It was finally D-day, the week was here and it was going to be different that Emory was used to. Emory had his shower, freshened up generally and as always had on a clean and smart outfit, although it definitely wasn't a date Emory had never hung out with anyone outside school or work, so he had little knowledge on what to expect and just decided to go casual by wearing a fitted pant, a plain white t-shirt and to finish it off, a red light flannel.
Emory was now ready for his meeting with Athena, as well as the clean up mission assigned to him by Michael. He stepped out of his room, and was welcomed by the scent of pancakes and warm syrup, he traced the scent to the kitchen where he found Mirianne cooking up breakfast.
"You're up early" Emory said as he walked over to her side, or precisely to the plate stacked full with warm and freshly done pancakes.
"Is that anyway to greet your mother good morning" Mirianne said, as she placed her hands on her hips and turned fully towards Emory
"Good morning mom. Sorry, I was just shocked to see you awake, normally you'd still be asleep till evening " Emory said as he picked up a pancake. Emory was caught off guard by Mirianne's actions, as he said, on weekends she would normally remain asleep till evening. Her stress from working tirelessly was relieved by sleeping…until the evening, that is, when she goes to work again for her night shift.
Mirianne shot Emory a questioning look "I got a day off (compulsorily) and was just trying to change somethings up around here you know. I've been feeling like everything is cyclical these days with work and school" she said and paused for a while. Noticing Emory's appearance she continued "And why are you all dressed up? Going somewhere?"
"A day off and change sounds nice, you need it but you should be resting, I'm meeting up with a friend from school today" Emory said, stuffing his face with a large bite of pancake after
"A friend? You have friends? I mean that's great" She said as she squinted her eyes and pinched her brows together, clearly surprised at Emory's declaration.
"Yes I have friends mom" Emory said, almost rolling his eyes at her reaction. Even his own mother found it surprising that he had friends,how sad.
"Does this friend of yours happen to be a girl? Is she cute? Tall? Short? Do I know her? Is it a date? " She asked excitedly getting closer to Emory after each question
"She is a girl, and It's definitely not a date" Emory said in hopes to clear any misunderstanding Mirianne might have about his meeting with Athena but it didn't work as Mirianne kept on teasing him and acting like a teenager on the matter.
"Oooooh" She said exaggeratedly. Emory decided it was not a battle he was going to win, if he continued on the topic with his mother, and besides he was losing time so he had to cut it short.
"I'm heading out now, thanks for the breakfast it was delicious" Emory said as he gave his mother a kiss on her cheek before taking three pancake slices with him and dashing out the door
"Wait! Tell me more about her." Mirianne said
"Bye mom, see you later" Emory said, ending the conversation as he left the house, shutting the door behind him.
"Take care of yourself, make sure you have your inhaler with you at all times and be careful out there" She said as a smile appeared on her face, she was glad to see Emory finally behaving and living like a real teenager instead of being a shy and awkward recluse but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to make a mess of it all.
Emory pushed open the glass door that served as an entrance into Rose's diner, the placed was busy and filled with customers seeing as it was the weekend and most people were not at work or at school but it was not difficult to spot Athena, her green hair stood out among the crowd and even from afar it was easy to spot someone that beautiful.
Athena's attention was focused on her phone that she didn't notice as Emory walked up to her
"Hey" he said, breaking her focus, causing her to jump up a little bit
"Hey! You came, I was starting to think you stood me up" she said immediately tucking her phone away.
"Sorry about that, I got a little held up by my mom. She made breakfast, I couldn't let it go to waste" He said, taking a seat directly opposite Athena.
"It's cool, there was nothing you could do about it. Parents right?" Athena said in a jovial tone
"Yeah…Parent" Emory replied
"I take it that you aren't going to be eating much right?" Athena asked
"No, I'll just have an iced cola" Emory said.
Athena also placed an order for an iced cola, alongside fries and chicken, unlike Emory she hadn't eaten before stepping out. Emory wondered if he was to pay for their orders or if she was to pay. It only made sense that she was going to pay since she invited him right?
After that, the pair didn't talk much and the atmosphere grew awkward and stiff. Emory was totally lost, he had never hung out with a friend before, he was only here for the money and Athena who initiated the hangout was also equally silent, occasionally glancing at her phone and taking a sip out of her drink, the two had nothing to say.
"I heard the weather's been quite nice lately," Athena said, attempting to break the awkward silence.
Emory glanced at her briefly before returning his gaze to his phone to check. "Yeah, I guess so," he replied, lacking enthusiasm.
"Athena, your parents dabble in mythological studies right?" Emory asked
"Yes they do" she replied
"Do your parents know much about angels?" Emory asked, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.
Athena hesitated for a moment before replying, "Um, yeah, they're into all that mythological stuff from angels to demons, even dragons and ancient butterflies. Why do you ask?"
"I've recently developed an interest for the subject due to an unforseen chain of events, so it would be nice to have a person or people I can talk with on the matter" Emory said
"Hmm, sure I can talk to my dad for you, he would be willing to help or 'guide' you" She said half-heartedly
"Why do you say it like that? guide?" Emory asked
"My dad just loves talking about that stuff and how nice it would be if young people like us should show more interest in it that he would love to 'guide' such a person." She said
"I see, tell me more about the angels then" Emory said, drawing the conversation back to the main topic
"Sure" Athena said
The truth is, the main reason Athena proposed the meeting was because she wanted time with Emory, recently she had been feeling drawn to Emory, something about him just draws her to him, she had to know why and that was why she initially proposed the 'study' idea but that didn't work too well for her in the end so decided to try a different approach, one where she actually put in the work and know Emory as a normal person, not an object of study, so she was not too happy about talking about her parents and their business on a meeting that was meant for her to get closer to Emory and properly put any misunderstanding that they had behind them, but still she was glad Emory was engaging her so she decided to talk anyway.
"...Infact my parents have this mini library or collection, I can't remember what they called it. They keep all their collections on various myths there, if you want to find something that's probably your best bet" she explained
"Hey, would you mind showing me these books your parents have sometime?" Emory suggested, hoping to change the setting.
Changing the location was crucial, it was key in his plan to carry out Michael's mission and complaints the meeting as well, kill two birds with one stone. His plan was to lead Athena out of the diner and pass by the park, carry out his mission and then return back to Athena, a plan that was perfect…on paper.
Athena brightened up at the suggestion. "Sure! I'd love to show you. They're really cool." Even though Athena wasn't too interested in her father and mother's side hobby, she still was fond of the collection her parents had grown over the years.
"Okay then, let's go" Emory said, as he stood up and straightened his shirt
"Now?" She asked
"Now" he answered
Athena decided to have the remainder of her fries and chicken to-go, and at the check out when it was time to pay, Athena paid for both their orders. Emory wondered if that was the right thing but soon got over it, after all he saved himself some money and he was still going to be paid after.