Hit Me, Cupid!

ღ Six: A Reunion with the Crazy Family

"You're late." Ach gave me a knowing look. "Mind telling me as to why your clothes are wet?"

    I shrugged at him. I had removed Eros' sweater and had managed to dry myself off, but only a little bit. Ach was by his Corolla, telling me that he wasted his time by giving me a ride home.

    Family reunions had always been both amazing and embarrassing. Every time we had our get-togethers, we always somehow managed to do something funny. Like four years ago, Jake was playing on the Wii with our cousin Elizabeth. They were both thirteen years old and had been playing around when Elizabeth accidentally crashed Jake's Wii. Jake lost it and never played anything again at home whenever they were visiting.

    "Hop in. We need to be on time," Ach groaned as I opened the door to his passenger seat and sat down. 

    I had a feeling that something new was going to happen today, I wasn't just sure as to what would occur. Mom told us that our relatives are going to stay with us for a week.

    Our house was big enough to fit everyone, although sometimes them staying turned into a little bit of a disaster. Some of our relatives would wake up early and annoy the rest of the house, while others would sleep in. Little kids would sometimes break into our rooms in the early morning and draw on our faces with marker.

    It would take me three hours to get ready for school now, since everyone had to share the bathrooms. The bachelors in my family were by far the worst. They would bring home different girlfriends to screw each night, and I would be responsible for cleaning their mess up. Most of them were from Greece, but really, why do they have to bring their attitude and lifestyle here? I'd spent several years of my life dealing with my cousins and relatives. Whenever they stay over, Jake, Ach and I are the only ones who got along.

    The three of us were treated as servants: we would pick up after everyone, fetch them drinks, cook and essentially treat them as if they were in a hotel. Jake was frequently teased and mocked – they still think of him as a little kid while Ach was considered as the temper. Ach usually stayed with his girlfriend, but Mom forced him to cooperate.

    "We're here," Ach told me in a nervous tone trying to procrastinate entering our house. I knew then that they'd soon all be here to wreck our lives.

    "Maybe we should all stick together?" I asked him.

    "We should, probably. You have any plans?" Ach turned to look at me, his eyes turning wary. His blonde locks of hair looked dead with stress. 

    "Code Z, then."

    "You mean, we're using Jake, since he hates Elizabeth?" Ach shook his head. "I don't think that'll ever work."

    "Well, what else do you suppose we do?"

    Ach pulled on the driveway and unbuckled his seatbelt before opening the car's door. "Go mock them?"

    "You know I can't do that. Mom will kill me – us." If I acted cruel, or even said something as simple as 'that dress looks bad on you,' mom would ground me for eternity.

    "Do you want your freedom or not?" Ach raised an eyebrow at me.

    "I do, but how?"

    "How about we make them think that we really didn't do it – like putting the blame on someone else? Acting all innocent," Ach reasoned out, fumbling with his car keys. "You in?"

    "Okay, fine. But if Mom ever finds out, I'll tell her it was all your fault."

    "Come on dearest twin, let's grace our mother dear with our presence." He smirked and we went inside our house which would soon be packed with people.

    Mom was quick enough to pull me by her side. "Get dressed. Right. Now."

    "Of course." I proceeded upstairs and saw the pink dress carefully placed on my bed. I never loved pink. Ugh.

    The thing was, once the monsters – my relatives arrive, it'd be full of noise. Mom once told us that it was important to keep our family close to all our relatives. Ha. I think not.

    I applied less make-up than usual. I didn't see the reason why I should anymore. Last year, Chelsea 'accidentally' tripped over my foot and her food came spluttering onto my face down in between my breasts. It was a living nightmare.

    All of the sudden, the doorbell rang.

    I'm about to enter a living hell.

    Just then, I heard the commotion downstairs and immediately, I felt like hiding, but I knew I had to face them sooner or later. I kept Eros' sweater around my body, just so I could feel it warm me up. I knew we weren't exactly in friendly terms, but at least we were progressing.

    That means he had to care a little bit. Right?

    Going painfully down, I took a minute per step. I was delaying, but who wanted to see the monsters? And where was my twin brother when he was needed?

    All my thoughts were answered when I saw Ach being pushed up by our uncles and aunts. They were telling him how he should only have s*x with one girl, and how he should always use protection. 

    "Cytherea!" A small girl exclaimed, running up to me and grabbing my leg. "I missed you! Can we play, can we? Can we?"

    Oh, no.

    "Madeleine, I still have to check on the others, okay?" I told her softly.

    Madeleine didn't seem to understand that as she pushed me against the stairs. I tumbled down a little, managing to break my fall slightly by grasping the creaky wooden handrail. I almost died. Madeleine, a bubbly four-year-old with brown hair looked sweet and innocent, but she was the deadliest of all my cousins.

    "That hurt!" I complained, rubbing my butt.

    Just then a group surrounded me. There were my grandmothers Franny and Lola, then my Aunt Caroline.

    "Oh. Hello, grannies." I hugged both of my grandmothers.

    Grandmother Franny was Greek while Lola was American. They pretty much argued about everything. "I told you she should be in Greece! She'd get a good boyfriend there."

    Grandmother Lola didn't back out though. "No! She must have been kissing new boys, don't you?"

    "Please, let's not argue on this." I pried them apart and sighed when Uncle Robert patted my back.

    "You've grown so much!" He greeted me with grin. He was the only one whom I could endure, since he acted just like my dad. Speaking of dad, where was he? Mom said that he'd be back home by midnight, so they wouldn't need to worry.

    I could even see how stressed my Mom was. How could we handle a big family like this?

    If only my aunts and female cousins would stop multiplying! Some of the little ones were spoilt brats. Once, twice, thrice they all wanted me to be their little horse.

    "Thanks." I grinned at him. He married a Russian who seemed to hate big events, though he endured all of that, he also had to stay put on this place. "I don't know how I can remember all their names."

    "Me either." Uncle Robert laughed. "Well, don't worry, it's just for one week."

    "It's only the first day and Madeleine is already killing me," I grumbled, shifting my weight from foot to foot.

    Uncle Robert twisted his eye glasses and smiled ruefully at me. "Maybe my daughter could hang-out with you? It's her first time meeting my side of the family, since she's always glued to her mother."

    I nodded. "Sure, I'd be totally okay with that."

    "Ah, speaking of my daughter." Uncle Robert turned at the side of the door and a brown haired girl appeared. Her skin was pale and her eyes were the warmest brown. She gave off the vibes of a 'home'. She looked calm, serene, and beautiful.

    She walked towards us and shyly smiled at me, "Hello, I'm Psyche."

    "Cytherea," I greeted her back, nodding my head. "You can call me Cee or Ceecee, though."

    "That's a very beautiful name," she told me. 

    "Alright, I'll leave you two fellas here. Take good care of her, will you Ceecee?" Uncle Robert asked me.

    "Of course." I chuckled as he disappeared into the crowd.

    "Um, I'm not used to people, so I hope I'm not making it awkward between us?"

    "Not really, no." I smiled at her, "They're hard to get along with, but you'll be fine."

    "Cytherea!" A loud booming voice shouted. It belonged to Tia Shae, the strictest aunt ever.

    "Okay, let me just see what she needs."

    "Sure." Psyche nodded. "I'll just stay here."

    I dashed towards her. She was in our rocking chair, her black hair tied in a bun and she was wearing a long dress. I'd really rather not see her because she was lazy, and always demanded me to fetch her things from the store.

    "What is it this time?" I asked her patiently, not wanting her to lash out on me.

    "I want you to buy cheerios and two milks. I also want some fudge and Swiss Miss. Now, get on with it!"

    I sighed and turned around to leave when I realized that she didn't give me money. "Um, how am I supposed to buy that?"

    "With your money, duh!"

    She was insane. But then I just had to follow. It'd only cause a scene if I stayed stubborn. I walked out of the house when Psyche came in next to me. "Hey, mind if I join you?"

    "Not at all." I frowned. "But I'm going to buy some food for her. I don't want you to get bored."

    "It's okay. My boyfriend will come with us, is that okay?"

    "No problem at all."

    Psyche gave me a sweet smile. She looked like an angel, honestly. I wonder how she did that.

    "Yeah, well, he's going to pick us up. He's almost here."

    Just then a sleek black car appeared. The car door opened and then my jaw dropped when I saw him. His eyes were covered by aviator glasses, but his figure already told me who he was. He then he walked towards Psyche who giggled and laughed. They kissed for a moment before he finally took off his glasses.

    It was Eros. He had a girlfriend?

    "Eros?" I stuttered, clearly not believing it.

    "You guys know each other?" Psyche looked at the both of us.

    Eros gave me a warning glare before shrugging. "She knows me, but I don't know her. We sort of go to the same school."

    Then that's when it hit me: Eros and Psyche – from Greek mythology.

    I remembered our English teacher once telling their story: Psyche is a beautiful young maiden, therefore honored as a deity. Aphrodite, a Greek Goddess known for her beauty, becomes jealous of Psyche and commands that she be killed. However, Cupid- or Eros- son of Aphrodite, falls in love with Psyche and secretly takes her as his bride. Psyche, who is a mortal, cannot look upon Cupid, prompting their interactions to take place under the cover of darkness. Despite being warned not to, Psyche lights a lamp while Cupid is sleeping so she can look upon his face. She sees her husband to be a handsome man, though fails to prevent a drop of hot oil from falling, waking him. Psyche is then torn apart from Cupid, and subject to perform several tasks for Aphrodite, all of which are nearly impossible. With special help, Psyche is able to accomplish these tasks, and afterward was reunited with Cupid. She was made a goddess and reconciled with Aphrodite, and lived happily ever after.

    Ironically, I was the third party. I was the third unwelcomed party in their love story. Psyche suffered a lot of consequences just because she looked at her husband who was handsome, indeed. The only thing that prevented people from dying right now for looking at them was because they weren't in their godly forms.

    Somehow, it killed me to be a mistress – if you could even call me that.

    "Right." I went along their little game.

    Who cares about Eros?

    "Well then, shall we get going?" Eros raised an eyebrow before wrapping an arm around Psyche's waist. He was momentarily distracted when he turned to me then back to Psyche's warm, glowing face.

    I have a feeling that Psyche had no idea that Eros accidentally shot me with his arrow. And she didn't know that I know about Eros really being a Cupid.

    "Okay." Psyche lightly kissed Eros and then ruffled his hair. "Let's go."

    Trailing after them, I went on the back seat while Psyche sat in front with Eros on the driver's side. I tried so hard to ignore their touches and their conversations, but it was hard not to. Psyche was a sweet girl, while Eros was a d**k. How could Eros love Psyche? I wasn't jealous. I wasn't. If there's any force acting on us, it would be the fate's tie.

                                                                                    ***

"I think your Tia would like this one, too." Psyche was genuinely kind to offer me her money, saying she could take care of it. She was stopped by Eros.

"I'll pay. Don't pay for her, Psy," Eros told her in a low voice, staring at her in sweet depths.

    They were a perfect couple. I felt left behind.

    Eros didn't really care at all. Now I knew why he was always mad at me: he was mad because he loved Psyche. This was the only time I saw him soften and it was as if he transformed into a gentleman. He didn't even fight with me; he talked to me as if I was his friend.

    He was behind me as Psyche was checking something in the aisle. Eros was picking some money from his wallet when his breath came close to my ear. "Don't tell her anything about us. Don't say a word or you're out."

    I frantically nodded.

    He smiled darkly. "Good, we have a deal then." He paid and left my side to go to Psyche.

    Entranced, I saw the both of them laughing. They looked so good, especially Eros. It had been the first time that I saw him actually laugh. He looked cute and refreshed. He was looking at Psyche and caressing her cheeks. She blushed and whispered something to his ear, which made him smile at her.

    Psyche brought her hand down to his and happily went to me. "Are you ready to go home now?"

    "Yeah," I replied indifferently. I wish I had that. I wish I hadn't met Eros. I wish he didn't have to slap it on my face that he actually had love. It only made me loathe more of the concept of it.

    Because somehow, it made me realize that I just wanted to be myself and help Eros to break this. I could see how relieved he was when he was with Psyche. They were a history – a beautiful tale. Psyche had suffered enough just to be with Eros.

    They were perfect and I was ruining it. I'd do everything to help cut my fate to Eros. Psyche deserved that and I could only try and give it my best.