Someone once asked me what my favourite sound was. At the time I wasn't really sure. If they had asked me what my least favourite sound was, I could probably answer them right away. There was a lot of sounds I hated. Like the sound of sharp fingernails being dragged across a blackboard for example or squealing cheerleaders or the sound of Justin Bieber falling off his ladder on the way to puberty. But my favourite sound? Right now, more than anything, it was the sound of Luke sleeping. Weird, huh? There was something strangely comforting in the sound of his heavy, even breathing and for the first time in years I slept without any nightmares or strange dreams. For the first time, I fell asleep with my head resting against Luke's chest, listening to the steady pulse of his heartbeat…
I woke up to the same sound I fell asleep to. My head was still resting on his chest and I realized that I had fallen asleep hugging Luke like a giant soft toy. Oh my gods.
I yelped silently, realizing that he was still asleep and tried to gently untangle myself.
Oh my gods, I kept thinking. I just slept with Luke Castellan.
Well, not in that context, but you know what I mean.
I looked at his peaceful sleeping face. His perfectly chiselled face and slightly pouting lips. At some point in the night he must have taken his shirt off and sunlight cast shadows on those defined abdominals. I used to think Luke was just a cute pretty boy type guy. He was and still is, I mean. But I never really noticed how handsome he really was.
I clutched my head and tried to shake out my sleep-induced stupor. Gods, what was wrong with me? There was no way I could like Luke that way. He was Luke. He was my mentor, best friend and a brotherly/sometimes fatherly figure. No, there was no way. I was probably still reeling from the effects of last night's pina coladas. Yes, that must be it. Or I'm probably still tired or something. No, no way was I going to think for even a second that Luke was handsome.
I carefully slipped out from under Luke's arm and tiptoed to the bathroom. I realized with a pang how empty I felt all of a sudden without Luke's protective arms wrapped around me. I shook my head again and then I looked in the mirror and almost gasped in horror.
I looked like Hell. Or better yet, Hades.
My hair was a complete tangled mess of curls and eyeliner was smudged across my eyelids. I looked like I just came out of drug-induced rehab. I looked like Taylor Momsen.
I tried to clean myself up in vain. Never before did I care much about how I look and now as I frantically combed through my hair, I realized that my painstaking dyed pink hair had almost completely faded to its original midnight black blue colour. Weird huh? The fact that my little brother Jason and I had both been born with dark black blue hair as the result of screwed up genetics. I had always been pretty embarrassed about it and since I was five, I had dyed it almost every colour of the rainbow, every colour except blue.
"Thalia?"
I jumped with a start and almost skidded into the door.
It was Nico.
He was wearing a tight fitting black Rage Against the Machine t-shirt and dark jeans. His expression varied somewhere between confused and concerned.
"Uh, are you okay?"
"Okay?" I screeched, in a low hiss. The last thing I wanted to do was to wake Luke up. "You sneak into my bathroom in the early hours of dawn and just to ask if I'm alright?"
Wow, my sarcasm was back already.
"Thalia, it's past midday."
"Oh, right," I motioned for him to step outside my room to talk. Luke was still sleeping and I didn't want him eavesdropping anytime soon.
"You didn't turn up to breakfast," Nico continued, gazing at me steadily. "So, I decided to come up and check on you."
"Yeah, well unfortunately I'm only half-dead," I shrugged, trying to match his nonchalant tone. I didn't want him to see that I was touched by the fact that he took the effort to come and check up on me. Then my eyes narrowed. "How did you know what room I was in?"
Nico cracked a slightly crooked smile. There was still a trace of a cut on his lip but it had almost completely healed. "It's a small world. I've lived here for most of my life so I know my way around."
I shifted, uncomfortably as an awkward silence fell between us. "Listen about yesterday night…"
I waited for Nico to interrupt with some lascivious or mildly inappropriate comment but he remained silent and just kept staring at me, weirdly so I decided it was my cue to make a run for it. "Actually, never mind. I'm sorry. I should, uh, go."
I turned to re-open the door to my room when Nico grabbed me by the arm, forcing me to turn and face him again.
"I came here to ask if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight," he said, abruptly.
Now it was my turn to smile. "You're asking me out on a date? Nico diAngelo is asking a girl out on a date?"
"Well, yeah," Nico shrugged. "I don't find guys attractive and I've never tried dating one. Don't plan on anytime soon either."
I narrowed my eyes and then realized how close we were standing. His face was only inches away from mine and it felt like any moment now he was going to kiss me again. I clenched my fist, I was not planning to relive the humiliation from the previous night. And there was no way I was going to fall for Nico's stupid, 'bad boy' charms. Nuh-uh.
"The good news for you however," Nico continued. "Is that I am well experienced in the dating girls department so you don't have to worry about fending gay guys off me as well as girls."
Well experienced?
I felt kind of hazy looking into his ink blue eyes while he was standing so close and forced myself to look away.
"Is this some kind of joke?"
"Aren't you the friendly type this morning?" Nico laughed, amiably. He didn't answer my question. "Come on, I'm trying to double my chances of kissing another good looking girl tonight. Just try and pretend to enjoy the conversation okay?"
I didn't speak.
"Come on, chickie. I feel kind of bad with how things ended with your, erm, acquaintance yesterday night so this is my humble way of making it up to you. Think about it: we can make it a double date. Besides, my sister, B really digs Mr. Thor lookalike. It's a win-win on both sides. He could potentially be attracted to her, she already is to him. And you know how the rest goes. This could work out just great."
I felt like he had just punched me in the gut. A double date? Luke and Bianca? He calls this a win-win situation? I mean sure, Bianca was kind of pretty. Okay she was really pretty. But she most definitely was not Luke's type. Right? I felt a hot surge of anger all of a sudden.
"No."
Nico furrowed his brow as if he were contemplating his sanity. Gods, had no girl ever had the decency to say no to this guy before? I guess there was a first time for everything.
"No," I repeated, trying to keep my voice even. "Not interesting," I muttered, turning away.
Nico, however, wouldn't let go of my arm. "Ah, I get it. You know if you want to make Captain America jealous, you could just ask y'know."
"Jealous?" I screeched. "You think I -"
I was so angry words escaped me and impulsively, my hand shot out and left an angry red mark across his face.
"Ow, chickie," Nico flinched. "What was that for?"
"What was that for?" I demanded, my voice rising with every word. This guy was fucking incredible. Did he not get the message? Gods, he really was fucking multi-talented. He could talk and annoy the complete hell out of me at the same time.
"Honestly, chickie," he said, looking confused now. "I have no idea why on gods earth you would do that."
Before I could fling back a sharp insult the door behind me was yanked open.
"Is there a problem here?"
Luke stood in the doorway, shirtless. With nothing but a towel across his waist. I knew from the slightly bunched up way it was folded that he was wearing his boxers underneath. He had purposely put on the towel just to spite Nico. And just to spite me. The bastard.
"Yeah, there is," I growled. "I'm looking right at it," I said, giving Nico my most hate-filled, withering, soul-destroying glare. Luke often joked I could give Medusa a run for her money with my glare and now, I realized he was half right.
Nico recoiled, his gaze shifting from Luke in his well-muscled, erm, entirety and me. He looked shocked, confused and apologetic even.
"You could have told me…" he said, looking hurt now.
"What? No! He's not my -"
"I think we're done here," Luke said, in a low tone without keeping his eye off Nico. He put an arm around me and I shrugged him off.
"He is not my… " I glared at Luke.
How did things get so messed up in less than fifteen minutes. Wow, record timing Thalia. Well done.
I gave the two of them my most withering look of resentment and then pushed past Luke slamming the door shut. Then it occurred to me that I had just left two infuriatingly handsome albeit confused looking boys who hated each other locked outside the door of the hotel room. Together.
Smart move, Thalia. Smart move.
Burying my head in the pillow, I screamed into it angrily.
