Third Wheel

"Here hold this." Natasha said shoving her bags into her sister's arms. "Don't drop them!" She snapped at her. Ariel juggled the bags so that she could hold them properly. Out of the ten shopping bags that she held only one was hers. Plus it was actual items she needed, unlike Natasha.

"Natasha I don't know about this." Ariel said as she followed her sister and her friend Marie. Marie had darker blonde hair that was straight. She was shorter than the two of them as well, but no less conceded than Natasha. Birds of a feather those two.

"Your opinion wasn't asked for Ariel." Marie reprimanded as they walked out the door. She turned to Natasha to start talking to her. "So you'll be like your parents, rich and married to a very powerful man." She added the last part in a whisper. Ariel suppressed a shudder. The way they talked about it, just didn't sit right with her. Ariel thought her sister was really taking this for granted.

"Yes. But it will be a while yet, but not too long. Not now that I'm eighteen we can be a bit more public. Start outwardly dating, though he hasn't really asked much of me. Kind of questions me a lot about the things that I do. What I would do being his wife, because you know that others will come to me because of it. Have an image to up hold." Ariel frowned. That wasn't how she remembered the conversations she'd been present for. Especially with Malachi, he'd been asking her if she was taking her business classes seriously. Just what she planned on helping run once they had joint accounts. Yeah she was still young and so was he, but clearly Malachi wanted to start thinking about how to run his holdings. Natasha seemed to not care.

"I'm jealous." Marie said. Natasha just had a smug smile.

"Well let's go we are supposed to meet Nick and Dave in a little bit for lunch." Ariel frowned again. That was exactly what she didn't think was smart. She hadn't been talking about the bags shoved at her. She was talking about leaving to meet these other friends.

"Natasha, I don't think that he would like it very much if he knew you were seeing others. Isn't that cheating?" Ariel asked in her quiet voice. Natasha whipped around and narrowed her eyes at her sister.

"Not if someone doesn't go blabbing their mouth to him. Who's side are you onAriel!" She turned and went back to walking toward the red sports car that was there. There were only a couple of cities on this planet. Most places were smaller villages with decent homes, farming families. The cities were where most of the shipping stock came in. The main higher education schools were for those wishing bigger and better things.

"I hate that you have to come with me. Don't see why he requests it." Ever since that first night she was told Ariel would come with her family. She would enter with them as well. They did not want it to appear like there was separation or favoritism. Natasha thought it was all wasted on Ariel.

"Yeah why is that?" Marie asked looking at Ariel. Marie's father had plenty of dealing with Lord Vento. He managed large accounts for him. Plus contacted a great many powerful figures through out the worlds. Helped with shipping.

"I don't know. He just requests it." Ariel said putting the bags in the trunk. Marie waited while Ariel climbed into the back seat which was cramped. She made sure that the skirt of her purple summer dress was tucked nicely around her.

Natasha was wearing a pink and orange summer dress that was rather short. Ariel never commented on her sister's choice of clothing. She always wore better clothing than she did. Always looked better than her. Marie wore a black skirt and a red top. Ariel knew they liked to pick on her, or point out her flaws to make themselves look better. Ariel just sighed inwardly.

"Well just remember that I'm betrothed to him. Not you. So you should keep your eyes to yourself. Just because you play the poor misunderstood little girl doesn't mean anyone really wants you." Natasha said backing up. It was her favorite pastime to tear Ariel down. She was very used to it, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Besides her gaze rarely left the carpet when they were there. She would never check anyone out.

"Yeah I saw you with Matt the other day. All over him." Ariel felt a redness in her face. It was anger and embarrassment. That was not true!

"He came on to me. I didn't want his attention and pushed him away." She said quietly and the other two laughed.

"Not before a good necking." That was a lie. Matt had tried to force himself on her thinking her an easy target. She knew what kind of guy Matt was. Yeah he'd managed to kiss her but just barely and he now had a limp. She had a couple tricks up her sleeve. Though she did feel bad about it. If she could heal, she could unheal too.

"Is it true that there was an attack on the Ventos the other day?" Marie asked changing topics and Ariel was glad for it. Anything was better than being the center of attention in Ariel's book.

"Yeah, word is that it may have been Ricardo's men." Marie laughed at what Natasha said.

"That would be stupid and foolish."

"What happened?" Marie inquired. Clearly she just wanted to gossip, not caring that people might have gotten hurt.

"A group of people came in and tired to kill him. Not like it hasn't happened before, but all of them are dead now."

"Jeremiah said that he was injured when he called to tell us what happened. So was Malachi but not as bad." Ariel supplied from the backseat. It had been her who answered the call. She was very happy to hear that everyone was okay. Natasha had ripped the phone from her to find out what had happened after that.

"He's perfectly fine. They are different, you know that? Odd never seen either of them sick." Natasha stated and a couple times noted a few other things. Still they were powerful people, so what if they were a bit odd. Ariel didn't care, clearly she was different too.

"That doesn't always mean you live forever." Ariel said from the backseat. Natasha turned giving her a very nasty look. She shrank back into herself and looked out the small window not talking the rest of the time. Clearly Natasha didn't want to hear her.

They came to a Japanese restaurant and pulled into a parking spot. The three of them got out and moved toward two young men leaning against a black Mercedes. Both were tall, with brown hair but the one was more muscled. That was Dave. Ariel was a bit slower to follow. She didn't want to be here.

"Hey!" Natasha said with a bright smile coming up to them and hugging Nick. Marie moved to Dave and did the same. Ariel stood up on the curb holding her left wrist. The front of her hair was pulled back to the back of her head. She wished she hadn't pulled it back so she could use it to hide behind.

"Ariel, joining us today?" Nick asked coming up to where she was standing. An arm around Natasha. Ariel felt uncomfortable with the way that his gaze moved over her. Just as it moved over her sister. She fidgeted a little and opened her mouth to speak but Natasha beat her to it.

"No, she wanted to go to one of the shops here." Natasha gave her a smile, and her eyes told her to get lost. Ariel wasn't offend in the slightest. She didn't want to hang out with Natasha and her friends. She'd been brought along as Natasha's bag carrier. Once more, just her servant and verbal punching bag.

"Well that's to bad." Nick said moving passed her and Ariel gave a nod. She looked at all the shops here. Where to go now that she was dismissed? It was like a huge square with a small park area in the middle and a fountain. She walked to one store and took her time in there. Then she went to a coffee shop and got something to drink. She was only given fifty dollars to use when they went out and had to give the change back.

She said her thanks and walked out the coffee shop. She sat down in a chair right outside. As she sat there sipping her coffee, a man came up to her. She looked up at him, he was good looking and his smile was a bit too charming. He couldn't be much older than her.

"Hello."

"Hi." She said quietly.

"What's a pretty little thing doing out here by yourself?"

"Waiting for a few friends." She shifted a bit, she hated when strangers came up to her like this. They tended to do that a lot. They always called her pretty, or beautiful, or babe. She didn't like it, she would much rather be left alone. She felt awkward and couldn't meet their gaze.

"If they are all as good looking as you, perhaps I'll wait around."

"They aren't available."

"Doesn't mean you can't have fun." He said smiling and tipped his glasses down to look her over. Ariel stood up, she might let her family walk all over her, but she wouldn't let strangers do it. Believe it or not she did have a little self respect. That and the thought of another touching her, in the way that their eyes suggested made her sick. Literally sick, she got nauseous, it terrified her. Ariel was incredibly aware that she had intimacy issues.

"Maybe some other time." She stated and walked away from him into the park and sitting area. She found a bench and sat down. She watched the fountain. It was a beautiful, an abstract piece of art that water flowed down. She leaned over and looked down into the rippling water. The basin was a black color.

She moved from the bench to sit on the edge of it and played with the water for a moment. Ariel liked the tranquil moment, though it didn't last. She heard laughter and looked up. Her sister was moving down the walkway with the others. They were window shopping, but none of them even looked over at her, nor where she sat.

Ariel sighed a sad sigh. She should just fade into the background and then she wouldn't have to worry about anything after that. Just become part of the scenery and then no one would pick on her. Or hit her, or tell her how worthless she was. She looked at her arms, very faint marks were there. Still from times past there were still marks.

A couple that looked like burn marks. She touched them gently. They had hurt badly, her parents had sometimes used that as punishment. She was surprised that she didn't have more scars visible, but they like to hit where it didn't show. She really hoped that going away to school would be nice. Though that had been crushed a bit. She was going to be doing more online than anything else. Ariel was actually a couple grades above those her age in learning. It was never mentioned of course, especially since Natasha wasn't. So Ariel just learned on her own, took the courses and signed herself up. Her parents didn't care. Didn't even look at her grades. Just as long as she helped Natasha if she struggled.

Ariel got up and decided to move toward a different store. She walked past the one that her sister had gone into. She could just see her in there laughing with Nick. She just stopped and watched them, her gaze moving to others in the store. How could they all be so at ease with the others? Weren't they afraid that the other was going to hurt them? That they were just lying to them? Ariel felt her sadness creep back up. She didn't see that someone was moving toward her at first. Seeing she was lost in her thoughts.