Dpov
Lorelei's eyes went wide and I felt pang of shock, cold and sudden, go through me.
"Famous?" Ellie asked, her eyes darting quickly between Michael and Lorelei, as I immediately clarified.
"She's not my girlfriend."
Lorelei didn't say anything.
"Yeah." Michael said, reaching into his pocket for his phone and opening an app. "This is you isn't it?"
He'd pulled up a profile under the username 'Lorelove' that was full of pictures of what looked like clothing and costumes she'd designed herself.
"I recognized the shirt," He said handing over the phone and gesturing towards Lorelei.
She took the devise gingerly, as if she thought it was a particularly sensitive bomb that could go off at any time, and looked at the screen.
He was right of course, she'd posted a photo of the shirt she was wearing, something she had finished earlier today according to the post. It was on a mannequin in the photo, and none of the photos on the account had a face or any identifying information from what I could see, but it obvious to me that most of the photos were of her.
"My sister is obsessed with this account." Michael explained as I took the phone.
"You made these?" I asked in amazement scrolling through the photos while Lorelei was looking distinctly uncomfortable.
"Yes."
The photos ranged from crazy elaborate prom dresses, to cosplay so detailed, I would have thought it had been done by a professional.
"Wait, let me see that." Ellie said quickly, snatching the phone out of my hands.
One of the photos must have caught her attention, because she selected an image and it blew up to take the whole screen.
I recognized it to an outfit worn by a popular video game character. Ellie must have spotted it too because she asked.
"Do you play Crash Battle?" Ellie asked Lorelei incredulously who nodded.
Ellie looked stunned.
"Are you ranked?" she asked curiously but Lorelei shook her head.
"Not anymore." she admitted. "I uh, had to stop playing for a while. One of my friend's brothers was getting pretty annoying about invites whenever he saw I was online."
"But you were?" Ellie asked her expression a mix of envy and amazement. "Ranked I mean."
"Just on this side of the country." Lorelei scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Not like globally or anythin-"
But Ellie cut her off.
"Do you know how long I've been trying to top the leader board? Even just the local one?" she asked indignantly. "And you're telling me you just stopped playing because some dude was irritating you?"
"I dunno what you want me to tell you." Lorelei shrugged sounding oddly thrown. "Dealing with assholes online isn't exactly fun."
"Yeah I guess I get that." Ellie sighed sympathetically, but she sounded a little crestfallen and her expression was hard to place.
I didn't know what to make of it.
I knew Ellie had somewhat of a strong personality, but so did Lorelei even if it was in a much different way. I hadn't known what to expect when the two met, if they'd like each other or not. To be honest, I could sort of see it go both ways. Both girls were smart and used to getting their way. Ellie, through her sheer force of will that could veer into the realm of an unreasonable intractability. Lorelei, with a remarkable ability to socially engineer almost any situation, to get what she wanted out of the people around her.
I couldn't help but think Ellie looked a little disappointed however, and a distant, hopeful part of me was wondering if maybe, she'd been hoping she'd found a girl who'd be willing to play with her. I'd only played the game a few times, but from conversations I'd heard between Ellie and Michael, the online culture for it could be pretty horrible. Especially to girls.
"You really made all these?" Ellie asked eventually, swiping through the photos before landing on one of the dresses, blue floor length dress with what looked like designs of flowers and petals trailing artfully down the billowy fabric. It was surprisingly girl to have caught Ellie's eye.
"Yeah."
Ellie seemed to debate something to herself for a moment, looking genuinely conflicted before apparently throwing caution to the wind and asking.
"Could you make me a prom dress?"
"Uh, what?" Lorelei asked sounding confused.
"You know, like a dress I could wear to prom," she blushed a little, and I had a feeling she was determinedly not looking at Michael as she continued. "I'm sure your school has one."
"No, actually we don't." she said shaking her head.
"Why not?" Ellie asked looking a little surprised and Lorelei was looking uncomfortable again.
Ellie was asking a lot of questions that I was sure she didn't really want to answer.
"We don't have any dances." She said in a tone that told me there were probably reasons for this, but she didn't want to get into them.
"That sucks." Michael observed and Lorelei managed to smile a little.
"Not really," she said awkwardly, then explained. "I sort of hate my classmates," when Michael persisted in looking confused.
"All of them?"
"Well I'm sure I haven't talked to all of them." Lorelei said quietly, but by her tone I could tell she didn't have much hope that this would really change her opinion all that much. "My friend Jake is cool, but he's really the only one."
"Well," Ellie said seeming to decide something on the spot. "You should come to ours."
"What?"
"Our prom. We're allowed to bring outside guests."
At this, Lorelei grinned.
"Are you asking me to be your date?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "Careful what you wish for. You're pretty cute. I'll say yes."
Ellie spluttered at this.
"No." she said going bright red and pointing in my direction. "I meant you would go with Dex, obviously."
"Well, if were going with what's obvious does that mean you two are going together?" Lorelei asked nodding towards Michael who also went bright red.
I couldn't help but smile at this and think.
'Point one, Lorelei.'
It didn't escape me how effortlessly she'd deflected Ellie's implication about our relationship, and turned it right back on her.
Both Ellie and Michael were stammering at this point, explaining that they were just friends, and besides, Ellie had continued, shewasn't even sure if she really wanted to go to prom anyways.
"Uh huh." Lorelei said sounding bored, clearly not believing a word from either of them. "Tell you what."
She nodded towards the shooter game.
"We play each other. If you win, I'll make you a prom dress. If I win," she smirked. "You have to bring me as your date."
"Seriously?" Ellie asked watching as Lorelei walked towards the machine.
"Seriously."
"Why?"
"Why not?" she asked shrugging and grinning grabbing the plastic gun. "I want to go to prom, and you either get a totally gorgeous dress, or a totally gorgeous date for the dance. Either way it's a win for you."
Ellie looked at me uncertainly.
"Is she joking?"
"No." I said with a laugh.
I knew Lorelei well enough by now to be certain in my response.
Ellie seemed to debate this for a second, then shrugged and said.
"Alright."
She took up the spot next to Lorelei in front of the game, as well as the second controller.
"You're not going to win though." Ellie said smirking as the intro to the game started.
"Yes I am." Lorelei said easily pressing the plastic weapon into her shoulder in a familiar way that told me she was about to wipe the floor with Ellie in this game like she'd destroyed me in Speed Street.
She must have caught my line of thinking, because her lips quirked up into half a smile before adding.
"And I'll do it in heels."
…
Lorelei did win and it wasn't even close.
Neither was the second round, or the round after that to Ellie's obvious disbelief.
"I'll still make the dress." She said dropping the controller back into it's holster while Ellie gaped at her. "But I get to pick the color and the design."
"You're not gonna make me look stupid are you?" Ellie asked hesitantly.
She wasn't used to getting her ass handed to her, especially not in video games, and I had a feeling she was in shock.
"Of course not." said Lorelei easily, waving this thought away as if it were ludicrous. "Why would I make my date look stupid?"
"I can't believe you were serious about that." Ellie said shaking her head incredulously, but it ended with a laugh.
"I have been told I'm unbelievable before." Lorelei said thoughtfully. "But I think the dude just wanted my number."
"Did he get it?"
"No, but you'll need it for dress fittings."
"Damn, haven't even gone to the dance yet and you're already trying to get my clothes off."
The joke was totally unlike Ellie, and both girls broke out into laughter.
"What is happening?" Michael asked uncertainly.
We'd grabbed a table on the out skirts of the snack section as the girls had faced off, and he was looking at them obviously confused.
"I'm not exactly sure." I admitted figuring mysterious powers associated with cabin 10 were at play. "But it's fun to watch."
"Your girlfriend's a little scary dude." He said watching as Lorelei linked her arm with Ellie and dragged her off to the skee ball machine.
"She's not my girlfriend," I reminded him. "And I agree with you."
He frowned.
"I'm pretty sure Ellie was determined not to like her." He continued. Ellie seemed to be speaking rapidly, with sweeping hand gestures, probably telling a story centered around one of our many shop mishaps at school. "Looks like that plan went out the window."
He hesitated for a moment before saying.
"You know who she is… right?"
I glanced at him, and his expression a mix of emotions the predominating one seeming to be hesitance, as if he wasn't sure if he should be asking what he was.
"Who she is?" I asked confused and he nodded, definitely looking awkward at this point.
"Yeah, like, who she is."
His gaze met mine and it was then I realized that it hadn't just been Lorelei's outfit Michael had recognized when we'd walked into the arcade.
"Yeah." I said eventually and felt my brow furrow. "Do you?"
"C'mon Dex." He said, a hint of incredulity in his tone. "Anyone who has even a passing interest in sports knows about her dad. It's pretty obvious."
"Cole and Ellie didn't." I pointed out and he rolled his eyes.
"Dude. You've seen Cole in gym. The only person less coordinated with a ball than he is is Ellie. If she really does bring Lorelei to prom people are going to freak."
"You think?" I asked dubiously but his nod was certain.
"Oh yeah." He answered. "Big time."
He paused before saying.
"Didn't she have some sort of freak out recently?"
His gaze fell on Lorelei again and I felt myself frown.
"What do you mean?" I asked, wondering if he was talking about the fallout after everything that had happened with Caleb and her Dad leaving the country. Though how he would have known anything about that I wasn't sure.
"I'm guessing you haven't googled her, have you?" he asked.
"I mean, other than just typing her name into a search bar, no. Why?"
He shook his head however.
"I dunno, she seems alright, but you might want to. I remember there were a lot of headlines about her at one point, but who knows." He said with a shrug. "Maybe none of it was true. Not sure if prom is the greatest idea though."
He then frowned his own statement.
"You don't think Ellie's really going to take her, do you?"
"I don't see why not." I said shrugging. "I mean, it's not like she had a date."
An odd emotion crossed his expression however, that had me doing something unusual, and attempting to channel channel even a fraction of the interpersonal skills Lorelei had put on display when navigating her first impressions with my friends.
"What does it matter to you?"
He didn't really answer, but I heard a few mumbles and something about 'just as friends'.
"You were planning on asking her?" I asked in surprise and he shrugged.
"I mean, like not as like a date date," he muttered, but he sounded a little disappointed. "But I mean, neither of us had a date and she kept mentioning wanting to go." He paused. "I just didn't want people to get the wrong idea."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, she's probably gonna take over the club next year since you and I will be gone. I was gonna recommend her for the top spot and that would look really good on things like college applications. I just didn't want anyone to think it was like… favoritism or something."
"That's the reason you never asked her out?" I asked incredulously, wondering if, for all his brains and above average grades, Michael might actually be an idiot.
"Of course," he said looking at me in surprise. "What other reason would I have? She's pretty, she's smart, and can build almost anything. What guy wouldn't be interested in her?"
A strange pang of shock went through me at this as I realized Michael had a point.
All the guys in the club had had a crush on Ellie at one point or another. It unfortunately just sort of came with the territory of being the only girl in the group for so long, but Michael and I had gone out of our way to make sure no one had made her uncomfortable. It was clear that Michael, in some ways, had applied this to himself no matter how obvious it was that she liked him.
Only now that did it occur to me however, that this had never been an issue for me. And really, I didn't know why. He was right. Ellie was very smart, great at video games, pretty and got along with all my friends. I'd always thought I'd never been interested in being more than friends with her because I'd always had a girlfriend.
But I didn't have one now.
We looked over at the girls who were laughing at a ball in Lorelei's lane that had managed to wedge itself between a few of the rings. Something about the situation struck me and I continued to watch the two for a moment realizing something.
Lorelei didn't often laugh like she was doing now, she was far too contained for that, at least with real emotions.
Knowing this, it was hard to look at anything but her when what she was feeling was so plainly written across her face. It wasn't perfect, or sarcastic, or composed like I was so used to seeing her around other people. And the more I saw it, the more I couldn't help but think when she was laughing like that, the way she looked was something more than just beautiful.
It was impossible to describe. Words just didn't seem sufficient for sort of emotions it invoked.
"Jeez." Michael said brining me back to reality.
I blinked and glanced at him, suddenly remembering the rest of the world.
He looked a little incredulous.
"You really like this girl, don't you?"
I hesitated for a moment, automatically wanting to reject the question but finding myself unable to.
My heart rate picked up at this realization accompanied by an encroaching feeling of fear.
I swore.
"Yeah." I answered eventually, only realizing as I said it, that it was true. "Yeah I think I do."
It was surreal to hear myself admitting to it out loud. It was like stepping into what I'd thought was a pool of water, only to slip into in ocean I didn't know existed below. Only when I had been dragged under surface did I realize how all encompassing the situation was. That it was too late to even attempt to swim.
And it was as if all the emotions I'd been trying to suppress for the last few weeks came crashing into me in an unstoppable flood.
Michael was right. I liked Lorelei. I really, really liked her. And I didn't care if some of the stuff she did seemed crazy, or her moods were as unpredictable as a storm in the desert. I didn't care if her father was famous, or if her sense of justice seemed to be a little off, or the fact that sometimes it was damn near impossible to tell what the hell was on her mind.
None of it mattered to me.
And that was terrifying.
I didn't know it was possible for me to feel like this, and not just because of Heather, but because of who I was as a person. I was Dex Cartwright, a son of Hephaestus, a gear head, the biggest and most dedicated recluse of Cabin nine. Something like this, feeling like this, didn't happen to people like me.
Or maybe it was just this didn't happen to me for just anyone…
Then again, Lorelei, strange as she was for an Aphrodite camper, was a part of Cabin ten. For all I knew this was a typical Tuesday for her. Just another guy in a line of them who'd be more than happy for her to waste their time.
I didn't want to think about that, even if I knew it could be true. I didn't want to think it was possible for her. To make someone feel something this powerful, while remaining ambivalent herself.
But that was what the campers in the Aphrodite cabin were famous for, weren't they? And even just remembering how we met, I felt a sick sense of anxiety going through me.
Rarely ever were they serious about a relationship. And rarely did anyone who tangled with one of them came out any better for it. I'd always felt sorry for the people they got involved with, albeit in a superior sort of way.
I swore again, and looked back at the girls feeling an anxious, almost hopeless sense of resignation washing over me.
Never did I think I'd find myself in this situation. Never.
I'd thought I wouldn't have been that stupid, yet here I was, and I couldn't even be angry about it. Not when she was standing there, in the arcade, laughing with my friend, practically swimming in my oversized hoodie, being quite possibly the most adorable thing I'd ever seen in my life.
"You look like you're about to throw up." Michael said his tone concerned, but I shook my head, feeling as if I'd been clocked with the emotional equivalent of a sledge hammer.
"What am I supposed to do?" I asked quietly, hearing a hint of desperation in my tone that even I realized was pathetic, but couldn't seem to help.
I was so hopelessly out of my depths with this girl it wasn't even funny.
"About Lorelei," I continued, and something about the statement had him looking genuinely alarmed. "About all of this, I-"
But I cut myself off. How the hell was I supposed to explain this to my mortal friends? They had no idea about who her mother was and what it meant. Hell, no one but Michael even knew about her father.
They could never understand the position I was in. Feeling this way about one of the Aphrodite campers was like handing someone a gun, then painting a target on your chest and asking them not to shoot.
"Well," he said with a shrug. "If you like her, ask her out. It's clear she's into you."
I laughed at this, but it was a little bitter.
Yes, Lorelei was very good at making people think she liked them, especially guys. But whether or not she actually did…
I had a feeling the only person who really knew what she felt about someone was Lorelei herself. I also had a feeling, not knowing what she felt about me, might just drive me insane.
"No one in the club is going to care if you ask Ellie to prom." I said eventually, trying to force myself to think of something other than Lorelei. It only partially worked. "She goes to every meeting, actively participates and can build pretty much anything. She deserves to be in charge next year. Everyone knows that, and no one is going to think it's favoritism."
"Yeah maybe," he said quietly, then looked over at the girls. "Seems like it might be a little late though."
They were walking back in our direction, both smiling and looking excited about something.
"Hey Lorelei and I are gonna go to the boutique a few stores down to get ideas for my dress. Do you guys want to come?"
At this Michael looked surprised, an expression I was sure mirrored my own.
I was pretty sure there was very little I wanted to do less than this, but something in Lorelei's glance had me saying.
"Sure."
"Really?" Michael asked incredulously and though she'd been the one to ask, even Ellie looked surprised.
Lorelei simply smiled.
I had a feeling she was up to something and while the expression wasn't anything out of the ordinary, still reeling from the amount of emotions cycling through me at the moment, it hit me like a blow to the chest.
"Yeah," I continued, still trying to get my head on straight. "Sounds like fun."