Indigo Eyes

Chapter 135

That first day after they left camp, Cressida spent with Percy and his family, and it was just perfect. They'd treated the kids to breakfast before the couple went about exploring the city, Percy taking her to Coney Island for their first date just as he dreamed of it and only when they got there did he show her the gift Annabeth and Thalia had given him for his birthday.

Percy hadn't even realised that the I-heart-NY t-shirt had gone missing from his room. How Thalia got her hands on it, he'll never know but he was kind of grateful. Because even though Cressida had made fun of it, the action had gotten him a lot of kisses and a lot of brownie points. Because now on the back of the shirt, it had a stunning picture of Cressida that Percy had taken on her Polaroid camera when she came into the city for his birthday last summer. And above the picture were the words, I-heart-Cress.

And Percy wore that shirt proudly as they made their way through the amusement park, Percy kissing her like a cliché at the top of the Ferris wheel. And then he even found this little souvenir stand where he bought her a new charm for her bracelet as a memento of their first date. But the one that he gave her for her sixteenth birthday was a sunflower, her favourite flower, with 'Love Fish Face ' engraved on the back.

The second day she was there was the day before Percy had to go back to school, so they spent it inside. They sat on the couch all day as they watched movies, wrapped in each other's arms and when Sally came home, she smiled at the two of them before announcing that there were fresh cookies in the kitchen. And they'd raced each other for it, Cressida snatching the plate as she taunted him from the other side of the kitchen island and then she ran. And Percy was positive that she let him catch her as he peppered her face with kisses before she fed him a cookie and it was just perfect. He could definitely get used to this.

What was even more perfect was when he came home from his first day of junior year at Goode High School and she was sitting on his bed, wearing one of his t-shirts as she leafed through one of the rough copies of a manuscript Sally was working on, her face lighting up when she saw him.

He'd then been content to slip off his shoes and jump onto his bed as she became his pillow and she read to him for a while before she put the manuscript down and they just held each other for a while.

They ended up on their sides as they faced each other, Cressida running her fingers along his jaw before she began playing with his necklace and he just rubbed her back.

"This doesn't feel real," she said, still staring at the beads on his neck. "Us finally being together, the war being over, no one trying to kill us. It doesn't feel real sometimes. Like I'm dreaming."

"I know," Percy admitted as he memorised every feature of her face. "I feel that way too sometimes, but you want to know how I know this is real?"

"Tell me," she said as she met his eyes and he simply slid the hand that was playing with his necklace around to rest on the small of his back and she furrowed her brows. "I don't get it."

"Because the scene that I saw inside the Styx, the one that kept me tethered to my mortality and my humanity, it was you."

Her eyes sparkled with surprise before he kept speaking.

"I saw our first date at Coney Island. I saw you. And then there you were standing over me when I got out of the river. And I'll give you three guesses what the biggest reason I turned down Zeus' offer was."

She bit her lips before smiling bashfully. "I didn't really think - my brothers, Annabeth and Thalia, they were all making fun of me for it."

And his fingers tilted her chin up as he slid across the pillow and kissed her.

"You did the same thing for me," he said when he pulled away.

"You seem very sure of that."

"I am. Annabeth told me, and Annabeth is always right."

"Traitor."

"Hey," he said as he tucked her hair behind her ear. "You don't ever have to worry about this not being real, or about me vanishing again like last summer. You're my tether and I'm always going to find my way back to you. And nothing, I mean nothing, could ever make me forget you. Not even your powers or your father's. In case you haven't figured it out yet, you are definitely not easy to forget."

"Wow," she said breathlessly. "You really know how to make a girl swoon."

Percy grinned smugly and she rolled her eyes.

"You are something else, Percy Jackson," she said, and his smug grin only grew as he inched his body closer to her.

"I'm just a guy that's completely obsessed with his girlfriend."

"I told you," she said, now matching his smug grin. "Everyone likes me more than you, including you."

Percy inched even closer, his fingers tangling in her hair. "I wholeheartedly agree."

And as she rolled on her back as he kissed her, his weight braced on his forearms as her hands felt up his torso, she cursed Aphrodite.

Because she was beginning to fall in love with him. At least she thought so.

But little did she know, their little bubble of perfect was about to pop.

And one of the only two things Percy would remember, was a pair of Indigo Eyes.