How I Met Your Mother
Chapter 2
Leo
He was embarrassed.
Thankfully, Frank said nothing about the incident, though Leo didn't really expect him too; he wasn't that insensitive. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that the scene that happened moments before was anything but normal. Leo was witty, he always had something to say, but at that very moment, he was so stunned by her that he couldn't even form an articulate sentence. Mr. D's comment wasn't helping matters either.
It was evident from the way he strode into the game room that he was irritated, the concerned looks from the girls proved as much. Even Percy had stopped his tied battle with Jason to give him a look. He ignored them. He was not about to explain himself; drunk as they were, Percy and Jason would just laugh at him.
He was pretty easy going, but if there was one thing he hated, other than being laughed at, it was being yelled at. He did not like people making a fool out of him - that was his job, and his job alone. Even so, he couldn't say exactly why he was mad. Maybe he was mad at her for her attitude, maybe he was mad at Mr. D for his less than subtle attempt to embarrass him, or maybe he was mad at himself for allowing himself to look so stupid. Maybe it wasn't any of those.
He didn't bother to try and find the reason. Instead, he channeled all of his frustration into the thrust he gave the stick in his hands. The cue ball slammed into the set at the other side. The balls bounced off the corners, off each other, but none of them sunk into the pockets. Just his luck. He wasn't Annabeth, who could pick out every angle and predict every move in an instant, but he wasn't bad either. Not as bad as Frank, who just missed the cue ball. If his mind were there, he would have thought better about hitting the ball with all his force, but it wasn't. If Frank didn't know he was irritated, he could have passed it off as nothing more than the fact that he was going easy on him.
After the third time he knocked the balls off the table, Frank had had enough.
"What's with you?"
Leo ignored him and tried to take his shot. He hit the cue ball into the 5 ball. It rolled across the green and stopped just at the very edge of the corner pocket. If it were possible, he would have burst into flames due to frustration.
"Leo, seriously," Frank tried again. He was doing his best to keep his voice low; the other would certainly flock around them if only to hear just what was eating him away. "What's with you?"
"She's just..." He couldn't find the word he was looking for.
"Hot?" Frank provided. He meant it as a joke, hoping that Leo would laugh, but he didn't.
Leo stayed silent for a moment before finding the word. "Infuriating."
"You did push her down..." Frank said.
Leo glared at him, as if to ask which side he was on. Frank adverted his gaze and took his shot. He sank the 6 ball in the left corner pocket.
"She didn't need to be so rude. I was going to help her up, but then she snapped." He rolled his eyes. "A real ball of Sunshine, she is."
Frank said nothing more, for which Leo was thankful.
After a few more half hearted shots, Frank accidentally sank the 8 ball, thus giving Leo the win, but he wasn't satisfied with that. With a huff, he downed the rest of his drink. Several minutes later, Hazel came over and gave Leo a wary glance as Frank reracked the balls. He handed her the stick and sauntered over to the air hockey table. Percy had won the last game, but Annabeth insisted he come play Pac Man with her. Piper was currently challenging Jason, who was even drunker than he was before he played Percy. Piper was winning with ease.
"You okay?" She asked as she effortlessly blocked the puck.
Leo shrugged. He knew Piper wouldn't laugh at him, but after the conversation with Frank, he wasn't in the mood to talk about it.
She hit the puck in one last time, signalling Jason's defeat. The blond pouted. "Damn it."
"Sorry, Sparky," Piper smiled apologetically.
Then Jason shrugged and stumbled to the nearest chair. Without preamble, Leo grabbed the striker and slid the puck across the surface. "Winner goes first."
Piper smiled.
She hit the puck with surprising speed, and he managed to block it. They went back and forth for several minutes before Leo managed to score.
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or am I going to have to worm it out of you?"
Piper wasn't one to pry, but knew she was doing it because she was concerned. She was his best friend, practically his sister, and when Piper cared about someone, she didn't let things slide. She was a psych major, after all, and had a way of reading people that often made him uncomfortable. She was one of the only people who knew he wasn't all smiles and jokes, like he seemed.
"Let me guess," she said, "rejected again?"
That was everyone's first guess and while it sometimes irritated him that people automatically assumed it, he couldn't deny that sixty-five percent of the time they were right.
"Not really. In a way, but not really."
Piper raised a brow.
"I'll tell you about it later," Leo said.
She didn't look like she wanted to accept that answer, but she said nothing more on the matter. If Leo didn't want to talk about something, he wasn't going to.
The game lasted longer than either one had expected it too. In the first thirty minutes they'd only scored two points each, but the pace eventually picked up. Nearly an hour later, Leo had claimed victory, though Piper almost had the game when he nearly hit the puck into his own goal.
Piper and Leo had to help Jason back to the table. He could walk, but he kept stumbling to the side. He nearly walked Piper into a trashcan before she finally relented and let Leo take over. It was a difficult task, considering that Jason was several inches taller than him, and practically putting all of his weight on him, but Leo managed to steer him to the table where he fell onto the seat and let his head rest on the table. Beside him, Piper sighed.
Leo glanced at his friends, Percy had already passed out, using Annabeth's lap as a pillow. She idly played with his hair, ignoring the fact that he was drooling all over her jeans. Grover had his head on the table, and if it weren't for the fact that he occasionally lifted it to look around, Leo would have thought he was unconscious too. Hazel, surprisingly, was drunk, though not nearly as much as the other three. She'd scooted much closer to Frank than she normally would have, shamelessly flirting with him, a fact that was making Frank a bit uncomfortable.
Hazel was, well, old school. That's just how she was brought up. She didn't openly flirt and Leo often joked that the most daring thing she did was hold Franks hand (this didn't extend to her sisterly cheek kisses, as Percy called them). But at that current moment, she was practically in his lap. Leo suspected Frank wouldn't have minded as much if his friends weren't there, especially since Leo, Annabeth, and Piper were more or less sober.
Leo gave him a mischievous smile, to which Frank scowled.
He then turned his attention to the rest of the table. Jason was leaning against Piper, his face nestled in the crook of her neck, but Leo could tell just by his expression that he was unconscious as well. He was about to complain that they'd only been there for a couple hours, but he remembered that all of them had gotten there before him.
"Want anything?" Leo asked Piper as he motioned to the bar.
She gave it a moment of thought. "Just grab a bottle of rum. We'll split it."
He turned to ask Annabeth if she wanted anything specific, but she'd fallen asleep, no doubt exhausted from keeping Percy in line. Shrugging, he made his way to the bar.
The bar's owner, Mr D. (he claimed it was short for Dionysius) was a short, plump man with thick black hair and a thick beard. He constantly looked like he was drunk, and Leo didn't doubt that he was. "Give me a bottle of Bacardi."
Mr. D snorted but obliged. He opened his mouth to say something, but Leo didn't stick around to hear it. As soon as the bottle was in his hands, he turned away from the bar and made his way back to the table.
Piper had moved Jason so that he was lying on the seat, much like Percy. Leo couldn't help but notice how much younger he looked when he was sleeping. He didn't look as serious. The ever present crease in his brow was gone. He looked like he was sixteen again.
He poured himself a glass and passed the bottle to Piper. She offered some to Frank, but he shook his head.
"Someone's gotta be sober," he said.
They both shrugged.
They sat in silence. Leo studied Piper's face. She looked tired; the hours she spent in school and at work were really starting to take a toll on her. Frank wasn't in a much better position. Between his studies and his job at the Zoo, he was nearly as overwhelmed as Piper was. All of them were, really. Suddenly, he wished they were back in high school, when things were easier. They could afford to skip class, they weren't paying for them directly, and everyone seemed to have more time for each other. Now, it was like they were all on their own.
Nights like this were rare, and that in itself helped to demonstrate just how exhausting college was. Percy and Jason had been unusually calm, Annabeth hadn't had to beat anyone, and surprisingly, no one had gotten hurt - maybe Leo and his pride, but there were no physical injuries. Things had gone much more smoothly than he'd expected.
"Who's that girl?" Piper asked suddenly.
Leo knit his brows. "What?"
Piper gave him an exasperated sigh. "The one at the bar. She keeps glaring at you."
"That," Frank cut in before Leo could respond, "is the source of his bad mood."
Leo glared at him, but he continued. "He accidentally knocked her over. She got mad and snapped at him."
After hearing it from Frank's mouth, it sounded like a stupid reason to be mad, however, remembering what she'd said when she stormed off, he felt that it wasn't that stupid.
"Did you apologize? Or help her?" Piper asked.
"I was going to, but she snapped at me."
"Then he just stared at her. She was really pretty," Frank finished.
"Oh?"
Leo did not like the look she gave him. It was the sly smile, the kind she gave him when she was about to do something devious, only this time, it seemed like she knew, or noticed, something he didn't. To prove his point, she downed her glass and slipped out of the booth.
"She better not be doing what I think she's doing," Leo groaned.
"She is. You might want to start rehearsing your apology now."
As much as he loved Piper in that you're-annoying-but-you're-my-sister way, sometimes he really wished she wouldn't try to do certain things. Normally, he didn't mind her antics, but tonight, he really did wish she wouldn't have gotten up. He knew exactly what she was doing. The girl was pretty, that much was obvious, and Piper had a habit of trying to play matchmaker. Under normal circumstances, he was more than willing to go along with Piper's attempts, but this time, he wasn't so sure.
He didn't even want to look in their direction. He knew Piper was trying to convince her to come over to the table. He hoped the girl refused, but luck was not on his side tonight.
"She's coming over with Piper."
Sure enough, a few seconds later, Piper slid into the booth with the girl at her side. "This is Calypso. She's from Greece."
Leo gave her a grudging hello and began nursing his drink. Frank was a bit more enthusiastic and Hazel managed to stutter out a "Hi, I'm Hazel".
Piper and Frank started a conversation with her and though he wasn't contributing to it, he was listening. He noted that the girl - Calypso - was much nicer and polite to them, though she completely ignored his presence. Finally, Hazel asked an interesting question.
"Are you living around here?"
Calypso nodded. "In the apartment building a few blocks over. I actually just got done unpacking everything."
All of them shared a look. "Which building?" Piper asked.
"The one by the lake? I can remember the street name."
"The one with the crazy landlord?" Leo asked.
She looked at him oddly, as if judging whether to humor him with an answer. "Yes." Her response was less than polite.
Frank raised a brow. "Funny, we live in the same building."
She didn't seem as surprised as Leo thought she would. If anything, she looked thoughtful. "My father did say there was a group of college kids living there."
"How would your father know?" Piper asked.
Calypso looked at her as if the answer were already obvious. "Because my father owns it."
They stared at her. "I thought...Hedge..." Frank started.
She shook her head. "Gleeson just watches the place, he's like the front desk man. My father is technically the landlord, though Gleeson likes to think of himself as the landlord." She sounded amused by the last statement.
"So you're rich." Hazel slurred.
Calypso shook her head. "I'm not rich, my father is."
"Wouldn't that technically make you rich?" Leo asked. He regretted it a moment later, however, when she turned her sharp gaze to him.
"Not when my father isn't supporting me." Venom dripped from her tone. Leo could see it in her eyes that she was getting defensive; he used the same tact himself.
Piper noticed too. She gave Calypso a sidelong glance and shook her head - although Leo wasn't sure if it was because she understood what the woman was saying, or due to her sudden hostility - hostility that Leo did not appreciate.
So what if he accidentally walked into her? It happens. He had every intention of helping her up, but then she turned around and he found himself damn near mesmerized. Until she snapped. He wasn't exactly sure why he didn't move after that. Maybe it was the suddenness of it all that had him at a loss for words. Or maybe she was just that beautiful that he ended up freezing on the spot. But now, he was anything but frozen in place; he couldn't stop fidgeting.
She was really starting to get on his nerves.
"Well, Sunshine," he drawled, "you certainly have the attitude of a rich girl."
Calypso narrowed her eyes. She was about to retort, but Piper quickly interveined. "So where exactly in Greece are you from?"
The diversion seemed to do the trick. "I was born in Malta, which actually isn't in Greece. It's closer to Italy, but when I was a child, I moved to Greece, Athens, actually, where my mother was living. My father came to America shortly after and started his business. He owns several of the apartment buildings around here. I moved into yours because it was close to the collage."
"Are you studying abroad?" Frank asked.
She shook her head. Several strands of her hair fell out of the pony tail. "No. I moved to America to finish my education and hopefully find my own way."
Piper nodded slowly. That wasn't an uncommon reason; the whole country was founded on the idea of people finding their own ways, after all. "And what's your major?"
"Chemistry," she said, though she didn't sound happy about it. She didn't elaborate, however.
"Ah." Piper said. "Mines Psychology. Frank's majoring in Zoology, Hazel is majoring in Gemology and Leo," she pointed to him, "is majoring in mechanical engineering."
Calypso gave him a dubious look. He expected her to make some kind of remark, but she said nothing. Her look had said all that needed to be said. She was skeptical, that much was obvious.
"I'm the best mechanic in town," he deliberately bragged. He made a show of putting on the smuggest grin he could manage.
"He really is," Frank cut in. "You should have seen the rockets he put on Percy's car!"
Calypso looked genuinely concerned. "Rockets? On a car?"
Piper sighed heavily. "Not one of his best ideas, although he probably thinks it was."
"Yep," he said, popping the p. "Percy thought it was cool too."
The girls shared a look.
Leo didn't need to be a mind reader to know what they were thinking. He'd been around Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel long enough to know that look- it was the infamous boys are idiots look.
"Her certainly looks stupid enough to do that." Calypso stated.
He was starting to seriously dislike this woman.
...
If Leo believed in fate, he would say it was messing with him. She couldn't have lived in the one across the street, or better yet, across town. No, she had to be in the same building, on the same floor, in the apartment right across the hall from the one he shared with Jason and Frank. To make matters worse, as soon as Calypso had disappeared, Piper just had to compare the situation to some stupid romance book.
"It's just like this novel I read a couple years ago!" She exclaimed. "The main characters don't get along in the beginning, but - "
"Piper," Leo sighed. He was thoroughly exhausted. He did not want to hear her babbling about books. "Look, I appreciate the effort, but seriously, chill."
She must have noticed the fatigue in his tone because she said nothing more, though she looked slightly dejected. Then she sighed. "Fine. Go get rest, you look exhausted as you sound."
He didn't need to be told twice. He gave her a tired smile and opened the door to the apartment he shared with Frank and Jason.
One would think that with three guys living in it, the place would be a disaster, but it was anything but. Everything was put neatly in its place; Jason hated clutter and as a result, he was constantly cleaning. Leo's room was the only room in the apartment that was a mess, but neither Frank nor Jason said anything. Leo's room was his sanctuary; nobody touched anything in there. Nobody went in there.
Frank hadn't even made an attempt to get Jason into his room; he was lying on the couch, face down in the cushion. Leo suspected he was going to have a stiff neck in the morning, and a nasty hangover to accompany it. He almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
He stalked past the couch and towards his room. When they first moved in, there had been a lot of fighting about who got the master bedroom, but after an old fashion game of drawing lots, Leo, for once, had been lucky. It room was only slightly bigger than the others, but it had it's own bathroom, for which he was thankful. It made the morning routine easier; none of them had to stand around and wait for someone to finish their shower before they could go.
Leo reached into his pocket and fished his key out. Since no one really locked their front doors, Leo had taken to locking his room door. He trusted his friends, but not the rest of the building's tenants. One would be surprised at what people would steal if they were given the option. Had he not been accustom to the mess, he would have tripped the second he stepped in the door. He'd carelessly left his textbooks on the floor, again.
Weaving through the mess, he found his way to the bed with little effort, even with the lights off, and unceremoniously dumped himself onto the mattress.
Piper was only trying to help, but he couldn't help but think she only made matters worse. Sometimes he really didn't understand her logic. Or girls' logic in general. Or people. He barely understood himself a lot of the time.
With a heavy sigh, he rolled over and buried his face in his pillow. She might have been pretty, but her attitude was not. Everything about her was absolutely infuriating. Definately not the girl for him.
Sometimes he wondered if he was cursed; if some higher power were toying with him for their amusement. The first eight years of his life had been great, perfect even, if he excluded the existence of his crazy aunt. He used to be teased for being a mama's boy when he was younger, but he couldn't really be blamed. His mother was all he had at the time. Then she was taken from him. Still, after fourteen long years, he still blamed himself.
In reality, it wasn't his fault. It wasn't anyone's fault - it was just one of those things that happened, but whether it just happened or not he still blamed himself. He was there; he was old enough to think of something, but he couldn't. He couldn't do a thing but stand there helplessly as she died. He still had nightmares about it - sometimes he couldn't even think his mother's name without feeling like he was going to pass out. He hadn't been to her grave since the day she was buried, and he didn't think he'd ever be able to go back. Just the thought of it made his stomach churn.
"Leo Valdez," he muttered to himself, "screw up extraordinaire."