Chapter 37
A couple days later the three friends were sitting at a table before a class just relaxing. Jason smiled, "Well I got a text from Jenny…we're going to get some coffee and hang out before class. You two ok on your own?" Juliet nodded, "Yup. Bye Jase." Aphrodite waved, "Later dude." As he was leaving she gave him those pleading eyes, begging him to stay so it wouldn't get awkward. He walked off giving Aphrodite a thumbs up and a wink. Jenny smiled and waved at them as she and Jason walked off together. Juliet turned to her and smiled, "Looks like it's just you and me." Aphrodite nodded, "Yup," now…things were a little awkward.
They began walking, alone, down a walkway. For some reason it was empty so they began to talk. Aphrodite noticed the slight blush Juliet's cheeks before she spoke her next sentence. They had been talking randomly beforehand. Aphrodite had no idea what to say next so she randomly blurted out what came to her mind first, "Let's go paint or something." Juliet smiled, "That's for this weekend remember?" Aphrodite regained her thoughts and shrugged, "Fine let's go have sex then." Juliet stopped in the hallway shocked that her friend just said that, "Excuse me?" Aphrodite stopped beside her, "You said you're tired of picking what we do so I'm picking this time and that's what I want to do. So let's go." She swung her arm around Juliet and began walking. Juliet laughed and pushed Aphrodite's arm off of her shoulders as Aphrodite laughed with her.
Juliet looked up at Aphrodite, "I want to see you play some music." Aphrodite nodded, "Fine. Let's go." Juliet was definitely appalled, no one had ever heard Aphrodite actually play anything before, "Really? Like you'll actually let me hear you play?" Aphrodite shook her head with a smile, "Nope." Juliet playfully pushed her, "I hate you. No one has ever heard you play or sing. Can you really sing then?" Aphrodite nodded, "Only a few people have heard me sing. Not even my ex-girlfriend from Ohio. Becky…she tried to get me to play for her…but I never did. Only my family, Jeremy, and BB have heard me play." Juliet nodded not really understanding why, "Why no one else?" Aphrodite shrugged, "I don't know. It's personal I guess, I don't have a stage fright or anything. I play openly with my family and stuff, but it's when people I don't know come around and I just don't want to anymore." Juliet still didn't understand even though she said she did, "I understand, but if you ever get the urge to play I'll still be waiting to listen." A small smile graced Aphrodite's lips, "I'll keep that in mind."
The principal was walking down the same hallway and noticed Aphrodite walking with Juliet. He changed direction and walked their way, "I've been looking for you." He handed her a letter and put a hand on her shoulder looking her in the eye, "I'm so sorry Aphrodite." She nodded thinking he was a total creeper, "Uh, yeah. Ok." He walked off and she gave Juliet a confused look. Aphrodite's attention turned to the folded piece of paper still warm from just being printed. She slowly unfolded it and began to read it.
Aphrodite,
We couldn't get a hold of you on your cell phone so we asked the principal to deliver this letter to you. It's about Ares, he's in the hospital. He tried to commit suicide and Artemis found him before it was too late. He's doing ok now they've finally stabilized him; he left a note for everyone explaining why. The letter said:
Hey Guys,
Don't think this is your fault, at all. It wasn't Aphrodite's fault I love her and our fight has nothing to do with this. Aphrodite, I love you. I wish you were home, I miss you, but this is goodbye. I'll always remember the good times we shared and forget all our fights. That's what mom and mama don't understand, we fight, and it's just the way we are. Apollo, I love you bro. We were close and I'll always cherish you in my heart. None of this was your fault no matter how much you picked on me, which never bothered me really. Artemis, I'll miss you a lot peacemaker. You always stopped the drama and I hope all goes well for you in life. Mom…Mama, I love you both. You're the best parents I could ever ask for. Life just isn't satisfying me like I believe it should. This is goodbye and I love you all. See you on the other side. Ares.
We thought you should know as soon as possible. Don't be alarmed, he's fine and none of this was your fault ok? We're going to get him help and we hope everything is going ok for you as well. We'll send you regular updates and we love you. We'll see you as soon as we can.
Mom and Mama.
The letter fell from her hand and onto the hallway floor as she was stunned. Her eyes watered and a single tear glided down her cheek. Juliet looked concerned, "Is everything ok?" "No," she shook her head as she stepped backwards, "Uh, I'll see you later. I need to talk to Jason." Juliet nodded, "Uh, ok." Aphrodite took off running down the hallway as tears glided down her cheeks faster and faster. She left the letter lying on the floor at Juliet's feet. Juliet picked it up and read the letter and gasped as she put a hand over her mouth. She looked towards the area Aphrodite had just run out of. Jason immediately saw Aphrodite and became concerned, she looked angry and kind of sad. So that threw up a red flag, either she was going to kill someone or she was about to do something she'd regret. Jason told Jenny they would talk later and he ran over to talk to Aphrodite, "What happened?" The tears flowed freely once more and they walked quickly to a more private place. "He's in the hospital," she cries lightly, "he tried to kill himself. It's all my fault." Jason was confused, "Who?" ""Ares," she cried harder and Jason pulled her in for a hug trying to comfort her, "It's going to be ok; it's not your fault." Aphrodite shook her head, "It was my fault. I picked on him, beat him up, and called him names." Jason shook his head, "Siblings fight Dite; you went too far one night. That isn't why he did it. He's alive still right?" She nodded. "He'll be fine," he said, "he'll go to therapy and be on suicide watch, but afterwards he'll be ok. You'll have your same little brother back and your relationship will be better than ever because you'll both have been through a lot of things and then you'll both be better and be able to live normal happy lives. Just remember that, everything is going to be ok. He's fine." She stood up and did some of her breathing exercises to calm her down so she didn't get angry for her brother's stupidity, "I'm not going to class, I need some time." She walked back to her room and lay down on her floor next to her bed and searched for a minute. She pulled out a bottle of Evan Williams then found a shot glass and did something about her problems.
The night came quicker than expected for the drunken girl and she didn't know what to do with herself, she was drunk, angry, sad, and bored. So she did what a lot of drunken idiots would have done and left her dorm to head down a level to Juliet's bedroom. She sat down and knocked lightly for about a minute straight before Jenny opened the door, "Dite?" Aphrodite looked up at her best friend's almost sort of girlfriend, "Jase likes you, you know. Like he likes you, but he's to chicken to ask you out." Jenny was confused, "You came here to tell me that?" Aphrodite shook her head, "I don't remember why I came here, I just remember reading that letter. You want to know about my fucked up family? Well, I'll tell you…my brother tried to kill himself, I'm a drunken psychopath, I'm pretty sure my sister is making out with my best friend right now, my ex-girlfriend…ex-girlfriends…all hate me, my other brother is a douche bag that sleeps with just about anything that moves to make up for his lack of everything else in life, my Mama looks like she's gaining weight which probably means she's pissed at my mom cause she eats a lot when she's mad at her, my Mom is having an affair with her secretary and paid me to keep it quiet, my other best friend Jeremy is dead because of me and I took a bullet trying to save him, my god-daughter slash daughter thinks I'm amazing and I'm just not." Jenny sat down next to Aphrodite, "Should I call someone to help you?" She shook her head, "I think I have something to do." Jenny was scared something bad would happen, "Stay here." She got Juliet up and made her come outside the door, "Dite what's wrong?" Jenny looked at her sadly as Aphrodite ran her hand back and forth over the carpet, "A lot of things, more than you know. She should tell you herself." Jenny went back inside to sleep as Juliet sat down next to her. Aphrodite rambled about all her problems again adding a few to the end of her long list, Juliet truly felt bad for her, she's apparently going through a lot right now.
Juliet could also smell the alcohol on her breath, "You're drunk." Aphrodite nodded, "That I am." "Where did you get alcohol," she was curious, Aphrodite was the only person she knew with any. Aphrodite shrugged, "It doesn't matter." Juliet brushed it off thinking she had to have already drunk her entire stash, "Are you ok?" "I'm fine," she said, "my brother just tried to commit suicide no big deal." Juliet rolled her eyes, "You don't have to be sarcastic." "Oh, and it's all my fault," she said matter-of-factly, "yup, I was the one who drove my brother to the point where he would rather die than be in the same family as me." "That's not true," Juliet said as she shook her head. Aphrodite was getting angry now, "You don't what's true or not! You don't know Ares or what my home life is like!" Juliet flinched as Aphrodite became angrier in her drunken state, she noticed and immediately began apologizing, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to yell." Juliet shook her head, "It's fine. I read his note too though Aphrodite. He said himself it wasn't your fault." "But…I feel like a large part of it was, whether he wants to admit that or not…I know it was because of me. We fought all the time and…he's just an idiot…wait here I need to get my cell." Juliet grabbed her arm, "You're not going anywhere." Aphrodite roughly pulled her arm free, "I can do what I want." Juliet stood up with her, "You'll also do what I tell you to and if you hit me I swear to god I will beat you with Molly's softball bat. Now go inside." No one had ever stood up to her like that, they've scolded her and yelled, but never just told her they'd hit her back, "No." Juliet really saw no other choice, she gave her one more chance before she got the bat, "Go inside my dorm." Aphrodite was on the verge of being extremely pissed, "No." Juliet disappeared for a minute and returned with a bat, Aphrodite's eyes grew large, "Why the fuck did you get a bat?!" Juliet stood there holding it, "It's the only way to get your stubborn ass inside you jerk." Juliet would never actually hit her with the bat, but Aphrodite looked at her as if she would so the Ohio native stumbled inside her friend's room. Juliet put the bat back and took off Aphrodite's hat and her boots pushing her back to lay on the bed. She crawled in next to her and they both drifted to sleep.