So awfully sorry for the late update! Worrying my friggin' head off about the Mt. Merapi stuff. So-o-o, this is it. Well, I don't expect you guys to like this one, though.
4
Artemis watched Atalanta and Meleager took off for their date. Hopefully, her secretary won't ask what she was doing there with him in the middle of the date.
"Have fun, guys!"
"You sure you don't need a ride home?" Meleager had asked, concerned. "It's raining."
"No, no. You gotta go. I'll be fine, really," she promised. She didn't want to see them having a make-out session when the car stopped. Plus, she had a feeling the crazy guys won't appear tonight. The therapy must've worked.
Atalanta accompanied her to the outlet just now, but she didn't find anything that would do for the disguise, so she picked up a catalogue instead. She was thinking maybe a car-crash of Goth and Lady Gaga looks would do.
She jumped in shock when thunder rumbled. Unfortunately, she didn't have her umbrella with her. She glanced at the time; underneath it said that the bus had a detour because of the thunderstorm. She cursed under her breath.
Her panic grew when she saw a couple of fat guys with neon blue and red Mohawks.
Her heart started to race. Oh no, no, no, no, no. She put her catalogue over her head and charged into the rain, making a mental note to sue the therapist for giving her overconfidence.
She was too busy cursing she didn't see the Camaro. It skidded noisily to a stop before hitting her. A familiar voice called, "Hey-"
Without looking at the driver's face, she opened the door and slipped in. She ducked under the window, saying a little prayer under her breath. She heard muffled voices of the two by the sidewalk, which slowly faded.
She inhaled and sat up. That was a relief, she thought. Glad I'm safe now.
"So…what was that about?" the driver asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir, I-" She stopped.
Orion gave her a quizzical look. "What were you hiding from? The police?" he asked.
Artemis hoped that he was acting rudely like the day they first met, but instead of sarcasm, there was concern in his voice. Shoot.
"No…I thought I just saw…um, a gangster that tormented me back then."
He lifted a brow. "Really?"
"He's in jail, actually, but the guy l-looks just like him." Okay, that was pretty good.
He nodded. "'Kay…Glad to help, Rachel."
"Uh, it's Artemis, actually."
"Sorry?"
"My real name, Artemis. Rachel's just a pseudonym." You owed him one, she told herself.
"What's a pseudonym?" Orion asked.
"Would you please drive?" She told him the address of a café near her house. After telling him her real name, she owed him nothing else.
"You don't drive?" Orion inquired.
"No. Don't have the license to; don't have the will to." Actually, she had her driver's test when she was in high school. Well, the granny didn't look left and right before crossing the road, so the "accident" wasn't really her fault. She never tried again, since the examiners are just too dumb for her.
With an AC/DC song playing loudly in the radio, she didn't realize the car was traveling around 90 miles/hour until she saw the truck.
"Look out!" she shrieked. Orion jerked to the left the wheel calmly. The tires screeched loudly, and Artemis was thrown to the door, head first.
Thud. "Ow! What the f-"
"Sorry 'bout that. You okay?" he asked.
"Okay?" she shouted angrily. "What do you mean okay? Slow down, for heaven's sake!"
"Don't worry, I got this under control," he replied calmly when the needle hovered above 100. Artemis felt a funny feeling in her stomach. "Wear the seat belt."
She frowned. "What the hell? There's no seat belt!"
"Oh, right, Sirius chewed it 'till it snapped off, last time. Stupid d-" Before he could finish, he sped up, avoiding the cars stopping when the traffic light was about to turn red. Artemis' back slammed the seat painfully.
"Made it," he said.
Her eyes were wild when she saw the needle at 125…and the traffic ahead.
"Stop! Stop the-"
A sharp turn to the right shut her up. Once again, she slammed into the door, in the face this time.
She groaned as she rose up. "Orion," she said sharply. "What do you intend to- HOLY COW!"
She curled into a ball and shrieked her head off as the car crashed through the pile or garbage…and the fence.
Where was the police? How come they're not chasing them? Oh, right, since you live in an awfully tiny and awfully crappy town in Ohio, the biggest crime ever was a guy snuggling little stuff from the hardware store, so the police were really lazy. But that's not a word to describe Officer Themis, though.
But what she saw after was way worse.
Homeless people in the alley started to run to the sidewalk when they saw the car. Artemis shrieked her head off while Orion drove as calmly as possible. "YOU'RE FREAKING NUTS!"
"Relax. I go through this every single day."
My God, Artemis you've just got into a car with a psycho in it.
Psycho. The word made her stomach lurch. She tried to concentrate on something - anything, but it just made the nausea even worse.
She moaned as "Shout It Out Loud" by KISS started playing. "I think…I'm going…to be sick…"
"Whoa, whoa, hold on." He hit the brake. A soft thud was heard from behind. He glanced back before getting out of the car and opening the door. Artemis was trying to haul herself up, which she had tried – with no luck.
"Hey, you alright?" He helped the green-faced young woman up. She was taking deep breaths. Whoa, does taking deep breaths make your face green?
"I'm…alright…" He felt a funny feeling in his stomach, and a thought hit him. He gripped her shoulders, and lowered his face to hers.
Meanwhile, the nausea got even worse. Her consciousness left her. Something was piling up in her stomach, and she let it out.
Olympus
The next day
"Let me get this straight," Jason said. "He took you for a wild ride, you got nauseous, he tried to kiss you, then you puked into his mouth."
Artemis nodded. Atalanta and Meleager resisted from laughing.
"You must've been having a really hard time," he continued. "And you've underwent therapy?"
"Yeah, I did. Proved it didn't work last night." She sighed. She was lucky to have Jason in marketing department. He could always "lead" troubled people away from their worries.
"Have you talked to your brother?"
"You mean the guy in financial who thought he was the male counterpart of Madonna?" Meleager joked. They burst out laughing.
"Well, not yet," Artemis replied. "I think it's a bad idea. That'll cause a…problem."
"She's right," her secretary said. "He'll literally start pulling his hair out if he heard 'bout this."
Jason went silent. Artemis knew that her case was hard to solve. Stress management stuff or whatever won't work. She can't send them to the police, they'll say the guys just wanted to be friends with her and that's all. She needed to tell the guys to stop chasing her around, but with their logic, they won't accept that.
"Hey, Jay, are you there?" Meleager asked.
"Right here," he answered. He turned to Artemis. "I've been thinking that…don't you think that someone's behind all of this?"
"And who's that some-" She stopped.
xxx
Artemis slammed her fists on Aphrodite's table. "It was you all along."
Aphrodite looked up from her nails. "Who? Me? What?"
"Don't play dumb! You paid – bribed, seduced, whatever – those guys to go after me! Admit it."
Aphrodite put on her what-the-hell-you're-talking-about look. "I have no idea what you're talking about excluding the fact that you've been watching detective movies and Drama TV late at night, you started dreaming about it."
"Cut the crap!" she bellowed. "You spit it out before I make you-"
"Miserable? Wish that I'm never born? That is so cliché," she scoffed. "Look, whatever you're suspecting me of, I didn't do it. Plus, you have no evidence."
Artemis looked like she was going to explode.
"Now, excuse me, I need to go to my day spa" – she poked Artemis' nose – "stat."
Atalanta pulled her boss away before the countdown ended. "I'd hate to admit, but she's right – you have no evidence."
"I don't," Artemis confirmed. "But I know Pinky von Princess de Bitch is behind this all along."
"I thought you just realized it when Jason told you his theory."
"Whatever. The point is I've to start investigating."
"From where?"
"Aphrodite's diary, maybe? She kept all her secrets there."
"Yeah, but she kept it in a safe."
"Dagnabbit," she cursed. "Which means I have to start investigating on the guys."
That's all, folks! *crunches on carrot*
The wild-ride scene would've been funnier if it was on TV or something.
Well? Review! :)
