TUTORS ; E.D.

THREE: SPINNING

Aphrodite sucks in a sharp breath as she burns herself on the oven, resisting dropping the veggies she just roasted to go with dinner. "Ouch, fuck!" She hisses, placing the pan down as soon as she can. Her arm nicked the side of the oven and was already lightly blistering. "Hades!"

"Stop calling me that!" He groans, dragging his feet toward the kitchen. "Is dinner rea--you okay?"

"Yeah... burnt myself," she mumbles, running it under the water. "Everything's ready. Make yourself a plate and sit down."

"Is dad gonna be home?" Hades asks, grabbing two plates. He starts making her one too while she keeps her burn under the water.

"I really don't know, dude," Aphrodite sighs. There was never any telling what time of day their dad would come home--if he came home at all, and it was more likely that he wouldn't. "After dinner I'm gonna get ready and head out with some friends. You gonna be okay here?"

Hades nods, setting both plates down. "Always am."

Their dad worked in construction--he drove some truck around all day and typically got out at 4:30. It had been a long time since he actually came home right after work, however.

Hades still hoped he would start coming home more often again, but Aphrodite wasn't counting on it. When he was home, he was nice, mostly. He'd play catch with Hades in the yard, fix whatever might be broken in the house, ask them about school and whatnot. It was as if things were normal.

That pissed her off the most. Not that he was practically absent, other than paying the bills and leaving some money for groceries whenever he happened to come home, but the fact that he never acknowledged where he was or why he was barely home. She learned to live with it, though that didn't make it any easier to accept. The one plus side was that he wasn't around enough to notice her habits of getting high, going to parties, and skipping class. Sometimes she wished he was.

They got to eating dinner a little late--after 8pm--but that wasn't too bad compared to when they usually ate. Most nights they'd order something, have leftovers or something easy, or Aphrodite would cook if she had the time.

Today she worked--she had a shift right after school but decided to cook as soon as she got home. That brought them to where they were now, arguing over Hades chewing too loudly at the table.

"You're such a dick," she groans, flicking his ear. "I'm going to get ready and then I'm gonna get going. Don't stay up too late, love you, asshole."

"Love you too... bitch."

"Hades Victor Flowers! Watch your mouth!"

Her brother rolls his eyes with a smile as they put their dishes in the sink before going their separate ways. The party was probably just getting started, but she preferred to show up late.

After thinking about her dad so much she was in a bad mood. Tonight would get her mind off of it at least.

She takes a shower before doing her makeup, blow dries her hair, and then quickly gets dressed. Grayson's texting her now, telling her to hurry up and get to his house and that him and Elijah are waiting for her. Carla and Joey are already at the party, probably drinking with some other friends.

Once she's dressed, she grabs her keys and phone and rushes out the door. Her phone is buzzing with more texts from Grayson, who's bored and smoking with Elijah now. By the time she finally gets to his house, they're both stoned and happy to see her.

"Took you long enough, Aphie," Grayson teases, kissing her cheek. "You look good. Ready to get going?"

"Is Ethan coming?" She hums, seeing both boys laugh. "Ugh. I'm gonna go see if I can convince him. He told me he would think about it."