Chapter 19: Two Can Play At That Game

A bell rang, signaling that it was time for the guests to pile in and be formally introduced. Lila came up to them and took both of their hands. "Alright, shall you be introduced as both Bensyls, or….whatever your boyfriend's last name is?" She asked while tapping her foot impatiently. "Bensyl, let's keep things simple." Apollo said quickly. Lila pulled them into the balcony in the main room and raised her voice. "Here we are presenting a name we've all heard before, Sarah Bensyl and Adam Bensyl!" She then shoved them down the corridor and told them to scurry and get socializing. "Adam?" Sarah asked, confused. "Yes Adam, I don't care for the whole, oh are you a god jokes tonight." Sarah was very confused. "Because my name is Apollo, and Apollo is like a greek god?" He said blatantly. "OHHHHH!" Sarah laughed. "Yep, and that's why I go by Adam here." He finished. "Yeah, that makes sense. We are supposed to go as a couple, so I have some rules." Sarah said. "We need to seem real, and I think if we keep up the facade my headaches should stay away for the time being." She pulled him into a storage closet while other guests joined the part. It was awfully cramped, but Sarah did not want to embarrass them in front of all of these nobles. "One, Luke said that we have to seem real enough that the officials won't suspect anything. So, I say we hold hands, talk like adults, and show no real affection towards each other. It's what all of these other couples do. We could say that we had a young arranged marriage!" Sarah finished. "Right, that should work. We should get out of here before we're missed." Apollo said, peeking out of the door. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the cramped closet just to bump into an elderly couple. "Oh, someone's getting busy!" The old woman chuckled. Apollo blushed and said, "can't blame me." The old couple laughed and moved on. "Really? That was unnecessary." Sarah scolded. "But you're blushing so the plan worked." He had a goofy smile as they walked into the main room, "as a couple." They soon separated when Loki came to inform Sarah of her first task. She was to socialize, and try to get information about the monarchy's battle strategies for their upcoming war, and so she did. But she couldn't focus. Sarah felt that she should, she needed to make sure that she could stay put together, and that she wouldn't become what Apollo claimed he saw. She couldn't believe his new attitude, but she had the direct instinct that she should follow it. Sarah was lost in people, she had become deeply overwhelmed. All she could think about was Apollo. Her thoughts turned into a frenzy. She was overturned with guilt for leaving him alone, because what if he was hurt? Or even worse. Her thought process was broken when she spotted him across the room. He was with someone, a girl. Sarah's heart ached with jealousy, but she didn't know why. It wasn't like Apollo was her boyfriend really, she was just tied to his emotions, and she probably wouldn't be able to for much longer. Sarah unconsciously headed in his direction. She pulled on his shoulder and he turned around. Sarah saw a girl's hand on his other shoulder, and it made her furious. She still couldn't grasp why, but she had to act on it. So, she grabbed Apollo's arm and pulled it around her waist. The girl stared at her and then started talking. "Ohhhh, I'm sooooooo sorryyyyyy girlie. I completely didn't realize that he was yours. Tootles then, wait. Give me your arm." The girl said, pulling on Apollo's other arm. She pulled out a pen and wrote a phone number on it, then walked away. "Everyone here is real sleazy, huh?" Apollo asked with a chuckle. "You can let go of my arm now, I didn't need saving in the first place." He grumbled. "I'm not letting go of your arm. You're my fake boyfriend aren't you? That means this is mine for the time being. Two can play at this game."