C∂llis†∂  The number one rule of dating is to not date two guys at once. But, unfortunately, I am waiting for two guys-guess who-at what happens to be the fanciest restaurant in New York City. In my defense, I was distracted when I agreed to this.

I sat down at one of the tables and tried to think up an explanation and let both of them down easy. If they both happened to show up at the same time, I could say that I promised Brett I would get a new computer for him-his old one was actually broken and he was too busy to get a new one himself-somewhere far, far away from here.

Or, knowing Apollo, he'd be late, so I could explain what happened to Hermes, rather than him walking in on me and Apollo. Then, when Apollo came, I could just run away and leave Hermes to do all the explaining. 

Or...I could-

"Hey, beautiful." Startled, I looked up to see Apollo. Wait, Apollo? Why did he choose now of all times to be early? Schist.

"Is something wrong?" Apollo asked. Damn...I must have made a face.

"Oh, no, no, nothing's wrong. Everything's...just...fine..." I internally winced. When did I become such a bad liar?

"You know," Apollo started. "I can tell when someone's lying."

"I'm not lying." I lied.

He laughed. "She said to the god of truth."

"That's cheating. You're not allowed to use your powers on me."

Apollo raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know there were rules at all."

"Well there are, in civilized society. Number one, don't use alienated powers on helpless people."

"I would hardly describe you as helpless." I started to reply, but someone interrupted me.

"Calla?" Hermes asked, clearly confused.

"Hi." I laughed nervously. Then, Hermes turned and saw Apollo, then looked back at me. Holy crud, why me?

"What is he doing here?" they both asked me accusingly at the same time.

I closed my eyes, hoping for a distraction. Where's a monster when you need one? Then I opened my eyes again, searching for something to use as a distraction. There was nothing. Just kill me now.

Fourteen hours earlier

I woke up a little early, around 6 AM, so that I could get ready for my college interview. This was going to be the most important moment of my normal life, so I didn't want to be late. After brushing my teeth and changing into a long blue blouse and kind of formal jeans, I headed out. 

I started walking to Brett's house to borrow his car when a big, white van caught my eye. It read, "Hermes Express." Hermes' delivery van was usually invisible to all people, unless he wanted to show it. Since I could see it, I figured he must want to see me.

I walked down to the van, but there was no one there, so I went in. Inside, I saw Hermes sitting on a box labeled 'this side up', with arrows pointing to the ground.

"Uh, Hermes." I said.

"Oh, hi, Calla." he smiled.

"Yeah...I'm pretty sure that box is upside down." I pointed to the box he was sitting on.

Hermes frowned and looked down. "It's fine, I'm sure."

"Yeah, well, I don't want it to explode in my face, so turn it around."

Then, Hermes snapped his fingers and the label went from the bottom of the box to the top. "Better?" he asked.

"Um...no. You didn't really, you know, turn the box. It's going to explode. So...I'll just sit over here." I gestured at the driver's seat, which I then sat down in. The next thing I saw was a big, red button labeled "DO NOT TOUCH" on the dashboard.

"Hey, what does this do?" I put my hand on the button.

"No, no, don't touch that!" Hermes exclaimed.

I shrugged and pushed the button. Hermes winced, and then...nothing. "It doesn't do anything." I glared pointedly at him. "I thought something would explode."

His eyes widened. "You didn't just say that."

In which the box he was sitting on exploded. The blast propelled Hermes into the air and he hit his head on the ceiling of the truck.

I grinned at him. "See, what did I tell you? I knew the box was going to explode, but noooo, you just wouldn't listen to me."

Hermes glared at me, but seeing my grin, he laughed, too. "I just can't stay mad at you." he said as he walked over and ruffled my hair.

"Yeah, yeah." I swatted his hand away and looked at him. "Okay, in all seriousness, though, did you want to see me?"

"I always want to see you." Hermes smiled.

"What part of 'in all seriousness' did you not understand? I'm kind of on a tight schedule here."

Hermes frowned playfully. "Okay, fine. I wanted to know if, well...if you wanted to..."

I raised an eyebrow at him. I had never seen Hermes so tongue-tied before, but I motioned for him to continue anyways. All I could think about was how I was going to be late for the interview, and if I was late, I wouldn't get accepted into college.

Hermes seemed to regain his courage for whatever he was going to say. "Um, would you like to go out tonight? On a...a date?"

I smiled slowly. "That's why you're so flustered? You have so many kids at Camp, I would've thought you were good with women."

Hermes looks down in embarrassment. "Don't use my kids against me, Calla. That's low."

"Hey, you don't get to tell me what's low. Only I get to say that."

"Why can't I?" Hermes frowned.

"Because I'm better than you." I ruffled his hair. "Also, it wouldn't be so bad to go out tonight."

Hermes' mouth formed into a full-blown grin at that, but I decided to tease him a little. Just a little.

"I think I can fit you into my schedule." I took a folded piece of paper out of my pocket that, in reality, was a college brochure, but I pretended to read it like it was a schedule.

"Actually, no. I don't think I have enough time. I have a date with Brett at eight and Will at nine...maybe if I move Mike up to six o'clock I'll have time for you at ten. Does that sound okay?" I looked at Hermes expectantly.

Hermes' jaw dropped. "Wh-what?" his grin faltered and he looked like someone had just killed his puppy.

"Relax, I was just messing with you." I punched Hermes' arm playfully.

"Right." He looked suspiciously at my brochure, then back at me. "Will eight o'clock work for you, then?"

I smiled at him. "Of course." I looked at my watch. "Oh no...I gotta go, Hermes! Later!" I hugged him and ran out of the van as fast as I could.

Once I got to Brett's house, I inwardly groaned. I could've just asked Hermes to teleport me to the college! Too late for that now...

I quickly used my keys to unlock the front door. Then I ran up the stairs and searched frantically for Brett's car keys. I couldn't find them, but I saw Brett in his room.

I ran into the room and tackled him. "GIVE ME YOUR CAR KEYS!"

"Okay, okay, sheesh, crazy lady." Brett threw his car keys at me, which I swiftly caught.

"Thank you!" I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and then proceeded to run out of the room. Then I ran back in and glared at Brett. "We're going to talk about the whole 'crazy lady' thing later. You're not off the hook."

Brett laughed and shouted, "Good luck!" as I ran out again.

I jumped into the car hit the gas pedal with my foot. As I was driving, I glanced at the clock that was built into the car. How was it 6:30 already? It would take another twenty minutes to get to the college campus, and I also need time to prepare!

I pushed the gas pedal harder, going a little bit over speed limit. I hoped nobody would notice. Once I got to the college, it was around 6:45. Okay, I still have a little bit of time to prepare.

"Hey, Calla!" I jerked my head toward the voice to see Apollo. No, not now!

"What do you want?" I asked testily.

Apollo looked surprised at my harsh tone. "Sorry if I caught you at a bad time, I'm just really busy for the rest of the day and I need to ask you something..."

"What? Just hurry up, I'm going to be late and I can't be late and I'm going to be late and oh gods, just hurry up!"  I rambled nervously. I didn't want to be late but whatever Apollo was going to say could be important.

"Oh, are you getting interviewed for college? Sorry, I can come back later." Apollo looked slightly guilty for interrupting me.

"It's okay, just get on with it!"

"Would you like to go out for dinner tonight?"

"Yes, sure, whatever!" I started sprinting toward the college doors.

"I'll see you at eight!" Apollo yelled after me.

-=+=-

My interview went really well, considering the circumstances. It took an hour long, but I think the woman who interviewed me was impressed.

I was satisfied with myself, so I went about the rest of my day like usual...that is, until I remembered. 

Twelve hours later

"I thought that you said there were no other men, Calla!" Hermes said all too loudly. Obviously, I shouldn't have made that joke earlier.

Heads turned our way, and he lowered his voice. "Why is he here, Calla?"

Apollo glared at me. "Yeah, Calla, why am I here?"

I looked at both of them apologetically. "I'm so sorry! It's just that, you know, I was so worried about the college interview that I was so distracted. I didn't know-well, scratch that, I didn't really pay attention to what I was agreeing to..."

I glanced at them, but they weren't paying attention to me anymore. Hermes was now saying something very, very angrily.

"-you're my brother, Apollo, but you're also my friend. How could you do this to me?"

"Well, I didn't know that you loved her!"

"Really? Are you saying that you weren't paying attention that time on Olympus when I kissed her in front of everybody?" 

"NO! I was...busy doing something else." Heads turned our way again.

"What were you doing, Apollo? Having sex with some other poor girl?"

Apollo flinched. "That's none of your business!"

"Maybe not, but I think Calla should know if you claim to love her but you're still sleeping with other women!" The whole restaurant was watching us now.

"Like you don't?"

"No, Apollo, I really don't!"

"That's good, because we don't want your children running around trying to resurrect Titans, do we?"

Hermes clenched his fists. "Don't you dare-"

"Like poor Luke Castellan. He died because you didn't love him, but you know who did? Calla. Calla probably loved him more than she loves you now, right?"

"Apollo." Hermes said through gritted teeth. "You're going to regret that."

The said god sneered, which was a bad look for him. "I don't think so." Then, he stormed out of the restaurant. Everyone's eyes followed him, then swiveled back to Hermes and me.

Without saying a word, Hermes left, too.

I sighed and glared at everybody who was still looking at me. I put my face in my hands and just sat there for awhile. Then, I called Brett.

"Hello?" came the reply.

"Brett, can you come pick me up?" I told him the address.

"Date gone wrong?" I could hear him chuckling.

"It's not funny, Brett. Just come on."

"Okay." he said. After a pause, he said, "I'll be right there."

After a few minutes, Brett arrived, true to his word. He saw me there, face in my hands, and gave me a hug.

"Is it bad?" he asked.

"Yeah, pretty bad. I screwed up." I tried to reply nonchalantly.

Brett looked at me, face full of concern. "You wanna talk about it?"

"There's really not much to say. I mean, two of my friends are supposedly in love with me and are now fighting each other to...I don't even know what they want to do."

Brett guided me out of the restaurant and into his car. "Well, who do you love?"

I sighed. "I'm not even sure anymore."

"Anymore?" Brett questioned.

"I used to love Hermes. You know that. I think I still do, a little. And I think maybe I love Apollo, just a little, too. But..."

"But?" Brett prompted me.

"But, you've always been there for me." I said quietly. 

He was silent. Instead of talking, he looked at me with a very powerful emotion, one that I understood very well. Pain.

I looked at Brett. "I need to know. Do you love me?"

He looked away and stayed silent. Finally, he looked back at me. "Very much."

I wanted to cry. "Brett, you're the one uncomplicated thing in my life. I really don't want to well, complicate that."

"Okay."

"Just okay?"

"What else is there to say, Callie? You don't love me, you love the two of them." Then bitterly, he continued. "I guess I was stupid to hope that..." he trailed off. "They're gods, anyway. Both of them are probably better for you than I am."

"Please look at me, Brett." 

He didn't respond, he only started the car engine and started driving home.

The ride home was uncomfortably quiet and incredibly awkward. Once we got home, Brett seemed to be back to his normal, cheerful self. I knew better than that, though.

"Don't do that." I held onto his arm.

"Don't do what?" he pretended to look confused.

"Don't act like everything is okay." 

"Isn't that what you want, though?"

"No, I...I don't even know what I want anymore."

"Right, because everything is about Callista Meratyn. She's better than everyone else and she gets whatever she wants because she'll just cry until you feel bad for her. Really, though, she's just her daddy's mistake and in reality, you're just a needy little bitch."

I choked back a sob. "Brett...?"

"No, I'm right, aren't I? Apollo only pretends to love you because your daddy commands him to and why does Hermes hang out with you? Oh yes, he feels guilty about making Luke die."

I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry, but Brett was right. I depend on other people when I feel bad and even though I've worked so hard to guard my heart and be independent, I can't live without someone else's support.

No. I won't cry. I'll prove him wrong. But even as I was saying those words in my head, I could feel tears streaming down my cheeks and the urge to reach out and hold his hand.

I couldn't resist it. So I did. I held his hand and watched as he tried to pull it away from me. I watched as anger and confusion and hurt and sadness and so many other emotions swirl in his eyes and I watched as he pulled me into his embrace and whisper "I'm so sorry."

And then I didn't want to fight anymore. I didn't want to fight the cancer, and I just let it take over me.

Like the weak, dependent little girl I am.

Author's Note

=========================

I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! I thought that I would have time to update but then everything came crashing in at the same time. I have violin and piano competitions, and STAAR reviews, and swim competitions AND THEN MEDIA PROJECTS AND GIFTED & TALENTED PROJECTS LIKE OH MY GODS JUST STOP!

Ahem. Anyways. At least I finally updated! This is my longest chapter yet, I think: 2,550 words, not including the author's note, of course. Summer break's arriving soon, so I promise I'll update a lot more frequently. Until next time,

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~DragonsOfIceCream