The Rise of Athena (Hiatus)| Book I of the "A Goddess' War" Trilogy

A Date With Destiny

The restaurant that Maria chose was an extravagant Italian place not too far from the famous Avengers Tower. La Gondola di Venezia. The whole place was decorated in gold and marble, with frescoed ceilings, pseudo-Renaissance paintings, and Tuscan columns. Despite its gaudiness, The Gondola offered a warm reprieve from the bitter wind and rain outside.

The menu promised delicacies of Venice and wines imported from the coastal city. Yet, none of them aged well enough to be worth the price point. The same applied to the cheese board placed in front of her several minutes ago. The goddess was no expert in fine cheeses, she left that duty to Dionysus, but she knew a proper imported Italian cheese from a cheap knock off from Whole Foods.

Maria and Jason sat at the table in front of Athena and her date, Michael, which made contact between the two friends hard. The only thing Maria told Athena was that he worked in technical communications. She failed to mention how he looked eerily similar to Adonis, who Athena had a short fling with back before Aphrodite grew attached. It was Athena who introduced the two when she grew bored and was desperate to be free of him.

No matter how many times Athena squinted her eyes and tilted her head, she still could not find a single way to make him look any less like her ancient ex. And the worst part was he took her squints and head tilts as confusion, so he kept prattling on about useless things. The waitress took the menus, so Athena took to setting her gaze on the ceiling, the walls, or taking long sips of her wine to avoid eye contact. Which wasn't strong enough to get her anywhere near buzzed.

Athena regretted going home to change her clothes. It was a waste of gas, time, energy, and a new white designer mini dress and Louboutin heels.

"You see, the trick to getting a perfect pitch is to have the communicator on first, and while that is happening you twist the peacock colored wire until the static is completely phased out. Then-"

Oh, my queen mother. Athena took another sip of her wine. Her sip turned into several gulps as he diverged from static to the reasoning behind colored wires. It was like a drinking game. Rule 1: Drink anytime Michael spoke, continue drinking until he finished or your glass was empty. She looked at her empty glass with disdain. A great yawn escaped her. Athena hadn't seen the waitress in a while and she needed two more bottles of wine.

And then the date took a turn from bad to much worse.

"You know, I don't go out very much, but you have to be one of the most attractive women I have ever been set up with." he complimented.

Make that three more bottles of wine. Athena contemplated asking one of the passing wait staff to hit her over the head with a serving tray.

"Oh, please."

She played nice and instead of an eye roll, she tucked her hair behind her ear. Someone had to pay the tab and Athena didn't want to. She gave the back of her chandelier earring a push and let it fall. The large piece clattered when it hit the imitation marble flooring.

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry, I am just the klutziest person." Athena babbled.

"Here, let me get it." Michael offered and ducked under the table to retrieve her jewelry.

Before he came back up, Athena gave Maria a desperate look, but the poor girl was so engrossed in her date's story she failed to see her friend in need. How much longer did Maria expect her to sit through the date from Hades?

Michael handed her the earring and she put it back into her ear, smiling with faux gratefulness. Father give me an excuse to end this date. Please? For your favorite child?