Consistent chapter length? Never heard of her
To Riordanlover16- I mean, in this day and age, who doesn't need a rage room? I hope we get to see more of Estelle in canon, especially as she grows up XD
Louisa looked around sceptically. Leo grinned at her from the across the room.
A rage room, he had called it. They were given hard hats that secured under their chins, safety goggles and a baseball bat apiece. The man at the desk waved them in and said, "Have a smashing time." Louisa wondered how often he said that, if he was sick of it yet.
Leo had paid for a double session and for extra stock. Two hours. Furniture, radios and televisions built a mountain range around the room. Crates of plates and cups, vases atop empty barrels, ornaments of pretty ladies in pretty dresses smiling coyly at them from their perches. A random toilet lying on its side, the cistern already cracked.
Louisa kicked the leg of a nearby chair. The bowls towered on its seat wobbled and clinked together.
"I don't get it," she said.
"It's a rage room," Leo replied patiently. "What's to get?"
"Why are we here?"
"That's up to you. I am here because I hate taxes." He swung the bat and sent a pretty lady flying into smithereens. Louisa startled, took a step back.
So, it was tax evasion…
Leo booted over a crate of plates. "Now I know why Coach Hedge loved his bat. This is great." He swung down again and again, the plates shattering into smaller and smaller pieces. Shrapnel blasted away from each strike. "I hate hold music," Leo said, targeting a TV. It was an old model, a big boxy thing. He grinned and swung, caving in its screen. "I hate queue jumpers. I hate people who say the 'j' on 'jalapeños'."
"Mom put you up to this."
"Yes." He balanced a pretty lady in the tower of bowls. "Pretend that's the door hinges lady."
Louisa looked at the ornament. Cardea, goddess of door hinges, of all things. There was probably more to her, probably something more sentimental than door hinges, but it was all Louisa knew her for. Door hinges and the headache that came with them.
She poked the lady with her forefinger, pushing slightly. It toppled, smiling that coy smile until she lost her head to the floor. The bowls teetered.
Leo primed another pretty lady, tutting disapprovingly. He readied his bat, fingers shifting on the hilt. "I hate blueberries!" he declared and batted the lady across the room. She exploded against the far wall.
"Blueberries?" Louisa echoed bemusedly.
"They're disgusting." He shuddered, sticking his tongue out. He looked down at her headless ornament, shaking his head. "I bet I could break more stuff than you."
Prickles in her chest. She was being challenged.
"Oh yeah?"
"I'm already winning."
"The fuck you are." She kicked the chair again, this time harder. Her foot struck the edge of the seat. It skidded away, tipping as it did. The bowls thundered to the floor, sounding a beautiful cacophony of shattering.
Leo stomped on the pieces for extra measure, grinning broadly. He raised his bat over his head with both hands.
"The battle is on!" he laughed, chin tipped up. "To war!"
He had tricked her into this, she realised later. He utilised her competitive streak against her. She smashed a chair over a TV. Threw a vase at the wall, another at the ceiling. He threw plates at her to bat away in whichever direction took her fancy.
She hated things too. She hated people who used speaker phone on public transport. She hated Taylor Swift. She hated companies polluting her oceans. "I hate that fuckin' owl!"
"What owl?" Leo asked sceptically, wisely staying back as she threw a boombox down onto the toilet. Louisa glanced at him, suddenly sheepish. "What owl?" he pressed. She sighed.
"That fuckin'… that little green bastard. I hate him."
"Green…?" Leo puzzled at her. Then it clicked. "Do you mean the Duolingo owl?"
"Fucker," she confirmed.
"Why are you on Duolingo?" She turned away, but not before Leo saw the rosiness to her cheeks.
"I was tryin' ta learn Spanish."
"Oh," he said. "Oh! Ooh, you were?" She nodded, biting her lip. He sounded so pleased, so touched. Then he laughed and she looked over her shoulder. "Why didn't you ask me? I'd teach you."
"I thought I could do it myself. Thought I'd… surprise you, ya know? But that owl, that fuckin' owl! Smug little bastard! I lost my daily streak 'n' he won't leave me alone!" She studied the chipped toilet. The boombox had been her weapon of choice, but the toilet had done more damage to it than it had to the toilet.
She smacked it with her bat, imagining that damn owl. Its cheerful face, its encouraging messages. It was all a ruse. That owl wanted to teach, but it also wanted to maim. She could see it in its eyes.
The toilet cracked. It did not break. Louisa frowned. She was the daughter of Neptune. Plumbing stood no chance against her.
She yanked at a chair, sending more pretty ladies to the floor. She raised the chair over her head, a tug in her gut. Leo saw green sparks bristle around her fingers as the chair came down.
Chair and toilet crumpled like paper, down to kindling and debris. She kicked the remains and swore again. She held what was left of the chair, the wooden back, glaring at it. Leo side-stepped and she tossed it like a frisbee. It embedded itself into the screen of the last television set, wilting in the smashed glass.
She huffed, wiped at her face. "I'm winnin'." Leo held up a vase, ready to pitch it to her.
"Fuck the police," he said. She grinned, hefting her bat.
"Fuck the police," she agreed. He threw. The vase erupted into chunks and he laughed, clapping. That was their last vase, but there were still plenty of bowls and cups to get through.
They took turns throwing them at the wall or at what remained of the mountain range. Nothing had been spared, not even the sorry carcasses left behind. They did not throw a single piece of crockery without some verbal attachment.
"I hate sardines!" Leo announced.
"I hate all seafood!" Louisa added on. "Don't eat fish!"
"I hate people who don't clean up after their dogs!"
"I hate envelopes!"
"Politics!"
"Don't even get me fuckin' started!"
"Morning people!"
"Oh, they're the worst!" She cocked her arm back, thinking. Her face scrunched up when she was thinking, Leo saw. "Fake pockets!" she said, lobbing another mug. He laughed.
"The live action Avatar film!"
"We don't talk about that film!"
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se!"
"Azula deserved better!"
"My dude, read the comics!"
"There's comics?!" Louisa stared at him, gaping. "Why didn't ya tell me there were comics?"
"I thought you knew!"
"No!" she said, voice somehow hoarse and shrill.
"I've got them at home, you can borrow them if you want."
"Yes!" she said in the same scratchy way. Leo grinned and she threw a cup straight up at the ceiling. They both ducked as the pieces rained down. "We've gotta watch Avatar now."
"Agreed. I've got the boxset too."
"What about Korra?"
"We'll watch both," he nodded. She nodded too, looking round at their mess. Leo did too, wincing. "I'm sure they're used to cleaning up," he said. "It's a rage room after all, they'll have to be used to it." Louisa sighed, fists clenching. Leo's smile dimmed. "Are you alright?"
"Mmph."
"Do you want to go home?" She shook her head, dragging her sleeve over her cheek. Leo dropped the last of his cups, stepping over them to get to her. "What's wrong?"
"Everythin'. It's all shit." She surveyed their destruction again. Her fingers gripped the hem of her shirt. "What do I do?"
"About what?"
"I don't wanna be angry. I'm… I'm tired of bein' angry. I'm just… I'm just tired." He put an arm around her, held her close to his side.
"I know you are," he said gently. "You've every right to be angry, but every right not to be. What do you want to do?" Her brow creased in thought, a hundred responses swimming about.
"I don't want ta do anythin'," she eventually said. She shook her head, correcting herself. "I just want a normal life now. I'm done." Leo nodded. He felt her shoulders dip under his arm. "I know it won't happen," she said quietly, voice wobbling, "but it's all I want now. I can't… I can't keep doin' this." Tears carved lines down her cheek. Leo put his other arm around her, drawing her to him.
"You shouldn't have to," he assured. "I… I can't promise normal, but I can promise I'll try."
"It shouldn't be on you though."
"It shouldn't be on you either." He rested his forehead to hers. "I'm sorry everything's been so shit, Lou. Everything, not just…" He faltered. Her breath grazed his cheek as she sobbed. She ducked her head to his shoulder, holding him so firmly, he could not discern whose heartbeat was whose.
Leo turned his head to hers. He could smell her shampoo, something flowery. He blinked back tears of his own.
He had his best friend back. He had the love of his life back.
But at what cost?
He swallowed dryly, held her tighter still. "I'll get you normal," he vowed. "I'll get you normal if it's the last thing I do."