fandomtownies | 'Dite's Decadent Delights, Saturday

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'Dite's Decadent Delights, Saturday

It had been almost a week since Aphrodite had actually been there to open the store. Having three employees, each taking a different day of the week, meant she should have been there on Wednesday and Friday, but instead she'd spent the whole week off island, first at her temple, and then at Cupid's home.

Which meant she came back to a stack of receipts, orders, and just plain work.

She wasn't worried, though. She'd finally made a decision. As the goddess of love, it was her duty to spread love, just like Drake had said. So this thing of being with only one person? So not her thing. And she'd call Max and tell him that.

As soon as she could make her hand reach for the phone.

Aaaaaany minute now. Yep.

(OOC: Open post. Forecast is good, with intermediate bouts of SP.)

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Well, if she couldn't reach the phone, maybe it'd be easier if Max just walked into the shop. It'd been too long since they talked. Or anything else, really, but Max did simply enjoy talking to her.

"Hello," he called.

'Dite had been spending her time alternating between paperwork and staring at the phone (which brought up a whole new feeling that might have been guilt). She didn't look up at the sound of the door, but she froze when she heard his voice.

Her eyebrows rose as she slowly brought her head up. The sight of him brought a genuine smile to her face, though her voice was soft.

"Hi, Max."

He smiled right back. "Hello, beautiful. Sorry I haven't been by in a while."

"Sorry I haven't called. I should have." Following her instincts, she stepped around the counter and moved to hug him, wanting very much to kiss him.

Kissing seemed like a good idea to Max. He opened his arms and stepped closer to pull her in close. She was a really good kisser, after all.

"Missed you."

At this moment there really wasn't much better than a hug and kiss from Max. 'Dite held tight, kissing him firmly, then burying her head in his shoulder.

"I missed you too, very much."

She had no idea how to tell him what had happened.

"So, what have you been up to? Hopefully you've managed to keep yourself occupied?" he teased.

"Occupied?" She raised her head. "Um. Yes. I think I did. You?"

"I did, in fact," Max agreed with a grin. "Though I really have missed you."

'Dite pulled back and regarded him. "Why didn't you call, Max? I was getting worried. And lonely."

Lonely was never a good thing for the goddess of love. It led her to do all kinds of bad things.

"No decent excuse," Max admitted sheepishly. "Things have been busy, but I should have made time for you." His life had been a bit tamer than usual recently.

"'Should have --' You have to make time for me?"

Well, if that wasn't a kicker. Why was she feeling guilty again?

"Thank you so much for 'making time' for me, Max. I'll try to be humbly worthy of your presence."

Difficult goddess was being difficult. And sarcastic.

"That kind of came out wrong, didn't it?" Max asks sheepishly, trying to smooth things over. "What I meant to say was that after our week in the Bahamas I was afraid that you might have been getting tired of me." And that just wouldn't do at all.

"Tired of you?" Ah, that was why she felt guilty, yes. Max was a nice guy.

Leaning forward she hugged him again. "I could never get tired of you, Max. Not for all the telephone men in Fandom."

Oops. She really hadn't meant to say that last part.

"That's reassuring," Max smiled, hugging her back.

Wait...

"... telephone men?"

"Um." She pulled away from him arms slightly, averting her gaze. "Did I say telephone men? I meant to say teleTHON men, cause, you know, they're . . . cute . . . and -- on tv, and . . . and . . . and, oh, Hades!"

Leaning against the counter she pursed her lips and looked crossly at him. "Okay, so I'm an idiot. But I'm the goddess of love, and I don't like being ignored! Not that that's an excuse, since I could have called you as well, but sometimes," she was beginning to pace now, up and down in front of the counter, "sometimes a woman likes the man to be the one to call, and not just whenever he feels like it, but whenever she does, and a woman has needs, you know!"

Was Max confused yet?

"Um... yes?" Max wasn't sure, but he hoped that was the right answer to this particular question. He suddenly felt like he was treading on thin ice.

"Yeah, well, this woman has needs, and you weren't around, and okay, I could have called, I know that! But you didn't call, and I didn't know what to think, and then the phone died, and I had to get a repair guy out, and he was, wow, he was definitely man material." She stopped. "Course, he wasn't you, Max."

Clear as mud, right?

Max frowned slightly, trying to work through that.

"So what you're saying is...?"

She sighed, leaning against the counter again.

He could be upset, and 'Dite would admit he'd have every right to be; Zeus knew if he'd been sleeping with other women she would be.

Or -- he could not be upset. And that would tell her so much more about how he felt about her, since she was still resisting the urge to actually look at his feelings.

"I kind of -- sleptwiththetelephoneguy."

And she waited for him to react.

Max considered that for a moment. "Was he any good?" He didn't sound upset in the least...

'Dite sighed, looking away.

"Why, looking for a threesome?"

For just this moment she felt defeated. Goddess of love, and she couldn't even arouse jealousy in one handsome man. Her face probably showed her defection.

Max can tell that something is wrong. He frowns. "What's wrong?" He's pretty sure it's his fault, too, even if he can't figure out how. One hand gently reaches toward her cheek.

Taking a deep breath, 'Dite turned and looked at him. "How do you feel about me, Max? Do you love me? Am I your girlfriend? Or -- am I just someone to spend time with?"

Inside she was resolving that no matter how he answered, it wouldn't matter. She was still Aphrodite. He was just a mortal. And it wasn't like she wanted to spend eternity with him.

Still, he meant something to her, and she wanted to mean something to him.

Oh. That.

Max's hand fell to his side. This was going to be hard.

"I.... like you, Aphrodite. A lot." But that was as far as it went. As far as he was willing to let it go. "But... if you're looking for something serious..." He shook his head. "There are better men than me."

It didn't matter. It didn't matter. It didn't matt--

Wait just a minute.

Her hands went to her hips and she glared at him for a moment. "Better men than you? Are you insinuating that the goddess of love would be with someone -- less? That I have bad taste? Is that what you're saying?"

That's it. If you can't deal with the truth, take the conversation in a completely different direction!

"Oh, no," Max shook his head quickly. "You have great taste ibn men." Max knew he was good, after all. "But no one is perfect." And Max was simply unwilling to consider commitment.

Because... love? That was dangerous.

She really wanted to argue that. 'Dite's mouth opened, her eyes narrowing, before she heard herself telling Karla that she wasn't perfect, no one was. How she wished she could take that back, even if it was true.

But she couldn't. Instead, she sighed and folded her arms. "So . . . where does this leave us?"

Max didn't have to think about his answer, but he did it anyway. He stood silently, considering how to phrase it.

Because it didn't change anything for him. He wasn't after her commitment, he didn't want to own her, to tie her down. And he didn't want to lose what they had, either.

But if he said that... would she take it wrong? Would she think she didn't mean anything to him?

Well... there wasn't much he could do about that... So he took a deep breath. "Does anything have to change?"

One eyebrow rose slowly. He was willing to overlook her little indiscretion, obviously, but . . . what did that mean?

She almost didn't want to ask.

"Max, have you been with anyone else but me? Since, you know, we started sleeping together?"

'Dite didn't think she really wanted to go there, but she'd ask. It would help her make up her mind.

Max... wasn't sure he wanted to answer, not with the way she asked. But she deserved the truth. For all sorts of reasons, not least that he respected her too much to lie about something like that.

"Yes."

He almost wanted to reach out and offer her an apologetic hug, but he was only sorry inasmuch as his answer might hurt her, and he wasn't sure she'd accept it from him anyway.

At first, she wanted to throw things. At him.

But it wasn't like they'd ever said anything about being exclusive. In fact, they didn't talk very much at all. When they did, it was more often about what they wanted to do together. And Max was never forthcoming about himself.

She nodded slowly. "So, you just want to . . .keep doing what we've been doing?"

Again Max took a few seconds to think about that.

"I... think that's up to you," he decided. "I... never really meant for this to..." get serious. "I mean, love..." scared the crap out of him. Which was probably something he should have considered before getting involved with the goddess of the stuff.

"I like you, Aphrodite. A lot." She was quite remarkable, after all. In many ways. "But..." he trailed off with another awkward shrug. That was as far as it went.

Or, well, as far as he was willing to let it go, anyway.

Aphrodite sighed. "It's not your fault, Max." It wasn't. She should have just looked to see if it was love, but she'd been too afraid.

Now she'd pay for that.

"You're right. Things are good. Why screw them up, huh?" She put a bright smile on her face and stepped closer to him. "After all, it's not like I'm in love with you or anything." 'Dite scoffed. "I just . . . love . . . things about you. Like . . . your arms!"

He did have nice arms.

He did, didn't he?

Max grinned. "And there are things I love about you, too." Her compassion, her empathy, her sense of humor... a number of other things he decided not to mention. Something made him feel that doing so could somehow hurt her, and even if that feeling was wrong, he didn't want to risk it.

"... like your lips."

[Awww... 'Dite! *gets all wibbly for her*]

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'Dite's Decadent Delights, Saturday

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