TAMING APOLLO | completed

19. in vino veritas

He leans in closer. "Nobody's ever asked me that. I guess I don't know." His breath fans my face, and I take it all in. It smells exactly like how the purple drink tastes, which has me leaning in closer to him.

"Oh, that's a lie! There has to be something you really want to do, it's always Ariel this or Ares that – " I fake as if I've fallen asleep as a faux snore passes through my lips.

Once I've opened my eyes again, I groan. "Boring! I want to know about you. What is it that you want?" I ask him, this time my eyes are the ones zeroing on his lips in a dangerous way, my breath hitches at the sight again and I have to look away to compose myself before I do something completely stupid and wrong.

He smirks, brushing his fingers over my burning skin as he pulls my chin up so that our gazes have locked, and we're both engaged in the most intense staring competition of my life.

"You really wanna know what I want..." he murmurs softly, silver eyes digging deep into my soul, taking my breath away as my tongue darts out to my suddenly very dry lips, and it's as if there's a magnetic pull between us because even in my barely-there stage, I can feel us leaning closer to each other. "What I want, Gayle Lovegrove..." he mutters, his lips brushing against my ear as my skin begins to buzz and my heartbeat quickens. "Is you." He whispers once he's a hairsbreadth away from me, before closing the distance between us and bravely pressing his lips against mine.

Immediately, a flash of electricity courses through my veins while the buzzing under my skin intensifies, the burning sensation taking over my entire body and I am unsure of what to do at first, but am utterly grateful when my instincts kick into gear and deepen the kiss, leaving it up to our bodies to finish the task.

There's a continuous chain of electric shocks pulsing through my insides, turning me into putty in his arms. Apollo pulls me closer to him, unbothered by the fact that we're among people. At this moment it feels as though it's just us, and our lips fit together like pieces of the same puzzle.

His hands feel like flames as they skillfully slide underneath his hoodie and my t-shirt, making a home on my skin, which has now been set ablaze by his touch.

It's hard to explain, but Apollo smells like a warm summer's day. He smells like the breeze that flits by, the nostalgia from just lazing around and spending time with family and the overall feel of the environment, that homey aesthetic that just always has you thinking; there's no place like home.

The scent is truly electrifying and at the same time intoxicating as well, I can't get enough of him, and by the time we've both pulled apart, heavy breathing is the only sound emitted from the both of us.

His eyes have widened as if he can't believe that he did that, and honestly I can't believe it either.

Did I just kiss the fated love of my doppelgänger, who probably had a front row seat to the make-out scene that just happened?

Before either of us can even think to form a coherent sentence on the events that just occurred, somebody tugs at Apollo's shoulders.

He flicks his gaze to the perpetrator, evidently looking to tell them to fuck off but pauses upon realising who it actually is.

Artemis is stood by his side, eyes zoning in on the dozens of empty shot glasses ahead of us.
Again, she's dressed in her crisp brown power-suit and a devastated sigh flits through her red tainted lips.

My head is buzzing in a million different languages. It's so hard to tell if Artemis is really there or if this is some kind of trip.

A sharp pain shoots through my head as she angrily swats all the empty cups off of the table, earning a few gasps from all the people around us. The music begins to fade when she clutches my shoulders, her face coming into focus ahead of me.

It's only now that I notice the barely there resemblance between the twins. They've got the same dangerous crease between their brows and the same tight frown.

"Where is Thalia?" She asks me calmly, though her voice booms through my head as if I'm listening to her through earphones on full blast.

I can't fully process her words at the moment, there's too many hallucinations floating about and I've convinced myself she isn't real.

She growls, then turns to her brother who looks like he's enduring that same sharp pain I had mere moments ago.

She gets in between us and holds up her hand. We both watch in anticipation to see what she's about to do.

"Snap out of it!"

She then snaps her fingers, a snap loud enough to compete with the world's loudest speaker. It's so loud that I'm starting to hear ringing in my head as I blink a couple of times, slowly beginning to regain myself.

The more I blink, the weaker the music sounds in the background until it has total stopped. The people in the bar are slowly beginning to disappear, leaving only the three of us in the empty deserted bar I had come into in the beginning.

Apollo seems to be having the exact same psychedelic experience as I am, and he's blinking rather rapidly, as if he's finally coming down from his high.

My thoughts become more coherent with every passing second. That's when it hits me that Apollo and I have somewhat been drugged, and I'll bet my stolen frying pan that so have Thalia and Hercules.

Very soon, the bar has gone back to being that very same vacant hole it had previously been.

The only difference is that the handsome barman hasn't disappeared along with the rest of the crowd, and is readily waiting there behind the counter as Artemis clears her throat, seemingly she's noticed him as well.

She crosses her arms over her chest defiantly and glares daggers at the unbothered man facing off against her.

She clears her throat, sparing both Apollo and I a disappointed look as if she's our mother and she's caught us throwing a party in her house before resuming her gaze to the violet-eyed man.

"Artemis. You always did know just how to ruin a good party." He states dryly, though there's still a hint of amusement in his darkening eyes.

A smirk toys at his lips while Apollo recovers from his early hangover. He doesn't even seem to sense the fight about to ensue ahead of us, as he tries to focus his gaze on the figure sat straight ahead of him.

"Unless you want this to end the same way it did last time, Eros, I'd suggest you tell me exactly what you've done with my huntress."