I'm not quite sure what this is going to be about, I'm making up as I go! All I know is that it will be a Tratie most definitely! Please forgive the extreme randomness!
DISCLAIMER: I would say that I owned Percy Jackson and the Olympians…but that would be a lie:(
Travis was sitting on a bench thinking.
Actually, to see a Stoll thinking was quite a rare sight. Somebody should've taken a picture on the spot and framed it or something.
No, he wasn't thinking about the Pythagorean Theorum.
No,he wasn't thinking about the meaning of life.
He was thinking about something just as confusing- Girls. Katie Gardner in particular.
He wasn't quite sure if he liked her or not. Travis had never really liked girls before (even though he did spend his free time flirting with nearly everyone that came across his path), but lately when he was around Katie, he felt a little different. Like he suddenly had to act a lot more mature or something to impress her.
Normally, Travis would go to his brother and Partner in Crime (literally) for answers but he thought it would be so…well…awkward to talk about this stuff with Connor. It would be like the time in Health when they sat down the boys and girls in a room and gave them The Talk and Travis had hidden under his desk in fear he would be scarred for life from the video they showed.
Ok, maybe not that bad, but it definitely would be awkward talking about FEELINGS with his brother.
Travis shuddered. FEELINGS. What a despicable word. And in the category of FEELINGS was love which was even more despicable that the word FEELINGS itself. It made Travis feel like puking.
And then under love there was KISSING. Ugh! Travis was fifteen and he still hadn't had his first kiss, but he didn't want one. Well, Ok, that was a lie. Maybe he did want one a teensy weensy bit...but only if it was with Katie Gardener.
That made Travis go right back to where he had started: Do I like Katie or not?
No, because I'm always pranking her. Plus she's always giving annoying lectures.
But didn't you just say you wanted to kiss her?
Yeah but….
Admit it: You like her.
I guess. She is kind of cute….
Ok, she's hot.
Travis suddenly felt hot, and it wasn't because it was ninety degrees outside. It was like a warm bubbly hot. A weird feeling he really never felt before. I like a girl. I like a girl! I might even love her! Ew, no. Ok, but I still like her!
But she doesn't like me….
Now there was a major problem. Travis didn't want to end up having to serenade her or something to get her to like him…no, even he Travis The World's Hottest and Awesomest Dude sucked at singing. Katie would probably throttle him with tomato vines just to make him shut up. That would not be happy. No, Travis did not want to reach his untimely death for a girl, even though it might be the love of his life. He would have to think of something else. Something Katie would actually like. Something she might really appreciate….like cooking!
Cooking! Aha! It was so awesomely perfect! Why hadn't he thought of it any sooner? Travis Stoll was practically the master at cooking! He was, like, the Mud Pie King back in preschool! If he could master the art of mud pies (which, by the way, was a lot more difficult than it sounded), cooking actual food would be a breeze.
The only thing to decide now was what to cook. Cereal…no! You need to really impress her! No cereal!
OK, how 'bout a microwavable burrito? NO! Travis, you're going to use an actual stove!
OK, then….
How about steak?!
She's vegetarian.
Seriously, vegetarians miss out. Ok, well, then how about tofu?! Travis grimaced at the thought of tofu and shuddered. But then, he decided, if he wanted Katie, he was going to have to give some to get some.
So tofu it is. Now where in the Big House do you find tofu….?
Travis wasn't the Tofu Master, but he was pretty sure that tofu was just like meat, therefore, you keep it in the freezer. With a plan in his brain, Travis Stoll snuck into the Big House to find himself a slab of tofu.
oOoOoOo
He found the tofu in the fridge.
WHAT THE HECK?! IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE FREEZER RIGHT?! Travis came to the conclusion that some very dumb person, who obviously wasn't an Amazing Almost Tofu Master like him, had very stupidly put it there. People these days! Travis thought, as he moved it into the fridge before going to consult with the internet for instructions on how to cook tofu (the package proved to be useful when it came to cooking directions).
Technically, demigods weren't allowed to use the internet. But Travis Stoll, son of Hermes for tofu's sake, didn't give a grain of salt for the rules. It really wasn't fair that only Chiron and Mr. D got to use it for "important uses". It wasn't like Travis didn't know that Mr. D was always playing poker online….
He made his way all the way over to the office, where he stealithily closed the door behind him without so much as a creak. This was the first time he's snuck in without Connor, and Travis sort of missed having someone to snicker with at all the pictures of Mr. D's previous love interests. But, no, he couldn't bring along Connor. Connor would just laugh. He didn't understand stuff like liking girls.
Travis started up the computer and typed in the password, which happened to be zeusrockstheworld (it wasn't that hard to guess. Travis had a very strong feeling that Zeus has set it), and once the desktop was all loaded up (Zeus's amazing Lightning Bolt, of course), he clicked on the Internet Explorer icon, and googled 'cooking instructions for tofu'.
It took him about thirty minutes to find one that required the least amount of effort from him, because Travis knew he definitely liked Katie, but he didn't like her so much that he would slave over a hot stove for more than an hour making sure the tofu was cooked to perfection. No, that was not Travis Stoll's idea of fun. He quickly wrote the recipe on the back of his hand, and shut the computer off, making his way back to the kitchen. He opened the fridge, and tossed the package of tofu onto the table. THUMP! It landed with a hard thud. OK, then, I thought tofu was supposed to be jiggly, Travis thought as he tentatively lifted a corner of the package and lifted it open. He pressed his pinkie finger down into it, only to find that the tofu was as hard as rocks, with a thin layer of ice around it.
"Oh, crap," Travis muttered as he slammed it on the counter in an attempt to defrost it without having to defrost it with heat. Nothing happened. It was like a brick. They should build the cabins out of these, Travis thought, and right as he thought it, the most brilliant idea ever popped into his head. All he would be needing was one very special Hephaestus kid….
Travis tucked the slab of tofu into his shirt (he had no concern for sanitation), and walked stealthily out the door and into the sunshine. The ice burned against his chest, and made Travis feel like screaming like a little girl, but he forged on. For Katie, he thought, For Katie.
"Yo, Leo!" he called out to the Hephaestus boy with the curly black hair.
Leo looked up. "Hey, Stoll! Um, why is there a huge block on your chest and why are you holding it? Did, like, some rectangular organ fall out of your body?"
"Shhhhhhhh!" Travis hissed, and moved closer to him. "Don't say a word to-"
"It's about a girl, right?"
"Um….no…uh..yes…uh, yeah I guess. How'd you know?"
"Boys, including me, always do stupid things for girls," Leo said wisely.
"Wise words, man" Travis said.
"Yeah, I know. Anyway, what do you want?" Leo took his hands off a bunch of pipe cleaners he'd been twisting about.
"This," Travis whispered, and, as inconspicuously as possible, took the tofu out of his shirt. Leo grimaced, as if Travis had violated some important rule of sanitation that Travis obviously did not know about.
"Soooo..whaddya want me to do with it?" asked Leo, his eyebrows raised.
Travis rolled his eyes. "Cook it, duh!"
"With my fire?"
"Yeah, duh."
"OK, Stoll. No need to be mean about it. Not everyday someone asks you to cook a piece of tofu…" Leo held his hands out and Travis plopped it into his hands. While Leo went inside to cook it, Travis spotted Katie Gardner and decided that he'd better tell her to come over to his cabin while he had spare time. He walked over to her, and, trying to play it cool, tapped her on the shoulder
"Hey, Katie-Potatie."
Katie whirled around angrily. "What do you want Stoll?! And don't call me that! My name's Katie and that's it!"
Travis couldn't help but smile. Katie was adorable when she was mad. Her frizzy brown hair would fall into her face, and her thin brown eyebrows would scrunch up over her bright green eyes. Occasionally, she would stomp her huge feet (she was only five three, and wore a size NINE! Don't ask how Travis knew…), but Travis thought her huge feet were cute, if not the best part of her anyway.
Instead he swallowed all his secret feelings and just blushed a little. "OK, I get it. Hey, um, do you-" How the Hades am I supposed to ask a girl on a date without her knowing it's a date?! "-Wanna hang out tonight?" Travis asked before his brain told him not to. He grimaced at what he said and silently prayed to Aphrodite that Katie would say yes even though what he said had sounded so weird.
Just as he had suspected, Katie gave him a strange look. "Uh, no." She turned around again. Think! C'mon Travis! How do you get her to say yes?! Travis's brain frantically racked his brain to come up with a solution. After about five seconds, he decided to resort to whining, the handiest trick ever.
"Whhhhy noooooottt?" he whined.
"Because you're a total jerk and make my life miserable." Katie took a few steps forward. Travis walked ahead and fell in step with her.
"I'm not that bad."
"Yes you are."
"Not really. Well, I might be sort of kind of bad but once you get over that, I'm like the Hottest Dude Ever!"
"Psych."
Travis didn't even know Katie knew what 'psych' meant. She isn't as old school as I thought! He thought. Never mind that though! Keep whining! Then she'll say yes!
"Seriously Katie. I am totally awesome."
"And so I should hang out with you tonight because you're awesome?"
"Um-"
At that moment, as if to ruin it all, Leo called out, "YO STOLL! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?! I GOT YOUR TOFU!"
Travis bit his lower lip, and decided to pretend that he was calling out for the other Stoll. He tried to walk a step, but Katie didn't budge. A small smile was on her lips.
"I think someone's calling for you."
"Nah. It's for Connor….I think."
"No, I don't see Connor. I think it's for you." Katie gave him a little shove, and Travis blushed.
"If I go now and stop annoying you, will you come tonight?"
"No. But really, Travis, why are you so hung up about me going?"
"Just cause."
"OK, then."
"Bye."
"Bye. Have fun with that tofu."
"Oh, gods, trust me, I will," Travis muttered before leaving.
After picking up his tofu from Leo as quickly as possible and thanking him, Travis set out for the Big House. He figured that you had to make some sort of dessert in order to declare a meal an official romantic dinner. Getting the ancient cook book off the shelf, Travis set to work to make his cake, which was certain to turn out absolutely amazing just like him. After all, he was the Mud Pie Master…
OoOoOoOoO
It was ten thirty. Too late for anything. Too late. But Travis Stoll didn't care. He popped another Hershey kiss in his mouth as he turned off the oven to take the cake out. It was much too late to eat cake, or force Katie into having a romantic dinner with him, but Travis honestly didn't care. Maybe he could save it for tomorrow….
Rubbing his tired eyes, he put on oven mitts, and reached inside the oven to pull it out. He looked eagerly inside the cake pan.
It was ugly, to say the least. It was all flat, and the chocolate color made it look like poop. In the center, there was a crater that touched the bottom of the pan. The edges were burned, and when Travis stuck his fork in it, some parts were still liquidy.
Travis felt too tired to feel anything except disappointment and sadness. It would never happen. Never. He and Katie would never get together. How could he impress her with a slab of tofu he had no idea what to do with, and a disgusting cake? It would never happen. Never.
"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Travis yelled in his state of delirious sleepiness. He sank to the ground, and the cake pan fell too. He didn't care.
"Travis," a soft voice asked with hints of laughter.
"Yeah?" Travis said. He couldn't even identify the voice. That's how tired he was.
Or atleast he couldn't until someone stepped out of the shadows-Katie Gardner. He didn't even have the energy to react.
"I'm awesome, right Katie?" Travis didn't even know what he was saying at this point.
Katie knelt next to him in her pajama pants and Save the Trees t-shirt. "Are you OK?"
"No. My cake sucks. I'm tired."
"Why were you baking?"
"I can't even remember…" Travis said, even though in some subconscious part of his brain, he knew it was about Katie.
"Oh. OK." Katie said and tenderly slipped her hand into his. Travis smiled in his almost sleep. Katie smiled to herself. She put her head on his shoulder. Travis hugged her in a very strange, sleepy way.
They stayed that way the rest of the night, Katie in Travis's arms, both sleeping on the cold linoleum of the Big House Kitchen.
OoOoOoOoO
When Travis Stoll woke up, he remembered that last night had been terrible. Then he looked over to his side, at Katie. She was sleeping right next to him, her head on his thigh.
He smiled. He couldn't remember, but something had obviously gone right.
OK, there you have it! This is the first Tratie I wrote that wasn't a drabble where they didn't kiss! Burt I think it was more romantic that way:)
By the way nothing dirty happened during the night. They just slept together, LITERALLY, not FIGURATIVELY!:D
Oh, and by the way, my birthday's coming up REALLY soon… just saying, a review might be a really nice present? (HINT HINT!)
Thanks for reading! You are amazing, peoples!:)