Chapter 2

My mother has a saying about her wine, like a credo by which she runs her life. Once you've opened the bottle, you have to stick to it, don't let it get stale. It was the same with books. She would have days, sometimes a week, when she would stay locked in her office. She would write. I would bring her food and coffee there, lots of coffee, and she would write entire chapters during those days, out of breath. Because she had gotten into the idea. I think I'm like her here.

Once opened, my bottle of wine, with ambrosia, with kisses on my palms and butterflies in my stomach, I couldn't put it aside. We hadn't discussed his gesture, because there was nothing to say. We'd known each other since we were little. It was something unimportant maybe and I gave it too much importance, dreaming night after night of how he would kiss my palm and then climb my arm. I felt like a kind of Morticia Addams speaking French next to my Gomez.

But Hades is not Gomez. Hades is just another employee at Grandma's hotel, manager. My superior then. We rarely saw each other, we worked in different parts of the house and I had more contact with Mina and Athena. Sometimes with Harold. Oh, Grandma, I rarely saw; she usually came down from her room for dinner, and that was it, and Apollo and Sarah, his wife and Hades' stepmother, lived in the city and only came here on special occasions.

"Did you see this? Kassie," Mina is shaking me. "Did you see this comment?"

Mina is the only one who knows about Wattpad. Mina reads everything and tells me what's wrong and what's not. She's my beta reader or something. Mina also knows that the last book is my fantasy. She completely ignored the chapter about kissing the hand. I look at her phone. Mina holds it with her red, sharp gel nails over her thin, white fingers. She has delicate hands and is wearing a purple dress with a black veil over it, with a corset in the middle. Her hair, bleached white with two black strands to frame her face, is long and worn back. Straightened. I know her hair is as curly as my cousin normally is. She has striped tights, in purple and black, and some Mary Janes on her feet. A necklace around her neck and a rosary, although she's not Catholic. Even her lips are purple and she's looking at me with her big, round, green eyes. Pure green with golden reflections.

I have to admit, he has more beautiful eyes than his cousin's, his grandmother's eyes. I remember reading the comment. Someone praised the book. My pride is building up and I take the phone from his hand. I want to read everything, word for word. He gives me details. He tells me he felt everything and I sigh. I can't wait for them to kiss, concludes P1ut0.

"What's wrong with her?"

I hear his voice as if in a dream. I don't even hear Mina's response but I feel him next to me as he reads too. I'm still smiling like an idiot when his hand carefully rests on my waist. He leans in further. I'm not smiling anymore. I can't breathe anymore when his other hand touches mine to straighten the phone screen so he can read. Mina ignores us. My heart skips a beat, she sees nothing here. And I know it's nothing. Neither romantic nor sexual but my insides churn every time he touches me.

"Uh. Your book, right? The one you keep writing. Sounds like a good book."

He puts down the phone. He stays next to me with his hand still on my back. I'm wearing black shorts and jeans with fishnet tights underneath. Sneakers and a short, loose T-shirt with the band In this Moment. Maria Brink is in her Whore outfit , on my chest. I feel her fingers climbing over my belt. His thumb touches my skin, and I swear he caresses it with every movement. His right hand is on the phone. He's not looking at me. The phone is ringing next to me. He ignores me. Mina, who, as usual, hasn't seen anything, says she's taking a cigarette break.

"Olympus Hotel , this is Kassandra. How can I help?"

My voice is full of emotion. I feel like I'm barely speaking, even though the words are coming out clearly. It's a lady. She wants to book two rooms for the weekend. They should be next to each other and on the first floor. We don't have any rooms on the ground floor. Both doubles, for a family trip, she says. She gives me a name and I tell her to be here by one o'clock on Friday or the rooms might be sold out due to high demand. However, if she pays a deposit in advance, the rooms will be kept empty until Saturday at the same time. In case I arrive later. She tells me she will pay a deposit and I guide her through the phone. As soon as the deposit is paid, the rooms are like theirs.

I hung up and put it in the computer as a reservation for rooms 23 and 24. Hades moves closer, I feel his entire hand slide from my back to my waist and cup my abdomen. I look at him briefly. He looks at his phone. I continue typing. To do my job. Maybe he's dreaming he's with Delilah. I get a notification that he's paid the deposit and I mark it green. His hand goes up before I know what he's doing. His thumb touches the base of my breast and immediately pulls back. His hand is still on my shirt, behind me.

We're so close that my thigh is next to his. I think he felt my stomach tighten, I was about to gasp and ruin everything. He's looking at me. I'm not wearing a bra today. Or at least a bustier or something. I tell myself that my breasts aren't that big anyway and that it won't show through this shirt. No one would know. Except for him, apparently. I'm almost angry but he looks at me and I get over it.

"And I thought you were a good girl," he whispers softly.

He teases me. I know he does, and I tell myself I won't let him touch me thinking about her. I tell myself my mother wouldn't appreciate this kind of attitude, even though I long for his touch. I move my hand to his wrist and pull it away from my skin. I miss him already.

"That's enough," I tell him, but I can't help but be angry with him. "You've gone too far anyway."

"I'm sorry," I hear him whisper and I already know that every conversation we have feels like a secret for years. "I shouldn't have touched you like that. Your skin is so soft and smooth! And you're so small. You're so small, Kassie."

I know I'm short for him. I'm not a garden gnome; I'm of average height, but both Mina and Delilah are model heights. So is he. And compared to Mina, who has, as Harold would say, flesh on her bones or Delilah who goes to the gym regularly and has muscle mass, I'm thin. Not in the sexy way that men like. More in the way that I had problems with Anorexia when I was 14-15. And he knows that. And we both know that I'm not going to gain weight, not even for him. I've drawn a line, actually. I'm not going to change for my crush for him. I'll never reach his standards anyway and then, there's something romantic and tragic about a one-sided love. A kind of Eloise and Abelard, I guess.

"And that's a bad thing, don't you think?"

I know I should have told him it's none of his business. That I feel good about myself and that I'm not small, but he's too tall, his hands are too big, and he compares me to the wrong people. I still need approval, like everyone else I guess. I want to know that he accepts me for who I am.

"No," he quickly assures me. "I think you're perfect the way you are. With your small shoulders…" he moves his fingers from the back of my neck and lazily down my spine. "Breasts just the way they should be," he whispers in my ear.

"With this small waist that I think I can hold in my hands," I hear him laugh briefly. "Can I come over tonight?" He stops near the belt, on the skin.

"Would you like to come over to my place?"

Like an idiot, I moved away from him and from his touch.

"Yes. If it's okay with your parents. I found a movie that I think you'd like and I want to watch it together. I can go when I take you home if that's okay. So you don't say I'm staying up all night on your head."

"No," I assure him. "Dad is working tonight, and Mom was in a writing frenzy again this morning, so it won't be a problem. But it's not good as soon as I finish here. I want to stop by the bookstore first. Mom wants me to get her a few books, and I'm left with nothing to read."

"Ah! Then can I go with you?"

It's understandable why I'm confused. He, Hades, wants to spend time with me. Where the hell is the logic? Unless...?

"Are the girls coming too?" I ask quickly.

He stops, confused.

"I was thinking it would be just us. But you can let them know if you want."

Leave the pressure on me. It's wrong to spend time alone with another girl's boyfriend, and it's definitely not okay to go out with him without telling Mina. But then...

"I'll let them know next time," I decide on the spot.

I know he likes that answer because I can see his face. He leaves though, as soon as Mina comes back, and he doesn’t say anything else all day. I’ve kept doing my job and taken Mina’s place whenever she decides to smoke outside. I’ve decided that tonight, while we watch the movie, I’m going to put on my bra. I’m not sure why I want to do this, but I’m determined to do it.