3-23: Tracking Time

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"Do you think if you hit that thing hard enough, you'll just forget she exists?"

Apollo glanced up from the punching bag in front of him, Hale's voice pressing on the last tendril of patience he had. He turned back to the bag, hitting it so hard, the chain snapped and it fell to the wood floor of the gym. Apollo stared at it for a few minutes, rubbing the broken skin of his knuckles. It stung, but not enough to drown out the irritation. He probably should have worn gloves, but that would have defeated the purpose.

He turned to Hale, leaving the bag on the ground and walking toward the locker rooms.

"I think I have no idea what you're talking about. Or who."

Hale was on Apollo's heels, catching the door behind Apollo as he swung it open.

"Do you know how hard I had to look to find you? We're in fucking Dallas. How did you even find a gym that security would let you go to alone?"

Apollo ran a hand through his hair, sweat clinging to his fingers, making the cuts on his knuckles burn.

"Did you bother looking around? The place is completely empty. I rented it out."

Hale raised an eyebrow, taking a seat on the bench next to the lockers as Apollo ran his hands under the stream of water from the sink.

"I thought that was something you did for weddings. Churches and shit. Not gyms."

Apollo twisted the cap off of the bottle of water sitting on the sink, his hands still dripping.

"The power of money. It makes the world go round, you know."

He drained the entire bottle in one breath, tossing the empty container at the trash can. The moment he headed toward the showers, Hale got to his feet. Apollo turned to face him, his hair sticking to his forehead.

"Are you going to follow me into the shower too?"

Hale grinned, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"Sorry. I squashed my crush on you a long time ago. I don't need to see you naked."

Apollo rolled his eyes, pushing through the door. The minute he had, he ducked out of the opposite door into the lobby, and out the front door. He could take a shower at the hotel. The last thing he needed was Hale's company right now. 

No, the last thing you need is a reminder of Harpia right now.

Which is exactly what Hale was trying to do.

So he would go to the one thing that was exactly the opposite of a reminder of Harpia.

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Caelum's voice bounced off of the walls of the hotel room, but it didn't seem to do much to permeate the haze in his head. He couldn't write with her in the room. He couldn't really play guitar either. She was either all over him, or talking.

And as much as he wanted to care about what she was saying, he didn't.

"Are you even listening to me?"

Her eyes were bright with the wine from her glass, but her tone was the opposite.

"I was.... trying?"

Her face turned into a scowl and she sat on the bed next to him, close enough to peer over his shoulder at the notebook in his lap. He shut it, his eyebrow raising as he stared at her.

"What don't you get about me not wanting you to see this shit?"

She reached for the almost empty glass on the end table, downing the rest of it.

"I just wanted to know what was more important than me."

She shrugged, but Apollo was instantly annoyed. The sigh left his throat before he thought twice of it. He turned to face her, sliding the notebook behind him.

"Why do you always say shit like that? You act like you have to be the most important thing to me. And you aren't, Caelum."

He knew his words were harsh. And he could tell they hit her hard by the way her entire body stiffened.

"I'm not important to you at all, Apollo. You make that pretty fucking clear."

Her eyes glittered, and even after all this time, he couldn't tell if it was anger or incoming tears. He wanted to make her feel better, but he didn't have it in him.

"I'm sorry."

She glared at him, dumping so much wine from the bottle into the glass that it almost overflowed.

"You're lying. And I should leave."

She brought it to her lips, spilling some on the gray blanket that still stretched across the bed. Her hair was still tangled, her dress rumpled. He wanted to have more than half assed affection for the girl he kept bringing into his bed. But he couldn't seem to manage it.

"If you want to leave, then leave."

She glared at him, running her tongue over her lips.

"You keep bringing me around, you keep fucking me, but you're never actually going to like me. Are you."

The words were a statement, and not a question. He knew it. And he could feel the ice in it.

"I don't know what you want me to say to that."

He reached out to touch the ends of her hair, but she batted his hand away, rolling her eyes. She shoved her fingers through her hair, trying to untangle it. As if him touching it had reminded her that it was messed up from spending all day in his bed.

"How about the truth for once."

She gave up on the untangling process, drinking from the glass again, facing away from him. When she finally looked at him again, her voice was shaking.

"I'll never be her.

And maybe if you stopped looking for her everywhere, you'd see what was right in front of you.

She leaves you over and over, and you come to me over and over. You won't stop chasing her. She treats you like shit, and you still go right back. 

You use me to get over her. And maybe you see her in me.

But I'll never be her."

She slammed the glass on the table, getting to her feet. Her eyes traveled back to Apollo, but he avoided them.

"I'm going to go."

Apollo pulled the notebook from behind him back into his lap, fixing his eyes on it.

"Alright."

He could see Caelum's hands find her hips in his peripheral, and he looked up at her, sighing again.

"You're not going to stop me?"

His eyes flashed with irritation, and the words came out in a torrent, uninvited, laced with anger.

"I shouldn't have to. I guess that's something she taught me that you seem to think shouldn't apply to you, but want to bitch about her doing to me.

You want me to chase you, but you just told me I shouldn't be going after someone who leaves me over and over. I guess you really do think that you're as special as you come across as thinking you are."

He got to his feet, walking over to the hotel room door. He pulled it open, and despite the fact that he knew her eyes were really shining from tears this time, he didn't care.

"You're a hypocrite of the worst kind.

And you're right. You will never be her. 

And thank fucking God that she'll never be you.

Get lost, Caelum. Whatever this was, it's done."

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she walked through the door, and he forced his eyes away. Because he fucking hated it when girls cried.

"I could have made things better. I fucking tried to. You just wouldn't let me.

When she leaves you empty and alone, like she always will, don't you dare try to come back to me.

You're going to regret this. "

She had stopped right outside the door, her voice full of sincerity. She sounded so sure of herself, it was comical. He glanced up at her, shaking his head.

"Maybe you're right. But that's my choice, isn't it? 

Good luck, Caelum."

And he shut the door.

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Paige shoved Apollo's hotel room door open and leaned against it, clearing her throat.

"What the fuck did you do to Caelum, bat boy?"

He let out a long groan, tossing his notebook aside. He was clearly not going to get anything done that night.

"I dumped her. Or put an end to fucking her. One of the two."

She narrowed her eyes, walking toward him across the room, her arms crossing over her chest.

"Why?"

Apollo lifted one shoulder in a shrug, pushing himself back onto the bed against the pillows.

"Because I realized she reminds me more of Harpia than I thought she did."

Paige's mouth dropped open, but she regained the venomous expression she had in milliseconds.

"That's funny, because she came to our room crying about how you told her you were thankful she was nothing like Harpia."

Apollo nodded, once, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"And I am. Because all the ways she could be like her, she isn't."

Paige clucked her tongue, taking a few more steps into the room and looking around.

"So your solution to them being alike, or not alike, whatever your boy brain seems to think is the logical response, is to push them both away?

Are you stupid?"

Apollo ran a hand through his hair, annoyance bubbling in his chest.

"Can you just get out of my room, Paige?"

She walked all the way over to Apollo's bed, reaching into the back pocket of her denim shorts. She held out a folded piece of paper, watching him with careful eyes. Apollo glanced at the paper, and back up at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Is that a love letter? I'm pretty sure Blake would be pissed if he knew, midget."

She dropped it on his blankets with an eye roll.

"Caelum found it in your suitcase. She thought you should have it before she left."

Apollo went for it, turning it over in his hands.

"What the fuck is it?"

Paige turned back for the door, her voice soft as she left.

"She wouldn't say, and I didn't open it. 

But she said she knew it was more important than her."

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"She went through your suitcase?"

Hale's voice was full of surprise as he drank out of the beer in his hand.

"You can't actually be shocked about that. I had to bust my car window out because of her crazy antics before. I'm sure she went through my phone too."

Hale leaned against the bar, his face still flushed from the excitement of the show they'd just finished.

"So what did it say?"

Apollo could feel the letter burning a hole in his back pocket, but he just took another drink.

"I have no idea. I haven't read it."

Hale watched a girl walk by, and she shot him a huge smile, waving. He didn't smile back, and it didn't seem like he really saw her at all.

"Is it from Caelum?"

Apollo shook his head slowly, trying to make sense of why Hale would ever ignore the attention of a female. Especially one that had been wearing a skirt that short.

"No. It's her handwriting."

That seemed to illicit every scrap of attention Hale had.

"Harpia's?

And you're not the least bit curious what it says?"

Apollo drained the rest of his beer, watching Variance and Paige laughing from the middle of the mini beach-type bar's dance floor as they swayed. He wasn't even sure where Blake or Vega were. He was surprised they'd left the girls alone.

"She wrote that before I left. 

What would it change knowing what it says now?"

"It could change a lot.

If I were you, I'd want to know."

Variance and Paige appeared in front of them so fast, Apollo took a step to the side. He'd zoned out so much, he hadn't even seen them break away from the crowd. Variance slid her hand through Hale's, and Apollo scowled, turning to face the bar behind them.

"What's up, Apollo? Why do you look so... emo?"

Paige leaned against the bar next to him, she was barely a foot taller than it. He was surprised they let her order anything, even with ID. She had the height of a twelve year old.

"Doesn't matter."

She took the new beer the bartender slid him, flashing him a smile as she popped the top off, but left the bottle on the bar.

"You see, you say that, and it makes me believe quite the opposite.

Did you read the letter?"

"I don't care what you believe.

And no."

Paige kicked him softly in the leg, her voice dropping so low only he could hear her.

"You need to read it.

Because what she said, it's going to mean something."

She turned away, and he noticed Blake sliding up to the two of them. Apollo shouted at her as they walked away, his voice barely making it over the music.

"You said you didn't read it."

She shot him a grin, and Blake just looked confused, as she shouted back.

"I lied. Surprise!"

And the crowd met behind them, blocking them from view.

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And I've heard you said one time, 
that I never even fucking cross your mind 
And I guess I'll act like that's fine, 
but you should know that you cross mine all the time