Hit Me, Cupid!

ღ Four: Say 'Hi!' to Karma

Five minutes and forty seconds left before lunch break.

    Why was it that whenever you wait for something, time seemed to go on slower? Literature was okay, I guess. I mean, Ms. Collins had been blabbing the same thing for well over two years now, so I have her lessons pretty much memorized.

    Anyway, sitting there as the clock ticked was the most annoying part of my day. Two guys in front of me were practically drooling over their notes. I didn't have a problem with them, but they could really use some help in the wardrobe department. Meanwhile, a guy with blonde hair, Mr. quarterback of the team, was far too vain for his own good. He kept on winking towards a clique of semi-popular girls, while the others drew doodles around their desks. I, however, was simply observing my peers.

    Come on, three minutes have passed after my thoughts.

    I wanted to break out of this hell-like prison. I just wish I had Lexie with me, but she was too busy gawking at my brother. I only realized now that the Three A's had every class together, with the exception of history.

    Then there was my little argument with Eros. His aura seemed to be different; it was mostly made of cold atmosphere. I didn't know how he was capable of doing so. I mean, he was—is—Cupid! As much as I didn't want to believe it, the evidence to support his claims was overwhelming. Come on, why else would I be attracted to him?

    And then the bell rang. Finally. 

    "All right, class dismissed," Ms. Collins finally announced.

    "Oh my gosh, that class was like hell!" A girl yawned and stood up.

    The rest of the class quickly made their way out, most of them headed to the cafeteria. While I walked down the hallway, a familiar redhead passed by me at the corner of the hall, waving her hand.

    "Hey, Lexie," I greeted her, hiking my bag onto my shoulder.

    Lexie smirked and nudged me. "So, what's with you and sexy, dark, hottie boy?"

    "Who?" I played the fool.

    "Duh, the new transfer student, Eros?"

    "Oh, Eros, right. There's nothing going on between us, okay?" I assured her as we stalked off together.

    Lexie held her index finger and wagged it in front of me. We entered the cafeteria and lined up to buy our usual meal.

    "I still don't believe you. I mean, how could someone as handsome as him be with us?"

    "The roasted please," I told the luncheon lady, "And macaroons, too."

    "Hey, are you even listening?" Lexie asked me, giving me a funny look.

    "I'm sorry, okay? It's just I'm not interested, no matter how handsome you think he is."

    Lexie led me to our usual table, which was near the French windows. Some undiscernible, exotic plant was growing in a terra cotta vase beside us. The whole cafeteria was buzzing with stories of summer. The usual red linear columns surrounded us with the pale painting. Marble floorings covered the ground as the students, once again, trashed them with muddy shoes. Tables set out on different places and spots. The center table was known as the 'The Three Musketeers'; you should know who they were for.

    Yep, in the middle sat the trio. Ach, Aiden, and my nemesis – Austin, those three stupid A's. Everyone thought it was a miracle that the three A's were all so hot and sexy and popular.

    "Hello there, good ladies of mine!"

    Immediately, Lexie and I both let out a chuckle. We turned to our friend, Kyle. He had blackish-brown hair that almost reached his shoulders, and his eyes were as deep as a charcoal briquette. He was lean, though not too frail.

    Kyle sat next to us and brought his lunch tray. "You won't believe what happened today!"

    I giggled. "What?"

    "Promise me you guys won't tell anyone?" Kyle pleaded with a cute look, which sometimes came across as awkward.

    Lexie slapped him playfully in the arm. "Woman, since when did we tell your secret?"

    Kyle was pleased with her answer and then he motioned us both to huddle over. "Aiden and I are dating."

    Lexie and I both gasped, jaws hanging open and our eyes widening.

    "What?" we asked at the same time. "As in, one of the three's A's? As in the most troublesome of the group?"

    Kyle nodded.

    "But—Kyle, how? When?" Lexie managed to stumble out.

    I added, "Yeah, no offense, but how? I mean what if he's just playing with you and he tells everyone about who you are? I just don't want you to get hurt, most especially when you're not ready to come out publicly yet."

    "Well." Kyle shrugged, the collar of his shirt peeking up. "He didn't tell anyone. I trust him. We even kissed a few times."

    With that, Kyle's cheeks flushed as Lexie and I exchanged meaningful glances. Kyle was known for his tough exterior. No one knew he was gay except for us, and now Aiden as well. It was bad news. Aiden was bad news. But hey, everyone loved red flags at some point. Knowing this, Kyle would just probably turn his back on us if we didn't cheer him up and we want to protect him.

    "Just be careful, okay?" I told him with a worried glance.

    "Yeah, if anything happens, don't hesitate to tell us, Lexie insisted, taking a bite on her sandwich.

    Kyle took both our hands and smiled warmly. "Thank you!"

    "We couldn't exactly resist you." Lexie winked.

    "I know." Kyle grinned and made a silly face.

    I laughed, turning to realize my brother had been poking me. He stood there with confidence as the others gawked at him. They were used to him coming to our table, since I was his sister.

    "Hey, Ceecee, mom told me you should come home early," Ach informed me, showing me a text mom had sent him.

    "What for?" I raised an eyebrow.

    "Dinner with an old relative of ours, or something, I'll pick you up by the parking lot. Make sure to be there on time."

    I nodded as Ach gave my friends each a fleeting smile before disappearing into a crowd of girls that had developed behind him. I could tell, Lexie was more than ready to show herself up and have her own way on Ach. She have always loved Ach, but she'd never tell him. She thought it would complicate things between them and us.

    Kyle laughed out loud when he saw Lexie's expression. "Lexie, you should really stop that. It's messy."

    "Gah! He's not available, and neither is Aiden. That leaves me Austin," Lexie grumbled.

    Kyle suddenly whistled. "Speak of the devil, here he comes."

    I glanced at Austin who was now making his own way towards me, more like making his own path. "What's up with the three A's coming at us?" I mumbled.

    Austin's stupid blonde hair was peeking out on us as he approached our table. As he came closer, I saw that he was approaching me.

    "Hariet wants to see us." He smirked then pulled me up.

    "No."

    Lexie glanced, an amused expression plastered on her face. Kyle continually ate his own food, trying to keep the cool façade on.

    Austin rolled his eyes. "Come on, babe. At least I'm actually cooperating with you."

    Asshole.  

    "Fine." I gave up, then turned to Lexie and Kyle, "I'll be right back."

    "Sure thing." Lexie chuckled and gave me a reassuring nod.

    Kyle kept on his own mask then raised his eyes to meet mine. His face showing something along the lines of, 'be-careful-or-you-two-might-end-up-together.'

    I left, trailing after Austin who was whistling and laughing on his own. He kept doing this while I just stared blankly. He moved ten paces in front of me and I struggled to keep up with him.

    "Will you shut up?"

    Austin paused and sneaked a glance at me, "You know, any girl would die to be in your position right now."

    I punched his arm.

    "Come on, we both know you secretly like me." His smug face only enraged me more.

    "Look, I never, as in never, will like you. I hate you, and always will."

    "Really now?"

    I backed him up and sighed. "Can we just do this? I don't want to fight. I don't like you."

    Austin gave me a half smile. "No one can resist me, babe. Sooner or later, you'll be sending me a love letter."

    I snorted. "Ha, in your dreams."

    "It's reality."

    I found him too annoying to tolerate, so I kept on walking past him. The hallways were empty; no students were at their lockers. Since when had my life become complicated? This guy used to ignore me and at that time, Cupids didn't exist.

    "Are you ignoring me?" he asked, not fazed by my silent treatment.

    That was when I felt it.

    The sudden churning of my stomach, the goose bumps rising on my skin as I felt my cheeks flush hotly, and the intense desire to touch a certain someone. I'd never felt it before. Austin was trying to talk to me, but I couldn't focus on him. My gaze tore, wildly searching for Eros. I found him standing in front of us with a rigid pose, his eyes roaming over us, as if he was inspecting whether or not we brought guns and illegal things. Eros' face was devoid of any emotion.

    "Eros," I breathed out.

    Austin stilled, then turned away without another glance at me.

    To say that I was surprised was an understatement. Eros did it again. He once used Austin to humiliate himself, and now he was manipulating him?

    I was pissed, mad, and beyond frustrated. I stalked up to Eros and hit him on his chest. My hands were balled up into fists as I thumped repeatedly on his rock-hard upper body. The churning settled down- and I wanted nothing more than to lean against him- but I stopped myself.

    "What the hell do you want?" It was already bad enough that Austin showed up.

    Eros dragged me away, then a force hit us. Neither of us could move from our position. He was pressing his side on me while I locked gazes with him.

    "We can't move." He scowled at me, followed by a blank expression. "Why the f**k did you show up with Austin?"

    "He's my partner!" I practically screamed.

    "My fate doesn't come up well. I don't want you to be with him. I told you, I'll make you fall in love with me if it's needed, then I'll break you piece by piece." His eyes never once wavered as he told me this.

    "I know that! You keep saying it. I don't care. Why are you trying to tie me to you? If you're so great at being Cupid, then do something about it!." I gave up, wanting to move, but couldn't. "Great, did you do a weird magic thing again to stick us like glues?"

    "It's your fault. You have shown defiance against fate – this is the reason why we're stuck together." Eros' tone was clipped and short.

    "Don't blame this on me!"

    "You're being stubborn!"

    "I'm not! You're the one who's stubborn! You won't leave me alone!"

    Eros groaned and slammed me against the wall, his two arms on either side of my head. "There's only one way to get out of this situation."

    "Wha—"

    Eros carefully pressed his lips to my neck, the stinging pleasure brought a new world into me. I shivered when his hot mouth delicately caressed the nape of my neck, his tongue making a dash around it before kissing it softly. I felt myself drowning in endless ecstasy, not wanting to get out of this dream. I needed his touch and his warm breaths just as much as I needed air to breathe.

    All too soon, he pushed me away and dropped me to the floor. Finally, I felt myself being released from a hold. It felt like someone had finally released the chains that were bounding me to Eros.

    "The fates are different, Cee."

    A tingle went into my body when he called me by my name.

    "What do you mean?"

    Eros was having a problem. He pulled away and leaned back, messing his blonde brownish hair. His jaw set firm when he sighed.

    "I am Cupid. I am Love. Basically, I'm the reason why there's jealousy. Jealousy is what inspired the fates. The punishment for jealousy, and as we're trying to reject each other, caused a magnetic force that can only be released by affection."

    I couldn't believe it. He kissed my neck just to be released from me? For whatever reason, I felt used. But that was the way it should be, right?

    "The reason why we couldn't move is because of jealousy? And you tricked Austin again, didn't you?"

    "Yes. Austin is a simple-minded mortal. He's easily tricked into hallucinations, so that's why he didn't utter a single word," Eros explained, shifting awkwardly on his feet.

    "Eros... " I trailed off.

    Eros stiffened and hunched his wide shoulders. His brooding mood affected me in a way I couldn't describe.

    "It doesn't matter." He laughed humorlessly.

    I coward away, feeling my throat constricting.

    "Unfortunately, I can't. The fates are preventing me to do so. I may be Cupid, but I can also do things you've never heard of. The worst thing in life is not to have loved." Eros' voice was too melancholic; I was drunk by his appearance.

    I was fine before, why was he acting like this again?

    My phone chimed its familiar text tune. Ach texted me a reminder not to forget the upcoming family reunion with far away cousins we'd never met.

    I touched his cheeks, causing him to flinch. I quickly retracted my hand away.

    "I pity you."

    "You don't know what you are talking about." Just like that, he had his defenses up again, and his guarded expression was back.

    "I have to go," I whispered.

    Eros snapped his fingers, and in a blink, my phone was in his hand. He typed in something, then handed it back to me.

    "Text me when you decide you want to break this seal of ours."

    "And if I don't?"

    Eros leaned in into me, our noses touching and the cool warm air wrapped around us. "I'll make your life a living hell."

    I gripped his shirt as he looked taken aback. "Let's see if you can resist me then."

    I scurried off, heading back to the cafeteria. I saw Kyle and Lexie by our table. I sat back down in between them and continued on eating my lunch.

    "What happened?" Kyle quickly blurted out.

    "Eros happened."

    Lexie gasped. "You know, I think you should do something about it. What did he do?"

    It wasn't like I could tell them; it was already complicated enough. "Let's just say I want him to fall in love with me."

"Are you crazy? With that cold exterior?" Kyle took a double-take. "He's, you know, different from the other sexy and hot guys I met. He's got this weird aura on him that says 'Warning: Get close to me and die.'"

    "Exactly my point." Lexie grinned as she sipped lazily at her juice.

    Nope, I didn't really want him to fall in love with me, but I was going to give him what I could. And what I meant by that was that I'd go through with the whole breaking the seal of fates. I'd help him, but as I help, he'd experience a whole different kind of living hell from a girl who was currently in the middle of PMS-ing.