Athena's Enigma

12 - My New Predicament

I hesitantly took a seat in one of the surprisingly comfortable green chairs. The redhead, Peyton, didn’t even bother listening to her grandfather’s request. She barely moved from her crossed arms stance which allowed me to get a really good look at her. 

She couldn’t have been much older than 25 and was very apparently pretty. She was the kind of pretty that made me want to hide my own face just to make sure no one would compare us both. 

“This is ridiculous Eros!” Peyton shouted after a minute throwing her arms up in the air before falling back into the chair. “Let’s hurry up and get this over with then.” 

Eros sent a glaring look toward his granddaughter before he turned his attention to me/ “Avena, we have become aware of your recently acquired living arrangements.” 

I stared at him for a minute before I translated for him. “I’m currently living on Earth.” 

“Right,” Eros agreed as I understood what he was saying. “It has come to our attention and we believe that it is time to engage in your life. In other words, guide you along in your love life.” 

I raised one of my eyebrows. “You want to match me up with someone?” 

“Not just someone,” Eros said emphasizing the word as if it were a cursed word. “Your soul mate!”

I believe I saw Peyton roll her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest once again but she didn’t comment.

“I don’t need help,” I disagreed quickly. “I’m not Earth to work on my love life. I just want to be a normal college student. I don’t need all the pressure of ‘falling in love’ and all that crap.”

Eros looked offended but it was actually Peyton who spoke next. “It’s not crap as unreal as it sounds. Look, love is never convenient so whether you like it or not, we’re going to be hanging around you a lot.”

Eros glanced at Peyton for a moment. “We will do nothing of the sort.” Both Peyton and I raised our eyebrows in surprise and waited for him to explain. “I will not be handling this case. Peyton, I believe you can handle this one all by yourself.”

“What?” Peyton practically yelled standing from the chair. I will say that it made me kind of feel…unwanted.

“It appears that you two will be spending a lot of time together,” Eros proclaimed with a knowing smile. A silent exchange took place between them and although I could have spied, I stayed away from their minds. After a minute, Peyton sat back down exhaling loudly and turned away from me. I seriously wondered what her deal was.

 “Alright then, it’s settled.” Eros turned halfway in his chair as if that was his signal to end the conversation.

“Whoa!” I stated while standing to draw the attention to me. “Do I not get a say in this?”

Eros turned his chair back around and waited for me to go on. “This is unfair to me. What if I decided that I don’t want your help? I don’t want to find my soul mate or whatever.”

“We’re here to help and sadly we can’t go away,” Peyton answered but it sounded mechanical as if she had said it many times before.

I faltered a moment trying to figure out a way to make this not happen. I couldn’t help myself as I blurted, “I already have a boyfriend!”

Eros smiled like he was prepared for the answer. He grabbed the file that I had handed him earlier and opened it wide. Inside was a headshot of myself and attached by a paperclip next to it was a headshot of Logan. I sat back down in the chair dumbfounded wondering what kind of creep this Cupid guy was.