Icon of the Indecisive #3 of 3 (COMPLETE)

Chapter 4

I was so glad that I agreed to this Valentine's Day movie date with my best friend Sol. We had planned this months ago, way before there was any doubt or drama over Robbie and Quin. Sol's favorite romance novel of all time, something called Day of Hearts by Filipino author Ivy Mira Alonzo, was made into a movie, and we made a pact to see it on Valentine's Day, whether we had boyfriends at the time or not.

It worked out, because Soledad Delloro, my best friend, just recently broke up with her boyfriend Neil. I unfortunately had something to do with that. Neil had inexplicably picked up the power to command people (and gods, or interim goddesses) to do his bidding, and he became a concern for our resident deities. We only got to know about it because he spent the first few months of his new empowered state conning and robbing people. He obviously wasn't aware he could do so much more.

But we (I) handled that problem. He was still in school, but under the watchful eye of beings more powerful than me.

"I think you should go out with Robbie," Sol was saying, settling into her seat. "And not because Quin says you should. But do you really like him, like anyway?"

"Yes I do," I said, right after I checked the rows behind us if anyone we knew was there. But yeah, I did like Robbie, a lot.

My only problem with him, really, is that I was so sure he loved me. Would I love him the same way if he were unreadable to me? Would I be as comfortable, as confident in his feelings, if I could only go by his words and actions?

I couldn't tell. But Robbie was hot, too. It wasn't a looks thing.

"Then do it!"

"How are you though?" I asked. The breakup was less than two weeks ago, and I didn't try to ask too much about her. Sol, strangely, was what Quin called "immune" to us now—meaning she could not be affected by any of our divine powers. Not her controlling boyfriend's, not mine, not Quin's—only Bathala, Quin and everyone's father, could influence her in any way. I hadn't even told her I was Interim Goddess yet. Not on purpose, but after a few months I didn't know how to bring it up. But her not knowing anything about this was a relief, because that meant she and I could be best friends like normal people.

"I saw him yesterday, and he really tried to avoid me," Sol sighed. "It's so weird."

"He's ashamed and stuff. Don't feel sorry for him."

"I'm not... I just miss him."

"I hope you enjoy this movie then."

"Oh no, this movie won't help."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "I thought this was a feel-good romcom!"

She gave me a look. "It's not! I've talked about Day of Hearts like dozens of times. You never paid attention? You never even looked at the summary thingy on the book I gave you?"

"I didn't know there'd be a test!" I retorted. "Here I thought I was going to have some mindless fun with you. What is this about?"

Sol rolled her eyes. "It's about the Philippine god of the sun discovering that this beautiful artist-social worker living in modern day Manila might be the reincarnation of his great love, so he becomes human again to try and reunite with her! I wrote papers about this for school! Do you not read anything I send you?"

* * *

So it went like this: Mikey Jones Curtis, one of the top three hottest movie stars under thirty, was playing Apo, God of the Sun. The movie started with a scene in what seemed like heaven, all fluffy clouds and white columns. It looked really cheesy onscreen, but I remembered my own goddess dreams where I seemed to be impossibly high up... Maybe there was something to it.