Forever and Always

Chapter 38 - Local Celebrities

After detention released me from school, Petra took me back to her apartment so that we could have a Twilight movie marathon. I hadn't ever seen the movies or read the books. All I knew was that it was about vampires and werewolves, and there was something about Team Jacob that Petra wouldn't shut up about. She was clinging to me, happy to have a friend back.

"Where has Ty been?" I asked, trying to get as caught up as possible after disappearing entirely for two weeks.

"We broke up. I didn't wanna bug you guys while you were on your trip, so I bugged your sister. She and Sasha and I all cried and watched chick flicks together last Saturday."

"Jeez, I'm sorry," I muttered. "You could have texted. We weren't constantly busy or anything. Aloof asshole. You okay though?"

"You sound just like Levi," Petra snickered, nudging me with her elbow when she parked her car in her parking spot. The clean white prius didn't suit her at all. She always seemed like much more of a red convertible girl, but I knew good mileage was good mileage. "Yeah, I'm all good now. You ready for this?"

"The movies?" I asked, crossing my arms while she unlocked her apartment. I was familiar with the place, having lived in the other, now empty, bedroom for the last three months.

"Yes, dummy. Okay, but seriously team Jacob. Like holy hot damn."

"Right, okay, whatever that means. Which one is he?" I inquired as we sat down and she popped in the first movie.

"You'll see. And now that Levi's gone, we can eat on the couch all we want!" I'm gonna pop some popcorn. Want a Coke or something?"

"Sure, I'll have a Coke. Thanks P," I smiled at her when she tossed me a cold can of Coca-Cola from the fridge and put a bag of popcorn into the microwave.

"No problem. Bag said five minutes, so we can sit and chat before we start the movie. How was Colorado? It feels like I haven't seen you in years."

"Yeah it feels like forever," I nodded in agreement. "Well, It was pretty spectacular. Like, I don't even know how to describe how happy I was to meet Poppy. And Isabel and Farlan are so cool. Ya know, when Levi and Farlan saw each other for the first time, Farlan actually kissed him."

Petra rolled her eyes and brought her knees up onto the couch. "That does not surprise me. Back in New York, Farlan was all over Levi. Even when he started dating Isabel. It was the weirdest thing, hearing rumors that he was with Isabel, but then watching him drool over Levi at parties. Literally, if the guy even stood up, Farlan was instantly eyefucking him, with his fucking arm around Isabel. It was so weird. Like, if he wanted Levi, he should have gone with Levi, ya know?"

"That sounds about right. But, wait. You knew them?" I asked. Levi had told me that he knew who Petra was, but I had no idea they spent that much time together.

"I knew of them. I had seen them before, and we sometimes had sort of small talk conversations at the drink tables. Our friend groups rarely mixed, but we were similar enough to see each other at the same parties. And Farlan was kind of infamous among the kids my and Levi's age. He fucked our poly-sci teacher while he was a sophomore. Levi and I would have been twelve, but it was common knowledge. The teacher never got fired," She chuckled as an afterthought. "But yeah, Church was a god. And he was fucking hot. Like, all the girls in my grade and all the high school girls thought he was like our own personal Justin Bieber or something. "I remember my best friend in eighth grade, Camilla, was squealing to me in gym about how, "Oh my god Farlan Church held the door open for me!" And it was the highlight of her school year."

"Damn. He really was the shit then, huh?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at my friend. I was drinking up the juicy details I had missed before I was sling-shotted into Levi's orbit.

"Oh yeah. Very much so. Even seeing him at parties left me sort of starstruck. Same with Levi. We all knew about the Ackermans. They sold to everybody's dealers, and were insanely old money, and as few direct relatives as Levi claims to have, there are countless illegitimate Ackermans out of Levi's grandpa. There was a whole thing about them being in the Illuminati when we were in middle school. Levi got made fun of a lot, but then he got pulled out in the middle of sixth grade. We were told he moved. Even then, without even knowing him, I seriously doubted that. I saw all the bruises he came to school with. You had to look close because he would cover them up with makeup. He started wearing heavy eyeliner and dressing in all black, and hasn't really ever stopped. 

"But yeah, nobody was surprised when Farlan started fucking Levi after he graduated. Two hot, promiscuous dudes: it was bound to happen at some point. Although most of us had money, they were a kind of reclusive affluent type, but even so, they were local celebrities, of sorts. Talk of the town. Everybody was surprised when they adopted Isabel into their little family. Levi was immediately interested in her sexually, but Farlan more felt the need to protect her. She came from a bad neighborhood. But she was gorgeous last time I saw her, I will give her that."

"So are you!" I exclaimed as the microwave timer went off. "You're so pretty, Petra."

"Thanks, Eren. But Isabel has the body I never got. I've always had really wide hips and stuff. Isabel was the only other red head in our sociogram, and she was taller, and had a more sculpted body. Like she was the model, and I was just curvy."

"Shut up. You're gorgeous. You got a second call from Levi Ackerman. I feel like that says something."

"Maybe so," Petra sighed. "But I couldn't save him when Isabel leaving broke him. I failed him, because he didn't need me. He needed her."

"Petra, you have entirely the wrong idea. He was sad that he lost his friends, obviously, but what twisted the blade for him wasn't that Farlan and Isabel left. He wasn't ever seriously into Isabel. If losing a friend was gonna break him, it would have been Farlan. But even Farlan wasn't what sent him over. It was losing his daughter. Petra, he lost his baby. He would have given anything to have her back. Including his own life, apparently."

"Yeah," Petra sighed, standing up to get the popcorn. "But on a happier note, I'm so excited to watch this with you!"

"Yeah! Let's do this thing!" I cried as she sat down with the large bowl of popcorn, leaning into my shoulder while I pressed 'play' on the remote. It felt good to know that we were friends, even without Levi there.