More Than Just Friends

Chapter Eight

C∂llis†∂  The number one rule of dating is to not date two guys at once. But, unfortunately, I am waiting for two guys-guess who-at what happens to be the fanciest restaurant in New York City. In my defense, I was distracted when I agreed to this.

I sat down at one of the tables and tried to think up an explanation and let both of them down easy. If they both happened to show up at the same time, I could say that I promised Brett I would get a new computer for him-his old one was actually broken and he was too busy to get a new one himself-somewhere far, far away from here.

Or, knowing Apollo, he'd be late, so I could explain what happened to Hermes, rather than him walking in on me and Apollo. Then, when Apollo came, I could just run away and leave Hermes to do all the explaining. 

Or...I could-

"Hey, beautiful." Startled, I looked up to see Apollo. Wait, Apollo? Why did he choose now of all times to be early? Schist.

"Is something wrong?" Apollo asked. Damn...I must have made a face.

"Oh, no, no, nothing's wrong. Everything's...just...fine..." I internally winced. When did I become such a bad liar?

"You know," Apollo started. "I can tell when someone's lying."

"I'm not lying." I lied.

He laughed. "She said to the god of truth."

"That's cheating. You're not allowed to use your powers on me."

Apollo raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know there were rules at all."

"Well there are, in civilized society. Number one, don't use alienated powers on helpless people."

"I would hardly describe you as helpless." I started to reply, but someone interrupted me.

"Calla?" Hermes asked, clearly confused.

"Hi." I laughed nervously. Then, Hermes turned and saw Apollo, then looked back at me. Holy crud, why me?

"What is he doing here?" they both asked me accusingly at the same time.

I closed my eyes, hoping for a distraction. Where's a monster when you need one? Then I opened my eyes again, searching for something to use as a distraction. There was nothing. Just kill me now.

Fourteen hours earlier

I woke up a little early, around 6 AM, so that I could get ready for my college interview. This was going to be the most important moment of my normal life, so I didn't want to be late. After brushing my teeth and changing into a long blue blouse and kind of formal jeans, I headed out. 

I started walking to Brett's house to borrow his car when a big, white van caught my eye. It read, "Hermes Express." Hermes' delivery van was usually invisible to all people, unless he wanted to show it. Since I could see it, I figured he must want to see me.

I walked down to the van, but there was no one there, so I went in. Inside, I saw Hermes sitting on a box labeled 'this side up', with arrows pointing to the ground.

"Uh, Hermes." I said.

"Oh, hi, Calla." he smiled.