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1424 Words
It was sunny enough to not have to wear a jacket, but the cold undertone was enough to want to wear a jacket. So essentially, one would want to constantly put on and take off their jacket.
To avoid the hustle, Persephone braved the small goosebumps that popped up on her bare arms as she sat outside the cafe, waiting for her order.
"Pez! Thanks for agreeing to meet with me, I'll just be a moment, I'm going to order something." Aric appeared smiling, his hands in his jeans pocket as he quickly dipped into the building.
Right as he went in, a waiter came out with a green mug with whipped cream swirled all over the top and rainbow sprinkles, and on the plate beside the mug was a small slip of paper.
"Here you go, enjoy." The waiter who was probably in his early twenties winked at Persephone as he set her mug down before going back in.
Muttering to herself about how weird that was, she happily grabbed a spoon and began to eat the whipped cream, pausing once she saw that there was writing on the piece of paper.
It said 'Sam' and had a phone number. Deciding to ignore it, she continued to eat and then Aric came out of the cafe, a coffee mug in hand.
"So how have you been?" He smiled and took a sip.
"I've been good. Busy and good, you?" She began to pour an excessive amount of sugar in her hot chocolate.
"Still the same I see." Aric laughed at the now 3 packets of sugars that had been used up, "I won over the client that I was meeting last week, and secured an important investor."
"That's great Aric!"
"Yeah, the reason I asked you here today though, was because I don't want those meaningless flings anymore, you deserve more than that and I'm so sorry if I made you feel that you deserved less." Aric absentmindedly stirred his coffee.
"I was going to mention the same thing, I can't do those meaningless flings anymore either." Persephone agreed and ignored her buzzing phone.
"Great, so we're on the same page." Aric grinned and his stiff position relaxed.
"Yeah, absolutely."
"How does this Saturday sound?"
"I'm sorry, for what?" Persephone laughed a little in confusion.
"For our uhm, first official date." He laughed awkwardly and ran his hand through his hair, which Persephone would have used to find incredibly attractive.
"Our first official date? What are you talking about?"
"No more meaningless flings," He explained, his body tensing again.
"That didn't mean that I wanted to start dating you." She scoffed, an incredulous expression on her face.
"But you've been love with me for 18 years." He gaped.
"You knew?"
"It was pretty obvious."
"Yeah, well I've come to terms that it's useless to hang onto something that will never happen, and I'm no longer in love with you." Her hot chocolate was no longer hot as it sat in front of her exposed to the chill wind.
"But it's not useless to hang onto it, because I'm willing to give it a try, I'm willing to give us a try." Aric leaned forward, his face a silent plea.
"Aric." Persephone looked up at the clouds, a few weeks ago, she would've killed to have an opportunity like this, "You have a fiance." her finger tapped the table.
"She's not my fiance anymore, I found out that she was cheating on me," Aric explained with a cough.
"I'm so sorry, but I won't be some kind of rebound."
"You aren't a rebound! Because when I found out that she was cheating on me, I realised, that I wish I was never hurt, I wish I had decided to give us a try earlier on because I realised that I really really like you, and you love me, so it's perfect!" He smiled.
"Aric, over the last week, I also, have come to a realisation," She tried to smile as kindly as she could, "I love you as a friend, I was never in love with you, per se. I was in love with the idea of being in love. I was in love with the prospect of having one of those relationships where I could tell people that we met in high school, and we eventually fell in love and lived happily ever after. I was in love with the idea of being in love with you."
"But why can't you learn to become in love with me?" Aric interlaced his fingers in a begging form.
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" She sighed dreamily.
"Who is it?" Aric scowled, "Maybe you're just in love with the idea of love at first sight" he mocked.
"I don't know, perhaps, but it's different to when I thought I was in love with you, it's more yearning, it's less physical. I just want to be around him, you know? I just enjoy his company, and he makes me feel good about myself, he makes me feel more confident."
"So who is he?" Aric scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"Me." Persephone almost spilled her hot chocolate all over herself as she startled.
The familiar, deep voice made her feel all warm inside, but his voice had an incredibly threatening undertone. Persephone looked over her shoulder and there stood Hades in a fitted suit with a scary look on his face, his eyes red with anger.
"Hades! What are you doing here?" Even with his menacing gaze on Aric, Persephone couldn't help the large grin that overtook her face.
"I was passing by and saw you, so I thought I would come and say hi," Hades' gaze didn't leave the cowering Aric's, "but I don't think we've been officially introduced."
"Well, I'm Aric, the person that took away Persephone's virginity." Aric gathered up all his courage and smirked, doing his best to mask the utter fear that he felt and to chase away the large man staring him down.
Persephone spluttered in embarrassment, pale face an obvious red.
If possible, Hades' eyes became a darker red, "I'm Hades, Persephone's boyfriend." he smirked and dragged a chair to beside Persephone and sat down.
Hades had asked her if they could become official last night before she left, and of course, she said yes.
"I'm just going to take my cup back, don't do anything without me!" She smiled, oblivious to the invisible war that was going on.
A war of testosterone if you will, and it was pretty clear who was winning.
"You're only a rebound, she's just trying to get over me, but once she realises how much I'm willing to try, she'll come crawling back," Aric smirked confidently, his heart pounding in his ears.
In reply, Hades' eyes dimmed back to normal, and he smirked, beginning to chuckle darkly, "You're a funny little man."
"Excuse me?" Aric gaped at the comment.
"I'm back!" Persephone joined the pair, "But, I have to head into work because there's this big kerfuffle and everything. But it was nice talking to you." she smiled at Aric before turning to Hades, "I've got to go, but if you want, I have enough time to stay with you till you order something."
"It's fine Flower, I've got to get somewhere as well," Hades stood and brought his hand out to shake Aric's, who in turn stood up, feeling incredibly small beside the giant of a man, "good talk." they shook hands.
"Well alright, but I'm holding you to lunch tomorrow?"
"Of course Love, as long as you still want to."
In reply, she took a hold of his tie and tugged his neck down and gave him a peck on the lips.
"You're so short," He muttered endearingly and cupped her face in his hands.
"Big bully." She stuck her tongue out and let go of his tie before turning and walking off smiling to herself.
Hades whistled a quick sharp sound, "What are you trying to do? Be a Disney princess?" Aric chortled and Hades only smirked.
A flashy black limo pulled up next to the cafe, somehow avoided the traffic expertly. The driver's door opened and out came a middle-aged man with a pointy white moustache - at least that's what Aric saw. In reality, a confederate soldier had come out of the car, still wearing a torn blue, practically grey uniform, his cheeks and eyes sunken and skin incredibly frail and wrinkly, resembling thin paper. His arms and legs were so skinny you could see the bone, and in some places, maggots were swarming.
"Sir, how was Ms Persephone?" The zombie smiled at his master.
"She was well, thank you, William," Hades nodded at the zombie and got into the back of the limo.
William got back in and they drove off.
Aric frowned and muttered, "Show off, I could get a limo if I wanted to."
- Writer
