Even darker | Loki

Chapter 4.

   A whole week went by without any word from Ove – Flóra refused to address him differently. She was utterly confused, thinking she had lost her mind. Her first instinct was to talk to Hayden, but then she realized her friend would probably think she went crazy. She also thought about calling her therapist, but she would probably diagnose her with post traumatic disorder or some other mental illness and she couldn't blame her for it. She called in sick at work to try and get herself together mentally. She checked her notes on Loki that she prepared when she was working on the new Marvel film, but it was way too commercialized for the franchise, so she logged into the British Library to do some research. From the God of Fire to The Trickster, evil incarnate for the Christians and even identified with another god called Lóðurr. The common denominators she found in all of the myths and articles was his cunning and magic. These old myths and songs were so much more creative and fantastical than the Roman and Greek ones. She grew more and more frustrated, then decided to give it a rest. To make things worse, Ove went radio silent. Flóra messaged Cole in an attempt to restore her sanity, but he wouldn't text her back even though he read her text. The next week she called Hayden to meet her in their favourite pub for lunch. She did not tell her she was on sick leave. They ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and some halloumi fries with salad.

'So, how are you and Surfer Boy?' Hayden smirked.

'Err...we are fine.' she replied and sipped from her glass.

'OK, that didn't sound very convincing. What's up?'

'Let's talk about you and Iza first. Are you...'

'We're doing fine. Still early stages, pink haze etc., now tell me what is going on?'

   Flóra knew she couldn't confide in her friend fully, because she would just call her insane, so she went with a different, more believable story.

'You were right. Ove did get in touch after I ran into him with Cole.'

'Oh, no! Girl, tell me you didn't fall for his tricks yet again!'

   Flóra flinched at that particular turn of phrase. "How apt." she thought bitterly.

'We only had sex a few times.' Flóra replied, toning down the truth, but Hayden knew her better than that.

'Define few times.'

'Ah, what does it matter?'

'It does matter, because if you had sex one time, that I can sort of understand, but if you keep meeting him and Cole, now that is another level.'

'Another level of what?'

'Messed up! The man slept with half of London despite your ridiculous agreement which – let's be honest – you came up with as a last resort to keep him in line, yet he managed to break it after a month.'

'He did say one of the hardest things he ever had to do was letting me go.'

'Come on! He would say anything to get inside your panties again. He just couldn't stand seeing you with another guy! I can't believe you're falling for his shit again!'

'Who says I am?'

'You just told me that you had sex with him on more than one occasion.'

'Fine, Cole ghosted me. I was tipsy, feeling miserable, Ove messaged me and I thought »Why not?«, so sue me!'

Hayden exhaled dramatically and shook her head.

'If it was anybody else, I wouldn't be this hard on you, but I watched you crying for weeks after you left him. You're not capable of being casual with him. This is why you two broke up! No matter what he says, he would go and break your heart a thousand times again because he, himself told you that he is unable to change. He's a narcissist. The worst kind.'