The Doe returned from being in a maze of deep thought, she perked up as a scent of roses filled her nostrils and frantically looked around due to the fragrance reminding her of Aphrodite. Although, she was nowhere to be found, she did find her One Love sitting at the table across from her’s. Her heart sped up as she examined his beautiful face. She noticed her One Love was flowing with astonishment and a hint of curiosity. She saw him run his soft hand through his glistening hair to possibly calm himself down. Her One Love stood up from the table and migrated back to his group of friends.

The Doe twisted her head toward her One Love and his pals. His friends seemed to be anticipating for him to announce something juicy.

The Doe examined the rest of the cafeteria. She was taken aback because other students were never this quiet before. She was ultimately baffled, “What.. happened?”

A group of girls behind her rushed to her One Love and flooded him with questions.

“What did she say?”

“Did you ask her out?”

“Are you guys dating?”

“Did you get her number? When are you going to meet up again?”

Soon, everyone in the cafeteria started crowding his table. He was being hoarded with questions, all at once.”

The Doe tightened her fists as she felt a hot thunderstorm burst throughout her body. In order to calm herself down, she un-tightened her messy bun and let her curls fall past her shoulders. She flipped her chestnut colored hair out of her face, grabbed her bag and swiftly left through the double doors. As she was making a sharp right in the open hallways, her eyes were looking in the opposite direction.

She crashed into Aphrodite.

The Doe didn’t notice until the goddess grabbed her wrist, twirled her around, placed a hand on her lower back and leaned over; almost as if they were dancing the Tango.

Aphrodite smiled, “Woah there cottontail, you could have fallen to the ground,” she said as she helped The Doe stand on her two hind legs.

The Doe felt hot, her heart was pounding, her mind was racing. One thought flashed through her head, “Cottontail?”

She chuckled nervously, “Yea, I could have hurt myself. Thanks for catching me.” Aphrodite curtsied.

Aphrodite seemed to be in different attire than last time the Doe saw her. She changed from her elegant bathrobe to a gray baggy V-neck, which was tucked into beige pleated skirt. A small leather belt easily wrapped around her curvy waist. Aphrodite changed her sandals to some killer brown leather boots that went up to her knees. All in all, the goddess couldn’t have looked more stunning.

“Quickly, follow me, we have much to discuss,” Aphrodite said as she motioned for the Doe to follow her through the corridors.

They walked through the maze until they finally reached a door the Doe has seen, but never thought to enter. The Doe glanced at Aphrodite as she quickly grabbed her hand, opened the door and dragged her through.

Taking her eyes off the goddess, the Doe found herself in a grand room that echoed the clickity-clacking of their heels. There were rows of chairs against the walls, arrays of tables from one end of the room to the other. The Doe noticed this room seemed more vacant than any other room in the entire school.

Aphrodite hopped onto one of the tables in the middle of the room and sat cross-legged, “A little birdie told me that not many humans ever enter this room, so we have it all to ourselves for who ever knows how long,” she claimed. She patted the table and smiled, “Come, sit with me and tell me your hearts desires. Since, of course, we now have the time for it.” The Doe nodded. She rested her backpack on the floor, so it leaned against the legs of the table that Aphrodite sat on. The Doe sat across from her and mimicked her body language.

She had no idea where to begin. Aphrodite probably read her thoughts, for the next thing she said answered her question, “Why don’t you start by telling me the mood, or reason, that led to you calling out for me in the first place?”

The Doe nodded and took a deep breath. She told Aphrodite of her feelings when she cried out to her, she told her how lost she felt and how glad she is for a goddess, such as Aphrodite, to come to her call. She explained the many miscommunication's her One Love has been achieving. She told Aphrodite that all she wanted was to be in a committed relationship with her One Love. When the Doe finished that statement she paused and took another breather.

She let the silence grow for a couple of minutes, then started to describe his charming looks. She described how the circles under his eyes could have never been deeper, how the freckles on his skin reminded her of dirt in a garden. The Doe continued on ranting of her One Love’s appearance and noticed Aphrodite straightening.

The Doe froze and squinted at Aphrodite, for she found her sudden change in posture a bit peculiar. Out of curiosity, the Doe asked, “Have you.. Met my One Love before?”

She hoped that the goddess of love hasn’t met him because she knew what kind of charm she had on others. She feared that Aphrodite’s charm could pull him away from her. She feared the charm could make it impossible for her One Love to fall in love with her instead of the goddess. The more the Doe thought about it, the more her anxiety levels escalated.

Aphrodite sighed and spoke kindly, “Yes, I have met him. He even asked me to spend some time with him during the night...”

The Doe finally understood the incident in the lunchroom. She felt the anger rise in her quickly as her world collapsed to the ground. She felt cut into pieces, betrayed. She felt like a shifting tidal wave that wanted to drown the celestial being in the depths of the ocean and keep her down there for centuries long. The Doe felt like a lion that wanted to claw her eyes out, that wanted her blood to spill onto the floor. She didn’t want to see the goddess, not right now, not in her current state of mind.

She knew Aphrodite sensed the Doe’s anger because the goddess quickly added, “I have a plan, I have a plan! I wasn’t going to sleep with the boy, I was only going to make him think I was! I swear I wouldn’t betray you like that! I was only playing a little game!”

The Doe raised her eyebrows, her anger started to simmer and had a speck of hope. It seems the Goddess didn’t betray her after all.

Aphrodite continued, “If you’d like.. Instead me appearing, whenever I’m supposed to spend time with him, you can go as a replacement? I’ll have you deliver a message, saying I couldn’t make it, so I brought you instead.”

The Doe nodded in agreement, “Alright then, Saturday sounds good.”

Aphrodite wiped the sweat off her brow and sighed happily, “Good.”

The Doe smiled, hopped off the table and glanced at her watch; it read: 7:45 A.M., TUES., MAY 16, 2017.

She grabbed her bag, put it around her shoulders and started walking toward the door. She stopped and turned around, “Well, I have to go because class is going to begin soon. I don’t want to be late.” Aphrodite nodded, “I understand,” she said as she waved her goodbye. The Doe waved back as she broke away from the room.