. She fetched him soup and tea and made sure that he took his paracetamol and ibuprofen, which he did without her having to moan. Cerri was quite surprised at how the god was behaving, he wasn't as hostile as he had been on Saturday, and yet she knew not to trust him because of this. Cerri was all too familiar with the book of Norse Mythology to simply trust the god of Tricks and Lies. Plus the fact he tried to enslave Manhattan, no she wasn't going to trust him just yet.
It was Tuesday before Cerri deemed Loki well enough to get out of bed, and then she demanded that he took a shower. She sent him to the bathroom with a towel and a set of clean clothes, which happened to be Andy's.
Whilst Loki was in the shower Cerri went downstairs to move the money from the till to the small safe she kept underneath the cupboards in the kitchen. So far nobody had visited the shop on that day. It was only on Saturday's and Wednesday's that Cerri read stories to the children so she was sure that tomorrow would be a hectic day.
Cerri placed the stack of books that were building up on her counter back onto the shelves and fed Sokka some tuna. She was at the back of the shop trying to find a copy of Set in Stone when the bell at the front of the shop jingled.
"Cerri?" The male voice echoed to the back of the shop and Cerri cursed inwardly. "Cerri, you in here?"
Cerri sucked in a breath to calm herself and stepped out from behind the bookcase. Andy stood at the end of the shop, his dark blonde hair was spiked and he had a cocky grin on his face. "What do you want, Andy?"
"I just want to talk, that's all."
"Well I don't want to talk." Cerri said, throwing her promise to Poppy out of the window, she was too angry at the moment. "And I don't want to listen, and I am quite busy, so if you please." She continued, gesturing towards the door.
"No, I won't leave until you listen." Cerri turned back towards the back of the shop. This could be very awkward if Loki came down the stairs whilst Andy was in the room.
"Fine then," Cerri said, scrawling a note on a post-it. She headed to the back of the shop and then stuck it on the doorframe before heading back to the front. "But I'm going out, so if you want to talk then you can do it whilst we are walking."
She took one last glance at the back of the shop before she opened the door and followed Andy out.
Loki wasn't entirely happy with being forced into the shower, although he did feel a lot better after he was clean again. He dressed in the clothes that Cerri had given him. They were slightly baggy on him and he wondered who they belonged to, as they certainly wouldn't have fitted her.
Cerri's cat was sitting on the landing when Loki left the bathroom. It no longer hissed at him, but it still had a nervous look in its eyes every time he passed. He listened quickly for any sound of movement from downstairs and then walked down to the shop with the feline following behind him. He stopped, when he saw a yellow piece of paper stuck to the doorframe.
Loki,
Had to go out. Won't be long… hopefully. Food is in the fridge if you want it.
Cerri.
Loki's eyebrows furrowed, he wondered where on earth the Mortal had gone that required a note of absence. He did, however, go and look inside the fridge for something to eat, as the soup he had eaten the day before hadn't filled as much as he had wanted it to.
Cerri had ignored Andy for as long as possible, she replied curtly with a nod or a mumbled response when she thought it was necessary, otherwise she remained silent. This, however, had started to become slightly annoying. Cerri listened to him, his so called 'innocence' in the matter and his apologies, but she did not believe it, she knew exactly what she saw, and that is why, after the hundredth time of the words 'I'm sorry' leaving his mouth, Cerri snapped.
"That's it!" She almost yelled, turning to face him, her hands planted firmly on her hips. Cerri's mind flashed back to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets where Molly Weasley finds her three sons sneaking back into the Burrow after rescuing Harry from his hellish home with the Dursley's. "I've had it with your apologies, don't you get it? I saw everything. And you looked more than willing to stick your tongue down her throat, Andy!"
"Cerri-"
"No! I don't want to hear anymore. My friends were right. Alice was right. They told me you were sneaky and conniving and sly and cruel. But did I listen? No! No, of course I didn't listen! Do you know why? Do you know why I didn't listen?"
For the first moment, in a long time, Andy remained silent. He stood still as Cerri's question hung in the air. She didn't want him to reply, if he did she'd know that he was always leading her on…
"I didn't listen because I felt something towards you… I told you I loved you for Merlin's sake! Didn't that mean anything to you?" Cerri's mouth hung open slightly as the last syllable fell from her lips; she wondered then, if what they had- if what she thought they had- meant anything at all.
When Andy didn't reply Cerri turned on her heel, her combat boots crunching in the snow as she marched back towards her sanctuary. She heard Andy call out to her, she heard him hurry slightly to catch up with her. Cerri was about to unlock the door to the shop when he grabbed hold of her arm and spun her around.
"Why won't you listen?" He asked rhetorically. "I've told you a thousand times that I am sorry and you're just too stubborn to see through that."
"No," Cerri said as tears began to spring to her eyes. "I am just too smart to believe your lies."
Cerri tore her arm from Andy's grip and wrenched the door open as a choked sob escaped from her mouth, and, before he had time to protest, Cerri slammed the door in his face.
The last echo of the bell rang throughout the shop as Cerri crumpled to the floor in a sobbing heap. Her emotions tore at her heart and she inwardly cursed herself for being this naïve. Why didn't she ever listen? Something within her knew that Andy was a scumbag, but why didn't she listen to herself? Was she afraid of losing him? No. She couldn't have been afraid; she was strong, brave, just like her father had taught her to be. But something told her she was afraid; a doubt, a doubt so small that not even a microscope could see it… But it was there and because it was there she felt afraid of being alone.
Cerri sniffled and pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. She pressed them to her sockets so hard that colours darted between the blackness. Spots of blue and yellow filled her eyes until they disappeared into an ocean of green jealousy. She was jealous, she was angry, and she hated herself for being so stupid. She was a fool; she could see that now.
Cerri swallowed and let out a shuddering breath, she was so angry with herself; no, not with herself, she was angry with him. So angry, in fact, that she couldn't bear the thought of his name, or his touch, or his memory. She pulled herself up from the floor, and stood hunched over the counter, her tidal wave of tears never slowed, no matter how much she tried to wipe them away. Cerri had never felt so betrayed…
With an anguished cry Cerri launched an empty mug, which had been sitting idly on the counter, across the room and watched as it shattered into a thousand splintering pieces.
"You have mannerisms that could rival that of the Hulk,"
Cerri glanced up at Loki's words, tears were still streaming down her face and she certainly wasn't in the mood for any smart mouthed god. She pressed her palms to her eyes again in another futile attempt to stop the river that was running down her face. She sniffed once and tried to calm herself; she then walked over to the splintered pieces of mug and cleaned up the mess. Her eyes never averted to the God who was still watching her intently from the doorway.
Cerri dumped the smashed crockery in the bin; glad now that the tears had subsided slightly, and turned to go upstairs. Right now, all she needed was chilli heat wave Doritos, salsa dip and a mug of hot chocolate with all the whipped cream she could fit on top. That's all she wanted at the moment, to be alone, to scoff herself with comfort food and watch a soppy movie.
However, when Cerri tried to cross the threshold towards the stairs that gave her the comfort food and the soppy movie, she was met with the God that hadn't moved since she had entered the shop.
"You seem not to be your cheery self today," He said, his hand on the doorframe, effectively blocking her way to the upper floors.
"Do not aggravate me today," Cerri breathed semi-calmly. "When I am in a better mood you can jest and jibe all you like, but- but just not now… Please, I'm really not in the mood."
She lightly pushed at the Gods arm and was surprised when he moved out of the way. She retrieved her crisps, salsa, and hot chocolate before she retired to her room drew the curtains. She turned on her T.V and promptly put Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two, into the DVD player. That film never failed to make her cry.
Despite the fact that Loki relished in seeing people in pain, when he saw the hurt in the mortals eyes he couldn't find it in himself to make another jibe at her expense. That's why, when she lightly pushed at his arm, he removed it from the doorframe and allowed her to pass. He wasn't sure what had changed the mannerisms of the young Midgardian but in the few days that he had known the woman he knew that sadness wasn't really an emotion she possessed. Or at least, an emotion that she showed.
He then thought back to the note that she had taped to the wall… Had to go out. Won't be long… Hopefully… He knew from the note that she had not particularly wanted to go out but he didn't want to question her about it. It wasn't really in his job description to be nice, and he partly blamed the flu for not allowing him to make a jest or relish in the Midgardians discomfort.
Loki couldn't help but realise that this, whatever this was, could play in his favour.
Cerri had managed to successfully cry herself out whilst watching the final instalment of the Harry Potter series. Fred Weasley's death got her every time; she had yet to find a person who thought that she wasn't weird because she knew that he died on page five hundred and twelve in the British copies. She couldn't help that she knew, he and George were her favourite characters, which is why she sobbed uncontrollably whenever she watched the last film.
She had also managed to eat the whole packet of chilli heat wave Doritos and two jars of salsa. God, sometimes she hated comfort eating. After that she had curled up on her window seat with Sokka purring in her lap; she didn't move then till she woke up in the morning, or rather almost afternoon.
Cerri groaned and rolled over; almost falling from the perch she had slept on. She turned again, this time towards the window, and noticed the sun which was too high in the sky for it to be early morning. To confirm her suspicions of sleeping in, Cerri checked her watch, her eyes widening when the time flashed 11:28am.
"Oh, Merlin," She cursed, jumping from the window seat. Sokka hissed wildly at the sudden intrusion of movement, "Sorry Sokka,"
Cerri scrambled around in her room for her clothes, and quickly threw on a Sugarcult t-shirt with some ripped skinny jeans. She then grabbed the first socks that she could find in the draw (which happened to have Harry Potter plastered on the side) and then skidded into the bathroom to brush her teeth whilst mumbling "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late."
Cerri was almost sure that she would get an ear bashing of Poppy for being late; scratch that, she would get more than an ear bashing because she was catastrophically late for story time. She threw her hair up into a loose ponytail and rushed down the stairs whilst juggling the empty salsa jars and hot chocolate mugs in her hands. She dropped them into the sink and turned just to hear Poppy's voice echo from the shop.
"But, Mister, why can't you read the stories?"
Mister? How did Poppy even get into the shop? Cerri scrambled out of the kitchen and into the back of the shop, she would have panicked, if it wasn't for the fact that the Mister happened to be Loki. Cerri let out a breath and watched from the doorframe as Poppy questioned the God who was standing behind the counter with three books in his hands.
"I- Well, I have no experience with reading stories," He said calmly, causing the small girl to cross her arms.
"Well that's silly, everybody can read, our mommies and daddies teach us." Was that a wince at the words mommies and daddies?
"I didn't say I couldn't read," Loki reasoned, "I just haven't read stories to children before."
Cerri watched as Poppy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She then hopped up onto the stool in front of the counter and pulled one of the books out of Loki's hands. "Well I bet Cerridwen can teach you! She's very kind and she reads to us every week." She paused, and then as if remembering something very important she stuck out a tiny hand and said, "My name's Poppy Jones."
Loki looked confused, and momentarily Cerri wondered if he even knew what a handshake was. But then he took the small girls hand in his and shook it gently. "It is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Loki Odinson."
Cerri watched as Poppy's eyes widened to the size of golf balls and turned her head to glance at the very shelf that Cerri had taken the Norse Book of Mythology off on Saturday. Cerri swallowed and was about to jump in to stop the girls question but an entirely different statement popped from the girl's mouth. "Your name is in one of the books Cerridwen reads to us, have you seen it?"
"Yes, I have read the mythology book."
"So, Loki Odinson, are you going to read me a storybook?"
Cerri smiled at the exchange between the two very different people and she momentarily decided that perhaps Loki wasn't that bad after all. She emerged from her place by the door and walked the length of the bookcases before Loki turned to her. He looked slightly relieved that Cerri would occupy the child.
"Cerridwen!" Cried Poppy, she jumped from the stool and hurried over towards Cerri and wrapped her arms around her waist before pulling back and putting her hands on her hips. "You are late."
Cerri chuckled and ruffled the young girls hair, "Yes, very late I was." She said putting on her Yoda impression which made Poppy giggle. "I apologise profoundly, my lady." Cerri swooped low into a bow, and laughed when Poppy pushed her shoulder playfully.
"You are no knight," She giggled. Cerri stood and cocked an eyebrow.
"Why not?" She asked, taking the books from Loki and placing them back on the shelves.
"You do not have a sword," Loki offered,
"Don't you start," Cerri said poking a finger playfully at him.
"You seem to be in high spirits today."
"I am always in high spirits, Loki Odinson." Cerri said, "But you seem to be in higher spirits, you must be planning something."
Cerri didn't notice that Poppy was watching the exchange between the two adults. She tipped her head to the side as she established that Cerri did indeed seem to be in higher spirits than usual. She noticed this even more when Cerri read her another story with more enthusiasm than usual.
At the end of their story session Cerri bid farewell to Poppy; she gave the girl a hug and tightened the hood on her coat. "Are you and Andy talking again?" Poppy asked quietly,
"No, the truth has come out and I am relieved, that is why I am in high spirits." Poppy smiled, she too was glad that Cerri seemed a whole lot happier.
"That's good," She said as Cerri opened the door. "Goodbye Loki, goodbye Cerri."
Cerri sent Poppy on her way and closed the door behind her; she then turned back to Loki who was half way through reading Othello and crossed her arms.
"Okay, I'll bite, what are you up to?"
I apologise that i havent updated in a while but i have had sirius writers block! But now i have ideas! *Yay* *Punches air*
So, i promise the chapters will get a little more interesting from now on, (an unexpected call and a mysterious attack in the north?) Anyways, please drop a review it will be much appreciated!