He's in the city philharmonic orchestra with me. 

That's gross.

I could barley tolerate the thought of his attitude this aftenoon when he crashed into me and then rudley requested for me, a literal godess, to go out of my way to bring his phone to him only for him to show up at the same place as me. Not to mention he seems to a be a pervert who has relations with his students! 

I physcially cringe as I flip my sheet music playing the next measures with ease. 

Now that same disgusting man was standing behind me playing a xylophone in the percussion section. I could hear as he gently hit the metal with a soft mallet. 

Why was he here, he had never been here before so why was he here now. Although this is also my first season playing in this orchestra, maybe they allowed late comers to join or maybe he just was such a great musician that one couldn't possibly pass him up. 

The conductor points to me and its my solo. I gently pluck the melodic yet sad tune just as I had practiced. It lasts a few measures but as I play I am determined to play with every bit of aspiration and hope that the composer would have wished for. I should know one of my sisters once had a contract with this composer. It was during the same time that I had a contract with a romance writer. 

I finish my piece and the solo switches to the pianist who is quite talented maybe someone I would make a contract with if I wasn't so particular about who I made deals with. I was worried, about telling a person who I truly was, the reaction I would have to see, the relationship I would build, just to throw it all away in the end, to disappear from their mind like I never existed. 

I take a breath as the practice ends. It went by so fast I hardly noticed. I look at the magnificent harp I have and sigh. I need to put it away, a troublesome task for such a large instrument but considereing I had done this since the three pedal harp was invented it shouldn't take to long. I first put the pedals in flat, the top most position and then fold the pedals up. I turn away from the huge instrument and head to the locker room where most of the large instruments are stored and the practice rooms are. There's already other musicians in the room a few talking to the man whom I still did not know the name of while others are putting away their instruments. I grab my harps covers and head back to the main stage where I begin to cover it. The pianist is still there at his piano and writing a note in the margin of his sheet music while the conductor shows him something on one of the keys. 

As they speak I finish covering my harp and just as I'm about to grab the dolly to move the instrument the conductor lifts his hand. "You can leave it Erato. We can get someone to put it away."

I grin and shake my head. "It's okay I can do it, I need to get my things from the room anyways."

"Are you sure?" He asks meeting my eyes. 

The conductor is in his late fifties and seems to hold actual concern for me and my harp. "Yes, I'm sure Jeff. Thank you for the concern." 

He shrugs his shoulders. "Of course and good job on your solo." He smiles while turning back to the pianist who is practicing a few bars now. 

"Thank you." I retort already placing my harp on the dolly and grabbing my sheet music. 

I carefully roll the large insturment to the locker room where most people have already cleared out besides a few stragglers who seem to be chatting up that man with no end in sight. 

I put the harp in the storage room and then go to my locker to retrieve my few thing such as my keys, wallet and a bag with a three ring binder. I pull out the binder and then put my sheet music into it before putting it all back into my canvas tote bag.

"Hey." A voice says from behind me in the doorway. 

I turn around not surprised that it's the man from earlier still holding his briefcase while wearing a nice pair of dress shoes blue pants and a white button up shirt. I hadn't noticed his clothes before but now I felt like they looked just a little bit too nice to be the outfit of a musician about to leave practice. 

He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose then demands. "What is your name?"

I frown, who in their right mind walks up to someone they had met mere hours ago and demands their name. 

I scowl as I slowly move toward him. "Why?"

He seems taken aback from approach and moves half a step to his right so that I can leave the room. "I want to know."

I cringe, why was this grown man acting like a toddler. "What's your name?" I retort. "Seems unfair that I tell you first when you wanted to know before me."

Without hesitation he answers. "Canan." His voice is soft. 

I slowly nod my head in understanding. "Erato." I answer and then I leave past him.  

He follows me as I head down the corrdior leading to the parking lot. I assume that he's not actually following me due to the fact that the back exit to the parking lot was the same way and there was no other way to it. I push past the exit door and into the parking lot where I begin to look for my silver car. 

He still follows all the way to my car and it's a bit suspicious so instead of waiting I spin around. "Are you following me?"

He scoffs then rolls his eyes. "You think I need to follow a girl."

He's not wrong but it's still annoying. 

I frown. "No, I dont think you do but I want to know why you're practically breathing down my neck."

"Breathing down your neck-" He chuckles in a condescending tone "As interesting as that sounds or as terrible as you may want me to be I litterally just so happened to park next to you."

I glare at him. "That's a suspicious concidence."

He shoves his hands into his pockets. "It's really not." He says passing me to his own car

I slowly move towards the drivers door. "Well goodbye to you to Canan." I mumble sarcastically.

I hear his car door close as I'm still looking for my car keys.

"You know-"  I jump unaware he wasn't in his car. "You really don't mumble very quietly." He leans a hand on the top of my back door and I'm so close to punching him acrosss his stupidly perfect jaw. "I heard you earlier today as well when you said, 'How about you watch the attitude on your face'." He shakes his head. "Not smart to make enemies with the Art Dean." 

"Oh, I didnt know," I cover my mouth sarcastically. "Let me just apologize for the wrong doings I didn't do." He stares at me for a moment longer. "Why are you even still talking to me, go home." I say as I open my car door. "It's getting weird we don't even know each other." I close the door before he can say more and wish so badly that I could just reverse into him but instead I wait until he moves. 

I let out a sigh once he's out of the way and reverse my car. 

He's so weird why did he keep talking to me even after our conversation, maybe he was awkwardly trying to get to know me more since we would be seeing each other four times a week not to mention our upcoming concert in a week. 

I let out a soft curse. 

I completley forgot to ask him why he had joined so late my luckiest guess is that he's replacing a percussionist who's out but how long is the biggest question.  Maybe if I didn't find evey sentance he said infuriating I would have asked him but I couldn't bare to stand and continue the conversation with his hand leaving finger prints on the top of my car. Just because a car is as old as many of the students at the college doesn't mean he should touch it. 

Speaking of the college, so he's the Art Dean. I've never seen him before, he seems so young to be the Art Dean but maybe it's just his face.

I gasp as I come to the realization at a red light. He's the art Dean and he has student relations, thats gross not because the girls have to be younger than him by almost a decade but because he's in a place of power and their not. I shake my head in disgust. Why are all men just the same even after thousands of years.

I can't help but to think back to my youth when my sisters and I would walk the paths that weaved in the forest of  Mount Helicion our home away from Mount Olympus where father resided. We hated father, he only ever had us around to entertain him he couldn't ever understand the potential us Muses had on the humans. Mother though, she loved him, always did just knew she couldn't.

Men are terrible. 

I think of the past contracts I wrote, two were men, great men if not perfect men. So I suppose just the men we once knew were terrible. The ancient Gods. I'm glad they're gone now along with some of the Goddesses, there were so many who were far to problematic and dramatic. Especially Aphrodite who forced me the most to entertain her since I was after all the muse of love poetry. Now that they've been gone we muses and mother have lived relatively happy expressing our selves in the human crafts and activities. 

I finally get home and enter the front door for the second time today. "Era," A sweet voice calls my nickname.

I turn to see it's my sister and the the sixth muse Terpsichore. The muse of dance and choral singing, she can also play the flute, not important just wanted to point that out. 

"Terpsi," I answer. "What do you need?"

She smiles beautiful and perfect just as all my other sisters. "My company is having a performance this weekend will you attend?" 

I tilt my head. "Which company is this?"

"The ballet, were performing Hamlet."

"It's a bit late to ask don't you think considering it's already Wednesday."

"Maybe so but I happened to snag a few extra tickets."

 I sigh, I've seen Hamlet over a dozen times but to my knowledge I had no plans so how could I deny my younger sister. "Okay," I smirk. "I'll go see the prancing people in leotards for the billionth time."

She smiles wide. "Lucky your a muse, huh otherwise you would get bored of the arts."

That was the thing though, I was tired, tired and bored of being alive.

I know us muses are meant to live for the human's arts, to inspire and to assist but they didn't need us anymore so why did we keep doing this.

I turn away and head back to my room. I had to sign up for my classes next semster. Maybe I'll do music theory, Euterpe said it was fun I'll have to ask who her Professor was or maybe she can just sign me up if I give her my laptop.