28. Gandhi

She had completely forgotten. And now she wondered what had possessed her to do it. Oh yeah, her mother… indirectly, of course. Maybe she could just call him up and cancel? No. That seemed kind of cowardice. And she was no coward. Okay, I'll go, but just to prove I'm no coward. So, she mentally prepared herself all day for that dreadful moment.

Maybe she can fake a stomach ache halfway through dinner and leave early? No, it was too obvious.
Maybe she can pretend her mother's calling her back? Nope, he already had an idea how much she didn't care about her mother. Maybe she could say she had to babysit last minute? No, he'd see right through that! She sighed. She was running out of excuses. Maybe you don't want an excuse.

"Yeah right," she answered herself. "Aw man," she moaned. "He's got me talking to myself," she said as she rubbed her eyes in exasperation. She took a deep breath and tried to shake her thoughts away. It's done. She can endure. She stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself up in a towel. She wiped the fog off her mirror and started brushing her unruly hair.

Maybe I'll pretend I'm sick when he gets here! No, that won't work. He'd want to come up and see her or talk to her, and she definitely doesn't sound or look sick. She rolled her eyes. He was just so… caring. She grumbled under her breath as she brushed her teeth, quickly dried off and ran into her bedroom to get dressed. Maybe she should just be honest and blunt. Nothing's stopped her from doing so before… but for some reason she just didn't want to see disappointment again like when she said no the first time he asked her out.

As she got dressed, she hummed softly. A song she hadn't hummed since she was… seven years old. She abruptly stopped when she realized what she was singing. Clearing her throat, she tried to push out the short song, but it stayed there at the back of her mind like a mosquito flying around your ear. It always had and even though she hadn't sung it in years, she remembered Every. Single. Freaking. Word. Drowning in her memories, she grabbed her bag, that was lying on her bed and flung it, knocking it into the closet and making it slide off the track.

She collapsed onto her bed, holding her head in her hands. That stupid song. Why couldn't she forget it? She hated it.

"Okay, one more note," he said, as he finished his perfect musical note and admired the page with the cute lyrics his daughter had come up with.

"Can we sing it now daddy?" she asked impatiently… again. He chuckled.

"Sure sweetie, we can sing it now," he said, as he set the paper into her small black podium. He grabbed his guitar and began strumming.

"She sleeps, she sleeps, she sleeps next to me," she sang, her tiny voice ringing out clearly. "But she stands up and fights the monsters under my bed. She slashes and swings her mighty pink sword," she sang as she jumped up and swung her imaginary sword. Her father chuckled as she made faces as if she could already see the monsters in front of her. "She keeps me safe, she keeps me sound. She kills all the monsters while I am dreaming," she slowed as she slunk back down and rested her small head against her father's shoulder. "And with her… I'm always smiling," she finished.

"How was that dad?" she asked, looking at him with big, blue expectant eyes. He smiled.

"I loved it."

"But it wasn't perfect," she protested with a pout. He ruffled up her hair.

"That's why I loved it."

She was so deep in her thoughts she barely noticed the quick buzzes coming from the living room. She glanced at her watch; 7:11 PM. Percy! She jumped up and ran to answer his buzzing.

"Hello?"

"You standing me up already, Thalia?" Percy's voice came on. She rolled her eyes.

"I'll be down in two," she said, as she left to grab her bag, quickly fix her closet and ran downstairs.

"Wow," Percy said as she stepped out of the building. She looked up, a little bit worried.

"What? Did I forget my pants?" she asked, as she looked down to make sure she didn't look like an idiot.

"No, you look… nice," he said.

"Oh, and that's shocking?" she asked sarcastically.

"No, that's not what I meant –"

"Whatever, let's go," she said, as she walked down the steps and started walking.

"You know you're very hostile," he commented as he fell in step next to her.

"Look at my face, Percy," she said, pointing at her face. Percy cocked an eyebrow. "Now tell me, does it look like I care?" Percy rolled his eyes. They walked in silence for a while, until Percy broke it.

"How far is this place anyways?" he asked as she stopped and he halted next to her. She rolled her eyes.

"We're here," she said, pointing at the sign of her favorite restaurant; Joe's Kitchen. Grease galore.

"Nice," he said as he checked the place out. She glanced at him. The neon yellow of the sign made his blue t-shirt and blue plaid shirt glow green. You know, deep, deep down she indirectly admitted to herself that he did look nice. Okay, Ctrl + Delete. They walked into the restaurant and picked a table.

They sat down and she immediately grabbed the menu, trying to act busy as much as possible to avoid too much conversation. It didn't really work.

"So…" Percy said. She looked up from her menu and could only see his eyes poking over his, looking at her expectantly. His eyes are really green…

"What?" she said, as she turned her attention back to her menu and cleared her throat.

"Don't you, you know, talk more? I mean, I'm not one to create lengthy conversations, but you're ten times worse than me," he said, as he put his menu down.

"And that's a problem?"

"No, I just think –" he was interrupted when a waitress came up to their table.

"Welcome to Joe's Kitchen, you guys know what you want already?" she asked, as she clicked her pen a couple times.

"I'll just get a double bacon cheese burger with everything and double the bacon too, fries and a large coke please," she said. She didn't even know why she would look at the menu when she always ordered the same thing. She turned to Percy.

"What about you?"

"Uh," he stalled as he glanced over the menu one more time. "I'll take the barbecue burger, but without pickles with fries and a large coke too."

"All righty then, be right out," the waitress said as she grabbed the menus and walked to the back.

"No pickles?" Thalia said.

"What? I don't like them," he said, scrunching up his nose. Thalia rolled her eyes.

"And the piece of toilet paper was stuck to her foot," Thalia laughed. "And she never noticed! People kept making hints, but she was just completely oblivious!" she laughed.

"And you didn't do anything?" Percy asked as soon as he caught his breath from laughing.

"I wasn't planning to, but she let me copy her English homework one time, so I came up behind her and stepped on the paper. I figured she didn't need to know," Thalia said, as she tried to slow her breathing and snickering.

"You know you're actually nice," Percy commented.

"Don't call me that!" Thalia said. Percy laughed.

"What? Nice?"

"Yes, I've got a reputation, remember?" Percy rolled his eyes.

"Personally, I don't think you need a reputation. You're scary all on your own," he joked. Thalia shrugged.

"I try. Now finish your fries!" she chided. Percy leaned back.

"I can't. I'm full," he moaned. Thalia scoffed.

"Then I'll take them," she said as she picked up his red oval bowl and dumped his fries onto hers. She doesn't know why, but she could eat a whole cow if they let her. Percy covered his mouth as she doused them in salt and then dipped it into ketchup.

"Just watching you eat makes me want to throw up!" he said, before he moaned and looked away. Thalia snickered. She took a swig from her drink, but it went down the wrong pipe and she started coughing and wheezing. Percy jumped up and started to softly slap her back as she struggled to breathe.

"Arm up, it helps," Percy said as he grabbed her arm and raised it. Coughing, she pulled it away and forced a deep breath. She fell into a slight labored breathing with coughs in between.

"Try eating slower," Percy said as he sat back down.

"Don't tell me what to do," Thalia said, annoyed, mostly because she was coughing.

"I wasn't."

"Then what do you call it?" she protested.

"I'm just giving you a suggestion. You almost choked."

"Well, I don't need your help," she said. For some reason, his comment seemed to get under her skin more than they usually do. Most likely because of the same reason she was on this date in the first place. She didn't want to be told what to do, no matter what it was. At least, that was her pet peeve right now.

"Fine," Percy said, beginning to get annoyed.

"Fine," Thalia said, as she chucked her napkin and left the restaurant. She was upset. Half because the thoughts about her mother just plain piss her off and because she had almost choked in front of Percy. Maybe if she got away for a while, she could calm down. A block down she felt someone grab her arm.

"Don't leave," she heard Percy say. She turned on him.

"And why not?"

"Because you always do! Whenever something doesn't go your way, you run away," Percy said bluntly. She could feel anger taking hold. She was no coward!

"I don't run away!"

"Then what do you call it? Because it looks like running away to me!"

"You don't know what I've gone through!" she said, her voice rising. She shocked herself with the comment. It was "too emotional" for her taste.

"Well, it's not like you tell me either," Percy countered.

"And what do you care?"

"You're my friend," he answered honestly, but Thalia was too angry to stop and rethink.

"Why would you say that?!"

"Because it's true?" Percy said sarcastically.

"No, it's not," Thalia said firmly. They weren't friends. She was only his babysitter and nothing more. They weren't automatically friends because they went on some kind of date that was clearly a big mistake.

"And why not?" he demanded.

"Because I say so!"

"Well, I don't care if you say so!"

"Well, now I know how you feel about me!" she said, her voice high.

"You don't know what I feel!" Percy said, his voice reaching hers in volume.

"Then why don't you tell me?!" she yelled. He stared at her for a second, as if trying to figure out what to say next, but what he did next could surprise even Gandhi. He surged forward, cupped her face and kissed her.

This chapter is vital, so I hope I did well with it. Let me know what you think! And I hope you enjoyed it :) Plus, if I made any spelling mistakes, let me know! Thanks!