Like two ninjas in the night, the Stoll brothers crept around the Demeter Cabin. Two cans of spray paint were clutched inside their glove covered hands, as they whispered quietly. Connor said, " I suck at art, Travis. How are we supposed to do this perfectly?" Travis facepalmed. He was seriously hoping that it would look perfect by light, so that this would be the thing Katie Gardner woke up to on her birthday. Of course, everything couldn't go fine for the daughter of Demeter on her birthday. The thought of Katie having a perfect day made Travis laugh. No way he'd let her get off that easily. He tossed his brother the can of white paint and said, " Look, the Muses are on our side. They said they'd help us with this. Besides, they kept saying Demeter was complaining about how old her cabin was looking, and she was driving them nuts." He stuck the bobby pin in the doorlock, and eased the door open. Travis snuck inside, pausing at Katie's bedside table. A picture frame was sitting there, enclosing a photo of Katie and him; he was lauging hysterically at the camera while Katie had a pissed off look on her face, syrup dripping off her hair. He was suprised she had actually gotten it printed after the beat up he'd gotten.
He sat it down, gazing at a lilac colored rose. It was blooming like mad in a crystal vase, and a note was propped against it, the scrawl of a thirteen year old boy fully visible, even in the dark.
Katie-
I am your admirarer. You may not know this but i have loved you for about a year now. Would you like to go out with me?
- Your not so secret admirarer.
He almost laughed at the fact that she had kept this, of all things, along with the flower. It had been Valentine's Day, and he'd finally gotten the courage to give it to her, but when the time came, he'd stuttered and said that he'd been asked to give it to her. Katie had smiled at the flower and inhaled deeply. She took it and placed it in that vase, almost four years ago. He finally got to business, dying her bangs dark green to match the plants she loved so much. Travis resisted the urge to laugh heavily as she rolled over, muuttering something. He snuck back out and gazed at the cabin in wonder.
Connor had made it look incredible. The cabin itself was painted an off white, and various types of flowers were depicted at the bottom of the cabin, like they were growing from the ground. Poppies, petunias, zenias, even marigolds and daisies. Wow, Travis thought, when did I get so... informed about flowers? Apparently all that time he had spent with Katie had paid off, Connor thought smugly as Travis spouted off the flower breeds. He looked up at his little brother. " Dude, go back to our cabin and I'll get started on the roof." Connor nodded and headed off toward the Hermes cabin. Travis, however, very slowly and silently, pulled himself onto the roof, grabbed seeds from his pockets and began planting them on the grass covered roof. Please, he prayed, Demeter. I really love your daughter, and I have this idea... If you could just turn them the color lilac, and make them grow really fast. Like, before five? he added to his prayer.
He could imagine Demeter hearing him, scowling, but trying not to smile at his attempt. In fact, that is exactly what she was doing. She paced back and forth across her room, thinking thoughts that collided, but didn't agree at all. What does this... spawn of Hermes want with my daughter? But, he does love her, I can tell! No matter, it's a Stoll, meaning my Katie's too good for him. But she loves him, too... ARGH! This last part was really screamed, waking up Aphrodite, and causing her to appear in front of the Godess of the Harvest. " Demeter!" Aphrodite exclaimed, seeing the look on her face. Demeter put her head in her hands. " Do you know what that... that boy is doing for my Katie?" she asked. Aphrodite reached out and a mirror appeared in her hand. She gazed at it, her face lighting up as a squeal came from between her lips. " Oh! It's so sweet! You can feel the love wafting off him!" the goddess glared at her. " What?" she asked innocently. Demeter groaned. She waved her hand, and the roses bloomed fully, making Travis fall off the roof in suprise.
Katie was asleep, dreaming of, who else, Travis Stoll. In her dream, she was Juliet Capulet, and Travis was Romeo. Which was ironic, she thought, because Demeter's daughter and Hermes son was like a forbidden love. Travis/Romeo stood in front of her, quite nice-looking in his tights, and his blue eyes searched hers. " If I profane with my unworthiest hand, the holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss." he said, following the lines from the play. He kisses her hand. She gasps and smiles weakly. " Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this; for saints have hands that pillgrims' hands do touch, and palm-to-palm is holy palmers' kiss." He chuckles, tilting her head up to look at him. Katie/Juliet closes her eyes, waiting for the dream to end. He says, " Have not saints lips, and holy palmers, too?" Her eyes fly open in suprise. " Aye, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer." she counters.
Travis/Romeo shakes his head, a sad smile on his face. " O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; they pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair!" Katie/Juliet stares at her feet. " Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake." He gives her a helpless glance. " Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take!" he exclaims, his brown curls falling in his eyes. He tilts her chin up once more, and leans down, about to press his lips to her's. But then, it was ruined. " KATIE!" Miranda screamed, throwing a pillow at her face. Katie sat up suddenly and yelled in outrage. " OH COME ON! ROMEO WAS ABOUT TO KISS ME!" she raised her eyebrows as her half-sister blushed. Miranda rolled her eyes and hauled Katie off the bunk. " Why do I have to get up? It's my birthday!" Katie complained. Miranda smirked. " That's exactly why. The Stolls have struck again." Her eyes widened as she dashed to the bathroom. Katie saw the green bangs and thought, Hey, that looks good!
She came out with a happy expression on her face. She walked over to her nightstand to get her hairband, but noticed a heart was drawn in a spot of dust. Katie froze, seeing it.
" Woah." Turning to see her sister with a guilty look on her face, Katie cautiously asked, " That wasn't all you wanted to tell me, was it?" Miranda shook her head, lips pursed and eyes watering. Guessing it was outside, the demigod walked out of her cabin. And screamed her head off. Because the cabin was gorgeous. It was repainted, more flowers planted in the flower bed, the roof was mowed, and flowers were springing up on the roof. Lilac colored roses. Oh, gods, Katie thought in awe. Whoever had done this was her secret admirer from four years ago. It was so sweet, the way that person had left them everywhere for her, all with notes attatched to the stems. But at the end of those two months, her admirer had begun to think that she had no feelings for them. But she did, even if she didn't know who her secret 'admirarer' was. Because each of those notes had one thing they loved about her written on the colored paper. Katie had kept them all, but one was so special, she put it on display. It was simple, only asking her out, but it was the most important, because it reminded her what she could have had. But seeing the flowers hit her hard, and she thought, maybe they still liked her.
It was too good to hope that it was Travis who had written those heart stopping notes; he didn't have a romantic bone in his body. Katie loved Travis, and that was why she hoped it was him. For a year, she'd wanted to stand there and kiss him senseless, just like Romeo had Juliet. Tears filled her eyes as she saw her seventeenth birthday present, and it was too much for the daughter of Demeter. The tears streamed down her face, overflowing like a waterfall. She felt a hand on her shoulder. " Like your-?" he stopped, seeing her crying. " Katie? What's wrong?" Travis asked, pulling her into a hug. She buried her face in his neck, sobbing uncontrolably. " I feel so bad! I was so wrong about those letters. I should have told them." His eyebrows scrunched together. " Why would my letters make you feel bad?" he asked her, not thinking. She suddenly stopped and pulled away,
narrowing her eyes. " Your letters? You mean, that day you gave me the flower, it was from you?" He nodded.
" I just lost my nerve," Travis explained, rubbing his neck. " I mean, I loved you, so I wanted to tell you. I just... couldn't. But I want to tell you this now. I do and always will, love you Katie Cat." She stared at him, blinking rapidly. His heart sunk. Oh no, he thought. Katie punched him in the face. He yelled in agony as his nose bled. Katie didn't seem sorry, she just smirked at his face. People had gathered around the boy with a bloody nose, and the girl with green bangs. " You idiot," Katie spat, " how could I not love you? You pestered me enough to make a crow fall in love with you! And what made you lose your nerve? I'm not anything special." He scowled at her. " Katie Gardner. Never say that again. The notes I wrote you, everything on them, was true." Katie blushed furiously, remembering the things he'd written. He smiled at her through his bleeding nose, and her expression turned to guilt. " I'm so sorry! I didn't realise..." she stuttered, with a worried frown. He chuckled, pulling her into a bear hug.
" It's okay," Travis joked, " you just got caught up in the amazing me!" Katie rolled her eyes, and said, " If this is your normal state, how are you going to react to me saying I reciprocate your feelings?"
He brightened. " You love me, too?" She playfully punched him in the shoulder. " Yes, I love you, too!" He grabbed her around the waist, and spun her around. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he blushed. " Am I making you un-?" she started, before being interupted by a pair of soft lips on hers. She curled her fingers into his hair and pulled him closer, and they kissed with a passion that would make even Romeo and Juliet jealous.
AN: Okay! So... Whada think?