I was staring. Again. It was a thing. The staring. I couldn't help it. I didn't want to stare. I just kind of did.
"Hey little sis, what are you looking at?" Apollo says from behind me.
"I told you not to sneak up on me like that!" I tell him as I swat my twin brother's arm. "And I'm not your little sister, I'm pretty sure I was born before you."
"You'll always be the little sister; anyway, I see you got your eyes on Aphrodite. Nice pick." He says as he takes a good look at her from behind the tree.
"I'm not into her I'm just watching her, there's something not right about her. Anyway does the whole 'I'm going to stay a maiden for eternity have you confused or something?" I ask, I mean we have had this conversation hundreds of time. He's always trying to get me to meet his friends, blind dates. All that jazz. I hated it.
"You just haven't met the right guy yet, or now that I know, women yet." He says with a mischievous smile. "Why didn't you tell me sis that you were into women? I might have been able to help you find someone along time ago."
"I am not into women! Now shut up and move before she sees us." I snap at him as I push him down.
"Hate to break it to you sis but she's already gone." He tells me with a smile. I turn around and sure enough the beautiful woman was gone.
"Looking for me?" Someone says from behind us.
I slowly turn around to see Aphrodite looking at us with a smile on her face. She had this goofy smile on her face, and her head was tilted to the side.
"She was; I wasn't." My faithful brother tells her, he can be such a git sometimes.
"And why were you looking for me?" She asks as she turns so she can face me directly.
I stay mute and blink very often.
"She's throwing a party and wanted to know if you would come. She hasn't sent out the invitations yet and for some odd reason she wanted to ask you first." My brother says, maybe he's not all git. I just nod my head, going along with it, like an idiot. "Since I helped her find you I think it's time for me to go." My brother, who was back to being a full time git, left me. With her.
It was awkward as I chanted in my head, "Don't stare. Don't stare." As I looked anywhere but her.
"Why would you want to invite me to your party? I thought you didn't like me or something. Is this some kind of trick you're playing on me with Persephone?" She asks in a hurt tone that doesn't sound like something you would hear come out her mouth.
"No I swear I wouldn't do that, I promise. She usually comes up with those by herself, or with Hera. Why would I, anyway? I really do like you." I say, then realizing what I said, "I mean I like you but not in you know that kind of way. Not that there would be anything wrong for liking you like that, because well you're beautiful." I stopped talking when I saw that she was crying, shit, what had I done now?
"Shit. I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm sorry please don't cry." I say pleadingly with her.
"None of the other goddess like me. Of course the men do. All of you think I'm a whore, especially you. You guys never talk to me, or invite me to your little fun day activities. And you're the one who hates me the most!" She cries as she sinks onto the lush grass. I also sit down and hug her and rub her back. She puts her head on my shoulder and begins to cry her eyes out.
"I don't hate you, honest… I think you're awesome." I say weakly trying to think of things to make her feel better. I'm the goddess of the hunt, not the depressed. Women don't cry around me, it's kind of a thing.
"If it makes you feel better you were right about there being no party. My idiotic brother just came up with that idea so that you didn't know I've been watching you." I whisper to her.
"So there was no party?" She looks up at me and I nod.
"Why were you looking at me?" She asks with a slight hiccup which I think is down right adorable.
"I thought you were pretty, and I had thought that it had been to long since we had seen each other." I say with a smile as I absentmindedly start to stroke her hair, Aphrodite is practically sitting in my lap right now.
"But I saw you after dinner last week." She says confusedly.
"I know, way to long for my taste." She looks at me with her dazzling bright smile and blue eyes, which still had tears in them, and I could've sworn that the world was standing still.
Then I had to go ruin the moment and kiss her. My mind was sending off signals, "Pull away! Pull away! Abort mission, repeat abort mission." I was just about to pull apart when I felt her respond to the kiss.
The thrill I received from the kiss was nothing short of spectacular; I've never felt anything like that before. Not even on some of my major hunts have I felt that. It was something wild, but yet comforting. I felt like I was resting after a long hunt. I felt like I was home.
When I felt her trying to enter my mouth I was brought back into the moment and pushed her away.
"Sorry! I'm so sorry! I totally just evaded your personal space without asking. And we- I started doing a thing. A thing you might not have wanted." I ramble as I back away, more like stumble.
"Umm well I'm just going to um, well leave." I say and pop, I'm gone.
Athena's Palace
I was knocking like a mad person. I would have barged in but last time I saw things no person should have to see.
A few months prior
"Athena I'm here, I hope you didn't for get our movie da-" I stop mid sentence when I walk into her room. Athena was straddling Poseidon in her bra and jeans. All he had on was his usual cargo shorts.
"Wow! I'm just going to leave and try to get this image out of my mind." I say rather quickly while running through her house. Of course I trip on her carpet and go head first in to the bar.
"I'm okay; just go back to… well to whatever you guys do in your spare time together." I say as I pick myself up and run towards the door.
Back to the present
Athena opened her door looking quite disheveled; part of her hair had come down from her ponytail and was now covering her storm gray eyes.
"Artemis, what a surprise-"
"I kissed her!" I scream not being able to keep it in much longer.
"You did! You have to tell me everything." She screeches as she pulls me inside.
"It looks like you entertaining guest, a certain guest in particular." I smirk, she had on a tight sea blue tank top and green shorts.
"You already know, so what's the point of hiding it from you?" She says with a shrug as she pulls me in to the direction of her room.
When we get to the door Athena starts to fidget, Athena of all people. She was always so composed.
"Don't worry about it, what happens in this room stays in thins room, for both sides." I tell her, I know she's nervous about the whole 'I'm having an affair with Poseidon'.
"Deal." She opens the door to her massive room. Against the wall is her bed; in the middle of her bed is Poseidon. He actually tried to hide under the blankets when he sees me, it was kind of funny.
"She knows you're here, no need in hiding. Anyway if your going to hide at least try to hide better." Athena says with a bemused look on her face as he emerged from underneath the sheets looking sheepish.
"Hello Artemis, you look gorgeous as usual. How are you on this beautiful day?" He asks me with a charming smile. If I wasn't a maiden I would have taken one of his many offers and gone to on a date with him.
"I've been better, thank you. I don't believe that I need to ask you how your day has been going, based on where you are and the shot glass by the tequila." I reply with a cheeky smile on my face as Athena leads me to her bed.
"Artemis and I have an important matter to discuss so you can go sit by the pool or something." Athena tells Poseidon.
"It's okay Athena, he can stay. I think that it would be nice to have another persons thought on this situation." I say as put a stray lock of hair behind my ear.
"If this is about guys and relationships I don't mind going to sit by the pool." He tries to slide off the bed.
"It's about relationships, but not guys particularly." I sheepishly correct him. Apparently he finds that interesting so he slides closer to me and Athena and gave me a look that said 'continue' as he makes three glasses appear and he pours tequila into each. He passes the cups and I give a smile as I take a long sip. It's nice to have that burning feeling in my throat.
"Well I was watching Aphrodite this morning when my brother caught me. Of course he had to be a git about it and bug me for a good five minutes asking why I hadn't told him that I was in to women, that he would have been able to find me a nice girl." I took a breath and another swig of the drink.
"When I turned around so that I could keep watching her she was gone. Some how she had gotten away without me noticing. All of a sudden she's behind us asking if we were looking for her. Thankfully my brother made some excuse about a party and inviting her first. Then he leaves me alone with her. After that she made feel really bad because she wanted to know if this was some kind of joke we were playing on her. She said that none of us liked her and that especially hated her, we thought she was a whore. When I told her I liked her, I got all freaked out and told her not like that even thought she was beautiful. Basically I started to ramble. I stopped when I noticed that she was crying, I started to hug her and stroke her hair until she stopped. Then I had to ruin the moment by kissing her." I rush out loudly, I gulp down my drink and look at my friend and her boyfriend.
"And." Athena pushes.
"Well the kiss was awesome; I've never gotten such a thrill before. When reality hit I broke off the kiss and told her I was sorry for evading her personal space. Then, it gets better, I stumble and then I came straight here." I answered with a sigh as I bury my head into the pillow.
"Well that was an interesting story." Poseidon mumbles.
"How am I suppose to face her now? She probably thinks I'm crazy." I cry miserably.
"Well did she kiss you back?" Athena asked. I nod my head yes.
"If she doesn't like you she wouldn't have kissed you back." She says with a smile.
"We're talking about Aphrodite though, she'll kiss about anyone." Poseidon
I wanted to slap him for talking bad about her but I knew that wouldn't help solve anything.
There was a knock down stairs and we could hear a voice that was being magically intensified, "I know Artemis is with you Athena! I already went to Persephone and I was rudely told that you would probably come here." Aphrodite yelled.
I knew my face looked like a dear in the headlights, but I couldn't help it. I would rather go against the greatest beast in the universe than face her right now. "I don't think I'm ready to face her." I say to Athena in a pleading tone.
"I'll make some distraction and then you can leave." She says which backs up why she's my best friend.
"You can't run away forever, it doesn't do anything. It just stalls until things get out of hand, and then you can't control it. Not to mention that she's the goddess of love, so that means you're double screwed, if you don't do it now anyway." Poseidon tells me with a sparkle in his eye. I just nod and say, "Ok."
"I knew there was a reason why I liked you other than your body." Athena says with a laugh as she wrapped her arms around his stomach.
"I swear I will break down this door. And if I can't do it I bet Ares will, he would love to vandalize your house Athena. And I doubt that you would like your salty tryst to be outed in front of the whole council, would you." Wow, she was pretty serious about hunting me down. Shit had officially gotten real.
"We'll walk you down." Athena tells me as she gets off of the bed. Poseidon gives me the bottle of tequila and gives me a smile.
"Liquid courage and maybe a little luck." He tells me as we go down the stairs.
Athena opened the door and there stood Aphrodite. She looked pretty shaken; her normal straight hair was disheveled. Her outfit was wrinkled, and her shoes were untied. She was a mess, and still beautiful.
"You can stop trying to break down my door now. And you can call off your henchman Ares if you've already called him." Athena said with an aggravated voice.
"Sorry. Hello Poseidon, I'm sorry for the threat earlier, I got carried away." She said a little flustered, I thought it was a little cute.
"It's okay, I kind of understand." Poseidon tells her. He shoves me out the door literally right into her.
"Well here's what you came here for, enjoy. And I mean that literally." And with that Poseidon closed the door to the house. I'm pretty sure I could hear giggling from Athena, and Poseidon saying "I thought that she would never leave."… Bad images are in my head, make them go away. The way Aphrodite is looking at me I'm pretty sure she heard it too.
I crack a smile and say, "What can I do you for?" As soon as that phrase is complete, I instantly regret it. I cringe and sigh.
"You know exactly why I'm here. Don't play dumb, it doesn't suit you." She tells me in a dry tone.
"Fine I know why you're here, but I don't understand why you're here." I tell her, not daring to look her in the eye.
"I'm here because-" She was interrupted by the loud sound of a glass breaking and then a thud of something being pushed against the wall. A loud moan then more giggling could be heard from Athena's open window. Now all the mental photos were coming back to me. Groddy I was on those sheets!
"Let us go somewhere so that we won't be- well, disturbed." Aphrodite tells me as she grabs my hand. I close my eyes as she takes us somewhere else.
When I open my eyes I see that we were at her house. I've only been here a couple of times though. Christmas parties and such, as a god you are able to celebrate lots of holidays. There's nearly a holiday or special day every day.
"Would you like something to drink," I shake my head no, "good, right to the point. I would like to know why you kissed me."
I shrug, "I couldn't hold it in any more?" I tell her, but it came out more like a question.
"So you have wanted to kiss me for awhile now?" I merely nod my head yes.
"Then why did you leave?" Her voice cracked as she said this and her eyes misted up. Okay, that was not what I was expecting. I was waiting for that hormonal Aphrodite we all know, the one that told me that I was being an ass for trying to recruit Athena's daughter Annabeth. The one, who told me that I was a bitch for agreeing with Athena about Percy not being a good match for her daughter. The one, who made Ares cry when she went on a tirade about him not being smart enough to trick her husband, and threw objects at him. Not the sensitive side, no one sees that side.
"I was scared." I tell her truthfully.
She laughs and said, "The great Artemis scared; of me?" she scoffs and looks at me.
"I was scared because I thought you would be mad at me for kissing you. And because I was scared you would just play me and then I would be heartbroken." I say quietly looking at my hands again.
I can see as her body shifts and moves towards me, "I've wanted to kiss you for a very long time Artemis; I just thought that you would be mad at me also. It's sad to that even the goddess of love is not able to see someone likes her. But I have no control of my own love life though. Yes I can seduce men and women, but that is it. Seducing and loving are two other things." I finally look up at her and see her smile.
"Well since I have been a maiden for such a very long time how do you think I felt. Yes I have had feelings for some men but I always turn them into animals. Why would you want me anyway? I'm normal me, you could have any person you want surely." I enlighten her with the biggest reason why I was too scared to approach her for so long.
"Because it's you, normal you, not some fake person." She steps forward and takes my cheek. "I love you, for you." She whispers before she takes my lips with here.
I'm stunned, like stunned x 1,000. I think she just said love. Holy crap she said love! I would have started doing my happy dance but I was kissing the love of my life…VICTORY!
Being a goddess does have its perks, other than being immortal and people worshiping me none stop. We don't have to breathe if we don't want to. We could go on kissing for forever if we wanted to. And by the way Aphrodite was acting- I think that's what she planned on.
Aphrodite starts leading me towards her couch when both of our phones start to ring. I moan in protest when she breaks off our kiss.
"Sorry, it might be important if both of our phones went off." She told me with a smile as she passes me my phone, I put it in my pocket. I give her my best puppy dog look, just because I'm not super girly doesn't mean that I haven't mastered the look.
"How can I resist that?" Aphrodite says in a serious voice as she throws her phone over her shoulder and pounces on me. My fast reflexes helped me catch her so that we don't fall back.
She wraps her legs around my waist and kisses me with so much passion I want to cry. I start to walk backwards into the hallway. When I get to the last door on the right I open, thankfully I find a spare bed room.
I drop her on the bed and follow suit. I feel like I'm floating in the air. Aphrodite's hand takes my hair out of its ponytail and starts to play with it. When I pull away from the kiss she starts to pout in the cutest way possible.
"I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that if we want to take this further we need to have less articles of clothing on." I say with a sly grin. Instantly her hands are at my shirt, trying quickly to unbutton it. By the time she is done I have already taken off her pants and have started on her shirt.
"Damn buttons, for now on you are no longer aloud to where buttons while you are with me." She says with fake arrogance.
"Well that means I will have to go around naked because a good portion of my closet is button ups." I say with a smirk as I let her continue to undress me.
"Well I don't mind you being naked; I doubt that anyone will have a complaint. They can look all they want but you are all mine." She tells me as reaches for the zipper on my pants.
"I'm yours? Hmm, I like the sound of that, which means you are mine." I say as I continue the kiss. I was so close and then, I feel my phone start to vibrate. I pick it up with a sense of dread.
*Hello?*
*Hey Artemis I texted you and you didn't reply. Where are you?*
Apparently Aphrodite thinks it would be funny to start leading warm wet kisses down my stomach. I gasp, no words can come out.
*You there?*
* Yeah, is there something that you need.*
*Zeus is starting the meeting so get your butt up here little sis.*
I'm so distracted that I don't even remember to tell him not to call me 'little sis'.
*Tell Aphrodite I say hi, and that I'll see her in a few.*
I sigh and drop my phone with a frown. It was going to be hard to get her to stop.
"Princess, we have to stop, Zeus is holding a meeting." I pant as I try to steady my breathing as she leaves a lingering kiss on my pulse point.
"I like that." She murmurs as she slides her body up mine so that she can look at me.
"That Zeus is having a meeting?" I inquire.
"No, the nickname I like it." I smile and kiss her again.
"Let us go so that we will not have to hear a long lecture about 'If you won't use your cell phone then we can use the old way'." Aphrodite gets up and puts on her shirt.
I quickly button up my shirt and zip up my pants. When I look up I see that Aphrodite has already left the room. When I leave I fix the pillows and then close the door.
"Come on my mon amour sportive, we don't want to be any later." I feel a slight sliver when she says that.
"I like it when you speak French." I whisper and I go in for a kiss, but she turns her head so that I kiss her cheek and not my original target.
"I won't be able to control myself if you kiss me again. I already had a hard time stopping earlier." She smiles, takes my hand and kisses it. She guides me through her kitchen and to the front door.
"Are we going to show that we are dating? Or do we keep it to ourselves for awhile?" My princess asks me, she looks down and I can see that she is blushing. I take her chin and gently push it up.
"I think that we should hide it for awhile." Her blue eyes look so sad and she slightly frowns.
"Oh I see-
"I want to enjoy and have you all to myself before I have to put up with the crap about me courting you." I say with a smile. Her sad face breaks out into a mega watt smile. A small chuckle rises in my throat.
"That would be nice, to be able to do what ever we want for a little while."
"I say we give it a week, and then we tell. We'll just have to let the chips where they will." I say to her with a smile.
"Does that mean that we have to act like that we can't stand each other?" I nod with a frown.
"Well, it would look suspicious if we show up together. You can go first I'll fall 2 minutes later." Aphrodite gives me a small chaste kiss on my lips and then I leave. And I can't help but to think, "Damn. I hate Zeus and his stupid meetings."