“You have enough on your plate right now, Edie. I don’t want to burden you.” He’s taken to calling me Edie a lot more since the accident. It’s become one of my favorite things. So full of affection.
But this time when he says it, I don’t know whether to slap him, punch him, or pinch him, but I’m tempted to do all three. “We’re best friends. Helping each other with overloaded plates is our superpower. Keeping shit from each other because we have a lot going on isn’t what we do, Pollo. And what’s more, you know that.”
His face softens. “I’m processing.” His words take the fight out of me. Not being ready to share is way different than keeping something from me.
I cup his face, turning him toward me before planting a quick kiss on his lips. His shoulders sag, as though a little of his tension has melted away.
“Artemis!” I yell his brother’s name so loudly that everyone in the building probably heard me.
Apollo jams his finger in his ear as though I deafened him, and he’s checking that his ears still work. Over his shoulder, Artemis and Ares burst into the apartment, eyes wide, half confused, half amused.
“What’s wrong?” Artemis addresses Apollo, but I cover Pollo’s head with a throw pillow from the couch.
“What are you guys playing over there?”
Ares’s eyes light up as Athena joins them in the doorway. “You want to play something?”
I nod, as Apollo shrugs off the cushion still pressed against his head.
“He’s grumpy and overworked.” I gesture to the stack of papers on the table. “And I’m so freakin’ bored and sick of hearing myself complain.”
I hate being needy and pathetic, so my face burns as I silently implore Athena not to laugh or reject me. Artemis disappears for a moment, returning with a chair, Athena collects Apollo’s work from the table, pausing to look over the pages he’d been staring at in distress. “I can help you with this,hermanito. No stress.”
Apollo nods but remains quiet. Artemis tucks the extra chair around my table, but it occurs to me we now have more chairs than people.
“What’s that for?” I gesture to the seat.
He points at my leg. “You can’t play anything if your leg isn’t elevated, Edith.”
I almost laugh at how much like Apollo he can be. “You’re not the boss of me.” I wag my finger with a grin.
“We need something low energy. What games do you have?”
Apollo stands up, indicating where my game stash lives. “She has Five Crowns in that drawer. That’ll work. We all know how to play, it takes about an hour for a full game, it doesn’t need any physical energy, and Ares can’t cheat.”
The sibling in question covers his heart. “I would never.” He winks at me before picking a chair and sitting. Then bounding to his feet like he forgot something.
Apollo hauls me off the couch, then carries me to a seat at the table. When I move to put my leg on the seat beside me, he stops me. He sits down, then guides my leg onto his lap instead, stroking the skin between my cast and my shorts.
Mortification prickles over my flesh. “Stop.” His thumb stops moving, and everyone’s attention lands heavily on me.
“I haven’t shaved.” My words are quietly squeezed out between gritted teeth.
His hand moves again. “I don’t give a shit where you’ve got hair.”
My face burns even hotter. Oh my god.
Ares points at Apollo. “You know he waxes his back right? He’s like fucking King Kong when he misses a waxing. And Art doesn’t even bother with the wax.” He tugs down the neck of Artemis’s t-shirt as though he’s trying to show me his brother’s hairy back.
I’m still giggling when Athena returns to the table with the card game and takes her seat. “I get it, Edith. I’d be the same. But considering all you’ve been through lately, a little leg hair isn’t going to deter my brother from showing you affection. He’s a goner for you.”
Apollo covers his forehead with his palm, but doesn’t say anything. The pink tinge to his cheeks is adorable, though. I’ve always enjoyed spending time with his siblings. None of this playful banter is new to me. The fact that my fledgling relationship with their brother is the subject of their humor is new.
It’s clear he’s told them about his feelings for me. None of them are visibly surprised that he’s touching me, no one batted an eye that I was in his arms on the couch when they walked in. No one is ribbing him for having a crush on his best friend, or making ‘oooooooohhhhoooo’ noises or singing about us kissing in a tree.
That warms something inside me, but it also sparks a seed of anxiety in my chest. Would they still talk to me if everything between Apollo and me were to fall apart?
I bat away that thought, and take in his family. Artemis has gotten us all drinks from the kitchen. Ares has opened a giant bag of Lays and retrieved a couple of jars of dip from Apollo’s fridge. Athena wrote our names down on a notebook and is shuffling cards.
