Athena walked into the bathroom and saw Andreas in the tub. He looked like he was thinking. She took off his shirt and got in, and he watched her very slowly.

"So?"

"He thought I was too high maintenance for this type of party."

"I could've told you that."

"I just really need it. Before school and everything. My fathers in town again now, so I need a night of drinking like Alexander."

"You're always in control, but don't get too drunk."

"Don't worry, just enough to forget who I am for a few hours." She got the bar of soap and lathered it over her arms and he took it from her and brought her into him. He felt like protecting her, god knows she doesn't need nor does she want it, but he wanted to. He needed to.

"Why would you want to forget who you are?" He asked her, and she rested her forehead against his and took a deep breath. She brought her legs to her chest and he put the soap down.

"Agapi mou (my love), talk to me. You never talk, you always keep it in, just tell me," he said, getting frustrated.

"It's not easy for me to do that."

"I know, fuck koukla I know." He sounded pissed off, and he was, but not at her, never directly at her. He was pissed off about her family. Her family was like a business deal. Her mother wasn't a parent, only a wife, and Athena was never taught to share her feelings or emotions. The only time he saw her cry was when his and Alexander's mother died because she was more of a mother to her than her own.

"Don't be angry, I'm sorry, I really am."

"Don't apologise to me and I'm not angry with you. It's just after all these years I want you to know that you can talk to me." There was a silence, he saw her thoughts racing behind her eyes.

"I think,"' she said slowly and he listened carefully, "I think we, I think you should move on. From this, whatever it is. You should find someone else, someone new, someone who'll tell you what you want to hear." He moved back slightly so he wasn't touching her in any way.

"Are you kidding me Athena, after all this time. I know you have feelings for me, and you're doing yourself a disservice right now. You can be happy but you choose not to be. One day you're really going to love someone but you won't be able to tell them and they'll slip away from you and find someone else." He was right, and she knew it, but this area of conversation was to real for her, to raw.

So she looked at him, he was angry and they were naked in a bath together, it would be easy to turn things a different way she thought. So she crashed her lips onto him and put her legs over his, bring him close to her so her breasts were against his chest.

"Athena," he breathed heavily in between kisses.

"I need you in my life forever," she tells him, which is the honest truth. Her hand reached under the water and she stroked him, making him harder. He groans into her kiss as she jerks him faster. "That's why we can't be more than friends, don't you agree?" He nods.

"Mhm," he moaned, getting closer. His hands grip the sides of the bath, and she gets her second hand and cups him, squeezing gently, she stops kissing him so she can watch him squirm. He pants and moans, muttering her name in his mouth.

"I can't imagine my life without you either koukla." She smiles and finishes him off.

She gets out of the bath and dries herself off and she hears him unplug it as the water empties.

Andreas dried himself slowly, replaying her words. He wanted her, he decided, but she didn't want him. He knew he needed to seperate that from his love for her as friends, well, family. If he removed himself from the situation he could see that she was struggling with her emotions, because if her family. She's never let anyone close, or more so that she's so calculative with the people around her, and because they're so close, she's trying to hold onto them without having to be emotionally there.

He walked into the bedroom, she was cuddled on one side of the bed in his shirt. He removed the thoughts of how much he loved seeing her in his clothes and replaced with them with the sheer want of being there for her. Because it was Athena.

After putting on trackpants he got into the bed and cuddled her into him. He rubbed circles in her back and she exhaled.

"I know it's hard Athena." He stated, not elaborating because he knew what he said was enough. "You'll always have me okay, it doesn't matter if I'm angry, I get over it," he said softly and he heard her sniffle. "Eventually anyways," he added and she giggled.

Athena thought about the party and hoped she could distract herself with someone else, so her and Andreas could go back to normal. But right now she was hating herself, because she could be happy with Andreas, she could see it. But she knew she could never get there and she hated herself for playing games with him. She does it to every guy, but Andreas? That's unforgivable.

She cried, even with the knowledge that Andreas was here, she still cried. She's never cried with someone around her. But she couldn't hold it in any longer.

Andreas just kept rubbing circles in her back and muttering gentle shushes and eventually she fell asleep. He leaned over to wipe her cheeks dry and he hugged her close to him. 

♖

"You look hot Athens," Alexander drunkenly blurted to Athena as he kissed her hello. She was wearing something she normally wouldn't wear seen as how this was a party she didn't normally go to. The item in question was a satin red dress that just made it past her behind. It had cutouts on the side and low neckline. She paired it with black platform heels from steve madden. 

"You look practically naked," she replied with a laugh as Alexander was only wearing denim shorts and absolutely nothing else. Not even shoes.

"Well I went skinny dipping and I misplaced my clothes, but I found these," he said waving his hips around. "Drink?" He asked her and she shook her head trying not to look at Andreas talking to that little blonde in the corner. "Shots?" He asked her and she nodded. 

Giullia joined them at the bar and began talking with Alexander, Athena pretended she couldn't hear but listened to every word. 

"Hey, Alex I wanted to ask you something," she said and he smiled down at her and spun her around, her skirt splaying out as he did and she laughed.

"Anything for you my sweets," he joked and she smiled up at him. 

"Have you ever been interested in Nick?" She gave him doe eyes. 

"And you're asking if I'm attracted to your boyfriend why? Those relationships problems catching up with youse huh?" He smirked. 

"Alex please," she said and it was as if he could switch off his lack of sobriety with the click of a button as he looked at her seriously. 

"On occasion I have wondered what it would be like to ruffle his perfect doe-eyed feathers yes. But why do you ask?"

"Well, he might've mentioned something about... adding a third party to our um, hangouts," she said hesitantly. 

He leaned in close so he could whisper in her ear. 

"He doesn't know you're telling me this does he?" She shook her head and he deep breathed, and she felt his breath on her neck making her shiver. "Let me get this right, you want to have a threesome. You and your boyfriend, and me." She nodded slowly. He moved back and looked down at her. "When?"

"I'm thinking tomorrow night. He's parents are away and then we-" she stopped talking as Nicholas approached behind Alexander. "O anthropos mou (my man)," she said, her italian accent peeking through, and Alex moved slightly to include him. "I was just telling Alexander about that project for fashion history on Karl Lagerfeld, and Alexander was saying how behind he is, do you think he could join us tomorrow night?" Alex just looked at Giullia, amazed at her little white lie. 

"Of course, anytime," Nicholas said, patting Alex on the back. 

"Thank you, much appreciated." Alexander turned around to Athena and she gave him a look. "Don't start."

"I won't but I think we both need that shot now," she said, looking behind Alex. He turned to follow where she was staring and he saw his brothers tongue down a girls throat.

"Bottoms up," he said taking a deep breath. 

♖

After several shots and a few neat drinks, Athena was successfully drunk enough that she forgot all her problems. She was dancing with Alexander, but he had disappeared several minutes ago. Now she was dancing alone in the middle of the large group of drunk 20 year olds. There was flashing lights of red and blue and green and she felt like she was in a fast car down an empty road in a city. It was almost psychedelic. 

She was swaying, her eyes closed and she opened them for just a moment and saw someone sitting on a seat and staring straight at her. He was leaning forward, his chin resting on his left hand and a slight smirk plastered on his face. She didn't know if he was actually looking at her, as he was wearing these heart sunglasses. The song changed and the beat was slower so she used her hips a little more, turning around as well. She brought her hands up her torso and in her hair. She faced him and he was smiling, so she smirked at him and then walked off to get another drink. 

She was pouring herself another neat whiskey, as the other drinks looked very questionable. She wished there was ouzo at this party but only her and her friends had that kind of alcohol. Perks of being the only greeks at the school. She took a gulp, smiling at that handsome guy that was staring at her dance. She went to walk away but she realised he was standing next her talking to a friend of his. He didn't seem to notice her presence so she walked away. 

He was tall, she thought, really tall. He had short straight hair and he was very muscly. When she stood beside him she realised he completely covered her, and she could practically hide behind him. 

Nicholas came up next to her. 

"Hey, have you seen Giullia?" Athena shook her head, and he sighed. 

"I hope she didn't leave."

"Even if you guys had an argument or something she would never leave you here," Athena assured him and he smiled. 

"Yeah you're right. It's just been off lately."

"It happens, don't worry too much about it."

"You know there's a guy staring at you right now. Well there's been several guys looking at you but it's been a few minutes now and he hasn't looked away."

"I hadn't even noticed," she said, smiling once Nicholas walked off. 

She finished her drink off and went back on the dancefloor. He was back in a seat in front of her, they were closer now and she could see his face better. She still hasn't seen his eyes. She wondered if they were blue or hazel. She hoped they were brown, she loved brown eyes. They were warm and dark, and comforting. 

She danced like she did before and he was sitting back now as he was on a couch and the shirt he was wearing was unbuttoned, revealing his upper right pec. Her thoughts went down a red themed path. She laughed to herself, surprised at how attracted she was to him and she hadn't even spoken to him yet or seen his entire face. 

She moved through the crowd as to not be too obvious and she was met with Andreas. A girl was clutching his hair while they kissed and all of a sudden Athena felt a surge of something she never felt before now. She was happy he was moving on, but seeing someone else be with him the way she was bothered her. She found a couch and sat on it, suddenly feeling very ready to leave. 

"Hi." She glanced up and on the chair beside hers was the guy from the dancefloor. His voice was deep but it sounded like it was from a different time. Very debonair she concluded. 

"Hi," she said, resting her eyes and tilting her head down slightly while she looked at him. 

"It has taken me around 30 minutes since I first saw you to finally come up and talk to you." She smiled and looked down. Her default response would have been "I was wondering why you took so long," in a seductive tone but instead she said:

"Why did you want to come talk to me?"

"You're a good dancer," he said. 

"Thank you."

"That's not the only reason, I think you're gorgeous."

"I would say the same but I haven't seen everything yet," she said, gesturing to his sunglasses. He smirked and took them off.

"Not as pretty as yours, but they're mine," he said and looked up at her. She smiled happily. His eyes were brown. 

"You're beautiful," she said honestly. At first she hadn't realised she actually said those words aloud but then he smiled. He had dimples as well, but instead of making him look cute it made him look more tempting. 

She wanted to change the subject and so she reached out and lifted the gold cross he was wearing. It was gold-plated she noticed, but she didn't care. 

"Are you christian?" She asked him and he glanced down at her hand that was near him. He grabbed hold of it and she gasped when his hand touch her skin. 

"I'm catholic." She met his eyes again.

"So you're Italian." He smirked. 

"And you are?"

"Also European, take a guess."

"Turkish," he guess and she shook her head. "Croatian."

"No," she said and he leaned in closer.

"What's your full name?"

"Athena Diamandis," she said slowly, it was almost a whisper as they were barely 10 centimetres apart. 

"That should've been my first question. So you're Greek then," he said with a slight grin, "agapimeni (sweetheart)," he added. 

"You said that very well," she said and then added, "tesoro (sweetheart)."

"Touché." She wanted to get closer to him but they were on separate chairs. She was going to get up but she saw Andreas storming over. Andreas grabbed him by his shirt and got him against the wall.

"Andreas! Stamata," she yelled and went over to him. She grabbed his arm.

"He was close to you."

"So, nothing was happening, it's alright okay," she said, and she looked at the guy to see if he was okay and he looked completely casual, like he wasn't being pushed against a wall. She took a second to be impressed and then she grabbed Andreas's face.

"Agapi mou, se parakalo (my love, please)," she said to him. "Look at me," she said, "kitaxe me (look at me)." She repeated and he looked at her. He loosened his hold and the guy moved out of his way. She kept Andreas's face in her hands, making him look at her. "You're drunk, come on, pame (let's go)." 

She held his hand tightly, and gave the guy a sympathetic look as he gazed at her. He looked confused and she was disappointed. She had never been that way, just honest with someone. Not thinking about her responses or what she should say or do. 

She messaged her driver, and she had one of Andreas's arms over her so she could guide him out the front of the house. 

Her car showed up and her driver opened the door and helped get Andreas inside and she got in after. She quickly messaged Alex to tell him she's taking Andreas home because he's very drunk.

"Hey, are you alright." He rubbed his eyes, and shook his head.

"I hated that guy. Why was he looking at you that way and why did you look at him that way, you've never looked at me that way."

"I thought we were okay," she said and she wiped a tear that fell. "What have me and Alex told you anyway, you shouldn't be drinking so much."

"I know, but I wanted to forget about how much I wanted you and I needed the courage to approach another girl." She whispered. "Here, lie down." She put his head in her lap and trailed her fingers through his hair, hopefully comforting him.

"You need to shower, and drink water and then get into bed okay." He nodded, while playing with the hem of her dress.

"I feel really bad," he said.

"Like, meto (vomit) bad, or you just have a headache?"

"No I feel sad."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay Koukla, I understand. I know you... remember."

They didn't say anything else for the rest of the drive and they made it to his house. 

"Um, I'll be half an hour, do you mind waiting for me?" Her driver, Leo smiled. 

"You used to make me wait a lot when you were in high school, this is nothing," he said. He had a strong wog accent which she liked. Her father had hired him as her driver and bodyguard ever since she was 5 and started primary school. Her mother was always on a vacation at the spa, and her father was always working so most of the time she just had Leo to talk to.

"Thank you Leo."

"Anytime."

"You're going to have to help me okay." She said to Andreas as they got out of the car. She reached in his pockets for his house key.

"Woah, not out here, Leo can see us," Andreas blurted.

"I'm not fishing for your dick I need keys." She got inside and the maid came to the door. 

"Oh it's just you miss."

"Yeah, we're okay. Don't mention this to his father alright," Athena said, handing her a 100 dollar note. "Could you also bring painkillers and a glass of water to his room. We'll be in the bathroom so you don't have to knock," Athena smiled. "Thank you."

"No worries miss."

"You so just paid her off," Andreas mumbled as she helped him up the stairs. 

She finally made it to his bathroom and she started undressing him.

"You can take those off," she said and he pulled down his boxers. She turned the shower on and guided him in. He was leaning on the wall, hardly standing and so she got the soap bar and cleaned him.

"Why aren't you naked too?" He asked her, his eyes hardly open.

"Just let me rinse you off okay." 

She turned the water off and handed him a towel.

She went out to grab him some underwear and sweatpants and he came out of the bathroom and fell on the bed.

"The world is shaking around. What's going on?" 

"Here sit up, come on." She put on his boxers - with great difficulty - and then his pants. 

She got the glass of water on his nightstand and the two pills and gave it to him. 

"Here, swallow."

"That's usually your job."

"Shut up, lie down."

"You're so bossy." He said as she tucked him in. "My mama used to do this for me," he mumbled. She deep breathed, and cupped his face as he closed his eyes. 

"I have to go now okay," she said and he groaned in protest, already half asleep. 

"No, don't leave."

"I have to alright. Just sleep."

"I'm sorry." He said.

"For what agapi."

"For ruining your night with that asshole." She chuckled. 

"It's alright, if he's a keeper than you pinning him against the wall won't deter him."

"Exactly," he said, not even listening to what she was saying. She kissed him on the forehead and then headed out.