Eros

Chapter Eleven

In those clothes, Eros stood out like a sore thumb everywhere. Seeing him stood in her Uncle Wilf's living room, Angie tried not to grimace at him, instead focusing on her Uncle Wilf. It was hard looking at her Uncle. Where Angie was the spitting image of her Mother, looking at her Uncle was like staring at a carbon copy of her Dad.

Maybe she would rather focus on Eros after all.

Once they figured some of this stuff out, they'd have to try a few experiments. Like was it possible for him to change his clothes? He'd look ravishing in a pair of cargo pants and a loose shirt. The toga was great and all, but it had to go. And those gladiator sandals too.

She tried not to go straight to the defensive with him standing in her family's home. Wilfred had pictures of her as a kid throughout the house. Pictures Eros was sure to recognise. For self-preservation reasons, she didn't want him seeing this kind of stuff. But what choice did she have?

"How long do you think you'll be staying for?" Wilf asked, kicking his shoes off by the doorway.

Angie's arriving here had been quite the shock. She and Wilf had been close once, but Sheila had ruined all relationships for Angie.

Angie faced difficulties connecting with people. Thanks Mum.

"Probably just the night." Tonight, they'd figure things out. Tomorrow, they'd launch the plan to get rid of Eros. So they could go their separate ways. So Angie could finally be free of whatever this was. Free without the pills. Free to live her life. "I'm on this whole soul-searching thing. I thought Dad's office would probably be a good place to start."

Wilf took the bait. He was a lawyer, sure, but what reason did he have to believe that Angie was lying?

Besides, it wasn't like he'd believe her if she told the truth.

She started to shuffle on the spot. Great. Judging by the way the God was craning his neck, he'd spotted the first photo of little Angie. This is exactly what I need right now.

"Is your Mum hounding you again?"

Angie snorted. "Like you wouldn't believe. I figured this time I need to choose what I'm doing with my life before I let her decide it all for me." It sounded good enough. It'd probably been true at some point too. Angie left all the time, jumping ship to get away from her Mum. She'd been doing it since she was fifteen, testing to see if her Mum would even notice.

For a fifteen-year-old kid to run away in the night and come home a week later to find their parent hadn't noticed at all had been soul-destroying. That went down as the day Angie realised her Mum seriously didn't care. So long as Angie wasn't making a bad name for her, that woman didn't give a flying shit what her daughter got up to.

Liv and Ted didn't know it, but they made it worse.

Liv was the IVF kid of two loving parents. Her parents had been so desperate for a kid they'd spent thousands to get one. When they had her, they'd made sure to keep her spoilt for the rest of her life. As for Ted, his parents were divorced, both of them were remarried. Ted was one of the lucky ones. Ted had four parents who adored the ground he walked upon.

And then Angie had to sit there and listen to them complain about their families, always wishing she were in their shoes.

As if Angie needed the reminder she was unlovable, her only friends in the world had gone and fallen in love with each other.

Where did she fit into anything?

"Good on you kiddo," Wilf said. "You can stay here for as long as you need to. You can keep that key too. I've got a spare."