Author's Note:
Thanks for the faves, follows, and reviews.
Things take a bit of a turn in this chapter. Oh boy.
Chapter 4:
June just resumed chopping up the vegetables for the quick stir fry she's going to make for dinner whenever a knock sounded at her door. Oh, so Coriolanus came back for his forgotten jacket. That's good. So, without giving it much thought, she put down her knife and left the kitchen- to go into the main room and answer the door.
But when the June girl opened the door, it wasn't herr platinum blonde ex that greeted her, but her current bronze haired boyfriend. Odysseus.
"I brought you some dinner from North Italia." He smiled, holding up a couple of cardboard boxes with the restaurant's label on them. "It's squid ink tonnarelli and tiramisu." Odysseus informed the raven-haires girl with a bright smile, making his way to her kitchen. "I think you'll like it; it's what I always get when I go there."
"I usually get the chicken parm and some cannolis, but I'm sure what you got me will be good." June half lied. Oh, she's honest about what she always ordered from North Italia (a place that June and Coryo seemed to both order out from and attend his business dinners at), but not about how she felt about what Odysseus got her. Just the thought of eating something made of squid ink made June cringe.
Like, really? Squid ink? Food made with squid ink… June knows that Odysseus is really into his District 4 roots, but isn't squid ink food a bit much.
"Hmmm…" June's boyfriend skeptically hummed.
"I was chopping up some veggies to make a stir fry with, but I guess I'll just put them up in the fridge for another day." June told Odysseus, following right behind him.
Upon entering the kitchen, Odysseus stopped dead in his tracks. The takeout containers fell out of his hands, due to his shock at seeing a red suit jacket and a large bouquet of red roses on the kitchen island.
June's Seam grey eyes went wide as she remembered the roses and Coriolanus' forgotten jacket that are on the kitchen island. Oh no…Odysseus saw them.
"Odysseus?" She tentatively asked, coming up next to him and placing a hand softly on his arm.
He could react one of two ways…
Either lash out on her or cry, but both would come with an accusation.
Pushing June's hand off of his arm, Odysseus turned to her only to incredulously exclaim, "We've been together for over a week and you're already cheating on me!" Shaking his head, causing his bronze waves to rustle around his shoulders, he rhetorically asked, "What the hell's wrong with you, honey? I thought you were a nice girl."
"I am a nice girl, Odysseus." June told her boyfriend, only to quickly deny the cheating (that she finished doing not that long ago) with, "I didn't cheat. An old friend from my Academy days came over. He's a gentleman; has a thing for bringing roses, and forgot his jacket when he left."
"You expect me to believe that, June?" Odysseus bitterly scoffed. "Please, don't lie to me. We both know that you're not an Academy graduate, honey."
That took June aback. Why would he assume that she wasn't an Academy graduate?
"But-" The dark-haired girl began, only for her boyfriend to cut her off with, "We both know what kind of people attend the Academy, June. Hell, I attended it because it's for rich people, and sadly, honey, you're not rich."
June felt a heavy, sad feeling welling up in her chest, but she pushed it down. She didn't want your new boyfriend to see her get upset from his words. June wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
Plus she only felt comfortable enough with one man to let herself show emotions around them. Or at least June did, before everything went down the previous month…
Trying and failing not to let her boyfriend's words get under her skin, June retorted with, "I know I'm not rich, Odysseus. I never said I was, but I was raised around rich kids despite growing up not having a pot to piss in."
"Look, you don't need to impress me by trying to fluff up your background with Academy cred. I'm not into the social hierarchy of the Capitol, unlike my father." Odysseus told June, clicking his tongue in a slight reprimanding manner. Crossing his arms over his firm chest, he revealed, "I like you, honey, but the fact that I can't trust you now cause of-" Waving his hand towards the red jacket and roses on the island. Refolding his arm over his chest, June's boyfriend sighed, "I think we need to take a break for a few days, so I can clear my head and see how I feel about us."
Of course, he wanted to take a break. June doesn't blame him one bit for that. If the roles were reversed, she'd probably want a break too.
"I think that maybe you should take a few personal self-help mental health days. Uh, 3 of them should be good."
"What? Odysseus-", June began, feeling that 3 personal self-help mental health days was uncalled for just because the two of them got into a fight and decided to take a small break, but Odysseus cut her off dramatically with, "I suspect you of cheating and you need to think about what you did. Plus, honey, we don't need tension in the company, you do work in the marketing department of the Odair Luxury Cruises."
"You can't expect me to stay home because we're having a misunderstanding, Odysseus. Hell, we don't even work on the same floor."
"I don't need any company drama, June, and we're not having a misunderstanding. I caught you cheating, honey, and now I have to decide if I want to give you another chance or not; I don't need to be seeing you around my Pop's company while trying to figure out what to do with you." Odysseus told June before exiting the apartment; leaving her alone in the kitchen entrance to stew in her thoughts.
June's alone in the elevator, holding the large bouquet of red roses in her hand; red jacket draped over the crook of her arm, furiously rubbing away the tears that are trickling down her cheeks. June's grey eyes were starting to blur as she saw the floor numbers begin to reach double digits.
June had to quickly dry her eyes. She couldn't let that platinum haired ex of hers see her crying.
No.
June just wants to give him back his jacket and roses; thank him for fucking up her new relationship too.
Suddenly, the elevator reached its destination and came to a stop. The doors opened with a loud ding, causing June to step out and into the foyer. She didn't even bother to take in the foyer's modern decor, just made a beeline towards the penthouse door. The sooner June gives Coriolanus his stuff back, the sooner she can go back to her apartment and wallow in her misery. Think of something to say when she calls up her boss in the morning to take a few impromptu self-help healing days.
Coming to a stop in front of the ornate door, June scrubbed her Seam grey eyes dry for a final time and let out a sigh. Balling her hand into a fist, she knocked- quickly to signal that she didn't want to wait in the foyer too long.
It felt like hours as June waited for Coriolanus to answer the door, but in reality it was only minutes.
And when she saw him leaning in the doorway, eyes taking in her upset form, June didn't hesitate to throw his forgotten jacket and roses at him while shouting at him to take his stuff back and to stay the fuck out of her life.
When Coriolanus heard the knock on his door, he was on his sofa watching the P-PANEM (Political-PANEM) channel on TV to see how he was doing since announcing his Senate run. And, sadly, he was ranked at the bottom, which pisses him off. So, June's knock was actually a nice distraction from the bullshit he was listening to about himself.
And he knew it was her too. How did he know? Eh, call it lover's intuition.
It only took Coriolanus a few minutes to reach his front door and answer it.
But when he saw June's red puffy eyes paired with the roses and his red jacket in her clutches, he knew that his plan worked. He just wasn't expecting it to be so soon. Wow, seems like Odair just had to see June tonight. He was expecting the big cheating breakup fight to happen in the morning or tomorrow night. But it happening so soon worked in his favor.
"Take your roses and jacket back." June told the tall, sinewy man in front of her while throwing his stuff at him. The jacket and roses flew over his shoulder, landing on the marble floor with a loud thud. "And stay out of my fucking life, you damn bastard."
Coriolanus figured she'd be upset about a breakup with Odysseus, but he wasn't expecting June to order him to stay out of her life. Okay, now he wants to know what Odair said to her. What happened to make June start calling him a bastard with a hateful tone of voice.
"Baby, what happened?" The platinum blonde asked, placing his hands on June's shoulders in a show of concern and sympathy.
"My boyfriend, Odysseus, came over to bring me some squid ink tonnarelli and tiramisu from his dinner meeting at North Italia, but he saw your jacket and the roses you left in my kitchen and now my life's ruined."
"God, I hope you didn't eat the squid ink shit? That sounds like a case of botulism just ready to happen." Coriolanus dryly jokes. On a serious note, he did think that the food sounded disgusting- but to each their own.
But hearing June say that her life's ruined did concern him. A simple breakup doesn't ruin somebody's life. So, he was getting the feeling that more than a breakup occurred.
"How is your life ruined now, June?" The blonde asked, needing to know how bad he needed to punish Odysseus for making his girl cry; 'ruining her life'.
"Odysseus wants to take a break for a few days and told me that since I work in the marketing department for his father's company that I have to- well he ordered me to- take a few days off for personal self-help mental health days; that Odair Luxury Cruises doesn't need any issues due to me cheating on him."
"What? He told you that?" Coriolanus asked, not believing the bullshit manwhore Odair was pulling on June. They didn't even work on the same department, with her being in marketing and him on the top floor playing VP.
"Yes, he did." The raven-haired girl confirmed with a nod.
June's a hard worker and great at her job. Coriolanus was awed that Odysseus was putting June's career in jeopardy over his bruised ego. Fuck, even Coriolanus wouldn't do that. In fact, he'd do the opposite. He'd be up her ass at work, trying to work things out.
Then, the aspiring politician had a wonderful idea. Yes, yes, it was perfect. He'd surely win June back with his sudden spur of the moment idea.
"Come in, we need to talk." Coriolanus told June, grabbing her hand in his and leading her inside of his lavish and modernly designed penthouse.
"There's nothing for us to talk about, Coriolanus." June objected, trying to pull her hand out of Coriolanus'.
June's ex just tightened his hold on her hand while closing the door behind her. "Yes, baby, we have something very important to talk about." June just rolled her Seam grey eyes at him, prompting him to say, "You're fearful about your job, so let's talk about a new career opportunity that'll make you 92 thousand a year."
"And what would that be, your personal mistress?" June sarcastically scoffed.
"No." Coriolanus shook his head, leading her around the items she threw on his floor (the maid'll get it in the morning). "You'd be my campaign manager; my public affairs advisor."
"What?" June asked, feeling as if the air was knocked out of her, while entering the large living room with Coriolanus.
"Well, you'd be working with me at the Citadel as my assistant, but I'd have you running my Senate campaign and PR." He explained, leading her over to the large white leather sofa.
"Part of your PR would be promoting your engagement and wedding to Livia, Coriolanus. I don't know if I can do that." June honestly told him while sitting down on the sofa.
Coriolanus sat down next to June, only to cup her chin and say in a manipulative and soft baritone, "It's a money match. And arranged between Strabo Plinth and The Cardews, nothing more. You can do PR on it because, my darling rose, I hate Livia and she hates me right back." Tenderly stroking her jaw, he went on to assure her, "I have no feelings for her, whatsoever. But it's you that I feel rather fond of."
Hmm…so he feels rather fond of June. Nice to know that she's on the same level as an old stuffed animal or a memory. Things that people are fond of are usually things that get forgotten or tossed to the side.
Of course, June's easily expendable. She's something that's perfect to be fond of.
June loved (she still loves him, but refuses to admit it since she's moving on from him) Coriolanus, but he's just fond of her. Just her shitty luck, huh?
But, despite how she feels, the yearly salary that Coriolanus promised June's more than enough to rent her apartment and to give her a life that her mother and brother always dreamed of for June. A life where she's able to be successful. And perhaps June'll be able to find love again while attending various social events that are only exclusive to high Capitolite society.
"Fine, I'll do it. I'll take you up on your job offer." June said, hoping that she wouldn't regret saying yes.
"Wonderful, darling." Coriolanus smiled widely, pearly whites on full display. He thought that he'd gotten June right where he wanted her, but he has no idea that she's just using the new career move to secure a future in Panem.
A future without him. One where June can rely on herself and show everyone that she's perfectly capable of being successful in the dog eat dog world of Capitol City, Panem.
Plus, there won't be any work drama at the Odair company if/when June and Odysseus decide to work things out and get back together.