Ambition Is Bullshit

Chapter Five

"I can't believe you didn't tip me-" Alex stormed in the apartment but paused when she was Maia. "Who's the kid?"
"Meet my little sister, Maia. Maia, meet my new roommate Alex Dolan." I did the introduction and returned to watching Pretty Little Liars, it's really starting to piss me off how they keep repeating the same mistakes over and over and over again... like god, when the hell are you going to learn you're fucking lesson?
"Aww, she's so cute." Alex patted Maia.
"What the hell are you doing?" She narrowed her eyes at her.
"Patting you?"
"Don't."
"Oh okay." Alex sat down awkwardly. "Anyway, back to before, why the hell didn't you leave a tip?!"
"The service was crap." I shrugged.
"Are you kidding me?! You forced me to remake your coffee three times, THREE TIMES!"
"Like I said, the service was crap."
"That's it-"
"Excuse me," Maia interjected. "But aren't you guys going to ask me the why and how?"
"The less we know, the better." I said, Alex nodded in agreement.
"So I can stay?"
"No." We said in unison.
"Then, what're you going to do?"
"Well, I should probably call mom..." I mumbled.
"You mean you have called her yet?!" Alex looked at me in disbelief. "What kind of older sister, are you?!"
"Well, it's not she's been gone all that long, I'll call when I think my mother's noticed." I explained nonchalantly.
"Sometimes your indifference really bugs me." She huffed, folding her arms.
Gee, fine. Maia, why are you here?" I asked, rather reluctantly may I add. Maia looked at Alex warily.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll leave." Alex waved her hands in surrender and left to have an on-going argument with Ashley about the white shirt guy. Seriously those two are bird of a feather.
"So, what's up?" I asked, more concerned this time around. If she couldn't say it in front of Alex, a complete stranger who I barely know but had unlikely rapture with, then it must be serious. Either that or I'm just ignorant. The latter is more likely...
"I don't know." She sighed. "I just feel kinda off and mom and dad aren't helping at all." My expression softened at that. Okay, maybe it's time I caught you up. Maia is my little sister who I didn't like enough to even name back then but she has become more bearable as the years passed by and actually is my favorite family member which isn't really saying much now that I think about it. "I just thought that maybe you could help since, you know, you kinda went through something like this."
"Well, when did this start?" She shrugged.
"A while ago I think."
"Uh huh...so why the hell are you only telling me now?!"
"Wow, that was a quick change of mood."
"Maia Wilson, I'm being serious." I warned.
"I don't know, I just didn't want to bother you since you just came to New York." That reminds me, shouldn't I be a little more concerned that my eleven year old sister came all the way from our home town to New York all alone? Probably.
"Well, why didn't you try and talk to Dem?"
"Yeah, like she's going to be any help." She scoffed.
"Maia,"
"You know how she is, talking to her is hard."
"You don't have to tell me." I sighed. "Well, there's no helping it, since you're here do you want a tour of NYC?"
"Wait, seriously?!"

"When you said "tour of NYC" I thought you meant time Square or Statue of Liberty, not a food cart." She gestured to the sandwich cart in front of us, she should be a little more open-minded.
"Hey Rami," I waved to dark-toned, dark-haired man in front of me. He turned around, for a guy in his mid-twenties he is very handsome. I'm kinda surprised he's still single.
"Keira, how nice it is to see your beautiful face again." He spoke in his thick British accent that'd make any girl instantly swoon, good thing I'm not "any girl".
"Your face isn't half bad either." I teased.
"Who's this?" He nodded towards Maia, who was staring at him so intently that I think she forgot to blink.
"This is my kid sister, Maia. She's visiting."
"She'll grow up to be just as gorgeous as her older sister, I can already guarantee it." He winked at her, causing her to blush.
"Cool it there, Romeo. She's like 10."
"I'm 11." Maia corrected sourly.
"Anyway, what can I get you ladies?"
"Shrimp cheese for me and turkey club for my sister."
"Right away."

"You're not seriously going to eat that, are you?" Maia stared warily at my shrimp sandwich.
"It tastes better than it looks." I took a huge bite, it's wonderful taste invading my mouth. I resisted the urge to swoon. "Rami makes the best sandwiches in town. I met him when I first got here, he owes me a few favors so I get free sandwiches whenever I want."
"Oh that explains it."
"Huh?"
"Oh, I was just curious how someone like you, sis, knows a guy like Rami." She looked back at sandwich cart, a few girls gathered around it, not even ordering anything.
"Gee, thanks." I replied flatly.
"You know what I mean, I'm not trying to be mean."
"Suuure, you aren't."
"I am not!"
"Whatever makes you sleep at night." I shrugged.
"You're too careless, Keira."
"You sound like Riley now."
"That reminds me, where is she?"
"She's interning at some lab, I think."
"So what're you two fighting about?"
"What makes you think we're righting?"
"Because I know you."
"Well, it's nothing you have to worry your pretty little head about." I patted her, causing her to grunt and slap my hand away.
"Don't touch me."
"Whatever you want."
"Oh yeah, before I forget, thank you."
"Hmm, for what?"
"For cheering me up. It kinda sucks how you're the one who left and Dem's the one I got stuck with."
"Ha, don't let her hear you."
"What is she going to do?" She scoffed.
"Shave your head in your sleep."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, how'd you think dad got that bald spot?"
"He grew old." She replied dryly, I couldn't help but laugh; she is definitely my sister.
"No, he got in a fight with Dem about her sneaking out to meet a boy in the middle of the night four years ago and she shaved part of his head for revenge."
"But it's four years ago, shouldn't it have grown back by now?"
"Readers always like to nitpick stories, don't they?"
"Why do I get the feeling you're breaking some kind of fourth wall?" She raised her eyebrows, unfortunately she can't raise only one. A struggle, I'm quite sure a lot of you can sympathize with. Not me, obviously.
"Don't question it." I shushed her.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey," I looked up from my book, happy for a distraction away from studying. However, my happiness was short-lived when I saw who it was. "What do you want, Deaton?"
"Well, you see," he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I wanted to apologize for the way I acted back then in the bar. It was out of line and I deserved to be head butted and I'm sorry." I looked at him, my expression unchanging. "Well, I guess that's all." He started for the door but unfortunately that is when my conscience decided to make its debut. Goddammit, I hate my life.
"Wait," I stopped him. "You don't have to leave,"
"I don't?"
"Well, it's a public library." I gestured to array of book-filled shelves surrounding us. For a bookworm like me, this place was my haven. It was also my own place personal hell whenever I was guilt-tripped into studying. "And since you apologized, I guess there's no point in being mad anymore, just stop it with flirting, okay?"
"Can't make anymore promises." He smirked before sitting down. "But I'll try. So what're you reading?"
"I'm not reading." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm performing a sub category of dying; studying."
"Ha. Didn't take you as the studying type."
"To be honest I'm not but one of my teachers practically begged me to." I sighed, flipping through the book.
"What kind of teacher begs their student to study? Actually no, what kind of STUDENT needs their teacher to beg them to study?"
"Me?" I smiled sheepishly. "I'm infamous between the freshmans  for being the laziest student out of all of them."
"I don't know whether I should be impressed or just plain disappointed." He rested his head on his palm, yawning. I noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes, when was the last time this guy slept? "Are you even reading that it or just fanning yourself?" He pointed to book that I so gently flipped through.
"Huh? No. I'm speed reading."
"What?"
"I had a lot of time during my sophomore year of high school so I taught myself how to speed read." I explained. "It's basically when you read several times faster than a normal person."
"And that's what you're doing right now?" He straightened his posture.
"Yep."
"Now, I'm definitely impressed. How'd you teach yourself?"
"Read a book."
"Wait, back up. You mean to tell me that you learned how to speed read by reading a book?"
"That's kinda how these things work, yes. And why the hell are you paraphrasing everything I say, Deaton?"
"Because you just told me that you learned to speed read in a single year by reading a book. How?!"
"I'm a quick study." I shrugged, well it's true, once I understand something it become easy for me to learnt it and then it never leaves my head unless I willingly try to get rid of it like I did with Senior level Calculus, I passed but then completely deleted it from my memory. Don't ask.
"What else can you do?" He asked.
"Not much."
"Do you have photographic memory?"
"No, I have intertwined memory."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning I remember everything by connecting it to a some sort of visual like a mind palace."
"How many languages do you know, fluently other than English?"
"Five."
"What the... How the hell did you learn five languages?!"
"Like I said a lot of time in my sophomore year."
"So you taught yourself five languages in a single year?" He raised an eyebrow, staring at me in disbelief.
"Yep. Pretty much everything I know is self-taught."
"How much do you know?" I shrugged. "Fine, I'll rephrase it. Keira, how smart are you?"
"Never took a IQ test so I'm not really sure." I replied casually, no one's ever been all that interested in my intelligence, they just thought that since I'm absent-minded that means I'm stupid. For the most part they were right. Maybe, I should stop degrading myself so much in these books, then again a wise short man once said "Wear your weakness like armor and then it can never be used to hurt you." Wise words by Tyrion Lannister.
"Geez, I can see why teachers must beg you to study." Now it was my turn to arch an eyebrow. "Because they know that you're more than just a lazy college student. You're brilliant." My eyes widened, no one's every called me that before, other than Riley who I'm 90% sure was being more sarcastic than genuine.
"Flattery will most definitely get you somewhere with me." I grinned.
"Thanks for telling me that." He returned the smile.