The Violin That Started it Again

Part 4) Chapter Twenty-Two

Sorry I haven't been typing very much. I started to write my own fictional story, so I've been spending most of my writing time on that. I guess it's finally time to go back to all of the fanfictions I left unfinished.

Disclaimer: Don't own Wetzel's Pretzels. I'm not a big fan of pretzels anyway... Also don't own Kay Jewelers and Starbucks. I wish I could make the frappuccino that is sitting right beside me.

...

Percy Jackson

"Brother?"

I blinked momentarily as memories came flashing through my brain--unfortunately all of them were of Nico.

"S-Sorry," I stuttered, shutting my eyes tightly and breathing deeply.

When I reopened my eyes, my father was staring at me quizzically with an eyebrow raised.

"Something wrong?" He asked, but I had a feeling that he didn't really care about what I felt.

"Nothing," I snapped a bit too quickly with a glare directed toward him for emphasis. Tyson's hands held mine for reassurance, and it was probably the first time that I had ever needed Tyson the most. When Tyson was born, I had always wanted to be the only child when I was younger. Now, I was glad I finally accepted Tyson ad the younger brother when I became a teenager.

My father nodded. "Okay then. Let us go, shall we?"

He lead us into the mall even though I already knew the directions of most of the mall by heart.

There were so many memories here that made my heart burn and tighten. Like the ice cream store where Nico refused to eat anything there, and Silena spent two hours there. Or Wetzel's Pretzels where Nico tried sneaking away but I found him before he could get very far. We wandered the whole entire mall that night, and I made him admire the ferris wheel at the center just because the colors and lights amazed me. Silena called and screamed at us for leaving her without telling her.

Good times...

Then we passed by Kay Jewelers, and I was absolutely sure my heart stopped beating for a few minutes.

That beautiful skull ring with the ruby eyes that I gave to Nico... I wondered if he was still wearing it. I had never paid much attention to where his skull ring should've been, and I remember which finger he put it on: His right middle finger. Whenever I did something stupud and ridiculous, he would always flip me off with that finger.

My hand went instinctively toward my neck with the painted beaded necklace that Nico gave me for my birthday. I had almost forgot about it, but I always checked to see if it was still hanging around my neck every night.

The green trident, the tree, the maze, the Empire State Building, the skull... I remembered every bead that adorned my necklace and I didn't even have to look down and check. I already memorized what beads were there. This necklace was just that precious to me.

"Percy." My father cleared his throat, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"You stopped walking, Brother," Tyson informed me quietly as if he were frightened by the idea of our dad hearing his statement.

I sighed to myself, glancing down at my brother's face. I didn't even feel like apologizing to them this time. I didn't want to apologize for thinking about the person that I currently loved anymore. I'd think about Nico whenever I can, and I didn't care if I was distracting or hard to talk to.

My father's gaze followed my previous one over to the jewelry store. "A jewelry store? Would you like to go in?"

I shook my head. "Do you remember when I asked you to get me into that really fancy and expensive restaurant a while back?"

He pondered for a moment. "I think I do recall that... Why do you bring that up now?"

"I bought him a ring for his birthday and brought him to that restaurant too."

"Him?"

Tyson nodded enthusiastically, and I was glad he was slowly becoming a bit happier.

"Yeah! Nico's like my older brother too!"

My father stared at me for a few minutes with a narrowed gaze. "You're dating Nico di Angelo?"

I gulped, frowning and averting my gaze toward the floor. "I... Used to. Not anymore."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry I brought that up," he apologized, but as usual, he didn't sound very sorrowful and regretful.

I shook my head once more. "Where did you want to take us? And how do you know Nico?"

My father's gaze quickly glanced at the jewelry store as if he were afraid that someone were watching him from the inside of the store. "Why don't we go somewhere a bit more quieter to talk about that? We could bring Tyson over to the little playground that we have here."

"Playground?!" Tyson's eyes immediately brightened at the sound of that one, simple word. I couldn't help but smile at how happy my brother looked though.

My father nodded. "Well then, I guess that's settled." He turned and walked toward the playground without bothering to check and see if we were following him.

Tyson bounded happily ahead of me, but I knew he was still staying cautious by keeping his distance away from our dad. I kept an eye on Tyson to make sure that he wouldn't discretely drift away to some nearby ice cream store or something.

Did I have to use an ice cream store as an example? I guess it wasn't that bad thinking about Nico again. I mean, at least I get to remember all of the good memories that I had with him that I wished I could still experience.

...

It was when we were walking into Starbucks that I literally felt like I nearly died and was tortured all throughout the depths of Hell.

Tyson complained to me so much about being thirsty from walking for a long time that I finally gave up on trying to remember all of the memories I had with Nico and went to ask my father if we could stop by a nearby store and get a cup of water for Tyson. My father agreed, saying that he would want some coffee anyway, so we all decided to stop by that Starbucks store that Nico was obsessed with.

My father opened the door for us--so gentlemanly of him I know--and we walked inside. A bunch of people were using the wifi to do homework. Why people would go to the Irvine Spectrum to do homework instead of at home was a complete mystery to me. I mean, weren't there less distractions at home or were they just craving coffee? Maybe they were trying to escape family reunions like me. But this time, I couldn't really escape it. For the first time in probably my whole entire life, I kind of wished I would have the opportunity to go back home and work on my calculus homework.

While my dad was ordering a cup of water and a coffee, Tyson tugged on the hem of my shirt. I glanced down at him with an eyebrow raised, but he seemed to be distracted my something else.

"Is that Nico?" He asked me without taking his eyes off of whatever he was staring at.

I was too afraid to look at what Tyson was staring at. From his question, I already knew who it was, but I didn't want to look. I feigned ignorance and said, "What do you mean? Why would Nico be here anyway?"

"Does Nico like girls?

Okay, now that made me confused. "No? Why would you--"

I followed Tyson's gaze, and I saw exactly what he meant. What happened after that, I don't remember. All I remember was my brother calling after me as I stormed over to the other side of the store and pulled them away.

Did that really happen? Was what I saw even real?

Why would Silena even kiss Nico?