The Soul of Soteria | OLD WORK

Part 3/10

Div ran towards Aria as she exited the school to walk home. "Aria! Wait up!" He called. The plan he made the night before was to be as friendly as possible and to make her like him in a friendly way. Then, he would sing and she would be head over heels for him! He ran up next to her and gave her a little nudge. "What's up?" He asked.

"The sky. What do you want?" She got out her phone and began to play a game to distract herself.

"Want to hang out? It's Friday, so I thought it'd be fun." Aria laughed.

"No, thanks. This little chat is enough hanging out for me, to be honest." She sped up to get rid of Div, but he matched her pace.

"Let me at least walk you home. You never know what could happen in this screwed up world, am I right?" He was insisting over and over again to Aria to the point where she was fed up with it. She said he could walk her home, but that would be the only time.

However, one time turned into two times, and two times turned to three. Another week passed and Div was walking her home every single day. They would talk about school and bicker and sometimes have a decent conversation about what they like to do and where they want to go travel. If someone saw them, they would be mistaken for a couple, but Aria knew better than to fall in love with Div. Being friends was good enough. Div was still a popular player, after all, but he felt differently. With each passing day, he wanted to get to know her more and more and she seemed to look prettier to him.. His plan was evaporating and he honestly didn't care because he felt a true friendship forming.

He was walking her home, like any other day, and was about to head back himself when Aria called out to him. "Hey, do you want to come inside? It looks like it's about to rain." She said as the sky began to darken. This was his chance!

"Sure, sounds fun." He smiled and went inside the small house. "Where are your folks?"

"They live in Germany because of work. I didn't want to go, so they're letting me stay here till I graduate." She explained as she took her shoes off.

"Why didn't you go? Germany is an awesome place. There's more history there than here in the United States and the musical artists that come from there are pretty famous."

"I didn't want to leave because I didn't know German and I already had some friends here. Lyon is probably the only reason I really stayed. Leaving him would break my heart since he's my best friend..." A pang of jealousy hit Div as she mentioned Lyon. "Besides, they would have been too hard on me. I was tired of living with them and I pay for everything myself, so I see no problem."

"Wow, you're independent. I could never live on my own because I don't know how to cook, so I'd starve to death." He said, sighing. Aria smiled a bit.

"Let me teach you so you don't eat Ramen every night when you live by yourself."

"Wait a min-" Aria grabbed his hand, dragged him to the kitchen, and started to teach him how to make chicken pot-pie. Of course, he messed up here and there, causing his cheeks to flush bright red. This was out of his comfort zone and showing this side of uncertainty made him feel vulnerable. Eventually, the pot-pies were in the oven and all they had to do was wait.

"Want to watch a movie? I have every genre." Aria asked, pointing to the shelf of movies.

"We can watch horror." Div picked out the scariest movie she had, which was The Grudge. It hadn't been freed from it's plastic jail, which made Div smirk. 'This hasn't been opened which means... she hasn't seen it. Hah, she'll totally use me to hide behind!' He unwrapped the plastic from the case, put the movie in, and began to play it. Aria brought in a two liter of Coke, a bucket of popcorn, and some blankets.

"We're lucky it's Friday since it'll be eight o'clock when the movie ends. I usually go to bed at eight, but I can stay up late since you're here." She smiled.

"That means so much to me, Aria. You're an angel." Div held his hands over his heart and pretended to cry.

"Shut it, Jerk. I'm trying to not get annoyed by you today." She rolled her eyes and focused on the movie. Aria wasn't effected by the jump scares that appeared, but Div, on the other hand, was scared every time. Instead of Aria hiding behind him, he was the one hiding behind her.

"Is it over?" He asked, closing his eyes tightly.

"Yeah, it's over." Aria lied, knowing that there was going to be an obvious jump scare coming up. Div took a peek just as the monster appeared, causing him to squeal like a child.

"You idiot! You said it was over!" He cried out. Aria simply laughed and messed up his hair.

"You're a sissy. I thought you were a badass musician that wasn't afraid of anything."

"Do you know the things that exist in this world?! Scylla and Charybdis, Hades, and Cyclops! Oh my Zeus, Cyclops... Those monsters are just like evil spirits Hades creates in his spare time." He said, whimpering a bit at the memories of all the terrifying monsters.

"Since when are you an expert on Greek mythology?" Aria asked.

"They aren't myths, Sweetheart. I know for a fact."

"And I'm Zeus' daughter." She said sarcastically. "They're called myths for a reason. I've always been fascinated by them, though. Have you ever read The Odyssey?" Div nodded. Of course he knew the story of the epic hero, Odysseus. "It's a pretty good story despite the length."

"What is your favorite myth, then?" Aria smiled and looked into his eyes as he asked the question.

"I love the stories with Sirens." She said. Div felt a smile creep onto his face when she said those words.

'She likes Sirens... That's a point for me.' He thought just as the timer for the pot-pies went off. In that moment, Div realized that for the first time in his life, he was developing feelings for someone other than himself.