Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 12

Cressida had been pacing the deck of the flying warship, the Argo II for hours as they made the journey from Long Island to San Francisco.

In the last six months, she'd been waiting for this moment. She'd imagined it a million times. She'd been splitting her time between camp and Sally Jackson's apartment. It was a way to feel close to Percy she supposed. And Sally was grateful for her company. In fact, it was Sally that helped Cressida realise something.

She'd been sitting on Percy's bed, not long after her breakdown at camp, reading through the blueprints for the Argo II not that it made much sense to her, when Sally knocked on the door.

"Sweetheart, dinner is ready," she said, and Cressida nodded.

"I'll be there in a second. These don't mean much to me, but I should still try to understand them. I'm going to be living on this ship for who knows how long."

"Cress," Sally said softly as she came to sit on the bed, placing a hand on top of the blueprints. "Are you sure you're ok? Well, as ok as you can be?"

She sighed as she looked up from them. "I don't know. Six months is a really long time. It's the longest we've ever been apart since we met. And I - " she cut herself off as a thought occurred to her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"What's it feel like to be in love?"

Sally's eyes lit up with cautious hope. "Are you asking me this for the reason I think you're asking me this?"

"I think so. I mean, I've never been in love. So, I figured I'd ask someone who has been."

"Sweetheart, I'm fairly certain you already know the answer. I think you've known the answer for a while, and I think you're scared to admit it."

Cressida bit her lips. "If I admit that I love him, and then I lose him...I won't be able to handle it."

Sally just smiled which she found strange. "Aren't you the one always saying how stubborn my son is? He'll be just fine. I know he will be. Because I know that he won't leave this earth without telling you that he loves you too."

"And you're so sure that he loves me?"

Sally gave her a knowing look. "A mother knows her son. But with your fatal flaw, perhaps you'd like to see it from someone else's perspective."

"What do you mean?" Cressida asked.

"Come with me," Sally said and Cressida slid off Percy's bed as she followed his mother into her own room that she shared with her new husband and pulled out a pile of papers from the drawer on her bedside table. "I was waiting until it was finished. I was hoping to make it a birthday present for you both, but I think you could use it now. It's still rough and the title is a work in progress, but I hope you don't mind."

"Mind what?"

Sally just handed her the papers. It was a manuscript. The title read When Water Meets Fire.

And when she opened it to the dedication page, her knees buckled as she sat down on Sally's bed.

For Percy and Cress. Because your love story is one that should be shared with the world.

"A book. You wrote a book about us," she said, and Sally smiled.

"I got the idea the day Percy took you out on your first date to Coney Island. When he came back, he couldn't stop talking about how happy he was and how he was already planning your next date. The words spilled out onto the page, and they just wouldn't stop. And don't worry, there's no explicit scenes in there. That would be a line I don't even want to think about crossing."