Memories

LXVIII

MORE THAN A WOMAN

'Oh, girl, I've known you very well
I've seen you growing every day
I never really looked before
But now you take my breath away'

⥎
⥐

The team got dressed up nicely for dinner, which was at eight. In the room they were sharing, Kevin stood on the balcony while Thalia quickly changed into the yellow slip dress she'd brought with her. When she went to join him, he was looking out across the landscape, like he had been earlier that day. But as soon as Thalia joined him, Kevin turned and looked at her. She swallowed, thinking she might have done something wrong, but Kevin just took her hands and kissed the tops of her palms, and then the underside. And then her knuckles and fingertips.

"What's bothering you?" she asked carefully when he was done. Kevin sighed and looked down at their hands - he was still holding them, though it was more like Thalia's were fine China sitting in the middle of his huge palms.

"When did you do it?" he asked, not looking into Thalia's eyes. She sighed, knowing exactly what Kevin was talking about. Thalia knew he'd wanted to ask the whole time she'd been in her swimsuit - as had the rest of the Foxes, likely - but she hadn't thought Kevin would actually ask her.

"When I was on the run, I suppose." Thalia responded. "I guess it was too much for me to deal with." Kevin was silent and Thalia removed her hands from his to rest them on his cheeks and make Kevin look at her. He had tears in his eyes, not for the first time that day. "I don't anymore. I promise. I'd tell you if it was getting too hard, okay?" Kevin nodded. Thalia leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed Kevin on the lips. 

They joined the others on the way to the office, and when they got there, the whole team got odd looks, but luckily everyone was polite enough and kept their questions to themselves. Thalia was thankful - the bandages on her and Neil's arms especially weren't pretty. 

On the way back to the cabin, Thalia saw Dan head over to her and Kevin and nodded, telling her it was okay to take Kevin and talk to him. Thalia squeezed Kevin's arm before telling him she was going to head over to Neil and Andrew. He hummed in response and Dan took Kevin somewhere to talk.

They all huddled around a fire Matt created, and Allison told stories about other places she'd visited. She talked animatedly, one arm around Renee and the other flailing about. Then her and Matt started discussing what they'd do as a team to celebrate winning the championships, and Thalia smiled a little at their enthusiasm and optimism. Never once had she believed the Foxes would actually make it to Finals this year, and since it was probably going to happen, now that only one of the Big Three teams were in their group, it was nice to see everyone seeming happy about their possible chance to win. It was slim, but possible.

Thalia joined in when they started debating if they'd travel somewhere, like New York or Hawaii, or maybe even Vegas, and though she was trying to slow her drinking habits and eventually bring it to a stop, she found herself being dragged into more and more drinks. They were mostly just handed to her by Nicky or Matt or even Allison, but she downed every single one. 

Thalia only just noticed Neil leave to refill his glass of water, and almost missed seeing Aaron follow him, but she was too tipsy to do anything. Then Aaron returned shortly after with a smear of blood on his lip and Neil shortly after seemingly in pain. Thalia may have been bordering on drunk, but she could tell something had happened. Likely Neil had punched Aaron, but Thalia couldn't guess what for.  She wasn't bothered to find out. 

When Dan and Kevin returned, neither of them said anything, but Dan headed straight to Matt, and Kevin to Thalia. Nicky got more bottles and passed them around. Kevin downed a bottle as fast as Thalia had ever seen anyone but herself do before, and she went to stop him, but Kevin gave her a look that made Thalia shy away. She turned away from him and joined in on the conversation again.

"Okay, okay, here's a question," Thalia said, a drunk smile on her face and slurred words sounding enthusiastic. A bottle dangled between her fingers, and everything in front of her face was slightly blurry. "If yo had to fuck a celebrity of the same gender - or for our special cases, the opposite gender - who would it be?" Thalia pointed first at Dan, who'd drunk enough to join in on the conversation again.

"Oh, definitely Scarjo," she said, wobbling on Matt's lap, trying not to fall off. Thalia smiled widely and nodded, then pointed to Matt right by Dan.

"Kevin," he said, his words slurred. Thalia, along with everyone else, dropped her jaw. Thalia flicked her gaze to Renee and Neil, not too far apart.

"Our sober friends over here heard that, Matthew," she said, looking back at him. "They can testify for this in the future." Matt didn't say anything else, just smiled drunkenly, and Thalia moved on, pointing her finger at Aaron. "You. Go."

"I don't want to answer that," he said, clearly not as drunk as the rest of the team. Nicky next to him made a booing sound and Aaron sighed. "Fine. I don't know, I can't think of anyone."

"It is not something you think about, Mr Minyard," Allison said. "Just say the first name that comes to mind."

"Alright, Tom Cruise," Thalia burst out laughing, along with Nicky and Allison. "What?"

"Sweetie, all of God's green earth would fuck Tom Cruise," Allison said. When she was calm, Thalia moved her finger to Nicky. "No cheating, you do a girl," 

"Ugh, alright, well I suppose I have to say Natalie Portman because she is a queen," Nicky said. Thalia nodded and leaned across the table to fist bump Nicky.

"Good answer! The best I've heard yet." Thalia said. She pointed at Renee. "Next! You do a dude, Renee."

"Alright," Renee said. "Chris Evans seems like a nice person. He gives to charity, supports others." 

"Oh, I forgot," Thalia slapped her palm to her forehead as if remembering something. "You're into humanitarians. So how did you end up with Allison?" Allison threw a pillow at Thalia, which she shielded her face from with her hands. Then Thalia pointed at Allison, a smile on her face.

"No, that's not fair," Nicky said, pointing accusingly at Allison. "She likes guys and girls." Allison shrugged like 'That's not my problem'. "Do something else for her." Thalia hummed.

"Alright, where would you rather visit - Paris or Hawaii?" Thalia asked. Allison huffed like she was being stupid.

"Paris, duh." Allison rolled her eyes and so did Thalia, before moving onto Neil.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I'm not really in tune with celebrities," he said. Thalia nodded. 

"Fair enough," she said. "Andrew," she pointed at him.

"I'm not answering that." he said. Thalia smiled wider.

"I figured you'd say that. So moving on." she pointed at Kevin, who was sitting next to Thalia with a bottle in his hand. "You."

"Ask me a question like Allison's," he said. Thalia widened her eyes and Kevin nodded, almost embarrassed. Thalia put down her own bottle and hugged Kevin from the side with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh, Kevin," she said. "Why didn't you tell me before!" she laughed, and the rest of the team took a few more seconds to catch on. Thalia knew none of them but Renee and Neil and maybe Andrew would remember this conversation in the morning. But it would come back to them eventually, just like all of Thalia's other memories. She was just happy Kevin felt comfortable - even if it was in a drunken state - to tell the team.

"Well, obviously I'd pick Natalie Portman, because as Nicky said, she is a queen." Thalia said, pulling the attention off Kevin's announcement. 

By the time they all headed to bed, Renee was helping Allison and Kevin up the stairs, and Neil held Thalia up. Dan and Matt supported each other, and Nicky stumbled up the stairs by himself, holding onto the railing. Aaron was mostly alright, even though he was still drunk. Just not as much as the rest of them.

Kevin, though he was worse than Thalia, helped her out of her loose dress and into her sleep clothes. Thalia didn't say anything as she got into the bed she'd pushed up against the wall, and fell asleep with Kevin's breathing from the next bed over.