A couple will get together in this chapter….

Noah,

If I thought dinner was awkward, the Champaign after was even worse. We were all escorted into the powder pink parlor. Everything was perfect and pink. The walls were pink, and the furniture was a lighter pink. On the tables, there were chocolate strawberries, little candies, and pink-tinted treats.

There were once enough seats for us all to be comfortably apart, but Aphrodite snapped her fingers and changed that. There were then only three love seats all facing each other. Aphrodite and her handsome lover took one, and Kate was digging her nails into my arm to keep me from going crazy on Aphrodite. So, Kate sat by me, leaving Swift and Sam to awkwardly sit together.

It was no longer just Sam being awkward and Swift rolling her eyes and walking away. They were both awkward, trying to make as much space as possible on the small loveseat. As soon as it was offered, they quickly accepted the Champaign and let the alcohol try to ease the situation.

"I want you to meet my boyfriend properly," Aphrodite smiled, leaning on the man as she took one of the flutes of Champaign being passed around.

He smiled, kissing the top of her head, and she beamed as she looked around to us all.

I felt like I was going to throw up, and Kate looked like she was pretty upset as well. She took a bite of a chocolate strawberry, keeping her mouth busy so that she wouldn't say anything to her.

"This is Andrew," Aphrodite giggled, running her fingers through his sandy blonde hair. She kept looking into his chocolate brown eyes, intoxicated by the giddy new love she felt for her newest boy toy. She leaned her head back on her shoulder, her hand resting on his chest as she held him close to her, "We met three months ago! It was love at first sight."

Andrew smiled down at her, kissing the top of her head, and they both smiled at each other like the little dream couple you saw in a Nicholas Sparks movie.

"I am so lucky," Andrew smiled, and he turned to all of us, somewhat proud of his beautiful and fabulous conquest of the goddess of beauty. I could almost see the inflation of his head that had been growing since she fell for him.

I couldn't stop thinking of little Weslin and how much she wished she could have half of the attention that Aphrodite gave whatever boyfriend she had this month.

"Three months?" I asked, "I wouldn't have thought. I would have guessed it was longer. You two seem so happy. Have you guys met each other's family?" the words were spilling out of my mouth, and I couldn't stop, "I think Weslin would love Andrew."

Aphrodite's eyes flew back to me, and the sweet love in her eyes had turned dangerous.

"Weslin? Who is Weslin, Love?" Andrew looked to Aphrodite, and her eyes remained on me. The intensity was growing, though I wasn't sure it was really anger as much as shock at what I had said.

Aphrodite looked back to Andrew, her anger easing.

"My daughter. She lives with my ex in Utah. I didn't mention her because I don't like to enter people into her life unless I know it is serious," Aphrodite admitted.

"But we are serious, Darling," he held onto her hand, squeezing it, "I would love to meet Weslin. I'm sure she is just as perfect as you…" he kissed the top of her head.

Aphrodite smiled at him and kissed him gently before looking back to me, watching me a bit closer.

I suddenly felt Kate's nails digging into me again, and I could feel her grey eyes on me, reminding me of my place and of how dangerous it was to get on the bad side of a god. But my anger was building. My disgust was mounting. It was threatening to explode, and only the harsh feeling of Kate's sharp, newly painted nails was keeping the impending explosion from happening.

Aphrodite's eyes were moving to Swift and Sam, smiling and preparing to torture them.

"You know, I remember when you all were just children!" she laughed, looking to me and Sam, "You are all grown up now! All of you so very handsome. And beautiful," she looked back to Kate apologetically.

Kate's grip on my arm lessened a bit.

"So, Theodora, how did you get mixed up in all of this?" Aphrodite took a sip of Champaign.

"Swift," Swift corrected, and she didn't seem too concerned with the idea of angering the love goddess. I wished I could be thinking like her and not worrying so much.

"I'm sorry. I keep thinking back to your mother. Apollo truly loved her…" Aphrodite shook her head.

Swift's jaw tightened at the mention of her mother, and I saw the most shocking thing of the night.

Sam's hand lunged for her arm, squeezing tightly in support. He didn't blush. He didn't seem to be embarrassed and didn't even look at his hand on her arm.

She didn't either. She didn't blush or get angry. She didn't roll her eyes at him, pulling away and making a scene of grabbing another drink. She didn't acknowledge it, but she did soften. She calmed. Swift had been tamed by Sam…

My eyes flew back to Sam, silently giving him a high five, and he managed a silent smirk at me before turning back to the conversation just as I did.

For a moment, there was a different thought in my mind that didn't involve Weslin.

I began to replay my entire life with Sam by my side. I remembered sixth grade when the entire school wanted to take Becky Williams to the dance. He ruffled his hair, and he asked her to the dance, earning an acceptance. For an entire week, they were the "it" couple. At the dance, he spilled his punch on her dress, and she announced that they were done.

But that didn't matter.

Standing by my locker and waiting for my best friend to fail at asking the coolest girl in school to the dance, I watched a new part of Sam be born. I watched his confidence to stop being only on the soccer field, and I watched his suave manners begin to pay off for him. From that moment on, he could have any girl he wanted, and he always did.

Getting a girl was a sport to Sam, and it was a game he always won. He got the girls who were the hardest to get. He even added a few teachers from our school to his list of conquests. The girls never really meant much to him, and he always ended it pretty early on.

I had known that that suave womanizer part of him would die out one day, or at least our entire family hoped it would. And I had watched the end of an era of Sam getting everything he wanted. But now it was official.

In sixth grade, standing in the halls of our old middle school with a group of our guy friends waiting to see Sam fail, I watched that part of him be born. Now, so many years later, sitting in Aphrodite's mansion with Kate digging her nails into my arm, I watched as it died.

I realized that things were different, and they could never be the same. I began to think back to our apartment waiting for us in New York, and I wondered if it would ever feel like the same bachelor pad. I wondered if I would ever have to sit on the couch, listening as Sam gave me the same speech about how I was wasting my youth watching TV instead of going out to clubs and being wild and young.

The thoughts of my best friend swarmed in my head, distracting me from Aphrodite long enough to calm me. But then Aphrodite's mouth opened again.

"So, Swift, how did you meet these wonderful friends?" she asked, and Sam's grip on Swift's arm tightened a bit as she tried to calm herself before speaking.

"I met them when they were on their way to see Azul."

Weslin swarmed my mind, and my anger was back and stronger than ever.

"Oh, of course," Aphrodite smiled, and she couldn't help herself. She wanted to know if her ex-lover regretted his choice of not staying with her, of taking his parental duties more serious than her want for excitement, "How is he? Azul I mean."

"Sad," I answered before I even realized my mouth was opening.

"Is he?" Aphrodite was trying to fake pity, but she couldn't hide her triumph.

"Heartbroken."

"Oh, that is truly sad," Aphrodite tried, but she was grinning.

Kate looked to me, and I knew she could tell what I was about to. Her eyes were horrified, but she let go of me, giving me the approval to go.

"He was so sad. I just can't even describe it really. I mean, you could almost see his broken heart," I shook my head, and I was watching Aphrodite try to hide her smile as it got wider.

"That is horrible," Aphrodite shook her head.

"I guess I would be the same in that situation."

"In what situation?" Aphrodite needed to hear the confirmation that he was desperate to take back his choice of losing her.

"If the mother of my child decided that her new boyfriend was more important than our daughter's birthday."

The words were sharp enough to cut your heart out.

Aphrodite's eyes widened, and her mouth stayed shut as she looked at me, silently cursing the day I was born.

"She was dressed up for her birthday, ready to see her mom," I stood, shoving the picture of Weslin on her birthday at Aphrodite, "And she was hurt that she never showed up. She knew why, too. She knew it was him."

Aphrodite was running her fingers over the picture.

"She is grown up…" Aphrodite frowned, shocked.

"She turned ten. You might be immortal, but eons can never bring back that little girl's birthday," I was angry, and I couldn't stop myself, "She had a sketchbook. A sketchbook she never showed anyone else before. She wanted to show it to you."

Aphrodite's eyes looked up to me, and I saw that they were watering.

"She sat in the grass of the replica of the home you raised her in, and she told me everything. She told me how you went to your daughter's wedding and your granddaughter's birthday. But that you didn't come see her. She told me about how much she wished she could go back to that time when you two were together, when you were raising her in that home. She told me how much she wanted you."

I was done.

My ammunition was spent, and I had done my damage.

I started to walk out, and Kate jumped up, her hand on my arm again as we began to hurry away from the parlor.

We walked at a fast pace, trying to get away from Aphrodite as fast as we could, and we didn't speak. But that didn't matter. She risked a goddess's wrath to walk out with me.

That was enough for me…

Finally, as we were getting close to our rooms, our pace began to slow, and we started to talk.

"Are you okay?" Kate asked me, still holding onto my arm, "You made the Goddess of Love cry after all."

"I'm fine," I squeezed her hand, "I'm sorry I did. I know I shouldn't have. I just couldn't help it."

"Come on. It was the right thing to do. She'll stop being mad eventually. You just might have to wait a while before you are given your perfect match," Kate laughed gently.

There was something mixed into the air in Aphrodite's mansion. It was more than the light smell of strawberries mixing with the sea air. It was love sweeping through the halls. It was a sudden desire to feel the perfection of love. It made you want to take chances you would never take before.

I suddenly wanted to tell Kate how I felt about her. That I had already found my perfect match, and that I could never live without her.

Panic was rising in me, suddenly showing me a life where I never told her. A life where I sat at the table for Thanksgiving and watched as she brought home guys to meet her family. A life where I was one of the family members she brought together to tell the big news of her engagement. A life where I would probably have to make a toast at her wedding, talking about how wonderful the couple was when I really hated them. A life where I would stand around at the hospital and bring her flowers the day that she gave birth to the child she always wanted.

I could suddenly see it all standing in these halls.

I could barely walk. I had to tell her.

"Kate," I stopped her, leaving us standing in front of her door.

She stopped, looking back at me expectantly, and I suddenly couldn't breathe. I didn't know what to say.

"I've wanted to tell you something…." I began nervously.

But Aphrodite was not going to let me have it. I had made her too angry for her to let me tell Kate how I felt. I would have to keep it suppressed and live with the torture a bit longer.

Suddenly, Kate's door opened, and the servants rushed out.

One started looking at her hair while another inspected her dress.

"Oh, you need to get changed now!" they began to pull on her.

"But-but I was talking-"

"You can talk to him later," they pulled inside and closed the doors.

I stopped, shocked and frozen, and I slowly began to walk to my room.

Kate,

The servants hurried me out of my gown, washing out the hairspray in my hair. They scrubbed off my make-up, taking a layer of skin with it. They took off the fake eyelashes, took off my painful shoes, and ripped off the body tape I had been using to make sure my dress stayed where it was supposed to.

And all of it was painful. They pulled my hair when washing it. As I already said, they took off a layer of skin washing my face. They pulled too hard when taking off the eyelashes, and they stubbed my toe as they took off the shoes. And my skin was red from where they took off the body tape.

When the servants left, there were only small traces off their work. My newly reshaped eyebrows. My almost hairless body. My painted nails. And the small trace of glitter on my arms.

It felt strange to be back to the Kate I knew myself as after being the super sexy Kate for a while.

Now, I was back to myself.

I wasn't the sexy Kate holding onto Noah's arm, keeping him from doing something he would regret. I was just Kate, sitting in her room with wet hair, no make-up, wearing a pair of pink pajamas.

I kept thinking back to Noah and how he had stopped me in the hall. My mind was reeling as I began to wonder what he had been about to say. I hadn't seen that look in his eyes, such nervousness. And I had seen him in some pretty nervous situations over the years…

Immediately, my mind flew back to the feelings I had been harboring for him since I was seventeen years old. I thought to the love I felt for him that had been torturing me for years. I thought of the dreams I kept tucked away inside of me, praying that Noah would feel the same way.

No, that wasn't it…

I wanted it to be that though, and that made me jump and cling to the hope that it was. But I knew I was wrong. I knew that he didn't love me, no matter how much I loved him.

Suddenly, I felt hollow and sick. The delicious Camp Half-Blood strawberries (which were the sweetest you could imagine) covered in decadent chocolate sitting on a table didn't help me. In fact, it felt as though it was climbing its way back up my throat. The flute of Champaign that refilled every time I took a sip didn't help me relax. It was just making things seem a bit hazier and dimmer

My mind was racing, and I needed to stop thinking about it. But, in reality, I didn't really want to.

I didn't want to stop thinking about Noah because, no matter how much it hurt that he didn't love me and never would, it still made me happy to think about him. I loved him, and I wanted to think about him as much as I did. Though I would never admit it, there was a part of me that loved my predicament. While it hurt me every day, it still gave me love. It gave me feelings that were strong and real. There was a part of me that loved loving him, and there always would be. Love hurt like Hades, but it was soothed just by a simple smile from the person who hurt you to make you forgive them for the pain your unrequited love gave you.

I would never have this with someone else. This was my Noah Love.

This belonged to Noah and Noah alone. It always would. There would always be this part of me that would remain devoted to him, that would always love him, and that would bring me joy just from seeing his smile.

Knowing I couldn't push it away, I did the one thing I felt I could do.

I sat down at the power pink desk, and I took out my laptop, powering it on and logging onto my email account.

I ignored the typical things like newsletters, camp updates from friends, and messages from worried family members who were trying to remain upbeat by acting like nothing was happening. My cursor went straight to creating a new message.

To: SoccerGuy18

From: PixarRules4

I haven't spoken to you in a long time. Too long…

I have no excuse really. I got busy, and I just didn't take the time to send anything to you. Now, it is late, and I am crawling back. Pretty fair, eh?

Things with Green seem to be getting worse. Or maybe better. It depends on who you are.

I love him. I know that now, and I really don't feel bad about it. I'm not even sure that I wish I didn't love him. I only wish that we weren't like this. That he would stop seeing me as a sister…

How have you been? How is Dianna?

-Pixar

I pressed send, and I found myself stopping and staring at the website that I used for my email. I was waiting for the sudden light to come on and for it to tell me that he had responded.

I knew that he probably wouldn't have for a little while given how long it had been since I had last spoken to him. After all, I seemed to only talk to him when I was bored and had lost Noah's conversation. I wouldn't be happy with talking to me either.

I was about to log off and give up on all of this when I suddenly saw the little alert telling me that I had just gotten a response.

To: PixarRules4

From: SoccerGuy18

It has been far too long, Pixar. I got busy, too, and I guess I just kept forgetting. So, it wasn't just you, and you don't owe me an apology.

Dianna…

I've known I loved her, but this trip with her seemed to throw it in focus. I suddenly realized how much I needed her. I knew I wanted her, but I never really noticed how much I needed her.

Tonight, I almost told her I loved her.

But then she went to bed instead, and so did I.

Life just keeps pulling us in different directions when I want to tell her, and I wonder if that is a sign, telling me that she doesn't feel the same way and that I shouldn't screw up our relationship.

I don't know, but that doesn't matter.

Let's talk about something different.

I want to hear about Pixar. How have you been?

I smiled, my fingers flying over the keyboard as I began to type.

To: SoccerGuy18

From: PixarRules6

I've been-

I stopped typing as I began to think about the past few days. I thought back to Weslin and how it hurt us all to see such a great little girl so hurt. I thought back to the perfect dream and how it felt to be ripped from it. I thought about the panic that rose in me every time I thought of the fact that I could lose Charlie any day now.

My fingers went back to typing.

I've been a little out of it, but I'm happy now. I'm talking to you.

How have you been, SoccerGuy?

I pressed send.

No One' POV,

After Noah's explosive departure from the parlor, there was an awkward silence of those left in the rubble. Everyone was equally shocked by what had just transpired.

Andrew was shocked to find out that his beautiful lover had a daughter and was a deadbeat parent, especially considering they had spent this weekend sitting by the coast with their arms entwined talking about the possibility of taking all of their love and making a child. He was suddenly a bit wary of Aphrodite, wondering if he would one day be the single parent waiting on his ex to come and see their child for her just to call in with a lame excuse and go see her new young boyfriend.

Aphrodite was shocked by the fact that Noah risked her wrath to let her know all of this. Part of her was insulted, embarrassed, and utterly ready to give him Hades for it. But, at the same time, she found herself respecting him for it. She couldn't stop thinking about that beautiful little baby she had rocked to sleep on the Greek island they had made their home for so long. Looking at the picture, she knew it was her. But how did that happen? She was just a little baby, she wasn't supposed to grow up. Aphrodite began to think about how much she had missed…

But, for the two people sitting on the power pink loveseat, their shock didn't belong to Noah.

Of course, it was shocking that Noah risked the wrath of the goddess of love. It was a terrible choice for someone who aspired to one day get married and have children, but, after all, they had known how mad he was about it. They also knew that Aphrodite seemed to appreciate his honesty in some way. So, it seemed to them as though everything would be okay in the end.

They were both reeling at something, and it had nothing to do with Noah and Kate's dramatic moment tonight.

And it had everything to do with Sam's hand wrapped around Swift's arm. It had everything to do with the fact that, when she was freaking out, his hand just went to her arm automatically without any worry or awkwardness. It had everything to do with the fact that it worked, it calmed her. And it had everything to do with the fact that, even though she had already calmed down, his hand was still wrapped around her arm and neither of them wanted that to stop.

In his life, Sam had dated a lot of girls. That was always a pride to him. It never involved love. Over the years, it just became a game, and he always won. He got any girl he wanted, and, once he got them, he didn't really care anymore. He had truly and deeply cared for one girl in all of that time. Her name was Jessica, and it was in tenth grade. They lasted for six months before her jealousy and worry that he was cheating on her got the best of them. Since, he had never really cared about any girl.

And now Jessica was completely blown out of the water.

Sam had never felt anything like what he felt for Swift, and it scared him to death.

Swift didn't believe in love at all.

Her parents loved each other. Her mother was going to run off, and Apollo was going to take care of her and their child for the rest of their life. Instead, Swift's grandfather found off, and he immediately hid the pregnancy and had Swift scheduled to be adopted. Her mother was who-knows where with who-knows-who. The only thing that mattered was that the promises were empty and things didn't work out.

Swift was never going to be that girl who loved someone. She wasn't going to get married and have kids. She was not going to drop her child off at kindergarten and make lunch boxes for school.

Part of her wanted it, but it wasn't going to happen.

She was going to stay right where she was. She was going to work at her dangerous job. She was going to keep her secrets. She going to have her baby brother as her only confidant during it all.

But Swift's rules were being broken. Things were happening that she thought never would.

Swift didn't have a crush on Sam. She didn't just want to get in his pants. She didn't just want to add him to a list of guys that would always want her but would never have her.

Swift actually loved Sam…

And she hated it.

"If you excuse me," Aphrodite stood, breaking the silence, "I need to make a call."

The goddess quickly hurried out, leaving her stunned boyfriend sitting on the loveseat.

"We should go," Sam looked to Swift, and she nodded, standing up with him. His hand had left her arm, and she felt a sort of absence without it.

As they left, they both grabbed a drink as they walked away.

Swift took a long gulp of the Champaign, in desperate need of something alcoholic to keep her from a break down due to all of her rules being broken for Sam, the complete opposite of someone they should be broken for.

Sam's hands were shaking as they walked together, and he took a sip of his drink, trying to calm himself.

It was only a girl. He had gotten girls before. He knew how to do this.

But all of his tricks weren't coming to him. His confident was failing. And he was being pathetic instead of suave.

As they reached her door, Sam looked at her nervously. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to tell her how he felt. He wanted to do something. But he felt frozen.

Swift waited, trying to see what would happen. Her heart was beating harder than it ever had, and she was more nervous than she had been in her entire life of working as an elite Roman agent, doing all of the dirty work that was too controversial to be known of. She wanted to kiss him so bad, but she was too scared.

"Swift-" Sam began, nervously working up his courage to tell her how he felt.

Then her door open, and servants came rushing out, ready to get her undressed and ready for bed.

Swift glared at them, a true Swift glare that had could strike fear into the heart of Mars.

The two servants stopped, looking at her as they considered it, and they stayed quiet as they slowly began to walk away, Swift's glare following them to make sure that they didn't turn back and ruin the moment once more.

Once they were gone, Swift looked back to Sam, desperate for him to continue.

"Well, Swift," Sam blushed, his hands shaking again out of fear, and suddenly his half-full flute of Champaign emptied out on Swift's black dress.

She gasped from the sudden wet feeling of the drink touching her skin, and he blushed, completely mortified. He grabbed the pocket square that had been delicately arranged by a servant of Aphrodite, and he began to dab her torso that was now covered in Champaign.

"I am so sorry," Sam kept repeating, his cheeks the shade of a tomato.

He couldn't believe that this was happening to him. Sam was never this pathetic or embarrassing. That was Noah… Sam got the girl easily. He wooed them. They were the ones who were adorably clumsy around him.

If Sam could have, he would have curled up and died just about then.

"No, no, it's fine," Swift suddenly realized how close he was, and he glanced up at her, still shell-shocked by her beauty.

Logically, she was not his type. He usually went for the bleach-blonde girl with a new little improvements from a plastic surgeon that made her a bit more endowed than she was previously.

But, to Sam, Swift was the most beautiful girl in the entire world…

"S-Swift?" he managed, his hands still resting on her torso.

"Yes?" she looked down at him, her voice clear of intimidation and full of nervousness.

"I-I," Sam got closer to her, his nose just centimeters from hers. Her could smell the Champaign on her breath, the chemicals in the hairspray they used on her, and the faint smell of the gentle perfume they had sprayed on her.

His fingertips brushed across her cheeks, making her shiver as she continued to look up at him.

Sam broke the space, needing to be closer to her, and he put his forehead against hers.

Swift took it all in. The way his skin felt. The way his blonde hair fell on her. The way his cologne mixed with the smell of his minty toothpaste and the Champaign they had all been drinking. She even loved the sound of his breathing.

His voice was barely a whisper, so gentle that Swift almost didn't hear it.

"I think I love you…."

Swift pulled her forehead away from his, still close as she looked at him.

"Y-You do?"

Sam's face fell, and he began to pull away, suddenly feeling sick. He felt what he had always feared, rejection. He had felt it a few times, but it was a million times worse. It was rejection from the woman he loved, from the woman who was breaking all of the rules.

Swift grabbed onto his arm, keeping him from pulling completely away.

"I love you, too," she whispered, almost crying.

Another thing about Swift. She most certainly did not cry.

Sam smiled wider than he thought he could, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her towards him. His lips gently touched hers, and he softly kissed her deeply.

Swift's hands opened the door gently, continuing to kiss him as she pulled him through the door with her.