╭-°—✞—˚✧ ψ ✧˚—✞—°-╮
CHAPTER FOURTEEN!
constructive rebellion
╰-°—✞—˚✧ ψ ✧˚—✞—°-╯
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THE HOTEL WAS open and airy and absolutely gorgeous to Salene. She and Adrian walked side by side as she admired the art on the walls and the sculptures they had in some corners. The team was occupied in the lobby, Salene and Adrian walked over and sat on the couch against the wall, catching up as much as possible. She told him about different art competitions she was submitting pieces to and he was telling her about his and Ian's plan to open up a law firm.
"A law firm?" She asked, "where were you thinking?" Her head tilted as her smile grew on her face. Her brother's ability to argue out of anything blew her mind. She couldn't think of anyone that could argue their way into being right but Adrian was there.
"Queens, I don't want to be too far from home, you guys would burn the diner down without me," Adrian nudged her with a teasing smile on his face that made Salenes jaw drop. She scoffed and rolled her eyes, nudging him back.
"Last I checked, you were the one that thought it was a bright idea to dump cold water in oil," Salene scrunched her nose as she poked the front of his shoulder. Adrian laughed as he leaned back on the couch, shaking his head. Other members of the team ended up joining the conversation with kitchen accidents.
By the time Mr. Harrington came around with the keys, everyone was laughing, she was starting to feel like she fit in with her team. Salene looked around wide-eyed, she had no idea who would want to room with her, until Liz Toomes came up to her with a soft smile.
"Wanna room up?" The girl asked and Salenes mouth gaped slightly and she nodded, a light blush graced her cheeks as she stood up and glanced back at Adrian who wore the best shit-eating grin. Salene made a point to step on a few toes as she and Liz made it to their rooms.
Salene was so fascinated by the structure of the museum that she almost didn't catch Liz gasping at the pool that they could see from where they stood outside the door.
"Do you have a bathing suit?" Liz asked as she unlocked the door to their room.
"No, I didn't think to pack one," Salene rubbed the back of her neck as she followed Liz inside.
Salene walked over to the bed that's farthest from the door. She tossed her duffel bag on top of the bed and focused her hearing on it. She was determined to find that bottle of aspirin now that she had time.
"That's okay, I think I packed an extra because I was indecisive about what I wanted to wear, I think I have something that's would look great on you," Liz was rambling as Salene started pulling clothes out and shaking them, pulling the wrinkles out of a few.
The bottle of aspirin fell out of a sweater she packed and she smirked, catching it mid-air. She glanced at Liz who wasn't paying attention, she was digging through her suitcase as she pulled out two bathing suits.
"Here I think this one goes with the new style you've been killing lately," Liz tossed the suit to Salene and the girl caught it with her free hand.
The black two-piece looked like it was a high rise on the bottoms. The simple top looked like it would cover her boobs enough and Salene let out a breath of relief.
"Thank you, Liz," Salene spoke as she set the bathing suit down and went to properly folding her clothes, "when were you thinking about us going?"
"I'm so glad you asked," Liz had lit up, her excitement was bubbling over and Salene cursed it, her heart rate had just slowed down and it picked up its pace as Liz sat on her bed next to her suitcase, "because I was watching this ted talk on our way here and the speaker was talking about how moral boosters for teams ensures that your team has a better chance at winning whatever competition it is, and I was thinking, what's better than the team spending time together and bonding, I know it would probably do some good for Flash and Peter since they can't stop fighting."
Salene furrowed her brows at the thought of Peter and Flash getting along.
"Have you noticed how one-sided those fights are?" Salene asked as she got up and sorted through the wrinkled clothes and the ones that managed to survive her desperate attempt at finding her painkillers, "as all Peter does is look at me like Jim Halpert to the camera whenever Flash says something stupid to him."
Liz snorted at Salenes comment.
"Please, if anything, he looks at you like Pam Beasley," Liz argued and Salene furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head. Everyone could see Peter's obvious crush on Liz, Salene thought that even Liz knew. Or maybe Liz chooses to ignore it.
Salene pushed her thoughts aside as she stood up and looked back to her wrinkled clothes. She huffed and looked for the closet, knowing that the iron and its board would be in there. The girl pulled them both out and went and set them up in the corner of the room.
"Do you have anything that you want to be ironed?" Salene asked and Liz nodded, shrugging off her jacket.
"I messed it up on the way here," Liz explained with light humor in her tone. Salene took it gently with a nod and set it on the chair next to the ironing board.
Salene was silent as she got to work. She slowly ran the iron over the clothing. Salenes mind wandered as she went through the motions. She thought of Lucifer, she was confused about him. Salene can't say she trusts him, but at the same time, what good does he get from a body that would practically be destroyed if he continued to make her put up a fight.
She didn't realize she was done until all her clothes, including Liz's blazer, were ironed and hung in the closet for the next day.
"Hey, I think I want the team to get ready for the pool now," Liz spoke. She got up and grabbed the bathing suit she brought and disappeared into the bathroom. Salene quickly changed into the extra bathing suit Liz brought and smiled at the way she looked in it.
The bathroom door opened and Liz stepped out, she smiled and held out a towel to Salene. The blonde quietly accepted it and mumbled a small thank you before wrapping her body up. Liz and Salene quickly left the room where Cindy and Betty were waiting outside. They went room to room until they went around the corner and there stood Peter, a backpack over his shoulder with a hoodie and basketball shorts.
He looked both the girls up and down, Peters stare lingered more on Liz with terror-filled eyes. Salene wanted to smack him for looking like a shady deer in headlights.
"Perfect timing!" She heard Liz as she caught up to them. Liz made sure the coast was clear before Salene started leading them down to the pool. She hoped that Peter would somehow get himself away from Liz, but she pushed him out of her mind, making her team the priority.
Salene waited around the end of the hallway, Cindy and Charles also waiting with her. The two quickly ended their conversation with Liz throwing Peter a candy bar that they had stolen earlier and catching up with Salene and the others. They all made it down to the pool and the excitement in Salenes chest was bubbling over.
She hasn't been able to swim since last summer when her family all went to Long Island Sound. She and Kyril were in the hotel's pool but tried to get into the freezing water. They lasted for five minutes. Salene set her towel down on a pool deck chair and walked over to the steps of the pool, slowly getting in to ease her body into the temperature.
Ever since Lucifer possessed her, everything was too cold for Salene, even the hottest setting of her shower. It was upsetting for her since it was the only way for her to relax most of the time. Now she only takes them in the morning to wake up and get herself ready for the day.
Salene was waist-deep in the water when she felt a pair of eyes on her. She looked around to see that no one was paying any attention to her until she finally looked up, making eye contact with Peter. The look on his face tugged at her heart. She wished that they were normal, that they didn't have to carry the responsibility of taking care of New York. But now Peter has to go off and deal with weapons dealers and she has to make sure that no one notices before he gets back.
And she's hoping on everything that he gets back in time and one piece.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a wave of water flying straight to her face. She looked over to see who the perpetrator was only to see Flash's smug face. She only had the evilest smile spread across her face before she used both hands (and a small portion of her powers) to send the largest wave of water over Flash, making him sputter and cough while running his eyes.
"How- what?" He coughed as Salene and Liz laughed at him as he backed away from her. Salene waded over to where Liz sat on the edge of the pool and the hot tub next to it.
She leaned against the wall next to Liz as they joked around and talked about their lives.
"So Adrian has a boyfriend?" She asked, glancing over at Cindy who was blushing in embarrassment again at the memory of her drooling over him in front of Salene.
"Yeah, he and Ian have been together since I was nine," She smiled proudly, she loved talking about her family, especially anyone that isn't Kyril. She loves her brother, but considering how close they are in age, it's hard to not think she sits in his shadow, it's why her parents made the ultimate decision to put them in separate schools, neither of them argued, knowing it was for the best.
That didn't do much to help, his reputation was something that was known across all the schools in their district. Salene didn't mind his shadows these days, anything that kept her away from the public eye was good in her books. No one would suspect a girl living in her brother's shadow to be Lightbringer.
"Wait so how many siblings do you have?" Charles asked and Salene looked around to see that the attention was on her.
Her arms were subconsciously crossed as she leaned back into the cool wall.
"Well," she started, "I'm the youngest of five kids, Adrian junior is the oldest, then it's Dina and Alessandro, the twins, then it's Kyril, who most of you guys already know," Salene spoke and Cindy's jaw dropped.
"Kyril?" She asked, the look on her face was a mix of recognition and realization, "the football player from Manhattan Bridges?" Salene nodded in response to the girl's question and noticed as she looked to Liz. A shit-eating grin grew on Cindy's face as she stared Liz down and Salene looked at Liz. Through Liz's darker complexion, Salene could see her blush.
Something turned in Salenes stomach and it didn't make her feel good. She never really felt like this and she doesn't know where it came from. She tried to think back on what she ate today and came up short. She realized that amid all the chaos from waking up early to getting to the bus to get to the hotel, all Salene had was a bottle of water and a few pills of Motrin. She figured that her stomach was turning and aching because of her lack of food, there's no way Liz's reaction to the mention of Kyril has any effect on her.
Salene decided to get out of everyone's line of vision and laid back in the pool, stretching her arms out and floating on her back. She felt her hair that was tied back in a low ponytail cascade around her arms and go down to her butt. She shut her eyes and tried drowning out the voices of her teammates. Her thoughts wandered to Peter, she was hoping that everything was going okay for him and that he would be back in time to get enough sleep for the competition the next day.
Another turn in her gut. Salene pushes her feet down to the floor and stood up straight, she felt her hair stick to her back and she frowned as she looked around. She was hoping there was another snack bar but unfortunately there was only an empty towel shelf.
"Salene, what are you looking for?" Liz asked, the blonde girl looked up at the girl sitting on the wall.
"Looking for something to eat, just realized I only had water today," Salene admitted and Liz nodded, looking at her towel.
"I think I have some extra granola bars on my towel," Liz spoke. Salene looked over to the towels and noticed the brightly colored wrapper. She waded over to the side of the pool and pushed herself up, using the wall to get out.
She found the bars and sat on the concrete next to the pool chair, not wanting to leave any indication that she sat there for the hotel workers to see. Salene watched the other kids play chicken as she slowly chewed until Abe looked over and waved for her to come back in. She only raised the bar in response. Abe threw his head back and groaned.
"Come on, Blondie, come show this white boy," he pointed to Flash who was sat upon Charlie's poor shoulders, wrestling Cindy who sat on Betty's shoulders, "how to wrestle."
Salene sizes up Flash and noticed how badly Charlie struggled to keep him up. She got up and Abe flashed a giant grin, nodding as she got back in the water. Salene swam over to them on the shallow side of the pool, squatting to let Abe easily pick her up on his shoulders. When he finally broke for air, leaving her suspended, she locked her feet by her ankles behind her back. She hunched over to whisper a game plan in his ear.
"What are you two plotting?" Flash asked with a cocky grin as Cindy and Betty pushes their hair out of their face after falling back in the water.
"Your demise," Abe spoke, making Flash scoff and Salene crack a smirk as they approached each other.
"Okay, go!" Liz yelped, setting the four kids in motion.
Flash tried a forward approach, trying to knock her back by shoving her shoulders, but she caught him by his wrist. Abe used this to his advantage and grabbed Flash by his ankles. Charlie was visibly worn from having to hold flash up for so long, that when Abe pushed Flash's legs up, he could barely fight back. Salene shoved Flash back, leaving everyone in the wake of a splash.
He came up sputtering as Charlie swam to the side as fast as he could. Salene and Abe cheered and she unlocked her feet and fell back into the water, she felt the bubbles rise around her body, tickling her skin and she surfaced. Her other teammates applauded her and Abe as Flash complained about the two cheating.
"It's not- che-e-eating!" Liz argues, her laughter broke through her words and Salene had to seriously pay attention to her to understand what she was saying, "it's innova-a-ative." Salene felt pride rise in her chest at Liz's approval of her game strategy. It was becoming a little more obvious to herself that she had a crush on her decathlon mentor.
Salene felt a blush in her cheeks and sunk in the water, leaving her nose to be just above the water, inhaling shallowly so she doesn't snort water on accident. She waded back until she felt the cool concrete wall press against her. She watched her teammates play around until Salene looked up at the clock against the wall. She lifted her head, the water now at the base of her neck.
"Guys it's almost ten o'clock," Salene pointed out, if they wanted to do well at the competition, they were going to need a lot of sleep, she also wanted everyone in their rooms before Peter came back so there was less suspicion about the obvious bruises he'll have in the morning considering the opponent Salene knows he's facing right now.
There was a slight protest but it was all silenced when Adrian walked into the pool room, phone in hand. All the kids immediately quieted down and slowly looked to Salene.
"Mom wanted to say goodnight and you didn't answer your phone," he winced at how embarrassing it sounded and looked to the other kids in the pool who stared at him with wide eyes.
No one moved a muscle, as if Adrian wouldn't see them unless they did. Salene broke the water around her as she got out of the pool and wrapped her towel around herself to cover the steam that would come off her body now that it's preparing to reheat. Salene walked over to where Adrian was and gently took his phone, holding it to her ear.
"Mama? Eínai óla kalá?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as Adrian motioned for everyone to get out of the pool.
"You all need to be in your rooms, I didn't see anything," he whispered yelled so they could hear, but her mother couldn't.
"Ḗthela aplṓs na pō kalēnýchta kai anēsychoúsa lígo ótan den apantḗsate," her mom spoke so fast Salene blinked a couple of times trying to process all the words.
"Lypámai pou se anēsychoúsa, épiasa tēn exáskēsē me tē Líz, prépei na koimēthoúme tṓra, kalēnýchta," Salene had to speak a little slower, the ride up to the hotel and the amount of swimming and wrestling was catching up to her, she was ready to shower the chlorine out of her hair and go to sleep.
"Entáxei, mōró mou, chaíromai aúrio, xérō óti tha kerdíseis!" Her mother's cheerful voice was damped by an audible yawn that made Salene frown as she held back her own.
"Eucharistṓ mamá, dínō ston Adrian to tēléphōnó tou tṓra, kalēnýchta," Salene spoke, not waiting for her mother's response and handing the phone back to Adrian who immediately flew into a flurry of greek words that Salene was too tired to keep up with.
She slid on her flip-flops and she and Adrian left the pool area, heading back up to their rooms where Liz patiently waited for Salene with a bright smile on her face. Salene gave the best smile she could be considering her state and watched as Liz unlocked the door. The two girls quickly went inside.
"You can shower first if you want, I need to call my mom as well," Liz spoke and Salene nodded, grabbing clothes to change into along with her toothbrush and toothpaste.
"If you forgot toothpaste, you can borrow mine," Salene spoke to the girl who only nodded, she was dialing her mother's number.
The blonde went into the bathroom, her through to trailing back to New York and how fucked up her life had gotten in the past few months. Who knew a light possessing by the King of Hell would cause so much trouble and drama in her life? Lucifer probably, even now, wasn't sure if their conversation was another trick that she should be prepared for or if he's serious about actually working with her to control her new abilities.
She just hoped that it would get the people she knew and loved hurt because she wouldn't know what to do with herself if the devil in her destroyed her world.
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OHHHHH MY GOD
okay so i don't remember EXACTLY when
this was last updated but I know for DAMN sure
I was still in my last few months of highschool ever.
so uh, sorry for it being so delayed. I don't really have an excuse other than mental health :/
glossary (because I keep forgetting)
mama? Eínai óla kalá? = mama? Is everything okay?
Ḗthela aplṓs na pō kalēnýchta kai anēsychoúsa lígo ótan den apantḗsate. = I just wanted to say good night and got a little worried when you didn't answer.
Lypámai pou se anēsychoúsa, épiasa tēn exáskēsē me tē Líz, prépei na koimēthoúme tṓra, kalēnýchta. = I'm sorry for worrying you, I got caught up in practicing with Liz, we have to go to bed now, goodnight.
entáxei, mōró mou, chaíromai aúrio, xérō óti tha kerdíseis! = okay, baby, goodluck tomorrow, i know you'll win!
eucharistṓ mamá, dínō ston Adrian to tēléphōnó tou tṓra, kalēnýchta = thank you, mama, I'm giving Adrian his phone back now, goodnight
thank you for reading as always and hopefully this is the last of my writers block!
- greta!