Chapter 2 : Pickup or Delivery?

"Hey… hey Persie wake up…"

Persephone groaned as she opened her eyes, and rubbed them with the back of her hand. She then turned around and squint at the person who was calling her, "mother?"

"Hey come on Persie you need to get up," Eris repeated herself.

Persephone groaned and turned away, "but why?"

"I saw a roach crawling on your covers."

At the mention of the cockroach, Persephone shot her eyes open and screamed. Before Eris could wrap her head around what was happening, the entire room was filled with an explosion of differently colored petals. A few moments later, Persephone's roommate popped her head out of the lake of flowers while coughing and trying to catch her breath. She whipped her head around the room and saw Persephone dangling from the vine and smiling nervously.

"I'm so sorry," Persephone apologized with a sheepish smile, "that tends to happen when I'm startled."

*

An hour and a half after a backbreaking morning of cleaning their room and discarding the flowery mess the young goddess had accidentally created, Persephone and Eris made their way to the convince store. Eris really didn't see the need to buy new mattresses but Persephone was not happy with the ones they had for some reason, and insisted they get new ones, so here she was.

As they walked into the store, Persephone halted in her tracks and gasped at the sight in front of her. She had never been in a convenience store before, actually, she had never been in any store before. Everything she needed was readily grown or brought to her by her mother.

"Alright let's get this over with," Eris spoke as she gesture Persephone to move along.

"Oh right, of course." Persephone followed Eris further into the store, gawking at all the different items as they walked through the different isles. She didn't know that so many items could be stacked so neatly in one place like this.

The two girls finally came to a halt in an isle that was stacked with different mattresses of all shapes and sizes.

"So which one catches your fancy oh flowery one?" Eris asked the girl who was staring at the mattresses like she had never seen a mattress before.

"There's so many of them," Persephone mumbled feeling a little overwhelmed.

"Yeah, makes it easier to pick out the one that's just tight." Eris walked towards a floral printed mattress and pointed at it. "I don't know about you, but I think this one suits You very well."

Persephone walked towards the mattress her roommate was pointing at and gently trailed her finger on it, "it is really pretty." She moved towards it and gave it two sniffs, a gesture that made Eris chuckle at her odd roommate. "And it smells clean too."

"Perfect!" Eris whipped her head from side to side until she spotted one of the store attendants who she called over.

"Good morning ladies," the man greeted the pair with a sweet smile, "how may I be of assistance to you this fine morning?"

The man was distinctively featured with two small horns on his head and a tail that whipped wildly behind him. He had a relatively handsome face with a squared jaw, ocean blue eyes and a smile that was almost blinding.

"Good morning Mr satyr sir," Eris greeted the shop attendant.

"You can call me Tekos," the man spoke while pointing at his identity card. "How may I help you?"

"We'd like to purchase this mattress right here please," Eris responded while pointing at it.

"Of course, you can proceed to check out and leave your details there," Tekos explained, "and we'll have the mattress delivered to you in about two hours."

"That's perfect!" Eris took Persephone's hand and started pulling her towards the checkout tills.

The blue eyed goddess who had been lost in a daze staring at the man, snapped out of it and mumbled. "Oh, can you deliver two of them? One for my friend as well."

"Will do," the man responded with a bright smile.

The two girls walked towards the till and while they walked Eris studied her friend. "You were really staring hard at that satyr Persie.."

Persephone tensed up and turned towards Eris who was smiling tauntingly at her. "Was i? I.. I didn't notice." The goddess pursed her lips and her cheeks flashed from embarrassment.

"Well he is kind of cute," Eris admitted, "do you like him?"

"No!" Persephone blurted out so loud that it caught the attention of the other shoppers. She didn't necessarily like the man, she was just intrigued by him, she had never seen a man up close before, especially not a satyr.

Eris chuckled at her friend's response, "okay okay point taken."

The pair reached the checkout point where a pretty faun woman with wavy brown hair and pierced horns sat. "Welcome to the 'one stop' shop where you can find all your household needs. My name is Flora how may I help you?"

"We're purchasing two mattresses please," Eris responded.

"Will that be delivery or pick up?" The woman asked while punching some keys on her cash register.

"Delivery."

"Alright that will be a hundred and thirty drachma please."

Eris turned to Persephone who was just standing there in confusion. "Are you going to pay or should I?" She asked her.

"Oh I don't have any money," Persephone responded casually, making both Eris and the cashier stare at her in shock.

"What?!" Eris squealed, "then why are we here?!"

Persephone smiled sheepishly and then proceeded to digging into the little strap bag she was carrying over her shoulder. She pulled something out and presented it to Eris. "I don't have any money but my mom told me if I ever needed anything I could use this."

Eris' eyes circled as she gazed at the small black rectangular plastic in her hand. "Is.. is that… a black card?" She mumbled as if she was looking at a priceless treasure.

Persephone looked at the card, "I suppose so, it is black in color. Personally I would have preferred it pink." She then turned to the cashier and handed the card to her, "will this do?"

The woman behind the cash register was unable to speak, they had never had anyone purchase anything with a black card in their store before, who was this girl? The woman simply nodded and took the card, which she swiped and handed back to Persephone.

"Thank you," Persephone said with a smile and then gestured Eris, who was still frozen with shock, to leave with her.

When they reached the parking lot, Eris grabbed Persephone's shoulders and turned her around, "I can't believe you have a black card!"

"Ummh, is that good?"

"Good?! It's freaking awesome!" Eris explained, "it basically means you can buy anything you want! In fact, why are you living in some dusty old dorm on campus? You could rent a whole loft with that kind of money."

"I can't," Persephone responded, "I promised my mom I'd stay in the dormitories."

"Rich parents are usually strict," Eris responded. "I get it."

*

Back inside the store, Tekos kept stealing glances at the two girls who were talking outside.

"She's cute right?"

Tekos jumped and turned to Flora who was standing and smirking behind him. He nervously scratched the back of his head and nodded, "yeah I guess so."

"You like her?"

"What? No of course not.." there was a faint blush on Tekos' face that made Flora's grin widen.

"Well alright, I guess I'll just have Anton make the delivery and-"

"Wait!" Tekos yelled, "let me make the delivery. Please."