What can Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and eternal beauty, ever dream of? To make people fall in love, have fun...and get back to Olympus.
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When the God of erotic love, Eros hatches a plan to overpower Aphrodite; the Goddess of eternal love and...
I watched as the white SUV zoomed away until it was only a blur dot in the black of the night. A chilly air pulled me back from my trace, the fine hair on my arms and neck rising at the cold.I shivered, wrapping myself in April’s discarded Apron. It did little to protect me from the cold but at least it protected my dignity and the cold never bothered me anyway.
“Charlie, will you please calm down?!” I yelled on entering back inside the diner. Charlie was seated on the stool, rubbing his forehead and mumbling nonsense.
Those group of men had already left, seeing such a commotion. A blond came stumbling from the kitchen, her lipstick smudged and her jeans and blouse suspiciously wet. At least she didn’t look drunk.
I groaned in annoyance, walking behind the counter and taking off an employee shirt.
“Here, wear this, it’s too late, call an uber.”
The girl looked at the shirt with distaste but took it anyway.
“Charlie! What the hell was that? You scared away so many customers!”
Charlie looked up from the ground, his eyes were red and cheeks swollen and hair all messed up. All signs of him being drunk, alcohol completely changed a sane person, clouding over their mind and body like a parasite.
“Dawn, you believe me don’t you. S-she, that girl with pink here. I have seen her before. She’s the one, she’s the one, from seven years ago, exactly like this.”
I inhaled deeply, feeling a headache coming, “Charlie, we’ll talk in the morning, when you aren’t fucking drowing in liquor.”
“I am telling the fucking truth dammit!” He stood up and the stool fell back down.
I watched in horror as he lost his mind. Although I have known him to be a kind man, if he dared to lay a finger on me, I'd break his bones.
He swept a hand down his face, taking deep breaths, “Just believe me Dawn, I am not more sane when I am drunk to not recognise a treacherous face as beautiful as her!”
“What’s all this noise?” Tony appeared from the kitchen. His eyes were heavy lidded and rimmed red and some white powder spread on his clothes and face.
“What’s that Tony?” I questioned disbelievingly. Behind us, Tony was now pacing in circles.
“Mind your own business.” Tony muttered and went back inside.
“Where are you going!” I yelled after him before running behind, “Charlie don’t do anything stupid.”
At this point, I didn’t even care if he did anything stupid, I wasn’t his fucking babysitter for God’s sake.
“Tony!” I called again. As soon as he came back in the line of my sight, he had tripped over some boxes. I passed him only to find a table filled with small white packets, leaking the powder on the table.
“What the fuck!”
“Get out of here!” Tony yelled, matching my frequency.
“Have you gone crazy or something?!” I faced him, pulling him up by the colour. He stunk of alcohol and something else.
Contrary to the situation, he grinned, dimples digging on both his cheeks, “Aren’t we all crazy Dawn?”
I was barely holding back by a thread now. He was doing drugs! “Have you gone nuts! I am throwing all of this.”
But before I could move towards them, Tony’s eyes doubled in size, he punched me hard against my lip, I stumbled against the wall, hitting my head hard on the cold surface. Pain shot through my spine, a groan slipped past my lips.
“Stop being a bitch! You are insufferable! Who are you to order me? Fuck off.”
My eyes stung, hot wetness filling them. But there was no time to break down. I stood back up, seething with rage.
“I’ll show you how to be a real bitch.”
Saying that, I picked a bottle of coke, swiftly opened the lid and poured it all over the table and over Tony’s face which was trying to shield it. He cried out in horror as I threw the bottle far away and ran out through the back door.
What an eventful night.
My shift wasn’t usually this long and thus I had already missed my train. The next one came about half an hour later. On reaching home, the front and back doors were locked. I had to climb up my own window to enter the house.
As soon as my head hit the pillow, it was like a damn broke loose. The pain from Tony’s punch overtaking my face, my lip was definitely bruised and my head was throbbing in pain too. Sumbered in physical aches and mental stress, I let a dreamless exhausted slumber take over me.
-
It felt like hours had passed when I opened my eyes back again, but seeing outside the window, it was still fairly dark. I turned my head to see the clock on my bedside table. It was just four in the morning but there was the sound of multiple people coming from downstairs.
I could easily make out my grandma’s and grandpa's voices but there was also a calm husky voice I didn’t recognise at once. I sat up, the familiar aches already taking root.
I opened my room’s door only slightly to let their voices come in.
“Ms Rivera, so what do you say about this deal? They are offering after 40 grand.”
“That does sound like a good deal Meridith.” My grandfather agreed.
Grandma hummed, “Alright, then ask them to come to the house and take a look at the house and we can finalise the deal.”
It took me a minute to realise what they were talking about, still half gone by the sleepiness. They were selling a house?!
My grandfather sighed, “It had always been our dream destination Mr. Weiner. Minnesota. We never got a chance to shift though.”
“Ah, it’s all because of our daughter and that annoying brat she left behind.”
They were selling this house?!
My heartbeat skyrocketed as the truth of the situation settled in my brain. They were leaving for Minnesota soon. And they were selling this house. What about me? There was no way they’d take me with them.
The trio continued to chat happily downstairs but I could barely hear anything above my laboured breathing. I am finally going to be homeless.
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