Charlie,
As we were all coming down for "Breakfast", it was more time for lunch than anything else. Though it was already noon, we were still just as tired as if we were getting up for pancakes at the break of dawn.
Even though I got in much earlier than those who went out, I knew that I probably stayed up just as long. After sneaking out and finding myself being stabbed by a minotaur, I decided that it was time to get back to the hotel with Chester, even if I wasn't exactly seen on his company when he first started walking with me.
But, somehow, like always, Chester turned things around. I wondered if he used magic to make us forgive him so readily and make him seem so inviting, and I began to even watch to see if he was using the mist. I didn't see anything though, and it just seemed that he was charismatic.
After we got back to the penthouse and I changed out of my blood-stained dress, instead of getting the sleep we probably should have, we went to the media room and ended up watching movies for the next few hours. When I was finally getting in bed, I was pretty sure I heard someone dancing in the hallway, which probably meant someone was getting home.
I didn't sleep long, I got the message from Hermes that breakfast would be served soon and to get ready. Not wanting to make Hermes mad, I got up, and I changed into a pair of jeans and an owl tee shirt. I was too lazy to really do anything with my hair or make-up, so I just came down stairs and took my seat.
Hermes was already down there, and he had no sign of any hangover once so ever. In fact, he was busy with work on his cell phone when I got to the table.
The next person to arrive didn't look as good.
Sam was so hungover I was surprised he could even walk. His blonde hair had bedhead, and his eyes were hidden by a pair of Raybands. He was wearing clean and fresh clothes, and he didn't look dirty or disgusting. And he still had different marks of red lipstick all over his neck.
He sat down beside Hermes, and didn't speak. He just took an Advil with his coffee and sat there.
Chester came in next, and he looked pretty tired as well. His hair wasn't in its usual style, though it still had some traces of the style the night before. His eyes were tired, but he still had a smirk on his lips. He was wearing a tee shirt with a skull and crossbones and old faded black jeans. Even then, he looked adorable.
Noah was the fifth person to sit at the table. He sat beside Sam though he had been saving me yesterday by sitting beside me. He didn't say much, and he was hungover, though not as badly or as clearly as Sam. His hair was still wet from a shower, and he looked sad.
Kate was the fifth, sitting across from Noah beside me. She looked like the rest of us, tired and freshly cleaned and dressed. She also looked sad, but she was trying to hide it by playing a horrible hangover.
Aiden was the last of our group to arrive, and he put us all to shame.
He was rested and pretty happy. He was newly out of the shower, but his hair was dried. His tattoo on the back of his neck was visible with his tee shirt, though the tattoo on his arm was hidden by the long sleeves, and he was tall, handsome, and seemed to almost be even beaming this morning. His smile was so contagious it even made me smile, but that perfect smile faded whenever Chester nonchalantly made a remark about how much fun it was to stay up watching movies with me last night.
Noah was so out of it he didn't even seem to hear…
Angelique was the last awaited guest, and not even she shone too brightly this morning. Her make-up was dulled and less dramatic than usual. Her hair was in a braided bun, and she was wearing what to her was a casual outfit of a shimmering Greek gown.
I smiled to myself as I thought of the state the dress she had forced me to wear was in. It was tattered, torn, and stained with my blood. It now resided in the bottom of my trash can in my room, and I was still trying to think of a way to make sure she would find it without my brother finding out that I sneaked out.
"Well, we are all here," Hermes smiled, hanging up the phone midsentence and leaving a guy to probably be pretty angry, and he motioned for breakfast to be served.
We each got our favorites. Noah and I got French Toast, our favorite meal that our dad made (he did the cooking in our family). Kate got waffles, which was no shocker. Sam was blessed with foods promising to help his hangover. And I didn't really pay much attention to what anyone else got because I was too focused on my own French Toast.
Breakfast was decidedly silent amongst certain people. Sam didn't want to talk (no big shocker there). Aiden and Chester were too busy glaring at each other to speak, and Noah and Kate didn't speak much either. Only Hermes seemed to keep conversation alive.
I kept looking between Noah and Kate.
Noah stared mostly at his food, looking truly pitiful. Kate just kept picking at her food, barley able to eat and continuously checking up to look at Noah.
What happened last night? I wondered, Oh gods, did they-?
I would have been happy about this if they didn't look so pathetic right now.
Maybe they weren't happy that they didn't?
I couldn't tell, and I knew it was take a whole lot of meddling to ever find out. For now though, I was forced to focus on my own life instead of messing with my brother's.
My eyes kept looking to Aiden, who looked like he might just break his fork in half, and I particularly watched his tattoo on his neck, waiting to see if wings would sprout. He told me that he usually could control it, but adrenaline and stress could force it. And Aiden definitely looked stress…
It almost felt funny that I knew him that well. That he went from that hot shirtless guy with the tattoos to a guy that I actually knew. And, while I had learned so much about him, I also was against a brick wall where I couldn't learn any more about him, and there was a whole lot more to Aiden Cinna.
As I sat there, I was losing track of what conversation was going on, who was doing what, and even what I was even eating. I just lost myself in my thoughts. I thought about Aiden, how I knew him. I thought about Chester, how easy he was to get along with. I thought about last night when I ran into him, and I thought about Charleston with Aiden.
I was torn, and I just kept thinking back to my mother's love advice that was dished out every now and then. I always asked her about when she and my father were young, and I asked her about the whole thing with Luke. It took her a while to tell me about Luke. When I asked about my middle name (my full name was Charlotte Lucia Jackson), she said Luke was a hero who she knew as a young person. My dad used to tell me stories of his quests as a little kid to put me to sleep, but he didn't bring up Luke. They waited until I was about ten, and then they told me everything. I always wondered how she just knew to pick my father after everything with Luke, and she told me that she just knew.
Back then, I loved that idea.
That love just took over and she knew. That she knew that this was the guy, that there was just this moment when she knew he was the one. That she went on from this moment to marry him and raise two children with him.
Now, that moment seemed even crazier and even more romantic now that I was reaching what I hoped would be a similar moment.
"So, I do hope you will be staying with us tonight," Hermes smiled at us, and Sam shocked us all by speaking up.
"We've got to get going, but thank you. You have shown us a wonderful time."
Hermes nodded sadly, but he understood.
"After breakfast, let's discuss business in the office."
Angelique looked back to Aiden, and I noticed happily that she was over it.
From what she had been bragging about, she had met a wonderful businessman at the club last night that she absolutely adored. His name was Martin or something, and she had been going on about him. Kate and Noah's interest had been captured by this, and I assumed Kate knew him particularly because she did the best not to laugh.
Breakfast passed slowly after that, and I just kept wondering what Hermes would have to tell us. Hera had told us that we needed to go to him, but neither had been able to tell us why.
And now we were going to find out…
When all of our plates were cleared, small talk over, and Angelique bored with us all, we finally were let loose. Aiden disappeared back upstairs to get ready to leave just as soon as he could, and Chester was right behind him. The older kids were all walking towards Hermes's office, and Sam raised his eyebrows as he noticed I was following.
Sam nodded, a small smile on his lips, and he motioned for me to go ahead of him.
"That's my girl," he ruffled my hair.
I smiled wide, and Sam looked towards Noah and Kate.
"I'm gonna get packed up, relax you know. I've have big headache."
Kate, who had been out of it all morning for more than just a hangover, smiled at me, and Noah, who had been in a depressed fog as well, let out a small brotherly smile.
I hadn't seen it in a while, that perfect proud sibling smile. As a little kid, I always got it. He was always proud of me, even when I wasn't proud of myself. One of those smiles from Noah could light up your world and boost your confidence for about week, and I used to get them about everyday.
During this quest, he wasn't as happy. He was stressed, surrounded by problems, and worrying even about his love life. But he seemed happier in some ways today. He still had a big cloud sitting on top of him, but he seemed to realize that I wasn't dead yet. That he wasn't looking at a walking corpse. That I still had a chance.
As Sam walked towards the staircase, I followed Kate and Noah, who walked closer to me, into the office.
Noah,
Nothing could snap me out.
Last night, I was on cloud nine. I know it was only a kiss. A sloppy, drunk kiss that was short because my drinking was coming back to get me and I basically passed out asleep afterwards.
But it was Kate. It was the girl I had been in love with for years, the one I adored. The one I loved more than just about anything in the world, the girl of my dreams. And the girl I knew I could never be with. She saw me as her second big brother. Her childhood best friend. And the little boy who taught her how to play soccer in his backyard.
For a moment, everything was perfect. My life seemed easier. Stress seemed to evaporate. The quest, life afterwards, and the worries just seemed to disappear out of my mind. I could see a life with Kate just on the horizon, it was even what I dreamed about that night.
And then I woke up.
I fell from grace.
Everything just slipped away.
That kiss. That sloppy, drunk kiss may as well not even happened if Kate didn't remember it. Suddenly, I wasn't even sure if she meant it. She didn't say anything, she didn't say she loved me. She just kissed me, and we were both completely drunk. She could have just kissed a guy because she wanted a kiss, and I happened to be the one there.
My worries were back. My life seemed harder. Stress got worse. The quest, life afterwards, and the worries of everything became more apparent in my mind. I could still see a life with Kate, but it was one of those day dreams you know will never come true, like when you daydream about marrying your favorite famous crush.
How could something so perfect, so amazing, so right just disappear when the sun came up?
I wondered if she even did really not remember or if she did and didn't want to address it. If that was true, was it because she wasn't sure if I really loved her or if she didn't love me and didn't want to bring that subject up and cause problems?
If I had any sign, I would just sum up my courage and tell her. I felt how perfect it could be, how happy I would be if I was with Kate.
But I didn't have a sign. If I told her now, I could ruin everything. I might lose Kate forever. And it could cause the biggest rift the family as ever seen, which is really saying something. We would separate our family. Charlie would have to see us separately and not tell us, and she might even lose talking to Kate, which would crush her.
I couldn't screw things up, I couldn't take that chance.
If anything, for Charlie…
With all of this to worry about, it was hard to focus on anything but that. I did everything to try to focus on Charlie and her quest. But it wasn't until I found that Charlie had decided to come with us to Hermes's office, taking Sam's place, that I was able to shift my attention back to the person who deserved it, my little sister Charlie.
This was her quest. Her life on the line. And my little sister's life was a bit more of a concern than my doomed love life.
With Kate and Charlie with me, we went into Hermes's office.
He was already at his desk, closing his thin laptop and closing his cell phone as well. He went into his office immediately, and he was now dressed for work. He was wearing professional clothing, and his face was even more serious.
He motioned towards the chairs, and we all sat, Charlie sitting closer to me, and I did the best not to hold her hand like I used to when I knew she was scared.
"You know of my recent… delivery difficulties," Hermes made a face.
He had taken time off to raise his little baby, Angelique. He bought a casino in Las Vegas, and he moved with his daughter there. They made this their primary residence. Angelique had other minor gods to mingle with, but Hermes got to raise her without "Olympus" influence.
He hired more for his company, and he wasn't very happy with it.
"Well, I am having trouble with one client. Aphrodite commissioned a painting from her artist ex-boyfriend who she made immortal during a fling. The fling itself didn't last long, but she thought they would be together forever and made him immortal after their daughter, Weslin, was born. They ended badly, and they don't speak anymore. He didn't like making a painting for her, but it was best for Weslin or something. Long story short, he wants Aphrodite to be the bigger person and pick it up, especially to see their immortal daughter who hasn't seen her in centuries. And Aphrodite is currently having a fling with Apollo and doesn't really want to see her ex because it reminds her of how horrible it is that he is no longer the hopeless romantic she fell in love with or something. I don't know."
Hermes shrugged with a roll of his eyes.
"Enough with the backstory. You need to see Aphrodite. And she is so consumed with her new boyfriend, Apollo, that she doesn't want to see anyone. She thinks its love. And she just knows that this relationship will be different and that it will work this time, though she has said that the seven times they were together."
I tried not to laugh at the thought of Apollo in love.
"And, if you can get the painting from Azul, you can get to Aphrodite," Hermes leaned back in his office chair, silently asking if we would accept.
"Where is Azul?" Charlie spoke up with the question I was right about to ask.
Hermes smiled wide, knowing we would do it.
"Here," Hermes reached into his office drawer, and he pulled out a thin white smartphone, "This has Azul's address in the contacts. And keep it as a gift. It doesn't let monsters track you or anything. And it has a fabulous camera for pictures on Instabook? FaceGram? Anyway, I'm sure you'll love it. I am selling models like it in a few months. I am about to start the ad campaign. You don't mind if I use your picture, do you? You're beautiful, just like your mother. How would you like to be the new face of my electronic line? We can get in touch later for that."
Kate,
I watched as Las Vegas disappeared in the rearview mirror. We were on our way to Utah to find Azul, and I was happy to be leaving Vegas behind.
I wished I could leave last night, too. I remembered most of the night.
I remembered how uncomfortable I was taking off my jacket at the club, though my dress definitely wasn't the tightest or the shortest by far. I remembered how Noah made me feel okay again, and I remembered how I found myself separated from Sam and Noah and introduced to a handsome businessman named Martin.
It was a crystal clear memory to me of how Noah appeared and acted very jealous and very determined that I was going to ditch Martin. Then I remembered when we seemed to be back to normal, to the way we were before. Maybe it was just us being us or alcohol letting us put down our walls and be us again. I couldn't tell, but I remembered that we had fun.
We laughed at my older brother. We danced. We talked. We just had fun.
But it was better than before. We danced closer than ever before. We talked more. We were having more fun and basking more in the presence of each other than ever before.
It was perfect. It was the moment I dreamed about for years.
I could suddenly see a future for the two of us. I could see something growing. I could see me not running away this time. I could see us doing this again in New York. I could see us getting closer and closer as he fell in love with me and I got ready to tell him how much I loved him. And I could see us… together.
I remembered going up to the penthouse, though it was a little foggy. I remembered that I was doing an embarrassing little dance to my room, and I remembered that I jumped on the bed for the first time in years.
Then things got hazy. I couldn't really remember. I remembered that we were talking, and that I had this big sudden urge to kiss him, though I couldn't remember why or what prompted it. And then everything completely blacked out.
And that had me scared. Worried. And a little bit relieved.
Well, I would have been relieved.
If Noah wasn't acting so weird, so depressed, and so completely distant around me. He seemed kind of happy this morning, but that smile turned into frown fast. He didn't mention anything he remembered, but it seemed like he wasn't bringing up something.
And I would have brought it up, stopped being so scared. I really wanted to. I wanted to stop having to hide things like this. It killed me.
I might have if it hadn't been like that. If Noah hadn't been so sad, so distant, and acting like something big happened.
I wondered if I kissed him, if I screwed things up.
It was all I could think of.
My phone kept buzzing with emails, but it didn't really register with me. I didn't want to talk, to my online penpal or my friends in the car.
I was sitting beside Charlie. She didn't want to be beside Aiden or Chester, not right now anyway. We didn't speak. No one in the car really did. Noah and Aiden were in the front seat, and Noah stayed silent. Aiden didn't speak much either, but that was a usual thing for him, especially when he was driving. Chester was in the back with Sam, who happened to be passed out. Chester was not speaking either. His headphones were in, and his sunglasses perched on his nose, which meant he wasn't paying attention.
The only sound in the car was a faint hum of the engine and the radio.
Before, I might have wanted to break the tension. I would have tried to make the car ride at least slightly enjoyable, if not fun.
But Vegas took its toll on us.
Noah and I weren't speaking. Something happened last night. I didn't know, and he wouldn't tell me.
Sam got drunk, hooked up with some girl, and ditched her in the wee hours. He was hungover and exhausted. He had too much fun, and he was paying for it the next morning.
Something happened with Charlie and Chester last night. They seemed closer, had some inside jokes, and just seemed easier with each other.
And Aiden noticed, and he seemed almost heartbroken.
Charlie was confused and didn't want to think about anything.
The car ride was long, and it was longer with the silence. But I wanted it longer.
I wanted things to disappear.
I felt it again, the need to leave. The need to turn off my cell phone. To skip family dinners to see Noah again. To create a new life. To be a different Kate. To say goodbye again. To go back to school and escape through books, parties, and new friends. To find a new guy and convince myself that Noah is just a fantasy, like when you fall in love with a celebrity. To secretly get up at three in the morning and check Noah's Facebook page to see how he is, if he is seeing someone, and even if he is happy…
I saw everything starting over. I saw myself getting in the car and driving back to my dorm at the end of the summer with Adriane, my roommate, laughing about how she didn't hook up with her crush, Noah, this summer. I saw an awkward goodbye where Noah and I promise to call but never did. I saw years passing by again. I saw a future for Noah without me in it and a future for me where he isn't there but I wish he was. And I didn't see a miraculous second chance this time.
I knew that, if I walked away this time, it would be forever.
I needed time to think, and I guess I had it.
But I also needed to cry. I needed a bottle of something (anything) strong, and I just needed to stare at a wall for a few hours. But I was in a car…
My phone buzzed under my leg again, and I finally found the strength to look at it.
Your Youtube Subscriptions Have Updated, blinked on my screen to my surprise, and I looked through my other messages. Other emails and a few texts from Adriane and other college friends.
He didn't email…
I guess this was when I needed him most, but it was also the time I didn't want him. I felt how perfect it was with Noah, and I wasn't sure I could settle for anything less.
But, even if I didn't want him right now, I did need him.
I guess I could tell him everything, and I knew that I probably should. This was how we did things, how we grew closer together. He was my closest confidant. But I didn't write about my confusion or my wish for space.
I didn't want to be Kate right now, I wanted to be Pixar.
And Kate had problems.
Pixar was okay….
To: SoccerGuy18
From: PixarRules4
Long car rides? Bad.
Awkward silence? Bad.
A hangover? Bad.
Add it all together, and you have my current situation.
So, how is your day going?
-Pixar
