Chapter 14

Philosophee Part 2

RECAP:

"So is this for your anniversary or someting. Do you want, like, dressy clothes?"

"No way Juliet shook her head. "Just the opposite."

"What she means to say is that, Trouble always always wears suits or formal clothes." I lied knowing that I didn't mean Trouble at all "So we're looking for casual. Here's the list of what I need."

Holly's POV:

"Oh okay, we have all of this." she nodded more to herself than me. "Come with me, please." she said stepping out from behind the counter. We walked towards the back of the store. She looked at the list, and pulled things out for us to 'yay' or 'nay'. all of the things she pulled out were quickly 'yayed' by either Juliet or myself. Pretty soon, we had a huge stack of clothes at our feet. I didn't see how we were going to get it all to the counter.

"Mackenzie," Shry called.

"Yes," a tinkling soprano answered.

"Could you come here please?" she asked nicely. She was just so nice. Even to her employees. The way she asked made it sound as if they had a choice in the matter. I wish Commander Kelp would do that. Huh, fat chance.

"Yes, ma'am?" She asked walking back to where we were. Mackenzie was the name of the red-headed girl from the front.

"Cut the ma'am," Shry grinned. "Just Shry please."

"Uh...uh sure," Mackenzie stuttered embarrasedly. "What did you need, Shry?" she stuttered over the last word. In the past, she had probably worked for someone who wasn't as nice.

"First of all, these are my friends. Juliet." She said and Juliet waved. "And Holinda."

"Hi, I'm Mackenzie O'Reiley." she smiled showing very straight, very white teeth.

"Juliet Butler, nice to meet you." Juliet said shaking her hand.

"I'm Holinda. Holinda Briefs." I smied shaking her hand. Her shake was limp and short. A sign of insecurity. Poor girl. "Nice to meet you."

"And you two as well." sh said smiling again. "I guess we should get this to the front." t took all four of us twe trips. Needless to say, I had spent a lot more, and bought a lot more than I had meant to.

"Is that all, you guys wanted." Shry asked, stretching.

"Hmmm, I think Holinda could use some clothes too." Juliet smiled at my grimace.

"I think I have enough." I winced at the thought of more trying on.

"You can never have enough clothes." Juliet said staring at me in horror, as if I had commited some blasphemy.

"You can, and I do." I assured her.

She put the puppy dog eyes on me. "Pweease, besides we haven't gotten you anything at Shry's store." She unashamedly begged.

"Fine," I caved. "Fill me up, Shry."

"I was hoping, you would say that." she smiled, dragging Juliet and I to another part of the store.

She pulled clothes after clothes from the rack. As soon as they hit the floor either Mackenzie, Juliet, or I was there to take them to the counter. After what seemed like an eternity, the flinging stopped. I was relieved. Well, I was until she pulled me to one of her two back rooms.

"This is the special clothes room." she said. The room was full of clothes. They seemed to be all very fancy and rather expensive looking. "It holds some of the best stuff." She pulled out more clothes, that were "totally me" and we carried them to the counter too.

Ten minutes later, Juliet had paid and my new clothes were bagged up. "Ugh, how are we going to get this to the car?" I grumbled

"Make about a gazillion trips?" Juliet asked.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"No way." Mackenzie said. "I'll be right back." She disappeared out of the door. We sat, wondering how she was going to help. She came back a few minutes later. SHe had two red-headed freckled guys and a brawny, blond with her.

"Girls, these two are my brothers." she said indicating the two red-heads. "Jason and Jackson. And this is their friend, Jasper."

"Hi, I'm Shry and these are my friends Holinda and Juliet." she said and pointed to each of us in turn.

"Nice to meet you." we all said and then after exchanging pleasantries, one of the twins spoke up.

"So, you need these bags moved?" he asaked in a deep, rich voice.

"Yes please?" I said, though it came out as more of a question.

"Then we're the men for you." The other brother said. "Just lead he way to the car."

"Cool, grab the bags and follow me," Juliet smiled. The guys loaded up on sacks and so did Mackenzie and Shry. In the end, we all had bags. As soon as we were all out of the door, Shry locked it. She led us to the center of the mall. Of course, we were on the second floor so we had to go down to the first.

"There's the elevator." Juliet said pointing towards the center pillar. Everyone walked towards it, but I could feel the first squeezing pain of fear in my heart. I could not take an elevator. Definitely not with this many people and the bags. I just stopped, there was no way to force my feet forward. It took everyone a moment to notice that I wasn't there. Juliet was the first to notice. She turned around and called out to me. "Come on Holinda, let's go."

"Umm, I think I'll just go find the escalator or stairs." I said my voice rather shaky and nervous.

"Why?" Juliet asked. "The elevators are much quicker and they're right here."

"I just don't like elevators." I said shuddering. Thinking of the small, metal box. The one so like what my mother had died in. There was no way, I was getting in it.

"Hmm, dialated pupils. Paralyzing fear." Shry nodded to herself. "Claustraphobia?"

"A little," I admitted. "It's no big deal. You guys go ahead. I'll find the escalator."

"I'll come with you." Shry volunteered. The others piled into the elevator and, Shry led me around a corner to an escalator.

"There's no reason to be embarrassed, Holinda" She told me, and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"I know, but it's always weird when people find out."

"Oh, I know from experience."

"What?" I asked in shock.

""You're not the only one with claustrophobia, though it may seem like it sometimes. By the way, thanks. I owe you for that. I was wondering how I was going to get out of that one."

"No problem" I said.

"Holinda?" Shry said calling me out of my thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Just remember, everybody is afraid of something. Fear's not the problem, it's what you do with it."

Just as I was about to ask her what she meant, we got to the end of the escalator. Juliet and the others were waiting on us so, I didn't get to ask her, what she meant.

Soon enough, we were in the parking lot. Juliet led us to the back, of the lot. I was expecting to see the Bentley, but instead I saw a black Porche 911 Turbo. She popped open the trunk, which was already bulging with bags. Somehow, we managed to get the rest of the bags stuffed inside.

"Thanks guys," Juliet said with an award winning smile.

"No problem," the three guys said together.

"If there's ever anything you need, talk to me." Shry smiled.

I was struck by a sudden idea. "Hey why don't you all come to the phenom tonight?"

"Sure," They all said. I felt like my work was done.

"Well, we need to go. Talk to you guys later." Juliet hopped into the driver's seat and I got in beside her. She revved the engine and tore out of that lot. I had a very brief glance of Shry and the others waving before we whipped out of sight.

"Slow down." I said to Juliet while clawing at the seat. "You could kill somebody."

"Chill Holinda. I'm a great driver." she rolled her eyes. "Besides, we need to hurry."

"And why is that?" I asked huffily. I had just finished a day of shopping. I felt as though I had been rushing all day. The last thing, I wanted to do was to hurry.

"It's 5:00." she said. "We still have to get to our hotel, and don't you want to rest before we go to the club?"

"Oh okay," I murmered. "Motel?"

"Hotel actually," She corrected. We made more small talk for about ten minutes. "Here we are," she said pointing out of the window.

"Both hands on the wheel, please." I said. "And yes, I see it." It was the Mariott and entirely impossible to miss. It towered over the other buildings. Of course, the other buildings were far off, due to the size of the hotel. The hotel glinted somewhat in thesun. From here I could see everyting. The pools, the water features, the golf course, everything.

Minutes later, we were pulling in under the shade of the canopy. Before, my feet were out of the car, a valet had approached the car. "Welcome, ma'ams." he said, looking from Juliet to me. "I hope you both are well."

"Yes," Juliet answered. "We are, and the same to you."

"Your keys ma'am?" he asked and Juliet immediately threw them to him. "I will bring your bags up shortly."

"Of course." Juliet nodded.

"Umm, you may need some help." I cautioned him before he could get too head strong. "There are a lot of bags."

"I'm sure I can handle it," he said rather smugly. "There can't be that many."

"Huh," I laughed. I tried, now it was time to teach him something. "Open the trunk, then."

"Okay," he shrugged as if it was no big deal. He opened the trunk and his face fell. All of the color seeped out of his face and his eyes bulged out of his head.

"Have fun." Juliet called out as she turned and dragged me inside. I was turning to go towards the desk, when she interrupted me. "Where are you going?" she asked still giggling.

"To the desk to check in?" I said confusedly. I've never stayed in a human hotel, but isn't that what you do?

"We don't need to check in. The Fowl's have permanent hold on a humongous double suite upstairs."

"What? Artemis never told me that." It was quite surprising. It wasn't that he was boastful, but he still occasionally let things slip. Especially things about his belongings. Artemis, couldn't usually resist telling me in a call, that he had something new. So, why hadn't he told me?

"Well, I can't imagine why he wouldn't tell you about this. Would you rather it washim here right now?" Oh, I get it now. Arty is a man, though I do forget it sometimes. A man inviting a woman here to a hotel suite would have different implications. Thank Frond, he hadn't told me.

"Oh okay." I said.

"Umm Holinda, I know you don't like elevators but our suite is on the seventh floor..." She trailed off.

"I'll walk it." I assured her. "Go ahead and ride up. Meet you there."

"If you want to, but it's at the very top." I said.

"Well, we better get moving." And off we went up all ten flights of stairs. What Juliet had neglected to mention was that our suite was the penthouse. Up at the top. When we finally made it to the top floor, I was relieved. Juliet walked up to the door and tapped in a code. I didn't quite catch what it was. As soon as the code was in, the door popped open. Juliet ushered me in.

I felt my mouth pop open as I stepped into the room. It was huge. A large beige, living room. I could see down the hall into an even bigger bathroom. The bathroom had a tub that was more like a pool. "Nice right?" Juliet asked from behind me.

"Yeah," I murmered awestruck. "Really nice."

"Well go on in." She huffed. "Let me show you your room.," She led me straight down the hall and to the right was a large bedroom. She pointed me towards it. Now, I had heard the stories of how the hotel employees never changed the sheets, but I couldn't believe it of this room. (A/N: no offence to any hotel workers.) With money like the Fowl's, I'm sure the sheets were always clean.

All of a sudden, I felt a wave of exaustion sweep over me. I felt weak. "I'm taking a nap." I tried to say. It came out garbled a, but I think she got it. I fell onto the bed. It was so soft. The bed was the best thing that I had ever felt. My eyes closed, and I think I may have heard the soft thunk of a closing door. That was the last thing that I noticed before I was floating in the dense sea of dreamland.

A/N:

Whoo-hoo! Another chapter down. I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever. I've been super-busy with school and band. I'll try to do better. Anyway, the next chapter will be one about Arty. He's getting closer and closer to Haven. Anyway, I hope to update this soon. Keep reading and I'll keep writing. Remember to review.

Remember: Reviews= happy camper. Happy camper= quicker updates. Quicker updates= you reading more. It's a cycle keep it going!

Yours truly, madly, and deeply

Einstinette