Chapter Nine
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I was actually rather surprised at how disappointed I was at the fact that the week came to a close extremely quickly, and that I was greatly disappointed in the fact.  I suppose if given the choice again, I would agree to stay for much longer than a week, since it felt like I was just getting to know the real Eros now.  But I had my life back in Winchester to worry about, especially since I knew Mom was having kittens at the moment in worry about me.  But honestly, if I didn’t have to worry about my education, and could somehow still be in contact with my parents and with Maddie, I’d have agreed to stay forever in a heartbeat.  It didn’t matter that this place was creepily perfect – it was really paradise in more ways than one for me.

I felt a little bad admitted that the main reason I loved it here was because I was away from all the drama Penny and Phoebe created, as well as away from the spotlight on my life.  I knew it wasn’t usually there, but it felt like it was, and I felt like I had to watch my every move.  Here, though, I didn’t have to worry about anything, because there was literally no one else around save for Eros, Zephyr and myself. And when I did do something stupid, like smash my hand into the refrigerator door, there was no one there to report on the fact – just two guys laughing at my reaction before genuinely asking if I was okay.

But the absolutely best part was being away from my sisters.  I woke up each morning knowing that I didn’t have to worry about them popping out of nowhere, criticizing every aspect of my life.  My outfit wasn’t fashionable, my hair was doing some crazy before I had a chance to tame it, reading was for losers.  Everything I did was wrong to them, and they laughed at me like they were somehow superior.  And no matter what comment I would shoot back at them, that was never good enough either, because they still acted like they won somehow.

Here, though, the first day that I didn’t bother fixing my hair before coming down, Eros had merely given it a curious look and joked that it was a good look for me.  It was hard to get wavy hair to behave on a day to day basis, and it took a lot of effort on my part to look good.  Some days, though, like most of the ones I spent here, I just threw it up into a ponytail and called it down.  Maybe because I was with two guys who simply didn’t know better, but they always seemed to be okay with it.  So I simply didn’t bother with it.

But there was something else that made me want to stay that wasn’t related to my sisters and my father’s fame.  Not once in my entire life have I ever had anyone pay attention to solely me.  I was born the youngest, and my sisters were already in existence and demanding attention from my parents long before I arrived.  And they did everything first, so I quickly became Penelope and Phoebe’s little sister, and everyone was comparing me to them.  Only one person outside my parents ever wanted to get to know the real me, and even though Madde could focus her attention solely on me, when I was with her, I had to be on my guard to make sure no one was hiding in the bushes or somehow managed to bug her room or something of that nature.

Here, Eros was focused on me, and had no other need to worry about anything else.  His sole reason for bringing me here was to actually get to know me, and he seemed determined to do just that.  The whole week was all about me and what I wanted to do, and that’s never happened before.

Of course, I didn’t take advantage of that fact like any other socialite would.  I didn’t demand to have anything on a silver platter, or my meals served to me on my bed, and any such nonsense.  When actually given a choice, I’d chose something that I thought me both might enjoy, and if any point Eros showed any sort of boredom with the task – the exception being schoolwork, which I had to do – I’d suggest we do something else.  This was just as much about me getting to know him as it was him getting to know me, after all, but the attention was something I didn’t realize that I sort of craved.

And he didn’t seem to mind giving it to me.  Like how I felt, he seemed delighted to make me happy, which I suppose was a good thing, considering he dragged me out here and all.  It would suck for him to do that only to discover that I wasn’t someone worth knowing, so at least he was making an effort.  But I was surprised as the week wore on, and that day I was to leave grew closer, never once did I find myself even thinking about regretting the decision to stay.

But now I was regretting my decision not to stay longer.  It was silly, I knew that much, but I felt like I could stay a whole month, and still be getting to know Eros better.  And I wouldn’t mind that in the least.  But I guess, in a sense, I did regret my decision, because if I hadn’t stayed, then I wouldn’t be so sad about leaving this place, and leaving Eros.  But it was a regret that I figured I could live with.

After all, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen after this point.  Eros had kidnapped me so that he could get to know me better, and now that he had – and I don’t think he was disappointed in what he found – where we went from here was all up in the air.  I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing him again, even if he decided that all we could be was friends.  The boy needed friends, especially on the outside.  He thought I needed to get out me.  He had nothing on me!

But I woke up with a strange sense of dread the final day of my stay, like I knew something terrible was going to happen if I left this place.  I wasn’t exactly sure why, and I chalked it up to my overactive sense of paranoia, and told myself that I was just scared of what Penny and Phoebe were going to do to me thanks to the fact that they didn’t have their walking punching bag with them while they were in Greece all week.  But it seemed to be something bigger than them that was causing me to be a little hesitant about leaving.

But I had to get back to the real world; that’s where I belonged.  This was a nice getaway, but all good things had to come to an end, as much as we all hated the fact.  This one just happened to end after a glorious week.  I really couldn’t stay much longer.

Eros was strangely absent from breakfast that day, although I had trudged down a little later than I normally had that week, spending the extra time staring at my ceiling and trying to memorize my stay here.  It seemed like an impossible task, what with all that happened that week.  But then I realized not much had happened, since it wasn’t like we had gone anywhere outside the grounds.  But it felt like a lot and the end of it all, and I was dragging my feet getting out of here.

He actually didn’t show up again until I was standing in the foyer, my bags beside me.  I wasn’t sure how the hell I got them down the stairs, since I was a little surprised Zephyr didn’t just show up and help me like I sort of expected.  I had wasted as much time as I could packing my bags, and I realized that I was stalling too long.  I didn’t mind attending to myself, but I just found it a little strange.

At least until I realized that Zephyr was probably prepping the plane, and that I really shouldn’t have expected him to do everything around here.  That’s why I decided not to wait to see if he’d show up or not, and wrestled the bags down myself.

“Well, I guess this is it,” I said awkwardly, not sure what else to say to him.

“Apparently,” he said, his hands in his pockets. 

“I did have a nice time,” I reassured him.  “I’m glad I stayed.”

He grinned at that.  “I’m glad you decided to stay as well, Psyche.  I do apologize for the bluntness that this happened, but I’m glad you ended up enjoying yourself.  I wasn’t sure if you would or not.”

“It was sort of hard not to.  I mean, sure, it was weird at first, but you grew on me, sadly.”

“Sadly?”

“Well, I’m leaving, and I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”

“Here, turn around,” he instructed me.  I did as he asked, mostly because I was surprised at the request.  He lifted something over my head, and I found it to be a necklace, which he clasped around my neck.  I fingered the teardrop pearl laying against my chest.  “Just a little something to remember me by.”

“It’s beautiful,” I said.  Normally I wouldn’t accept a gift as extravagant as this, but something was drawing me to it.  “Thank you.”

He shrugged it off, smiling at me, my happiness apparently all the thanks he needed.  Still, it felt a little shallow to just accept it with a simple ‘thank you’.  Then again, I’ve never had a boy who wasn’t related to me – or going to be related to me – give me a present before, so I wasn’t entirely sure how I was supposed to react.  Penny and Phoebe would know what to do, probably draping themselves all over him as a way of showing their appreciation.

While I’m sure Eros wouldn’t mind me doing that, it might freak him out a little.

We stood in an awkward silence for a moment before Zephyr decided to show up.  “So are we all done stalling?” he teased, grinning at us.  “Am I allowed to take her back, or are we forcing her to stay?”

Eros glanced at me a little nervously, but I grinned at the joke.  “I suppose I’m about as ready as I’ll ever be,” I admitted.  “Seriously, thank you.  I know it’s probably weird that I am, but I’m glad we met.”

He took my hand and gently kissed it.  “Until next time, Psyche,” he said to me, causing my face to heat up at the gesture.

Zephyr dragged me away before I could change my mind about staying.  “He disgusts me sometimes,” he said once we were outside the manor.  “All that romantic shit.  I have no idea how the hell you girls eat that up.”

“I take it you’ve never been in love before?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that, but I certainly didn’t act like a sap about it.  You all think it’s charming, and it’s only because he looks that way he does!”

“Zephyr, it’s not about looks, you know.  Besides, it’s not like you’re horrible looking, either.  You could have any girl eating out of your hand if you just knew how to act around them.  As long as you’re, know you, not into the types of girls my sisters are.”

He made a face.  “Not really, no.”  I followed him up the ramp into the plane.  “But then again, I’m not nearly as charismatic with the ladies as Eros is, so it’s pretty much hopeless in my case.”

“I, er,” I said, feeling a little bad about what we were talking about.

“Oh, trust me; you’re not my type, Psyche.  I generally go for the ones Eros is not interested in remotely.  No offense, of course – you’re very beautiful and smart, and I probably would be interested if we met under different circumstances.”  I raised an eyebrow at him.  “We should probably be on our way.  No sense in worrying your parents more than they already are.

I suppose he had a point there, and I settled myself in as he moved to the cockpit.  Now that I knew the nature of this flight, and how short it actually was, I didn’t feel bad for him not having a copilot.  Clearly, he was quite capable of handling things on his own.

I wasn’t sure what it was about the flight, or if it was just that I was so used to falling asleep on a plane, but within a few minutes, I was passed out again, dreaming about nothing in particular.  I was still a little bit on the high I had experienced   I wasn’t all that surprised when I found myself waking again to the sound of the landing gear descending, and I realized that I could see the landscape rushing up at us as we were making our final descent.  It took me a moment to remember that the windows were blackened still when we left, and I settled back into my seat for a safer landing a little confused.  I still had no idea what the hell was going on.

But I didn’t really care at that point.  As promised, I was back home at the end of the week, and no harm had come of me.  All in all, it was a very satisfying kidnapping, if you ask me.

Zephyr expertly landed the plane and maneuvered it to the area where he was to unload me.  He found me standing and gathering my things, to which he shook his head at.  “Always the independent one, are you?  I’m not used to this.  Usually when people fly my plane, they expect me do to everything for them.”

“Why?  I mean, you flew me home.  Why would I expect you to do anything more.  Well, except help me drag this heavy thing off the plane.  I tend to have trouble with steps with it.”

He grinned at me.  “It’s no trouble,” he said, grabbing my large bag and opening the door for me.  Someone had placed a set of stairs beside it so we could get off the plane, and I followed Zephyr down. 

“I think I can handle it from here,” I said.  “I don’t want Papa going off on you for kidnapping me.”

“I doubt that’s going to be a problem, but my obligation for you is pretty much over, so I’m not going to argue.  It’s been really fun having you around, Psyche, and I wish you the best with your future.”

“Thank you.  It was great meeting you as well, Zephyr.  I hope I get to again sometime.”

He grinned at nodded at me, watching as I dragged my bags to where a set of airport employees were holding a door open for me.  They both nodded at me, muttering my name in greeting, which struck me as a little strange.  Yes, they knew who I was, but why did it seem like they were waiting for me?

I found out soon enough as I walked into the building.  “Ah, there she is,” Papa said.  “Perfect timing, actually.  We just landed ourselves.”

“Er,” I said, taken aback.  I wasn’t expecting Papa to be so jovial right now.  Frantic, naturally, but not simple happy to see me like he knew where I was.

“She knew when we were coming in, Nik,” Mom said as she followed Papa.  “She probably timed it so she’d come in at the same time.”

“I’m a little confused.  How did you know I was going to be here?”

“Um, you told us in the email you sent us?  You said you were going to time it so we wouldn’t have to wait too long for your arrival, and you were right!  You’re very clever, koritsáki mou.”

“Er, email?”

“Oh, dear, I don’t think she remembers sending us it,” Mom said to Papa.  “Had quite the week, have you, Psyche?  We were both a little disappointed in the fact that you decided not to come and see Chryssa get married, but she understood when we explained that you had a better opportunity come up and that we’d be more disappointed if you didn’t take it up.  Imagine, you going to school with someone as influential as that.”

“It’s not surprising, Helen,” Papa said.  “I mean, she goes there, doesn’t she?”

“I always assumed that was merely because you didn’t want her that far from home,” Mom said.  “And because she didn’t want to go to any of the colleges that were exuberantly priced to show that she could survive a normal college experience.”

“I, um…” I started to say.  Email?  I wasn’t able to send any email.  I’ve been flipping out all week because I could only access it to retrieve and send my homework, and I thought I might freak out my professors if I asked them to pass along a message to my parents about what I was doing.  After all, I was having a grand time, so there wasn’t anything to worry about. 

This had to be Eros’ doing, I found myself thinking.  I just wasn’t entirely sure how the hell he pulled it off, though.

But I suppose I should be thankful.  Yes, I missed the one event I was looking forward to ever since my cousin got engaged, and I missed out on seeing Papa’s family, but at least none of them were worried about where I was all week.

“Oh God, yeah,” I found myself saying.  “God, I completely forgot.  I was thinking that I forgot to tell you guys, and I was just worried about what you were going to say when I got back.  I just feel bad that I missed Chryssa’s wedding!”

“It was so beautiful, Psyche,” Mom said as they lead me through the airport.  “You would have loved it.  I made sure to take lots of pictures for you, don’t worry.  Chryssa also had Papa set up Skype on her laptop so you guys are gush about it later.”

“Your sisters, of course, sort of ruined the atmosphere of the reception, but I gave them a firm word that the ceremony itself was sacred, and that they weren’t going to ruin it for the sake of their stupid show.  And I might have refused to allow the cameras in the church.”

Mom rolled her eyes.  “Penny threw a hissy fit, naturally, but Phoebe respected the decision.  Mostly because your father pointed out that she wouldn’t want anything ruining her wedding, and that it wouldn’t be fair to Chryssa for them to ruin her day.  Phoebe’s a good girl; you just need to bring things on her level.”

“Well, I’m not sorry I missed that,” I admitted.

“No, you probably wouldn’t be,” Papa said dryly.  “The entire week was pure hell, between trying to police Penny and her friends and your grandmother up in arms about them willingly allowing cameras to tape every aspect of their lives.  I can certainly see why you’d decide not to come.  I half wish I didn’t have to either.”

“On, Nik, you know you had to.  You had to give Chryssa away!”  Chryssa’s father, sadly, had been out of the picture since she was very little, and her mother never saw fit to remarry, so instead she chose to have her favorite uncle give her away instead.  Penny and Phoebe thought that it was merely a publicity stunt so she could say Nik Karalis gave her away on her wedding day, but the rest of us knew the real reason.

I was sort of hoping that the others would have gone on ahead for some reason, but instead we found the whole horde of them waiting for us in the lobby of the airport, creating drama and drawing attention to themselves as they normally did.  “Hey, Psy,” Nate said once we spotted me, looking a little haggard.  “You have fun this week.”

“A lot more than you seem to have had,” I said sympathetically.  “Remind me again why you want to marry my sister?”

“Because when she’s away from Penny, she’s actually a decent human being,” he chuckled.  “I don’t know; I think she’s just trying too hard in front of the cameras.”

“Really?” I asked, since I knew for a fact that she was just always like this.  But he did have a point – the few times that I interacted with Phoebe away from Penny, she had to struggle a bit to think of a way to insult me.  Instead, she attempted to give me dating advice, which, considering how she normally was, was actually a step in the right direction.  Because, in all actuality, it was pretty good advice. 

“But please tell me we’re going in separate cars.”

He chuckled.  “We couldn’t fit this many people in the limo, so yeah, we’re in separate cars.  Penny’s trying to talk Don and me into going with you guys, but I don’t think even Phebes wants Don alone with you.  He might be Penny’s husband, but he even creeps Phoebe out.”

“Yeah, I noticed that,” I muttered as Papa made a rather vain attempt to gather everyone up so we could go home.

In the end, after a lot of shuffling, the entirety of the reality show cast and crew were shoved in one car, while Papa, Mom, myself, and Nate managed to get into the other car.  Phoebe had shooed Nate with us after he had given her a pleading look, mostly because she knew he was safe with me.  I would never make a move on him, even if we were far more compatible than he and my sister were.  But the simple matter of it was that he was my sister’s fiancé, and unlike Penny, I would never dream of hooking up with anyone in love with one of my sisters.

It ended up being a pleasant two hour drive.  Mom and Papa attempted to grill me about my little vacation, but I felt I couldn’t reveal too much until I hacked into Papa’s email account to see exactly where Eros had sent me.  They’d know I was lying, otherwise, and they might start to freak out on me.  Instead, I steered the conversation to their own little vacation, having the detail what they had done and what my family was up to.

Once we were home, I pretty much ran to my room before the others could get there, and locked myself in my room.  I knew Penny was pissed that she didn’t get to mess with me the whole week, and she was looking to make up for that fact.  I wasn’t going to give her the opportunity.

I took my time unpacking and emailing Maddie, apologizing for not talking to her all week.  Her reply came back that she understood, and expected to see me the following day after class to give her the 411 on what was going on.  I knew what she expected, but it wasn’t really something I could give her.

I spent all that night trying to come up with a million stories for her, before realizing that, as my best friend, she had the right to know the truth, even if I wasn’t willing to tell my own parents what had really happened.  I felt like a horrible daughter, but I knew Mom and Papa would forgive me if they ever found out.  Maddie, on the other hand, never would.

It did feel a little strange going back to school after spending a week away, but I think I would have felt that way regardless of what happened.  But this was coming back to reality, and I wasn’t entirely sure if I was ready for that.  Thankfully, because I kept up with the notes, I wasn’t behind in any of my classes, a fact that my professors seemed to appreciate.  It wasn’t often that a student spent a week abroad and actually turned their assignments in on time, but I really had nothing else to do but school work.  It was sad, certainly, but very true.

I only had to deal with half my classes that day, which made things easier.  I was texting Maddie telling her I was on my way to her dorm when I again felt that strange presence watching me.

But again, when I turned, I found the same people as before.  People who belonged on a college campus.  I shook my head, wondering why I was feeling that presence so much now, although something in the made of my head was telling me that this wasn’t as usual as I was making it out to be.

Still, I might have walked a little quicker to Maddie’s dorm than I would have normally.

She was sort of bouncing when I finally made it to her room, where she was naturally waiting for me.  I didn’t even have to knock; she somehow knew I was there.  “Psyche, oh my God!” she said as she dragged me in.  “You’re finally back!  I’ve missed you so much!”

She grabbed me into a crushing sisterly hug, “Maddie, geeze; I was only gone a week, you know.”

“So, that was week I was away from you,” she pouted.  “I mean, normally you’d at least have kept in contact, but this time, you apparently couldn’t, because I guess you were so busy going family stuff.  Which I understand,” she added hastily.  “I’d totally have done that as well if I were in your shoes, seeing them for only a week.”

“Actually, Maddie – can you keep a secret?”

She stared at me.  “Um, sure,” she said.  “It depends on the secret.”

“It’s nothing bad, I promise,” I added.  “I wasn’t actually in Greece this past week, but Mom and Papa already know this.  They think I was off somewhere else, so I don’t want you to tell them this part.”

“Ohh,” she said.  “Wait, you weren’t?  I thought you were and you weren’t?  Psyche!”

“There’s a reason, trust me,” I reassured her.  “And it’s same reason that Mom and Papa don’t know.  I was basically under a weird communication blackout.”  It was probably best not to point out that some information could come through, because I think that would confuse her too much.  “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t have told you where I was.”

“Oh.  Well, oaky, go on.”

So I sat there and told her as much as I could about what happened to me.  She had started to ask question, specifically about Zephyr, but she quickly fell silent as I continued on with my story.  I told her about Eros and his mansion, and how lonely he was, and how he had kidnapped me inadvertently because he had thought I was someone worth knowing.  I told her about the mansion itself, and about the library, and the gardens and the decapitated Cupids.  The only things I didn’t tell her were the things I didn’t have time to figure out for myself.

The only time she showed any reaction was at the end, when I told her able the email Papa somehow had gotten.  “So…Eros?  Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I said, grinning.  She knew about as much about myths as I did, taking up my interest in the subject.  She loved the one about Cupid and Psyche as much as Papa and I did, mostly because I was named after it.  So she knew about Eros. “I know, crazy, right?”

“I’ll say.  I have no idea how the hell you managed to stay so calm!  I would have been freaking out the whole time!  But he was hot, right?  I mean, thank totally makes up for it.”

“Maddie!” I scolded.  “Geeze, you’re as bad as Penny and Phoebe sometimes.”

“What?  Seriously, we’re still females, Psy.  We might look as brains more than looks, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate a guy for his looks, right?  And you did say he was hot.  Repeatedly.”

“I did?” I asked, feeling myself blush.  “Well, I guess you’re right.  It helped that he was hot, but over the course of the week, I guess that stopped mattering too much to me.”

She let out an excited squeal.  “Oh my God, Psyche Karalis is in love!”

“Oh my God, I am not,” I insisted, standing in defiance.  “He was extremely nice, and we’re friends, but I am not in love with Eros!”

She giggled.  “You so are!  You’re in love with a hot blond Greek with mysterious eyes!  God, I can’t blame you.  I don’t even know what he looks like, and I’m half in love with him myself trying to picture him.  Add in the fact that he’s got a brain and is compassionate, and…well, you’d be lucky if he felt the same about you.”

“We’re just friends, Maddie,” I hissed through my teeth.

“Oh, well, poor Eros, then.  It sounds like your friend-zoning him, Psyche.  I think he deserves better.  Maybe I should meet him.  I wouldn’t be in denial about my feelings for him.”  I glared at her with enough force that I was sort of hoping to explode her head.  “Oh, hey, did he give you that necklace?”

I blinked, my concentration broken.  I fingered the necklace.  “Yeah, actually.  I couldn’t refuse it, for some reason, although it’s much too nice a present.”

“Psy, you’re rich.  You can afford to allow boys to give you pretty necklaces like that and not be offended.  Besides, you did say he seemed to be fairly wealthy himself.  I like it; it suits you somehow.”

I fingered the necklace, feeling strangely like it somehow belonged around my neck.  The moment it had touched my skin, I had known I wouldn’t have been able to give it up.  I wasn’t sure if it was the necklace itself, or the fact that Eros had given it to me. 

“I’m surprised, though, that you’re not freaking out about me being kidnapped and all.”

She waved me off.  “It’s no big deal,” she insisted.  “I mean, you came back when you said you would, and you’re fine, if not a little taken in by the experience.  Besides, from the sounds of it, you didn’t regret the decision, and as long as you’re okay with the mess, than I am as well.  I’m just glad you trust me enough to tell me about it, you know?  You could have just as well kept it from me as well.”

“I figured you’d get mad I did,” I admitted.  “Besides, you’re my best friend; you, out of every one, have the most right to know.”

“Well, save for your parents, but I trust you’ll tell them when you’re ready.  This seems like the sort of thing you need to figure out for yourself before you can do that.  The difference between parents and best friend is that I’ll help you come to terms with it, and figure it out.  Your parents’ll flip if they heard this now.”

“So you won’t tell them?” I asked innocently.

She shook her head.  “Of course not; not until you’re either ready to tell them, or it because too dangerous.  You’re like a sister to me, Psyche, and sisters look out for each other.  Well, true sisters so, anyway.”

I grinned at her, glad that I had decided to just go ahead and tell her the truth.  I hadn’t been overly sure how she was actually going to react to hearing my story, but somehow I knew that she was going to support me on all this no matter what.  Besides, it wasn’t like I was certain I was going to see Eros again anytime soon, or even at all.  I could probably go my whole life without Mom and Papa discovering the truth, but having someone to talk to about it was certainly going to be helpful.

Especially considering the fact that I wasn’t entirely sure if Maddie was right or not about me being in love with Eros.

Chapter Eight

Modern Day Cupid Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten