Venus de Lovi chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Costume Shopping

Warning- Lovina's swearing

Lovina's POV

God has decided that I will never have a moment of peace. For all of September, if I didn't have to watch the Tomato Bastard doing something stupid, I had to watch my brother with the Potato Bastard or do something with the "girls". My bastard Nonno thought I didn't spend enough time with "my girls" and do girl stuff. The only person I had on my side was Sandro! He agreed with me that Antonio was stupid. I still don't know how they met, but I'm assuming the Tomato Bastard was starting to stalk me. Why do I attract the weirdos? Please God, I want to know why.

The only moment's peace I had was in the mornings, which was sadly taken away from me on the morning of the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. I was thankful for a weekend without Antonio. I was! I did not think of him throughout the whole weekend. He may or may not have popped into my dream once! Once! It's not important what he was doing in the dream because he would not be sexy as a matador. No matter what dream me thought. And he may or may not have popped into mind a few other times. But I was thinking about my dream! Chigi! Get out of my head stupid Tomato bastard!

I had never hated the French Bastard more than I did today. Like I wrote in the previous paragraph, before the subject changed to the Tomato Bastard, it was the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. I woke up like I did every school day with Nonno threatening to give my coffee to one of my little bastard brothers. I was starting to wonder if that was an empty threat. As a prize for waking up, I walked down to the café for my espresso. Everything seemed normal. It was Tuesday, so the French bastard was there. I learnt that the reporter came every Tuesday and Thursday morning. So I wear a coloured non-see through t-shirt the night before. Today I was in a red t-shirt and red underwear.

The French Bastard was at the counter with a sly cocky smile. What the fuck was he smiling about? He must have been planning something super evil today. I turned on the espresso machine. The French Bastard said nothing but look at me creepily. I didn't say anything because I was coffee deprive. I tried to ignore him and focus on the espresso machine but it's hard to ignore a pervert. When I was looking at the espresso machine, I heard the door open. It's barely even six am, there isn't usually so many people here. I turned my head to see the French Bastard's sister, Grace. I call the dirty blonde vampire Casino Bitch because she's the Head of the Casino Staff. She walked in wore her hair in a side braid with a stupid red bow. She was in her pink jacket. She wore glasses for no reason because vampires have over 20/20 vision and didn't need glasses. She had some boy sleeping on her shoulder. He had brown hair and was in some blue t-shirt and jeans. He could barely walk. The Casino Bitch must have used him had a toy during the night. He sure did look hot. Poor bastard. After quickly looking at them, I looked back at my coffee. It was almost ready.

"Grace! Bon matin," the French Bastard said.

"Bon matin François," she replied annoyed. "Peux-tu m'expliqué pourquoi tu m'as demandé de cherché le loup-garou? Parce qu'il ne voulait pas réveillé."

"Une seconde ma chou," Francis said slyly. "Lovina can we have three lattes and a Danish?"

"I'm off duty, you pervert," I replied. I was pouring all the coffee I had made in a large cup. I needed it. After school, I had another stupid girl's afternoon outing. Chigi, this was going to be a long day.

"Lovi?" I heard an annoying Spaniard say.

I turned with the coffee pot in my hand. I saw a pair of tired tomato green eyes looking into my hazel ones. What the fuck was Antonio doing here? He has never step foot into the café before! Why was he here at six ten in the morning? And how the hell did he know the French Bastard and his sister? He's been keeping secrets from me! That asshole! Did he think I would lov… I mean wouldn't want to be his friend anymore if he was on speaking terms with the French Bastard and the Casino Bitch? We're friends… sort of.

I was speechless. I was feeling a mix of emotions like embarrassment, irritation (something I was use too), anger, shock, happiness. No! I was not, not happy to see the Tomato bastard. I had spent a three day weekend without him and I loved it! Damn it, believe me!

"Lovi? Wow, this café is beautiful! I can't believe I haven't been here before!" He said wide eyed.

Something had woken him up. One second he was sleeping on the Casino Bitch's shoulder and now he was bright eyed and shyly looking around. He looked everywhere but me. Look at me Tomato Bastard! Not that I wanted him to look at me.

I put the coffee pot down. I then took my coffee cup and ran up the stairs. My face was flushed and my heart was pounding. Chigi! It was because of the embarrassment.

"Sorella? Where are you going so fast? Your shower is open," Feliciano said stopping me. "Sandro is in the other one."

Some of my coffee spilt on the floor. I blame the Tomato Bastard… or maybe the French Bastard. He must have planned this along! What an evil mastermind!

"There are customers down stairs. They want three lattes and a Danish."

I then left a confuse looking Feliciano while I ran into my bathroom.

I ignored people for the rest of the day. I said fuck you to the janitors and gladly ate in front of my locker. Well not gladly because Tiina and Eduard stayed a little bit. I told her that I felt really anti-social today and to fuck off. She cutely said bye and told me to not forget that we were going shopping after school. Damn it! I didn't want to go! But if Felicja wasn`t going to force me to go, Nonno was. I just wanted to go home and take a long siesta. I needed another coffee. At least I didn't see the Tomato Bastard for the rest of the day. I don't think I could handle it. This morning was embarrassing.

After school, we took the bus. None of us had a car or were old enough to drive. Felicja was always in charge of our outings. It was mostly because no one else wanted to plan it. None of us knew what she was going to make us do. Last week (yes these were sadly a weekly event), we went mini-putting. Ironically Felicja sucked at it. The only people that went mini-putting were Elizaveta, Felicja, Tiina and I. This week we added Sandro's little friends, Rosa and Kate.

The bus ride sucked. I hate buses. They are full, so you never had a seat and if you did, you gave it up to some stupid kid or a pregnant women or some old person. They also smelt, they never came on time and some guy grabbed my ass! With a whisper, that bastard was going to pay. With a little magic, he was infected with an unpleasant rash in an unpleasant place. You do not grab my ass! Bastard.

After that horrid bus ride, Felicja lead us to a costume shop. What the fuck? Was she thinking of Halloween already? Thanksgiving Monday was yesterday!

"I love Halloveen! Ve do not have it in Poland," Felicja explained. I sighed. Whatever, at least after today I'll have a Halloween costume.

"Neither in Latvia," Rosa explained. I thought she was adopted from the womb? How does she know what happens in Latvia. Oh yeah… I forgot, not that I care, she's in an open adoption.

"Costume shopping?" Elizaveta asked. "But Gilbert and I are always the same thing every year."

"The vole warrior ting have gotten old," Felicja explained. It was cute when they were kids but after nine years, you need to pick another costume.

"Let's go in before the shop closes," Kate said.

Costume shops are all the same everywhere. You've been in one, you've been in all. There were rows of overpriced costumes. It made me wonder why didn't we just go to Wal-Mart, it was cheaper.

"So what are you planning to be?" Rosa asked.

"I'll be an artist. I already have a beret at home with art supplies. So, I don't know why I'm here?" Kate said. I didn't like her too much because of her attitude.

"Can you help me?" Rosa asked.

"Whatever," Kate shrugged.

"What are you planning to be?" Tiina asked everyone else. "I'm going to be something scary. I might wear this." Tiina showed us a creepy as hell demon mask. It looked like a demon you would find carved on a Gothic Church.

"I like vould never be found dead in dat," Felicja exclaimed.

"I might be a dead hockey player. All I need to buy is some fake blood. I could use my old hockey uniform," Tiina then said after seeing the price tag.

"This could be cool," the Frying-pan Bitch said holding up a male prince's outfit.

"You vant to go drag on us?" Felicja said laughing.

"And since Gil and I are always a team, maybe I could get him into this," Elizaveta laughed holding up the pinkest and fluffiest princess dress ever. We all laughed. That would be something funny.

"I wouldn't put it pass him," Tiina said. Felicja agreed. Gilbert is weird like that.

"OMG! Lovina dise vould be prefect for you!" Felicja said grabbing a dress from the rakes. Elizaveta and Tiina started giggling.

It was a beautiful red and gold dress. It was a long dress and if I wore it, it would have fallen to the ground. Even with the length of the skirt, I felt like I could easily dance in it. The sleeves were three quarter sleeves. Both the skirt and the sleeves were frilly with golden frills. The rest of the dress was a scarlet red. I'll admit, it would be fun to twirl and dance in that dress. The cut on the dress was low but not too low. It didn't feel like a costume. It felt more like a dress to dance with. Elizaveta took the fan that came with it. The fan matched to dress. It was all red with golden border. I now knew exactly what it was and I was not happy.

"I am not wearing that!" I yelled.

"Shouldn't you just try it? Once?" Elizaveta said fanning me.

I glared at her with anger. "I don't know what would make you think I would want to wear the fucking thing."

"Language," Tiina said. "There are children here."

"Just try it?" the Valley Girl bitch asked with puppy dog eyes. She had nothing on Antonio.

"We all know that a certain Spaniard would absolutely love it if you wore this," the frying-pan bitch said while the valley-girl bitch put the stupid fucking thing in front of me.

"I don't care if he'll like it. I'm not wearing a tango dress!" I yelled.

"Actually it's a flamenco dress," Tiina explained looking at the tag.

"I don't fucking care because pigs will have to start flying for me to wear that!"

"So like vhere are some pigs?" Felicja asked. "Ve can totally make dem fly."

"Without using magic," I added irritated.

"It's just for fun. Just try it here and we'll be the only people to see you in the dress," Tiina explained.

"Speak for yourself. I have a camera phone and any picture I get of her in that dress is going on facebook," Elizaveta explained.

I thought I was never going into that dress, especially when the frying-pan bitch said that. I was wrong because when no one was looking, Elizaveta snapped her fingers. I was now wearing the stupid fucking dress and it miserably fit like a dream. Fuck my life. The frying-pan bitch had her phone out and quickly took a few photos before I could snap my fingers and get this stupid thing off of me! Instead, being a bitch, the valley-girl bitch snapped her fingers and my hair was in a bun, with a red rose positioned above my right ear. I also had long golden gloves and the fan in my left hand. All Tiina did was laugh. Bitches all of them. With a snapped of my fingers, I was relieved of my painful modelling career.

"You looked pretty in that dress," Kate said. Great more people saw my humiliation. Can this day get any more humiliating? I'm fucking jinxed now. Damn it!

Kate and Rosa stood beside Tiina. Being a good older sister, Tiina held Rosa close. I would seriously have thought they were biological siblings if I didn't know better. They had the same hair colour and violet eyes. Kate stood beside them. I wasn't in the mood to blow up. I've been humiliated twice today because of the stupid Tomato Bastard.

"Will never wear that dress, again" I yelled. Little did I know at the time, the next year Antonio would force me into a dress similar to that one. He will end up being a matador and Gilbert will be a bull. But that's a story for another time. "I'll wear this." Without thinking I picked up a random costume. It was a Greek Goddess costume. With some changes, i.e. a name change, I could make this a Roman goddess costume. Maybe I could be Venus. I liked this costume.

"That's pretty," Rosa said.

"There you go, I'm going to be Venus," I announced.

"The love goddess?" Elizaveta teased.

"She was more than just a love goddess. She was a garden goddess, she protected ships at sea, she was Aeneas' mother, so she was the mother of Rome."

"And a sex goddess," Felicja added.

I sighed annoyed. "Venus was a proper Roman aristocratic woman that was caught in a loveless marriage between the lame Vulcan."

"Didn't stop her from screwing around," Elizaveta replied.

I rolled my eyes, "Venus and Aphrodite weren't the same thing. Aphrodite was the slut. Venus was not."

"So are you planning to pick Venus as your patron?" Tiina asked.

I never thought about it. On a witch's eighteenth birthday, he or she will pick a patron. The patron we picked decided what spells with would specialize in. It didn't matter who your patron was, as along has there was something spiritually sacred about them. My nonno's patron was Trivia, the Roman goddess of crossroads, mystery and witchcraft. Nonno told me that my nonna's patron was the archangel Raphael. The more I thought about, the more I liked the idea of Venus being my patron. I was from Roman descendant (we seriously have a family tree dating back to the founding of Rome in 771 B.C.E. Romans have this obsession with family trees.). Maybe the mother of Rome wasn't a bad choice for a patron. I could seriously mess with people if my speciality were love spells. Let's see in my future. I can see me owning the café. The only thing I'm good at is making different types of coffee, so it was a good job. Since, I would own the café, I could mess with all the couples that walk in. Then Anto… what the hell was he doing there?

"Maybe, why not," I replied before my thought started to get weird.

The rest of the hour we spent in the costume shop was uneventful, meaning Felicja and Elizaveta fought about their costumes and Kate complained. The valley-girl bitch and the frying-pan bitch finally ended up agreeing to a costume. The both of them and Tiina were going to be female musketeers. It was weird.

We paid for our stuff then left. The fresh air! I never noticed how stuffy it was in there.

"Rosa, isn't that the new boy in your class?" Tiina asked.

I close my eyes for two seconds to enjoy the fresh air and something happens. Damn it! I opened my eyes. The streets of Nysa were full. Nysa wasn't a large city, but at that moment it did seem like it was. There were people hustling and bustling, cars honked, bikes rode pass and people yelled. I looked up. The largest building in Nysa, which was about a short fifteen stories, was a block away. Around that building was where the Café was, and not too far was the museum. I did see a Tim Hortons. Oh great it was roll up the rim. That meant we were going to have lost revenue. There was also a nice Starbucks not too far. I hate them so much. Why was I looking around? Oh yeah, Tiina mentioned a boy. I looked for a ten year old kid. Sandro had mentioned that some German boy had just moved here. Germans, god I hate them. This boy was probably be another Ludwig, trying to corrupt Sandro's mind with potatoes and want to get into his pants. Now, I have to protect Sandro too!

I got a good look at my new enemy. He was small with chin-length blonde hair. He had no hair in his face. His eyes were large and were some aqua-green. He had such a boy-like appearance, very innocent. That didn't mean anything. Kate looked innocent and she had an attitude. He wore a white dress shirt and black pants. His outfit reminded me of Tiina's stupid adoptive brother… Eduard, right, that's his name. But unlike Eduard, this little bastard had a more royal look to him.

"Yeah, that's Noah Stein. He just moved here two weeks ago from was it Liechtenstein or Switzerland?" Rosa said. "His sister's boyfriend found work here and they all moved." Sister's boyfriend? What a stupid reason to move. I would have broken up with the boy. "He's very shy but nice. He's also a fairy." Great, we needed more supernatural creatures here. Notice the sarcasm.

"Let's talk to him," Kate said.

Oh god, I want to go home and sleep. This has been a long, long day.

Kate went behind the poor boy. I have no fucking idea what the idiot was doing but the boy seemed like he was on a mission. It was just bad manners to disturb him. Not that I cared about him in the first place. So when Kate said hi, the boy's skeleton jumped out of his skin. He looked back at us and hyperventilated.

"Are you okay Noah?" Rosa asked.

"Oh Rozālija!" he said relieved. "Ja, I'm fine."

"We just wanted to say hi," Kate said and started to walk away.

"Do you want dinner?" Elizaveta asked. "We were going to get dinner. Maybe you can come with us?" What! But my bed is calling me! Damn Nonno.

"Um…" he said. "My sister told me not to talk with strangers."

"You know our Rosa and any friend of Rosa is a friend of ours," Tiina replied. Speak for yourself bitch. I couldn't care less about Rosa.

"I have too…" he then froze.

"Noah?" Kate asked waving her hand in front of him.

"I'm sorry but I have to go. Vash wanted me home for dinner," he explained and then ran off. What a weird little boy.

"Lovi?"

Now it was my turn to freeze up. I had avoided him all day! Why was I not home in my bed taking a nice long siesta?

"Hey Antonio!" Elizaveta waved, "And Matthias, and Lucia, and Emil, and Emma, and Andries and Raphael, and Mei and finally Orchid."

Where's the party and tell me I'm not going. I turned around and saw the group. I had never meant Emma, Raphael, Mei or Orchid, but I knew the others. Andries was in my Math class. He skipped a lot to go take a smoke. He was holding a little blond boy with pretty fancy and elegant hair for a five year old. I've never seen a more elegant looking five year old. I assumed he was Raphael since he was the only unknown boy to me. There were two Chinese girls with them. The one was about Feli's age, maybe the Potato Eater's age. She had long brown hair with a stupid little curl sticking out. If I didn't have magic on my side, I would have one too. The girl had scaly brown eyes, seriously they were scaly. They were creepy but exotic. She was holding the hand of the other Chinese girl, she was the same age as Emil and Raphael, five. Her hair was very long and brow and she wore some flower in her hair. Her eyes too were a scaly brown. Matthias looked like his usually stupid self with spiky blond hair and a stupid grin. Lucia just looked annoyed, as usual. Her little white hair and violet eyed brother held the Chinese girl's hand and a stuff puffin. That was Emil for you. Beside Antonio was a short haired blonde. She had to be Feli's age. I felt uneasy about her. Maybe it was the ribbon in her hair. Whose wears a ribbon in their hair? I know she was way too close to Antonio. He's fifteen chick and you're what? Twelve?

"Hello," I said looking at the blonde.

"I haven't seen you all day!" the Tomato Bastard said. Well duh, I've been avoiding you. "I'm sorry about this morning. I should have figured out that something was weird when Grace woke me up at five in the morning. But I was too tired to think. If I knew that was what Francis was planning, I would have never gone with Grace."

"What happened this morning?" Elizaveta asked. The frying-pan bitch might be all tomboy like but she sure did love to gossip.

"Francis brought me to the café and Lovi was there… in her underwear," Antonio said nonchalantly.

"Really? What colour?" Matthias asked. His girlfriend slapped him in back of the head.

"Red," he replied.

My face was red. This was even more embarrassing. Damn them, I'm going home. Wait, if I go home blondie wins. What the fuck am-I thinking about? I'm not in a competition with blondie. I don't even know her.

"Lovi, where are you going?" Antonio asked. I must have started walking away. "I haven't seen you all day! How was your Thanksgiving?"

I sighed. He was ignoring everyone else around him. I could never understand him. He must have some disability.

"I have to go," I said.

"But Lovi!"

"Tired and I need coffee."

"I'll buy you coffee."

"I live above a café, I don't need you to buy me coffee."

"Then, I'll…" Elizaveta had thankfully put her hand over Antonio's mouth. He was better looking with his mouth shut.

"I'm not going to dinner. I'll be in my room taking a siesta," I said.

"I'll walk you home," Antonio said pushing Elizaveta out of the way.

I grunted. "Tomato Bastard," I said quietly. "I'm a big girl and I can walk two blocks without you."

"I thought that too, well big boy, not a big girl... but next thing I knew I was being attacked by succubae," he replied.

"And we had to save him!" Matthias yelled.

"Stay out of the conversation!" Lucia said.

"Fine, I'll be in the costume shop," he said loudly. God that boy was too loud. I don't understand how Lucia can handle him. It must be his money.

"Tiina, Felicja, Elizaveta, Rosa and Kate will be with me. We can handle succubae or incubi or whatever else the supernatural world would like to throw at us," I explained.

"But," he said.

"I said no."

"But…" he touched my arm.

I slapped him. I said no. Antonio was surprised. His green eyes widen and his mouth dropped. All I did was turn around and walk away. The girls followed me.