Under Cupid's Contract (Love Under Lockdown)

Chapter One - Vega

Even for a perpetual optimist, someone who always looks on the bright side of things, it was still important to know when you were beat. The sleek German device grinned at me, mocking me thoroughly as I removed the filter and dumped it in the trash. I sighed and yanked the plug from the wall in annoyance, feeling a little surge of bitter satisfaction as its lights went out.

I may have been outsmarted by my new coffee maker, but unplugging the beast and stuffing it back into the box made me feel like maybe I won the war.

After packing up the machine, I carefully closed the bag of overpriced coffee. I’d only used a bit from the top and the bag could be resealed, so no one would ever know it had been opened. Which was only right considering how much the small black bag of home-roast had cost, even online. The general expense was the primary reason I couldn’t have nice things.

If nothing else, I’d have a present for my best friend Maya. No way she would let some complex coffee-making machine bedevil her. My culinary training was of a more traditional sort. Printed instructions, in both English and German, not required.

The caffeine gift would have to wait until around next Christmas, though, considering her birthday fell on December 24th. Not that one would know that the season had well and truly passed. The holly was still very much jolly on large portions of my street.

It was reaching a point where it was downright comical to still be seeing all the twinkling lights and snowmen, but some Californians were gung-ho. Even with the kick-off of the festive season creeping threateningly close to Halloween, some just didn’t seem to be able to let go of the holiday season. I’d be the first to admit that egg nog was among the top ten inventions ever, but I just got a case lot and froze it. None of the other Yuletide trappings required, come January 10th. Maybe it was some kind of strange compensation for the total lack of snow.

In spite of my defeat, I tried to put on a brave face. Stowing the recycled bag of trend back in the coffee cupboard, I accepted my terrible fate and brought the jumbo jug of instant coffee crystals to the counter. The steam flew like a white flag as the stove top kettle blew. I consoled myself with the fact that instant coffee was better than no coffee at all.

Once the caffeine had perked me up enough to function, I headed for my closet. The clothes inside stood like soldiers awaiting inspection. Not identical, but near enough that it was hard to tell them apart on first sight. Simple, subdued, black and white. Selecting the most sensible suit I could spy, I shook out of my P.J.s and slithered into the silk-lined wool.

It only took spilling coffee on a white shirt once for me to want to take every precaution, so it didn’t happen again. Even if it did feel a bit silly. I’d been working from home for nearly a year. Yet, I’d kept up my old routine, like I still had an office job. Which, sadly, hadn’t been the case for about three months.

It wasn’t a case of old habits dying hard, though they absolutely did, as much as mindset. Attitude wasn’t everything, but it could make a difference. Act like you have a job, and you won’t feel unemployed. Even if an unemployment check was the only real income you saw.

The angels sang, the room filling with light as laptop came to life. Bluetooth headphones filling my skull with music, I set about the labors of the day, hopeful in heart but steely in determination.

Scrolling through the want ads felt a little like some sort of digital treadmill, each of the listings scrolling by, most unnoticed, until they all became part of the same repeated blur. My finger on the scroll wheel was getting quite the workout. It sadly reminded me of the last time I’d tried online dating in a desperate attempt to break my lengthy dry spell.

I knew I wasn’t the hottest fox on the planet, but it wasn’t like mirrors shattered when I passed or anything. I had a pretty enough face, and while I’d never been happy with the size of my waist, it was accompanied by a decently sized bust and hips.

Yet, alone I remained. It felt a little pathetic to still be not just single, but a virgin, two weeks shy of my 25th birthday.

It felt very much like I’d left no stone unturned in my relentless search, for either love or for a new job. Except that there was always another stone.

A growing sense of pessimism gnawed inside my skull, threatening to greatly darken my mood. A change could be as good as a break, so I switched gears, and windows, over to my email. Hoping for a distraction, but never suspecting what I would actually find there that fateful morning.