Finding Cupid

Chapter 11

POV: Eros

Alice and I had been walking for about half an hour in the cold when we finally stopped in front of a shoddy apartment building. Bricks were piled outside the front of the building in a giant trash bin, and black garbage bags lined the curb. Did she honest live here? I mean I obviously knew that people lived in some pretty bad places, but I guess I had expected that Alice would live somewhere a little less... scary. Maybe the inside would be nicer.

"I live pretty close to Columbia," she said as she led me up to the door of the apartment building. She dug around in the pocket book she was carrying to try and find her keys, cursing when they seemed to be nowhere to be found. "Oh! Wait! Got them," she shouted triumphantly and then quickly covered her mouth with her free hand when she realized that people heard her and were sending her weird stares. She continued talking as she unlocked the glass door that led to her apartment. "Anyway, since Addy goes to Columbia, we decided that an apartment here would be best. It's not the nicest area, but I don't mind it. I have heat in the winter and I have hot water and I feel like I know how to protect myself well enough. Also, I'm safer since I don't live alone," she added as we climbed the stairs to the fifth floor. She was a little out of breath but she said that the elevator wasn't exactly the safest so she normally took the stairs. "And my calves are great from all this climbing!"

"Alice, this place looks like a dump and I'm pretty sure that there were people outside that would have killed you if you weren't with me." I was in shock - she was so neat and, well, almost elegant, that I had pictured her living in an airy, pretty apartment in a nice part of the city.

"Hey! Be nice!" She laughed lightly, her eyes crinkling at the corners. We had finally reached the top of the stairs, but she didn't open the door to the hallway filled with apartments yet. "This is my home, Eros. I like it here. It might not be a castle, but it has character."

Skeptically raised an eyebrow, I just shook my head at her. Alice shrugged, opening the door and leading me to her apartment. Alice panted softly as we stopped in front of apartment 5C and she dug around in her purse again, cursing herself under her breath for putting her keys back after getting into the main building. When she finally found them, she unlocked the door to the tiny, two-bedroom apartment and let me in.

"Well, here it is! Home sweet home," she dropped her purse on the floor next to the doorway and immediately ran to her room. Alice threw herself onto the bed - I hadn't quite wanted follow her there - what with my recent emotions, I figured being in a room alone with her when there was a bed there could only lead to bad things - but I could hear the creaky springs of her bed moan under her slight weight. Looking around the small living space that she had led me into, I realized that Addy was not good at keeping things neat. There were empty pizza boxes on the floor by the couch to my left and a wide spread of books and papers lying on the coffee table. The two rooms were connected, but it was easy to tell that Alice was the one who used the kitchen. Take out cartons were everywhere in the living room while the kitchen looked untouched. There were two chairs in the kitchen, neither of which matched each other or the kitchen table, and a wide assortment of pots and pans hung from racks that were on the ceiling. I had to duck to walk through, or I would hit my head. There was an exercise bike in the living room, but it had bras hanging off of it and had clearly not been used while Alice was gone. Everything in this place looks like it is either broken or on its way there... "Aren't you going to come see my bedroom, Eros? It's nice and neat! It's the one place, besides the kitchen, that Addy hasn't taken over."

"Yeah, it looks like a frat party went on in your living room," I joked as I walked towards her room. Alice's giggles escaped from her room and caused a loud groan to scream from the room across the hall from her.