Sunset Glow 2
Chapter 2: Athena’s a Bitch, People
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“This kind of research is very hard. I’m telling you, it’s not worth it. I mean, what do you even know about the girl aside from her name?” Jeff asked as he stroked his stubbled chin. He stared at a piece of napkin where Riley hurriedly scribbled the name, Athens Ashley. Jeff was the band’s tech guy and he knew all the complicated things to know about technology and he knew all the tricks in the cyber world.
The image of Athens was very clear in Riley’s mind. Her height was average and she wasn’t the overly skinny type of girls that you see scattered everywhere. She was a bit chubby but very well proportioned. When you speak, she’d look at you with her amber eyes as if she was grasping every word and every part of her was dedicated to what she was doing at the moment. She had a friendly look in her eyes that made you feel comfortable even though you’ve met her for the first time but there are times when she doesn’t like what’s happening. She stays silent but her expression easily turns sassy yet the way her face turns red when she gets annoyed is weirdly cute. Most of all, he could remember clearly her scarlet hair that was as fiery as a flame that you could easily distinguish her from a large crowd.
“So, you’re telling me you couldn’t do something as easy as Google-stalking a girl when even high school students can Google-stalk anyone.” If this trick won’t work, he’d beg. He was hoping that he’d find her at the luggage claiming area but she was gone. All throughout the car ride to the hotel, he watched the people outside his window, his eyes vigilant but still no sign. He couldn’t go house-to-house and hotel-to-hotel looking for Athens, his only hope was Jeff.
“I didn’t say that!”
“Really?”
“Just get out of here and I’ll give you the result in a few hours!”
“Thanks, man.” He said and left Jeff’s room with a victorious grin. Jeff on the other hand stood up from his bed and headed to his desk. He opened his laptop but before he started tinkering with the computer, he took an apple from the welcome fruits basket and took a bite.
True enough; a list of Athens Ashleys from New York City was given to Riley. It didn’t even take two hours, just an hour and a half. There were two mobile phone numbers and one landline number under the name. He was just about to start calling but some of the band members and crew wanted to have a quick trip to the Parthenon and other Greek tourist spots before dinner.
They managed to force Riley to come along and so, he had to call the numbers on the list while touring Greece. That just made everything harder, it’s not like calling up some New Yorker’s number to look for a girl in Greece isn’t already hard enough.
He dialed the numbers of the landline. It was an old lady. “Hello.” A weak hoarse voice growled.
“Uh, hello, ma’am, may I please speak with Athens Ashley?” Riley said as respectfully as he could.
“What did you say? Speak louder, boy!”
“I’d like to speak with Athens Ashley, please.”
“Who are you? Are you her new boyfriend?”
“Sh-sh-she has a boyfriend?”
“I don’t know! That’s why I’m asking you!” She said in a grumpy old hag’s voice.
“Well, uhm, no. I’m just a friend. Is she there?”
“Oh. Well, bless that girl, she’s been my neighbor in our apartment for six years and she even got me a phone line under her name but she’s gone now.”
“What?! Is she dead?”
“No! What, you want to kill that girl? You ignorant fool!” She scolded.
“Well, no. What I-”
“She’s in Greece, you idiot.” The lady sputtered.
‘Awesome!’ He thought. This lady was definitely talking about the same Athens. He was getting closer to her. “Oh. I see. Well, maybe you might know how to reach-”
“Eh.” She interrupted and hung up.
Riley sighed and started dialing the next number. “Yes, hello, may I please speak with Athens Ashley?”
“Who is this?” Said a high-pitched female voice that sounded young, probably in her teen years.
“It’s Riley Daniels. I’m looking for Athens Ashley.”
“Wait, wait, wait!” She started to get excited. “Riley Daniels? As in, Riley Daniels?”
“Well, yes.” He said softly. He doesn’t like the sound of this.
Suddenly, the girl yelped. “The same Riley Daniels that plays the drums for the band Toxic Valentine?”
“Coincidentally, yes.” He said getting jittery.
Then the girl squealed and started hyperventilating. “Oh my God! Oh my God!”
‘I knew it.’ He thought. “So, is Athens Ashley there?”
“This is her! That’s my name! And you’re Riley Daniels of Toxic Valentine! And you’re looking for me! And Adrienne Graham! Is he there? May I speak with him?” She asked.
“Oh my God! I still can’t believe you actually called me! Weee! Oh my God! This is like a dream come true and… Are you really Riley Daniels or are you just screwing with my head. Did Allan sent you because I swear to God, this is like the fiftieth prank he played on me and I am so not falling for another one! ” She chattered without even pausing for a breath.
“I’m not pulling any pranks; I just want to look for the Athens Ashley that I met this morning at the plane to Greece.”
“I can be that Athens for you! I can be anyone you like! I can do anything for you! You can even ask me to lap dance for you and I’d do it!”
“How old are you, kid?”
“Fourteen.” She said softly. The question suddenly disheartened the girl.
“Well, I’m looking for a girl about six years older than you but it is a pleasure meeting another Athens.”
“Age doesn’t matter!” She said sounding needy.
“Well, according to what people say, when you’re in love, I guess it doesn’t matter but-”
“And I’m in love!”
“Aw. That’s so sweet but I really have to go now because I have to find the Athens Ashley I met on the plane. I enjoyed talking to you, though.”
“Damn it.” She said, saddened. “But thank you for calling me. It made my day. It’s an honor talking to you! Tell Adrienne and Jack and Zane I said hi. Good luck finding your Athens Ashley!”
“Thanks, kid.” Riley said.
“Bye-bye!”
“Bye.” He hung up.
“Damn it!” He said. “This is starting to get annoying.”
“What’s the problem?” Adrienne, the band’s vocalist, asked.
“Nothing, it’s just-”
“Who’s Athens Ashley?” Zane Martin interrupted. He was the bassist.
“Looks like Riley scored a chick!” Jack Bennett, the guitarist, said as they climbed out the hotel’s shuttle which was parked alongside tourist vans and all sorts of cars for tourists at the bottom of a hill. They’ve arrived at the famous Parthenon.
There were about eleven people in the van. There was Adrienne, Jack, Zane, and Riley. Matt, the band’s tour manager was also there and so is the assistant tour manager whose name is coincidentally Matt too, so they call him by his last name, Charles. There was Alex, the guitar tech guy, and Danny, the drum tech guy. There was also Evan, the sound director. Jeff, the lighting director, managed to come along after cyber-stalking Athens Ashley. Of course let us not forget Vince, the band’s merchandise manager. It was pretty cramped inside and everyone was more than happy to be getting out of the automobile under the scorching sun.
“Is she sexy?” Jack asked as they stretched their limbs from a long car ride.
“Smoking hot!”
“Let me guess, a brunette?” Adrienne questioned as they, along with a hundred people from different parts of the world and different kinds of tour groups, climbed to the top where the temple was. The weather didn’t seem to affect the number of tourists the place attracts.
“No.”
“Really?” Adrienne said unbelieving.
“Really. She’s a redhead.”
“Wow. You never seemed the ginger type. You were more of a brunette kind of guy.” Adrienne commented.
“Ooh. You have to fill me in when you tap that engine!” Jack purred.
“You dirty bastard!” Riley gave Jack a playful punch on the shoulder.
“Come on, don’t play decent on me. You’re in Greece! It’s the best place to have fun in a dark secluded beach on a small blanket. Oh yeah!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you every detail!” Riley promised. After a long hike, they’ve finally reached the site where the Parthenon was. He placed his phone against his ear. It was taking extra long for the receiver to pick up. He stood there gazing up at the massive architecture as the group wandered off, leaving him alone.
“Hello?” A female voice said. It was slightly familiar and at first, his heart leapt but he wasn’t that sure. He kept hoping.
“Hi. Is this Athens Ashley?”
“Yes. Who am I speaking to?”
“You might not know my name but we met this morning-” Suddenly the line was cut. Now all hope seemed lost. That was the third and last number. He could call it again but if the owner of the line wasn’t the one he was looking for, he could annoy the grumpy hag until she gave him a way to reach Athens and if those two won’t work, he’d have to bug Jeff to start a new search.
“What the f-” But he couldn’t continue cussing because he was interrupted by a soft tap on his shoulder.
He turned around and there she was, the same girl that sat beside him at the plane, the same girl that gave him the book, the same girl that had that particularly unique hair, the same girl that he went through so much trouble to look for and now she had found him. Ironically, it was her that found him and not the other way around.
“I won’t ask how you got my number, God knows how, you stalker,” Athens chaffed, “but you’re lucky to call immediately because I’d be changing into a Greek line soon.”
“Phonebook. I browsed through a phonebook.” He uttered. “Anyways, you’re here. Wow, that’s awesome, what a coincidence.”
“It’s not that hard to believe. This place is very popular to the tourists.”
“When did you arrive at the Parthenon?”
“As soon as I dropped my bag at my hotel room, I immediately came here.”
“I arrived a few minutes ago. I can’t believe I missed your eye-catching hair.”
“That’s to be expected, there’s nothing more eye-catching here than that beauty over there.” Athens said pointing to the temple. “A goddess like Athena deserves something like this. I don’t like her though. She’s way too perfect even for a goddess and she was a bitch. You know she punished Medusa, right?” Athens asked.
“Medusa the one who grew snake hair?”
“The very same.”
“But she did something wrong to Athena, right? Treachery or something?”
“Actually, she did nothing wrong. She was the head priestess of Athena’s temple and not just any girl can be the head priestess. The priestess had to be very beautiful and very chaste.” Athens explained. “But her beauty was a curse and it was that same curse that destroyed her. Poseidon was enchanted by Medusa. He tried to seduce her but she refused because she pledged her virginity to Athena. But Poseidon lusted for Medusa so he raped her in Athena’s temple.”
“Wait. Poseidon’s the ocean god, right?”
“Yes. The god of the sea.” Athens replied. “Anyways, Poseidon being a god got away with what he did. The super-angry Athena accused Medusa of seducing Poseidon. So, Athena punished her by making her look ass ugly like a corpse. She grew snakes as hair, and anyone who looked at her turned to stone because she was so hideous. She was exiled by the people to a deserted island and every kind of soldier hunted her there like some kind of prize animal. They wanted to collect her head and use it as a weapon for battle. Quick summary, Athena punished her greatest follower for a crime that follower didn’t do. So yes, she was a bitch but she gets away with the injustice and the bitchiness because she happens to be a goddess.”
She looked at Riley and saw that he was staring at her with an amused smile on his face. She raised her eyebrow but then she looked down almost immediately out of shame. “Sorry I bored you.”
“Not really. You like Greek mythology?” He asked.
“I am fascinated by anything Greek, my dear, and anything historical, too.” Athens raised his head, grinning at Riley.
“I see.” He gazed at the tourists admiring the temple. “You know, I never liked her, too, although I am basing my judgment on that kid flick, Percy Jackson.”
“Nice.” Athens scoffed and walked inside. Riley followed her.
“This place is very solemn. I could feel a connection with the ancient world here. I could feel the very presence, the very spirit, the very energy of the past.” Athens said closing her eyes.
After a few seconds of silence, Riley asked out of the blue, “Want to get ice cream?”
“That would be great.” Athens opened her eyes and turned to Riley. She linked arms with him and strolled out of the temple.
Jack spotted Riley walking towards the exit with Athens. He gaped and gave Riley the ‘ok’ sign. At that, Riley gave him a thumb up.
As if the hand signals weren’t enough, within seconds, Riley received a message from him. We’re going to the beach tomorrow. Bring her with you. You never know, might find a secluded place somewhere along the shore.
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