There I was—all ready to devour the tempting Rhea, in all of her ivory-covered glory, when my mind-broken nemesis shows up.
Man. Talk about blue balls.
〖I can't wait to see my Goddess. I wonder if she'll like the lingerie I'm wearing. Oh…I hope she does. If not I could always go commando. Hmm. Maybe I should just strip right here. That way, when she opens the door, I can present myself as a present to her.〗
Not that I had anything against her shaming herself by standing in front of my door completely naked, but it would overly complicate things.
I turned to Rhea who was looking towards the door with half curiosity and half irritation.
"I'm sorry, babe. It looks like we'll have to put a pin on tonight."
"Do you know who that is?"
"Yeah."
"Do I want to know?"
〖I'm not jealous. Will she think that I'm jealous?〗
"Celeste."
〖What the fuck?! Why is that demon here?! Shit, now I'm getting jealous and scared. Play it cool, Rhea. Act like it's no big deal.〗
"O-oh. Umm, is that so? I wonder what she's doing here. Do you think she found out that you leaked the information? Oh, God. What is she going to do to me and my family once she finds out that I'm here? Should I just jump out of the window? No. I can't do that. You're on the fifth floor. Crap What should I do?"
I didn't want to laugh at her. I stifled my smile and kissed her sweetly. "Don't worry. Nothing is going to happen to you. I promise."
"How can you be sure?"
"I just am. I'll need you to trust me."
"I do trust you."
Trust. I don't know if I'd ever truly trusted another person before. I had my parents. And while they weren't completely neglectful, they did leave their 12-year-old daughter in a school surrounded by sociopaths while they traipsed off to India to explore ancient dungeons as a 6-year second honeymoon.
I normally spoke to them on my birthday and major holidays. But I haven't actually seen my parents in years. So, trusting did not come easy for me. Which is why it felt so wonderful when I heard her quick response.
I wasn't great at trusting people, but I still wanted to be trusted. I wasn't sure if I was worthy of trust myself. I mean, Rhea and I are dating, but I did sleep with Celeste as a part of her torture. (Yeah, I'm calling it torture. What's it to you? It's not like I enjoyed watching her plump ass jiggle every time I slammed into her. Or the sight of her shapely blossom flying about as she rode me like a rodeo. I didn't enjoy any of that. And anyone who says otherwise is lying! … That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
Ahem! Anyway…I also slept with Lexi out of pure desire. Well, let's just say that since Rhea and I never had The Talk, I'm still free to sleep with who I want. Yeah. That works for me.
I'm not feeling guilty. Not even a little bit.
…
…
…
Okay. Maybe a little.
"Hey, Rhea? Can I ask you something?"
"Huh? Oh sure. What's up?"
"I-its about us."
"What about us, baby?" Seeing her innocent expression made me feel like I was about to step on a landmine.
"Well, I was wondering. What exactly are we?"
"Oh! We're having that talk, huh?"
Knock! Knock! Knock!
I didn't bother glancing at the door. Celeste could wait. This couldn't.
"I just want to understand what you're thinking."
"Well, if you're asking if I want us to be serious, then the answer is yes. I love you, Kyah. I'm in love with you. But realistically, I don't know how this will work. I've never had a long-distance relationship. Plus, Leinani said you might be going to Cambridge next year. That's one hell of a commute, ya know?"
Damn it, Leinani! Well, whatever. No sense crying over spilled milk. "I haven't decided where I'm going yet. Or if I'm even going."
"Yeah. She said that, too. I personally think it's crazy if you don't go. But it's your life, I guess."
"This doesn't really tell me what I want to know."
"Like I said, I love you. How do you feel about me?"
〖Maybe I should have Lily unlock the door again. I bet if I stripped down and waited on my knees by the door that she'll ravish me when she comes home.〗
I had to wrap up this conversation. I foolishly thought I had more time. I forgot how far gone Celeste had become. Quite troublesome. Maybe I should've just killed her and called it quits. Oh well. Too late now.
"I'm sorry, Rhea. It looks like our time is up."
"What do you mean?"
"It seems like our uninvited guest is getting desperate. If I don't do something, she'll likely do something stupid."
"Huh? How do you know?"
"It's hard to say. I just have a feeling."
"So, what do you want to do?"
"I guess we'll need to pick this up a little later."
"Really? But…"
〖I'm so horny! It's not fair.〗
I kissed her lips. "I'm sorry. Oh, and just so you know—I love you, too."
"R-really?" Her smile brightened my dim room.
"Really." I cast her one final glance before heading towards the door.
"K-Kyah?" When she called to me, I stopped. She was sitting on my bed, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn't spit it out.
〖Am I being too needy? What if she leaves me because I'm too pushy? What should I say?〗
"Rhea? What's wrong?"
She took a deep gulp of air and then squared her shoulders. It looked like whatever she wanted to say, she had to build up her courage first.
"It's just…no. Listen, if you do want to go overseas…no. That's not right either. No matter where you want to go, I will follow you. If that is what you want."
Knock! Knock!
Oh, for the love of…"Hang on a damn minute!" Hearing the constant knocking was really pissing me off. Especially because she was ruining an important moment between Rhea and me.
When she heard my voice, she practically screamed.
〖Yay! My Goddess is here! Yay!〗
Even if I couldn't hear her thoughts, I'd still be able to understand her excitement. "No problem, my Goddess! I'll wait patiently."
Her singsong voice was really irritating me.
"Goddess? Why did she call you a goddess, Kyah?"
I sighed. "Long story. That aside, what you said before."
"Y-yeah?"
"Were you serious?"
"Completely."
"We just met."
"I don't care."
"You just got a teaching job."
"That doesn't matter."
"I might never come back."
"As long as I'm with you, I'll be happy."
"There are a lot of things about me that you don't know."
"We can take all the time in the world and learn about each other."
"Are you not worried that your feelings will change?"
"Not particularly."
"What about my feelings? What if they change?"
"That will break my heart. But you can't love completely when fear holds you back. I trust you and I love you. Where you go. I will go. I-if you want me to, that is."
Wow. This girl really goes in 100-percent, huh? That's troublesome for an entirely different reason. It wasn't that I thought she was a bother. She was the sweetest person I've ever known. Nevertheless, with my desire for revenge, my holy vessel-ness, and the uncontrollable rage inside of me, I feel like if she did follow me, she'd be in danger. Opponents like Celeste, Crystal, and Kristi notwithstanding, her biggest threat may come from me.
I looked into her beautiful big brown eyes and sighed. I couldn't put her in danger. There is no way I would take her with me if I went off to school overseas. She'd be better off here. She'd be safe and she'd be happy. Of course, I still don't know what the future holds for me. So, right now, it's not worth stressing over. But I'll have to come up with an answer soon.
"Rhea. I do love you. But because of how different I am…you following me might not be the best thing for you right now."
"I don't understand."
"Umm…I can't really explain it to you right now."
"Why not?"
"I…just can't."
⎡You're such a jerk, cher! Just tell her.⎦
I froze.
⎡Are you fucking serious, Calypso?! This isn't some peep show! Get out of my head!⎦
⎡Aw. Come on. I was just curious about how my little favorite vessel was doing. That's all.⎦
⎡I'm your only vessel. Anyway, go away. I'm trying to have a discussion here.⎦
⎡Not a very open one if you ask me. You're not even telling that poor girl the truth.⎦
⎡First of all, I didn't ask you. Second, she's not ready to know.⎦
⎡That's just your fear talking. The kid loves you. The least you can do is respect her desire to support and be with you. Don't you think?⎦
⎡I'm not talking to you about this.⎦
⎡…Uhh, then what do you call what we're doing right now?⎦
⎡You know what? Can I turn this thing off? You're annoying.⎦
⎡Heh! You're just pissed that I'm right. Seriously, think about it. What's the worst that could happen if you told her the truth?⎦
⎡I don't know. She could spill the secret. I could become a lab rat. Besides, what exactly am I supposed to tell her? Do I tell her that I'm totally broken and have major anger issues? Do I tell her that sometimes, like earlier, I couldn't control my anger and nearly went on a murder spree in the middle of a press conference? How do you think that conversation is going to go?⎦
⎡Well, don't tell her that. Duh! Besides, you're not broken. I mean, do you have issues? Sure. But that has nothing to do with the abuse you endured. There is something else at work here. That's what I'm looking into.⎦
⎡Great. Then how about you look into that and stay out of my business?⎦
⎡You're so lame. Heh! I wonder if this is what having a bratty little sister is like.⎦
⎡I don't know. But I feel like all your nagging and second-guessing is exactly what I'd get from an annoying older sister.⎦
⎡Aw. You think of me as a sister. That's so cute.⎦
⎡You're hopeless.⎦
⎡You love me and you know it.⎦
⎡Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I've got to go. I've been standing here talking to you for too long. Rhea's staring at me like she thinks I'm having a stroke.⎦
⎡Fiiiiiinnnnnnneeeeee. But just promise me that you'll think about it. I think it could be good for you to have someone else in your corner who knows everything about you.⎦
⎡You know that if I tell her, I'll have to expose you, too.⎦
⎡Oh? If that's your concern, don't worry about it. I don't care one way or the other.⎦
⎡Of course, you don't. Bye.⎦
⎡Tootles!⎦
All of this telepathy was exhausting. I need a vacation.
I glanced back at Rhea. "Let's put a pin in this right now."
"Are you sure? It seems pretty important. Besides, I want to know everything there is to know about the woman I love."
I'd love to believe Calypso, but she wasn't exactly the most prudent goddess of the bunch. Then again…she was the only goddess that I've met. Maybe they were all like this.
⎡Nope! I'm an original, babe!⎦
I ignored her. Okay. I'll just deal with this later, right now there was something else that I had to confront. Rather, there was someone I needed to confront.
I turned towards the door and put my hand on the handle.
"Here we go."