5- Far Away

A couple of weeks went by, autumn was nearing and along with it Zane and Carmen's wedding.

'It's not too late to tell her…' Chazz thought while lying by the poolside. Alexis was in their suite, ever since their double date with the engaged couple she had been depressed and distant. Chazz thought that maybe she wanted the same thing, marriage, but he quickly forgot it since he was preoccupied and aloof himself.

With that last thought the annoying little voice of Ojama Yellow, a card he long ago locked in a box and forgot about came and reminded him that it was too late, she was going to be wed in four days.

'Even if, what would I say? Hey, I suddenly fell in love with you half an hour before you're getting married, let's elope and leave everything behind? Yeah, it's stupid.'

It was strange- all that time he achieved everything, every last shard of something he ever wanted, but now he was hollow and lonely because his one desire could not be bought by money or dueled for.

Alexis felt very ill, she did not attend practice for almost a week, she was losing weight, generally, things were not going so well for her. What made it worse was that no one cared. Her parents called once, for about five minutes, none of her friends from the team did the same. Atticus was out of the country, and the cherry top- her boyfriend would probably not notice if she dropped dead in that room.

'I gave up all my dreams and ambitions to become popular, now I see that nothing of it was ever real. No one cares about you if you're not at the top of your game, I became substitutable, I always was.'

Alexis felt tired of being angsty, she hated it. She always hated uselessness and this situation was useless. She knew she had two options, she decided that she has to make a choice and stop whining about it- one was to leave things as they were, continue in living a lie, or two- now that will take courage. The second option is to dust off her deck, quit the cheerleading team, break up from her boyfriend and leave her luxurious life for one of pursuing her true dreams.

"Carmensita, you are getting married in four days and you still did not choose between lilies and roses for your bouquet!" her mother said while they were waiting for the lady of the flower shop to arrive. 'I wish I was at the duel right now, agh…'

The wedding preparations were driving her insane, she hated the fact that everyone made it out to be life and death decisions. As for the duel, Zane was playing against some hot shot from Korea, Carmen really wanted to be there- although she never excelled at it, she loved the game- and support him, but someone had to wait for that woman.

She failed to understand how choosing between fish or chicken for the first dish became such an issue, when really all a wedding is, is a celebration of love.

'Where is the love in floral arrangements? All I wanted was a small party, with a few people we both care for, and to marry the man I love.'

"Mama, when you married dad- did you make such a big sting about it?"

"Why, yes, Carmensita my darling, I know you are a modest person and that you like your privacy, but you are the first of my children to get married and I want your wedding day to be something you remember as very special for the rest of your life."

Carmen smiled. She did not say anything, but she did not feel so grumpy anymore. Her mother was perhaps extravagant, but her heart was in the right place.

"So what will it be Miss Long- lilacs or roses?"

"You know what, forget about those, I want sunflowers."

Carmen made the finale decision, and was now free to have some time to herself before her wedding.

"Alexis? Are you here?" Chazz said coming into the suite.

"Yes." Came her voice from the bathroom. As soon as she came out he told he had something important to say, she said that so did she and he insisted she went first.

"For the last couple of days, I've been thinking about my life, my choices… and I realized that I'm not happy. It's not you, just everything. I'm living a lie and I can't go on like this anymore. I've gotta leave and go after the things I want."

Not much to her surprise, Chazz was beaming. Alexis was not dumb- she knew exactly why he was so distant, it was because of her, Carmen. Although she was busy with her own disturbing thoughts, the way he was behaving made it so obvious, that one would have to be a fool not to comprehend.

Chazz tried to hide his delight, now he would not have to make up some lame excuse in order to break up with her, but he found it difficult to contain his enthusiasm.

"I'll pack my stuff and leave ASAP, good luck with her…" Alexis said smirking. Truth to be told, she was never in love with her now ex-boyfriend, they just had very good chemistry and being together suited them both well. Not that this meant she was with him for his money, just that the got along and had a strong physical attraction, plus- a gorgeous cheerleader and a young millionaire always looked good together.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about…" Alexis just chuckled in response and went on to pack her bags, today is the day of her rebirth, the rebirth of Alexis Rhodes queen of Obelisk.

The following day, Carmen went CD shopping. She intended to go alone, she really just wanted some time for herself, but her friend Chazz called and said he had to see her, urgently, how could she decline?

While Carmen was browsing through the classical section, having her eye on a recording of Arthur Rubenstein playing Chopin nocturnes, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hi Chazz, how are you?"

"Umm, fine, you?"

"Great. Do wanna take this to a café or something?"

"Yeah, that'll be good."

"Okay, just let me pay for this." She said taking the Rubenstein recording to the cashier.

They sat at a small café, she ordered, he said he was not hungry.

"Okay, so what was it you had to say so anxiously?" she asked with a little smile.

"Look," he said taking a deep breath, "I know this'll sound stupid, but, I fell in love with you."

Carmen looked into his sad coal eyes for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing.

"A pre-matrimonial prank, that's a good one…"

After saying that, there was an awkward silence, then Carmen realized- he was not joking.

"What the hell Chazz?! Why did you have to lay this on me three days before my wedding? What do you think, that I'll ditch the wedding and escape to Hawaii with you?!"

"I'm… sorry…"

Carmen felt bad for getting so upset, but the notion was ridiculous.

"I just said it to take it off my chest," he continued, "I know you will never do something

like that, and I didn't mean to just drop the bomb on you like that, I apologize."

Carmen did not say a thing, she just left money on the table, although the coffee was not served to her yet.