• Chapter Two: Finally, A Use For Cellphones. Two days. It has been two days. I have not seen him for two days and I am already prepared to tear my own hair out in worry. He had told me that he was going on a trip on his uncle's yacht around the Italian coast as soon as he got out of school, but he should still have reception, a working wireless phone, a bloody telegraph, something! But, no. Here I sit, all a mess to all who see me, and for what? A normal and senseless little boy! It is useless to worry, I know that, but it is so very hard no to at the same time. He promised he would contact me as soon as he got onto the water, but I have yet to hear a thing. I would suppose that's enough to worry anyone, right? “Artemis?” Butler shook me out of my inward rant. “Are you doing any better?” he asked in a worried and somewhat shamed voice. Oh, yes. Have I forgotten to say that the airconditioning was busted at this time? You see, I was a mess and that was apparent to everyone, but everyone thought that I was such a mess, because it was so ungodly hot within the mansion and I refused to go outside and try to find a breeze (I burn easier than an albino on the roof of the empire state building). Therefore, I could be found sitting in the entrance hall, on the floor, with my shirt open and my shoes off in front off an ancient box fan. Just hold that image in your mind for a minute ... Alright, we may move on. “A little better,” I replied, looking up from my spot on the marble floor (it really was blissfully cool). “Have you fixed the central air, yet?” I asked, cocking my head to the side. He knew what I meant. I had insisted the moment that it broke that we call a repair man, but for some unknown reason Butler insisted that he could fix it. As die kindern ((1.)) might say, 'Whatever'. “Not yet. I just can't seem to find the center of the problem, though I know I must be getting closer. It's only a matter of time, now, Artemis. Just wait a little bit longer,” he reassured me with a little smile. Although, he did not do very well with that. The whole time that he was speaking to me, his eyes kept bearing down on me. It made me quite uncomfortable, as you might guess. I knew that I must have looked quite out of place, but he had seen me in much stranger situations. Not to mention the fact that he himself insisted on walking about without any shirt on. I had already scolded him, but he had retorted that it was very hot working on the central air out in back of the house, when I hardly thought it was quite that hot. Butler was not the kind of man to walk about showing so much skin. He was very professional about the way he acted. That is why his behavior was so very strange today. Oh well, perhaps the heat was beginning to overheat his central cortex or some sort. “I ... suppose I'll get back to work, now,” he said, somewhat insecurely. I could not blame him, I was purposely being cold and ignoring him, putting my face close to the fan to get as much air as I could. I refused to make eye contact and I was in no way interested in stroking his ego. “Are you waiting for him to call?” Butler asked, seemingly from out of nowhere. His question caught me off guard, since I had thought that he had left already. More than that, I could not really figure out what he was talking about for a moment. Then, it hit me. I had not had my cellphone outside of arm's reach since school left out. It must have been obvious to Butler, as I rarely used my cellphone, except to keep in touch with him. In that way, it must have been very strange. Now, to decide to answer him or continue to ignore him... I did not get the chance to decide, as my cellphone began to sound out Betoven's No 9 Symphony. Suddenly, my hand, acting completely on it's own, whipped out and snatched the cellphone up in a single breath. How that happened, I do not know ((I think he's becoming more insane. Oh dear)). “Hello?” I asked immediately. I could hear Butler shift his weight and felt his eyes pierce into my back. I really wished he would not act like that. “Hey, Artemis! How's your summer going?” asked a familiar voice. Although, not the voice I thought it would be. “Fairly well...” I said, already feeling disappointed. This was not Remy calling, it was one of Remy's acquaintances that I had accidentally made friends with. This boy's name was Jack, and he was very outspoken, yet extremely intelligent for his appearance. Skinny, pale, and with outrageous spiked, cemented, and frosted hair, I had thought he looked absolutely ridiculous. However, I enjoyed having conversations with him and absolutely loved the fact that he had the strength of heart and mind to butt heads with me and not let it affect his image of me. That was very big of him; he acted much older than his age, quite pleasantly. “Glad to hear it, glad to hear it! Doing anything interesting, or are you just sitting in front of the computer, flaming poor little Rocket Scientists?” he asked, laughing at his own joke. “It is much to hot to do anything that has anything to do with flames...” I said, falling onto my back and enjoying the cold feel of the marble against my skin. As I did so, I heard Butler slowly walk towards me and sit down nearby. He was going to survey my conversation, quite obviously. Ha! He thought I was talking to Remy. “Hm? You can't tell me the 'Everything-state-of-the-art-Artemis' doesn't have a basic window air conditioner?” he asked, with that underlying laugh in his voice again. “It does not seem that way. At the moment, the air is broken and it is oh-so-hot here, you know?” I said, fanning myself a little and putting on that classic playful voice. I got my satisfactory fidgeting from Butler, so I decided to keep it up. “What's this? Playing a joke on someone, Artemis?” he asked. There we go, good Jack, you always were quick! “Mmm... Maybe. Want to play too?” I asked, rubbing my feet together playfully. Unfortunately, I got a dis-satisfied grunt from Butler, so I only thought it would be right to turn around and give him a glare that said, 'Go away'. “Of course, of course. So, what are you doing to keep cool, Pretty Baby?” he asked, putting on his flirt voice as well. “Well, I have stripped a considerable amount, because of the heat...” I said, faking thoughtfulness. This time I got Butler to bark out my name in reprimand. “You know, you should really be telling this to Remy...” Jack said, falling out of character easily. “Pfft!” I shot back, already pushed out of character as well. Sitting up, I forgot that Butler was there and said, “What kind of whore do you think I am? We are not like that at all.” “Artemis! Give me that!” Butler yelled, with surprising projection, and snatched the small phone out of my hand bringing it to his ear to hear “Remy's” reply and probably scream at him. “I'm just saying that you shouldn't go playing these games behind Remy's back. It would make him sad to see his immaculate Artemis behaving in such a way, you know?” It was almost pure luck that I could hear Jack's reply. It was probably a combination of the fact that I was practically crawling on top of Butler to get the phone back, the echoing ability of the hall, and the volume of the phone, which I had turned up to full so that I absolutely would not miss Remy if he did call. ... Which he had not, yet. “See? It is not Remy, I was just acting the idiot! Give it back to me,” I demanded, stepping back and holding out my hand expectantly. “Humph!” Butler harrumphed, and handed over the cellphone grudgingly. “Sorry, Jack, I have to go now,” I said, still ruffled from Butler's behavior about this whole thing. “You in trouble?” he asked simply. “Perhaps, I will tell you later ... Maybe,” I said, and hung up before he could reply. “Who was that, Artemis?” Butler asked, using that same tone he had used in the car the day before yesterday. That way he had of talking to me when he was really upset truly rubbed me the wrong way. “Perhaps when you are in your right mind again and your frontal lobe has re-congealed we can speak, but until then I would like to not hear from you,” I whispered fiercely, refusing to allow this to become a true-to-life argument. There was no argument to be had, after all. Butler was clearly out of his mind that day, so there was no point in trying to speak to him. No point that I saw, at least. I stormed up the stairs and walked into my stifling hot bedroom and quickly regretted moving higher into the house. It was much hotter a level up, than it was on the ground floor. Still, I would much rather be roasting than orally duking it out with Butler down below. I hated fighting with him deeply, as I considered him my closest friend, but his behavior today made me question that and that scared me, quite frankly. He was acting so differently from his normal self, it threw me off rather badly. “Damn this heat!” I spat under my breath, finally giving in; ripping off my shirt and flopping down in the middle of the floor. The carpet made my back itch, but the fact that it was covered in sweat helped to ease the irritation just a little bit. I felt so nasty and dirty, I wanted to take a shower, but to take a nice cold shower, I would have to get up and walk all the way across the room to the bathroom and take off my pants. What a bother, I would have to create a portable teleportation machine one of these days... Still, a shower would have been nice and my back was beginning to get carpet imprints in it. Oh, but how I loathed to walk. Yet, I would not have to wear pants in the shower. Forget it, the shower won. Getting up with a groan, I began to make the long trek to the shower, shedding my pants on the way and throwing them in the general direction of the bed, leaving my silk boxers on, just in case... Then, just as I reached the door to the bathroom and the thoughts of icy cold water on my back were reaching their peak, my cellphone, which had been laying on the floor somewhere, rang. Well, I was almost at the bathroom, but I was also still in mind-numbing worry over Remy. But, what if it was just Jack again? But, what if it was Remy? But, what about my goddamed shower! Meanwhile, the phone had finished off it's first round of Betoven's 9th and would soon be picked up by my voice mail. 'Fine! You win,' I said to myself, letting go of the doorknob and running ((more like vaguely hurried, but I won't argue with him)) back to the middle of the room. “Hello?” I asked, disgruntled. If it was Jack, I was going to murder him slowly and painfully. “Sorry, am I interrupting something?” Remy asked. 'Praise the Lord!' I thought silently, and I did fall to my knees clasping the cellphone in both hands and saying the Lord's Prayer quickly. “Artemis? Hey, are you there? Um, did I catch you at church or something?” I could hear coming from the small speakers. “No no, I am sorry! I was just glad that you called. What happened? You said that you would call sooner than this...” I whined a little. I had faith that he was not distracted by some blond bimbo, but it still stung that he might not need me as much as I needed him. “Well,” he began, a strong marking of a long story. “Long story short;” See what I mean? I know him to well. “The phone on the boat was down, so I wasn't able to call you out on the water like I had been planning too. I had to wait until we docked at the next port town to call you. I'm really sorry about that, but I did miss you. Did you miss me?” he asked playfully. He knew that I hated when he tried to play love games with me, but lately he had been getting me to play with him more and more often. “Not even a little bit,” I answered promptly. It was best to make him squirm first. “No way! Not even a little tiny microscopic bit?” he asked. “Truthfully?” I inquired back, giving in. This would make it end easier. “Of course! How much did you miss me?” “All of this waiting for you to call has made me stir crazy! You have to promise me you will not make me wait like that again. I am not very patient, you might remember?” I said, truthfully. He could always tell when I was telling him the truth, so this would hopefully bring him back from love-land. Remy paused for a minute and I was afraid that I had been to truthful. I wondered if that was to clingy of a comment for him. “I promise,” he said quietly. “I'll definitely call you every time we come into port,” he said determinedly. Oh dear, I believe I stoked his ego a bit too much... (-sweat drop-) “Anyway,” he said, trying to transition from his previously serious mood. “How has your summer been so far?” he asked cheerfully. “Not very well,” I said. “It can't be that bad without me, can it?” he asked, chuckling. “It is not that, you idiot! The air conditioning is broken and you interrupted me just as I was going to take a shower!” I pouted to him. “Is that why it took you so long to answer? You can go ahead and start, I'll hang up when you're ready to get in and call you back tonight!” he suggested happily. “Sigh, that sounds like a good idea,” I said, pushing myself up off the floor and dragging myself back to the bathroom door again. “Anyhow, your summer...?” he said. “Oh yes, I meant to tell you I just got into a fight with Butler.” “That big scary guy?” he asked. “Yes. He is usually very steadfast, but today he has been acting so strangely ... I have to admit, it has thrown me off quite a bit.” “That's to bad. I hope there's nothing wrong with him,” he said, worriedly. “Yes. Really, I think he is just angry about you and I. I told him about our relationship in the car after school left out,” “Oh? How did he take it. Not too bad, I hope.” “No, not that bad at all. At least, he has not tracked you down and given you electro-shock therapy.” “Aha, real funny,” Remy said, sarcastically. “It would be if I was kidding. Still, it does not explain why he is acting the way he is today... Ah! That is quite nice and cold.” “Your shower's ready?” he asked. “Yes, sorry. I will have to let you go.” “Alright, just answer me one question; How naked are you right now?” “-click-” I hung up on him. There would be no more love games for him today. As I stripped off my boxers and stepped into the shower, I had to slowly ease myself under the spray. It was a very refreshing cold, but a shocking one none the less. I was fully under the water when I heard someone open the door to the bathroom quietly. “Butler?” I asked, poking my head out from behind the shower curtain. Or, rather, I tried to ask, but never got the chance as my mouth was covered with a rankly smelling damp cloth. I saw a stern face and icy blue eyes and then everything began to spin and turn black. I do not remember what happened after that. - - - - - Authoress Note: Dun, dun, dun! That's 'uffing right, I left you at a cliff hanger! Now, I demand reviews! You shall review me or I shall devour your souls, or, the next best thing, I will not post the next chapter. And, no! I will not accept someone posting five reviews! That doesn't count! I want five people to review this fan fiction, or I shall not post the next chapter ((which is already under construction, but I'll keep it to myself anyway – I'm evil)). More than that, I want you guys to become involved! That's right, this story can take one of two turns from here. One leads towards Remy, the other towards Butler. Depending on the number of votes I get for either in the next week or so, will influence the flow of the story. Much love! 1.)) Whoa Artemis spoke German! That's right auf Deutsch (in German) that means “the children”. Yes, apparently, Artemis thinks he's an old man...

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