❝ Virgos often feel they are surrounded
by idiots 99% of the time ❞
MARS' HOUSE WAS too perfect. The master bedroom his mother had given me was too comfortable, the private bathroom down the hall with the red tiles was too clean, and the endless buffet of food we'd had for dinner was just too delicious. Everything was too nice and I was constantly reminded that I wasn't in my own house.
The house was always noisy, even at six o'clock in the morning. Apparently Diamonique worked long hours starting at seven so Mars was in charge. Side note, they had six cars; one for each of their children and an extra that Diamonique's job gave her for travelling. I mean, did they really need that many cars?
"My mom won't be home until nine tonight so we're going out to eat." Mars told me at school lunch and I smiled excitedly at the thought of us finally being alone. Don't get me wrong, Mars' siblings were fun and all but we never got any alone time. It felt like I was dating his whole family, which was less than ideal.
Suddenly, Fiona sat down across from me and started talking rapidly, "Char, I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you this but you didn't make the team. I really tried to advocate for you but the girls just wouldn't listen."
"That's okay." I hadn't actually expected to make the team, especially when they said there were only three spots open and about fifty girls vying for them. But it was kind of sad that I was so out of shape. My legs were so sore right now and we'd only done about two hours of cheerleading.
"I think it was because you were the last to finish the mile. And because you couldn't keep up with the first routine, which is usually the easiest. And you refused to be lifted. I'm so sorry." Fiona kept talking and I just wanted to shut her up. I didn't want Mars to hear how bad I was.
"I'm good. Really. It's not the end of the world."
"Are you sure? Because I want you to feel welcome—"
"Yeah, don't worry about it. Anyway, do you guys have an archery team?" I checked out their clubs and events board but couldn't find what I was looking for.
"We used to but then their practice space had to be used for the spring musical."
"Oh. What about a track team?"
"Um, I think so. I don't really know so they must be bad." She laughed then placed a tiny square card on the table and shoved it towards us. "Anyway, I'm having a party tonight at my house. Everyone's gonna be there so you should totally come."
"Your birthday isn't until Sunday," remarked Mars.
"Yeah but who parties on a Sunday? Nobody." She scoffed. "It's semiformal dress. There's also gonna be a huge buffet so come hungry."
"Sounds good. We'll be there."
My mood kind of dropped. I was so excited to finally be able to spend time with just him but I guess I could throw that plan out the window.
Fiona blew us a kiss and stood up to hand out more invitations, "Great!"
Yeah, just great.
»» ─────── ─────── ««
Because he was always on time, Mars and I arrived even before the birthday girl was ready. Fiona's butler had opened the doors for us and we walked into the foyer—which was almost bigger than my entire house.
Wrapped in a glimmering gold sequin cocktail dress and five inch stiletto heels, Fiona ran down the winding staircase to greet us. Her glossy blond hair bounced into effortless curls around her shoulders, evoking the classic Leo style.
"Hey, I'm so happy you could come!" She exclaimed and gave the both of us a tight bear hug.
"Happy birthday, Fi," Mars said.
"Yeah, happy—"
"Oh, Stan can take that." She cut me off and gestured to the gift in Mars' hands. As soon as she'd said that, her butler came in and carried the gift to another room. Why did everyone in this sector have every freaking luxury they could ever want?
"I love your house," I commented.
"Thanks. So Mars, I went with the DJ you suggested and I ended up changing the main courses from quail and lobster to steak and swordtail." They started talking more privately, leaving me completely out of the conversation so I took the time to admire her house.
A diamond chandelier loomed over our heads, reflecting spectrums of light onto the solid gold tiles. Gigantic, intricate designs of the twelve zodiacs were carved into the solid gold walls, which were so magnificent that each wall must have cost thousands of dollars. But the most impressive aspect of her house was the roaring lion statue made entirely diamonds that stood at twenty feet as soon as you walked in.
I reached out slowly to touch the statue but Fiona's voice made me jump.
"Stop!" She rushed over to me, "That was an extremely expensive gift from one of the oracles my father worked for. He would be devastated if he found dirty fingerprints on it." Her voice was so shrill and high-pitched that I almost couldn't understand her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"Well, just be more careful next time."
More of her friends began to flood in so she left to go and greet them. I felt completely underdressed; everyone was wearing identical, tight little dresses while I was wearing a comfortable sundress. I shouldn't have cared since I didn't really know these people but I definitely stood out; and not in a good way.
Food was served at seven and everyone swarmed to the buffet tables. There were at least five long tables solely dedicated for drinks while the other three were used for food. When Fiona revealed three chocolate fondue fountains, everyone started to form a line and murmur excitedly. I wanted to dunk some strawberries in the dark chocolate but Mars didn't want to go up with me because he was already too full.
After we finally finished the five course meal, Mars grabbed us some water but when I took a sip, it was definitely not water.
"Gross," I spit it back into my cup and made a face.
"You don't like strawberry vodka?" To my surprise, he downed his drink and reached for mine. I guessed it was going to be that kind of night.
"No, I kind of just want water."
Fiona started to open presents at nine o'clock, which was probably the most boring thing I'd ever had to sit through because she had hundreds of presents to open. Despite how time consuming it was, everyone was utterly captivated by what was going on. Were people actually interested or were they just pretending?
And whenever she opened a present, she insisted on taking a ten minute long photoshoot with that person. Every. Single. Time.
When she got to our gift (which was really from Mars), I straightened my back to get a better look at what he'd given her.
"It's a photo album! How adorable!" Fiona squealed excitedly. "Mars, come up here!"
He walked over and sat by her side. Everyone cooed as she flipped through the pages and showed the crowd. I'd originally thought there were going to be pictures from when they were younger but it was all from last year. And that album was thick.
"I wasn't expecting that from him." I heard Zayn mutter under his breath. he was probably one out of three people I recognized at this entire party.
I turned my head and asked, "Why's that?"
"He usually gives practical gifts, not sentimental ones."
"Really?" I mean, I could see it, but then why did he put in the time to give her something impractical? "Then they've been friends for a long time?" I wasn't jealous—Mars was my match—I was honestly just curious. He hadn't mentioned anything about her when we were back in Terebellum.
"Yeah, they're tight as hell. Gods forbid you get inbetween them."
What did that mean? "I don't really know anything about her."
"Let's just say she's the type of person who likes to waste half of a party opening all of her fucking gifts." He crossed his arms and sighed.
"You're a Sagittarius, right?"
"Yeah."
I smiled, "I knew I liked you."
"Thank the Gods it's almost over. It's almost passed my bedtime." He joked.
"That was her plan all along; she just wanted our gifts."
"Typical."
Just then, everyone started clapping.
"Thank you all for your amazing gifts! I'm so happy to have met everyone in this room, I can honestly say that I wouldn't be who I am today without you all. You guys just mean so much to me. I love you all!" Fiona announced tearfully and some people started to go up and hug her. "Now let's dance!"
The DJ blasted a generic, bubblegum pop song from the speakers that made me feel sick. Everyone practically ran outside under the lights and started going crazy.
Mars didn't ask me to dance; he just grabbed my hand and we started to dance with Fiona, Zayn, and a bunch of their friends. It was pretty fun for awhile until my feet started to hurt and I needed to sit down.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Mars had yelled over the music. Despite how much alcohol he'd guzzled, he was still alert.
"No, I'll be back in a minute."
I sat down inside and rubbed the balls of my feet. I'd decided to wear wedges but they still hurt like a bitch.
Even though I was surrounded by people, it only made me feel more lonely. If Sky and Kingston were here, we'd make fun of the music and be all over that chocolate fondue.
"Hey, Char," Fiona sat down across from me and handed me a cup of vodka.
"Hey, Fiona." I took the cup anyway.
"You enjoying the party?" She asked and I nodded. "That gift Mars gave me was absolutely a-dor-a-ble," she enunciated, "Isn't he an amazing gift giver?"
"Yeah," I said lamely.
"What's the best thing he ever gave you?"
"Uh, well, he hasn't really given me anything." Unless you counted that box from his father's will, which I didn't.
"Really? That's weird," she cocked her head, "That reminds me, how are you and Mars? You guys getting along?"
"Yeah. We're great."
"You can be honest with me, Char." She said as she stared directly into my eyes. "You can tell me anything." She put a hand on my shoulder and it felt kind of strange.
At that point, I'd decided that I needed to tell her something or else she wouldn't let it go.
"Well, to be honest, he's kind of hard to get to know." I admitted.
"I'm not surprised, I know he can be a bit distant sometimes. Especially with people he doesn't really know."
"Yeah. Actually, about that. . ."
This was my chance to ask her about her and Mars.
But before I could change the subject, one of her cheerleader friends interrupted us.
"Fi, it's your birthday, come dance!" She pulled her to her feet.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" She hesitated and took one last look at me, "You coming, Char?"
I smiled, "No, I'm going to rest my feet."
"Okay, see you later!" They walked off laughing, leaving me all alone again. I put my cup on the floor and exhaled.
I didn't know what to think anymore. On one hand, it was obvious that Fiona and Mars were very good friends—especially from what I'd seen in person and heard from others. Though on the other, she seemed to want to include me and make me feel welcome.
All I wanted was to know where their relationship stood. And the only way I'd find out for sure was if I asked Mars.
➷
If you had to rank the signs, who would you put at the top and who would you put at the bottom? Ten comments on this chapter and I'll share my ranking!