Jason's POV
I felt like I've been hit by lightning a hundred times. Well, not that I haven't.
This is what happened.
Reyna and I were headed back to the pavilion to meet up with the gang. We passed by the new park since Reyna insisted. She was a fan of kids. Why? I'm not really sure. As we were walking, I spotted a couple. The boy was tall, and he was wearing all black. The girl, on the other hand, was very beautiful. She had brown hair and eyes that had different colors. I'm not the type to hit on girls with boyfriends. But an instinct told me that they weren't even together. I stopped for a while to make sure. My eyes weren't tricking me for all I know. It was Piper.
She stood up with Nico and walked our way. She didn't actually see us. I walked as well to greet her, when Nico bent down to kiss her.
I stopped dead on my tracks. What did he just do?
Piper wasn't mine. That's for sure. But I made myself perfectly clear when I told her I, uh, felt something about her. I focused on something more important.
The brat was kissing my Piper.
My bad. I forgot she wasn't my girlfriend.
Piper seemed to notice me when Nico pulled away from her. We stood there, face to face. Even if Reyna was overprotective of me, she gasped. Piper's eyes were huge. Nico, how do I begin? He just looked at me with no specific emotion. If I were a girl, I would run away in tears. But I'm not a girl. And I don't cry. I just stood there, trying to hide my emotions.
Piper took a step forward, dragging the brat behind. "Jason—"
She flinched and I noticed that Reyna was glaring at her. I decided to speak.
"I don't mind, Piper, really. You can kiss whoever you want," I sounded cold. She looked sad and I regretted saying something mean like that. The way I said it sounded like I was calling Piper a playgirl. I thought she would sit down on the floor and cry like in those soap operas. She didn't move, so I just turned around and decided to pass a different route. I was mad. Reyna seemed to know what I felt, because she laughed. That's what she does when things get serious.
"What a girl," she said.
"It's not her fault!" I snapped.
Reyna looked furious. "If you love her, don't just stand there and give up! You're a weakling, Jason. You think you're all mighty just because you can fly and summon lightning? Well, here's what I think. You're nothing but show!"
Don't worry, dear people who are watching us argue. I'm used to her shouting and scolding me. But this time, I knew she was right. I am nothing without my godly powers. I'm all show. Without my powers, I'm weak.
I sighed. "I have to admit for once that you're r—"
"JASON, YOU JERK!"
I looked behind and saw Piper charging towards us. If I didn't feel this sad, I would've laughed at the sight. Piper kept running to me, not minding the poor Nico who was being dragged mercilessly through the rocky floor. I started running away from her. I was horrified.
"JASON, DON'T YOU DARE RUN AWAY FROM ME!" she yelled. I ran faster away from her and I felt something rip apart. I thought it was my pants, but it was actually just me and Reyna being torn apart. I laughed and ran faster away from Piper. Reyna? Don't mind her. She's the one who pushed me to run away. I guess Piper terrified her.
Ri—ip!
I didn't have to look behind to know that Piper and Nico were already separated. Piper's footsteps became louder and faster that I knew she was dashing to me. I slowed down a bit because I got tired. Wrong move, Jason. Piper pushed me and we both fell to the floor. My face was facing the floor while she was on top of me. I was surprised that she didn't yell at me anymore. In fact, everything was quiet. I peeked in front of me and noticed that we were in an alley. Everything went silent.
That was until I heard sobs.
Surprised, I turned around to look at Piper. She looked mad. But, of course, the tears gave away. Her face was flushed and she grunted in embarrassment. I wasn't the emotional type, so I smiled gently and wiped away her tears with my hand.
"What's the matter, girly-girl?"
She looked confused. "Don't call me that. I hate it."
"I'm not convinced," I pointed out.
"Can I just get to the stinking point?" she groaned. I nodded.
"I hate it when you're with another girl. I hate it when you're not with me all the time. I hate it when it's not you I'm kissing—in my defense, I got used to you doing that—and I most definitely hate you!" she cried again. "It doesn't feel right kissing somebody else other than you. It—it's definitely not right!"
You may think that I would make fun of her or smirk like I always do, but what she said made my heart beat rapidly. I covered my face with my free hand so that she wouldn't see me blushing red. Yes, I said it! I'm blushing!
I asked a stupid question. "Why?"
"I won't tell you," she said softly. "Not until I hear it from somebody else first."
I didn't know what she meant, so I just nodded so I wouldn't look stupid. "I see."
Piper stood up and helped me get up from the floor. Reyna and Nico were nowhere to be found, so we just walked together to the pavilion. It was already nighttime, and we were both hungry. When they saw us walking to them, they all gasped.
"How were you able to unstick?" Percy asked in disbelief.
I looked around and noted that he was right. Everybody was still stuck to each other. Well, except for Piper, Reyna, Nico, and me. Speaking of Reyna, she wasn't here. Maybe she went back home. I sat down beside Leo.
"I don't really know," I said, not paying attention to them. I was watching a plate of beef stew appear out of nowhere. "We just suddenly did."
"Not cool," Thalia pouted.
When we finished our meals, Piper stood up from the table and smiled. How could she look so normal? "I have an idea! Let's have a sleepover at my house!"
Everybody agreed—including me—and we all went back to our homes to get our pajamas. I just grabbed a white shirt and navy blue pajama pants. Thalia went ahead of me with Annabeth. I walked to Piper's house and she let me in. They were all there, fixing the provided sleeping bags, all in their pajamas. I dressed up as well and helped the others fix Piper's humongous room. She left the room, and being the caring type, I followed her. She headed to the kitchen not knowing that I was following her. I smirked. There were trays of chips and sodas on top of a tray. Wow, I didn't know that we were that many. She reached for a tray, but I got it first. Piper jumped when our skins touched.
"Whoa! I didn't know you followed me here!" she exclaimed.
"How do you do that?" I murmured. She raised her eyebrows at me. "I mean, you're acting as if nothing happened."
She smiled and I gasped. I have got to get used to that beautiful smile. "My father is an actor."
"You're doing it again!" I yelled.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Stop acting like you're fine when you're not! That's what you do, right? When you're sad?" I retorted.
Piper looked pissed. "What do you know about being sad? You're not the one that's heartbroken."
Oh. Somehow it feels like a slap in the face.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to serve these," she snapped. She was about to leave, but I grabbed her wrist and hugged her tight. The tray Piper was holding dropped to the floor. Ugh. I'll have to clean that first. I was about to pull away, when she hugged me tighter and wrapped her arms around my neck. It was weird. Weird, because I should have found it awkward. Weird, because I was also happy. I put my arms around her waist and hugged her back. It was quiet. Neither of us wanted to pull away. I could hear our heartbeats and heavy breathing. I thought I could hear the Muses singing.
This night is sparkling, don't you let it go
I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home
I'll spend forever wondering if you knew
I was enchanted to meet you
Piper pulled away first. I was kinda disappointed. "Do you hear that?"
"Well…" I listened carefully. "Yeah." I said, shocked.
The lingering question kept me up
2 am, who do you love?
I wonder till I'm wide-awake
Now I'm pacing back and forth, wishing you were at my door
I'd open up and you would say,
It was enchanting to meet you
All I know was I was enchanted to meet you
"Enchanted," Piper finally said. "By…Taylor Swift."
Now I seriously don't know why it's such a big deal because Piper blushed. She walked to the dining room and I followed her. There was an IPod connected to speakers. Piper snatched it away from the speakers and stared at the IPod.
She sighed. "Seriously, Percy? Seriously?"
Percy emerged from under the dining table, followed by Leo. They burst into laughter. I blushed as I shook my head in disapproval.
"J-man!" Leo high-fived me. I ignored it.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to remove the irritation in my voice.
Percy got his IPod from Piper. "We're playing Truth or Dare. We looked for you guys, and when we saw you being so cozy in the kitchen, Leo and I had a plan of our own."
Piper rolled her eyes. "C'mon. Don't want to miss our favorite game, do we?"
~0~
So far, the bottle hasn't pointed at me yet.
They all did crazy dares. Clean up the dishes, run around Piper's backyard while singing 'Fireworks', spying on Connor and Travis as they were shaving, etc. It was Percy's turn to spin the bottle, and I was sure the odds were in my favor. And I was right. Leo hooted as it landed on me that I had to stuff his big and noisy mouth with popcorn.
"Truth of Dare?" Percy asked excitedly.
I thought about it. Truth was really boring. "Dare," I decided.
Percy and Leo exchanged glances and snickered. The two of them gestured me to follow them to the corner of Piper's room to tell me my dare. I prayed to my Dad.
"You," Leo pointed at me.
"Have to sound as convincing as possible," Percy continued.
I nodded at them to tell me what I should say. They whispered it into my ear and I blushed.
"No way!" I stammered.
Leo snorted. "I guess we have no choice but to have you run around Mount Olympus naked."
"Fine. I'll do it," I sighed.
Percy and Leo told me to go to Piper and say what's on my heart. Sounds girly, I know. But the problem I was dealing with was the fact that I didn't know what was in my heart. Maybe I should just tell Piper that I like the color blue.
I walked to her while thinking of what to say. The truth, Percy's words echoed in my mind. The truth. I think those two have found it already.
When I reached Piper, I held up her hand and faced her. When I saw her face, I was reminded of the first day I saw her. Not when I bumped into her. The first time was when I was seven. It was like love at first sight, you know. But I dismissed those thoughts when I was kid. Obviously, it didn't work. When I bumped into her a month ago, I had the courage to finally talk to her. I guess you could say I was shy.
"Piper," I said.
She nodded. "Jason."
The truth. I felt confident and shy at the same time. Everybody looked impatient, so I just took a deep breath and said it out loud.
"I love you."
It may be a dare, but everyone knew it was real.
Including Piper.
A/N: Heyyy. =)) Whadayya think? :)
Read and review, please! :)
