Chapter five

Athena got up in the morning, she heaved a deep sigh and remembering she was not in her house nor in Frank’s, she sat up immediately and looked around the room, she was lying in the bed and it was the most comfortable bed she had ever slept in. She had fallen asleep immediately her head touched the pillow. Fred had been kind enough to give her the bed and took the couch, even though she was the intruder.

She climbed out of the bed and readied her things; Franks should be back from wherever he went to, right? She thought and walked out of the bedroom to find Fred still sleeping on the couch. She approached him gently and didn’t know if he would be angry that she woke him up from his sleep but she really has to go and it would be wrong if she left without telling him, he was a kind soul and she would never forget that. After staring at him for a few minutes, she finally cleared her throat and his eyelid flickered before he opened them to stare at her. “I-I-I’m sorry to wake you, is j-just that I should leave now. I don’t want Frank looking for me when he gets back.”

Fred yawned and sat up on the couch, he rubbed his hand on his eyes before ruffling his hair with his fingers, looking up to her, he said, “good morning, slept well?”

Athena looked away and nodded softly, “yes, thank you.”

Fred stared at her and sighed, looking away from her for a moment, “you are more than just someone he wants to help, right?”

“I don’t understand,” she answered.

Fred thought about it, what’s his business? If they are more than friends, it has nothing to do with him, right? He has done his part, gave her a place to sleep in and his bed. He sighed and stood up, “never mind. I’m sure he will be home by now, just don’t knock and use the bell so that he could hear you. It was nice knowing you…”

“Athena,” she filled in.

Fred smiled, “great name, rare but great. You can call me Fred,” he offered, “see you some other time, Athena, hopefully,” he added before making his way into his bedroom, he still need some more sleep after sleeping so late last night.

“Yea,” Athena nodded and walked to the front door, she turned back to look at the beautiful living room filled with different kinds of art, smiling, she opened the door and left. The door closed gently behind her and she heaved a deep sigh before walking to Frank’s door. She took Fred’s advice and pressed the bell.

It took three minutes for the door to open to reveal yawning Frank, he was rubbing his eyes and his hair looked disheveled. When he finally took in the person in front of him, he was surprised, “Athena, you-you-you are here,” he looked back into the house and then at her, “I thought you were gone. Where were you last night?”

“I-I waited till late in the night but you didn’t come back and then your neighbor came over and offered me to stay in his place, so…”

“What?” Frank interrupted with a scowl, “you came to find me and you slept in another man’s house, really Athena, is that how it is?”

“N-n-no, I waited but you weren’t coming back, it was cold out here and I didn’t know when you would be back, that was why I left with him.”

“Is that so? Why couldn’t you wait for me, Athena? Do you know how worried I was? It’s not like there is any way I could contact you. Do you have any idea how worried sick I was? The only hope I gave to myself was that maybe you went back home and it turned out that you slept with my neighbor?”

“I didn’t sleep with him, I only slept in his place,” Athena rushed to defend herself.

Frank placed his hand on his temple and pretended to be calming down, “so you are trying to tell me that two grownups of opposite sex, slept together in the same room, under one roof and nothing happened? Really, what do you take me for, Athena, a fool?”

“No, why can’t you just trust me? I will never do that. Listen, if you don’t believe me, we can go over and ask him, he is right there,” she pointed to Fred’s door.

“Oh yeah, like he would just tell me, what if you two planned to make a fool out of me?”

“Frank!” Athena called in disbelief, her eyes had already welled up and it wasn’t long the tears started falling.

Frank sighed, “listen, why don’t you wait for me downstairs, I will dress up and come meet you. You are leaving today aren’t you?” When she nodded, he continued, “good, we can grab breakfast together and then I will see you off. I need to go to the office as well.”

Athena only nodded again and he sighed, “great, I will be done in a few,” he said and with that he closed the door. Athena stared at the closed door and sighed, he wouldn’t even let her in, she wondered why but stopped herself, maybe it’s because he needs to dress as soon as possible and wouldn’t need the distraction, yes, that has to be the reason. She lowered her height beside the door and hugged her knees to her chest; she would prefer waiting there for him then going downstairs.

***

Frank took Athena to the restaurant that was just opposite his building, when they got in, he led them to a booth at the far end sight of the room. She slid into the chair and he took the one opposite her, “how are you?” He asked.

“I’m fine, and you?” She asked.

“Great, everything is great,” he answered, picking up the menu and handing it to her, “order what you want, we have to be fast, I can’t afford being late to work.”

Athena nodded and made her orders when the waitress approached them, “don’t you want anything?” she asked when he made no order.

“Don’t worry, I’m okay, I will get something to eat in the office.”

“Oh,” she looked down at her fingers, heaving a deep breath and letting it out slowly. They stayed silent for a while until she spoke up, “I’m sorry for sleeping in your neighbor’s flat, I should have waited for you. I was wrong, will you forgive me?” She looked up at him.

Frank heaved a sigh, “it’s alright, I was unreasonable earlier, it’s not like I should expect you to just sit in the hallway and wait for me till I’m back, so…it’s okay.”

“It won’t happen again, I’m really sorry.”

“It’s alright, Athena,” the waitress brought her order, “eat up.”

She nodded and began eating. After the breakfast, he took her where she would take a bus to her place and left her with only a few dollar bills to pay for her transport. Athena didn’t read anything into it, he had told her that they hadn’t start selling his designs yet so he hasn’t start receiving his percentage and that once he does, he would give her more money and she could also stay with him in the city. She could only wait for such day and meanwhile, he had mentioned that they would be a fashion show in a week’s time and his designs would be among the dresses that would be showed off, he is hoping on making great sells after that and she couldn’t be more proud of him.