“Five minutes, just give me five minutes and I’ll be there. Just wait,” the male voice from the other side of the line pants. Luna sighs and smiles just a tad bit.
“Don’t worry, take your time. See you soon,” she hangs up and puts her phone in her front left jeans pocket.
The cool October breeze sent a chill down Luna’s back, causing her to tightly wrap herself with her jacket. She sits down on the front steps just outside of her house. In the streets, she can see a group of teenage boys playing a game of street basketball. Further down the street are two girls, maybe five or six years old, running around their front yard chasing after one another. Her neighbor is watering his garden as his little boy is playing with that enormous bubble wand that is advertised on T.V all the time. Today is Sunday, the only day both Luna and her boyfriend are free to spend time with each other besides eating lunch together and seeing each other in the hallways at school.
Luna looks down at her black and grey jacket and smiles at the memories it brings. When her boyfriend asked her out on a date, she was wearing the jacket. When they finally became a couple, she was wearing the jacket. She was even wearing the sweater when they had their first kiss together. But also in that very sweater, she had to make a choice that was very important.
“Okay, maybe she’ll listen to me this time,” Luna muttered as she paced back and forth in her room. She stopped pacing and looked down on her black with white polka doted bed and onto the red rose that lay on it. Luna had read somewhere on the Internet that red roses represents love so she thought Aphrodite, the goddess of love, would pay attention to her prayer if she had a tribute to offer. What better tribute than a red rose, right? Luna picked up the rose, closed her eyes, and held it closely to her chest.
“Oh Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, pretty please answer my prayer. I pray to you on this cold November night because I would absolutely love it if my crush, Aiden, can like me back. I know that I have asked you for this many times in the past but it’s just that I really want it to happen. Like, really want it to happen. So, um, if you could at least give me a sign that you heard me, I would really appreciate it. Thank you for listening,” Luna slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room for something, anything that could mean that the goddess heard her prayer. Nothing seemed new or out of place. She sighed and let the rose slip through her fingers and falls to the floor with a soft thud.
The temperature in the room drops so fast it made Luna shiver. She looked around for her black and grey jacket and spotted it on the desk next to the window. Hugging herself, Luna gets up and walks over to the desk. She slithers her way into it and notices a coral pink half folded piece of paper. She grabs it and unfolds it to see a sentence written in carmine colored ink. “I heard you. Is this a good enough sign?” is what it said. Luna stared at it in confusion.
“What a lovely rose. Is it for me?” Luna turned around quickly when she heard the female voice. The woman was radiant. She had an aura of carnation pink swiftly flowing around her. Her hair looked as soft as silk and was styled in a way that no matter what angle the light hit it, the light amber color would stand out. She wore a golden Greek dress. She looked up from the rose and gave Luna a small, soft smile.
“Who are you?” Luna asked with caution. It’s not every day a stranger comes into her room without her noticing. The woman’s smile grew bigger.
“You’ve been praying at me for the past two months and yet you don’t know who I am,” The woman teased. Luna’s eyes widened.
“You’re Aphrodite?” she stammered. Aphrodite chuckled and nodded.
“The one and only. Look, the reason I came and actually showed myself to a mortal is because your little wish of Aiden liking you back will end you.” Aphrodite said in a matter-of-fact tone as she took a few steps closer to Luna. Luna furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head.
“I don’t understand,” Luna uttered. Aphrodite sighed and took a seat on Luna’s bed.
“Of course you don’t, you think you’re in love and fail to see the reality. Aiden isn’t what you think he is. You think he’s cute and nice and funny and, sadly, perfect. But honey, no one’s perfect. Not even Aiden. He is cute I’ll have to admit but he isn’t nice nor funny. He talks behind everyone’s back. He uses harsh words to make fun of people but everyone thinks he’s funny. He’s a bully!” Aphrodite exclaimed. Luna couldn’t believe what the goddess was telling her.
“No. You’re lying. Aiden isn’t like that! You just don’t want us to be together!” Luna cried. The goddess of love rolled her eyes.
“Why in the world would I stand between love? I am the goddess of love after all. If you don’t want to believe me, at least hear me out, okay?” Aphrodite requested. Luna looked at her toes and hesitated to answer. She was right. She is the goddess of love; this is her turf. Luna nodded, making Aphrodite squeal in delight, “Good! Okay, the gods have a way to see the future, especially me since I am the one that pairs up people into falling in love with each other. I do that so that the mortals can learn a thing or two about love whether they break up with their partner or stay together forever. I’m the one who looks into the future and decides that. With that being said, I have seen every possibility that will come if I make Aiden like you and let me tell you, they aren’t pretty. Almost all of them end with you dying before you’re 25. That’s why I said that Aiden liking you will just be the end of you. So, what I want you to think about is if you really want him to like you back and you can die before you’re 25 or you can let go of that idea and just wait for the right guy to come along, who by the way is closer than you think,” the goddess stated.
Luna thought about it. She certainly doesn’t want to die before she turns 25. She has so much to do before she dies. But she also wants Aiden to like her so they can go out and her friends can be jealous of how cute they look. However, she wants to know who this ‘right guy’ is and exactly how close he is. Aiden is perfect in her eyes, why would she let this chance just slip through her fingers? Luna thought about it more for about a minute until she made up her mind.
“Aiden is perfect in my eyes. He’s everything that I could like in a guy. But I also don’t want to die before I’m 25. So, I’ll just wait,” she finally announced. Aphrodite jumped up in glee and clapped like an excited three year old.
“I knew it! I knew you would do the right thing!” the goddess giggled and did a little happy dance, making Luna laugh, “I must leave now sadly, but it was great talking to you.” Aphrodite’s figure started to become transparent ever so slowly.
“Before you go,” Luna uttered, “can you tell me who ‘the right guy’ is?” Aphrodite gave her a small smirk.
“I can’t tell you his name because that will just ruin the fun. But what I can say is that you don’t particularly fancy him. You don’t like him, at all,” Aphrodite revealed. Luna cocked her head to the side a little. There are a lot of guys she doesn’t like because she finds them all annoying. Aphrodite was becoming less visible by the second, “Oh! And remember: don’t rush anything! Just wait. And everything will fall into place.” Her voice became a whisper that blended with the soft wind that entered her room.
“Luna? Hello?” Luna snaps out of her memory and looks at the face a foot away from her. Derek gives her a goofy smile and nudges her arm for her to stand up. She stands up and interlocks their fingers together. He gives her a peck on the cheek and they both start to walk.
“You know, I’m really happy we’re together,” Luna stated. Derek squeezes her hand and nods.
“So am I, and to think that you hated my guts a year ago. I’m glad you started to hate me less and less. And now you’re dating the coolest guy in school!” Derek jokes. Luna laughs and agrees with him. They cross the road and walk on the sidewalk side by side while occasionally bumping into each other, a little inside joke that they developed over time.
“Thank you, Aphrodite,” Luna mutters to herself and chuckles as a breeze blows her hair back, catching the slightest scent of a rose.