Cupid's Arrow

Chapter 3: Awkward

Chapter 3

Awkward

A week after the incident outside the coffee shop, Kathryn met the guy she literally had crashed into, again. This time, she was standing in front of an antique shop, gazing the small display window, right across the small street from the spot we were standing. When she was about to start walking, someone walk into her. It was him.

“I’m so sorry!” he apologized lowering his voice when he recognized her.

“Oh, It’s fine” she muttered, realizing who he was.

“Next time I crash into you, I‘ll treat you to coffee. Or…” he paused because of her shocked poise.

Kate was unable to say something. She definitely liked him and the fact he was standing there, talking to her for an unexpected, second time shocked her. The past week, she wasn’t able to get him out of her mind and now without a warning here he was smiling to her again. Shame drowned her body and she blushed. After realizing that her blushing was obvious she felt even more ashamed.

“Are you okay?” he asked worried. Fortunately, he didn’t understand the cause for her blushing.

“I’m absolutely fine!” she replied with quavering voice.

“Good. I was thinking if…” he hesitated for a moment. “If you have free time, we could go for that coffee without waiting for our third crash to come. What do you think?” he asked smiling again.

It was ridiculous how he made British accent sound so attractive.

“Yes.” she answered quickly. Suddenly, she realized it wasn’t her answering. It was a little voice inside her that made her say “yes”. Maybe she was enchanted by his charming smile, or the seductive look in his eyes. Anyway, her desire was to be with him and stare at his face until it was late and then do the same thing the next day and the day after. That was it! Kathryn was officially in love with that handsome stranger, but she hadn’t figured it out, yet.

“I’m David, or just Dave. And you are?” he asked smiling and the corners of his eyes crinkled.

“I’m Kate.” She replied trying to keep her voice stable.

“So about the…”

“Look!” she interrupted. “I rushed to answer before. I don’t have that much time. Um…” she paused. The subdued Kate was back.

“No. It’s OK. Don’t worry.” The excitement on his smile disappeared.

“We can do that another day.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“I have to go now. Um… Goodbye!”

Kate couldn’t find a better excuse. It was obvious that she had regretted everything she said to him. She shouldn’t have said “yes” so easily. She shouldn’t have left that way. She shouldn’t have felt embarrassed around him. Yet, all these had happened.

Dave was staring at her a bit surprised, while she was walking away. It took him a moment to think and reply.

“I hope I’ll see you soon.” He was suddenly bitter. He expected a better reaction from Kate, but he didn’t expect that reaction from himself. It surprised him.

“Oh, dear.” I turned to look at Lily, who was totally lost in her own personal thoughts. “Lily?”

“Uh?”

“Did you see that?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. I mean no. I didn’t see anything.” she was honest.

“Well, it was awkward.”

“Right. Can we go home now, please?” she pleaded. “I still have an assignment to finish. Actually, we shouldn’t be here anyway.”

“We’ll go home as soon as I give a little help to Kate and Dave.”

I turned the other way, where Kate had headed for and I crushed on Dave.

I was shocked. I froze exactly where I was standing unable to make any part of my body to move. Did he hear that last sentence?

“Oh, Excuse me.” He apologized quickly and passed by.

I nodded relieved.

“Next time you should be more careful.” Lily said in a playful tone. She kind of enjoyed it.

“Ok. Ok. I’ll talk to Kate tomorrow. Let’s go home.”

Lily started walking willingly. “So you haven’t quit, yet.”

“I won’t quit!”

“Then, I assume next time Kate will catch us stalking her and ask for the reason. I think it’s going to be fun watching you trying to give a sensible explanation.”

“Lily, don’t be mean. It doesn’t suit you.”

We walked the next three blocks quietly when something caught my eye.

There was a boy, around sixteen, trying to say something to a girl. He was begging her to listen to him. He was trying to reach for her hand but she didn’t let him. Every time the boy was trying to look straight in her eyes, she turned her head to avoid it. He looked so desperate and she looked so cruel.

I stopped walking and concentrated on them. The girl was his girlfriend. He was in love with her, but she wasn’t in love him anymore. She had a crush on an older guy. A much older guy. The boy was struggling with saving their relationship. He was trying to persuade her not to make a mistake. He was truly in love with that girl and he was afraid of seeing her hurt by the other guy.

I thought about it for a short moment, without taking my eyes off of them and I aimed at the girl using one of my love arrows. It hit her right on her chest, where the heart is. My job was done. I did nothing wrong this time. She wasn’t truly in love before; she just had a stupid, weak crush on a stranger. The boy standing in front of her would give her everything she needed, lavishly. A new love story was about to begin, but I didn’t feel excited or just pleased about it as I always did. My thoughts were wondering around Kathryn and David, instead.

Maybe I should find David’s girlfriend and make her fall for someone else. But how I could face her after what I had done? I was afraid that she would be hurt before I could help her. Feeling her broken heart aching would be really hard to deal with. Especially, knowing that it’s my fault. I had made the biggest mistake I shouldn’t even think about. Maybe I should give up. No. Actually that wasn’t an option. Somehow I had to fix the mess I caused.