Dpov

It took all of two seconds of being inside of Jake's truck to know that if I had issues with the outside of it, I definitely didn't want to be looking under the hood.

"I hate your car." I said as the engine revved and he pulled into the street, smirking.

"Yeah she told me."

"There is no reason to have turbo on this thing."

"Sure there is." Jake said brightly. "It sounds cool."

"Whatever you paid to have it installed, you got ripped off."

I didn't have to see it to know the work put in on this vehicle was substandard at best. It was both a blessing and a curse of being a part Cabin 9 in this respect. Any modifications he'd had made for either power or performance, probably wasn't doing anything.

"You know you're lucky you're a talented dude and not totally unfortunate in the looks department." He said throwing me a sidelong look as we stopped at a street light. "Because your personality quite often leaves something to be desired."

"I can fix it for you if you want." I said, not really sure why I was offering and he laughed.

"It bothers you that much huh?"

"Yes."

"Well." He continued, still grinning a little as the light turned green and he pushed the vehicle forward. "If it's really that upsetting. I guess you take a look at it while you talk to Lore."

I didn't answer, but figured I'd probably take him up on this. Even if it was just for the principle of the matter.

There was a moment of silence between us as he pulled onto the main road.

I watched a few trees as they passed by, still processing the events that had unfolded over the last hour.

"How come Lorelei didn't tell me about her Dad?" I asked eventually and he snorted.

When he spoke, he sounded incredulous.

"On what planet are you just entitled to know about her private life?" he asked as if he thought I was crazy.

He shot me a quick look before focusing back on the road.

"You two don't know each other all that well. And I'll point out that 'understanding' isn't typically a word that is used to describe you. She's been through a lot. She doesn't owe anyone answers, let alone you."

I was surprised to hear an edge of coolness in his tone as he continued with.

"For a while there you weren't even that nice to her. You made a lot of assumptions. I can't imagine what you would have thought if she was upfront about who she was related to."

I wanted to argue at this statement, but knew there was no point. Not when he was right. Lorelei herself had pretty much said as much last weekend and while I'd realized she'd been upset before, hearing it from her friend seemed to drive the point home just that much more. Jake wasn't a serious person, but I could tell by how measured his expression was that he was more bothered by the situation than he was letting on. The realization was accompanied along with a certain amount of guilt.

"Lore doesn't trust easily," he pressed. "And she has good reasons for that. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only person she really trusts is me and maybe our friend Liv. And that's a big maybe."

Not really sure what to say to this, I decided to change the subject, realizing what he'd said had stirred a question I'd asked Lorelei and she hadn't answered.

"Why's her mom mad at her?"

"She told you that?" he asked sounding surprised.

"Just that she was, not what it was about." I frowned as I looked at him. "I'm guessing you know what she's upset about?"

"Yeah." He agreed his eyes back on the road. "For the most part, though I'm not sure even Lore totally understands it."

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" I asked and he shook his head.

"No. I'm not."

Jake's house hadn't been far from the board walk even on foot, so it didn't surprise me that he'd already pulled up to the curb. I looked at the house, wondering where inside of it Lorelei was.

I hadn't really expected him to tell me what was going on. He was Lorelei's best friend after all and if she didn't want to talk about something, Jake sure as Hades wasn't going to. Still a part of me couldn't help but be a little irritated at this, and I wasn't exactly sure why.

She didn't seem like a very easy person to get to know, and it seemed as if the one person who'd managed to do it, wasn't exactly keen to help others.

I thought about the comments of detentions and the way she didn't seem to get along with her family, how one second, she could go from calm and confident, to uncertain and insecure. How easy it was for her to deal with her classmates harassing her, and assessing people's emotions like Jenny, to seemingly genuinely upset when she felt like I was making fun of her.

At first, I wasn't sure what to make of it. How one person could just turn on a dime like that, shifting through personalities types as quickly as she'd changed the color of her eyes or her hair.

Then again… it didn't seem as if she could completely control those changes. Judging by what she'd said at the store anyways. Maybe her physical appearance wasn't the only area in her life that Lorelei didn't have a great sense of control.

From her behavior when I'd first met her at camp, I would have thought this was ridiculous. Devious revenge plans aside, the impression I'd gotten from her was that, if not natural to her, her abilities were under a strict sort of command.

Looking back however, I wasn't entirely sure I was right. The changes in her appearance, how awkward she seemed around her family, even her apparent lack of interest in Jenny's emotions when Lorelei had said she'd liked me. It didn't strike me until now just how odd that was for a child of Aphrodite. How clear it was that she'd had no interest in getting involved.

I'd be willing to bet if she were one of her siblings, that wouldn't have been the case. They were notorious for that sort of thing.

"She's a bit of a mess, isn't she?" I asked and when he looked confused, I elaborated.

"Lorelei."

I half expected him to laugh at this, but he didn't. He just looked a little sad.

"She's been through a lot." He said quietly. "She doesn't really fit in with her siblings, and she knows it, gods be damned if they don't love to remind her. Her relationship with her Dad is pretty screwed up too, and it causes a lot of issues here in the mortal world."

"Yeah, I think I've seen some of that." I muttered remembering the genuine panic she'd seemed to experience when I'd asked her about her name, and how quickly she'd wanted to run away from the mortals in the store.

He nodded and seemed to think about something before saying.

"She's self-destructive, Dex."

His voice was quiet and I noticed he wouldn't look at me. Part of me wondered if not for the first time, Jake was forcing himself to tell me things he didn't really want to say.

"I love her, but no one spirals quite like Lorelei. She has a tendency to sabotage the things she cares about and it can get pretty brutal for the people involved."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked looking at him uncertainly.

He was her friend, right? From what little of their friendship I'd seen, it was clear they liked to pretend to insult each other, but it only worked because their friendship was so strong. I didn't get the sense that Jake would ever say something negative about Lorelei, not seriously anyways. And this was a pretty strong accusation to throw at anyone, not just a friend.

I could only assume he thought he was helping in some sort of way.

"Because you should know." He said and while his tone was patient, there was a hint of intentionality in his calm as well as his expression. "She doesn't really do things half way, and you should know what you're getting into. Piss her off, and trust me, you'd rather tangle with a pack of hell hounds than deal with what she'll have planned for you."

"That explains a lot…" I muttered reflecting on how messed up her break up with her ex seemed to have made her head.

"But," he countered, as if I hadn't spoken. "Gain her trust and she'll be the most loyal friend you've ever had. She'd drag herself to Tartarus and back if she thought she had the slight chance to leave someone there that she thought deserved it. But at the same time, if it was someone she cared about, she wouldn't hesitate to take their place."

"That doesn't sound like something she'd do." I said frowning, remembering Lorelei's comments about being selfish but Jake shook his head.

"You don't know her Dex. And as far as I can tell, she's pretty undecided about you."

"Undecided about what?" I asked, but again, it looked as if I was destined not to receive an answer.

He seemed to be following his own train of thought.

"Lore was there for me in a very dark part in my life." He said quietly but despite the control in his tone, his hands had curled into fists.

He didn't seem to register the action, but his knuckles had gone white and I knew his fingernails must have been digging into his palms.

"She loved me at a point that I didn't think anyone would. When I didn't love myself." He hesitated before saying. "And when I started to, she dealt with a lot to make sure I didn't stop."

His hands relaxed, and while I wanted to ask what he meant by this, I didn't. It didn't seem like the time to go poking into Jake's history. I didn't know Jake all that well, and I had a feeling prying questions in this direction wouldn't be very welcome.

"Look, I know you and Lore are friends or something now. Or whatever you want to call it. And this isn't my business."

"No, it's not." I muttered glancing out of the passenger side window in irritation.

"But if you don't like her. I mean like, really care about her, don't go in there. Just leave her alone."

This caught my attention and I looked at him, too confused at this point to be annoyed.

I knew this was supposed to be a warning, or maybe Jake was just trying to scare me away from his best friend due to some sort of protective instinct. But I didn't see the point.

None of this made sense.

It was as if he thought I had the ability to actually hurt Lorelei, and in a way that was more than just her pride.

There were a lot of things I wanted to say to what seemed like a completely unnecessary waving of a red flag, but none of them seemed to be able to come out. Instead, I asked.

"Why?"

"Because," he said quietly. "She's got enough going on in her life right now. She doesn't need a decent dude like you coming along and messing it up even more."

….

In the end, I ignored Jake's advice about leaving his friend alone and went into his house.

He'd said she was probably in the kitchen, and advised me not to mention anything about the food which I thought was strange, until I was there.

Immediately it was clear to me what he'd been talking about. It seemed as if every inch of counter space was covered in some sort of pie or cake or fancy tartelette you only saw in bakeries in the nicer parts of town.

I didn't see Lorelei until I'd made it a few steps in the room and spotted her lying on the floor, feet propped up on a wall next to the oven, a hand held console making machine gun sounds as she stared intently at the screen.

"You have some odd habits, don't you?" I asked looking down at her.

She let out a startled noise and dropped her device in surprise, wincing as it landed on her. She sat up quickly and it was at this point that I realized she must have been waiting for something to finish baking as the oven was on.

"I wear a lot of uncomfortable shoes." She said and while her tone was defensive, I noticed her cheeks were tinted pink as she gestured towards the wall. "It helps."

"Yeah I'm not going to lie, it was weird seeing you in the store earlier. I'm used to you being taller."

Her flush increased at the mention of the store and she looked away, giving me a chance to look at her. I noticed as she brushed her hair back, something I now realized was a habit of hers when she was agitated, a strand of it faded from blue to purple. It wasn't the only change to her appearance I detected either, namely, a few freckles scattered across nose and cheek bones that I figured she usually covered with the same make up she'd spilled all over her keyboard.

"How come you didn't tell me about your dad?" I asked frowning.

She was still sitting on the kitchen floor, but got up quickly as a timer went off. Hastily putting her game down on what little room was left on the counter, she grabbed a pair of oven mitts and pulled out a tin of massive cinnamon rolls.

She turned, clearly trying to find a place to put them when I grabbed them out of her hands and she let out a shout of surprise.

"Dex those are-"

"I'm fine, Lorelei." I assured her, setting them on the stove and opening my palms for her to see. "I have a high temperature threshold for burns."

They stung a little, but the skin was unharmed after coming into contact with heated metal and she looked at me, clearly a little freaked out.

"Is that normal?" she asked hesitantly.

"None of us are normal," I pointed out, gesturing towards the color in her hair which she reached for, apparently without conscious thought. "But don't go trying to set any of my siblings on fire. They won't appreciate it I promise you."

"I guess I'll just cancel my summer plans then." She said sarcastically, but it was quieter than I thought she usually would have said it, and I noticed she didn't seem to be wanting to make eye contact with me as I grabbed a slice of what looked to be banana bread and considered her.

"I guess there's no point in asking if you figured out who my dad is, is there?" she asked dejectedly and I shook my head.

"No. But luckily for you, I don't watch a lot of soccer."

"Did you google me?"

I could hear the accusation in her tone, but also the anxiety. As if she was afraid of what I might have found.

"Technically, I used a different search engine." I said with a shrug and her eyes flashed angrily. "But I didn't read anything."

"I'm amazed at your lack of restraint." She said darkly, throwing an ugly look at a batch of cupcakes that had pastel flower decorations settled into the frosting.

I had to admit, the juxtaposition was a little odd.

"For a bit there people liked to write a lot about me. I'm sure there's plenty to read."

"Maybe." I said with a shrug. "But I figured you'd prefer me to hear it from you."

At this, she glanced at me. It was only for a second, but I could see that though her expression was anxious, there was a certain amount of relief in it as well. There was a moment of silence that stretched between us and she seemed to debate something to herself, but eventually, she sighed and asked.

"What do you want to know?"

Lpov

It always came as a bit of a shock to me that despite being infamous for his reclusive reputation at camp, Dex was actually sort of easy to talk to once you got a conversation going.

I watched interested as he ducked under Jake's truck, fixing… something.

I wasn't exactly sure what he was doing, but it was amusing to hear him mutter to himself in irritation between questions, tearing stuff out of Jake's truck and putting it back, metal clanking against metal the whole time.

"Don't take this the wrong way." He said his voice muffled but the floor of the vehicle. "I mean, I know he's an athlete and probably ages well, but your dad seems a bit… young."

"He is." I said nodding, realizing a second too late that there was no point as Dex wouldn't have seen it. "My dad wasn't even twenty when he found out about me."

Dex poked his head out from under the truck.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's kind of why he got so famous I mean, apart from being good at what he does. He'd just been signed to the team when suddenly, he found out he had a kid. Everyone expected his career to tank with a daughter to take care of but if anything, it became sort of his brand."

He'd looked as if he was about to go back to fixing something, but hesitated at that and frowned.

"His brand?" he asked skeptically, a hint of disapproval in his tone. "What does that mean?"

"It's hard to explain." I said feeling my brow furrow a little as I thought back through the years, trying to put my life into some sort of context a person like Dex could understand. "I don't think he really meant for it to happen but he just sort of brought me to practices and games, more often than the other parents on the team would, and people got used to seeing me. Started to expect to."

I shrugged.

"It kind of just took on its own sort of life from there. The fans of the team seemed to love it and it was pretty good PR for the franchise and my dad so I guess they sort of leaned into it. I didn't care much when I was little. I didn't know enough to care and was just happy to be around my dad. He was my best friend and I had a whole team full of older brothers kind of that were all really nice to me. But as I got older, and started looking more and more like a child of Aphrodite… well, it didn't escape people's notice."

I let out a laugh, but it sounded hollow even to myself.

"I guess I can't blame them. I imagine it's pretty hard to restrain yourself when you have an image to promote and access to someone whose DNA makes it almost impossible for them to take a bad photograph."

"Sure you can blame them." He said darkly sliding out from under the truck and sparing me a glance before grabbing a tool from the box he'd dragged out of Jake's garage, and disappearing behind the hood. "You were a child. That's exploitation. Why didn't your dad do anything about it?"

"I don't think he really understood the problem." I said with a shrug. "From his point of view, everything I used to love spending time doing with him at games and practices or endorsement shoots, I just stopped wanting to do. Publicity has never really bothered him all that much, and I don't think he quite understands why it would anyone else."

"That's a pretty terrible excuse if he let it keep happening." Dex muttered and I noticed his voice was tight.

For a second, I thought he was upset, but when I leaned over to see what he was doing, he seemed to be reaching for something, then swore.

"I'm going to murder whoever installed this." He said stiffly, then looked at me. "Can I borrow you for a second?"

"What?"

"I need someone with smaller hands." He explained holding up his own.

It was huge and calloused, no doubt from all the years spent in the various workshops and the forge at camp.

"Oh." I said a little surprised at the request, but walking over to him and hopping up on the truck's bumper to look over the engine.

"See that wire down there?" he asked gesturing towards a thin cable trailing through a cramped space of metal and tubes.

"Yeah."

"I need you to unplug it."

I frowned for a moment, then reached for it only to hesitate.

"This isn't going to like, electrocute me or anything, right?" I asked.

I didn't know anything about cars, but I at least had enough sense not to mess with stuff I knew absolutely nothing about. Especially when car batteries were involved.

He looked as if he was about to laugh, but managed to avoid it.

He did smile a little, but schooled his expression, leading me to think the question was pretty stupid, but he was trying not to show it.

"No." He said patiently. "You'll be fine."

"Alright." I said feeling a little embarrassed, but leaning over the hood and reaching for the wire anyways.

Very aware Dex was watching and that this was his area of divine expertise, I felt around until my fingertips brushed against the wire and pulled.

"I think it's stuck." I muttered when I met resistance, tugging again only to have the wire remain firmly in place.

"Don't be afraid to show it who's boss." He said sounding unconcerned.

"I don't want to break anything."

"Trust me, you won't. Besides," Dex continued sourly. "Breaking anything on this car would be an improvement. It would give me an excuse to reinstall it properly."

I straightened up and looked at him, a little amused as I said.

"Wow you really hate this thing don't you?"

"With a passion." He agreed with a nod that was so resolute, I smiled a little before returning to a wire.

Feeling a little more confident with Dex's permission to destroy, I continued to yank at the wire with increasing force until there was a 'clank'. The cable came free and I over balanced at the sudden shift in momentum falling backward off the bumper.

Before I'd even had the chance to shout out in surprise I was caught in a strong, but gentle grip and once again, felt myself going red as Dex said.

"You're not very handy, are you?"

"I could decapitate you quite easily with a pair of fabric scissors." I muttered resentfully and to my very great surprise, he laughed again.

"You know, I believe that."

He set me on the drive way still chuckling to himself as he continued to work.

I watched him, thinking he was unusually chipper for someone who'd just sort of been threatened and the next few minutes passed in silence between us as he continued to grab tools, swear to himself, and curse Jake's car.

Dex didn't seem like the sort of person who generally liked to be watched while he worked, but he didn't seem to mind my presence and I had to admit, it was a little interesting. I wasn't really sure why though. I didn't particularly care about cars, but maybe it was the fact that Dex was the one doing it. He seemed to be in a good mood, something that didn't often happen if you asked around camp, and it was interesting seeing him in his element. He looked far more comfortable than I'd ever seen him.

I had to admit, it was kind of nice.

Several more minutes passed of me just watching Dex, occasionally handing him a tool or asking a question about things like spark plugs, before he shut the hood and looked at me, wiping what looked like oil off his hands with a rag.

"You never did finish."

"Finish what?" I asked confused.

He'd discarded his work shirt a while ago and when I saw the amount of grime on his undershirt and jeans, I understood why. It was an uncomfortable realization on my end however, when I noticed that somehow… this didn't manage to make him seem any less attractive.

"Explaining." He said leaning against the side of the truck, crossing his arms over his chest and eyeing me with a clinical sort of interest. "Did your dad ever step in as you got older? And why did he punch that ref?"

I let out a sigh.

"The ref was unrelated to me. The guy was taking bribes and making crappy calls and the incident sort of spiraled when they realized he wasn't the only one."

I shook my head remembering the media fire storm.

"It sparked this huge scandal, coaches and players were involved along with team owners… It was a mess."

"That's why he got sent overseas right?"

"Yeah, to France." I said with a reluctant nod. "He already knew some of the language, and sort of became fluent growing up speaking with me. He played there for a while, got some experience in the European leagues and they paid him a ton of money to come back."

"Did you go with him?"

I hesitated for a moment, wondering just how honest with Dex I wanted to be here, but eventually figured a general overview wouldn't hurt.

"Sort of. I did at first, but I didn't stay."

"Why not?" he asked looking surprised at this and I shrugged.

"Because I hated it there. Not the country, but being with my dad. Just because we left the US doesn't mean what had happened had gone away. It wasn't a very good time in my dad's life, or mine. He felt like he was being punished for things other people had done. He got paid less over in Europe at the start of it all, played less, and the press there was pretty brutal. On both of us."

"He didn't stop it." Dex asked quietly. "Did he?"

"Well, in his defense." I said looking away from him. "I don't think there was much he could have done, but I was a teenager at that point and the harassment just kept getting worse, even here among fans who'd literally known me since I was a kid. The more my abilities grew, the more media attention my father and my story seemed to get and…"

I made a helpless gesture and when I chanced a quick glance at him, he looked a little horrified.

"That's messed up." He said softly.

"That's being a child of Aphrodite." I said bitterly.

"That doesn't make it-"

"You don't have to tell me it's not ok." I said angrily. "I know that Dex. I was the one it happened to."

He looked as if he wanted to retort, but thought better of it and a stab of guilt went through me.

"Sorry." I said quietly. "I'm not mad at you."

"It's alright." He said with a shrug. "You're allowed to be upset about this. I imagine it was pretty terrible."

"Yeah." I agreed tonelessly.

There was an awkward moment where neither of us spoke, and it was clear neither of us really knew what to say. He broke it eventually however, curiosity appearing to get the better of him.

"How'd you end up back in the states?" he asked. "It sounds like you weren't overseas nearly as long as your dad was."

"I wasn't." I admitted scratching the back of my head feeling a little embarassed. "I uh, got into some trouble involving some important people over there and... uh, well I'm not actually allowed back into the country."

His expression went blank with shock.

"You what?"

"Yeah…"

"You're banned from France?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds." I assured him as one of his eyebrows ticked up. "I mean I didn't like, hurt anyone or anything."

"What did you do?"

"I tried to get home, to the US I mean." I explained when I caught his confused expression. "I actually managed it too. But I'm not like some of my siblings who can just sort of… convince people to give them what they want." I continued, wondering if Dex had even heard of charmspeak. "I can pretty easily change my appearance though like I said, and I got pretty good at it trying to avoid photographers and fans who knew my father."

"I don't see how-"

"You need a passport to get between countries. And my father had mine."

Realization dawned on his expression, but I continued to explain.

"I found someone I thought I could easily change to look like at the airport and lifted her documentation. It actually wasn't that hard. It wasn't until I was in the US and detained waiting to get off the flight that I realized she was wife of a really important politician. He went on television to give a speech and people saw her there."

I sighed.

"The fight was flagged immediately. Customs was not happy."

"No kidding." He muttered.

"Eventually it got sorted out, but I wasn't allowed back and it did a number on my dad's already damaged reputation. Everyone knew him as the super star Casanova athlete who still managed to be this amazing dad. And it was sort of collapsing on all sides. Less money, less play time, lots of bad press and now his daughter had run away and gotten into major trouble..." I sighed. "He still visited me in the off season, but things weren't the same. He wasn't around a lot, and the whole world it felt like was wondering what had happened and how things had gone so wrong. I never went out looking like myself any more where I thought people might recognize me so to the sports community, it looked like he'd left, I got into trouble, then just sort of disappeared…"

I shrugged.

"He actually almost didn't come back. The team was sort of giving him the run around when negotiating his contract in the early stages and he threatened to stay in France. Went back to Europe and everything half way through the moving process."

"Seriously?" He asked indignantly. "He did that to you because of a contract? Went back to the country you're not legally allowed to be in?"

"Well, he had a job there. Here he wasn't too sure about."

"Screw that. You're in high school. What did he expect for you to just live on Olympus with your mother?"

"I think he just expected me to keep staying with Jake." I said gesturing back at the house behind me. "His mom's my legal guardian when he's not here. She's awesome it's not like she and Jake don't take care of me."

He didn't seem to have a response to this, but he didn't exactly looked satisfied with the response.

"So what happened then?" He asked and when he caught my expression, explained. "I mean your dad's back, right? What changed?"

I didn't answer his question immediately, mentally sorting through my life over the past several months and everything that had happened. A wave of exhaustion ran over me as I let out another sigh.

"I guess the easiest way to answer that would be me."

"You?" He asked in surprise and I nodded.

"When my dad went back to Europe, I knew he was pretty serious about not coming home for at least the next season, but I also knew the fans that would think if they saw me. So," I shrugged. "I went to a preseason game."

I winced remembering the events and the resulting fall out.

"People went crazy, headlines were all over the place saying this had to be confirmation that he'd been signed. Fans were getting excited. It sort of tied all of their hands."

"You did all of that, just so that your dad would come home?" He asked quietly, and there was a sympathy in his tone I didn't quite feel I deserved.

"I did it because I was mad at him." I countered, annoyed. "And the team. I knew it would cause a publicity tornado and it worked. I knew people wanted to know what happened to me and if they were going to lie to me about him coming home, then at least the public could punish them for it. Clearly they didn't care about disappointing me."

Dex didn't respond to this immediately, just continued to look at me for a moment, his expression conflicted. As if he wasn't exactly sure he knew how he was supposed to feel.

"I don't really know how to respond to any of that, Lore." He said quietly shaking his head. "This is all kind of messed up."

It was the first time he'd ever referred to me by a nickname, and while it felt significant, considering the entire statement around it, I couldn't exactly bring myself to be excited about the situation.

"I told you my life was complicated."

"No." he said giving me a pointed look. "Programming a robot is complicated, at least a half way intelligent one. This isn't just complicated, this is like… a year's worth of unpacking in a therapist's office. Maybe more."

He frowned however, seeming to have realized something.

"You said some of this happened a few months ago, right?"

I nodded.

"Back when all that stuff with Heather and Caleb happened?" he asked and I felt myself scowl.

"Yeah."

His eyebrows darted upwards and made an indignant noise.

"Jeez." He said sounding unimpressed. "No wonder you hate that guy."

"Why do you think I ran over the charms he and my dad gave me with Jake's truck?" I asked. "Cheaper than therapy."

"Not if you ask me to fix it." He said with a snort. "My rates aren't cheap and you only get one free be."

He paused for a moment, apparently debating something to himself, before appearing to throw caution to the wind.

"This is what you actually look like, right?"

"What?" I asked confused.

"You said you can change how you look." he said gesturing towards me in a general way and I felt my heart sink a little.

"What does it matter how I look?" I asked quietly, feeling ice solidify in shards within me, and he let out a gruff noise that seemed half way between irritation and amusement.

"Try not to think to highly of yourself right now Lorelei. I don't care what you look like. You just seem to have about thirteen personalities all rolled into one person, half the time I don't even know which version of you to expect."

"You really like insulting me, don't you?" I asked glaring at him.

"That's not an insult." He said shaking his head. "It's an observation. How you choose to take it is up to you."

That caught me off guard a little I had to admit, and it took me a second to think about what he'd said.

"If you don't care what I look like, why are you asking?" I said frowning and he shrugged.

"I dunno." He said his tone thoughtful. "I guess, you've made it so hard for anyone to get to know you, I'd like to at least the person I'm looking at is real. Not just some sort of fabrication you want people to see."

A shock went through me at this, along with a surge of anxiety as he continued.

"You seem pretty good at getting people to do what you want them to. Hades Lore you manipulated an entire fan base to influence their team and your father just by showing up somewhere. Do you realize how intimidating that is? That you have that sort of power, and awareness and intelligence it to know how to use it?"

"You don't have to hangout with me, Dex." I said angrily feeling suddenly extremely hostile. "If you don't want to deal with me fine. Go. No one's got a gun to your head."

"You're right." He said calmly.

I'd expected him to be angry, maybe even to start shouting or slam a door of Jake's truck and storm out. That's how arguments with my dad usually went, and Caleb by the end of our relationship. Even some of my teachers at school.

But Dex didn't seem interested in shouting. He continued to look at me, arms folded over his chest as he watched me patiently. It was better than I deserved right now, I knew it. And something I didn't expect from him considering his reputation at camp.

"But if we're going to be friends, I don't think it's too much to ask for you to be the real you. I don't even know how many times I've actually met you, let alone what you looked like when you did."

My heart skipped a beat at this, but whether it was in surprise or fear, I wasn't sure. I looked away from him feeling the anger within me subside as quickly as it had come to life, and I had no idea how to respond.

He sounded genuinely regretful about this, I couldn't help but think however, that he shouldn't.

The truth was, even I didn't like the real me sometimes. And if I didn't like the person that I was, how the hell could I expect Dex to?

"Fine." I said quietly, continuing to look at anywhere but him. "Yes. This is what I look like."

Thanks to my mom, that wasn't much I could do to change it. At least not for long.

Still avoiding his gaze, I examined ends of my hair, looking for damage I knew wouldn't be there. I was so distracted, it took me several seconds before I realized it had returned to its natural color.

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing." He said softly and I could tell where his mind was at.

A lot of people would have thought I was insane to be uncomfortable with my appearance, might even call me ungrateful. But I couldn't help it.

"What good has it ever done me?"

The words came out harsher than I had meant them, but my voice was tight and I was surprised to find myself resisting a burning in my eyes.

Being a daughter of Aphrodite hadn't helped my relationships, it had poisoned them. It put so many expectations on me and my life, and when I failed to live up to them, which I always did, it felt as if the disappointment in people was far worse than if they'd never been there in the first place. Having a spot light on you didn't always meant you shined. Sometimes, it just highlighted your flaws for the world to see. That was all my divine heritage had ever done for me. It just made me want to be invisible.

"Well," Dex started, breaking me from my miserable thoughts.

His tone obviously awkward and I tried not to feel too humiliated as he continued with.

"I'm not sure if you care about this sort of thing. But I'm pretty sure everyone thinks your ex traded down."

I let out a laugh at this and finally managed to look at him.

"Why?" I asked sarcastically. "Because of my sparkling personality?"

"Well to be honest," he scratched the back of his head and by his expression, I knew no matter how much he disliked Heather, he still felt a little uncomfortable saying anything negative about his ex. "There wasn't really a lot of competition there. Heather could be pretty…"

"Unpleasant?"

"That's probably a nicer word than what my siblings would say, but yeah." He admitted a little sheepishly. "You're more fun to be around though. If you ask me that's the real thing he should be regretting."

A strange mix of satisfaction and anxiety surged through me at this, along with a growing sense of guilt. I didn't often like to think about how other people saw me, usually I tried not to care. It wasn't hard to not respect people's opinions about you when you knew you could easily make it change with the right smile and five minutes of dedicated conversation.

It wasn't that easy with Dex. In fact, with him it wasn't easy at all. He only seemed to like me when I wasn't trying to force him to.

He was still watching me and the longer the silence stretched between us, the more aware of it I was as well as my pounding heartbeat.

Someone had to say something soon, otherwise I was convinced he'd hear it.

"Are you two finished yet?" said a loud voice.

I jumped and we both turned to see Jake walking towards us.

"You've been out here forever."

He looked at Dex, then back at his truck which, admittedly appeared to be unchanged from the outside, then back at us.

"What have you just been making out in the backseat?" He asked.

From his expression, I thought Dex was going to grab a wrench and clock Jake with it, but Jake smirked and said.

"Relax, I'm joking. What did you do anyways?"

This launched a discussion between the boys I had no interest in as Dex went through the finer points of his repairs.

I watched the two without really meaning to, realizing how strangely comfortable the moment was.

I'd expected the day to be a bit of nightmare, for Dex not to want to be around me after finding out the truth about my father but this…

I had to admit this wasn't anything close to a nightmare. It was actually sort of nice…

As if primed by the thought, a wave of cold washed over me and I winced, jerking my head slightly as a wave of memories came flooding back to me, as if this unconscious movement would spare me from seeing them. It didn't.

Caleb, my mother, my father, they all flashed through my mind.

I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts and pressed my palms against my eyes as a dull ached formed behind them.

Jake must have noticed because I heard him ask.

"You ok Lore?"

Before I could answer, there was a loud crashing sound.

I quickly looked up to see Dex, wide eyed had staggered back from the truck. He'd lifted the hood to show Jake the work he'd done, and it was clear that it had just slammed shut, almost chopping Dex's head off in the process.

"What-" Jake started glancing between Dex and the truck, before darting over to assess the situation.

Gingerly, he lifted up the metal and said.

"Looks like it snapped."

He gestured towards the thin rod of metal they'd been using too keep the hood in place as they'd looked over the engine.

"I've been working on cars for as long as I can remember." Dex said sounding a little shaken, but other wising appearing alright. "I've never seen that happen."

"Maybe you've lost your touch." Jake said grinning at him, Dex however, looked far from amused.

"Ok." I said rubbing my forehead, but grateful the pain seemed to be subsiding. "Maybe we should all go inside, before Dex cuts your break lines Jake."

"Alright." Jake said sounding amused before gesturing for Dex to follow him. "C'mon Hammerhead. I've got an old tablet you can look at if you get bored, hasn't worked since middle school, but I know you like a challenge."

Dex rolled his eyes, but didn't follow Jake.

Instead, he looked at me.

"You ok?"

It was then I realized I was still digging the heel of my palm into my temple, trying to ease what was left of the head ache.

"What? Oh." I said distracted, then realized what he was asking about. "Yeah, I'm fine just... just startled I guess."

"You and me both." He said and we turned to look at the truck. "I thought Jake was trying to guillotine me there for a second."

"Nah." I said shaking my head. "If Jake wanted to behead you, he's use his axe. It would be more personal for him."

"Well, whatever makes him happy I guess." He muttered and I grinned..

"Are you two coming?"

Jake had made it to the porch now and was squinting at us, clearly gesturing for us to get a move on.

"Yeah." I shouted back then rolled my eyes. "I swear sometimes I think he has the attention span of a gold fish."

Dex laugh at this, but it died pretty quickly and he looked at me again, clearly concerned.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked uncertainly and I nodded.

"I'm fine." I assured him and when he didn't look totally convinced I said. "Trust me, it's nothing compared to the concussion you would have faced if you'd actually been hit by that thing."

He glanced at the truck, then back at me.

"If you say so." He said quietly before turning and making his way towards the house.

I followed after him only to be greeted by an exasperated noise from Jake.

"Finally," he said with an emphasis on the word that had me rolling my eyes.

We both ignored him and stepped into the house, both boys making a beeline for the kitchen and the mountain of snacks.

I grabbed a few cookies and watched, rather alarmed at just how much food they were already managing to put away.

"So," Jake said after his third cupcake. "Now the harpy's out of the bag about Lore's dad, what do you guys want to do?"