Chapter Thirteen: Youth Wasted Through Lust:

Attraction didn’t let up as Cephalla slipped out of the house three nights later. Mrs. Argyris let it slip where Michael was staying.

“I saw Mr. Gikas walking that photographer back to the Odyssey Hotel the other da--” she blurted out to Eumelia in the kitchen one afternoon. Her friend tried in vain to stop her.

“Shhh!” Eumelia whispered frantically. Her eyes darted towards the hall. Mrs. Argyris quickly drew her mouth shut.

“Oh…” she said in a low voice. However this was too late on account of Cephalla happening to check that in the hallway. Her heart flipped at this revelation. Michael! He’s at… Oh! Cephalla felt her cheeks burn as she bolted out the door.

“Cephalla!” Eumelia shouted. The door slammed shut. The teenage girl rounded the corner to the shed and grabbed her red and yellow bike. She began hurried ride to the other side of the island. Michael. Michael. The Odyssey Hotel was on the other side of the island separated by a slick hill. It would nightfall by the time she got there. She didn’t care about that as she pushed herself to keep pedaling.

I have to see him! Michael, wait for me! Cephalla didn’t pay attention to the people on the street around her.

“Cephalla, what’s the hurry?” an old lady asked her as she walked by. The girl only waved her off as she rode by. However, she hit a problem when she came to the hill. The tires would grip to the slick mud caused by the rain earlier that afternoon. Cephalla pushed through her bike up the hill. After several attempts to get up the hill, she and the bike fell over on the mud and graval. Despite wanting to scream, she pushed herself back onto her feet and rolled her bike up the hill. Cephalla even rode through with blood running down her calf.

Two hours later, she arrived at the Odyssey Hotel and pressed her hand against the glass doors. Cephalla buzzed for someone to let her in. The woman at the front desk’s eyes grew big at the sight of the dirty looking girl waiting to get in. At first, it looked like she wouldn’t let her in. Cephalla held her breath.

Please let me in! I really have to see Michael! Don’t turn me away. Luckily for her, the lady at the front desk came around and buzzed her in. She took one look up and down at the girl.

“What the hell happened to you, Cephalla?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Please let me see him,” the younger girl pleaded. “I just have to see Michael. I feel like I’m going to go to pieces if I don’t see him.” The receptionist bit on her lower lip as her eyes shifted away from the island’s little darling.

“Your grandmother told me not to let you see him,” she said in a quiet voice.

“I want to see him!” Cephalla shouted. “Please don’t try and stop me!” She pushed past the receptionist and marched straight into the lobby. The young woman whipped around on the floor.

“Cephalla, wait!” she shouted. “Do you even know what room he’s in?” The girl paused with a blank stare.

“Uh…” she said. “I have no idea.” She rushed over to the receptionist. “Please help me?” The receptionist sighed at her puppy dog eyes.

“Fine,” she grumbled. Cephalla felt like dancing as she followed her older friend down the hall.

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Michael was about to get ready for bedroom when there was a knock on his door. He paused from his laptop.

“Come in,” he said.

“Michael?” a small voice asked. His heart froze when he heard who was speaking on the other side.

“Cephalla?” he asked. The photographer rushed over to the front door and peeked out the hole. He saw her on the other side, looking pitiful at him. Michael opened the door in shock. Cephalla’s clothes were covered in mud with her short hair a mess. He noticed that her right knee was bleeding.

“What are you doing here?” Michael asked. “What happened to your knee?”

“I fell on the hill when I was trying to ride my bike in the mud,” she explained.

“But why?”

“The ground was still wet and hard to ride up.”

“No, why are you here?”

Cephalla rushed forward and hugged him by the waist. The photographer frantically looked around.

“What are you doing?!” he shouted. She looked up at him with big, desperate eyes.

“Please let me stay here tonight,” the girl pleaded.

“What?!”

“I really like you. I keep thinking about you all the time! I don’t care about the war or our ages! I just want to be with you here and now!”

Michael struggled to say something. Instinct told him that this girl wouldn’t give up on him so easily. Looked like that his plan to cut ties with Cephalla backfired on him once again. She just won’t let up on me, will she? This girl just had to keep playing this dangerous game with him. He sighed and dropped his shoulders.

“Fine, fine,” Michael complained. “At least take a shower first. When you’re done with that, bandage up your knee or something.” Cephalla rested her head against his chest.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Michael sighed and shook his head. Moments later, he sat on his bed while he listened to the shower running. How the hell did this happen? I tried to get away from her, but she still manages to track me down. Michael buried his head in his hands. Still, he had to admire his devotion to him. A little misguided, but really sweet. The smile died away on his face. I can’t tell her, he thought. That would just destroy her.

“Michael?” he heard her ask.