Who: Thalia Grace & Luke Castellan What: Backstory When: ~The paaaaast~ Where: Various places in Connecticut Rating: Low Warnings: Just mentions of bad family stuff, but nothing else Status: Complete
It was just her luck that the security guard in the store happened to be doing his job. Thalia had helped herself to a sparkly ring that had been just sitting there on a shelf, but he’d noticed it was gone, and now she was his number one suspect, being tailed through the mall. It wasn’t even as if she couldn’t have afforded the ring. It was just a cheap cubic zirconia trinket she probably wasn’t even going to wear. But there was a certain thrill in liberating it from its cage where it was going neglected, and Thalia had a thing for things that went neglected.
She wove through the crowd, trying to lose the guy, but he was dogged on her tail. She knew he wasn’t going to chase her down - she was too high-profile for that - but if he got her alone where he could demand that she turn out her pockets...well. That might be an issue, considering she wasn’t even supposed to be out of her dorm at this moment anyway.
She glanced around discreetly for an exit, and found a possible escape route: a boy just a little older than her, headed for the doors.
“Grover!” she called, as she ran after him. Without waiting for a response, she tucked her arm around his. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”
Sotto voce, she continued, “Just play along. Pretend we’re friends.”
***
Luke hadn't really been expecting anything interesting to happen that day. He'd gone to the mall for something simple. Just a CD that he’d wanted. It was supposed to be an in and out sort of thing, but he’d lingered a little longer to feel like he had time for himself.
He'd been about to leave when he heard someone call for a Grover. His name wasn't Grover, obviously, but he still turned to see who the person was talking to...which was apparently him. He spotted the security guard walking after her and almost let out a sigh. Why was he getting dragged into this? But she seemed to need help and he was particularly weak to people who needed help, so he faked a smile and said, “Oh, there you are. I was wondering where you went.” He hooked his arm in hers, feeling really weird about doing so with a complete stranger.
As they walked toward the door, he lowered his voice and said, “What did you...nevermind. The less I know the better.” Once they got outside and to the parking lot, he let out a sigh and let go of the girl's arm. “My name's Luke, by the way. Instead of Grover. Whatever kind of name that is. Outside of maybe some Sesame Street character.”
***
“I didn't want to risk calling you by a real name,” Thalia said with a shrug. That may or may not be true. Mostly, she'd just gone with calling the first name that came to mind, though there was a bit of not wanting him to be identified as an accomplice thrown in there as well.
Now that they were outside and safe, she disengaged herself. “Thanks for that, though. Getting caught would've sucked. I'm Thalia, by the way.”
Her face hadn't been in tabloids for a while, and she was much less made up than she looked in paparazzi photos, but her name was pretty uncommon. She wasn't sure if he'd recognize her. Nor was she sure if she wanted him to.
***
Luke guessed that worked. Still, he wasn't sure how that was going to help if the guy knew what he looked like. He'd just have to hope that it didn't come back to bite him on the ass later. If it did, he'd deal with it then. Until then, he'd just pretend nothing was going to come of it.
Getting caught would have sucked. Which meant she'd done something to get caught, which meant he'd just helped with something he shouldn't have. His mother was going to be so upset with him if she found out. He couldn't say about his dad. He probably wouldn't care or he'd have come around. "Yeah. I guess you're welcome? Um. And nice to meet you." He guessed it was anyway. He didn't really know that many people outside of school and he wasn't sure whether or not he was supposed to. It took a few minutes for the name and everything to set in and he said, "Wait...Thalia. That's um...my mom has magazines at the house. I think you've been in them. I get bored sometimes and read them when mom's having a...nevermind." He'd been about to say bad day, but they weren't really friends and talking about his and his mom's issues wasn't really something he wanted to get into with a stranger who'd just called him Grover.
"Uh. Just ignore all of that, actually."
*** Thalia listened with a mixture of amusement and confusion. There were occasionally guys that got tongue-tied when they realized who she was, but this guy just seemed to be the tongue-tied type in general. It was kind of cute. He was kind of cute. She wondered what he’d been about to say, and wondered if he’d stopped himself because of who she was, or if he’d just been about to say something he shouldn’t. Either way, it was intriguing.
“They’re all trash,” she told him bluntly. “I wouldn’t believe anything in them if I were you. Tell your mom that, too.”
She didn’t really care what people thought of her; it wasn’t as if her own parents cared about her. But if she was going to be judged, she’d rather it be for things she’d actually done, rather than made-up transgressions that sold magazines.
***
Living with his mom gave him a sort of skewed view of the world. The troubled people seemed to be the people that he gravitated to more. He didn't know if it was fate or just some sort of insanity-induced decision-making process. Thalia looked different than she had in the pictures that he'd seen, but then most people seemed to look different. Most things seemed different. She was pretty, though. That much he was aware of. Even if he was also pretty sure that she was trouble...and also younger than he was.
"I read somewhere that a lot of the pictures are photoshopped anyway, so who knows what's real or not." He shrugged slightly. "And magazines need readers, so they'd print whatever they needed to make money." He knew all of that stuff. He'd also learned how to pick locks, but that was mostly because sometimes his mom locked her bedroom door and he needed to get in to make sure she was okay. It was all a part of the way things were. "But I'll tell her."
***
“Good,” Thalia said, smiling at him. He totally got it, unlike most people who'd come to have an opinion about her based on tabloids. That, in itself, was a rare trait.
“Hey, I wanna buy you an ice cream for helping me out, but I gotta get back.” Thalia told him. She could only escape for so long before someone noticed her absence. “What are you doing Friday afternoon?”
***
Luke tried not to notice her smile or the way her eyes lit up at that moment. It wouldn't do any good to start liking a girl he was probably never going to see again and who probably didn't think anything of him anyway. She was used to people whose mom's probably weren't seriously depressed all the time. Plus, he wasn't anyone. At least not to people in hollywood.
The moment she mentioned ice cream, his expression shifted to something a little more confused. She was asking to see him to get him ice cream? He was pretty sure that didn't make sense. Of course it was only because he'd helped her out, so that really didn't mean anything. He shook it off and cleared his throat. "Uh. Yeah. I think I could find time then." He frowned for a moment before saying, "Did you need a ride back to wherever you're going?" Really, the only reason they had one was because it showed up one day. His dad had a habit of dropping gifts off as if that would fix everything.
I never come to see you, but look at all these things I send you. I'm so great.
"I'm parked over that way." He motioned over to a different part of the parking lot.
***
It didn't take Thalia long to decide that getting dropped off near the school in a normal car would be much less conspicuous than getting dropped off in a bright yellow cab. Then again, it would depend on the kind of car he had too. A beat up Volvo would probably garner even more attention than a bright yellow cab. Plus, there was that whole Stranger Danger thing, which was closer to home than most people, given the fate of her brother.
Eh, she'd taken bigger risks before.
“Yeah, sure.” She named a landmark close to the boarding school where she could easily slip back onto campus and climb up her window. “Can you get me there?”
***
Luke could understand people being uncomfortable with strangers. Even he could have been concerned, given the fact that she seemed prone to getting followed by security guards, but if she needed a ride, he thought he could manage it pretty well. At the very least, he knew that he had an umbrella in the back of the car if he needed to use it. He hoped he didn't, though.
It was a pretty inconspicuous blue toyota. He was pretty glad, because his dad could have gone ridiculously overboard and gotten a car that was flashier than either his mom or him could have appeared to have been able to afford. He led her over to it, unlocking the door manually. It had been able to unlock with the push of a button before, but the battery had died a while ago and then been crushed, so he did it manually. Pushing the button to unlock the rest of the doors once he opened the door, he slid into the driver's seat and quickly moved things into the backseat, apologizing for the mess.
"I think I can get you to where you're going." He was pretty good, directionally speaking. He'd always been. He figured it was because of driving around, but it also came from remembering details when he drove. "You should probably take whatever you took back, you know? I know we don't really know each other, but...it would be the right thing. Even if you don't take it back personally."
***
It wasn’t as bad of a car as Thalia had feared. Although it wasn’t the sort of car to be driving down the street where her school was, it wasn’t so beaten up that it would get anyone calling 9-1-1.
Thalia slid into the car and looked around in interest. She’d never been in a mass model before. It was almost quaint. So was his insistence on doing the right thing. Morality was in short supply where she came from, although Thalia tried not to do anything too terrible.
“It’s just a cheap ring; it’s not like they’re going to miss it,” she pointed out. But she pulled it out and examined it, wondering if it was worth the trouble of going back.
“Here,” she said, holding it out to him. “You take it. You can take it back, or give it to someone, or whatever.”
Even as she spoke, though, she felt a flash of...something uncharitable, something that made her hope he didn’t have someone he’d want to give a ring, however cheap, to.
***
"But it's still stealing." He guessed he shouldn't care, but he did. He'd done a lot to keep himself and his mom together. He'd learned how to budget with youtube videos and audio books. It was easier than trying to read, honestly. If he had to find things, he looked them up on the internet. That way he could keep them from losing the house and losing everything. It was also why he had a job at the moment. He'd done a lot of odd jobs when he was too young to have an actual job and it was a pain in the ass when people stole from you. Even if it was only a little thing like the ring she had. "If you don't want people to see you a certain way, you can't keep acting a certain way. Like how they try to portray you in the magazines."
Luke truly did believe that she wasn't all bad, she just obviously had things going on that he didn't really understand. He couldn't even pretend to know what she was dealing with. He just knew that most people didn't steal for fun. At least not that he was aware of.
Taking the ring, he put it in his pocket. He'd clean it off before sending it back in an envelope. There was no reason for them both to get caught because of fingerprints. He wondered if this was the sort of thing that required wearing gloves and handling everything carefully. He resisted the urge to sigh. "I'll make sure it gets where it needs to go and that no one's going to get caught."
He didn't have anyone to give it to and even if he did, stolen gifts didn't really make good gifts. They didn't mean anything because they hadn't been earned. At least that's the way he saw it.
***
“This is really important to you, isn't it?” Thalia said, looking at him a bit more closely. She'd never really met anyone who had an insistence on doing the right thing, and it was a bit of a novelty. It might be refreshing to be around, or it might quickly grow tiresome. Either way, she was intrigued enough to want to find out.
Without waiting for his response, she spoke again. “Okay, if it means that much to you, I'll send them some money. Then you don't have to put it back, they get their ridiculously high mark up, everyone's happy.”
It didn't matter to her if she paid or not. It wasn't as if she couldn't afford it. She just shoplifted for the thrill. Her psychiatrist had once called it A Classic Cry For Attention even though Thalia had insisted she didn't care about not getting enough attention from her parents. She didn't. Mostly.
At any rate, there were ways to pay without being tied to the theft. She was willing to do it if it eased the worried look on his face.
***
It took a bit of effort not to look over at her while he was driving. He'd been about to explain that it was important, but it was also important to take part in revamping her image if it was something that she wanted to do. He thought she probably did considering he told him that what they printed was trash. Not only that, but she'd asked him to tell his mom. Why would someone ask him to do that if they didn't care a little?
"Okay. Good." He didn't know if he was being annoying about this, but he knew that he hadn't done anything particularly against the law and it was probably the best plan. Especially when the world knew your face. The world didn't know his face, so he probably could have gotten into trouble more and no one would have been any the wiser, but his mom didn't need anything added to her plate. He wanted to be a reason that she smiled, not another stressor.
He glanced over quickly when they got to a red light. "So why do they have you in school all the way over here?" He was pretty sure her family would be in California, not Connecticut.
***
Thalia shrugged, trying to look like she cared a lot less than she did. “It's far away from California for my mom to pretend I don't exist, I guess. She probably would've preferred Sweden or something, but that would've taken too much paperwork.”
On the whole, Thalia didn't care that her mom didn't want her around. She didn't want to be around that selfish cow anyway. But Connecticut was far from anyone she knew, and it would've been nice for somebody to care that she wasn't around anymore.
“So what about you?” she asked. “Are you in school or are you out now?” He looked a little older than her and therefore had extra cool points because of it, but he didn't look that much older.
***
Luke's expression grew concerned again for a moment, but he tried to make himself look less so before she noticed. "Sounds like my dad. He's never here unless he wants to be, but he sends presents as if it makes up for leaving and not coming back." He sounded more bitter than he'd meant to when he spoke about his father. He'd meant to sounds casual and unaffected, but he hadn't really learned how to do that when he felt annoyed and resentful every time he thought about his dad. "I guess it's not a requirement if you never married the person you left."
He took a breath before answering her question. "Uh, yeah. It's my senior year, so I'm almost done, but then I guess I have to figure out college. I was supposed to have it figured out already, but..." He trailed off, remembering the number of times he'd tried to call his dad and ended up throwing his phone somewhere so that he didn't have to do it. He didn't know what he wanted to do. He knew he was good with numbers and math and probably could make a decent life as an accountant, but he didn't want to be an accountant. He didn't actually know what he wanted to do, which was the problem. "I don't know what I want to do, so I haven't yet."
***
“That sucks,” Thalia said, feeling a moment of kinship with him. Despite his attempt to be casual about it, she could see the loneliness he was trying to hide - loneliness that mirrored hers. Despite the glitz and glamour of her life, Thalia didn’t actually have a lot of friends; her relationships were too shallow for that. And she didn’t think he was someone who opened up to many people either. In fact, she was pretty sure he wasn’t the type to talk about his dad very much at all, and it made her feel a little special that he’d chosen to share it with her.
If it weren’t for the fact that he was driving, she’d reach over to give him a hug. But since she didn’t want to die in a fiery crash, she just settled for patting his arm. “Bastards unite,” she said with false cheer. “We should form a club.” She didn’t mention that her dad wouldn’t even acknowledge her as his, because this wasn’t a contest. This was about sucky dads. She wondered if his mom was as awful as hers.
“I don’t know what I’m gonna do either,” she said. “I just know I don’t wanna stick around Hollywood and die in a ditch somewhere.”
***
Luke nodded. It did suck. His mom wasn't a bad person. She really wasn't, she just wasn't the mom he'd known while his dad was around. He missed her. Her smiles weren't nearly as often as he'd wanted, which he knew wasn't his fault, but it still made things difficult for him. She was his mom and it was difficult to see her suffering. He did everything he could to cheer her up, even if it meant pretending that he'd gotten her the presents that Hermes sent. He hated to see her cheer up because of his dad and then see her wilt all over again when he never came himself.
"That's some club," he said, allowing him a moment to glance over at her again. "I mean, I don't know if that's the name most people would go for initially, but I guess it's enough of a descriptor to get the point across." They were bastards and he had a feeling that made them more alike than different now.
"I don't know if I want to stay here either, but I don't know if I can leave. You know?" He frowned. "But if Hollywood's not working for you, then there's no reason for you to stay there."
***
“Sad thing is, we wouldn’t be alone in it.” There was a lot of infidelity in the circles she grew up with, to the point where it was more the norm than anything else. But because it was the norm, at least the erstwhile dads would accept their illegitimate kids as their own. Thalia’s had never.
She glanced at him, too, curious about what he’d said. “Why don’t you think you can leave?”
There were lots of reasons, of course. Money, safety, not knowing where to go. Thalia just wasn’t sure what was keeping him back.
***
Luke frowned a little at the thought. He supposed that being born and not having your dad in your life wasn't the most surprising thing that happened. He wondered if there was an opposite, if there was someone who had their dad and not their mom. He hoped not. He didn't know what he'd do without his mom having been around. She tried her best. He knew. "Have you met a lot of people who are bastards? I guess there's a couple in school, but not too many."
His frown deepened at her question. "My mom doesn't really have other people here." That didn't really explain everything. It was complicated. He was concerned that his mom wouldn't be safe alone. "And I don't really want to ask my dad for anything." Because if he asked him for something, then he was indebted to him and he was indebted enough just by accepting things that he'd sent that he hadn't asked for.
***
It was clear there was more to it than that, but he didn’t offer any more and Thalia didn’t push. There were always people with secrets, and it wasn’t as if he actually knew Thalia very well. Just because she felt a bit of a connection with him didn’t mean he was going to share his life story.
“Yeah, I get that.”
The intersection where he was supposed to be dropping her off was coming up, and Thalia was almost sorry for it. She wouldn’t have minded spending a little longer driving around with him. But there was always Friday.
“So I’ll see you at Delia’s Diner on Friday? I can be there around 4.”
***
Luke was glad that she hadn't pushed. He didn't know if he could talk about it with someone that he didn't really know. Not that he didn't like Thalia, but he wanted to know her a little better before he started revealing parts about himself that she might find pitiable. He hated pity more than he hated his father, which was a lot.
Once the intersection showed up, he pulled over and resisted the urge to sigh. It had been a nice drive and he liked talking to Thalia. Maybe next time they could manage a conversation that was a little less...serious. He'd have to think up things to talk about for when that happened. Glancing over, he nodded. "I think I can be there by then." He'd have to see how his mom was doing, but he hoped that she was doing well enough that he could disappear to get some ice cream with Thalia. "Are you going to get back all right?"
***
“I’ll be fine,” Thalia told him. “I’ve done this tons of times.” She flashed him a quick smile, then slipped out of the car and made her way back to campus.
All week, she thought about the upcoming meeting at the diner. She tried not to put too high of an expectation on it, but Luke was new and shiny and wasn’t like most people she knew. She wanted to spend more time with him to see if he was still as interesting when he wasn’t rescuing her from a security guard. Just in case he was, she took a little extra care with her appearance: artfully ripped jeans, an off-the-shoulder black t-shirt, and just enough makeup to make her look good without being obvious it was makeup.
Then she snuck off campus to head to the diner.
***
As much as Luke didn't want to admit it, he'd been waiting anxiously for Friday. His mom had been in the kitchen when he'd gotten home and he had come back smiling, so she'd seemed happier. This week, so far, had been a good week. She'd been out of her room for most of the time, only spending her evenings shut away. He'd felt this was a good sign for his...whatever this was. Ice cream with a girl. He was pretty sure it wasn't a date, but he didn't really know what it was, so he didn't really tell his mom anything outside of that he was going to get ice cream with a friend.
He'd dressed in jeans and a blue t-shirt, which was one of his better t-shirts. He didn't think it required dressing up too much, but once he saw Thalia at the diner, he wondered if he hadn't been wrong about it. He felt awkward and unprepared for whatever was going to happen.
Clearing his throat, he moved to sit at the table where she was. "Sorry I'm a bit late. Mom wanted to talk about something really quick."
***
“No problem,” Thalia said, as if she just hadn’t spent the last fifteen minutes starting to worry that he wouldn’t show up at all. She was glad he had, though, and extra glad that she’d taken the extra care with her appearance. He was even cuter than she remembered, now that he didn’t have to be worried about being arrested at her accomplice.
“Good thing you weren’t any later, though,” she told him, giving him an impish smile. “I was gonna order a sundae without you.”
***
Luke's fingers twitched a little as he resisted the urge to run his fingers through his hair. It would only make it messy and he'd actually tried to look somewhat presentable. Not that he hadn't looked at least a little messy the last time they'd run into each other. It was different, then. He'd been helping her get out of a tricky situation. Now they were just...being themselves. He didn't want to seem like an idiot. He didn't even know why he cared if she thought he was an idiot, he just did.
"That would have been unfortunate. I mean, I guess I would have still gotten one, but uh...eating sundaes at the same time as someone else is better than the alternative." He was pretty sure he sounded like a moron. That's right, Luke. This girl is younger than you and you can't even manage to talk to her properly. Good work. "But luckily we don't have to worry about that."
***
“Like I said,” Thalia said with a smile, “it’s a good thing. C’mon.”
She left her jacket on her chair to claim the table and stood up. “I said I’d buy you ice cream, so tell me what you want.”
She didn’t mind his awkwardness; if he was awkward, there was a lot less pressure on her to be cool and glamorous. She could just be herself as well.
***
Luke walked up with her to get the ice cream, trying to think of what exactly he wanted to get. "I'm fine with vanilla sundae," he replied after a moment. "Caramel instead of fudge, though." He liked fudge, but caramel was always his favorite between the two.
He couldn't help but feel glad that Thalia didn't seem to be looking at him like he was a weirdo, though. It meant that she didn't think he was the most awkward person that ever existed. If he was lucky, she wouldn't change her mind about him with time.
***
The ice cream was quickly purchased, and they made their way back to their table. Thalia took a moment to taste her strawberry sundae and proclaim it delicious before starting the conversation.
“So how was the rest of your week? Was it as exciting as rescuing a girl from a mean old security guard?”
***
"I went to school, which was pretty boring. I didn't have to save anyone there either. Then my mom and I watched a few movies on Wednesday." She'd actually stayed out of her room that night. "It was a pretty good week, actually. Despite the class presentation." It had been a group presentation, which was difficult when you had to work with other people who didn't really care all that much about the grade or anything like that. It was the last presentation of the year after all. No one cared anymore.
"So did you get back in safely? You didn't get in trouble, did you?" He didn't ask if she'd sent the money in, though. He didn't want to sound like he didn't trust her. If she offered up the information, he'd talk about it, but he'd wait until then. "How much trouble will you be in if they find you sneaking out?"
***
Thalia stabbed at her sundae with her spoon, the small violent motion belying the casual shrug that accompanied it. “Nah, I didn't get caught. But considering this is where they sent me when I was in trouble back home, I don’t know how they can make the punishment worse.”
She ate her spoonful of sundae a bit more aggressively than she needed to. “So it's just you and your mom, huh?” She didn't really want to talk about her banishment. It just made her angry and resentful, and she had better things to do with her one than wallow in unhappiness.
***
Noticing her stabbing at her ice cream, Luke decided maybe it was best not to ask her about the school anymore. He guessed that shouldn't have been all that surprising, but he'd assumed that school was neutral enough grounds. Then again, it was a school that she snuck out of and had been sent to all the way across the country. He probably would have been upset if he'd been sent to school on the other side of the country, too.
"Yeah. Just Mom and I. It's always been just us. Well, okay, up till seven, Dad was around, but then he stopped being around and things just..." He shrugged, frowning slightly. He didn't think that his dad had caused the depression. It had probably always been there and just more easily dealt with. It was managed better. "It's been us since then." He didn't know how to explain about his mom or anything that came with her. It was difficult to explain his childhood. Being the adult at the age of seven wasn't really something he knew how to explain. He'd learned how to make food. At first, it was mostly a lot of peanut butter and jelly, but over time he was able to make more.
"So what do you like to do for fun outside of sneaking out of school?"
***
Not knowing that his mom had shut down on him and forced him to take over as man of the house, Thalia thought that was pretty cool. She had visions of a cozy house with lace curtains like she’d seen on television, and a mom who always prepared food for her kid and hung out and asked about his day. Basically, what she’d never had.
“That’s cool,” she said wistfully. “It’s me and my mom too. Well, it’s me and my mom and whatever drug she’s on now.” That wasn’t a secret. Her mom’s substance abuse problems were well-documented in the media. A lot of it was exaggeration, but not all of it.
“I like fencing,” she said, to answer his question. “When I was a kid, I had a bodyguard for a while, and he used to be a stuntman at Paramount, so I got him to teach me stunt stuff. It was fun. What about you? What do you do when you’re not trying to get arrested as an accessory to petty theft?”
***
"Yeah. Definitely...that." It wasn't cool, but it wasn't Thalia's fault that she didn't know that. He hadn't exactly explained about everything. He didn't think it was something she'd want to hear about. They weren't that close. Their friendship was pretty new. "Your mom's on drugs? I mean, I guess I'd heard about it, but...I just thought they were making things up." It didn't sound like she was doing much better than his own mom...except the problem was different.
"I've never done fencing. That sounds interesting, though." So did her bodyguard. He'd never had to worry about that because no one knew him or his mom that well. At least no one that didn't live near them. "I work at a local gas station, but that's not really for fun. Sometimes I fiddle with really old lock mechanisms. I don't really know why, but they seem kind of interesting. Trying to find out what sort of key would work with it or if the locks can be picked. I've only really learned because sometimes Mom locks doors without thinking about it and I have to get into them. The bathroom is the most common. Her bedroom is the second most common." He didn't mention that she tended to be in those rooms when it happened, but it didn't seem to matter.
He ate his ice cream for a minute before he said, "Also apparently I like to come and have ice cream with girls I don't know that well."
***
“Hey, free ice cream -” She pointed. “- awesome girl.” She pointed. And then she grinned at him. “Of course you should’ve come.”
She ate some of her own ice cream, much less violently now that they’d moved to a less charged subject. “That’s...kinda interesting about the locks. I mean, most locks I know, you can’t do it unless you’re inside.” She didn’t make the connection just yet, though; she still thought Luke and his mother had a good life together, so why would his mom lock herself in? Maybe people who didn’t live in mansions had different locks.
She leaned forward, eyes sparkling with mischief as she was struck by an idea. “Hey, can you break into combo locks?”
***
"You have a point," he replied. Thalia wasn't so bad to spend time with. It was someone who didn't really know him, but also didn't treat him like a odd kid. He thought that was probably the best part. Mostly because he hadn't run into her at work before. That was the part that got most people, he thought.
"You don't have locks on the doors? Or at least not the ones you can pick easily...I guess." He didn't know anything about living in a mansion. Their house wasn't that bad. It could have been worse. There was enough yard for it to be nice and he painted if he needed to. He could do the general upkeep. He'd taught himself how.
"Combination locks? If you know the combination. Those are more difficult because you have to know what numbers work. I haven't learned the art of psychic links with locks yet, though."
***
Thalia shook her head. “We have locks. They just lock from the inside, that's all. Too bad you can't do combo locks; you could've taught me.”
She leaned forward slightly, setting her sundae to the side, and lowered her voice. “There's this girl at school? I know she's selling drugs to the new girls, getting them hooked and then getting them to do things for her. But I haven't been able to prove it yet, and her dad like donated an entire wing to the library so no one wants to look into it. But if I could get her locker to pop open when a teacher is walking by…”
***
"Oh." He decided not to say that theirs did, too. It was just that his mom locked them and then he had to unlock them to get in. "There's some where you can lock it from inside and pull it closed and then they're locked." Which was true. He'd dealt with those before, too. "It would have been useful." He wished that he could do it, but he also had a feeling that the reasoning behind that was because Thalia wanted him to be able to.
"There's a girl selling drugs at your school?" He followed her lead and kept his voice lowered, but he couldn't keep the concern out of it. "Is there a way for you see her combination? Cameras? Something like that?" The only way he knew that could get through a combination was a bolt cutter and that would be a sort of obvious thing.
***
Thalia nodded, accepting his explanation. She didn’t know any better to question it.
At his question, she scowled. “Yeah, she’s the worst. I hate people who take advantage of other people like that. It’s not even a fair thing, you know? But I haven’t figured out a way to get her yet. I was just thinking maybe getting her locker combo might be a good way to expose her, but…”
She shrugged. “Maybe I can instigate a surprise locker check and make sure hers is on the list.”
***
Luke was glad to see that he hadn't been wrong about her...even if he wasn't sure what to do with the information. Could you eve go to the police with that sort of thing? Would it even work? But he also wasn't surprised to find that there were terrible people in the world. "They aren't old enough to understand...and by the time they are, it might be too late." He didn't like people like that either. He hadn't seen up close and personal what drugs did to someone, though. His mom didn't do drugs or drink, she was just sad sometimes. Sad enough that she didn't want to move. He'd tried to get her to see someone, but she said she didn't want to because she didn't think it was as serious as that. He couldn't force her, so it stayed like this.
"That's definitely possible. Do you guys have phones at the school?" He could call his dad, maybe. If she needed one. "You could take pictures if you knew when and where to be, too. But a surprise locker check is probably the best way to go about it. Easier anyway."
***
Thalia nodded. “We’re allowed to have phones outside of classes. I just haven't been able to get a good shot.”
The problem was that the packages were small enough that from far away, it was hard to tell what was being exchanged. Thalia had thought about running a sting operation, but wasn't ready to put herself out there like that.
“Maybe I'll think about the locker check thing. I just don't want to get it traced back to me.” She wasn't really an intrepid crusader for justice. She just hated the idea of someone taking advantage of kids too young and naive to know any better.
***
Luke wished he had the solution to give her and that he had the ability to grant her access to the locker without it being something that she got caught up in. It was difficult wanting to help and not knowing how to help. "I'm sorry I don't have psychic links with locks. It might make things a little easier."
He ate a little more of the ice cream and he studied Thalia. He liked her. For all that she seemed like a troublemaker, he was beginning to see that she wanted to help people, too. "I'm glad we met, Thalia Grace."
***
Despite her delinquency, Thalia wasn’t a bad person. She just hated it when the world was unfair. But since she couldn’t do anything to change that, she struck out where she could, even if it was unwise.
Hanging out with Luke, though, gave her a sense of peace she hadn’t had in a long time. He didn’t judge her, and he didn’t care that her mom was infamous. He just listened and looked at her like she was interesting on her own merits rather than who her family was, and he was really nice to look at.
She smiled back at him. “Me too, Luke Castellan.”
--
Three weeks later, however, she was feeling decidedly uncharitable about Luke Castellan. It was wet and rainy and cold in the park where they’d arranged to meet, and it had been half an hour since he was supposed to show up. Thalia didn’t know whether to be worried or annoyed. Most of the time in the meetings they’d had since the ice cream shop, he’d been on time. But this was way past reasonable, and all texts to his phone had gone unanswered. Thalia was just about to give up. At this point, he better have been run over by a truck or something, or she’d be really mad.
***
Luke hadn't meant to miss their time together. In fact, he'd been ready to go, but his mom had locked herself in the bathroom again. It wouldn't have bothered him quite so much except that she didn't answer him when he called her name. So he'd spent the time he should have been spending going to meet with Thalia making sure he got the door open and then got his mother out of the tub. She'd fallen asleep, but it was obvious that she wasn't really in a good place, so he knew that leaving was out of the question. He sighed, but he did what he always did: stayed home. He pulled out his phone to text Thalia.
Sorry. Something came up.
***
Thalia was just getting ready to go, angry and worried and humiliated, when her phone buzzed. She quickly picked it up and frowned at the screen. Something came up? That was it? That was all the explanation she was getting for being stood up?
She angrily shrugged her coat on and texted back.
Yeah? What?
***
Luke frowned at the phone, looking at his mom before looking at his phone. He probably couldn't keep things from her forever. At least not for this long. It would get more and more confusing and he didn't want her to stop hanging out with him.
My mom. She locked the bathroom door when she went to take a bath. I had to get it open and her out.
He wasn't sure that was going to explain it, but it was the truth.
***
Thalia frowned. That was a weird response. Why would Luke want to barge in on his mother while she was taking a bath? It was kind of creepy...unless she’d been in danger. She’d been around enough people who practiced self-harm to know what it meant to lock yourself in the bathroom.
Deciding to give Luke the benefit of the doubt, because he’d been a pretty nice guy and reliable up to this point, she replied.
Is she okay?
***
Yeah. She's okay. It's just a bad day.
He felt like she was taking it well enough. It wasn't like he could see her face, though, so he didn't know really what to expect from her. So he decided to give a bit more of an explanation about it than he normally did. Most people just knew that sometimes things came up and he had to deal with them. His employer knew the whole story and he went fairly easy on him. Probably because he came in almost all the time and if someone else called out, he was reliable enough to show up.
There's...When I say she's okay, I mean she's okay physically. Mentally is another story. Some days are good and some are bad. It really depends. It's been this way since I was 7. So I just learned how to deal with it. Dad doesn't really help, even though I told him about it at the one birthday party he actually came to. That's why I know so much about picking locks in the house. Sometimes she locks the doors and I have to make sure she's alright
*** Oh jeez I'm so sorry.
Thalia sent her reply immediately, her anger gone. That poor guy. To have to worry about his mom possibly killing herself since he was seven and for no one to care? That was rough. Thalia was in a sort of similar situation, except her mom didn't lock the door when she took her drugs, which made it easy for Thalia to pop in and make sure she hadn't OD’d. Plus, it was clear Luke cared about his mom more than she cared about hers.
You need anything? I already ordered so I got a sandwich. I can bring food over.
She'd never been to his place before, but she wanted to, now. He shouldn't have to deal with that alone, taking care of both himself and his mother, if he didn't want to. His dad was a total ass.
***
Looking at the message, there were a lot of mixed emotions. He'd already told her what was going on. He knew he wanted to see Thalia, but did she really want to see this? He looked over at his mom and he asked if she was okay with one of his friends coming over. She seemed to come out of her daze for a moment, for long enough to smile.
Yeah. I could go for some food. If you don't mind. Do you need the address?
*** Yeah.
Thalia was texting as she walked up to the counter again. The sandwich she’d ordered wouldn't be enough for Luke and his mom. She wasn't sure what Luke's mom liked or if she was even up to eating, but better to have too much than not enough, in this case.
As she waited for her new order to come through, she punched in the address he gave her into her phone so she was ready to cab over once the food was ready.
The house he lived in was much nicer than she’d expected, given how hard he worked. She wondered if it was one of those things his dad had given them to make up for never being around. It wasn't really important, in the grand scheme of things. Right now, she just had to check to see if Luke and his mom were okay and to feed them.
***
Luke was nervous, which was apparently evident considering his mom put her hand over his and gave it a little squeeze. It was the thing she always did when he seemed nervous or upset. If he was really upset, she’d also come sit there. At least if she was aware of it. He was pretty good at covering it up most of the time. It was just that he’d never invited a girl to the house when it wasn’t for a school project or something. Once a girl invited herself to the house, but he didn’t think that counted.
If he were telling the truth, he was lucky how nice the house stayed. He tried to weed and his mom would weed when she was feeling up to it and the weather was nice enough. It was one of the things that she liked. If it needed anything fixed, he usually called his dad or one of the neighbors that was handier than he was. He could manage a new coat of paint on the porch if he had to, but he wasn’t Mr. Fix-It.
He heard someone on the porch and then the doorbell rang, so he got up, giving his mom a small smile before going to open the door. “Uh...hey.” He rubbed the back of his neck and stepped back to let her in. “Sorry about all this.”
***
“Hey.” Thalia smiled at him to let him know it was okay. She’d been annoyed and angry at first when he hadn’t shown up, but now that she knew he had a good reason and wasn’t just standing her up because of something trivial, she wanted to help him. She liked him, and she wanted to ease the shadows in his eyes and the tired bent of his shoulders.
“Don’t worry about it,” she added, and she raised the takeout bag as she stepped in. “I brought food. You’ve probably had a long day, huh?”
Spotting Luke’s mom, she offered a small wave, suddenly feeling self-conscious. She’d dressed up nicely for their outing - it wasn’t quite a date - but she hadn’t been expecting to meet the parent of the guy she was growing to like. Certainly not like this. She hoped she wasn’t going to say something that would send his mom back into the bathroom.
***
Luke felt a hint of a smile working its way across his face. Her smile was...something else. He tried not to focus too much on it, like always, but he hadn't ever been very good. Ever since she first turned up in his life, she'd been difficult to ignore or forget. He couldn't ever really figure out what it was that made it that way. At least nothing singular. There were a lot of reasons that he liked being around her, but if anyone had asked, he probably couldn't have explained exactly what drew him to her. Maybe it was that they felt similar, that it was easy to be around her. Maybe it was something else entirely.
"Thanks for coming." He looked over at his mom, an actual smile forming when she waved back at Thalia. "I think that means you're good." His mom looked between them and Luke took the food before moving to sit it on the table. He went to get plates just in case and cups. "We've got some soda or water. Um. I think there's juice around here somewhere. Did you want anything?" He wasn't sure if she brought any drinks, but he figured he should offer anyway.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" His mom's voice broke him out of his thoughts and he felt himself blush. "Oh. Right. Sorry, Mom. Um. Mom, this is Thalia. Thalia, this is my Mom, May Castellan." May smiled then. "It's nice to meet you, Thalia. My son tells me that I shouldn't listen to tabloids. Welcome to our house."
***
Thalia laughed slightly then, relaxing. So he’d remembered to tell his mom about the tabloids. She hadn’t been sure; it had been a throwaway remark at their first meeting, and the knowledge that he’d thought enough about it to actually pass on his message made her feel warm and bubbly.
“Thanks, Ms Castellan,” she said politely. “You have a really nice place.” It wasn’t just lip service because she desperately want to get Luke’s mom’s approval; the Castellans’ place was homey and comfortable. Maybe a bit messy, but it was definitely lived in - unlike the marble mausoleum that was Thalia’s mother’s house.
As they moved into the kitchen, she gave Luke an apologetic look; she’d forgotten about the drinks. “I’ll have coke, if you have any,” she requested as she set her bag of food on the table and started taking out sandwiches and burgers. “I didn’t know what you liked, Ms Castellan, so I got a few options. I figure if you don’t eat it, Luke can.”
***
"Thank you, Thalia. If Luke weren't here to help keep it from falling apart, it probably wouldn't be nearly as nice." Luke felt his face heat up even more then. "I don't really do that much, honestly. I just know who to call if something comes up, but she makes it sound like I can do everything."
He reached into the fridge, pulling out a couple of cokes and some iced tea, knowing his mom would probably prefer that to the super sugary sodas. He shrugged off her apologetic look and offered her a smile, resisting the urge to search through the sandwiches and stuff to get something for her that he knew she'd like. Instead, he let her do it herself. She preferred to do things for herself when she oculd. He was glad she was interacting. It was probably more because Thalia was a guest than anything, but it mattered. Luke had been a little worried that she wouldn't interact with them.
May took one of the sandwiches and took a couple bites and Luke smiled and mouthed thank you to Thalia.
***
Thalia smiled back, happy she made him happy. Luke didn’t smile a lot; he always seemed so weighed down with the burdens of the world - although now she knew why. It was always a treat when she could see him smile, and it was even better when she was the cause of it. She wanted to make him smile all the time.
The impromptu dinner went well, at least as far as Thalia could surmise. No one locked themselves in the bathroom, Luke looked relieved, and Thalia seemed to have made a good impression on his mom. Despite the way the evening had started, it had turned out quite well. But curfew was coming up on them, and Thalia had already pushed her luck an awful lot this week. She’d had to get caught being out of her room after curfew and lose the ability to see Luke as often as she did. So once the sandwiches were finished, she called a cab.
That done, she waited on the porch for it, Luke sitting beside her, shoulder to shoulder. It was quiet here, with the stars shining brightly overhead. Back in the OC, lights shone all the time, blotting out the stars. Here, it was calm and peaceful, and Thalia felt more content, more complete, than she ever had. All thanks to a guy she’d shanghaied into helping her escape a petty theft charge.
“Thanks for inviting me over,” she said, leaning her head against his shoulder.
***
Luke was relieved that the secret was out and that it hadn't driven Thalia away. She was a lot better about it than he'd imagined, but then he hadn't really trusted anyone with it before. No one that had stuck around. She hadn't left, though. She was still here and that meant more than anything. Not only that, but his mom seemed to like her, too. He could tell.
But Thalia always had to go home early. Luke wished that she could stay a little longer, but he didn't want her to get into any trouble. If that happened, she wouldn't be able to visit like she did now. She wouldn't be able to sneak out like she did and he wouldn't be able to see her. Of all the endings, that was the one he wanted least. He liked spending time with her and he liked the way he felt when she was around.
"Thanks for...not freaking out about it." Sitting there, with her head on his shoulder, Luke knew he was happy. This was what happy was. It was someone who knew you and knew the complicated bits of your life and knowing that they accepted you despite it. "Not that many people know about Mom and I never know who I can talk to about it. So...I'm glad. I wish you didn't have to go, but...I get it, too."
*** “I wish I didn't have to go either,” Thalia said softly. She wanted to just sit here, next to him, surrounded by stars and the gentle rustle of leaves, like there was no one else in the world.
That wasn't the case, of course. There was her life and there was his life, but right now, before the taxi came to take her away, there could just be the two of them.
She lifted her head from his shoulder, but it was only to look at him, blue eyes on blue, washed out in the light of the porch. And there, in that magical moment untouched by the rest of their lives, she leaned in and kissed him. If they could just stay in the moment, like this, they would be all right.
***
It was one of those things that he'd never fully understood. He didn't want to fully understand it either. His dad leaving had left a mark and he was almost certain that he would never feel anything remotely like interest in a girl. Especially not in one that he hoped would stick around. Mostly because he'd learned the hard way that people don't really stick around.
Thalia was different. He wanted her to stay, he wanted to have the chance to do all the things he didn't think he could do, but with her. Together. It was a stupid thing to hope for, but he couldn't help the feeling.
The kiss was a surprise. Not a bad surprise, just a...surprise. He hadn't expected it. Probably because he hadn't even considered that she'd have felt the same way. He returned the kiss, smiling into it. Yes, he thought. Yes, he could stay like that for as long as he was able.