Loving Cupid

Sometimes a Cupid is chosen because they had extremely lucky love lives, ones that allowed them to grow and develop beyond what was expected of them. Other times a Cupid is chosen because they had no luck with their own love lives but were able to help those around them find love. On very rare occasions a Cupid is chosen because of one single pure act of love, plain and simple.

Anyway, after living their mortal lives, the people chosen to be Cupids are brought in for training, consisting of a few months of classes. Then they are sent off with a list of people they are supposed to help find love. But most mortals are too quick to give away their love and that usually leaves them broken in the end. Eventually they give up, not wanting to feel rejection again. It is cases like that which require the attention of special Cupids, the ones who help those who have given up on love.

Love can be easy, but only if it isn’t serious. Real love is difficult and takes work. The best couples are the ones that are willing to work on their relationship.

Those who really need romantic help will usually find that there is already a Cupid infiltrating their life in an attempt to get them to open up and let someone in. Cupids are everywhere; you just have to know where to look.

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Tiona Cooper looked up from the book she had been pretending to read and glanced around. She noticed her boyfriend walking out of the campus library and smiled. Jake Martinez, straight ‘A’ student, absolute hunk, and one of the most popular guys on campus; Tiona often wondered why he had chosen her as a romantic interest. It had seemed as if they had nothing in common.

At first she had detested him, mainly because he seemed to lord over everyone, but then she had seen him stop a local bully from picking on David Benson, one of her closest friends and a major bully magnet/nerd. That alone had intrigued her as she had assumed that he would have joined forces with the bully.

After that day, she saw him everywhere she went: in the library, at the gym, in the coffee shop. It took a week before he walked up and introduced himself to her. She had answered him abruptly and walked away, still wanting nothing to do with the guy every girl on campus wanted to be with. Still, he had continued to pursue her and eventually she gave in, hoping that if she went out with him once he would get over all of it and walk away.

One date turned into a week of dates, which then became a month, and was now a year long relationship. Now she knew that she wanted to be with him forever. They had clicked and still enjoyed each other’s company, even without the purely physical relationships almost everyone on campus had been having. While the other relationships usually ended after a few days to a week, Tiona and Jake had been steady, unwavering, and completely blissful.

“Hey Babe,” Jake said as he sat down beside her, giving her a peck on the cheek as he did so.

Tiona smiled again. “How has your day been so far?” she asked him.

“Great,” he answered. “I spent most of the day showing a new student around.” Seeing her look at him in a scolding manner, he added, “The dean excused me from classes. Apparently her family is loaded and could be donating a lot of money to our college.”

“So what does she look like?” The only response she received was a gaze that plainly said, ‘She’s drop-dead gorgeous but I don’t want to tell you that.” Tiona took a deep breath. “She’s that beautiful, huh?”

“She’s attractive,” he replied hesitantly, “but she’s not my type. I only have eyes for you.” He leaned forward and kissed her again.

Tiona believed what he said, but just barely. Part of her still believed that Jake’s type was leggy with curves in all the right places, and a large bank account that could support a luxurious lifestyle. Why he chose her, a girl that acted more like a boy than anything and could only afford college because of several academic scholarships was beyond her.

Jake looked at his watch and jumped up from his seat, causing the chair to overturn. He tipped the chair quickly and started gathering his things. “I almost forgot. I told Lisa that I would introduce her to the guys tonight.” He stopped and looked straight into her eyes for a moment before asking, “Do you want to do something together after that?”

Breaking away from his gaze she answered that she had papers to write and should spend time on those. She even pointed it out that she could only stay at college if her grades remained high. They agreed then that they would see each other again the next morning for breakfast. Jake left after promising that he had no interest in the new girl and that he would see Tiona in the morning.

If only he had kept his word.

---

Two weeks had passed and Tiona had barely spent time with Jake. He always had papers, basketball practice, or was hanging out with the guys. Tiona had believed it for a few days, at least until she ran into Jake’s best friend, Nathan Short, and he had told her that Jake had been missing several practices and hadn’t been coming around often.

Tiona began to fear the worst…that Jake was cheating on her. Every time she tried to talk to him he didn’t feel like saying anything; most of the time he just walked away. She didn’t know what was going on but his eyes revealed that he was hiding something. After almost three weeks of receiving the cold shoulder from the person she hadn’t believed would turn on her, Tiona had had enough. She walked to the athletic complex, hoping to meet Jake after practice. When he exited she noticed that he hadn’t shaved in several days and his eyes were bloodshot. Walking up to him she grabbed his arm and turned him around so he was looking right at her. “Hey, we need to talk.”

“I, uh, I can’t right now babe. I have a lot of homework to do.”

“I can help you with your homework,” she reassured him. When he hesitated she asked, “Why are you trying to push me away? What’s going on?”

He looked away from her. “Don’t worry about it. Look, I have to go.”

“Jake, look at me,” she demanded. “How is this relationship going to work if you run away when something is bothering you? I can help you with whatever is going on. Just talk to me.”

“I don’t want to talk Tiona.” He turned and started to walk away from her.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”

“I’m sorry…I just, I need some space. I’ll talk to you later.”

Tiona ran up to him, wanting to know what was happening. “No, we talk now.” She looked up into his dark green eyes and saw that they were tearing up. “What’s going on? Why have you been avoiding me for the past few weeks? Nathan said you’ve been missing practices. Jake, please, talk to me.”

Then the tears in his eyes evaporated and Jake’s face went from a mask of sadness to one of anger. “Do you want to know the truth?” he yelled. “The truth is my dad has been in the hospital for the past couple weeks and… and… he’s gone now. I’ve been avoiding you because my dad died.” Then Jake turned and ran away.

Tiona watched him, shocked over what had just been said. But his sheer avoidance of the issue made her wonder if there wasn’t more going on. It usually wasn’t like her to panic about things, especially not her relationship with Jake but everything seemed to be changing.