"Not bad, I guess," Julius muttered.


    "We''ll have to keep an eye on him," Norton chimed in, voices low and suspicious.


    Quentin staggered to his feet, a crooked grin on his face. "Alright,e on, you and me-let''s spar for a bit."


    "Wait, you mean a fight?" Ss stood up too, eyes widening in surprise.


    "I need to know you can protect Callie," Quentin said, suddenly sounding way too serious for how much he''d had to drink.


    "Fine, bring it on," Ss replied, rolling his shoulders.


    The two of them tromped out onto thewn before Calliope could stop them. Within seconds, they were brawling like two college football yers after too many beers.


    Naturally, Calliope and Dahlia hurried out to watch, joined by Julius and Norton, who immediately started cheering for Quentin like this was the Super Bowl.


    After a while, it dawned on the tipsy crowd that no one was rooting for Ss, and soon enough, Julius and Norton were arguing about whose side they should actually be on.


    "Your brothers are a riot,” Uriah said, standing next to Calliope.


    "They''re just drunk," Calliope replied with a frown.


    "Still, Quentin''s impressive. Even wasted, the guy''s steady on his feet. And Ss is holding his own. I''ve never seen anyone match him before," Uriah mused.


    Calliope just watched, biting her lip, clearly worried.


    The longer the fight went on, the more serious it got-punchesnding harder, eyes narrowing. These two were really going at it, and it was clear someone could actually get hurt.


    Seeing things escte, Calliope realized nobody else was going to step in. So, without a second thought, she rushed toward them.


    "Watch out!" Uriah tried to grab her arm, but she was too quick. "They''re both wild right now, you''ll get hurt!"


    But Calliope didn''t care. She dove right into the fray.


    A few wild movester, both Ss and Quentin, caught up in the adrenaline, turned their attention to this unexpected challenger.


    That''s when Calliope showed what she was made of. With just a few slick moves, she had both guys pinned and gasping for breath.


    "That''s it, fight''s over. It''s a tie!" she dered, ring at them. "I''m Callie. You''re not allowed to hit me!"


    With that, the fight abruptly ended. The two bruisers suddenly looking sheepish. Calliope waved Dahlia and a couple others over to help haul the boys back inside.


    After all that, Ss and Quentin were even more hammered, stumbling and slurring, barely able to keep their eyes open. In the end, Calliope


    managed to shove all four que into


    separate rooms, just to make sure no more brawling broke out.


    Finally, peace and quiet.


    Calliope let out a sigh of relief.


    Uriah was staring at her in awe. "You''re seriously impressive."


    "You tter me," Calliope replied, shooting him a quick nce. Noticing Mavis was


    missing, she asked, “Hey Uriah, you got a minute to talk?"


    "About what?" Uriah replied warily, already sensing trouble.


    "Mavis," Calliope said, fixing him with


    a look. "Don''t try to dodge this. I''m not going to eat you alive, and m not forcing you into anything Just a chat, okay?"


    ???


    Uriah hesitated, but finally nodded.


    They stepped outside together, leaving the noise behind.


    "Do you really have zero feelings for Mavis?" Calliope asked quietly. "You know,


    giving someone hope and then taking it away, that''s a cruel thing to do."


    "I know," Uriah replied, voice low.


    "That''s why I didn''t want to give her any hope in the first ce. That''s actually why I called off the


    nov


    Christmas dinner at thest minute."


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!