The Violin That Started it Again

Part 4) Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sorry I haven't updated for this book in... A month. I was trying to finish Depression since I was super close to finishing it. And I'm done! Wow that book seems long...

I was also updating two chapters for Ignorance since I wanted to get that story started.

Anyway, I apologize again, and this book is actually ending soon too. I don't know when, but I know I don't have much left planned for this book.

Disclaimer: For some reason, they always seem to be at Wetzel's Pretzels. I have only been in that once yet Nico has been there like twice already.

...

Nico was sitting completely still on a bench near a fountain in the center of a bunch of stores off to the side. Tyson sat beside him while I stood adjacent to them both with my hands deep inside my jean pockets.

I had called Annabeth and Silena a few minutes before to tell them to meet us at a fountain. It was then that I realized that there were various other fountains in this outdoor mall. Thanks Annabeth; I always thought we were just passing by the same place repetitively. It actually never occurred to me that each fountain was different.

Well, sorry for not being conscious of my surrounding very much.

After that weird realization, I had to tell them that we were by Wetzel's Pretzels. That answer satisfied Annabeth more so she told us they'd be there soon and hung up.

I never spotted Poseidon coming out of the store at all. He either stayed in there or took some secret back exit that I never knew existed. Well, wherever he was, I was glad that he wasn't near us--Nico specifically.

Tyson was busily munching on a soft pretzel, but judging from his body language, I had a feeling a knew exactly what went down in there. He knew, along with my parents, that Nico had lost his family and only had his dad left. Until the 'car accident' which ended up being a brutal murder with Poseidon's own bare hands.

I felt sympathetic of Tyson; he was way to young to be dealing with this shit. He was about seven years-old and he was already hearing about his friend's dad being murdered by his own father. If I was Tyson, I'd be scared to death.

That was probably the wrong thing to say at the wrong time.

"Are you sure you don't want it?"

My gaze shifted over to Nico. It was the first words that he ever said in these twenty minutes of silence between all three of us. Nico was dead quiet--why do I keep relating things to death? I'm such a terrible person--before, and I wanted to say something to him to tell him it was okay. I was afraid of what Nico could've said back as as response though.

My eyes eventually landed on Tyson, and I instantly knew what he was talking about.

Tyson was offering Nico the rest of his pretzel.

That was actually pretty nice of him considering the fact that Tyson and I were really similar when it came to our possessiveness for food.

Tyson shook his head in response, shifting the pretzel closer to Nico. "I want you to have it."

Nico smiled, and I couldn't help but crack a small smile either at Tyson's kindness. Have I ever told you how much I loved kids? Because this was absolutely adorable. It was like that one little girl I met at an orphanage who wanted to be an archer when she grew up or something like that. She told me she met someone who looked just like me, and it made me curious ever since. Did the guy actually look like me or was it one of those things where I looked nothing like him except for the fact that we both had black hair or something along those lines.

"Do you want another bite before I take it?" Nico offered, his hand hovering over the napkin which held the pretzel.

Tyson shook his head once more. "I want you to take as much as you can."

See? Adorable.

Nico chuckled, taking the pretzel from him. "Thank you."

Tyson nodded, and he was literally beaming. "You're welcome!"

"Aw, that is so cute!"

Damn, I was pretty positive my voice was not that high of a pitch.

All three of us turned to the direction of the voice who seemed to be having the same thoughts as me to find Annabeth and Silena standing nearby.

"You guys finally made it." I grinned as them neared closer to us.

Annabeth nodded. "It would've taken longer if you just told us that you were by the fountain. Not a fountain but the fountain. It was then that I knew you thought there was only one fountain in this whole entire mall."

I chuckled. "Sorry, sorry. I thought we were just passing by the same place a bunch of times."

She raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "It didn't occur to you once that the fountains looked completely different? I mean, come on Percy! The one near Target is a circle! This one's a rectangle!" She gesticulated wildly at the shape of the fountain near us.

I laughed. "I said I'm sorry!"

"Sorry isn't going to get you anywhere in a geometry class!" Annabeth retorted. "You'd only end up with a terrible grade in that class. And why? Because you used the formula for area for a circle on a rectangle!"

"Hey, hey, hey. At least I passed that class right?"

Annabeth was practically fuming, but I knew she was just having fun with me. "Just barely, Percy! Just barely with that C minus of yours!"

I heard a laugh, and we both turned to Nico who has an amused smile upon his face as he watched our stupid quarrel about my geometry grade. Silena and Tyson were even watching with grins across their lips.

I glanced back at Annabeth who was surveying Nico with a calculating gaze. In the corner of my eyes, I saw Silena starting a conversation with Nico. She even tried including Tyson into the conversation as well.

Annabeth took the chance to ask me in a low voice, "This appears to be the wrong time to ask Nico what's the matter. Silena seems to be noticing it to."

I nodded. "After what happened, I don't even want to talk about it. Maybe he'll be able to open up at the end of the day?"

She smiled. "I guess you're right. Now's not the time to bring it up when everything is fresh. What Nico needs right now is us--friends to cheer him up is all."

I glanced back at Nico. "Of course you know what's right for him, Wise Girl."

"Of course you don't know the difference between circles and rectangles, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth elbowed me playfully in the side before joining their conversation about what to do next. Apparently, they wanted Tyson's idea first, but Tyson wanted Nico's opinion first.

I grinned. I've always wondered what would become of Nico and I if I never met him at the park. What would become of us of Nico never played the violin that day, or I didn't agree to go to the park with my friends?

I shrugged internally. At least it all happened, or I never would've met him. The idea of never meeting the mysterious Nico do Angelo scared me.

"Percy!" Silena called to me. "Where do you want to go first? Tyson and Nico aren't answering me!"

I laughed, pushing the thoughts of never meeting Nico away and joining their conversation.