Chapter 2
A couple of days had passed and now Nico was getting ready to go with Percy to pick up Annabeth before they went out to eat before the movie. They had talked about it more yesterday during lunch and had decided to go to the little pizzeria a block down from the theatre and the others would meet them there. Piper lived nearby so she and Jason would just walk there and Reyna would drive Hazel, Leo, and Frank.
Nico was really looking forward to the movie and could barely hold back his excitement while he sat in the car with Percy and Annabeth on the way to dinner.
"So do you think it will be busy at the theatre tonight? I know this is supposed to be a highly anticipated movie and all but I hope it doesn't take too long to get in, at least we ordered our tickets online." Nico said from the backseat, Percy smiled at him in the rear-view mirror.
"Yeah this way we don't have to worry about it being sold out before we get there." He said.
"We still have two and a half hours before the movie so that should give us enough time to eat and relax for a bit before getting to the theatre, then we should still have enough time to get in despite any big lines and still make it for the pre-movie quizzes and trailers." she turned to face Nico in the backseat. "Faceoff between you me and Piper, winner gets free coffee for a week."
Nico returned her smile.
"Oh it's on."
The three of them were the biggest movie buffs out of the group and had made it a must to see who had the most knowledge about the movies listed in the quizzes they showed before the actual movie. They had started this when the three of them had been the first to arrive to a show one time and had spent the time waiting for the others seeing who knew more answers. From then on they had always tried to get there as soon as possible so that they could face off again and again. Piper was the reigning champion but Nico and Annabeth were close to catching up and Nico was determined to win that coffee.
…
Nico and his friends sat together and chatted about the movie they were about to go see, they had all been looking forward to it for months now and had rushed to get their tickets online as soon as they could.
Percy told a joke about the movie and everyone laughed but when Nico turned his head he thought he caught a glance of blond hair and he had to do a double take but they had already left the restaurant. Nico shook his head and told himself that he was just imagining things or that it could have been anyone.
Annabeth took out her phone to check the time.
"Okay we should get going; the lines are probably going to be really long." she looked over at Nico and Piper and grinned. "And we still have a challenge to do."
Nico and Piper smiled back ready for the challenge. They each handed some money down to Reyna who went to pay for their food while the others got up to go wait outside. Once everyone was together they headed over to the theatre.
…
Nico sat between Annabeth and Piper, and Jason and Percy sat on their other sides, the rest of their friends sat in the row just ahead of them.
They had managed to get in just as the first quiz question came on the screen and the three of them had stopped right in the aisle to see what it was and answer before the time was up. After that they took their seats and went through the rest of the questions. In the end Nico won and grinned smugly as he sat back in his seat.
"That's right I have the ultimate movie trivia knowledge." then he turned to Annabeth, "Remember the winner gets free coffee for a week, I like large Black with two sugar."
Piper laughed and Annabeth mumbled something under her breath about wrong genre or something but let out a sigh.
"Yeah I know, but next time I'll be the one victorious."
Nico could tell by her smirk that she didn't really feel all that mad about not winning their little game; they just liked to make a big deal about it each time someone else won.
"We'll see Wisegirl, we'll see."
Annabeth huffed in mock annoyance.
"Yes we will Angel face." she said with a teasing smirk as she used the nickname they only pulled out when they wanted to annoy Nico in a playful way, but he just rolled his eyes, the play on his last name had long since stopped bothering him.
And with that they sat back and watched the trailers for upcoming movies and made mental notes on which ones they wanted to see when they came out.
…
When the movie let out the group of friends made their way out to the main lobby of the theatre and talked excitedly about their favorite parts of the movie and how they had not been disappointed or how it had totally been worth the wait and they even made plans to come back and see it again. Percy did an impression of the main character and made them all laugh again.
As Percy and Jason got into a competition to see who could do a more accurate impression Nico shook his head and turned away but his breath caught as he caught sight of a familiar blond and this time knew that he wasn't imagining it, it was really him this time. Nico wondered momentarily if he had gone to the same movie as he watched him stand off to the side and laugh with a couple of friends. He was too far away for Nico to hear what they were saying so he couldn't be sure.
"Nico, hey Nico!"
Nico looked back at his friends and realized that they had made it to the doors by then and were waiting for him so he hurried to catch up.
"What's up man?" Percy asked when he reached them.
"Nothing, just thought I saw a poster for a movie I wanted to see but people were in the way." he lied but Percy just shrugged and let it drop, and they headed back to the car after saying goodbye to the others.
…
Once they had arrived home Nico went to his room and took out his notebook so that he could start on today's entry.
Dear diary, I can't get him off my mind. I thought I saw him at the restaurant before the movie but thought that I must have just imagined it, but then I really did see him at the theatre. I couldn't help but stop and stare at him and it scares me 'cause I've never felt this way, I just get so distracted when he's around but I don't know how to bring it up to the others.
No one in this world knows me better than you do. So diary I'll confide in you I really like him but I barely even know him. I'm not sure what to do about this.
Nico closed the notebook and leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh.
Please let me know what you think!
