Apollo, Summer, and the Camp for Greeks | DoS #1

VI. Our Trip To Starbucks Goes Terribly Wrong

The three of us looked at each other. Riley gave up on blowing and lifted a hand to sweep the curl behind her ear. Alec shifted his weight and sighed, his former positivity completely drained out.

"Well..." I took a deep breath. "There's only one way to found out."

———

And so, we continued on - that is, we crossed the street and walked a few blocks up the sidewalk to where the actual station sat. When we got inside, Alec found an ATM and transferred some of his drachmas in order to get US dollars. That didn't make much sense to me, but by now I'd learned to not ask any questions. This world of gods and monsters was evidently a lot larger than I'd bargained for.

After buying us 3 tickets, Alec came over to where Riley and I were sitting.

"OK, so I asked the guy at the desk for the next train south that had tickets open." He ran a hand through his hair, which I just now noticed was like the color of golden-brown cookies right after coming out of the oven.

What a weird observation, AJ, part of me said to myself.

Shut up, the other part said back. 

"The only thing he could find," Alec continued, "Was a train leaving in an hour for Norfolk, Virginia. Do you think that's good enough?"

Riley shrugged. "I guess so. We can find our way from there, right?"

Alec made a face like, I don't know about that, but shrugged back.

"I would hope that's good enough," I supplied, "Because it looks like you already bought the tickets." I nodded my head at the three paper slips in his right hand.

He shrugged again. I wondered if their shoulders hurt from all that shrugging.

We looked up at him for a moment, and he looked down at us, before I said, "So. Are we just going to sit for an hour and twiddle our thumbs?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Alec asked.

I glanced up at an analogue clock hanging on the wall. The hands were pointing at 3:32. I hadn't realized the day had gone by so quickly. It still felt like morning to me. Maybe it was because I never got lunch...

As if on cue, my stomach grumbled loudly enough that a few people turned their heads. I felt my cheeks heat up, and sheepishly, I said, "Can we get something to eat?"

Alec chuckled again, crossed his arms, and said, "I guess so. I'm pretty hungry too."

"Where are we gonna go?" Riley asked. She seemed wary of going any further into Princeton. Almost like she was worried for Alec's sake. That made me wonder... why was Alec so sensitive about his hometown? Was there some bad memory associated with the place? It wasn't my place to ask, of course, but I wondered nonetheless.

"Uh..." Alec rubbed the back of his neck. "There's a Wawa up the street...?"

I scoffed. As if I'd ever go to Wawa! I was much more preferential to 7/11, or perhaps Stewart's Shops, or even Speedway. But never Wawa.

"I don't wanna go to some convenience store. Especially not Wawa."

"Ugh. Ok, Starbucks?"

"That's better."

Alec looked at me for a moment, then at Riley. They seemed to have some type of mental conversation, like they had a telepathic bond. Maybe they just knew each other really well, but I started to feel like a familial third wheel.

"Look," I interrupted. "You guys can stay here. But I need something to eat, so I'm gonna go to Starbucks."

"I'll go with you," Riley piped up. "It's not safe for you to go alone."