Chapter Three
Preparations

I admittedly didn’t stay as long as I wanted to with Maddie, mostly because I sort of felt like I was interrupting something.  This was, of course, the main reason why I had wanted Maddie to find someone to begin with, but I sort of felt like she was becoming a third wheel.  I understood that feeling all too well, unfortunately.  I knew neither of them meant for me to feel that way, much the same way I went out of my way to make sure Maddie didn’t feel that way, but I realize now that there wasn’t much to be done about it.  It wasn’t so much because of anything they were doing, but rather that I was getting the sense from both of them that they wanted to be alone, and I was preventing them from doing so.

I knew I was being ridiculous, since Maddie certainly knew the reason why I was there.  I’ve used to escape so often in the past that it was always where to feel like I was intruding on something, and then be forced to go back to what I was escaping.  I didn’t feel like it was fair, but I also didn’t think it was fair to be the complaining best friend who didn’t understand boundaries.  Maddie had told me countless times I was being stupid – I came first, since she was still getting used to the idea that Zephyrus even liked her.  And Zephyrus didn’t seem to have any problem with that.  Which is why I generally felt so bad, because the two of them were great.

I suppose I wouldn’t feel so bad if I still had Eros around to distract me.  If anything, at least it’d give me another option to escape to.  We could just go somewhere and hang out for a few hours, leaving Maddie and Zephyrus free to do whatever the hell they wanted, while also taking me out of the situation at home.  It would be perfect if not for the fact that Eros was acting so strangely.  I was more worried about the fact that Zephyrus was worried about him, considering they were best friends and all, and hopefully knew each other better than they knew themselves.  That’s one thing I always watched for, the close friends’ reaction.  If they were concerned, than I always knew I had to be concerned about something.

Except in the case of my sisters, since their friends tended to be too airheaded to pay attention.  I felt bad for them, Phoebe especially, that they didn’t have one true friend who did know them better than anyone else, and would be able to tell if something was wrong instantly.  As it was, the only way any of their friends pick up on something was merely because one of them didn’t want to go out or something.  They made fun of me constantly about having only the one friend, but I could tell they were at least a little jealous of the fact.  It’s quality, not quantity, after all that makes a person happy.

Still, I trudged back to my car in defeat, making a hasty retreat as soon as Maddie mentioned the word ‘dinner’.  Zephyrus tended to like to tag along when she went to dinner, and it felt too much like a date for me to feel comfortable about it.  I went once or twice, and the third wheel feeling just intensified.  Let Maddie have her happiness – one of us deserves it at least.

But at least it was pleasant out.  It was still early March, but we were experiencing a slight heat wave.  It made being outside extremely enjoyable, and certainly worth kicking myself out.  I was annoyed at having to go home, but at least I got a nice walk about of it.

I was a little surprised to see Eros chilling out in the car when I arrived.  Obviously, I hadn’t told him my plans, so I had to wonder exactly how long he’s been there.  He probably checked the house first, and then figured out where I was from the fact that I wasn’t there.  But typically, while he did ride to school with me, he didn’t usually ride back because he was still off doing his mysterious errands or whatever.  He was lost in thought again, but this time, I couldn’t blame him; after all, he had been waiting for an undisclosed amount of time, and anyone’s mind would wander then.

Another thing that surprised me was that he seemed happy to actually see me, although that wasn’t an unusual occurrence.  While it did make me happy, I always figure he was just going through the motions.  He was staying with me still, so he still had to act like he was happy to be with me from time to time, or else I might get suspicious.  So while I enjoyed it, certainly, I knew better than to get my hopes up about it.

But it wasn’t like we were spending the entire drive home chatting like we used to.  He asked me a few questions – how was school and did I enjoy my time with Maddie – but otherwise, we went back to staring at the landscape as it passed by.  I was seriously just about on the verge of telling him that if he didn’t want to stay with me anymore, then he didn’t have to.  I understood.  Sure, it proved that he was in love with me because of my soul, and not because I was Psyche Karalis, but I still understood.  He hadn’t counted on there being two souls, and of course he was going to still be in love with the soul Psyche was born with.

After all, that was the one he fell in love with in the first place.  He loved he when she was mortal, not after she became a goddess.

Sometimes I wondered about these thoughts I was having.  I suppose while I refused to admit that I was actually born a goddess, I had come to accept the fact that I did have the immortal soul.  It explained too much – why I had all of Psyche’s memories but the ones she had with Eros, why I didn’t feel a connection with Hedone, why I was so different from the other reincarnations.  But why couldn’t the immortal soul be placed in a mortal body, and it still be mortal?  Clearly, Persephone didn’t intend for the soul to be up on Earth forever, and the soul herself just wanted a taste of what it was like to be living again.  It would make sense for Persephone to make it mortal so she could claim her again.

Not like it mattered.  One thing I knew was that I somehow pissed off the other soul enough that it’s literally disappeared for the past three months, and it apparently plans on stealing my life.  My life that I’ve built up for the past eighteen years, and that was mine along.  She didn’t have the same experiences that I was forced to have growing up, making me the person I was today.  I didn’t understand it; what was she hoping to accomplish?  It didn’t seem fair; I’ve been waiting fifteen hundred years for my chance at the surface, and she merely had to wait a hundred years before I died, and she was able to reclaim her position in the cycle.  It’s like, like me have a chance to enjoy it once without throwing a hissy fit.  But apparently, even that was too much for her.

I glanced at Eros, still staring out the window.  The soul I encountered in the Underworld chamber said that Psyche had been driven mad because she was forced to give up her love for Eros.  So if they meet without that restriction of her memory being gone, would she not reject him again?  Would she finally love him again, and they could be happy together?  But what about me?  I did love him – I held that piece of Psyche’s soul that was meant for him.  Would I just be tossed to the wayside, forgotten completely?

I didn’t want to think about it.  I wasn’t prepared to let Eros go that easily because I did love him, and while I was feeling like an overly attached girlfriend because of it, I couldn’t help but hold onto that hope that maybe, maybe, he’d come to his senses and realize he was pining after the wrong girl.

As long as he was willing to remain at my side, I wasn’t going to let him go.  I was going to take my chances.  It was when he left on his own free will that I knew things were completely lost between us, and that it was time for me to move on.

I didn’t like those silent car rides.  It allowed me to think entirely too much.

I wasn’t too surprised to see the camera crew still at our house when I returned.  For one thing, I was returning earlier than I wanted thanks to wanting to give the love birds some alone time.  For another, Phoebe was wanting spend a lot of time at our house to work on wedding preparations, which made sense.  After all, Mom and Nona were helping her, and Papa was paying for it all.  And because Phoebe was there working on wedding stuff, Penny had to be there in case she had the chance to steal the spotlight with her growing baby bump.

It was annoying, certainly, but sort of amusing at the same time.  Phoebe was trying so hard to become a normal human being, and Penny usually had to come and completely ruin it.  The pressure was no longer on me, and while I had always been my dream to be the ignored sister, I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.  I was so used to it that it was sort of strange, to be honest.  And I felt bad for Phoebe.

“Oh, Psyche dear,” Mom said when she ventured to the foyer to see who was coming in.  “You’re home earlier than I expected.”

I tried to give her a noncommittal shrug.  “Zephyr was sort of hanging around, so I was feeling like a third wheel,” I admitted.  They knew about Zephyrus, of course, since Maddie decided to tell her parents about him, and we knew that our parents tended to gossip about us.  The story we ended up coming up with was that, since Zephyrus was Eros’ best friend, he came with him when Eros came up to see me, meet Maddie, and there was a spark between the two of them.  And when Eros decided he wanted to stay in the area, Zephyrus agreed to as well so his friend wouldn’t be alone.  And one thing lead to another, and now Zephyrus and Maddie were boyfriend and girlfriend.

Mom and Papa were a little concerned about the fact that Eros would randomly buy an apartment up here just to be with me, but I did know that Aphrodite established that she had come from a wealthy family, so all I did was point out that the Acidalia’s were richer than we were, and we already knew that rich people tended to do whatever the hell they wanted to, anyway.

Again, Mom was concerned about Eros leeching off his parents, and not having a real job, so again I had to lie, telling her that he was still in college and all; it was just that he was taking all his classes over the Internet now, and only had to pop back to his little island university for tests.  He was wealthy enough, of course, for his family to have a private plane, so that wasn’t an issue.  The issue was that I wasn’t sure if Felipe had a university on his little island.  If they ever asked him, we might be in trouble.

Zephyrus, on the other hand, was leeching, but no one really cared about him.  The Douglas’ were too happy that someone was interested in their daughter, and Zephyrus did seem ambitious enough that I’m sure they figured he’d get a job eventually.

“Oh, well,” Mom said.  “You could have invited Eros to hang out with you as well.  Then you could have double dated or something.”

I rolled my eyes.  That was usually her solution now.  “He has stuff to do, Mom,” I told her.  “Schoolwork of his own to take care of.  He gets his instruction via webcam for some of his classes, so he has to be home.”

“Nonsense; he can afford to skip a session or two.”

“Since he’s the only student in the class,” Nona said as she approached, “it would be rather difficult for him to skip, would it not?  And we all know Psyche’s boyfriend must get his education.”

“Ah, true,” Mom said.  She never wanted to point out that she didn’t have a college degree, and she and Papa were perfectly happy, but Nona was one of those grandmother’s who wanted their grandchildren to be successful, and that included having an educated significant other.

She sort of gave up on Penny and Phoebe, so she had to put her stock in me, so I generally got the blunt of those attacks.  Luckily for all of us.  I was focused on being successful, knowing that I shouldn’t rely on others to keep me afloat the rest of my life.  Why should I rely on my husband to be the breadwinner?  After all, if everything goes according to plan, my husband’s job wasn’t really going to be raking in the dough.

Granted, he was a god, so money was never an issue for him, but that was beside the point.  When I first decided I wanted to make my own success, I hadn’t been planning to fall in love with a god.

“So what’s the damage?” I asked as I was lead out of the foyer.

“Well, so far the worst of it’s that Phoebe is a little annoyed at you for trying to skip out,” Mom told me.  “I told her it’s just place settings, but apparently, she wanted you involved.  Your father’s been trying to take to edge off by volunteering to help, but according to her, it’s not the same thing.”

“So let me get this straight; her father, who barely pays attention to her anymore, is taking time out of his work schedule to help her with something as stupid as place settings, and she’s mad because she wants me to help?”

“Well, your sister’s been fairly docile about this whole thing for entirely too long.  She had to go nuts about something eventually,” Nona teased.  Even before she and Penny had their little falling out, Phoebe wasn’t really going into bridezilla territory, but I suppose she had a point.

It was also getting dangerously close to her actual wedding day, so I think she was just stressing out a little.  After all, everything had to be perfect, as though one little hitch would completely ruin the marriage.  I had seen the both of them do the same about birthday parties, although Phoebe’s sweet sixteen had gone off without a hitch.  It was Penny’s that was almost completely ruined until she just decided to roll with it.  And mine…well, mine was perfect because Mom and Papa managed to kick my sisters out for the evening, and it was just then and Maddie with me.

But still, I could understand her nerves.  It was a huge day for her, the day she no longer had claim to the Karalis name.  She was getting married, and she was excited, nervous, and anxious all at the same time, and it was stressing her out a little.  Every bride was probably like this to some degree, unless they were stupid like Penny and got eloped.  (Well, eloping wasn’t stupid…Penny was stupid.)  “Okay, I suppose I should go and calm her down a little.”

I walked into the living room, where Papa was looking a little lost in a sea of giggly females, apparently having screwed something up.  Phoebe wasn’t yelling at him, but she was looking annoyed.  “Daddy,” she was saying, “you’re ruining it!”

He glanced at the pen in his hand.  “I’m sorry,” he said, looking a little amused.  “I guess I have man handwriting.”

“No, you have doctor handwriting.  Man handwriting I could pass off.  This is barely legible!”

I shoved my way to sit next to my father, who looked relieved to see me.  “You just ‘ruined’ one, right?” I teased.

“She just told me to write this one guy’s name, yeah.”

“Then we’re fine, Phebes.  We have extras.  One isn’t going to ruin anything.  You should have known better, anyway.  Papa’s more of an arts and crafts father.”

Phoebe shoved a pen and a place card in front of me.  “Then you fix it,” she insisted.

Unfortunately, Mom had insisted that we all learn calligraphy when we were younger, so there was no way I could get out of this like Papa could.  I glanced at the name I was supposed to be writing, then looped through it on the card.  Phoebe looked impressed, since I was the only one who actually retained the talent for the writing style.

“Oh, that’s gorgeous, Psy,” she insisted.  “I wanted them all consistent.”

“Damn it,” I muttered.  “How many people did you invite?”

“A couple hundred,” she said, shrugging like it was nothing.  I glanced at the place card in defeat.  “Not to worry; Mom and Nona’s been helping, and they seem to have the same skill you have.”

“Like, I think it’s sort of cool that, like, you have them in three different styles,” one of their friends said.  “It looks more, like, unique that way!”

Penny was glaring at me owlishly the entire time, sitting in her armchair away from the group, gently stroking her belly.  “That is utter nonsense,” she said, causing most of the other girls to jump.  I think they honestly forgot she was there.  “It needs to be consistent, or else it wouldn’t be perfect.  She needs to write them all.”

“Penelope,” Papa said calmly.  “This is your sister’s wedding.  You have no say in the matter, regardless of your position.  Your sister would not have the time to rewrite all the cards your mother and grandmother have written.”

“Her education comes first,” Phoebe agreed.  “Just because we were dumb enough to skip college doesn’t mean we should penalize Psyche for it.  Oh, did I tell you, Psyche?  Nate and I talked it over, and I decided to start in the fall.”

“College?”  She nodded.   “You’re actually going to college?”

“I’m going to the same one you are!  We might be in the same classes, too.  It’d be so much fun!”

“Er…:”

“You could help me!  You could help me study and get good grades like you do!  I might end up just as a trophy wife like Mom, but I at least want to say I have a degree.”

“Well, um, good for you, Phoebe.”

She gave me a happy, toothy grin before turning back to the card.  “And this is fine.  It’s not exactly the same as Mom and Nona’s, but it’s the same style, and it’s close enough.  And its, like, not doctor’s writing.”

Papa shrugged.  “I tried and I failed,” he said sheepishly.  “Do I get points for trying at least.”

“No,” Phoebe said pointedly.  “But you might get some for decorating the cards.”

I did have to admit that it was sort of hilarious watching Papa carefully decorate the cards per Phoebe’s instructions with the help of her other bridesmaids.  It had to look a certain way, or else it’d be ruined again.  But he was used to it, having raised three girls, so his cards turned out amazingly well.

Penny, for her part, continued to glare at us the entire time, not liking the fact that no one would listen to her, and none of the cameras would focus on her.  She was slowly bidding her time, and it was going to be awful when she was allowed to get her revenge.

“Here, you have to do this name,” Phoebe told me just as I thought we were finishing up.  “I was saving it to make sure you wrote it.”

I blinked at the same she was pointing at.  Eros Acidalia.  I still couldn’t believe that she actually invited him on the grounds that he was my boyfriend.  But then again, she was inviting a couple hundred people, so two or three on my behalf wasn’t too bad.  But still surprising.  She winked at me before I got started on his card.

The rest of the week was fairly standard, all things considered.  After Phoebe’s little freak out, I realized that this was not to time to be trying to escape the situation, not with the wedding on Saturday.  I was allowed one, and I accidentally took it too early, it seemed.  It was amazing how many last minute details had to be worked out, from last minute fittings to hair appointments, to calming Phoebe down and reminding her that she was making the right decision.

“Seriously, why are you fretting about it?” I asked her one night.  She was so freaked out that she was actually spending the night about it, and she had actually wandered into my room.  She almost caught Eros in there with me, but he seemed to be receptive to people about to walk into the room than he was of me, since he vanished before she was fully in the room.  “You love Nate.  And that’s all that should really matter.”

“I’m only twenty-one, Psy.  I’m still so young.  Do I really want to be roped into being with one guy the rest of my life?”

“You’ve been talking with Penny, haven’t you?” I asked dryly.  “Don’t listen to her; she knows nothing about love.  Mom married Papa when she was eighteen, and they’re still unbelievably happy together.  Let me ask you this; can you see yourself loving anyone by Nate?”

“No,” she said slowly.  “He’s just so…wonderful.”  She sighed slightly.

“Then there’s your answer.  It doesn’t matter how young or old you are; all that matters is if you love each other.  Think about it this way – you might be young, but that just means you’ll have more time than most to spend together.”

She smiled at the idea before frowning again.  “But we’re a celebrity couple; you know those don’t ever last very long.”

I shook my head.  “That’s the beauty of it; you prove people wrong.  Again, look at Mom and Papa.  Tabloids have been saying for years that they’re on the verge of divorce, and they just ignore it.  Do what I do, and take example from them.  Let them talk, but just don’t let them affect your marriage.”

“You’re so wise, Psyche.  Daddy should have named you Athena instead of Psyche.”

“Eh,” I said, giving her a shrug.  Persephone had called me the goddess of reason and knowledge…  “I just pay attention, that’s all.”

I expected her to crawl out of my bed, satisfied with that answer, but all she did was curl her legs up to her chin.  “Psyche, I want to apologize…officially.”

“Apologize?  For what?”

“For all those years I’ve treated you horribly.  I never realized we were doing anything wrong; you were out baby sister, and it seemed to be the thing to do to tease you.  But it got out of hand.  I was always just following Penny’s example because she was older than me, and I just assumed that’s what you do.  I’ve wanted to help you sometimes, but then I’d think of how wrong Penny would say it was.  And let’s face it; our sister is scary.”

“You can say that again.  I never feared you, Phoebe, because you were harmless.  Penny was the one who could do real damage.”

“I always hated when you called you ugly,” she admitted.  “I knew it killed your self esteem, and I thought it was silly, anyway.  Sure, you didn’t look like us, but you’re not ugly, Psy.  I’ve come to realize that you’re perfect exactly as you are, and I love you for it.”

“Phoebe,” I said, surprised she would say anything like that. 

“I’ve come to realize that I don’t want to be anything like Penny anymore.  When I grow up, I want to be like you, Psyche.  But I can’t, because I’m silly.”

“You’re not silly,” I told her.  “Yeah, you’re a little bit of an airhead, but that’s what makes you so loveable.  Don’t be like me, and don’t be like Penny.  Be like Phoebe, and you’ll be happier.”

“You think?”

“Oh yes.  You’ve started to become your own person these last few months, and I have to say, I’m really liking who this person’s become.  You’re perfect just the way you are, Phebes, and you really shouldn’t try to be anything but yourself.”

“But will Nate still love me for who I really am?”

“I’m sure he’ll love you more for it,” I said, grinning.  “You’re right; Nate is a great guy, and before I met Eros, I used to think I could be in love with him if he wasn’t you boyfriend.  I’ve always viewed him as the big brother I never had.”

“Well, starting Saturday, he will be your big brother.  But thank you for saying you couldn’t love him because he was mine.  I still can’t believe Penny is still trying to scam on your man.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Why are you so surprised about that?  She’s Penny; she always does stupid crap like that.  I find it annoying, but I’m not surprised.”

“That’s the problem, Psy; we should be surprised.  Yeah, your Eros is hot – really…hot – but that shouldn’t matter at all to her.  What’s so wrong about some hot guy liking you?  He certainly wouldn’t go for her; he’s actually got a brain.  He seems the type to go for intelligent girls, anyway.”

I chuckled, since she really didn’t have any idea.

“The point is that I could forgive her most of her transgressions – I knew she didn’t love Donald, and that she was only in it for the scandal, so I could forgive her for all her little trysts she was having outside of the marriage.  I could forgive her for treating people terribly, because at the time, I thought that’s how we were supposed to act.  We were rich, after all, and everyone’s beneath us.  And yes, she’s tried to scam on Nate, but she claimed that she was ‘testing’ him to make sure he was worthy of me, and he apparently passed.  But with Eros, I knew she was actually scamming on him, and I drew the line.”

“Took you long enough.”

“I know and I’m sorry.  You know, this reality show idea was all her idea.  She had to talk me into it.  I like being in the spotlight, sure, but this is ridiculous.  I don’t mind having the special on my wedding, since I like the idea of everyone getting in on it, but our daily lives?  That’s private.”

“Eh, I figured she did it because she knew she was going to have to out herself eventually, and I think she wanted a way to draw attention towards herself while everyone else was focused on your wedding.”

“That makes no sense, Psy.  We’re doing a special on my wedding.”

“That was decided after you guys started filming, though, so she wasn’t counting on it,” I pointed out.  Her face lit up with realization.  “See, she’s not even above using you.”

“Our sister is evil,” she remarked.

“That she is.”

I’m not sure how it happened, but Phoebe ended up staying with me the entire night, talking and enjoying ourselves as sisters for the first time in our lives.  It was a little sad that it had taken Phoebe eighteen years to accept me as a sister, but it was still nice.  We ended up succumbing to sleep, and I woke up to find her still in my bed.  She look so peaceful and happy in her sleep, much like Eros did, that I didn’t bother to wake up as I had to get up and prepare for the day.  She deserved rest.  After all, she had a lot to do today, since tomorrow was her big day.

I did wonder how Eros managed without me that night, but I figured he was probably happier for it.  He was only sleeping with me out of a sense of duty, and knowing that I slept better with him there then I ever did with any of my little Cupid dolls.

I went through my day with an excited sense of nervousness knowing that the following day was my sister’s wedding.  I was excited to see how it all turned out, but nervous about the fact that I still needed to wait an entire day before it arrived.  I was happy for her, especially now that she was turning into a decent human being.  I liked being a part of it.

I was also a bit nervous because I had to head straight from class to the church so we could rehearse, and I didn’t want to make them late.  As it was, I did end up being a little late thanks to traffic, but I chalked that up to being in a rush.  No one but Penny faulted me for it, anyway, and she never counted.  Phoebe started to yell at me, being all nerves the entire day, but as soon as I said ‘traffic’, she eased up.  She knew I had no control over that.

Rehearsal wasn’t all that difficult, although a lot of her friends acted like it was.  After all, the hardest thing we had to do was walk down the aisle and keep in step with the music.  Phoebe was nice enough to pair me with one of Nate’s less meathead teammates, one who wasn’t so bulky and could step in time with music.  We were both sort of laughing when we had to attempt again to walk down the aisle since some of the party couldn’t comprehend the concept. 

Phoebe and Nate had the hard part, of course, and I just prayed that Phoebe could handle it.  Despite Penny trying to throw her off, Phoebe kept alert to the pastor the entire time, nodding as he was giving her instructions.  Basically what it came down to was her following Nate’s lead, and I knew he wasn’t going to lead her astray.

The rehearsal dinner was nice, although penny kept trying to distract everyone by constantly throwing her baby bump around.  “I really should have made you maid of honor,” Phoebe sighed as Penny was making a point to walk around the table, claiming she needed to stretch her legs.  “I mean, the only reason I didn’t switch was because you had that education you needed to focus on, but she is so annoying, isn’t she?”

“It’ll be fine,” I said.  “She’s try to ruin your day, and all of America gets to see what an ass our sister is.”

Phoebe grinned at that.  “The only upside, I’m sure,” she agreed.

Eros was hanging around my room when I got back, pacing slightly like he was bored.  “You knew how late I was going to be out,” I told him, confused at his pacing.  Normally, he was content to just sit all day.

He shrugged.  “I know,” he told me.  “I was just nervous you wouldn’t be coming back alone again.”

“You worried that I’d have found some other guy I was interested in at the rehearsal?”

“Well, no, but I thought maybe your sister would want to have another little sleepover,” he said dryly.

“Nah, I’m sure she wants Nate around to calm her down and reassure her that he wasn’t going to get cold feet.  You’re still coming tomorrow, right?”

“I was invited, wasn’t I?  Of course I’m going.  I can’t leave you high and dry, even if Maddie’s going.”

“Maddie’ll be distracted by Zephyr, anyway.”

“Hmm, more the reason for me to go, don’t you think?  Besides, when else will I get the chance to dance with you when you’re looking so pretty?”

I found myself blushing at the compliment, as well as suddenly really looking forward to the reception.

Chapter Two

Cupid and Psyche Chapter Three

Chapter Four