*told from Julia's perspective*
Alexa emerges from the portal after about five dreadful minutes of Rod whimpering like a baby. We all hop into the golf cart without a word. After a few minutes of listening to the engine whir Rod speaks up.

"Who's Eli?" Rod inquires.

"You might call him Satan." I'm quick to add to my statement. "He's not evil."

"Julia, I like you. But Alexa, you are really weird." He states.

"Well, get used to it." Alexa replies.

"I can just see you without Alexa, at your house or something." Rod plans.

"We live together, genius." Alexa chides him.

"Are you two like sisters or cousins or something?" Rod asks.

"No." I answer.

"How are your parents ok with this?" Rod inquires.

"Our parents are dead." Alexa retorts.

We ride the rest of the way in silence. Once we reach Rod's house he says, "I don't think I'm sure whether or not we should date."

Instead of pleading with him I kiss him. Not for long, I have got to keep my element of mystery.

"Never mind. Ya know, I don't think I have to leave just yet. I could come hang out with you and" He pauses and says disgustedly, "Alexa."

"And Luke." Lexa adds. Why does she have to bring Luke into all this? If she hasn't noticed, I'm trying to have things with Rod go as smoothly as possible, and after our debacle in the underworld it's going to be pretty hard to get that train back on the tracks.

"Who the hell is Luke?" Rod inquires.

"Our roommate." Alexa answers.

Rod appears to be shocked greatly by the news. "You live with a guy!?! Why did you not tell me that?"

"Well, you did hop into a car without-" Alexa begins.

I cut her off, "Lexa, let me handle this. Just drive."

Lexa takes off to our house, which is pretty far away from Rod's. If I hadn't done this type of thing before, I would be really nervous. Luckily, convincing boyfriends to overlook the weirder aspects of my life, at least for a little while, is a piece of cake for me. This time, though, it's going to be a little different than just lying.

"Luke is one of my best friends, and I am not attracted to him and definitely don't have a crush on him." I explain.

Rod nods. "Ok."

We ride the rest of the trip in dead silence, and I can tell that Rod is angry. Well, maybe not totally angry, but he is at least a tiny bit pissed.

"Here we are." Lexa announces.

"This is a brick wall." Rod observes bluntly.

"Wow, how did you manage to figure that out?" Lexa chides him as she opens the door. We step inside to find Luke on the couch.

                                                                                   *told from Alexa's point of view*

Me again! Jul tried to narrate this part, but unsurprisingly her rendition of what happens next is wildly inaccurate due to her bias regarding Rod. Anyways, Luke is on the couch reading a book on Egyptian mythology at the time we arrive. Good, he too sees that his knowledge of mythology, especially his patron, is rusty at best.

"Hi!" Jul exclaims. "This is my new boyfriend, Rod." She gestures to Rod. "Rod, that guy sitting on the couch is Luke, our roommate."

"Nice to meet you." Rod says, and I sense some hostility in his voice. He extends his arm.

Luke declines the offer of a polite handshake. "Yeah, you too whoever. Lexa, this Isis chick is crazy." Later I'm going to warn him against calling my patron "chick".

"Isn't that a terrorist group?" Rod inquires.

Jul intervenes before I get the chance to get into my patented rant about my patron. "There is a Middle Eastern terrorist group called Isis, but we're talking about Isis the Egyptian goddess."

Rod doesn't respond. He's still fixated on Luke. Jealousy should've been expected from him, after all, Luke is much taller than he is. Rod, with his slim, short stature, his unkempt hair, his pastiness, and his unusually round face, wouldn't stand a chance against Luke in a battle of any kind, be it one of intelligence, physical strength, or even attractiveness. And no, I am certainly not saying that I personally think Luke is attractive. Just stating the facts. Plus, Rod seems petty as fuck.

"Oh. So Luke, how long have you been living with my girlfriend?" Rod inquires.

Luke picks up on the hostility, and instead of asking why Rod needs to know that, he provides him with an answer. "A year or two. Alexa has driven me crazy every goddamn minute of it."

Rod is unreasonably jealous of Luke. It isn't enough for him to be stupid, but he's also really territorial. If Jul wasn't a seductress that can hook guys from a single glance, I'd say he would have already broken up with her. To be fair, the hour he's spent with her so far have probably been his longest relationship. Luke knows what to do in these situations. Jul has brought home a few guys in the past year that haven't actually become her boyfriends, and to make sure they aren't threatened by Luke he doesn't talk to or about Julia as much when they're around. The more he throws my name around and not Jul's, the less insecure the bozo becomes. Rod seems to be a bit trickier to please.

"Rod, do you want to maybe see my room?" Jul offers, hoping to get Rod away from the awkwardness and jealousy.

"Sure." Rod replies, grimacing in Luke's direction.

Jul leads him up to her bedroom, relieved that Rod doesn't want to stay and pick a fight with Luke. If she doesn't break up with him within a week I will be very surprised. She usually goes for guys that are able to at least pretend to be okay with Jul's supernatural ties and crazy roommates, one of which could easily take the boyfriend slot.

After Rod and Julia ascend the stairs, Luke jumps off the couch and practically leaps over the couch in excitement. Either he's gone mad or he's got an amazing idea.

"I know how we can get Rod not to hate me!" Luke exclaims. Huh. I really thought it was more plausible for him to have gone mad.

"And how might that be?" I inquire, genuinely curious. If I am going to have to suffer through Rod being here for hours on end, it would make it less difficult not to slap him if he and Luke could get along.

"We pretend to date!" Luke exclaims. I furrow my brows and tilt my head, not sure why he's so excited. "You don't get it, do you? If we pretend to date, he won't feel threatened by me. If I'm taken, I can't snatch his girl away."

"It's a good idea, but why not just pretend you have a girlfriend who's nonexistent? Say she lives in Canada, that's a country where fake girlfriends live." I suggest.

"You know as well as I do that Rod is only going to believe it when he sees it. Most guys just brush it off, but he'll hold on to that feeling of inferiority and jealousy until he sees with his own eyes that I am not a threat."

I sigh."Goddamnit, you're right. I still hate Rod."