Dpov

I watched Jake push Lorelei towards the parking lot, feeling desperately sorry for her as his team quickly filed onto their bus in confusion.

I couldn't explain the expression that had crossed her face when he'd said they needed to go, but it was something far worse than mere disappointment. It was closer to heart break, and it had me wondering just how much courage it had taken for her to come here today.

Now it looked as if it was being thrown right back in her face.

"What is happening?" a voice asked and I glanced up to see Cole looking around the field, the clipboard that he used to track player stats still in hand, but hanging loosely at his side, obviously forgotten.

Our players were standing aimlessly, some talking to each other while others looked to our coach for some sort of direction. He was talking to his counterpart on the other team, who nodded towards Jake and Lorelei, before both looked at me. I felt my stomach sink a bit, though I wasn't sure why.

"Dex!" I looked over my shoulder to see Michael, his hand in Ellie's, waving to catch my attention. She seemed just as perplexed as the rest of the crowd, but also a little concerned. "I'm going to take Ellie home!"

I nodded, feeling apprehensive as I realized not everyone looked as confused as Ellie. Some of them had their phones out and were talking to each other excitedly, craning their necks towards the parking lot, though I noticed Jake had put his arm around Lorelei's shoulder, positioning himself in a way that made it difficult to make out the person he was next to.

The gesture was more practical than affectionate, as if it was something he'd had to do many times…

"Dex!" Ellie called gesturing for Michael to wait momentarily as she looked at me. "Is Lorelei ok?"

She gestured towards her cheek, obviously having noticed something of the injury and Michael almost winced.

It was as if the crowd, now simmering with more excitement than at any stretch of the game, had hit a boiling point, and the mention of Lorelei's name was what tipped the scales.

I heard shouts of excitement. More phones came out as there was a surge towards the parking lot where flashes were already going off, and I knew there must have already been people waiting there.

Michael dragged Ellie out of harm's way as the horde flooded away from the field. Cole's eyes went wide as he watched, then turned me, his expression one of complete shock.

"Something you want to tell me about your girlfriend dude?" he asked. "I mean, I know she's pretty, but this seems like a major overreaction."

"I-"

"Dex!" My coach shouted and I was surprised to see my mother next to him, looking oddly frantic. "Go home!"

He looked worried, but before I could even begin to ask what was going on, my mother was already jogging to me.

"We need to get home." She said quietly, and while her tone was calm overall, there was an certain urgency to it nonetheless that I wasn't used to and she looked anxious. "Now. Before they figure out which car is yours."

"What?"

But my mother, small as she was, was already pushing me towards the student lot with significant force.

"How do you know Lorelei?" she asked.

"How do you know Lorelei?" I countered frowning at her.

"She's famous Dex." She said looking at me as if I was insane, but then added. "I know her father."

And finally, it clicked.

It was obvious by his garage that Lorelei's father liked fast, powerful cars. My mother was the best in the business when it came to working on exactly the sort of cars he would want to buy. It was how she'd been noticed by my father. She could fix almost anything that had an engine, it didn't matter what it was, and living in California, she had a lot of high profile people that came to her for repairs.

"He's one of your clients?" I asked incredulously and she nodded.

"I haven't seen her since she was a kid, but it's kind of obvious who she is." She frowned, a line forming between her brows at what appeared to be some sort of memory. "Her father practically paid for your college fund by himself. He's put the wrong gas in his Ferrari at least three times…"

She shook her head, obviously trying to clear her thoughts. The lot was dark in comparison to the stadium lights on the field, the sun having disappeared not long after the start the game. But even in the half-light provided by the lights fixed to the walls of the school, I could tell she still looked nervous. It made the night feel a bit cooler, despite the fact it was well into spring and the temperature was picking up for the season.

A slight breeze rolled over us and I repressed a shudder.

"Look, we'll talk more when we get home." She continued as we reached my car. "Let's just get moving."

She gave me a pat on the shoulder then trotted off to her Jeep and I hesitated for a second, watching her jump up into the driver's side before following her example and stepping into my car.

I managed to get out of the lot without incident, not really why she seemed so concerned until I saw cop cars flying past me in the direction of the school.

Just how crazy was it getting back there?

I watched them in the rear view for a moment before forcing my attention back to the road. When I pulled into our driveway next to my mother, she hopped out of her car and gestured for me to follow her inside.

She didn't speak at first, but grabbed a glass from a cabinet in the kitchen and filled it with water before squinting at me over the rim as she took a sip.

"So," she said eventually, sitting the glass on the counter and giving me an expectant expression. "How do you know Lorelei?"

I hesitated for a moment, wondering if there was any getting around this, but there didn't seem to be and I knew my mother well enough to determine that lying to her wouldn't be pretty.

"We met at camp." I said honestly and her eyes went wide.

I could tell whatever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been that.

"Camp?" she asked incredulously. "You mean camp Halfblood?"

I nodded.

"She's a demigod?"

"A daughter of Aphrodite."

She hesitated for a moment, clearly having been caught off guard by this information before mumbling.

"That explains a lot."

"About how she looks?"

"About her behavior." She explained sounding a bit conflicted before she paused, clearly thinking to herself, then asked. "How much do you know about this girl Dex? I mean, besides who her father is obviously."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean she doesn't exactly have the best reputation." She continued, still seeming a bit at war with herself and I thought I could see my mother's dilemma. Concern for her son, and sympathy for someone that was in a similar situation as him. At least in the whole demigod aspect. "Though, if you'd had cameras trained on you all the time when monsters showed up, you also might come across a little erratic."

Another frown.

"What does she want with you?"

It was clear she couldn't understand why someone like Lorelei would turn up to something as low profile as a high school lacrosse game, just as it was clear the situation made her uneasy. I was reminded that really, the only reason Lorelei had sought me out in the first place was because of our exes.

But my mother didn't need to know that.

"We're friends." I said feeling that it was truth enough and she took a moment to process the explanation.

"Friends?" she asked with a slightly incredulous laugh. She sounded more shocked than in disbelief, but it sent a strange, almost protective emotion through me.

It was obvious my mother was trying to sort her opinions about Lorelei as a person as new information was coming to light, and it was also clear, that not all of those opinions were good.

"She's actually pretty normal." I insisted which earned a scoff and I figured it was a poor choice of words.

"Ok, maybe not normal." I agreed. "She can bet a bit… Lorelei," I continued not knowing how else to describe her. "And I know how that sounds, but it's not like you'd expect." I added hastily, before she could argue. "She's actually pretty cool. Nice even."

"Nice?" she asked skeptically.

"Yeah, in her own sort of way."

"You're aware she once set a photographer's camera on fire?"

That caught my attention.

"No." I said cautiously. Gods that did sound like something she might do… "Not really an issue for me though." I pointed out with shrug. "All things considered."

"Well, no." she admitted grudgingly before grinning a little. "I don't think I've ever seen someone move that quickly in heels."

I laughed.

"She killed a fury with one."

"Did she?" she asked in amazement and I nodded.

"Yeah. She's actually a little terrifying."

"Interesting." She said her voice thoughtful, but I thought I heard a bit of approval in her tone at this. "You're wrong by the way."

"Wrong about what?"

"You didn't meet Lorelei at camp." She said, and continued when she saw what I figured had to be visible confusion on my part. "You've actually met her before. Years ago, when you were a kid. You might not remember, but her father came into the shop once and he brought her along."

"Seriously?" I asked frowning, scouring my memories for something like she'd described and she nodded.

"I brought you to work that day, and we let you two play with each other. Next thing I knew, you both had disappeared and we found you trying to show her how to jump start a car battery. We had to drag you both out of the garage."

A memory darted into my mind, clear as day, resurfacing after years of being buried under unimportant information like jingles from television commercials, or the date of the spelling bee in sixth grade. Laughing at the skeptical expression the girl had given me when I said you could recharge a car battery with another one, and not hesitating to try prove my point when she all but ordered me to show her how it worked.

Gods, how old was I when that had happened? Six? Seven?

Even if I'd always been tall, I'd had to use a stool to reach the cables…

'Gods.' I thought.

Looking back, it was obvious my mother was right. From the way she'd looked at me with obvious mistrust when I'd asked her name, to the way one side of her mouth quirked up before the other when she tried, and failed, to hide a smile. The wary, almost resentful look in her eyes when she caught someone staring at her, or asking her personal details, that I was certain was a cover for a significant amount of fear, and maybe even hope. Hope that when a person was looking at her, they saw her for her, not what she looked like or who her father was. Fear for what would happen if they didn't. And maybe, fear for what would happen if they did. What they might think of Lorelei as a person, when they saw her for who she truly was.

It had been over ten years. Sure she looked a bit different today with the make-up and the clothes, but I was sure my mother was right.

A part of me wondered if Lorelei even remembered this, while the other was wondering if I'd actually met her before Jake had.

"I had such a crush on her." I muttered, not realizing I'd said it out loud until my mother gave me a significant expression.

"Somethings never change I guess."

"I-" I started automatically, but felt my face flush a little and she cut me off.

"Save it." she said with her 'don't lie to me' expression. "I'll see you in the morning."

She shot me a final meaningful look, then made her way towards the stairs and I waited until I heard door to her room shut before I followed, turning left at the second level and stepping into my own.

I turned on the light automatically and frowned when I spotted my closet, not entirely sure why I'd fixated on it until I slid back the door, and saw a box of old keepsakes tucked into a back corner. I didn't know what possessed me to grab it and set it on my desk, but I found myself scouring through a few of the photo albums realizing only when I saw it, what I'd been looking for.

There it was.

A polaroid photo in my mother's shop, Lorelei scrunching her face at the camera, her expression adorably stubborn while a much tinier version of me laughed. A part of me wondered if the look was merely childhood antics, or if she'd already started to develop a resentment for pictures. Either way, I almost laughed when I saw she'd written her name in the space under the photograph, realizing she'd dotted a heart over the i even back then.

Grinning, I grabbed my phone ready to send a photo of this to Lorelei when I frowned.

"What the hell?"

Why did I have so many text messages?

Confused, I opened the app only to see I had over forty texts from a variety of numbers. Some saved, others seemingly random, almost all of them apparently from people at my school.

'Hey, is it true?'

'Dex? This is Sarah from math class. What happened at the game?'

'Yooooooo, everyone's talking about it, are you really going out with that psycho guy's daughter?'

Utterly perplexed, I about ready to block everyone just to avoid having to answer when I spotted a text from a contact I did recognize.

Jenny.

'WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!'

It was followed by a string of emoticons that had me thinking she was more excited than angry, I figured this would be the message I would actually respond to when Ellie's name flashed onto the screen, obscuring the messages with a call.

I answered it immediately.

"Hello?"

"Oh my god Dex, I'm so so sorry." She apologized, sounding absolutely panicked. "I-I didn't know. It just happened so fast I-" she was babbling, evidently on the verge of tears and I heard a series of sounds as if the phone was changing hands before Michael's voice was on the line.

"Dex, we have a problem."

"Is this why my phone's blowing up?" I asked anxiety knotting in my stomach.

"People recognized Lorelei at the game. Everyone's talking about it. The whole school knows she was there."

"What does that have to do with me?" I asked and he let out a noise of impatience, as if he thought I was being stupid.

"You know that photo Ellie took? She put it on a few of her socials during the game. It blew up. It's absolutely everywhere even after she took it down. The internet is having a field day."

"I'm so sorry Dex." Ellie said and her voice muffled by distance. "I had no idea I swear. I-"

"It's fine El." I said automatically having no idea if it actually was. "You didn't know."

"Why didn't you tell me who she was?" she asked and I figured Michael had put the phone on speaker, because her voice was a lot clearer now. She sounded distraught. "If you had I never would have-"

"Look it doesn't matter." Michael said cutting Ellie off, but his tone was kind. "Dex, you should probably call your girlfriend. This is getting out of hand."

"She's not my girlfriend Mike." I said stubbornly and he let out a hollow laugh.

"Yeah? Try telling that to the rest of the world."

"Bye." I said annoyed and hung up the phone.

I opened my call list, my thumb hovering over Lorelei's name, wondering if Michael was right and I should call her when I was distracted by a notification signaling a text from Priya of all people.

It was pretty late and Priya lived on the opposite side of the country, several time zones ahead of me.

Confused, wondering why she was texting in what had to be the early hours of the morning on her end, I clicked on the message and froze when I saw it was a screen shot of an article, along with the photo Ellie had posted, and a second picture that must surfaced since the original had gone viral. I realized it had been taken after the game, as she was wearing my jacket and while I knew I'd been cleaning the side of her face that had been covered in blood, the photo had been taken from a different angle.

I was laughing at something she'd said, and she was smiling up at me, my hand seemingly resting along the side of her face. Even I had to admit it looked like I was about to kiss her, and I had been there. I knew what actually happened.

Priya had followed the screenshot with a link and a long line of question marks to highlight her obvious confusion.

I opened the link, and when I saw the article title, my stomach about fell through the floor, by passing the first level of the house completely and buried itself somewhere under the basement.

Hell, it might have made it all the way to Tartarus at this point.

'Lorelei In Love'

"What the…" I muttered scanning the first few lines of the article, completely incensed at this point. It was brief, posted only minutes ago on what looked to be a celebrity gossip blog no less, but it had massive following.

'Readers will have no trouble recognizing one of these gorgeous faces seeing as Lorelei Ellis, soccer's notorious little sweetheart gone sour, has been a consistently hot topic in the drama community for quite some time, hopping from one scandal to next almost as quickly as her father changes girlfriends. Ok, maybe that's a little unrealistic, even she's not that much drama. Infamous for her bad temper and even worse decision making, I'll admit readers, I was surprised how long it had been since we'd had a proper bit of gossip from one of our favorite A-list celebrity train wrecks. I thought after her father went to Europe we were in for a spectacular breakdown, devolving into a string of bad boys and tantrums that ended with expensive cars damaged and possibly a few arrests. And for a bit there, it looked as if she was gearing up for quite the show. But readers, you might have noticed that our favorite internet scandal has been relatively quiet for a fair amount of time, and admit it. We all were wondering why. Well my loves, I'm here to tell you that yours truly, has cracked the case. I finally have the explanation we've all been waiting for. And as always, with an Ellis, it's juicy.

It seems as if this dramatic little diva might be mellowing with the choice of a rather unexpected partner. Local honors student, and home town hottie, Dexter (Dex) Cartwright. Though, in this case, can we really blame her?

The block of rage inducing text was interrupted by another photo the internet must have ripped off Elli's account, and was arguably the only good picture anyone had ever gotten of me while working in the shop at school, as I used a drill to try and fix roll cage on a design we'd been working on last year.

It's unknown how the two met, however while the news is currently taking the internet by storm, photos of the two have been quietly surfacing across socials for weeks, suggesting they've known each other for quite some time. I think readers, it won't be long before the information comes out. Until then, enjoy this unexpectedly adorable update in the usually salacious Lorelei storyline. And just know, when she's back on her bullshit, you my dear readers, will be the first to know.'

I stared at the words in complete shock, disgusted. They were treating Lorelei, a high school student, like she was some sort of stock character. A massive screw up just there to be the comic relief for the people who felt as if their lives didn't provide them with enough entertainment, and were petulantly annoyed they hadn't had enough chaos from her recently to talk about.

The sarcasm behind the writing was evident, even if this author was pretending to be happy for Lorelei it was clear that they, and their whole reader base were just itching to watch her fall apart. Rooting to see her life ripped to absolute shreds. It was obvious that to this blogger, that was the ideal outcome. The one that would bring them the most satisfaction. If Lorelei completely self-destructed. And by the fact that they had over two million followers on this site alone, it was clear that a significant part of the world agreed with them.

It made me feel sick in a way I'd never experienced before. Sick, and angry, and I didn't know what to do with it. I wanted to reach through my screen and throttle this psychopath until they realized what they were doing. Who they were hurting. How messed up this all really was, but I couldn't and it made me feel so helpless.

There was a gallery of photos at the end, including the two pictures at the top of the post along with what looked like several poor-quality shots, obviously taken on someone's phone, of photos sneaked at the arcade, or on the board walk. Or stolen from twitter accounts of people openly wondering if it was her, or who I was.

It looked as if scattered bits of the internet had been asking these questions for a while, and Ellie's post had finally provided them with an answer. Maybe that's why it had gotten the attention that it did.

I clicked out the article, feeling my heart rate increase not entirely sure what I was supposed to do. My brain seemed oddly clouded, my thoughts somehow sluggish but frantic at the same time, insignificant details firing within my thoughts at rapid speed causing important things to get lost in the disorder. This couldn't be happening. Not to someone like me. I wasn't famous. People like me didn't have these problems. I was a nobody.

'But Lorelei isn't.' A voice in the back of my mind said quietly and I winced, thinking for the first time, I finally was getting a real look at what that meant. 'Gods.'

I thought I understood now more than ever why Lorelei didn't want anyone to know anything about her. She'd gone out for one evening, gone one place she wasn't expected, and now the internet was on fire. Everyone feeling as if they just had to know why.

Gods no wonder she hated this. How could anyone live like this? Wondering if people were trying to sneak a picture, or posting on threads trying figure out what you were up to or who you were with. It was revolting.

'And now it's happening to you.' A voice said in the back of my mind and a surge of anxiety filtered through me as I continued to process what was happening, the few parts of my brain that weren't panicking firing at full speed.

I was feeling sick again.

What was going to happen now? Was I supposed to be doing something? Responding to any of this or just ignore it and hope it died down? Did I go back to school after this? I was still getting text messages from random numbers. How the hell was I going to explain this to anyone?

We weren't even dating for Olympus's sake…

I suddenly remembered that Michael had suggested I call Lorelei, who might have some advice about this sort of thing, though I wouldn't be surprised if she never wanted to talk to me again after this shit show.

I unlocked my phone only to see one of the most recent text messages was from her.

It was brief, only two words, but they seemed to hold the weight of the entire universe within them.

'I'm sorry.'

I tried to call her, but it went directly to voicemail and I felt my heart start to pound. Was she upset with me? Was she done with our friendship? Or whatever it was? Was all of this over just like that? Because of a stupid post on the internet…

'No.' I thought a little stunned, something like panic gripping into me as I tried to call again.

Nothing.

'No. It can't end like that. This can't be happening. I couldn't-'

But the thought was ended before it spiraled out of control by a text from Jake.

'Brace yourself, HH.'

I assumed this meant Hammerhead, his recent nickname for me, and it was followed by a link to yet another trash celebrity site known for it's list articles format that stretched the truth far beyond reason, but often had photos other sites didn't.

'What we know about Dex Cartwright, Lorelei's new man.'

The information was startlingly accurate, as well as personal. How they'd managed to get it I had no clue. They had my school obviously, my position and number in lacrosse, that I was in the robotics club, my mother and her business, that I made the Dean's List and where I'd be going to school next year. But there was also less concrete information, stuff they'd have to get from people who knew somethings about me, like 'He's a video game enthusiast' and 'Likes cars.'

Photos of me and Lorelei at the arcade, talking by my car the night we'd met Ellie and Michael on the board walk.

'He's a gentleman'

More photos, Lorelei wearing my jacket at the arcade, then my letterman after the game.

None of these looked like phone pictures either. They looked professional, or edited, at the very least, well enough to appear professional which would have taken time. It sounded as if the first blog was right and people had been quietly stock piling information for weeks until they could figure out who I was.

How had we not noticed so many cameras?

'Bust most importantly, he makes her happy. Isn't that all we need to know?'

That was accompanied along with a deluge of every photo they seemed to have gotten their hands on edited to just either her smiling at me or us smiling at each other.

I hesitated, looking at the them before sitting on my bed and running my hand through my hair.

'Now what?' I thought a little dazed.

I realized I was still holding the photograph and I looked at it, stunned.

If I'd known a few weeks ago, hell, even a decade ago as a kid, where all this was headed, would I have still wanted to talk to her?

As I kid I probably wouldn't have cared. Wouldn't have even really understood what Lorelei and her father being famous meant. At the start of break however… Well, if I'd known what was going to happen, I'd probably have kicked her out of the cabin without a word, convinced no girl would ever be worth this amount of trouble.

Now though…

I put the photo on my nightstand and flopped back onto my bed, attempting to call her another time, but again it went voicemail.

Not knowing what else to do I opened our text conversation and scrolled back through the thread, smiling a little at the over saturation of memes, gifs, and emoticons I'd come to associate with how she expressed herself over text. It made the two words at the conversation's end all the more sobering.

'I'm sorry.'

It was all she'd sent, nothing else, and it told me nothing about what she was thinking, or if they might be the last words she ever sent.

It was a special kind of hell, being thrown into this turmoil reaching for the same line that had pulled me into it, only to see it had vanished. As if Lorelei, laughing, had taken my hand and led me into the rain, only to disappear behind storm as the waters started to rise and wind picked up, and I realized I'd been dragged into a hurricane.

Was that why she had apologized? Because she had no intention of returning to the situation? Just abandoning me to this mess?

The thought left me feeling oddly crushed. Far worse than after any argument with Heather, and I hadn't even been yelled at. I'd been apologized to.

So why did it feel like I'd been hit by a meteor, crushed in a creator of emotions I couldn't quite understand?

The pity part was cut short however when I noticed I was getting a video call.

"Jake?" I asked unlocking my phone and his face took up the screen.

"Hey." He said his tone gruff and I could tell by the background he was probably at Lorelei's house. He sounded tired and strained, and I had a feeling it had nothing to do with the intensity of the game. "Lorelei's fine, I can see that you're stressing about that. Her phone's been confiscated, so you can stop looking so heart broken."

"Confiscated?" I asked with a frown and sitting up. "By who? Her dad?"

Lorelei was always getting detention. Being grounded didn't really seem out of the realm of possibility for her, but it did sound sort of strange... By everything Jake said, Lorelei's father wasn't all that hands on. She seemed pretty independent, able to do and go where ever she wanted for the most part, and even if grounding had occurred to him, Lorelei had managed to get out of Europe without him noticing. Well, at least without being able to stop her at any rate. Something told me that 'grounding' Lorelei wouldn't do anything but piss her off.

"By his agent." Jake said stiffly.

Judging by both his expression and his tone, I got the feeling Jake didn't exactly appreciate this person. He switched the camera to what looked like Lorelei, her father, and a random man in a suit I didn't recognize, having an explosive argument in their kitchen. At least Lorelei and the agent were.

"Who even is this guy?" he snapped, while Lorelei's father stood a bit to the side, pinching the bridge of his nose as Lorelei shouted.

"Give me back my phone!"

The man looked to be in his forties with side swept brown hair, graying stubble, and an expression that was even more stressed than Jake's. His tie was all but undone, his voice starting to fry leading me to think both of them had been shouting for a while.

"Why is this so difficult for you Lorelei?" he spat. "None of the other children of players on the team have these issues. Why can't you stay out of trouble for once?"

"Yeah well none of them look as good in a tube top either. So." She shrugged and the look he gave her told me it was taking everything he had not to smack her.

It made me want to put his head through the glass wall he was standing next to.

"If you go out in a tube top after this I'm shipping you to the farthest boarding school I can find in the arctic circle."

At this Lorelei lost her cool completely, her anger apparently transcending the English language as she started to shout in what had to be French. I didn't know what she was saying, but from her expression and how she was gesturing, it didn't seem very kind. I was guessing it involved a lot of the F word, and various suggestions of where he should shove certain body parts.

"Lorelei…" her father said quietly, sounding exhausted, but he was ignored.

"What happened to your face?"

"That's none of your business!"

"Have you considered how badly things could go for your friend if anyone thinks he did that to you?" The agent asked with venom which seemed to catch Lorelei off guard. "Or your father?"

"I-" she started, but her voice faltered as a felt a pang of fear go through me.

I hadn't thought of that.

"Did anyone get a photo of the injury?"

The camera turned back to Jake who looked, if anything, even more upset.

"Things are going well here." he muttered glancing over his shoulder, probably at the argument as he stepped back into the hall. "It's probably better if you don't go to school over the next few days…"

"I have an English test tomorrow." I said a little lamely and he laughed.

"I think you've got bigger problems at the moment Dex. By tomorrow morning I doubt you'll be able to even get out of your driveway. Pro tip, if you see any weird cars outside your house, call the cops, quickly. Photographers are less likely to stake out the place if they think there's a high chance of getting arrested."

"You think they'll come here?" I asked and his expression darkened.

"I'm amazed they're not there already. It's probably only because they don't know where you live at the moment. But they'll find out eventually. They always do."

"I-"

"Just sit tight for the next few days. Either Lorelei or will reach out once things calm down for a bit. Until then your new favorite words are 'No Comment,' got that?"

I nodded, starting to feel completely overwhelmed.

"It'll be over soon enough. At least, I hope it will be." He added with a sigh.

"You really think so?"

"I dunno." He admitted and his voice was more resigned than I'd ever heard it. "This isn't the first-time Lore's been a hot topic in the media, but it's never been this particular flavor if you know what I mean. Even if most of the coverage is positive at the moment people are used to scandals with her at this point. I hope you don't have any skeletons in your closet, because if you do, they might be about to come back from the dead." He muttered gruffly. "They're going to be looking for the catch."

"What do you mean a catch?" I asked frowning, but he seemed not to even hear me as he continued.

"If you have social media, you should lock it down. Change passwords and make it all private."

"Jake-"

But I was cut off by Lorelei's voice which had once more risen to a shout.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"I've got to go." He said sounding drained. "Damage control. Before Lore kills this guy."

"Wait-" I started, but he'd already hung up and I stared at my phone screen for a second.

I glanced out my window, frowning as a pair of headlights crawled down the street feeling strangely… hunted.

'Jake wasn't serious, right?' I thought apprehensively, putting my phone down as it continued to light up with text message after text message.

But as many things as Jake was, I'd never known him to be a liar, and as ridiculous as his personality could be, he'd always had a certain level of sincerity when talking about his best friend.

The calls were starting now, none of them from numbers I either recognized or had saved.

I wanted to keep my phone on, in case Lorelei eventually reached out but after another fifteen minutes I couldn't take it anymore and shut off the device still reeling from the shock.

This was insane.

I couldn't quite bring myself to believe that camera crews really would find my house all that interesting, but the fact that Jake seemed so certain had me worried. In the end, he knew far more about this sort of thing that I did, and he'd sounded convinced.

'What the hell am I supposed to do now?' I thought, wincing remembering the way her father's agent had been shouting at Lorelei.

'Why is this so difficult for you Lorelei?'

'Why can't you stay out of trouble for once?'

And when he'd asked about the injury.

'If anyone thinks he did that to you?'

Then it was Jake's voice.

'They're going to be looking for the catch.'

What if he was right?

My heart rate spiked as I realized that there was a very real possibility my life was about to change drastically, just because of a few photos.

'This isn't fair.' I thought frantically.

I wasn't ready for this. This wasn't even about me.

Why did people care about who I was? I wasn't even famous, Lorelei was the person they were interested in. I was just a by standard who'd somehow gotten tangled up in the chaos that was Lorelei and her father's notoriety. This had nothing to do with me.

Was my relationship, no, not even a relationship, with her even worth all this?

At this point I had to stop deluding myself that we anything as simple as friends. Friends didn't set twitter on fire. But still…

Despite the anger and anxiety and over all panic I was feeling about the situation, I couldn't help but feel a swell of sympathy for Lorelei, realizing with a heavy sense of irony, that despite all the insanity, it might have been the closest I'd ever come to feeling like I understood her, because this had to be how she felt all the time. Lorelei didn't choose to be famous. She was famous because of her father, something she absolutely resented, and I was sure if I felt like this was unfair, it couldn't hold a candle to the bullshit I was starting to realize she faced on a daily basis.

'And yet,' a voice said very quietly in the back of my mind. 'She'd come to your game tonight.'

Despite everything she'd shown up.

Maybe it hadn't been the wisest decision, but I couldn't deny the way time had come to a complete and stand still when I'd spotted her by the field. The shock followed by a rush of comprehension as well as something… else. The sort of feeling that only came from very specific moments in life. The excitement of waking up and seeing gifts on Christmas morning as a kid, the anticipation of a first date, and the mortifying inability to stop smiling like an idiot when it went well. The strange, awe filled stillness that overtook me the first time I'd ever actually seen it snow.

It was all of those things, and so much more when I'd seen her earlier.

She'd risked a lot to be there, as evidenced by the digital earthquake that was currently hitting both of our lives. The tremors of which I was sure would only lead to something further.

Was this really what I wanted? Or was it something I could even handle?

It was so much easier to have an answer when the sort of thing was in hypotheticals. When she was smiling in front of me and my phone wasn't blowing up. When she wasn't being practically kidnapped by Jake to avoid cameras, and we couldn't even talk because some idiot agent was shouting at her, refusing to give her access to her own phone. All of it just for existing.

I glanced at the photo on my nightstand, trying to remember what it was about her when we were younger that had interested me. Struck me so forcibly, I'd done exactly what I knew I wasn't supposed to and started messing with some of the cars in the shop just because she'd asked. What was it now, that had me constantly doing things against my better judgement because of her? Even when I knew they were stupid.

The problem was enigmatic. Unsolvable and so gods damn frustrating, but worst of all was that I couldn't even pretend to hate it. I couldn't get enough of it. Not when it felt like I could have all the time in the world with her, and it wouldn't come close to feeling like it would ever be enough.

It wasn't because of how she looked. I knew that. No girl, no matter how gorgeous, was pretty enough for looks alone to justify the madness I knew was about to hit my life. But it didn't seem to matter. Blonde hair or black, brown eyes or blue, hell even purple or pink, I was starting to see it was all just her. And I didn't care what form she chose to represent it in. I liked her just the same.

When Lorelei had first approached me at camp, I'd thought she was shallow. Then, the more I got to know her and how impossible she was to read, I thought her personality was muted. Unaffected and unattached. I'd thought she was a shutdown person, hardly interested in her own feelings let alone those of others, and that if all the shouting and arguing with Heather had felt like a fire that at some point had gotten out of control, then being around Lorelei was like ice. Clear, cold, and extremely beautiful, with an exterior that felt almost impenetrable, refusing access to hidden depth that was both intriguing and unnerving, until the moment it cracked, and you realized the danger of the situation you were in.

Now…

Now I realized that she was none of those things. Laughing with Jake about something stupid at school until she was in tears, or demolishing me in video games in extremely high heels, baking enough for her own reality show in a night, or making a prom dress for someone she barely knew. How she seemed willing to shatter her entire life rather than stay in a situation that was making her unhappy. Even the way she'd demanded I show her how to jump start a car engine when we were little, determined to figure out how it worked, despite not being tall enough to see under the hood.

Lorelei was an intense person.

She didn't wait for other people, and she didn't do anything half way. When she'd been unhappy in France, she'd left. When she'd been angry about her ex and her father, she'd quite literally run over her memories of them in the form of gifts with Jake's truck.

Jake had said she'd do almost anything for the people she cared about. I hadn't believed him at the time, but after tonight, I knew better.

This was a girl who'd baited an entire horde of monsters that were gearing for attack when she had no weapon. Someone who felt emotions so intensely, they literally altered her appearance. It wasn't that Lorelei didn't feel enough. It was that she felt everything, maybe even too much. She'd just never been allowed to express that without the world wanting to shove a camera in her face and know every little detail as to why.

She'd had to learn to hide how she felt as much as possible, and I couldn't believe it had taken me so long to realize it. It was no wonder she didn't trust people with her thoughts or her emotions when they had such a hold on her, and why only shared them with a select few.

Seeing how obsessively the internet had seemed to research me in a matter of hours, I could now truly appreciate why Lorelei put up a front of blank nothingness, and why she kept what little information the world didn't already know about her like it was something precious. I hadn't asked for any of this, but neither had Lorelei. Not really. And despite knowing that everything was about to change, that my life was more than likely about to be turned upside down, a part of me couldn't help but feel like it just might be bearable if I wasn't doing it alone.

'Maybe.' I thought a little hopefully. 'She might feel the same.'

I grabbed my phone and powered it back on, ignoring the surge of messages that came through and selected the conversation between Lorelei and I.

She hadn't sent anything since her apology, but if Jake's call was anything to go by, she still might not have access to her phone.

I debated what I should write for a moment, then figured the first thing that came to mind was probably the best.

'By the way people are freaking out, you'd think you were famous or something.'

I didn't expect an answer right away, and I didn't get one. Maybe her father's agent had microwaved her phone at this point, or was waiting to use it in a press release, but I felt slightly better about the situation anyways having sent something at all.

'She doesn't know how to take care of the things she cares about.'

That was what Jake had said about his best friend. That she broke things, maybe even people, and tried to deal with the mess afterwards.

'Or maybe.' A voice said in the back of my mind. 'Maybe it had nothing to do with Lorelei at all.'

Lorelei couldn't change who her parents were any more than any demigod could. Maybe it wasn't Lorelei who broke things, rather, the people put under the pressure test of what her life had turned into had simply cracked.

Maybe deep down it was something that she knew. Why she didn't have very many friends.

I'd thought I was done with complicated after Heather. Hell, I'd thought I might be done with dating for the next few decades after what she'd done, that it had wrecked me completely. But I didn't feel that way now. In fact, I barely cared. It seemed so oddly insignificant, it didn't even hurt anymore.

Just a few weeks ago, I would have thought I was an idiot for even considering ever talking to Lorelei again after everything that happened, that I'd regret it, but now... Now I thought I'd be an idiot not to, that I'd regret it if I didn't.

And just because something broke didn't mean it couldn't be fixed. Fixing things was what I was great at. Not that I thought Lorelei herself needed fixing, so much as the situation we found ourselves in.

I couldn't help but smile a little as the words 'high maintenance' made their way into my mind. It wasn't the first time I'd thought about Lorelei, even if my perception of her had radically shifted.

'But so what?' a voice asked recklessly from the back of my mind as my heart rate increased, it's beats noticeably louder than they'd been just moments ago.

This was what I lived for wasn't it? Finding a way to make something I wanted to work possible, no matter how complicated, or how unlikely it seemed. To look at a situation and find a solution, even if it took months of build after build, hours upon hours of brain storming, problem solving, stress testing and fine tuning every detail until it was flawless.

I'd always been stubborn, and the best builds were always the ones that drove you just a little bit crazy at points. That ignited a drive so all consuming, it seemed somewhat insane to the people outside of it. The same drive that made the frustration and irritation, and all the time spent trying to figure out what the hell had gone wrong not even seem like work.

I liked robotics for Olympus's sakes. I like working on powerful, temperamental cars, and building custom weapons for whatever ridiculous designs the Ares campers could think to dream up.

High maintenance was exactly what I was into. I loved it. It's what I was good at, and unlike with my last relationship, with Lorelei, it didn't feel like work.

I wanted to work it out with her, whatever 'it' might be. More than I could remember wanting something for a while. And if there was any way to make it happen, I'd figure it out.

'Until then.' I thought grabbing both the photo and my phone, and setting them on my desk as I sat in my computer chair and grabbed a pad of drafting paper. 'I would do what I did best.'

I grabbed a pencil and set it to page, already calculating weight ratios and the densities of metals as the design came vividly into mind, almost as clear as the dark hair and deep blue eyes, almost as beautiful as the girl they all belonged to.

So what if Lorelei, and any sort of relationship with her, was complicated? So what if it had the potential to go spectacularly down in flames. I didn't care. It was stupid, it was reckless and borderline insane, but I just didn't care.

I found myself working for hours, hardly noticing as the early morning sun started to filter through the sky, only looking up when finally, at about five am, a notification lit up the screen of my phone.

I grinned, for some reason, not all that surprised to see it was a text from Lorelei.

'Sorry, just managed to get back my phone after swearing to go on a complete media blackout.'

The message was accompanied by several sarcastic looking emojis, including a few rolling their eyes.

'Really?' I typed in response. 'How's that working out for you?'

The question wasn't serious. Apart from her outfit Instagram which had a moderate amount of attention, despite no one knowing she ran it, Lorelei didn't really use her social media. At least the accounts I was aware of. I'd looked her up out of blatant curiosity one day, to see that after her father had been traded, she hadn't posted a single thing.

Her response was to send me a link to what looked like a twitter post.

'I went a different direction.'

Confused, I clicked on the link and was surprised to find that it was a verified account with Lorelei's name.

Like her other socials, there'd been a massive gap in the post history since she'd gone to Europe, but I was surprised to see that in the last ten minutes, two new posts had been added to the profile.

'Did you miss me?'

It was accompanied by the emoticon that was painting its nails. One of her favorites.

It had blown up, even this early in the morning and I could tell it was already on its way to trending along with the tweet that had followed immediately after.

She'd retweeted the photo of us together after the game.

'Yes, I know I look adorable. Stop ing me. Also, apparently there's a guy in this photo? Rude. Can't he see I'm busy fishing for attention?'

But she'd updated her bio to 'Internet sensation, back on her bullshit. Salacious storyline. Your favorite scandal.'

It was clear she'd seen the article Priya had sent me and I couldn't help but smile a little at her obvious sense of humor about it. Clearly, she wasn't taking it all that seriously which made me feel a bit better.

The photo on the account had been changed as well. What had once been a photo of her and her father in matching jerseys when she was kid, was now just Lorelei.

She wasn't looking at the camera but something beyond it, and appeared to be lost in thought, her chin resting lightly on her hand, head tilted most likely to cover the injury on her cheek. She wasn't smiling exactly, her expression more serene than anything. Almost as if she hadn't noticed the photo being taken, but the corner of her mouth had lifted slightly, as if whatever she'd been thinking about had given her a quiet sort of happiness. In frame were the collar and cuff of what was very clearly a letterman's jacket in familiar colors.

She was wearing my jacket.

I wasn't exactly sure what game she was playing with her audience, or if her dad's agent was going to kill her for it, but while it was clear the photo was staged, a quiet feeling of my own had me almost certain her expression was not.

I'd seen her fake smile before. This was not it. And it painted a far different picture than the sarcasm in her posts.

Even without all the make-up and designer she looked so pretty and as I looked at the photo, a part of me was wondering if, for one brief moment in time, Lorelei had decided to give the entire internet a glimpse at the real her.

I found myself looking at the photo for several moments, a not so insignificant part of me wondering what she'd been thinking about during the photo, the rest, hoping it was me. Eventually, I remembered I had to blink at some point and closed out of the app, returning to my conversation with Lorelei.

I debated on how to respond to what she'd said about ignoring the social media black out order, but wasn't really sure how to. I grinned, however, as I remembered the photo.

'Nice jacket.'