𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑺 • 𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐶𝑌 𝐽𝐴𝐶𝐾𝑆𝑂𝑁 ²

TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
—dumb dates and
blue birthday cake

🗡🗡🗡

—JUDITH wasn't entirely sure if this was supposed to be a date. Percy hadn't asked her. She hadn't asked him. But they were alone ... together, up against the lake's shore on a fleece blanket, watching the fireworks show for the Fourth of July. Completely sappy, right?

  But as the night continued, the daughter of Ares found herself wanting it to be a date more and more. At least to clear up all of her confusing thoughts.

  At each explosion in the sky, Percy's face was bathed in a rainbow of colors. The orange and yellows made his tanned skin look like a god's, Apollo's if she dared to say it. And she subtly admired the blues and greens that seemed to make his eyes glow and swirl like an unforgiving sea. Whirlpools and tides working in tandem to fuel an ocean. But Judith found the reds to be her favorite, unsurprisingly. The deep burgundy color was wildly unsettling upon his sharp features, his expression turning dangerous. And the shadows in his eyes made him look almost deadly. She found it hauntingly beautiful.

  She didn't have an avid eye for beauty like Silena, but it was becoming painfully obvious to her that Percy was attractive. In the way he looked, the way he held himself, in his untapped power. But Judith was also starting to notice the little details that she would normally overlook out of inattentiveness, especially from the past few weeks of learning about each other. It had been startling, coming to the conclusion that she truly liked him, but seeing everything that made this boy Percy, it wasn't hard to figure out why.

Both Annabeth and Silena had claimed that they were 'good for each other.' And though Judith hadn't understood it at the time, she could see it now. They should clash, a fatal mixture of fire and water. But where fire was unrelenting and ruthless, Judith was learning to control it and harness it. And where water could be tame and serene, Percy was discovering that it could be violent and vicious. Instead of crashing in disharmony, they were able to unite in a fiery storm.

  Tearing her eyes away from the boy's side profile that was currently lit up in a bright pink ( and even that color, she didn't hate it when it was on him ), Judith looked out at the lake, the question of the night formulating on her tongue. "Percy," he turned to look at her, "is this a date?"

  The question clearly caught him off guard as he stumbled through his next words. "Well, I — uh, do you want it to be?"

  Duh, she bit her cheek. But she was not about to let him turn the question on her to put her on the spot. "That isn't how our game works. Someone asks the question, it's answered, and then we can move on."

  "Right, right," he breathed. "I think it is ... whatever you think it is." That was so unfair. "So, what do you think it is?"

  She wouldn't let him win that easily. "I think it's whatever you want it to be. So what do you want it to be?" She could do this all night.

  "I'm starting to hate this game," he said instead.

  "Just answer the question, Barnacle Breath," Judith begged. Her patience was wearing incredibly thin.

  "Alright." Percy nodded to himself. "Alright, yeah. Yeah, I want it to be a date." Once the words were out, he relaxed. "Of course, I want it to be a date."

  Judith pursed her lips to hide her smile. "Then you know my answer."

  And Percy grinned, satisfied, even with her evasive response. He had come to appreciate her way of showing outward tenderness. The actions were small and rare, and if you blinked, you'd most definitely miss them — but he supposed it made the moments all the more special. Her eyes refused to meet his in the darkness, but he was thankful because it gave him a chance to admire her.