Cupid's Contract

All Just A Misunderstanding?

Eve would have preferred to have been given more time to adjust to the events of the past few minutes.

In an ideal world, she would have languished amongst the crowd, searching halfheartedly for her mother and grandmother, all the while pontificating over the revelations that had been thrust upon her, pun intended.

Andrew had kissed her.

Very well, in fact.

And Eve had liked it.

There was a very good chance Eve had feelings for Andrew and, according to the locket, these feelings were inconsequential and the charming side effect of lust.

Lust, though? Really?

Not that Andrew wasn't lust-worthy.

He had that full head of hair that looked improbably soft. Eve could now confirm that it was like touching a cloud.

He also had very soft lips, which were not like touching a cloud. They were like being wrapped up in a sexy, talented mouth hug that was distinctly not platonic.

The exact opposite of his soft hair and lips, Andrew's body was sturdy and hard in a way that set her nerve endings alight.

But all of this was nothing, in the face of the undeniable cold of Cupid's heirloom.

Eve could melt in his arms and laugh over witty banter and it would be nothing more than insignificant time wasting.

As much as she had enjoyed that kiss she knew she deserved more. For herself, and also for him.

She wasn't willing to settle, not even for a pair of dimples worthy of an ad campaign. She had seen the glow of soulmates and she was pretty happy to wait until that arrived for her.

Or so her head told her heart, who in return begged her to give one last look over her shoulder, to meet those grey eyes and reconsider. Her heart did not appreciate her walking away from those biceps, or the heavenly smell that came with them.

Eve was in the middle of a heated internal debate when a hand grasped her own, and her heart leapt as she turned and looked at... not Drew.

"Darling, where have you been?" Roxy asked with a smile that knew too much.

"Sorry, Grandma. Work stuff." Eve's cheeks flamed guiltily.

"Come, come. I've saved us a spot up front, your mother is on second!" Roxy's grip stayed firm on Eve's arm as she guided her through the crowd.

Eve didn't know what possessed her to do it, but she finally gave in and risked a glance over her shoulder, back to their private little nook. Andrew was still there but he was no longer alone. Polly's shiny blonde head was nestled closely to his, and her neon pink lips were puckered as she leaned in too close for professional conversation.

The sight made Eve's stomach twist and she turned back to her Grandmother, kicking herself for that last final look. Eve couldn't help but think maybe the locket had saved her before she had really needed saving because if lust could make your insides squirm in jealousy she didn't want to know what heartbreak would do to her. She had a sensitive gut at the best of times.

"Well?" Roxy chirped incessantly in her ear.

""Sorry, I wasn't listening. What were you saying?"

Eve's grandmother was dressed in her usual head to toe black but she somehow made it look summery. She rolled her eyes at her granddaughter. "Honestly. You're just as bad as your mother sometimes." Roxy stood on tippy toes and tried to peer around Eve. "Who was that young man you were so cosy with?"

Eve choked. "Cosy? Me? Nope. Never."

It couldn't have sounded more stilted if she read it from a script.

"He certainly didn't look like a 'nope' to me." Roxy was glowing with gossipy cheer. While in many ways she was an atypical geriatric grandparent, Roxy was not immune to the excitement that came with interfering with her grandchild's love life. "In fact, he was very handsome. He has a real Prince Charming look to him, if I do say so myself."

"That's just his hair. I have no idea why he wears it like that. He's not charming in the least." The reference to Drew and his 'charm' did funny things to her stomach again. She wouldn't be surprised if this was a type of Kissing PTSD. Maybe, for the rest of her life, that word would trigger a defensive mechanism that involved her covering her mouth and running for the hills. It was certainly making her knees weak, anyway.

"I don't know, love. You seemed pretty amenable to his charms." The smirk on Roxy's face was downright sinful. It made Eve cringe.

"That was just a misunderstanding. We're colleagues. He might even be my boss soon."

"It didn't look like a misunderstanding between colleagues to me..." she nudged Eve's arm teasingly, but Eve couldn't find it in her to tease back.

Instead, somewhat oddly, she found herself getting defensive. "Well, I've made it pretty clear it's a mistake. It's a waste of both of our time." Eve's hand found her locket once again and she rubbed it, hoping for courage and conviction.

Roxy looked puzzled, no hint of a smirk on her face any longer. "A waste of your time? How can you be so sure?"

Was it just Eve's imagination or was Roxy staring at Cupid's locket? She tucked it back under the neck of her dress, smoothing the fabric over it.

"We're not compatible. All of the signs say so. It would be a fruitless endeavour on both our parts."

Fruitless endeavour? Who actually spoke like that? Females in denial, maybe.

"And what signs would these be, Evelyn?"

"Signs, grandma. Like, universal signs." Her hand moved towards the locket again, but she stopped it just in time.

"What in the good Lord's name is a universal sign? Is he married?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Seeing someone else?"

"I don't think so..."

"Have any weird habits that you know of?"

That one stumped Eve for a second. "Er... like what?"

"Stalking people online? Yelling things at women on the street?"

"Not that I know of..."

"Does he comment on DailyMail articles?"

"That's not really his thing, I don't think... More of a Financial Times kind of guy..."

"We can cross that bridge when we get to it, love. Do you have any reason to not spend time with him? Other than these stupid signs of yours, that is?"

It wasn't Eve's imagination. Roxy definitely nodded at the necklace this time. Eve opened her mouth to ask the question on the tip of her tongue, the words already forming when a gong erupted.

"Oooh look, it's starting!" Roxy was pushing herself forward into the crowd, away from Eve and her whirling thoughts.