GreecexReader - Girlfriend

EDIT: After reading this - would you like an extended ending, or not?

Hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your girlfriend
No way, no way, I think you need a new one
Hey, hey, you, you, I could be your girlfriend.
~Girlfriend by Avril Lavinge

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Sitting at the café and stirring my coffee, I watched as Heracles came out of the pet shop he volunteered in every day, for an hour. He seemed to be carrying another cat in one of those portable cages for cats.

This must've been his...what? Sixth cat he'd carried within the past week?

Hurriedly paying for my latte at the café, I pulled my hat lower, and put on my sunglasses, making  sure to stay conspicuous and on the other side of the road, as I followed Heracles to his home.

Like I'd been doing for the last two weeks.

Stalkerish? Maybe, but I really didn't care. As long as I wasn't perving in on him, or anything of that sort, it wasn't an issue, right? And it's not like I'm forcing him to marry me or something, like Natalia had been forcing Ivan!

No...I just had an agenda. News had been floating around the college campus that Heracles had been seen with a beautiful girl, naturally his girlfriend.

Naturally, I wasn't pleased.

I just had to find out who this girl was!

Ducking into the alley opposite the entrance to Heracles' apartment building, I observed, carefully, as he, almost as if by routine, pressed the button third from top, put the cage down, flexed his right arm slightly, and then picked up the cage with the same arm, as he stepped into the elevator that had just arrived.

Fourteenth day. No sign of girl.

Twirling a lock of my hair around my finger in frustration, I was about to walk out of the alley, when all of a sudden, my cell phone started ringing.

Heracles!

"H-hello?" I picked up the call shakily.
"[Name]…" I could hear him drawl my name from the other side of the line. "How's our philosophy paper going?"
"F-Fine!" I replied, slightly relieved that this didn't have anything to do with lurking, and the like.
"I was wondering...maybe we should work on it this evening..."
"Yeah" I replied. "It's an important assignment."
He yawned briefly, and continued, in his lazy drawl. "Argos...my cat, he ended up chewing some of the keys off my laptop, so I can't work on it alone...do you want meet somewhere outside, or I could go to your place."
Do you seriously expect me to concentrate with you around, in general?

A scene flashed before my eyes of my room. The clothes strewn everywhere, the messy cupboard, overflowing...oh, crap! The wall dedicated to everything Greek, which you'd begun since you'd fallen for Heracles. I'm pretty sure there's a couple of pictures of him in there, too!

"N-No! I mean...my flatmate's got a couple of her friends over tonight! There's no way that we could work!"
"Hmm... the library's closed, too. And I don't think we could concentrate at a café or anything…how about you come over to my house? You have a laptop, right?"
"Yeah" I laughed, trying very hard to contain my excitement. "But…how'd you know that I have a laptop?"
"You brought it into class one day, and you'd given it to Eduard to fix."
"Oh" I laughed sheepishly. "You've got a good memory, Heracles."
"I don't forget things I take an interest in. See you soon, [Name]" And the line went dead.

Stuffing your phone into your pocket, you couldn't stop smiling as you rushed back home. Scrambling up the stairs and into your room, you scouted through all the clothes that had fallen once you'd opened your cupboard door. This was your opportunity to impress him.

~*~
Nervously knocking on his door, I rocked back and forth uneasily on my feet.

Never had I actually expected to get to his house, and now that I did...oh, dear…

The door opened to reveal a very gorgeous Greek fellow, as the setting sun streamed in from the open balcony behind him; it really made him look like the demi-god that was his namesake. Dressed in his staple white t-shirt, which, I swear, I could count his abs through, and brown cargo trousers and his hair dishevelled, to me, he'd never looked more gorgeous…

Okay, I take that back.

He smiled, as he stepped aside to let through, and I'm not over-reacting, but I swear part of my heart sort of…melted.
Why was this guy so gorgeous?

Rubbing his eyes ever so subtly, as he plopped down into a beanbag, he patted at the empty space on the beanbag beside him. I gingerly took my seat, and my gaze wandered around the room. Everything was so...fresh, so light. The colours used were blue and white, and along with the sunlight streaming in through all the open windows, the whole place reminded me so much of all that you'd heard of Greece.
"Do you like it?"
"Hmm?" Eyes wide, I looked at Heracles.
"Do you like the room? I tried to make it as much like Greece as I could."
I smiled faintly. "I love it. It's very...light, and fresh."
Lightly touching the back of my hand, he quickly got up, "Well, then, you should see something."

I couldn't help, but stare at the part that he'd touched, even if it was for probably less than a second. He was back as quickly as he'd left, though, with a photo album in hand.

"A photo album?" I inquired. "Isn't that…old-fashioned?"
He shrugged, as he took his seat beside me again. "I guess I'm an old-fashioned person."

Near the beginning, most of the photos were of him back when he was in Greece. He'd always been good-looking, even as a child. That much was obvious, from all the female friends he'd had.  Then, there were many pictures of cats, being unnaturally adorable. I bet even the cats were trying to impress him.
There was a beautiful one of him, his face hidden by a kitten and cyan orbs blazing from behind.
"Who took this one?" I murmured.
"My friend, Kiku." He replied, a smile evident from his voice. "He makes me look pretty good, huh?"
I scoffed. "I guess…"…and failed to catch his curious glance at me.

On the last pages, however, there were only two photos. One was very, very old, it seemed, from the sepia tone, and it was definitely of a young Heracles in the arms of a breathtakingly beautiful lady. Her hair was pinned up in perfection, and her flowing white linen dress would've probably put Helen of Troy to shame.
"Who's this?" I asked.
"My mother." He replied, almost instantly. "She's not around anymore."
Involuntarily, I gasped. "Oh, dear, I'm so sorry!"
"Don't be" he murmured. "Everyone has to pass over sometime, right?" I looked towards him, catching his bluish-green gaze.
"It's who you spend your time with that makes it worthwhile."
Blushing, I quickly looked back down at the album, at the other photograph. It was Heracles, again, seemingly recent, with a girl. He was shielding his eyes from the sun, and smiling. The girl had her arms around her shoulder. I couldn't help but feel jealous looking at her – her auburn curls fell perfectly past her shoulder, and her face seemed perfect, adorned with a smile and even her sunglasses complimented her perfectly. She was the perfect specimen of a Grecian beauty, and it didn't take Einstein to figure out quite who she was.
His girlfriend, of course.

"You...aren't allergic to cats, are you?" he asked, forcing me to look up at him, once again.
"Me? No" I shook my head, and he smiled faintly. "Good...I don't want to have to leave my cats somewhere else the next time you're here."
I stared at him, increduled. The next time I'm here...? But he'd already taken the album off my lap and gone to put it away.
By the time he was back, I had already started my laptop up, and was waiting for the document to load.

~*~   ~*~   ~*~   ~*~   ~*~

Waiting for the elevator to go back down again, I recounted today and my thoughts.

As happy as I'd been I coming to Heracles' home, it really had been such a shock to see his girlfriend's picture. She was gorgeous, and I knew that somewhere in the back of my mind, I'd been thinking that maybe, just maybe, I was more pretty or beautiful than her. But all hopes of that had been dashed, now.
I put my headphones in my ear, and pressed 'Shuffle'. 'Girlfriend' by Avril Lavinge blasted through the headphones.

Gosh...how fitting was that song?

Surprised, I yelped quietly as I felt something warm and furry rub against my ankle. Looking down, I saw a pretty white kitten...more precisely, the cat that Heracles had brought back today.

All of a sudden, an idea struck my head. I fumbled around for my notebook, in my tote bag, and a pen. Ripping out part of a sheet, I scribbled the "Hey hey, you you, I don't like you girlfriend" onto it, and carefully folding the piece of paper into the cat's collar, I stepped into the elevator, a smug smile on my face.

~*~   ~*~   ~*~   ~*~   ~*~

Heracles hadn't been wrong – I did visit his house after that. A couple of days later, I was back in front of his front door once again. This time, however, when he opened it, I was distracted from my 'lovely' sight at the flood of cats that swarmed out of the door.
Eyes wide, I asked Heracles. "How many cats DO you have?"
"Ten, at last count." He laughed lightly.
"TEN, oh my God, Heracles! That's like-" Words got struck in my throat, as I felt a slender arm wrap around my waist and gently pull me inside.
"You would've been standing outside forever." He casually said, as he ushered in all the cats, and closed the door. "If the cats surround you, you've got to carefully push your way through."
Fighting the rapidly-growing blush on my cheeks, I forced myself to gulp, and with a nervous laugh, spoke. "Yeah...I'm not the cat expert, you know..."
He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess they just like me..."

~*~   ~*~   ~*~   ~*~   ~*~
The same kitten that had met me outside the elevator the last time I was here had seemed to follow me again, this time. Smiling, as I crouched down to pet Apollo, the name Heracles had told me, if I could remember correctly, I slipped another folded piece of paper into his collar.

"No way, no way, I think you need a new one"

~*~   ~*~   ~*~   ~*~   ~*~

I stood outside the elevator, waiting. It had been a week since I was first here, but it had seemed like forever. I'd gotten to know Heracles so much better, and regrettably, fallen in love with him all the more. His subtle sense of humour, the coffee he made, his philosophical take on everything, his calm eyes, his soothing voice...I'd come to like everything about him.

Well, at least my love wasn't fully unrequited. It seemed that Apollo, the kitten had become a huge fan of me, and had followed me out once again, rubbing his torso against my left ankle. Grinning, I knelt down to pick him up, gently smoothing his coat, and slipping in the last note, which read "I could be your girlfriend". The essay was over, and there was no chance of me coming back here. And I didn't want to, either. I hadn't seen him with his girlfriend, as of yet, but every time I saw the picture of him and her in his photo collage, which he hung on the wall, it felt like someone stabled my heart every time.

"Oh, [Name]! You've forgotten your notebook!" I froze, as I recognised the familiar voice, and turned around slowly, only to see Heracles standing there, holding my notebook.

Apollo leapt from my arms, suddenly, and went and rubbed his body against Heracles' ankle. Smiling, Heracles picked up the kitten.

I wished the earth could open up and swallow me, right there and then.

Cradling the kitten in one arm, he gently pulled out the folded-up note from the cat's collar. Gently placing the cat down, he opened the notebook and looked from the scrap, to the notebook. His eyebrows furrowed slightly, as he continued to look from one to the other.

I could feel my cheek heating up as I stared at the floor. Maybe my little game had gone too far, and I suddenly wished that I hadn't even talked to Heracles, ever. Well...that wouldn't make sense, because he had talked to me first, but maybe if we hadn't talked, then I wouldn't have fallen head-over-heels for him, and then I wouldn't have known that he had a girlfriend and then-

"I don't have a girlfriend, [Name]"

I looked up, surprised to see Heracles standing so close to me.

"I...uhh…"
There was no point in denying anything.
"…what about that girl in the photograph, then?"
"Which girl?"

The 'ding' of the elevator arriving startled me, but what startled me more is who I saw walking out of the elevator.
Perfect auburn curls framing her face, and tumbling down past her shoulders. Porcelain skin and a beautiful smile. Oh, it was her, all right, but without her sunglasses, she seemed so-

"[Name], I'd like you to meet my sister, Artemis. She came from Greece last month.

-so much like Heracles...

"I wouldn't mind if you were my girlfriend, [Name]"