Too Many Choices (Adonis)

[Idalia Tsavaris]

“Ma… Ma?” Idalia tried to get in a word over the phone but her mother was too busy guilting her at the moment. After a while Idalia stopped trying to talk to her mother and just hung there with the receiver near her ear. Finally her mother had to stop to take a breath and Ida pounced on the opening. “Matera! I have to work! I’m sorry you know I really wanted to come too!” Clearly having a job wasn’t a good enough excuse and Idalia finally just kept apologizing. “I don’t know, Ma… no I’m on the evening shift… No I get off at midnight, I’m not gonna make it.” Idalia rubbed her forehead against the coming headache and finally had to end it. “I gotta go, alright, I’ll try…. I love you too.” She heaved a sigh and dropped her phone on the coffee table. Ike looked up at her staring at her with those big eyes. “What?” She asked the Great Dane. “I have to work!” Damn. Her mother could make a competitive sport out of guilting.

And that was how a week later Idalia found herself downtown frantically searching for a dress to her cousins wedding, they lived in California and while they weren't close they were family and well, that was just about all it took. She'd immediately turned down her mother's offering to go shopping together, she was not going to go through that. Shopping with her mother was fun at times, but when it came to dress shopping it was an endless stream of 'that is way too much cleavage, way too short, too long, shapeless, that one makes you look like a hooker.' So here Idalia was, searching for that needle in a haystack of dresses. So far nothing came out looking quite right, it was either too much in one way or another, not to mention she was looking at them with a critical eye like her mother would. Nothing was up to her standards and god help her if she showed up with something and her mother didn't like it! It was an endless chore!

She was weary and hungry, this was not how she’d wanted to spend her day off. She stepped out of the small boutique feeling defeated. That was when she caught sight of an old friend walking toward her. “Adonis!” She called out to grab his attention and waved. Not only had they gone to school at Hammel together but where they’d really gotten to know each other was through their shared heritage. Ida was excited to have run into him, partly because he was gorgeous. But mostly because it wasn’t often she saw a familiar face from Hammel. She had her dog-walking friends but besides Angie all of their classmates were scattered to the wind. Idalia had mixed feeling about Adonis, she liked him, he was a sweet guy but god was he arrogant! Maybe he’d changed, she reasoned, it’s been a while since they spent an extended amount of time together. Ida wasn’t sure if he went to the Church anymore but considering she was working most of the time, she didn’t make it there very often herself. “Adonis,” she repeated in greeting when they’d gotten closer, “How are you it’s been far too long!”

[Adonis Voskopoulos]

For some reason, it seemed like Greek individuals flocked together. Perhaps it was because they understood what it was like living in a huge crazy family who tried to stuff you with food and make you dance with extended cousins at weddings and hook you up with the daughters and sons of old friends. Adonis knew that was why he had gotten along so well with Idalia from the start. When they had met in Hammel, they had a lot of common ground. They shared tradition and history and had equally crazy mothers. It didn't hurt, of course, that the woman was incredibly beautiful, and seemed to (for the most part) tolerate Adi's ego.

That day Adonis was out and about doing some shopping for the holidays. He had to get gifts for mom, dad, sister, cousins, uncles, aunts...daughters - almost too many people to count. He had just walked out of an antique shop - having been looking for something nice for his mother - and was taking a moment to enjoy the fresh air and a hot cup of coffee he picked up from the cafe.

When he first heard his name, Adi wasn't quite sure who it was, though the approaching woman was recognized as soon as Adonis turned his head. "Idalia!" Adonis returned the woman's enthusiasm, opening his arms for a small embrace, and leaning in to kiss her cheek - as he often did with familiar women. "I'm doing pretty well!" Adi said honestly. He was excited for the winter holiday - it meant a short, much needed break from work. "And it's definitely been too long. How are you? What brings you out today, ómorfos?" Adi asked, not hesitating to call the woman beautiful in his native tongue. 

[Idalia Tsavaris]

It wasn’t that hard to reason out. Chances were they knew some of the same people, especially since they came from the same small country, not to mention populations on the islands were even more close knit. When she’d first met Adonis, it had been so easy to get along and share their experiences and laugh about the crazy superstitions their parents and grandparents had had. Not to mention they’d had a shared language which pretty much made it wonderfully easy to talk to each other without being overheard. It had been far too long since she’d seen Adonis, and for a moment she was worried he wouldn’t remember who she was. She’d gone her way after Hammel and he’d gone his and their paths hadn’t crossed as often as Idalia would have liked.

She waved as he confirmed he knew who she was. She sped up her steps a bit to get into his warm and familiar embrace. She returned the action as warmly as he did. She’d missed Adonis. She gave him a good squeeze before releasing him and taking a step back to look at him. Idalia had always found Adonis attractive, she might think he was a bit arrogant but he definitely was as close to a Greek God as they came. Idalia bit back a laugh remembering her mother’s insistence that Adonis was a ‘nice Greek boy’. She thought he’d gotten taller, but that might just be because it had been so long. “Good!” She said brightly. She colored a bit at the phrase but smiled and shrugged her shoulders at him. “My cousin is getting married in a couple of weeks so I’m hunting down a dress.” And mentally preparing herself for how much she was going to hear about still being single and not having a plus one to the wedding.

“How about you? Christmas shopping?” She guessed. She hoped he was coming up with more luck than she was, she hated dress shopping. Now it was crunch time too, if she didn’t find something soon she’d have to borrow something from her sister or wear something she wore for work. Both of which would get her a frown from her mother. She was curious about what he’d been up to since they’d last spoken and it was taking all of her effort to not jump into an interrogation. Instead she started simply, “What have you been up to lately? I hear you’re working at Hammel?” Another benefit (and possibly curse) of being Greek was that everyone knew everyone else and things got around very fast. And her mother was very involved in the church and was in the middle of all of the gossip.

[Adonis Voskopoulos]

"Oh no, not a wedding," Adonis sympathized - but with a laugh. Adi knew all too well the way that Greek weddings could be, and knowing Idalia's mother from church, Adi knew that the woman's family was likely just as crazy, nosy, loud and judgmental as his. Plenty of love was shared, but Greek families had a habit of needing to know everything about everyone and forming strong, loud opinions about it. "I just went to a cousin's wedding back in Greece. Beautiful, but stressful," Adi explained. Much of his family back in Greece hadn't had the chance to talk about the wedding that never was - and continued to insist he needed to be a man and get back together with his ex, marry her, and have another huge wedding. And if not, he should fins himself a nice greek girl.

"Yeah I have a lot of shopping to do this year," Adi admitted. While Adi wasn't really ready to come out about the fact that he was a father to everyone he knew just yet, he did realize his daughter was now old enough to understand the concept of Christmas and presents. Even if he couldn't be with Maddelena for Christmas, he wanted to be able to say he always sent her something - he always thought of her and did what he could despite his commitment issues.

"I'm assuming your mother told you?" Adi asked with a raised eyebrow when Ida asked him about Hammel. He had not really talked to the woman since starting the new job about a year ago, though he had been to church multiple times, and gossip spread like wildfire in there. Adi was secretly grateful that his parents were still living near New York City, because otherwise the news about his engagement and his daughter would have already reached the ears of half of Pilot Ridge's population. He didn't need that as he made his way back into the dating game. "Yes, I started training about a year ago. It's a really nice job. I love working with the kids, though I think i scare some of them," Adi admitted with a chuckle. He was tough. He didn't let anyone create excuses or insist that they can't do something. He was pushy by nature, and that trait was somewhat beneficial in his new position. "I feel awful, because I was probably told at some point... but what are you doing now? What brings you back to Pilot Ridge?"

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia gave him a long suffering expression before giggling herself. “Oh, terrible, every time.” She just couldn’t wait to be pray to her grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and all of their branches of family. God knew someone was going to try to set her up with someone. “Oh nice!” She said with a smile. She’d always been jealous of Adonis. Her father was a second generation Greek-American and most of his family had immigrated together and never looked back. Her mother was first generation, but while she had kept in touch with her family in Greece, with well ten children to buy tickets for they’d never been able to make a trip to the homeland. “Where was it at?” She asked, honestly if she went to Greece for a wedding she was going to take a month long vacation and explore.

Ida nodded understandingly, “Always an expensive time of year,” she agreed, she had gotten her extended family gift cards and was only getting gifts for her sisters and parents. Because of the wedding, luckily this year no one was coming to visit them, since tickets had been expensive. Idalia had no idea that Adonis had a daughter, which was saying a lot since it wasn’t very easy to keep secrets. “Are you going anywhere this year? Or sticking around?” She asked, if he was sticking around for a bit maybe they could get together sometime soon. Christmas was a busy time, Idalia was glad she was working for most of it. All of her sisters were coming in, which meant on Christmas morning her parents small house would be filled with nine sister, four of her brother-in-laws and her six, nieces and nephews.

The forecaster ducked her head and smiled apologetically. She tapped her nose to indicate he’d struck gold with his guess. “She makes it her business to know what everyone is up to,” Idalia chuckled. Ida felt bad about not having been around church as much as she wanted, but well, her work schedule was a little bit… irregular. She made sure to make it for the important days, but usually she cut out after saying ‘hi’ to a few people, since it was so unusual that she was so old and still single. More than once one of the well meaning old women asked her if she had found a boyfriend yet. Idalia laughed and gave him a teasing glance. “You? Scary?” She grinned crossing her arms, as if she didn’t believe it. She did, he was definitely pushy and probably the only reason she didn’t think he was intimidating was because she was just as headstrong as he was. She was glad to hear he was doing well, and enjoying his job. Working with young people was one of her favorite things. Oh dear, she thought absently, she’d just referred to other people as ‘young’.

Ida raised a brow at him. “You don’t watch the news much do you?” She commented with a slight smile. “I’m the Chief Meteorologist for Channel X.” She raised her chin just a tad, very proud of her title, especially being a woman in a male dominated field. “It’s cheaper to live in Pilot Ridge,” she explained, “And I get to be closer to my family.” Pilot Ridge had a much more easy feel than Burlington did. Burlington wasn’t a huge city but it still had a city feel and the busy rush that happened all the time was so wearying. She enjoyed getting out of the city and relaxing. Besides it wasn’t all that far of a drive, which was wonderful.

[Adonis Voskopoulos]

"The wedding was in Delos, but I stayed with family in Mikonos.. Lovly time. If you ever get a chance to travel I highly suggest the island. Beautiful beaches. Beautiful sunsets," Adi mused, remembering his homeland well. He traveled back often, as most of his family still lived there. His father and mother were the only people in his family to immigrate to America, in hopes of opening a successful restaurant. Which they achieved. Adi missed Greece, sometimes, but he'd truly come to recognize America as the land of opportunity. "I am avoiding expenses by just sending cards to everyone in Greece... they've just seen me and know I've spent enough on airfair this year," Adi explained with a chuckle. The only exception was an addition of some money in the cards of his young (2nd) niece's and nephews.

"I'll probably head down to the City to spend Christmas with Mama and Papi," Adi said with a nod. "And I'll stop by Albany to visit some friends before classes start up again," Adi continued, knowing he'd need to stop by his ex's house to give his daughter her Christmas gifts. "I assume your Christmas will be crazy as always," Adi said with a laugh. Ida's family was huge compared to Adi's... at least those who lived in the states. Adi was aware that his mother and father would have loved to have more children, but his mother lost the ability to have children shortly after giving birth to Adi, and the man never had the 9 siblings Ida had. (And he was ok with that).


Adi picked up his chin in pride when Idalia mocked him for being 'scary' pretending that she didn't know how intense he could get. He was quite alright with being seen as tough. It meant he was a man. "I avoid the news," Adi said with a bit of arrogance. "Nothing but bad news out there. I prefer to sit outside and do... anything else," Adi said simpky with a small shrug. "It sounds like a nice career, though. Very convenient for you as well," Adi stated, knowing how important it was for Ida to be near her family. "And convenient for me as living in Pilot Ridge means you get to grace my presence once more," Adi said suavely.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia smiled, breathing in and imagining the warm salty breeze instead of the chill of the Vermont snow. “I’ll put it on my list,” she said, her family was from Chios on one side and Constantinople on the other. She longed to go back to where her family originated. “That is a good idea,” she said with a nod, “I’m sure they love to see their ‘agoráki’,” she teased and reached up to pinch his cheek, just because she knew it would get him riled up. Idalia didn’t even want to think about how many people. She still had both sets of grandparents, not to mention her father’s brother she had on her list and her cousins and her mother’s brothers and sister and their kids, her Nono and Nona… The list was long. It was easier when she was little and her mother just took care of it all.

“Oh fun!” She said, she’d been begging Adonis to take her to New York for about as long as she’d known him. Time and money had never permitted but she still had it on her list of places to go. If she could get away from work for more than an hour at a time! At his question Idalia turned and laughed, “Do you have any idea how many people we’re going to attempt to stuff into my parents house on Christmas?” It was rhetorical but the answer was way too many. Idalia was also roped into playing host for some of her sisters, she already had Aliana planning to share her bed, Lenna on the couch then Jenna and her husband on an air mattress. All in her little bitty one bedroom apartment with her dog. “So you’re going to New York then Albany on your way back?” She asked curious.

Idalia laughed, unable to help herself when he puffed up and became the proud Greek she knew he was. She patted his shoulder, falling easily back into old habits with Adi. Ida always felt like this when she saw Adi, granted this was the longest it had been since they’d seen each other, but it still felt like she’d just seen him yesterday. “Hey!” Ida protested and crossed her arms, “sometimes I tell people it’s going to be sunny.” She knew that wasn’t what he was talking about, and she could understand that. Sometimes even working there she was over aware of what was going on and it saddened her. No one ever reported the good things, the heartwarming stories of kindness. It was all death and sadness. Ida smiled. “I love it,” she said, well most of the time she loved it. Idalia couldn’t keep herself from blushing and she waved her hand dismissively, “You should be so lucky.”

That was an idea though… “I can’t believe we’re finally in the same place at the same time again!” she exclaimed happily, “We’ll have to get together sometime. I’ve missed you, Adi,” she said honestly smiling up at her friend. “How is your clan doing? Your parents doing well?” She asked, always wishing those who she knew, even through periphery well. She was going to have to tell her mother about seeing Adi, her mother would probably take it upon herself to set them up, again. The woman just didn’t know when to butt out!

[Adonis Voskopoulos]

"I don't even want to imagine how many people are going to be at your house for the holidays," Adi admitted with a chuckle. He knew how crazy things could get with his own family when everyone gathered in Greece. And Adi knew that Idalia's family was crammed in their house like sardines without the extended family around. "It'll just be my parents and Elyssa and her husband - Nikolas. She got married almost two years ago now... if your mother hadn't managed to figure that one out too," Adi said jokingly - though only somewhat. He wouldn't be quite surprised if the woman had managed to find that information out somehow.

"Found herself a nice greek boy and it's only a matter of time until they make pretty greek babies. So my parents are just over the moon about that," Adi said with a slight roll of his eyes, knowing Idalia would know exactly why. It meant his parents would start asking him why he hadn't done the same yet. Of course, Adi had been engaged... and had helped create a half greek baby... While his parents were thrilled about a grandchild, they were less than thrilled with the situation and the conditions. Especially after the engagement was called off. "And then a second Christmas with some college friends," Adi said, leaving his plans in Albany at that, for now.

"Everyone is doing well though," Adi said with a firm nod. "Business is good and my dad is very happy with the restaurant. Mama wants to retire and move back to Greece but I don't think dad will ever quit," Adi said with a small laugh. "Maybe now that we're older and wiser... and can afford airfare, I'll take you there someday to meet them and eat my dad's lamb." Adi said with a somewhat flirtatious smile. The smile was a natural one to Adi, though. He could turn any conversation into an opportunity to charm the opposite sex.

"We should have dinner sometime," Adi offered, in all seriousness. Adi had always saw Idalia as a friend - which was strange for a man who often viewed women as prizes. It made it easier for him to casually invite the woman to a meal without thinking anything of it - or viewing it as a chance to make a move. "Or coffee, or lunch," Adi ammended. "I'm sure that job of yours as well as your family keeps you plenty busy."

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Ida laughed jovially, “I don’t either!” Now that a few of her sisters had kids of their own, the Tsavaris family Christmas was starting to look less like a family affair and more like a tribal celebration. It wasn’t like her sisters never spent Christmas with their husbands family, but well compared to the chaos, Ida wasn’t sure she’d enjoy it any other way. “Oh! Elyssa’s married?” She asked and giggled, “She probably did but I had forgotten. That’s wonderful, I’m happy to hear it!” She smiled broadly, it had probably come up in some conversation about why she wasn’t married yet. Hell, she was practically ancient in the Grecian standard of marriage. “I wouldn’t feel too bad, my mother did raise ten girls, and she was impossible to keep things from.” Idalia was honestly impressed that Aliana had been able to keep the fact that she was gay a secret for so long.

Nodding her head, Idalia certainly knew exactly what she was talking. “It’s always a little unsetting when your siblings start having kids. I bet they’re excited about that though, and I bet you are too. I think you’d make a great uncle.” Idalia had no idea that Adonis was already a father, that would probably just about blow her mind. “Sounds like fun,” she said and wondered momentarily about her work Christmas Party. Weather didn’t stop at any time of the year, so Christmas she was on call but she had volunteered to work the day of their Christmas Party. Sometimes she loved her job but she hated the schedule. It was never enough time off or enough of a switch to get used to alternating sleep schedules. Some of her friends working at the National Weather Service had gotten very ill due to the shift work.

Ida smiled, glad to hear they were doing well. She’d only met his parents once at graduation but she found them very sweet people. “Oh of course. Yeah, I think my dad is going to work until he himself has to become a patient.” And her mother, well her mother had contented herself with working and raising her children and now she was happy to work during the day at Hammel’s cafeteria and then babysit her grandchildren when her children needed. Honestly, the woman did far too much, she worked at the church, at Hammel, at home, Ida had no idea where she got the energy. “I will take you up on that!” She exclaimed excitedly, ignoring the flirting in his smile. She’d known Adonis for so long she no longer paid it much mind. She quite vividly remembered back in high school when she accused him of flirting with anyone breathing with breasts.

That was probably what made them good friends and bad for anything else. Idalia was stubborn and proud and wouldn’t allow herself to be walked over by any man, even if he was her best friend. Idalia remembered so many girls who fawned after Adonis and Adonis had always been happy to indulge them. No amount of warning women, nor scolding Adonis had ever done anything and well, now she found it a little endearing. He was a heartbreaker for certain. And he had grown up, grown up into a very responsible and very attractive young man. Ida was glad that she’d run into him today. “That sounds great!” She said her eyes closing as she smiled. “We’ll put that down as pending, I’ll have a look at my schedule and let you know. Who knows we might have to go somewhere and get dinner for me and breakfast for you.” She joked and pulled out her phone. “Do you still have the same number, Adi?”

[Adonis Voskopoulos]

Adonis reacted to Idalia's comment about him being a good uncle with a shrug, and a strangely nervous rub of his neck. In that moment his confidence wavered, but only for that moment, because he couldn't believe Idalia's words. If only she knew about how awful of a father he was. Awful in his eyes, anyway. He had no idea how to take care of his daughter. He loved her dearly, and did whatever he could monetarily to support her. However, he'd never changed a diaper, or rocked her to sleep, or decided what she needed to eat and when. He'd never be able to do any of that, he believed. It was part of the reason he'd made the move to work in Pilot Ridge in the first place. So at least he'd have a solid, well paying job so he could help that way. He shook the thought off real fast though, and laughed it off. "I'm not so sure. Kids are scary," Adi stated only half joking.

Even though Adi was flirtatious with Ida, it didn't quite mean anything more than when he flirted with other women. Idalia had grown up knowing Adi to be the smooth talker he was, and was practically immune to his smolder. And Adi knew that, and mostly accepted it. That didn't mean he would stop doing it. It was in his blood, basically. He was glad that the woman could get past it and at least be his friend. "Yes, my number is still the same," Adi said, rattling off the digits so Ida could be certain she had the correct number. "Yours as well?" the man asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket so he could make sure he could actually make contact with the woman.

While at times Adi wasn't serious about having dinner with women, he definitely would enjoy a night with Idalia. Catching up with the woman would be great, even if their schedules didn't line up perfectly. And it would be a nice change for Adonis, who often spent his time flirting at bars or watching soccer with the guys. Underneath it all, Adi was a sensitive soul who needed some casual conversation with a feminine family member (usually his sister) or friend (which were few and far between). "Well you should know my schedule," Adi said with a small laugh, "Hammel hasn't changed it's schedule since before we were there." He smiled at Ida, "Call or text me any time!"

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Ida laughed brightly and patted her friends shoulder. “You can deal with them at school, can’t you? And I’m sure you’ll be better at it than you think.” She said hoping she was being encouraging. Honestly, the first time her sister handed over her baby Idalia had been so worried that she’d break them, but now she swung them around and wrestled with them, which would inevitably set Ike into a frenzy. They children loved Ike and Ike was gentle with them. They were cute, now if Idalia had one of her own she might have a quite different feeling about the whole situation. “They’re gonna look up to you,” she said sweeping her hand broadly, indicating she wasn’t just talking about the soon coming baby.

Idalia pulled up his contact information and nodded along to the numbers, “Ah, yes,” she said with a smile then returned the favor. Ida felt a little bit bad about falling out of touch, sure she kept up with him through other people, but how long had it been since she’d texted Adonis? Sure she probably had thought about it but probably right before she’d gone to do something else and consequently the whole idea vanished as soon as she filed it away for later. She was terrible at keeping in touch with people. It was supposed to be something that Greeks were good at, but Idalia couldn’t seem to get it. She would do very well for a very little while then it would all crash down when she got busy, which happened all of the time.

She didn’t care about Adonis’ ways with women, he was Adonis and she loved him despite all of it. Though any other man might get her claws, Adonis always held himself in a safe place in her heart. He had a soft side, he was like a hard candy that opened to a soft taffy center. She didn’t know why he didn’t let people see the sweet side of him. Ida shared his laugh, “As it probably hasn’t changed since it was established. Sure, I’ll make sure to do that. I’ll let you get on, it was so great to see you, Adi.” She smiled and reached up to give him a farewell hug.

[Adonis Voskopoulos]

"Well most of the highschoolers are potty trained now, so they're much less scary," Adonis joked, knowing full well he was better with older kids who could express their feelings and control their bodily functions. Of course, Idalia had no clue about Adi's difficulty with small children, his own daughter. Perhaps she'd know in due time. But it wasn't a conversation Adi was ready to have on a city street after a long period of no communication.

Adi wished he had kept in better touch with Idalia as well, and normally he would have. However, his life had been such a rollercoaster the past two years that he hardly managed to keep in touch with parts of his family. There were still parts of his family in Greece that he hadn't managed to personally tell that he, in fact, wasn't getting married. Of course they knew by now, because word spread fast in Greek families.... too fast sometimes.

"I was great seeing you too," Adi agreed, accepting the woman's hug and kissing her on the cheek once more before releasing the embrace. "Please, please let me know when you want to get together," Adi practically demanded, deciding it'd likely be easier for Idalia to work around his schedule than he to work around hers. "Happy Holidays!"