Cupid Falling

Chapter 14b: Night Out (pt 2)

"I hope this scheme of yours will work," she says encouragingly. "I'd hate to see you demoted after so many years of excellent service."

"Me too." I stare into my now empty beer glass.

"This will succeed," Andris says with more conviction than I have, apparently having found his tongue again. I was beginning to think he'd left it in the blonde.

Fate looks around the bar, catching sight of the aforementioned blonde, before turning her head to Andris with a perfectly shaped eyebrow raised. "This is what you do for fun, Andris?"

Is he blushing? I can't remember a time I've ever seen my friend blush before.

He shrugs. "It's a way to relax."

She smirks. "I bet."

"Not what I meant," he mutters before taking a swig of his beer.

Fate's pearly laughter ring out, causing the bar patrons to turn their heads back toward us again. We work fairly closely with Fate since our jobs overlap, but I can't remember seeing her in this mood before. Most of the time she seems bored and distant. Maybe she needs to come down here to relax more often, just like Andris and some of the other Cupids. Even if most of her job is on autopilot these days, I suspect the parts that are not can be tough. And I suppose even things on autopilot need some sort of supervision. It's amazing that she's alone in her job while there are a couple of dozen Cupids.

"Have another drink," I suggest, and she smiles at me.

"If this fails," she says while watching me as she puts a finger up for another drink. "Would it really be so awful to become a Harbinger? It's not the end of the world."

My brows draw together as I look between her and Andris, who is watching the server coming over with another drink for Fate. "Andris said something similar recently."

"He's not wrong." She gives the server a blinding smile as she accepts a bright pink drink I couldn't even guess what it is. Turning back to me, she takes a sip and sighs happily. "I know you guys think the Harbingers are deadbeats, but they're not so bad, really. I work with them closely at times."

"No one ever moves on from being a Harbinger." Andris makes a face. "And the horns..."

"I think the horns are kind of sexy." When we both stare at her, Fate shrugs. "Looks aren't everything, anyway. All Cupids are too good-looking to remember anything else, but it's true."

"You're one to talk." I can't help but smirk.

She raises her eyebrow at me again. "I'm not the one so desperate to avoid horns I take mortal form to make a match I've failed with for nearly a decade. Have you never considered there might be a reason you keep failing?"

I let out a frustrated huff. "I have! Why do you think I've asked you about it repeatedly? You told me only a few moments ago that their match is correct!"

Seeing Fate roll her eyes is not something I ever expected to see, but there it is. "Some other reason," she says, as if I'm being dense, but what other reason could there possibly be.

"Like her being too taken with you," Andris suggests.

"I've only been here three weeks," I remind them. "This match has failed for years, through many, many attempts."

"Maybe your attempts haven't been as good as you think." Fate takes another sip of her drink as if she didn't just mortally wound me.

"I was the best. The best! I never failed to make a single match before Steve ruined everything!" My outburst makes both of my companions stare at me, and I clear my throat. "I mean, these two humans ruined everything."

"Steve?" Andris smirks. "Who's Steve?"

"Penelope's cat," I mutter. "If it wasn't for him, I'm convinced the match would have happened on the first attempt. It's like he jinxed the whole thing."

"A cat?" I don't appreciate the stifled laughter in his voice. "You never told me you blame everything on a cat!"

"For this exact reason. I don't appreciate being made fun of."

"But—" He bursts out laughing. "A cat!"

Staring into my drink again, I wait for him to stop laughing. It takes longer than I like. Fate looks amused, but at least she's not laughing at me out loud. They don't understand. Steve is clearly evil. It's evident every time he stares at me with those shrewd eyes of his. Penelope usually comes to my apartment, and I'm kind of happy that's the case. I'm not sure I'd be able to make out in front of Steve. Though maybe that'd solve my problem of struggling to keep my hands off Penelope. She might find it kind of strange, so maybe not.

"Maybe," Fate says once Andris's laughter has died down to quiet chuckles. "Just maybe, something about this match didn't feel right to you and you've been sabotaging yourself."

I shake my head. "Why would I do that? Sounds ridiculous. Nothing is worth getting horns for. I've done everything right. The first few years my attempts were classical, things that would have had any other couple done and dusted in no time. I'll admit my work has become sloppier lately, as I've grown more desperate. And yes, this latest scheme is not one of my best ideas. But I'm desperate. Nothing has worked."

"I don't know. It was just a suggestion."

"And we keep returning to this..." I give her a pointed look. "They're an eighty-two percent match. You've checked it yourself."

Am I imagining her gaze avoiding mine for the briefest second? She nods. "Yes. Eighty-two percent."

"What's with the look?"

Her amber eyes lock on mine, and even I—who consider myself relatively immune to her—find myself spellbound and unable to look away. "No look. That's their number on your file."

That's a weird phrasing. "Do they have another number on another file?"

"Why would they have another file?" she asks and stands. "I have work to do. I might come back to see how you're coming along another time."

Before I can ask about her strange choice of words, she's gone, leaving me and Andris staring at the doors she disappeared through. Looking back at my friend, I smile wryly.

"Another drink?"

He nods. "Please."

I order us another round, but I can't shake the feeling there's something Fate isn't telling me.