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“Aphrodite, why the heck are ya single?”
The question made Aphrodite startle. Her head snapped to glare at Stevie Rae, blonde hair whipping her face. She struggles for a moment, pulling pieces of hair from her face, trying not to think about how she’s making herself look like an idiot in front of Stevie Rae.
“Whu— what?” she chokes out, narrowing her eyes. Her tone is accusatory. “Are you trying to make fun of me?”
Stevie Rae blinks, tilting her head innocently. “No, I’m bein’ honest. How are you still single? I mean, look at ya. You’re gorgeous n’ popular. Maybe not for the right reasons, but still.”
Popular? This was definitely a joke. Stevie Rae had her moments, but there was no way she could be this fucking stupid.
“Bumpkin,” she says slowly, like Stevie Rae was too stupid to understand, “I’m infamous. You do know what infamous means, right?”
“In… famous?”
“Oh for shits sake, yes, dumbass. Famous in a not-good way.”
Stevie Rae puts her thumb and pointer finger together and presses it to her lips. Her expression hardens, “I was tryin’ to compliment you, ya know.”
“Why?”
“‘Cause you look downer than a snake's belly in a wagon rut.”
Aphrodite looks away like she has something better to look at. She doesn’t. She doesn’t have the energy to call her out on that stupid bumpkin analogy. “I don’t need you to cheer me up.”
Suddenly, she’s pulled forward. Stevie Rae stands face-to-face with her, eyebrows furrowed with concern, “Aphrodite, I’m tryin’ here. We need to be friends to get through this, right? If I need to butter you up to do that, so be it. The point is that I’m tryin’. For the world. For Zoey. We can’t keep fightin’, or else it could cause more problems. Try with me here.”
…For Zoey.
Aphrodite felt confused on whether or not to accept or continue to push Stevie Rae away, but that was the deciding factor.
“…Jesus, fine. Yeah. For Zoey, blah blah blah. You still don’t have to kiss my ass to do that.”
Surprisingly, Stevie Rae giggles. She lets go of her hands. Aphrodite almost chases the touch. “Cool. So, friends?”
She sighs. “…Friends.”
“I’m ignorin’ that eye roll! I’m meetin’ everyone for dinner, are ya comin’, or are you going to keep mopin’ around? We can go together!”
She takes a breath and tosses her hair back, straightening her spine. “Fine. Cmon, keep up. I’m not waiting for you.”
“Hey, wait up! Aphrodite—!”