italics — rues narration

the first person athena ever loved was our dad. she probably loved him more than i did, who knows. when he died, she genuinely felt like she would never love somebody like the way she did him. and she didn't, for a long time.

but the truth was, when she was sixteen, she met a boy named steven during her third period biology class. he would talk to her everyday and ask her how she was, she thought he was sweet. after a while, they started dating.

they dated for almost a year, which is surprising since the entire relationship was a disaster. steven, unlike his displayed persona, was a piece of shit.

within the year they were together, he managed to cheat on her a total of six times, all of which athena forgave him for. she didn't care, she didn't want him to leave her. she loved him, and he loved her in ways.

she had gotten so used to being walked all over that when they were finally over and athena moved on, every relationship was the same as the other.

yo

y r u ignoring me

delivered

she fell in love with every guy she ever dated. whether they were smart or stupid or sweet or cruel, it didn't matter. she didn't like to be alone. and every guy she ever dated was the same, they always asked for the same things. and she almost always said yes. even though it didn't always make her feel good.

after the last guy she dated, she vowed to herself to never put herself in another situation like that again. and solidly, she hasn't.

"yo, where's your sister at?" rue stopped dead in her tracks and shut her eyes tight. fuck. she turned on her heels to face fez, who raised a brow as he waited for her response. "she's, uh, at home." she replied. he nodded, "been texting her for like three days." he revealed. she nodded, "yeah, i know."

fez was busy stocking drink into the freezers, but looked over his shoulder at rue. "then why she ain't answering?" he asked. she shrugged, "i don't know, fez." she spoke honestly, which fez knew since she didn't have such a sarcastic tone. "she said you kissed her at the carnival."

fezco, on the other hand, has literally never had a girlfriend. it was almost like a preference thing, but where he preferred to be alone. it's not like girls didn't like him, cause they did. mostly because of his lifestyle, which was a little funny, since his lifestyle is why he never had a girlfriend.

he didn't think any girl could handle the danger that came with being associated with him.

he knew the life was dangerous, and he didn't want to involve someone in something they didn't know anything about. he also knew that he wasn't that smart. he understood emotions well, though. so, he knew something was wrong with athena.

fez had liked athena for a while, but because of how long they have known each other and how close they were, he was scared to make a move. that's why what happened at the carnival and the aftermath was fucking with him so much, because he genuinely felt like he fucked up what they had.

athena didn't actually mean any harm with ignoring him, she just didn't know what else to do. in truth, she was beginning to develop feelings for fezco, and that scared her. she was scared to let anyone else in because she thought they would hurt her.

he nodded his head, "i did," rue stuffed her hands in her pockets as she watched fez turn around to face her. "is that why she's ignoring me? cause i kissed her?" he asked. she shrugged, "look, i don't know. honestly." he tilted his head in confusion, "but y'all are mad close," she nodded with her lips tucked in, "yeah, i'm not a fuckin' mind reader." she said.

"i don't know what happened. i kissed her and she kissed me back, and then we got off the ferris wheel and she legit ran away." he explained. his face made his emotions clear to rue, who felt enough sympathy enough for him to frown.

in all honesty, i had been avoiding this conversation with fezco for as long as i could. it wasn't my job to tell people about athena's past, so i never did. but i've never seen fez upset before, and right now he was.

"okay, like, athena has dated like four or five guys and they have all treated her like shit. simple as that. after the last guy she dated, which was like a year or two ago, she hasn't dated anyone because she's scared of getting treated like shit again. not saying you'll do that, at least i hope you won't." she eyed fez, who shook his head in response.

"what, they like, cheated on her or something?" he asked out of pure curiosity. rue nodded, "yeah. i know you're not a cheater, but that's what shes used to." fez turned around to stock drinks again, "ima come see her tonight." he said. "good. i think she wants to see you, she's just scared."

"shit, i'm scared too." he admitted. "guess that makes two of us,"