I must apologize for the late update, but I've had a lot going. Some more A/N at the end so make sure to stay tune.
Chapter 10 Open & Back Ally Diplomacy
September 6, 5:51 P.M.
Alfie's P.O.V.
After Jerome had called all of us to the living room, we saw Michael and Nina sitting on the couch on the left side of the fire place. We all looked at the two of them, Nina was fidgeting slightly and Michael gave a weak smile and lamely added 'sup?'. I felt bad for Nina, Michael not so much. He insulted Amber, and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.
Nothing did happen though, and we all sort of sat down on the opposite side of them, just starring at each other. The air was beyond tense, if a gun went off I'm pretty sure everybody would explode! 'Say…' I thought to myself, "That's actually a good idea! I still have those firecrackers from last year; maybe I could sneak out and grab one. NO Alfie! You need to be here for Amber!'
I knew that Amber was way beyond me. She and Mick were inseparable and the chances of me actually getting to impress her are slim. But who knows? Maybe there will be another party and I can blurt out my love for her like Nina did to Fabian! I then remembered what happened after that and where we are today and decided maybe that wasn't the best strategy to go by.
'Pay attention Alfie!' I mentally yelled at myself, 'You don't have to be so bossy!' I thought back, God I love to argue with myself. I read somewhere that if you argued with yourself then your brain was working a bunch of neutrons or neurons or something in your brain. I pretty sure it said that it was a good thing, as most things in Science Fiction Today are.
Back to reality, which is pretty hard to pay attention to by the way when nobody is talking. Fabian and Michael were having some sort of starring contest and judging by both of them I'm going put my money on Michael winning. Jerome was also starring at Michael with Mara beside him, though I don't think Michael really cares that much about Jerome. I think he should though, seeing as the last time those two got into an argument it got physical.
Patricia was starring at Nina with a pretty passive face, for Patricia that is. It was almost as if Patricia was trying to understand what Nina was doing hanging out with Michael. Nina wasn't looking at her, instead focusing on Fabian as if trying to draw his attention away from Michael. Amber was looking around at everybody, trying to get their opinions by reading their faces. When she looked at me I winked and smiled. She sighed a little and her face pretty much read 'not now Alfie'.
Mick just seemed bored with the entire thing.
Finally after about five minutes of this there was some movement from Michael, who gently tapped Nina's elbow. Nina looked at him for a second, and he nodded in the general direction of all of us. Nina narrowed her eyes and shook her head. She mouthed something that I couldn't make out.
Michael leaned forward and whispered lightly into her ear. I could see Fabian tense up a little bit. Once again I'm pretty sure Michael didn't care, I think I even saw him smile a little bit as he did it, realizing Fabian's discomfort.
I'm still not entirely sure on the Michael and Nina relationship. Throughout dinner several days ago I didn't really sense any tension between the two. They just sort of laughed together and both seemed content.
Amber says differently, claiming that they Michael must like Nina. 'It only makes sense!' she said 'Their both from America, and American's date each other!'
'There both from America, but that doesn't mean that their just going to start dating each other because their home sick.' Mara had pointed out. Amber didn't listen to her of course, and continued to talk about their secret relationship. One thing that I still don't get, and I'm pretty sure nobody else does to, is how Amber figured that Michael liked Nina. She was hesitant to answer, and even seemed embarrassed by it.
I forgot my own thoughts as Nina began to harshly whisper back to Michael. It was almost loud enough for us to hear every word. I pretty sure I heard 'them' and 'first' a couple of times. She then did something that I wasn't quick expecting.
She hit him on the arm.
Michael looked a little stunned and then hit her on her arm lightly. She did the same thing back and then he did it again. Finally they were in the middle of a slapping fight, though Michael looked like he wasn't really trying that much because she was a girl.
"They obviously can't like each other that much if they do this." I said aloud. Michael grabbed both of Nina's wrists, stopping her from slapping him again.
"Nina has something she would like to say." Nina broke free, annoyance clear across her face.
"I do not!" Nina shouted, "Why should I have to apologize for something that never happened and never will happen!"
"Nina's right guys." Mara said. Everybody turned to her and she began to blush at all the eyes on her. "We insulted Michael first, she was just defending him."
"How could you defend him Mara?" Jerome said incredulously, "He called you… you know!" Michael looked like he was about to say something, but a sharp jab from Nina shut him down. I never realized that Nina could be this physical.
"I know he did, but for understandable reasons I think!" Mara said confidently. Jerome didn't push the issue and just looked at Michael again. He shrugged his shoulders and turned away from Jerome. I have to give Michael some points there; he has a pretty cool atmosphere around him sometimes.
"I agree with Mara." Patricia said, "Nina... Michael... I'm sorry." Everybody gasped in surprise at Patricia's apology. "Oh shut up all of you! Now please accept it, because that's all I'm going to give!"
"I, wow, um… thanks Patricia." Nina said shocked. "But um, I hope none of you mind if I say I really only care about one person's apology here." She turned to Fabian again, who shifted a little bit uncomfortably in his seat. He sighed and leaned forward.
"Nina, I love you." He began, Amber squealed lightly and I'm pretty sure I heard Michael scoff a little bit. "I just- your just- I don't want to lose you Nina. I love you so much, and I was so afraid that I had lost you to this new house and new people."
"They are rather good looking." I muttered. Everybody looked at me with daggers coming out of their eyes.
"Thanks Alfie, but now might not be the time." Michael muttered.
"I acted like a jerk. And I hope you can forgive me." Fabian finished. He sort of nervously bent down and hugged Nina, who didn't return his hug at first. When he let go of her, Nina looked at him.
"There is one more person you need to apologize to." Nina said. Fabian looked a little puzzled, but then realized who she was taking about. Michael did a small wave, smiling.
"I'm not just the backdrop here you know." He said smiling. Once again, I love this guy!
Fabian looked at Nina and then back at Michael. He then sighed and blurted out really fast, "Michael I'm sorry that I accused you of dating my girlfriend and for physically attacking you. I overreacted and I hope that you can forgive me."
Michael began to laugh loudly, everybody looked surprised, even Nina. Jerome looked like he wanted to jump across the room and throttle him, but Mara was keeping him from doing that. After about 30 seconds, Michael stopped and looked at Fabian again.
"I forgave you a long time ago. Completely understandable what you did." He laughed some more and then turned to Patricia and Mara. "Sorry for calling you girls whores. It was a moment of anger and it just slipped. I'm never like that, I promise." Mara was the first up and hugged Michael, who returned it. "You smell nice." Michael joked, Mara laughed a little bit and Jerome looked like he was going to explode. Now might be a good time to get those firecrackers…
Patricia looked at Michael for a little bit, before getting up and hitting him square in the chest. Michael stumbled back a little bit, but Patricia grabbed him and hugged him. "You are rather good looking." Patricia said lightly. Michael gave an uneasy laugh and backed up again towards Nina.
"Don't I get an apology?" Jerome asked through gritted teeth. Michael smiled at him deviously.
"You look like a tough guy. You'll be fine." he said.
Michael's P.O.V.
6:01 P.M.
"Well that was nice of your former House mother to give us some food for the road." I said as we walked out of the house. A nice, steaming bowl of rice and chicken came with us, compliments of Nina's boyfriend as he desperately tried to fix every crack that was created in their relationship.
"I think she's just happy that the air isn't tense anymore. I swear some of those people are deadly!" Nina said, smelling the wonderful food in her arms. "We're going to be like saviors for everybody in Odin. Maybe Charlotte will lighten up."
I've only known Nina for about 2 ½ weeks now, but I know that she slid in that comment about Charlotte on purpose. She's been desperate to find out about… 'us' I guess you could say. Nina's a great friend and all, but I don't really feel like talking about it. I just feel stupid and childish whenever I talk about her and what I thought we had.
"You don't mind if I say that I'm not a big fan of the people in Anubis, do you?" I asked. On the outside they all looked like they forgave me, except for Jerome definitely, but I knew that all of them were just hiding it for Nina. They didn't trust or like me, and I didn't like them much either. Especially that girl Amber, she knows me for about 15 minutes and she's ready to accuse me of going out with Nina? But she's Nina's best British friend so I should play nice there.
"Eh, not too much. You did receive a pretty bad welcoming, but then again so did I. And now they're like family." Nina said.
"Ya, I was just waiting for a food fight and water being dumped on me." I remarked dryly. Nina laughed a little bit and we continued walking. I heard some shuffling gravel behind me as somebody came running up.
"Hey wait up!" I heard Fabian call behind us. Nina spun around to look at her boyfriend, while I groaned and turned slowly. When he got to us he smiled at Nina and looked at me sternly. "I hope you don't mind Nina, but can I talk to Michael in private?" Nina looked at both of confused, but shrugged her shoulders and back up a little bit.
"I'll catch up to you Nina." I said to put her at ease. "The sooner you get that food to Odin the better for everybody I think." Nina smiled and stepped forward again to kiss Fabian on the cheek.
"Go easy on him Fabian." She said, before walking away. Fabian looked at her for a little bit, before turning back towards me. We stood there for a couple of seconds awkwardly before Fabian decided to start talking.
"I want you to stay away from Nina." He stated bluntly. I raised my eyebrows at that statement for dramatic effect.
"And why is that?" I asked casually. One of the few things I learned from my Dad was how to negotiate and be diplomatic. It was pretty much the only thing that I got from that guy, and it served me well. 'Best to use it now and not cause a scene.' I thought.
"Because she's my girlfriend. And I love her very much. I don't want you to hurt her."
"And how do you think I'm going to hurt her?" I asked, still casual on the exterior though inside I wanted to yell at him. I'm getting sick of this protective boyfriend crap.
"I don't know, but you don't seem like the kind of guy I want Nina to be hanging out with. Especially after the Charlotte thing." Fabian remarked, moving closer towards me in a threatening position.
That was a low blow, and I decided to retort with an equal one. "Did you find out about that when you were screwing around with Joy last year?" I asked casually again.
"Joy was a mistake." Fabian nearly shouted, "Nina is my first real girlfriend, and I love her so much, you can't even begin to understand! I won't have anybody or anything screw this up!"
"Because you've done a stellar job already." I said dryly.
"You listen," Fabian started, but I interrupted him before he could start his rant.
"No you listen Fabian!" I said, my voice rising just slightly, "When Nina got to Odin she was alone. I was the first to welcome her. She is a friend, a friend! Get that through that thick skull of yours. Now, Nina is an amazing person. How she can so easily forgive you is beyond me, but I'm glad that she did because I like to see her happy. But how much do you think Nina can put up with? How much Rutter? Do you think she'll be happy to hear that you're threatening her friend?"
"I expect that you will keep this between us." Fabian said, a little taken aback by my remarks. Even I'm a little surprised at how I defended Nina like that.
"Well I'm an American. And we kind of fought a war to make sure that we don't have to listen to the Brits." I added slyly. I turned around to go and Fabian shouted at me from behind.
"I don't want to see you with her!"
"Trust me," I shouted back "if I see that face of yours coming I will be sprinting the other direction." I heard the gravel move and for a second I didn't know if Fabian was moving towards me or away from me. But since I'm still standing and not lying on the ground with fists in my face, I assume he went back to the house.
'What the hell was that?' I thought to myself, 'why did I defend Nina so venomously?' I surprised myself a lot. Seriously, I've never defended anybody quite like that except for-
'NO!' I thought to myself, 'Nina is a friend, she's not Charlotte.' Banishing those thoughts from my head wasn't easy and when I finally got back to Odin I heard shouts of joy coming from the kitchen. As I entered I saw a scene of happiness as Nina served everybody some chicken and rice.
Tony was singing some ridiculous song with Alan while Sophia was laughing along with them. Even Tori and Mitch seemed to be happier than usual. Charlotte was starring daggers at Nina until I came into the room. Her stare softened, but mine didn't. Nina turned to me smiling.
"Michael, do you want some chicken." I looked at the food and then back at Charlotte.
"I'm not hungry." I moved quickly towards my room and shut the door before throwing myself down on to my bed, a thousand questions running through my head and not an answer to a single one of them.
Alright, so I've just finished my AP exams and now I've got Finals coming up. I love school. At least the school year is almost up and I'll be able to write free of worry (mostly).
I have to admit that I'm not 100% ok with this chapter. I decided to drop some of the material (such as where Nina is from) because it didn't line up with what I have in plan for the future. I decided I could take a whole new road that will make the story better and I hope you like. Though I would appreciate any comments from you guys that could give some ideas for future chapters. I love to add in stuff from you guys, it makes my job more fun!
Some major foreshadowing in this chapter so I hope you guys caught it all, if you didn't then just post a comment and I'll help you guys out. I'm thinking of doing a one shot regarding the characters from Odin. I brought up that Michael had some difficulty with his Father so I might do one shots of stories about all the Odin house member's background so you guys can understand them more.
I have another question for all you readers out there, does anybody know a place where I can go online and create images of characters? I want to do this for the guys in Odin house so you guys can have a mental image of all of them. I thought this might make the story easier to read and I would really enjoy making them. Please post a comment if you know somewhere.
Reviews were down A LOT for last chapter, so please review. Once again, with the series on break you guys are my major inspiration, and without reviews motivation goes down.
REVIEW!