Chapter 11

Lunch Break

RECAP:

Ten minutes later, we were out of that store and Juliet was deciding where we were going next. But before she could decide, her stomach grumbled loudly. I had to laugh. Before, I could finish laughing my stomach growled.

Juliet glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. "Lunch break?" she asked.

"Lunch break." I agreed.

Juliet led the way to the food court, and a thought occured to me. "Do they have any vegetarian resturaunts?" I asked hoping. If they didn't, then I couldn't eat. There is no way in hell that I will ever eat meat.

"Yeah, there's this awesome little place I know of." Juliet said towing me to a small nook in the food court.

Holly's POV:

The place was called 'The Shamrock Cafe'. It was so cute. The cafe ws small, yet bustling. It was the kind of place that combined people from all walks of life. It had people from lawyers to painters to junkies. But everyone was calm. The resturaunt was a bright room with high circular tables around the room. Most of the tables only had two chairs to them. A long counter took up the front part of the store. As I walked in I could smell the rich, aromatic flavor of brewing coffee. It was refreshing.

Juliet led me to a corner table and we looked over the menues for a few moments. A pretty waitress sauntered up to us. "Hey ladies. Are you ready to order?" she asked in a loud voice. It wasn't the type of voice that let you know that she wanted everyone to hear her. It was the kind of loud that showed confidence.

"Yes" Juliet and I said together.

"What would you like?" she asked pulling out a notepad with her pen poised to take down our orders.

"I'll have the grilled veggie burger... and the Irish fries." Juliet ordered. Juliet had assured me that the menu was meat free, so I felt free to order what I wanted.

"The same please." I smiled.

"And what to drink?" she asked us.

"Iced tea." Juliet answered.

"Irish spring water, if you have it?" I said, my statement coming out as more as a question.

"Okay, I'll be back with your orders soon." she assured us.

Only about ten minutes later, the food arrived. "Here you are." smiled the waitress. She walked back into the kitchen area, leaving us with our veggie burgers. For a few minutes, we were occupied with getting some food into our grumbling stomachs.

All of a sudden, Juliet sat her burger down. I looked up at her questioningly. The food was pretty good, and so I didn't see why she'd want to put it down. "Holly, I think we need to talk."

"What about?" I asked still munching on my burger.

"About you and Arty." Juliet said seriously. I almost choked on the food in my mouth. I wasn't expecting this. I didn't think she'd ask. I don't even know about how I feel.

"What has that got to do with anything?" I gasped.

"Oh, please. You know damn well, that you two love each other."

"Only as friends." I insisted.

"Who are you fooling?" she asked. "Probably not even yourself."

"Look, Juliet, he's not my type."

"I've never seen two people more suited for each other." she said.

"We are not suited for each other." I said through gritted teeth. "We have nothing in common."

"Bull shit and you know it." Juliet said losing her temper with me. "You love him, and it's okay."

"I don't and it's not." I said trying to convince myself.

I think she could hear the slight waver in my voice as I put on a front. "Listen, Artemis belongs with -." She began before she was cut of by a very familiar voice.

"Hello, Juliet." said the voice of Minerva Paradizo. The blond, sexy, bitchy genius that has been trying to get her claws into Artemis since they met. As irrational as it may be, I felt my heart rate speed up and my hands ball into fists.

I don't like her. It's more like I seriously hate her. She's vain, unmerciful, and in love with Artemis. It's not that I love him. It's just that she won't treat him, like he should be treated. She's the type who uses and schemes to get what she wants. And what she wants is fame and attention. So, being on the arm of a sexy genius would help her get that. I don't want to see that happen to him.

"Minerva," Juliet said nodding her head curtly.

"How have you been?" Minerva asked with a grin that looked like it had been painted on. In other words, fake.

"Fine, and you?" Juliet returned. Good, Minerva isn't the only one who can act.

"Oh, same old, same old." She giggled. Then, she looked at me like she hadn't noticed me before. Ugh, this girl really annoys me.

"Oh hello." she waved. "Who are you?"

"Hol-Holinda" I said. Thankfully. Out of all of the things I had prepared, I hadn't thought of a name. If I had said 'Holly' then she would have known it was me. Holinda ws the first thing that I blurted out. I had almost let it slip.

"Oh Holinda, how nice to meet you." she grinned like a cat eating a canary. Too bad she doesn't know that I'm not the prey.

"You too Minerva."I gushed. She's not the only one who can play that game. I can show just as much fake kindnes as she can.

"Hmm, I heard the tale end of your conversation and thought I'd come over." she said. "I'm Artemis Fowl's girlfriend."

"That's funny, I've never heard of you." I said cocking my head slightly to the side to show confusion.

"Oh, I'm sure you haven't." She acknowledged. "Why would he talk about his personal life with someone like you?"

I was seething on the inside. To be honest I felt like slapping this girl silly. Oooh, she's lucky, I don't want to get arrested.

"Someone like me? What does that mean?" I mananged to grit out between clenched teeth. To tell the truth, I'm surprised I remained so calm. Calm enough to not attack her.

"Someone with low intelligence at best. A bleached, blond wanna-be." she laughed. "Is that even your real hair color. I bet you're usually a mousy brown."

I was out of my seat, before I knew it. "Listen her bitch, you will never talk to me like that again." I threatened. Well, it's more like I screeched. "I may not be a genius but I am not dumb. And as for hair color, what about your roots?"

"Enough, you two." Juliet said standing and placing her hands between us.

"Minerva?" I shot around Juliet. "Do you know where Arty's going to be tonight."

"Where?" she asked huffily.

"The Phenom." Juliet smiled, obviously she was on my side.

"Artemis wouldn't go clubbing without telling me." she said clearly shaken up. Can't say the same for her.

"He wouldn't if you two were actually together." I corrected.

"Whatever." she said, shooting me a finger sign. She's lucky that I didn't take it off. "I have to go." All that I'm going to say is that she's lucky she could leave in one piece.

"Buh-bye." I said waving as her curly, blond head turned and walked away.

"Haha," Juliet collapsed into giggles as soon as she was out of earshot. "You sure are something Holinda."

I laughed too. "What's the Phenom?" I asked sitting back down to finish my food as if nothing had happened.

"The club we're gonna hit tonight." she grinned.

"Arty's going to be there?" I asked trying to keep the burning curiosity out of my voice.

"Probably. He'll track me down by then." she giggled. "Even if he isn't there, your new bestie will be."

I growled a bit. Bestie my round rear end.

Just as I was about to tell her this, a voice interrupted me. "Hey?" a guy called. Both Juliet and my head whipped around. I saw a tall, blond guy. With bright, blue eyes that looked stoned. Craig.

"Hi Craig," I grinned like we were old friends. Rather than having just met this morning. Juliet looked puzzled, probably expecting him to be a fairy friend of mine. Behind Craig stood two muscular guys. One had a blond, bed head and an easy smile. The other guy had light brown hair that was rather long and straight. They were both cute in a surfer boy kind of way.

There was also a woman behind them. She was tall and thin. Wiry, you would call her. Yet, there was still muscles to her. Her dark, chesnut hair curled down her back, and her green eyes flashed with curiosity and intelligence.

"How are you?" I asked.

"Fine, just got off." he grinned. "Oh and I realized that I never got your name."

"Holinda, Holinda Briefs." I said. (Briefs was the first thing that I thought of. Get it Brief? Short?) "Oh and this is my friend Juliet."

"Nice to meet you," he nodded. "This is the love of my wife, Dana."

"And that's Aidan," he said indicating the blond. "And his twin Emory." (The brunette) At first, I didn't notice the similarities. But, now as I look at the both of them I see it. They must be identical, they have the same straight hair, straight nose, and smile. One of them must dye their hair. I'm thinking it must be Emory. Aidan seems to confident to change his appearance.

"Nice to meet you." Juliet and I said together.

"Mind if we sit down, Holinda?" Craig asked.

"No, come on. We were just having lunch."

Aidan pulled up a chair next to me. And, Emory pulled up another chair to sit next to Juliet. Great, we'd already been divied out. Craig pulled up a third chair in between those two. At this point our table was already too crowded for another chair. So Dana had to sit in his lap. Not that she minded too much. In fact, it seemed to fit her just fine.

Craig and Dana were so cute together. He constantly touched her. Not in a sick pervy way, but in a sweet way, that lets him/her know that you're there. He stroked her cheek, held her hand, but he never let her go. I kept thinking about Artemis and I. Then a wave of sadness swept over me. We can't be together. It's impossible. We'll never be like that. Not that I want it to be.

"So, what was up with that blond chick?" Aidan asked. His voice was very typical surfer boy. In fact, I was waiting on him to put a 'dude' on the end of his sentence.

"Yeah, she looked ready to kill." Emory laughed looking at Juliet.

"She was trying to usurp Holinda's boyfriend." she said, stealing glances at Emory.

"That is not my boyfriend." I screeched glaring at Juliet. "You know that."

"Hmm, so you're single?" Aidan asked.

"For all intente and purposes, yes." I answered.

"And you?" Emory asked Juliet hopefully.

"Yeah, I am." Juliet blushed.

"Whe you four are done flirting, I wanna know why blondie thought this guy was your boyfriend." Dana said in a lofty voice.

"Oh, he's just like my best friend." I smiled just thinking about him. I noticed Juliet look at me strangely, wonder what that means.

"Well, since this guy's not your boyfriend..." Aidan began.

"We just want to know what plans you two ladies have for tonight." Emory said, finishing his brother's sentence.

"Oh, we're going to the Phenom." I said acting like I knew what I was talking about.

"For real?" Dana cooed.

"Yeah, it's going to be totally fun." Juliet said excitedly. "Holinda and I are going to dance all night long."

"Hmmm, mind if we come too?" Aidan asked.

"Sure" Juliet and I said.

I turned to Dana and Craig. "I hope you guys are coming too." he said.

"We wouldn't miss if for the world." Dana answered.

"You heard my lady. We'll be there. See you guys tonight." After about twenty more minutes of conversation, they stood up to leave.

"Sorry to rush out on you, but i have some shopping to do." Dana laughed.

"So do we." Juliet agreed.

Dana, Craig, Aidan, and Emory all said bye to us and left. Before Aidan and Emory left, they went to the counter, probably to get a drink or something. "Ready to go?" Juliet asked me.

"Yeah, let's go." I said standing up. As we neared the counter, I felt my eyes widen in confusion.

"We need to pay our bill." I said to the tall, young man behind the counter.

"It's been taken care of." he smiled. I looked at Juliet.

"By who?" Juliet asked reasonably.

"The young men who sat with you earlier." he grinned. "You're very lucky ladies."

"Ummm, could we at least get a reciept from that?" I asked. Of course, I was going to repay them. There was no question about it.

"I'm sorry, but I was told not to."

Juliet decided to change strategy. She put on a silky, smooth voice. "My friend would want you to give us the reciept. Would you like to meet her?" she purred.

"W-w-what's your friends name?" he managed to stammer.

"Elizabeth." she said grabbing his hand. "Queen Elizabeth." I noticed his hand grasp something. Money. He quickly slipped it into his pocket, before we could change our minds. After a second of banging on the cash register, he handed us both a reciept.

"Here you are ladies. Sorry about the inconvienince. Be sure to have a great day."

"Don't worry." Juliet said waving as we left. "We will."

Author's Note:

Another chapter down. So much closer to Arty's arrival. Okay, you know the drill, review.

Remember: Reviews= happy camper. Happy camper= quicker updates. Quicker updates= you reading more. It's a cycle keep it going!

Yours truly, madly, and deeply

Einstinette