Booths

By Reese's Regime

"She's snoring again."

"You drool," I pointed out.

"That's not the same," Luke retorted.

"It's still gross."

He just rolled his eyes and let the subject drop.

Somehow, our cross-country travels had taken us to the outlying Chicago areas. We were beginning to wonder what we would do; without any cash or nearby connections, we surely wouldn't be able to go much further. I'll admit this. I had my heart set on at least a crappy motel room, which was obviously impossible, while Luke was ready to give up and find somewhere on the streets, but after midnight, Luke decided to hit the sack in some Kentucky Fried Chicken we passed off the highway. Getting in had been a cinch considering the fact that the restaurant had the same security level of a gameboy system and that it was nearly one in the morning.

Annabeth lay down in a booth almost immediately. Luke and I were sitting next to each other in the same booth, across the table from Annabeth. He laughed softly. "She looks comfortable for sleeping in a restaurant booth."

Almost on cue, Annabeth snored and rolled over onto her side. I laughed.

"She's seven and we've been traveling the entire day," I said, "She'd look comfortable sleeping on a wooden block."

We were both wide-awake, talking like we usually did that late in the evening. Despite the fact that we took sleeping shifts and lost easily four hours of shut-eye per night, we didn't tire out easily. Usually, we'd steal a few cans of red-bull (as if we weren't already hyper enough) and stay up, talking about whatever the hell we felt like. One of us would finally give in and call it a night, and the other would take the first shift.

"You going to hit the sack soon?" he asked me.

I shook my head, "Probably not."

"Same," he said flatly.

Neither of us spoke for a moment

"You wanna the second shift?" he asked.

"No."

"Damn."

I rolled my eyes. "I took the second shift last night. Your turn, Luke."

"I'm not tired."

"Neither am I."

"Glad to know you're flexible," he muttered.

We both sat there for a minute, only with the sounds of Annabeth's rhythmic snores. I smiled. Right off the bat, I had made sure to fully explain her that being a half-blood meant you had monsters after you every minute (as if she didn't know that already). To see her snoring the way she was made me wonder if I'd really given her the right perception of what it was like to be a demigod. We'd only been traveling with her a little more than a week, and although we'd run across our fair share of monsters, I was getting the impression that she had this idea that Luke and I would always be there save her.

"Do you think it was a good idea?" Luke said, his voice dropping, "To have had Annabeth come with us?"

I shifted uncomfortably, because to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure. Despite the fact that she was a half-blood, and that staying on her own would have been dangerous enough, she was seven, for Gods' sake. Traveling alone with only two other half-bloods by your side was a hell of a lot more dangerous than staying at home like any other seven-year old demigod should have been doing, especially a half-blood like me. I was surprised that Annabeth had learned the truth about her family so early. Demigods usually didn't learn about their parentage until they were ten or eleven, never past twelve.

"Definitely," I said anyway.

He looked at me skeptically. "Do you think we should have left her living with her dad and stepmom?"

I instantaneously shook my head. "No way am I trusting them."

He tried to hide a smirk on his face.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he muttered quickly, "It's nothing."

"No, what?"

He sighed and laughed again, "I don't think you would trust anyone."

"Maybe I don't. You have a problem with that?"

"No. It's just…" he laughed again, brushing some loose hair out of his face. "You trust me, Thalia."

His question came out more as a statement, and I couldn't really argue with him.

"Maybe I do."

He tried to hide a look of surprise. "Really?" he asked, not quite believing me.

"Yeah." I shrugged.

He smiled a bit, and we were both quiet for a moment.

"Why do you trust me Thalia?" he asked finally.

"I just do. Unless you want that to change, of course."

"No," he said quickly. He looked at me and gave me a half-hearted smile. "Don't change Thalia. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

I furrowed by brow, confused. "No one ever has."

He snorted and retorted sarcastically, "Sure Thalia."

"What are you…" my voice trailed off as I remembered what had just happened days before. I grit my teeth and cringed, and just thinking about Zoë Nightshade and her damned hunters aggravated me. "If this is about Zoë, then I've already told you that I don't believe what she said."

"You were about to join her," he said, slightly disgusted.

"Them," I corrected him. "I almost joined them. But I'm no hunter, am I?"

Luke looked at me doubtfully. "No, but you almost believed her."

"Almost, Luke. I almost believed that she was right about you, and that you would let me down. But at the end of the day, it's obvious she didn't change my mind."

He didn't say anything.

"I trust you Luke," I said flatly, sliding out of the booth. "What happened with Zoë a few days ago is proof of that."

He turned to me and gave me a half-hearted smile. "You didn't become a hunter for me." I got the feeling that his statement was meant to be a question.

I blushed a bit at the way he phrased his words, but didn't let it get to my head. "You're right, I didn't. Feel special."

He smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

I shrugged. "Goodnight Luke," I said, turning my back on him and walking over to another booth.

"Thalia." I turned around and looked Luke in the eye. I stopped in my tracks, nearly halfway across the restaurant. "I just thought I'd let you know," he said slowly, "That I would do the same for you." Something seemed to get caught in his throat as he said the last word.

"What, you wouldn't become a hunter either?" I smirked, seeing the expression on his face. "That's a smart idea. I'm sure Artemis and Zoë would appreciate it."

"I think you know what I mean."

I nodded. "Right. Joking set aside, I get what you mean. Thanks Luke. It means a lot to me." My voice broke halfway through my sentence, and we were both quiet.

Luke's message had been clear, and so was mine; I care about you. I didn't know what else had been running through Luke's head, but plenty more had been running through mine. At that moment, I felt like just going back to him and sitting back down next to him. I wanted nothing more than to stay up all night and talk to him. For one moment, we both hesitated. I felt like taking a step towards him, and he shifted his weight. Instead of taking a step like I wanted to, I simply gave him a smile.

"Goodnight Luke," I told him again, turning back around and walking the other half of the restaurant to another booth.

"Goodnight," I heard him say.

I didn't turn back around, because if I did, I was positive I would run back to him and admit that I was in love with him. Instead, I lay down on the booth's lumpy cushion, and fell asleep.

A/N: Special thanks to the vonderful Zoe Nightshade for being an amazing beta.

Oh, and for the few of you that are about to report this story for plagarism, I wouldn't be suprised. I had originally posted this story on another account, and decided to move it to here. PM before you report me, darlings ^^"

Reese