Lpov
Sometimes, I really hated my life.
I walked passed the school's entire boys varsity soccer team posted at the building entrance, each smirking at me and wearing an irritatingly familiar jersey. A banner in front of them read.
'The Martin Ellis Homecoming Reception Committee.'
"Morning Lorelei." The team captain, a senator's son that had been busted multiple times for street racing, said with a smirk.
"This is a lot of effort for five seconds of my attention Garrett." I said evenly, pretending to read a text message so I didn't have to look at him.
It helped suppress the urge to snap off his head.
"I can always start throwing hay makers in our next game if I really wanted your attention." He said snarkily, but I was able to ignore him until he completed the taunt with. "You know, if I didn't get shipped overseas for being such an embarrassment."
I turned, my fingers clenched into a fist around my phone, fully intending to remind him that in some cases, short tempers were hereditary, but to my surprise, he'd already let out an 'oof' of pain. I blinked, only to see he'd been knocked back into several of his teammates by Jake, who'd just stepped on to the side walk from the school's parking lot.
"I want you to know." He said mildly, readjusting his bag that looked as if it had been displaced from a brutal right hook. "That if Lore had hit you, it still would have hurt. A lot." He smiled, and somehow, it looked more threatening than a glare. "I was just closer. And I wanted to."
He then looked at me.
"Morning beautiful."
"Hey," I said a little gratefully as, Garrett was helped up by his teammates who then dispersed, grumbling but not loud enough to provoke either one of us.
Several laughs in this distance alerted me to the fact that some of Jake's lacrosse teammates had witnessed what had just gone down.
"Don't let them get you," Jake said putting his arm around me and throwing a glower at anyone who dared glance in our direction, causing everyone in the immediate area to scamper away. "He only wants to annoy you so you'll talk to him."
"You shouldn't have hit him." I said with a sigh and he grinned.
"No, you shouldn't have hit him." He said a significance in his tone. "It would have been exactly what they wanted from you. People are used to me hitting things." He continued pleasantly. "Smacking around bullies is what landed me here."
He gestured towards the main hall of the school as we stepped through the doors. Jake had ended up in this glorified holding tank for problem children after several serious fights left him expelled with no offers from any other school in the county to take him.
"Some smart ass mouths off, I truck them into a wall. And the world continues to revolve."
"Those anger management courses didn't teach you a thing, did they?" I asked and he looked at me as if I were insane.
"Lore, you were two desks behind texting me the whole time."
"Yes, but you notice I didn't hit anyone."
He let out a snort that told me he was less than impressed with this response and I grinned.
The school, so used to having to deal with the court cases of the students filtering through it, offered a wide variety of 'supplemental education' for the convenience of wealthy parents who couldn't be bothered to know the finer details of whatever settlement their lawyers had worked out for their kids. Anger management, mandatory group and individual therapy, and my personal favorite, equine therapy.
Yes. The school kept horses and their handlers on a retainer just to shut the justice system up.
I had to admit, the horses were pretty cool though. They all had great names like Juniper Dream and Sunny Day Lane that had me suspecting they were retired race animals.
"You're such a role model."
Jake's words were sarcastic and I laughed.
"I know, right?"
My smile faded quickly, however.
"You really shouldn't have done it though." I said feeling a little guilty, knowing Jake probably had only intervened so I wouldn't get into trouble. "What if a someone reports it? You could get suspended."
"They're not going to suspend me." Jake said rolling his eyes. "It's the middle of lacrosse season. They want to win."
"That seems… unethical." I said with a frown.
"Welcome to the world of money and athletics Loo." He continued with a laugh. "Everyone's corrupt, even in the highschools. The worst they're going to do is give me a slap on the wrist and some lunch detention." He grinned. "Hey, I could finally eat with you."
I made a face at him.
"Very funny. But I've been good."
"Ms. Ellis." I jumped and both Jake and I turned to see my chemistry teacher, Mrs. Ramirez looking at me stonily and I felt my stomach sink.
I knew that look…
"Might I have a word with you about your attire?"
I glanced down at my outfit which was, for my standards lately, actually kind of boring. Sure they were called mini dresses, but it wasn't that short.
"See you at lunch." Jake snickered as, miserably, I walked over to the woman.
She was shorter than I was, even without my usual several inch boost from heels, which I hadn't felt like bothering with today.
"Lorelei." She started her tone disapproving.
"I'll put on a jacket." I muttered automatically, I'd been yelled at for this dress before, even though I'd checked and double checked the dress code and it wasn't a violation of any kind…
"Your dress is fine." She said her tone softening a little as if she knew what I was thinking. "It's your sandals I need to talk to you about."
"Oh." I said a little surprised looking down. They didn't have a heel on them, but they did lace up to the knee and I wondered if I was about to hear a lecture on how they were 'distracting' when she said.
"We have a lab this morning. Safety protocols require you to wear closed toes shoes. We'll be using harsh chemicals. I don't want you to get a burn."
"Oh." I repeated feeling like an idiot when she smiled.
"Do you have gym shoes?"
I nodded.
"Great. Make sure you bring them to class you can change back after we're done."
"Ok." I said a little relieved. "Yeah I'll bring them."
"Good." She said and I started making my way towards my locker after Jake.
I entered my combination and opened the metal door only to jump back as several things came tumbling out smacking into the floor with a heavy slapping sound. They were boxing gloves, and plastered all over the inside of the locker were print outs of sports new articles and memes of fighters my father photoshopped into scenes of the 'Rocky' movies.
Immediately, almost the entire hall full of people were laughing.
I stood there, not entirely sure how to react somehow simultaneously wanting to laugh, hit something, and cry all at once leaving me powerless to do nothing but stare.
The laughing was getting louder now, as well as people were starting to make comments but strangely, it all seemed as if their voices were far away and sluggish. As if suddenly, I'd been plunged under water leaving the world around me distorted. A hollow, sinking feeling in my chest dragging me further down, when suddenly, it was all interrupted by a buzzing sensation in my hand.
I looked down surprised to see that I was still holding my phone. A new text message flashing up on the screen.
I felt my heart skip a beat, stunned to see that it was from Dex, of all people.
Ignore the laughter and comments, I opened the screen to see what looked like a table saw that had somehow gotten stuck in the top of a work bench, several teens looking at it a mixture of amusement in horror in their expression. One of them, who I recognized from the lacrosse game and was presumably Dex's friend, was face palming.
'So this just happened...'
I was so startled by the absurdity of the image, and the fact that he'd even thought to send it to me, I actually laughed a little. Whether out of disbelief or the fact that so many emotions were going through me, it needed some sort of outlet, I wasn't sure. Especially because a strange, almost unwelcome sense of excitement and relief had gone through me when I saw who the text message was from. Laughing seemed to be the only safe option.
His text was quickly followed by another, and again, I was a little conflicted on how I was supposed to feel.
'How's your morning going?'
What was I supposed to say to that? The truth?
The truth was, the photo Dex had sent me had been a pretty good visualization of how I felt about things right now, but I couldn't really explain that to him could I?
No, that I couldn't get into, not while everyone else was laughing at me.
Dex didn't have to know me. I just had to make him like me.
'More than like you.' a voice said softly in the back of my mind. 'A lot more.'
Gods… it was really difficult to like myself right now.
I suddenly remembered where I was, and the fact that I was still standing in the middle of the hall being stared at by what felt like the entire school by now, clearly waiting to see what I would do.
I knew what I should have done. Pretended like this was beneath me, that it didn't bother me and make a joke about people trying so hard to be noticed by me, but I couldn't. Not right now. It wasn't as if any of them would have believed it anyways.
Instead, I closed my locker, not even bothering to grab my books and started making my to math class. I knew from the second I stepped into the room, that I should have just turned around before I even entered the school.
"I see you didn't bother to bring your textbook today Miss Ellis." Mr. Strickland said turning to face me from writing a warm up equation on the board. "And you're breaking dress code again." he sneered. "I'll be expecting you here during your lunch hour for lunch detention."
The room was mostly full and I saw several people smirking at me, snickering and whispering to the people around them. No doubt everyone had heard about the stunt the soccer team had pulled. I wasn't even sure if it was them, or someone else who'd broken into my locker. So many people here would have found it funny…
"This dress doesn't violate the dress code," I said through gritted teeth. "It has sleeves, it isn't too short-"
"The dress code clearly states that students are prohibited from wearing clothing that could be distracting to-"
But I'd had enough. Before I could stop myself, I burst out.
"If you find it distracting, maybe you shouldn't look!"
The entire room was silent as a mix of anger and horror pounded through me pushed along by my speeding heart rate. Mr. Strickland was shaking, his face had gone white with rage.
"Detention." He said. "For the next month. Go to the office, NOW. I'll be suggesting they escalate your punishment to a suspension."
"Excellent." I said with some acrimony and some genuine satisfaction. "Then I won't have to see you."
He looked as if he was about to splutter out more insults, probably about me as a person this time not just how I was dressed, but I'd already turned, pushed a pile of graded quizzes off a desk by the door, and stormed out of the room wondering if it was even worth going to the main office.
Figuring I'd already done enough damage, I turned right and started making my way to the main office sitting on one of the couches waiting for one of the mortals at the reception desk to notice one of the students was there.
As I waited, I suddenly remembered that despite my complete shock at seeing Dex's text, I hadn't actually answered it.
I hesitated for just a moment, still not entirely sure how I was supposed to respond.
Eventually, I opened my camera and took a selfie looking not at the lens, but out over the office making sure the angle looked candid and quick, but still flattering.
I sent it then followed with.
'Guess who got detention again…'
Dpov
"Who do you keep texting?" Cole asked and I glanced up from my phone's screen realizing belatedly I'd been grinning.
He'd just stepped into the back room of 'Tech Traders', the used electronics/video game store we worked at, and by the way to see he'd raised an eyebrow at me, I wondered if after almost two weeks, I was well and truly caught. Lorelei had been ranting about getting detention again, accompanying many of her hyperbolic statements with a carefully selected gif, a habit of hers I now realized I found a little endearing.
"It's a long story." I said trying to play it off by returning to the usual stack of phones on the counter waiting for a screen repair, only to realize that I'd finished them all.
Being well established as one of the bigger tech nerds in school, no one was really surprised to see me messing with my phone a lot, especially not any of my mortal friends who had earned similar titles.
No one had really bothered to question me over the increased preoccupation with the device, though I knew they would catch on at some point. I was far more distracted than usual and typing a lot more than I should have been for just reading articles and messing with my settings.
"Right." He said in plain disbelief and I wondered if I should just come clean about who I was talking to, but also not sure if he'd really understand it.
I wasn't really sure if I understood it myself to be honest, but it was nice to have someone to talk to about things outside of the mortal world. Running into monsters and the occasional Naiad who got lost and needed directions out of the sewers, that sort of thing.
It was kind of refreshing to talk to someone who actually seemed to get more than just tech info and machine repairs out of me. Talking with Lorelei was easy, well, at least texting with her was. And she didn't seem to mind if it was about something as stupid as the current meme circulating around on the internet. She could find something interesting in anything. It was nice to get a glimpse into the mind of someone who saw the world that way.
"You got a new girlfriend or something?" he asked glancing at the text conversation and seeing how active it was.
"No." I said but the statement was immediately, and unfairly undercut, by a gif of a popular cartoon character with hearts in their eyes popping onto my screen. "Look it's hard to explain." I continued quickly, when I caught his look. "She's in Saturday school, a couple is arguing and breaking up behind her."
"Her?" he asked interestedly, making me regret my phrasing when he frowned. "Wait, do we even have a Saturday school? I thought they got rid of that last year?"
I didn't answer, and realization seemed to flood over him.
"Wait a second. Are you talking to that private school girl? The one from the lacrosse game?"
I didn't know how to answer this question without completely lying, so I didn't.
"You are." He said in amazement, a peculiar expression making it's way across his features, but it was just close enough to a smirk that it had me scowling at him.
"Whatever you're thinking is going on, you're wrong."
"I don't know what to think." He said just as Michael, another co-worker and friend stepped into the back.
"Think about what?" he asked.
He was a tall, wiry guy, a senior like me, with brown hair that fell past his shoulders and light brown eyes that were looking at me curiously.
"Dex's new girlfriend."
"She is not my girlfriend." I said annoyed and Michael raised his eyebrow.
"Since when are you dating again?"
"I'm not." I said unable to believe I was, once again, having to explain that nothing was going between and Lorelei, but I could tell from the look they gave each other that they didn't believe me.
Of course, it was at that point that Lorelei decided to call.
"Is that her?" Michael asked with interest as I stared at the screen in shock.
Lorelei had never actually called me before, nor I her. And one demigod calling another was almost begging to get attacked by any monsters in the area.
I was so surprised, I stared at the phone for a moment without answering, however, when I saw Cole's expression, the amazement gave way to irritation almost instantly. I was sure there were worse time Lorelei could have picked to call me for the first time, but at the moment, I couldn't think of any.
Then again, maybe there was a reason she'd decided to call. Maybe it was monster related after all…
I answered.
"Hey, what's up? Are you ok?"
I could hear the concern in my voice and it shocked me a little.
"I dropped, my freaking laptop down the stairs."
"What?" I asked a little confused.
The last 30 seconds had been such a roller coaster that my brain wasn't working at full capacity and when she spoke again, I found myself staring at my phone for the second time.
"I was walking out of detention and they had just cleaned the floors, I slipped and my laptop decided to hurtle itself down to the first level. It had my entire final project for my fashion and merchandizing class that I've worked on since last semester on it. I can't freakin believe this."
"That's why you called?" I asked incredulously.
This was ridiculous. I'd thought something serious had happened…
"Yes," she said clearly still irritated about the situation. "I figured you'd know a good place to get it repaired.
I was about to respond with something curt when I realized she hadn't just assumed that I would fix it, or call in a favor to get it fixed. She was legitimately calling for advice. I had to admit, that was sort of nice.
I hesitated, looking around at all the laptops and phones piled around the desks lining the back room of the store, then at my friends, and sighed.
"Yeah." I said reluctantly. "I do actually. In fact, I'm there now."
This caught Cole and Michael's attention and I looked away from them, feeling a bit reluctant as I said.
"Do you know where Mariner Street is?"
"Yeah."
"Head that way. I'll meet you outside."
"Cool, I'll be there in a bit."
"See ya."
I hung up the call and before I even glanced away from the phone, lifted a finger.
"Not one word." I said glowering at the two who, while they said nothing, were smirking.
My scowl darkening, I told them I was taking my lunch break and walked towards the front of the store.
Though it was early, for a Saturday anyways, the weather was already starting to warm as I stepped outside. I didn't take long for me to spot Lorelei not that I expected it to, if she really had been in detention on a Saturday, her school's campus was only a few blocks away.
As usual, she looked as if she'd decided today was the day to dress for a photoshoot rather than, well, normal life.
"They let you wear that at school?" I asked in lieu of a greeting, raising an eyebrow at her outfit.
By all accounts, it wasn't that ridiculous. It looked as if someone had taken an off the shoulder sweater and turned it into a dress, but the boots that laced up to above her knees were a bit much.
"No." she said looking at me as if this was supposed to have been obvious. "Why do you think I was in detention?"
"Just give me the laptop." I said with a sigh and she looked at me confused.
"Why?"
"I work here."
"Yeah, no, I got that." She said gesturing toward the logo on my shirt and then up at the store, but pulling her laptop out of her bag and handing it to me all the same. "But since you're out here I figured you were on break or something. I assumed I'd have to give it to someone in the store."
"I am on break actually." I said.
"You're not offering to fix it, are you?" she asked sounding a little surprised and I realized what me taking her laptop had implied.
Was I?
"You don't have to fix it Dex." She said frowning and gesturing towards the inside of the store. "I was just going to drop it off."
"It'll be faster if I do it." I said automatically which was true, though why I was volunteering for the job I had no idea.
"But I thought you were on break?"
"It's fine Lorelei."
I was getting antsy now, though strangely, I wasn't sure why. Maybe because there were now two demigods in the area, having previously been connected by a call. I was surprised the monsters weren't already barreling down the street.
"Alright." She said with a shrug, but stepping through the door after I held it open. "How much do you think it will cost?"
"Well, let's see how much damage you actually did to it." I answered now somewhat amused, pointedly ignoring the curious gaze from everyone in the store that snapped immediately to Lorelei and then to me. "C'mon."
I gestured for her to follow me behind the counter and she looked hesitant for a second, but crossed her arms over her chest, shrugged, and followed.
The backroom was empty at the moment, Michael had been helping a customer out on the main floor and by the light coming out from under the bathroom door next to the storage closet, I figured Cole must have been in there.
"Am I allowed to be back here?" Lorelei asked her eyebrows shooting up as she took in what was clearly employee space.
"Technically no." I said waving the question off. "But the owner doesn't really care, we let friends back here all the time."
She frowned at this a little, as if what I'd said surprised her, but not as if it made her unhappy.
"I didn't realize you thought of me as a friend."
"Well." I said scratching the back of my head a little awkwardly as it occurred to me that, I hadn't really realized that either. "How else would you describe it?"
She smiled and it made me a little uneasy. There was something wicked about it. But whatever she was clearly thinking about, she didn't seemed inclined to share with me.
"Friends is fine." She said lightly, finding a chair and sitting in it, her blue eyes watching me with apparent interest.
"Alright then." I said, mostly because I didn't know what else to do before turning away from her.
I set the laptop down on one of the tables pushed up against the wall and felt my brain slip into autopilot now that it had something to work on.
"Jeez." I muttered opening the laptop to see the screen had shattered.
A couple of the keys had popped out and it looked as if several of the ports had taken damage.
"Is it as bad as I think it is?" she asked dejectedly.
"I'm not sure yet." I said pressing the power button, only to hear the computer make an irritated series of beeps and grinding noises, and then switch off.
"Ok that's not great." I admitted and she groaned.
"Awesome." Her tone was moody and though I wasn't looking at her, I could picture her stubborn expression and had to hide half a grin.
"You're probably going to have to leave this here." I said reaching for another laptop. "I'll try and retrieve your project though. Anything else you need?"
She'd just started to describe the files she wanted to save when Cole stepped out of the bathroom.
"Holy hell, what'd you do to that thing?" He asked with a laugh, noticing the laptop I was sitting in front of. "Chuck it down a stairwell?"
"Yes, actually." Lorelei said clearly annoyed, and he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Cole." I said, not without some satisfaction at the obvious brain reboot he was going through after teasing me about Lorelei for weeks. "This is my friend Lorelei."
He didn't respond. He just kept staring at her.
"Cole?"
"Yeah, uh, hi." He said shaking his head.
"Hi." She said politely, but I could tell she was in too poor a mood over what had happened with her laptop to bother with her usual child of Aphrodite persona and hit him over the head with her powers.
She looked back at me.
"Any luck?"
I'd connected the two laptops and opened the software that would allow me to pull her files.
"Yeah." I said showing her the screen. "Just tell me what you need."
The next twenty minutes were spent moving her files, which seemed to have no rational method of organization, but she seemed to navigate just fine.
"I don't know how you made sense of any of that." I said handing her the flash drive with all her important documents. I was itching to offer to organize her storage, but resisted the urge, feeling it wouldn't be appreciated. "But here you go."
"Thanks." She said sounding genuinely relieved, tucking it into her purse and I couldn't help but think, for someone who seemed to be constantly in detention, she seemed pretty worried about her school work.
"No problem." I responded, surprising even myself as I continued with. "There's some important information here after all. We can't have your teacher committing the cardinal sin of wearing white after Labor Day."
"She's probably more interested in feminist icons and how their style over the decades have influenced modern trends as well as the corresponding waves in feminist movements." Lorelei said rolling her eyes. "But I'll be sure to make a footnote."
I had to admit. I felt a little put in my place.
"I was just kidding." I said feeling a little anxious, wondering why I never seemed to be able to tell the difference between what was going to make a girl laugh, and what was going to piss her off.
"Yeah." Lorelei said flatly. "It was funny."
She sounded far from amused however.
She put her bag over her shoulder and said.
"Thanks for saving my stuff. Just let me know when I can pick my lap top back up."
"Lorelei, wait-" I said in frustration, but she didn't seem to want to hear it.
"Enjoy the rest of your break Dex."
"But-"
She'd already made her way out of the room, however, and started heading towards the front door.
I looked at Cole who was frowning slightly after Lorelei.
"What the hell was that about?" I asked him, completely confused and he took a moment before he responded, clearly thinking, but eventually said.
"I'm not entirely sure that was about you."
"What do you mean?"
"I dunno." He said his expression clouding further before turning to face me. "But it seems as if you might have tripped over a buried nerve."
Just then, Michael poked his head through the door to the backroom.
"Uh, you gonna go after her?" he asked gesturing towards Lorelei who was already stepping outside.
I glanced at my watch and saw that I only had five minutes left on my break and swore.
"I don't have time." I said surprised at how dejected it came out.
"I dunno about that." Cole said with a shrug. "You never really took your break dude."
"What are you talking about? I was just on it."
He shrugged and turned his gaze pointedly towards the two laptops, the one we used for the shop, and the one Lorelei had inadvertently destroyed.
"Looks like you've been working to me."
"We'll cover for you." Michael agreed and, a little surprised at the sudden turn of events, I jogged out of the back room and out onto the street, only to see Lorelei had already managed to walk about half a block to my left.
"Lorelei," I said increasing my pace to catch up to her, and I realized how strange it was, to be running after a girl I wasn't dating. Yhat in all reality, I didn't even know all that well. "Lorelei hold up."
"What?" she asked and I was surprised at how resentful her tone was.
"Look, I'm sorry if I upset you." I said still not entirely certain what she was mad about. "I was just kidding."
"Were you, Dex?" she asked irritated.
She'd cross her arms over her chest again and while she looked angry, it was hard not to be distracted by the fact that even upset, she still looked like some sort of movie star.
"What do you mean?" I asked confused.
"Were you joking?"
She'd raised an eyebrow as she said it, and I was starting to understand what she was so annoyed about.
"Lorelei, I wasn't making fun of you. I mean, not seriously anyways."
"Are you sure about that?" she asked, and it was clear she didn't believe me. "Because it's pretty obvious you think you're better than me." She snapped and I felt shock go through me at this. "But I'd figured you'd at least gain the decency of no longer talking down to me right to my face now that we're 'friends'."
She put air quotes around the word and I was pretty sure the glare she was sending me, would have leveled practically any guy she hit it with.
"I don't think I'm better than you." I said automatically, a little angry at the accusation, but feeling a shadow of doubt linger within me.
Did I?
"Really?" she asked with so much sarcasm, I winced a little. "Calling me princess? Acting like you're too good to talk to me? You straight up told me you think I'm crazy, so I can only imagine what you tell other people."
"Your plan was crazy." I pointed out, but she ignored me.
"I'm not stupid Dex." She said and I was surprised to see that at this point, she looked more hurt than anything. "That's not a good way to treat people, especially your friends. But according to you, I'm probably too stupid or too shallow to care? Right?"
She was still glaring, but she wasn't looking at me anymore and I couldn't believe the situation I was in. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that Lorelei, insanely gorgeous, daughter of Aphrodite Lorelei, was feeling insecure. More incredibly, I was the one who'd made her feel that way.
How was that possible?
"Lorelei," I said incredulously, still not entirely sure how it had become my job to make someone like her feel better about herself. "I don't think you're stupid. And I don't think I'm better than you." I continued realizing as I said it, that it was true. "And I don't know you well enough to know if you're shallow or not, and stop rolling your eyes at me, you know it's true." I said as she immediately did it.
The statement earned me another glare, but I tried to ignore it as I tried together my thoughts and, strangely, my feelings, and put them into words. It was something I'd never been good at, and it wasn't helped by the fact that I felt like I was in the middle of a public break up with someone I'd never even gone out with.
"Ok, yes, I do think you're sort of nuts and I have told other people that." I admitted. Anger flashed in her eyes but I continued before she could say anything. "But what was I supposed to think after how we met? And I didn't say anything to anyone that I wasn't willing to tell you right to your face, and that's just the sort of person I am ok? I don't sugar coat things well."
She was still glaring at me, her arms crossed tightly against her chest, but she let me continue to speak.
"I'm not good with feelings, and you don't believe me, ask Jake. So yeah, I'm sorry I was an ass alright? But you have to look at it from my point of view." I pointed out and her eyes narrowed, but it seemed like it was in confusion more than anything.
The weather had picked up, and now that the day was showing signs of being a beautiful one, more people were out walking among shops. Several of them were glancing at us as they walked by. I wasn't sure if it was because of Lorelei, or they just wanted a glimpse of what probably looked like relationship drama, which I couldn't help but be a little embarrassed by, but it was easy enough to ignore. I didn't like seeing her upset.
"Look." I started trying to figure out how to explain this to a daughter of Aphrodite of all people. "Girls like you," I said gesturing at her, then back at myself. "Don't talk to guys like me. Not unless they want something, and don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about," I said, cutting off her attempts at protesting. "Because you do. You're insanely pretty and I'm a gearhead, a nerd who still isn't quite sure how I managed to even get one girlfriend. Let alone how you ended up talking to me. So yeah, when you came around with your stupid plan, I was on my guard. I wasn't about to let you think you could walk all over me."
"I don't think anyone could do that." She said raising an eyebrow looking me up and down. "Not even Jake. Nerd or not."
"Well," I said gruffly. "Heather did. And it was brutal. So I'm sorry I didn't handle it all that well, but I wasn't so eager to go headlong into round two. But can you see why you wanting to hang out with me all of the sudden, might have freaked me out a little?"
How she answered the question surprised me.
"I don't think a lot of people would think someone like you should be freaked out by anyone, let alone someone like me."
"Then they're idiots." I said and she shrugged.
"Yeah." She agreed.
I didn't know if I should have been worried about this answer or not, but I was surprised at the relief I felt as I realized she no longer looked angry with me. It was weird. Usually, whenever Heather and I had argued, the relief came in from no longer being yelled at, immediately followed by the persistent anxiety of knowing it could happen again any time soon. This was different though.
Lorelei hadn't yelled at me, but somehow, I almost wish she had. It felt worse knowing I'd upset her. Maybe because in this circumstance, she actually might have a point. She hadn't yelled, but maybe that was why it had felt so horrible. She wasn't upset over nothing, and honestly, maybe I deserved it. Maybe that's why resolving it felt so much better than it usually did. It actually felt resolved. As long as I stopped being an ass, it probably wouldn't get dragged back up again.
"I am sorry." I said surprised at how genuine the apology was, and once again, I was surprised at her response.
"Yeah. Me too."
"What are you sorry for?" I asked in confusion and she shook her head.
"Just… everything." She let out a sigh and looked up at me, and I thought there was something like regret in her eyes. "Look, I appreciate the apology Dex, and you helping to fix my computer. Just let me know when I can pick it up. I'll stop bothering you for what's left of your break."
And with that she turned, leaving me a little stunned as she started to walk away.
I hesitated for a moment, going over the entire conversation in my head trying to think of where I might have screwed up and if she might still be mad at me, but I couldn't think of what it could have been.
Still, I was anxious seeing her go.
"I still need to get food." I said feeling like an idiot as I called after her.
"What?" she asked, clearly as surprised at the statement as I was, but mercifully, turning around.
"I still haven't actually gotten food yet." I said. "I figure they probably didn't let you eat anything in detention. There's a really good diner down the block that way if you want to go?"
I hadn't meant to say it as a question, but it had come out that way, and I felt nervous, though I wasn't sure which had made my heart rate shoot up, the anxiety of how she'd respond, or the slight smile with it as she did. Like she hadn't wanted to, but couldn't help herself.
"Sure." She said. "Sounds fun."