We Bent Fate

Chapter 17.

MARTHA

Here was the part that I was dreading the most. 

Hesitantly, I climbed in the car in the passenger seat next to him and waited till he climbed in too. He shut the door loudly as if he had meant for the car to fall apart in pieces and I flinched. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as the engine roared to life.

I quickly shot a glance at Austin whose eyes was glued to the road, his veins popping out from his skin. I grew tense just with the look of his stiff angled jaw and cleared my throat. I almost felt like a kitten purring for his attention but he pretended not to notice. 

Oh God, if he was testing my patience to stay quiet then I was definitely acting like a bull hiding on a beach then this is so not what I signed up for when I said I wanted a break up!

I cleared my throat again and debated with myself if I should play the radio and ended up, pleading him as I said, "Please say something."

"Sure. What do you want me to say?" He asked, humourlessly and I sighed.

"Austin, I don't want to fight with you."

"Yet here we are!" His eyes finally lock with mine and I frowned, sighing. Why can he not understand?

"Austin, I really love you. I do. But after finding out all this, I don't even feel like myself anymore and I don't want to put you through all this." I said and the car suddenly came at a halt with a screeching sound. I was jerked forward in my seat when angry Austin turned towards me. 

"I fucking died, okay? I was revived and you gave me that life. But what good did it do to me?" He shouted at my face, his face was red and his eyes protruding outwards. I leaned away from him, trying not to flinch. 

"I lived like shit in your house, like a fucking rat left on the floor that everyone wanted to throw away. I fought with your sisters who were stupid enough to not bring you back the very minute you left even though I kept on insisting.

"Back there, in that hall where I saw you dying in my arms, did you think that Gods went away doing nothing to me? I fucking fought with them too, until finally Lila said that she'd make me drink river Lethe." He said, his voice broke just as much as my heart did in that moment. 

He exhaled audibly, his expressions calming a little, "I fought with them too; your sisters. I told them that I love you and that I won't ever want to forget you. I love you, Martha. Please stop pushing me away. This isn't just about you. I have already been through a lot and pushing me away won't make anything better."

New tears stung through my already puffy eyes and I turned away from him quickly. I don't want him to see me cry. I bit my tongue and mentally told myself to not speak a word because if I did, I knew I would definitely start crying.

"Please." I felt his hand on my shoulder but I didn't turn. I shook my head from side to side. 

"We are getting late, Austin. Let's go." I demanded  after gulping down my tears, but he hummed a little 'no'. I sighed in defeat. 

"Austin, why are you making this hard for me?" I blink my tears rapidly.

"You are making things hard." He says harshly, irritation evident in his voice. 

"Can we please remain just friends for now? Come on, I didn't give you a life to make the same mistake. Live your life, fall in love with a mortal, grow old with them. Move on and let me go." I said and he let out another, shaky 'no'. My heart was breaking bit by bit, and each time it hurt a little longer than it did for the last time.

I scrambled my brain to think something. Then an idea popped into my mind. Lila told me something about compulsion.

I turned quickly to face him and cupped his cheek. His lips met mine and I kissed him back passionately, biting his lower lip and then parted away from him. I saw him open his hypnotizing brown eyes and I bore mine into them as I spoke, 

"Don't fall for me, Austin. Move on and get yourself a new life. You are better off without me." I whispered and he looked at me, blankly like an innocent as if I had just told him that I will not share my chocolate with him. 

I thought I was done here, when suddenly he shook his head and grinned at me. It was my turn to stare blankly at him as he leaned in again and licked my lower lip. What the fuck-

"You can't ever make me un-love you, Martha Moirai. No power can." He said and kissed me again. "Stop keeping me safe, Martha. I am safe here. With you." He spoke solemnly and I felt like I would explode any second.

"Austin." I whispered. I could not fathom anything anymore. "How did you-"

He shook his head again. "I understand that you need distance but that does not mean that you have to break up with me."

I shook my head. "But-"

"Okay, how about we become friends with benefits?" He wiggled his eyebrows. 

"Austin!" I grinned and he smiled at me with admiration in his eyes. 

"Okay fine. More than friends?" He said and I shook my head, giggling lightly. 

"Oh come on, Martha. Why am I the one compromising with everything?" He rolled his eyes in amusement and I sighed. Finally, he is back. 

The rest of the drive was thankfully good. After so many hours, it finally felt normal as if I was a normal teenager, smiling up at my lover.

I tried not to ask him about how he competed against my compulsion and didn't get affected by it. But things had just started to become normal again and I didn't want to ruin things.

He dropped me to my class and gave me my schedule, waving a goodbye to me until he was out of sight. 

"Heyyyy!" A fair girl with spectacles grinned at me when I entered the class room.

"Margo." I tried, flinching. 

She smiled without correcting me so I presumed that it was her. I beamed back at her. "How are you?"

"Never been better. I have so much to tell you about!" She squealed. "But you tell me. How have you been? I didn't hear from you at all."

"Oh, I-" I tried thinking of something. "I have not been myself lately."

She nods as if she could relate. "Is it because you couldn't find that tapestry? Did your mythological sisters tell you about something?" She questioned and I wished I had some power to let Austin get me out of this situation. How am I supposed to know what to tell her? 

It seems that she already knows what I am but I still do not know if I can trust her. What if she is someone in disguise that I should be worried about?

"Still looking for it. But it doesn't matter." I wave my hand casually and tried thinking of a better way to change the subject but she cut me off, 

"I saw Austin dropping you by." She winked at me and I debated if it would be safe to tell him that I am in a relationship with him. I don't want to put him in anymore danger. 

"Yeah, we have started seeing each a lot these days." I tell her with an unbothered smile and begged my brain to think of something as a distraction. "How is Matt?" I blurt out. 

"I don't know man. I broke up with him."

Wait, what?

"Why?" 

"Didn't I tell you that I caught feelings for Ashton? I was planning on not telling him that I like someone else but he checked my messages. I got so mad at him! How can he check my messages like that?"

I don't know what to say. "Hmm..." I gave her a non-committal shrug and she nodded. 

"I think it was not in my fate to stay in love with Matt." She nudged me in a pointed way.