A/N: Since swim is over for me, I'll be able to get more chapters out in less time. I know all of you are probably getting tired of waiting forever but you can't rush perfection, or at least decency. Enjoy this chapter! Don't forget to make a review!
As I was walking up the open steps, I heard a fountain to my left. I looked beyond Miss Potts to a room and my jaw dropped slightly, but I was still shocked.
The architecture was unbelievable. To be frank, it was freckin' awesome! The rooms were circular and open. On the left wall, it was all glass with an absolutely gorgeous view of the beaches. In the room by the biggest window I've ever seen, there was a circular coffee table with wooden balls that I think were seats and a couch partially wrapped around it. There was also a tall hang-over lamp. Directly ahead of me were a few steps that lead to a grand piano.
Miss Potts turned toward me and said politely with her hand stretched out, "I'm Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's assistant."
I took her hand and shook it. "I'm Carolyn Howard, but you can call me Cara," I said with a sincere smile.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Cara." Pepper smiled back. "That's a unique name, and it's very beautiful."
I lighted up at the compliment. "Thank you," I said smiling wide.
Pepper released my hand and inquired, "May I ask what relations you have with Mr. Stark?"
"I'm his niece." I said slowly, slightly embarrassed. I think it's because she was the third person to ask why I'm here.
"I see…" she said slowly while observing me, probably trying to see a resemblance between Tony and me. I could tell she wanted to ask how I came to be his niece, but held her tongue. She knew that Tony would explain later.
"This is the living room." Pepper said lightly, changing the subject. "Mr. Stark and Mr. Stane conduct business here."
"Who's Mr. Stane?" I inquired.
She gave me a quick, disbelieving "You don't know?" look, but caught herself and erased it from her expression in exchange for a stoic face. "Obadiah Stane is Mr. Stark's business partner for Stark Industries. He has just as much control over the company as Mr. Stark does."
"Oh," I said, feeling stupid. "I don't know anything about him or Tony. My mom never even told me she had a brother." I looked at her, embarrassed.
"Oh." She said, also looking embarrassed. Her cheeks were turning red. "I'm sorry. I was suspecting you would already know about everything. I mean, he is your mother's brother. But if you look at it from your mother's point-of-view, I suppose it makes sense."
Wanting to change the subject again, I asked, "Does Tony play piano?" because it seemed highly unlikely. He didn't strike me as the musical type.
"No, he doesn't." she said with an amused smile. "It's just for looks, like most of the things around here."
I had a feeling she meant something other than the décor, but I didn't dwell on it; we left the room quickly for the rest of the tour, so I was a tad distracted with the architecture.
When we came to a smaller room than the living room: three quarters of the wall was transparent glass, presenting the crystal-blue ocean. I thought it was another sitting room.
"This is the TV room." Pepper said.
I looked at her, confused. "Where's the TV?" I asked. "Not having one kind of defeats the purpose of the 'TV' room. But the view is gorgeous." I tried to compromise the negative comment with a positive one. I didn't want to seem like a pessimistic person.
Pepper walked past me to a console on a glass coffee table and pressed a button on the screen of it.
Suddenly, an image appeared on the huge window: the news channel was on, with an anchorwoman talking about the crime rate. The picture was crystal-clear and the detail was better than I've seen on any LCD or plasma television in my life. It didn't show any translucency from the window itself; it looked completely solid.
"Wow." was all I could manage. The technology in this place was incredible. It blew me away how Tony could build these things, much more on how he thought of building them.
Pepper looked at me and smiled. "It tends to amaze me, every now and then, how high-tech Tony made everything, but I don't think of it most of the time since I'm here everyday." She turned off the "TV" and led me to the staircase. "I'll show you your room now."
To the right of the staircase was a fountain. It was a bumpy glass wall with water flowing down the side to splash onto polished rock. There was a simple art piece on top of the rocks.
The open steps circled to the left and above the first set of steps that lead back down to the first floor. I followed Pepper up the steps where the bedrooms were. The steps made me nervous: there wasn't a handrail so I kept my balance while looking at Pepper's back. I felt like I was going to trip the entire time.
Tony apparently doesn't think of safety, I thought, just then figuring it out. The weapons he produces are the first clue.
We got to the top of the stairs and I was looking at a long hallway. Pepper escorted me down it. We stopped at the last door before it turned left into another corridor. I looked down the other hallway curiously. The entire right wall was a glass window. At the end of the hallway was a wide metal door with an electronic lock on the side of the door.
I heard a door slide open to the right of me; Pepper had opened a sliding metal door similar to the one at the end of the other hallway, but this one had a normal-sized width. I looked through the doorway and back at her, silently asking her if I could go in. She smiled and nodded, giving me permission.
I looked at the room again, and walked steadily into it. This where I was going to sleep and just relax? I thought excitedly. Yes!
The room was a great size; it was about sixteen by eighteen. The entire left wall was glass, just like the one in the hallway. The view of the ocean was always breath-taking for me, and this view sure emptied my lungs! There was a queen-sized bed facing me, and I grinned. I had never slept on anything bigger than a twin before.
Across from the bed was a low, wide two-shelf metal bookcase, and above it was a fifty-inch LCD HDTV with a Blu-Ray player hanging on the wall.
Drat, I thought. I have to change all my DVDs to Blu-Ray now. I'm glad Blu-Ray's available though!
Along with the bookcase and TV, there was a four drawer dresser that didn't have any handles on the right wall.
How I'm I supposed to open them, a remote? Then I noticed the remote was on top of the dresser. Duh, I thought stupidly to myself. Sometimes I don't notice those tiny but obvious details, despite my IQ, unless I force myself to pay close attention.
To the right of the dresser, was a double sliding metal door with no handles. Is everything remote controlled? I pondered. I looked at the two night stands on each side of the bed and—what do you know—there were no handles. That would be a "yes".
Above each night stand was a modern wall light, but there were no light switches in sight. There's probably another button on the remote that turns those on.
Past the dresser, there was another sliding metal door in the far right corner of the room. I strode toward the door, and it opened as I came to a halt a foot away from it. I glanced inside, and it was a roomy bathroom. There was marble flooring and tan painted walls along with a long tan marble sink top. On the ceiling was a window channeling light fully into the room. The sink cabinet under the sink was made of cherry wood. The shower was made of beige marble with a bunch of shower heads on two walls with a waterproof Bose radio.
Nice touch, I thought. There was also a mirror stretching the length of the sink, so I looked at my reflection.
I fixed my medium-length dark-brown hair that I usually tied back so I can work. I had my hair down as I was looking in the mirror. I wear it down when I'm trying to make a good impression. I looked at my chocolate-brown eyes. My mother always said how they seemed endless, that they traveled to my very soul and showed all who I truly was. She said that whoever took the time to look deep enough, then that's when they really, truly cared about me and they'll learn that caring for me is a gift, not a chore. I never really believed her, but she said she knows from experience. I always left the subject at that.
If I really do have that charm, how come it's never worked before? I reflected. I always tried to talk to others in my advanced grade and learn more about them, but every time they ask how old I was and automatically judge me by that. It was like talking to a younger was gonna make everyone else think they were "lame" or "un-cool". The only people who've respected me in school were my teachers, who noticed my intelligence without any boasting, and my respect for others. They seemed like the only ones who cared about how I felt, everyday asking "How are you?" I realized early on that I'm simply more mature than all these adolescents, but thinking this didn't make going through school five days per week any better. I've never truly belonged anywhere except at home. With home gone, I hoped that I could belong here in some way.
I mean, my uncle has a higher IQ too. I'd think that we'd be at least somewhat alike—I stared at my reflection angrily—but that didn't work out according to plan. I have no home now; I don't belong here either.
I turned away from my reflection, along with the grievous thoughts polluting the contentment and serenity of my mind. I took a deep breath through my nose and released the air from my mouth, getting myself back in the content state-of-mind. I didn't want Pepper to be worried.
I walked back out into the room, saw Pepper waiting patiently in the doorway, and smiled. "This room is…amazing!" I said gratefully. "I can't even find the right adjectives to describe it! Thank you, for everything." I paused. "I hope I'm not a distraction or bother to either of you—"
Pepper stopped me short with a shocked expression. "No! No, no, no." She gave a comforting smile. "You're not a distraction, really. It's…complicated." She sighed. "You weren't exactly expected. We had no notification of your arrival."
"They never called you?" I asked, surprised. Officer Gibson gave me a First Class ride, a taxi ride, but never called the person I was going to stay with? I guess they forgot, or didn't know how to contact a billionaire.
She shook her head. "We never got a phone call. They could've called the company."
I shrugged a little. "I guess it was just simpler this way. No confusions of my identity." I looked at her and could tell that she was still troubled by my upbringing. I looked at her questionably. "He really never told you that he had a sister?"
She knit her eyebrows like she was trying to remember. "It was so long ago, almost fifteen years ago." She thought for a moment. "I remember there was someone who called Tony's cell; they somehow got his number. He didn't answer and they left a message. While I was in the room, he replayed his messages out loud. There was one voicemail whose voice I didn't recognize: it was a woman. She said how she'd found a husband and is living happily. She also said how she's proud of him and where he's come. She wished him a happy life." She looked up from her flashback. "He never told me who it was, saying it was unimportant. But he tried to trace back the number from its source. He found out that the woman called from a pay phone." She looked at me more closely. "Was your mother the one that called?"
I swallowed before I spoke. "Yes." I glanced down for a moment, then looked back at her again. "She called him before I was born. She told me in a letter that was written to me for when she passed." I turned away and looked over the ocean, trying to hold back the newborn tears blurring my vision. It's been getting harder and harder to hold the overflow. One of these days, I'm going to cry in front of a bunch of strangers without being able to stop, embarrassing myself in the face of the general public. But they don't know what I've been through, or what I'm still going through. I closed my eyes. There I go again. I can't keep thinking like this. I can't keep looking where I've been, because I'll miss the attractions passing me. My mom's advice eased through my metaphorical ears. Don't miss the events of life, because you only get one chance to see them.
I breathed deeply through my nasal passages only, calming my heart rate somewhat, and opened my eyes, tears successfully restrained. I turned back to Pepper, who wore a sympathetic expression, and smiled gently, trying to say that I was fine without using words.
She didn't say anything, probably because she didn't know what to say. I didn't blame her; what would you say to a teenager who you barely knew and they started crying in front of you? Nothing really comes to mind.
So I decided to change the subject; I didn't like gloomy topics of conversation. They made me feel sad. "May I go get my bags or am I not allowed to be down there?" I asked.
Pepper looked grateful for the topic change. "It'll be better if I go down there; I have a lot to discuss with Mr. Stark." She seemed a little angry. I would be angry too if my friend didn't tell me he had a sibling.
"I'll be right back with your bags." Pepper smiled sincerely, turned, and walked toward the stairs, the door sliding closed behind her.
