Glad to see some readers are still here with me on this ride! This is coming a little later than usual, but I'm here to deliver nonetheless.

26

Everything went off without a hitch, which in demigod speak, is a miracle.

We arrived at the airport close to noon. We checked in, and no bags were overweight; we passed through security, and no weapons—other than my killer sunglasses—set off the metal detectors; and we made it to our gate, and the flight was still on time. I wondered if the gods were taking pity on us for once, but then I just figured it was a perk of travelling with two sons of Hermes.

We all plopped down at B9 tiredly, except for Travis and Connor who never seemed to run out of energy. I hesitated to say the airport gave them more energy than their usual.

Dad's phone started buzzing in his pocket. It was Carrie.

"Gotta take this," he said getting up. "I'll walk around, so you guys don't attract unwanted nightmares."

"Thank you," I said gratefully, clipping my sunglasses to my shirt. I was on a mostly lucky streak and didn't want to break it.

"How long until we board?" Shawty asked. I looked at my watch.

"Thirty minutes?" I closed my eyes and laid my head back. "I've never been this early to a flight before in my life."

"At least we're not flying international," Adidas said. "You have to get there so early for those."

"How long is the flight?" Shawty cut back in.

"Two, two-and-a-half, maybe?"

"What am I supposed to do that whole time?"

"Sleep."

"Are you always this tired?" Connor asked.

"A lot's happened in the past few days, and unlike you guys, I had finals about a week ago."

"Okay, well, I'm starving." He started walking down the terminal. "I'm gonna get some food if anyone wants to come."

I watched Shawty and Adidas stand up and follow him. Travis didn't move.

"I can stay here and watch the bags while y'all go," I told him.

"I'm not going to leave you here by yourself," he said sitting down. "Besides, this is the most alone time we've gotten in a few days." I sighed.

"Downside of living in a bunker with thirteen people."

"How are you feeling about everything?"

"I mean it's sucky, but it's nothing I haven't been through before. Everyone's okay, and that's all that matters."

"Does your house get knocked down a lot?" he asked surprised. I shook my head.

"No, but that's not really what I meant." I sighed and glanced at him. "Last summer, you know… a lot of crazy stuff happened. A lot of bad stuff happened. I mean, we literally almost lost everything. This, in comparison, seems kind of trivial now that I think about it."

"It's important, though," he said. I nodded.

"Yeah, no, I'm not saying it isn't. I mean my gods-forsaken home got destroyed, but ever since the Battle of Manhattan," I looked at him, "I think I've come to realize the place isn't as important as who inhabits it." He smiled dopily.

"Am I included in that Kit-Kat?" I groaned and threw my head back.

"Don't ruin the moment." He snorted.

"That's not a 'no.'" I looked at him pointedly.

"Considering the mess of stuff that's happened since you've gotten here, how on earth would you think I didn't include you?"

"I'm just teasing you," he laughed. "I know you're serious." He sighed off across the terminal. "Can you believe it? A few weeks ago, we were mortal enemies, and now we're lovers." My stomach turned.

"Whoa, whoa, sl-ow down, bud," I said rubbing my eyes. "Please, never use that word to describe our relationship."

"Are we not?" I stared at him exasperated.

"I think 'dating' is the word you're looking for?" He shook his head.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's lovers." I shook my head tiredly, but even I couldn't hold back a smile at that, no matter how awful that word was.

Strange to think that I once found his jokes annoying. Now, they were endearing.

"As your lover," he continued, "can I sit next to you on the plane?" I let a laugh slide.

"Okay, I'm asking you," I said taking his hand in both of min, "begging you, to please stop using that word—especially if anyone else is around us."

"That's not very lover of you." I slapped my hands over his mouth.

"Please!" I begged. He shook my hands off.

"Okay, okay, fine. Anything for you, Kit-Kat." I sighed.

"Thank you."

I thought about asking him to also stop saying that nickname, but I decided to pick my battles for now.

"About the plane," he said circling back to the previous conversation. I shrugged.

"Good luck getting past my dad," I said. "I have a feeling he's going to want to sit next to me."

"Just my luck," he said. "You know, most guys don't meet the father until a while after they start dating someone. I get the joy of living with him." I smirked.

"Although he doesn't know about that little detail quite yet. No one does. Besides, as far as dads go, I think he's pretty cool."

"Oh, no he's great. Nice, handsome, could easily break by bones into pieces. Gotta tell 'ya, I see the appeal of farming now. Really good workout." He stared at me pointedly. "I'm just commenting on the privacy thing."

"The privacy matter isn't because of him," I laughed. "It's because of everyone. Honestly, if we told him, we'd probably get less time together."

"And we wouldn't want that," he said softly. I smiled at him.

If we weren't in the middle of a crowded airport, I probably would've leaned forward and kissed him.

For the first time ever, I was excited to get to Destin. Everyone would spread out, and I wouldn't be under everyone's watchful eyes every second of the day. It made me giddy, and I was even able to look past the evil cousin involved.

"Am I ruining the moment?" a voice spoke up. I jumped and turned to see Adidas standing next to us with a spoon in her mouth. She carried a bag and a frosty from Wendy's.

"Adidas, your delightful presence could never ruin the moment," Travis said. She raised a brow and popped the spoon back in her cup.

"Where are the others?" I asked, panicking about what she might have seen.

"Shawty and Connor were getting kind of mushy back there," she said. "I didn't want to stick around and watch, but I'm afraid I left only to stumble upon another."

"Adidas, I never took you to be a comedian," Travis said, "but that was a pretty good joke." Man, he was way better than me at coming up with comebacks. She nodded.

"Thank you, I work really hard," she said dryly. "And Travis, I thought all sons of Hermes were supposed to be good at lying, or at least… mediocre?"

"Cuts deep," he said. "Luckily for you, I have thick skin. Mostly from all those years of Kitty Kat being mean to me." I rolled my eyes.

Gods, I thought "Kit-Kat" was a bad nickname. I made a mental note to stab him if he ever called me that to my face.

"It's not being mean," I retorted. "It's called getting revenge for stupid pranks that damage the ecological balance of Cabin 4." He sighed.

"For the last time, they're called Easter Bunnies. Christians love them and put them in their yards all the time."
"They put fake eggs in the yard not chocolate, and they only do it on Easter!" I argued.

"Same thing," he said to Adidas. She watched our banter session with a curious eye.

"You can tell he's lived the past fifteen years of his life at camp," I then said to her.

"It's only been twelve, and you can tell she doesn't have a sense of humor." My mouth dropped open. Travis looked at me, challenging me to argue.

Adidas just shook her head.

"Look, obviously you guys wanna keep… whatever this is a secret. I won't say anything, but only to stop you both from talking."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Travis said, stealing the sunglasses clipped on my shirt and putting them on. I tried and failed miserably to hide a smile. "I don't know her." Adidas turned to me.

"What do you and Shawty see in these two, honestly?" I spared a glance at him.

"I'd rather not answer that," I said turning back to her.

She shook her head and dipped a fry into the frosty.

"As long as I don't get stuck fifth-wheeling on this trip, I think I'll survive."

"Trust me. You don't need to worry."

Connor and Shawty appeared from the unknown with bags of their own fast food choices in their hands. They acted mostly normal, but I could see they were standing a little closer than normal.

I locked eyes with Shawty and glanced at Connor. I raised a brow. She gave me a small smile in return.

"Dude," Connor greeted his brother, "why are you wearing Katie's sunglasses?"

"I do not know this Katie you speak of," he said. I snatched them off his face.

"I'll take these before I never get them back."

"You get me any food?" Travis asked him. Connor frowned into his Burger King bag.

"Uh, yeah there's a couple of fries in the bottom," he said. Travis held his hands out to the side.

"Bro!"

"Relax," he said reaching in. He pulled out a burger and tossed it to him as the gate attendant began speaking over the PA system.

"Attention all passengers on flight 6985 heading to Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida. We will begin boarding in about ten minutes."

Perfect timing as my dad reappeared the second, she put the phone back down. He also held a bag of food.

"Alright, team," he said, "everybody ready to board."

Everyone replied with some sort of confirmation, including a very enthusiastic "Yes, sir!" from Shawty.

He sat down next to me and passed me the bag.

"I got a turkey sandwich for you in here with barbecue chips." I smiled at him.

"You know me so well." He chuckled.

"I did raise you."

"I know. Thanks, dad."

Soon enough, they began calling groups to board. We were situated near the back, and since the plane consisted of two seats on each side of the aisle, Tavis was forced to sit with his brother in front of my dad and I. Shawty and Adidas sat next to each other across the aisle from us.

In my window seat, I watched as we taxied onto the runway and began our ascent in the air. Dallas shrunk and faded below the clouds, and we were finally on our way to Florida.

Got this a little later than planned, but it's done! Being an adult is hard sometimes, lol. I didn't really read over and edit this one, so pardon any errors. Have a great week everyone!

Brooke