I'm back! (Whenever I say that, I'm always reminded of the song, New York Groove from Kiss.) This chapter is quite a long one and I thought of the idea (and title) when I was with my friend this weekend. The popcorn part actually happened to us and I could see this happening between these two. You'll see what I'm talking about when you read it.

I do not own PJO - enjoy the chapter and please tell me what you think!

Piper McLean yelped as the needle pricked her finger. A dot of blood was blooming from her index finger and she growled with a shriek muffled behind it as she stomped her foot. She may be a designer, but the pricking of needles against her skin still hurt like hell. She heard a faint buzzing noise come from her phone and she sucked on her finger to stop the blood and set down her thread and needle as she moved the strips of cloth and papers of sketches of different angles of the emerald dress to find her tap-screen phone.

Eventually, it was spotted and she picked it up, looking at the text message she had received from Chris:

Gotta do something 2nite, Pipes, so I won't b home until l8 2nite.

Piper's whining groan was muffled from her finger still in her mouth. Her hips swayed to the music she had on. Whatever she was doing, she had to have her favorite songs playing to help get the gears in her head working. She was disappointed that her boyfriend wasn't going to be with her this evening because she hadn't been able to spend some real quality time with him in at least three or four days.

She slipped her finger from her mouth and wiped it off on her peach shorts. Now, with a dry finger, she texted back with scrunched eyebrows:

Awww….whyy not?

She set it back down on the glass coffee table and turned back to her dress. Piper laid a hand on her hip, her pricked finger tapping her chin. She mumbled some of the lyrics without even thinking and began to sing it at the top of her lungs as she stepped to the back of the dress, her needle and thread in between her top and bottom teeth as she reached up on the post to measure the lengths of the back of the dress. She held the two sides together and brought the needle back to her fingers and began to slide it through the soft felt.

She heard the faint buzz against and set the needle to the side once again. She picked up her phone and read the message:

Parent's house.

She typed back:

Can I meet your parents?

Piper didn't want to sound too straightforward, but she just didn't want to be alone tonight. After a long week, she needed someone with her besides herself. Someone she can hug and laugh with. Piper felt goose bumps ride up her neck and to her temples as she thought of Jason. She closed her eyes hard, trying to erase the picture in her mind.

There was a vicious buzz in her hands and she jumped, her eyes leaping open as a small gasp escaped from her mouth. She relaxed when she found a reply from Chris:

I think that'd b awesome but they r not feeling well…srry, Pipes.

Piper sighed. She replied that it was okay and that she hoped they feel better. And then she locked her phone, setting it on the arm of the couch and then finishing up the touches on her dress. She stepped back, once done, and overlooked her work to see if she had to fix any mistakes.

Just then, the door opened but Piper didn't look over her shoulder to see who had just stepped inside. She heard a sharp gasp behind her and a smirk lined her face as she heard a familiar voice squeal, "Oh, my gosh, Piper! The dress looks amazing," Lacey said the emphasized word as if it meant the millions of compliments in the world.

Piper then looked back and found her secretary with wavy and lush blond hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a frilly light pink dress and was carrying a small stack of neat brown and black leather notebooks and agendas. Her face was painted in awe.

Lacey set down the books on the edge of Piper's desk and trotted next to Piper hurriedly. Her clicking heels gave Piper more of a bunny-like sense toward Lacey.

The girl reached out and her fingers gingerly touched the emerald dress and then ran down the light skirt that hung around the mannequin like a curtain. It had no sleeves but a silky mint collar that hung limply around the top of the breast of the dress. This was going to be the one dress Piper wouldn't sell to anyone, but kept for herself. She loved it even though it was quite casual.

Except for Lacey, that is. She thought it was the one of the wonders of the world. "This is beautiful," she whispered and her eyes glazed over as she stared at the dress.

Piper was used to this. With her arms crossed, she stared at Lacey, her eyebrows raised. They were quiet for a moment until Lacey finally blinked, snapping out of her gaze.

"Okay, back to the point," Lacey said and took a deep breath, smoothing her dress down. She turned back to Piper, holding her hands out cautiously. "Okay, so I've come to tell you about meetings about the runway show you're hosting. Now, I've covered over the food and some of the models, but it's not quite done yet…" and Lacey rambled on about what was ready and what she had in plan for the spaces she hadn't filled in yet.

"Lacey," Piper cut her off. "It's okay. It's not for another couple of months."

Lacey bit her lip and shrank back a little. "There's another thing I've come to tell you…"

"What?"

"We had to set it earlier because of some technical issues…"

Piper walked over to her desk and clicked off the music and back onto another designing program. "Okay, how much earlier?"

"Oh, it's not too bad, it's just…"

"Lacey…" Piper looked up at her, her eyes to the point. "How early?" She said with her voice woven with some charm speak.

"Oh…uhcuplewheks…." She mumbled, shifting her feet uncomfortably.

"Lacey, just tell me!"

"A couple of weeks!" She blurted out, and then gasped at her exclamation, hastily clamping a hand over her mouth. Her wide eyes still shone through.

Piper straightened so fast, it hurt. Her face was beginning to break out with shock and concern. She opened her mouth to complain, but her mouth couldn't form words properly.

"Uh—Lace—what—"

Lacey finally pried her hand off of her mouth. "I'm so sorry, Piper! I should have informed your first!"

Piper could see how much stress Lacey was already carrying and decided not to scorn her for the situation now at hand. "It's okay, Lacey," she said, "we can get through this. No problem." Piper walked around the other side of the desk and stood in front of her friend. "Just tell me what we need all together."

"Um…" Lacey scrambled for a notebook lying on Piper's desk. She was still worried with tense, Piper saw. Lacey flipped through a couple pages and stopped at one. Her finger raced down the page, searching what they needed from her checklist. "Very, very big lights, food, and a couple of male models."

Piper racked her brain for any companies she knew that would help her. But she couldn't think of anything and she leaned her rear against the rim of her desk, her hands settling behind her. A couple of papers fell from the surface and floated to the floor. One small card in particular scratched her leg. She drew her leg back, looking down as she rubbed the back of her calf. Piper bent down to pick up the papers and then inspected the card that left a small and faint white scratch on her tan leg. It was Jason and Leo's card.

Her brain began to dig deeper and she thought about it. The lights—he did have a stadium; maybe they could help—the food she wasn't so sure about, but the male models could come in handy.

The corner of her mouth tugged upward and she gave a small laugh under her breath. "No way," she whispered, "it can't be this easy."

"Pardon?" Lacey tilted her head to the side, her delicate eyebrows scrunching together.

Piper rested a hand on Lacey's shoulder. "Don't you worry about anything, okay? I know exactly what to do."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. All you need to look for is a chef, and that's it. I have everything else under control." Piper went back around to her desk and saved her work, beginning the process of shutting down her computer. "Cancel anything I have left for today, please."

"Cancel! But you have—"

"Tell them that they can wait. I've got a runway show to handle."

"How?"

"I've got some friends that can help." Piper said as she slipped her laptop into her bag and zipped it up. She grabbed the card on her way out, shutting off the lights, and then letting Lacey out the door before she locked her office behind them.

"Who?" Lacey asked. When Piper only answered with a smile, the girl picked the card from Piper's grasp. Then her jaw dropped, escaping a gasp. "No way!" Her heels began to jump and stomp from the floor as excitement glowed from her. A grin was plastered from her face. "You found them again?" Her face was filled with hope. "What if you and Jason get back together again?!"

Piper's ears began to burn. "Um, no, because I have a boyfriend, remember?" Piper took back the card and began to walk away from Lacey's now-fallen face.

"Oh, yeah. Well then just dump him." She said nonchalantly as she trotted next to Piper again, leading her out the door.

"Lacey!" Piper exclaimed, giving her an astonished look.

"What?" she asked innocently, not sure why Piper was making a big deal out of breaking up with someone.

"I'm not going to break up with Chris, okay? I love him."

Lacey made a face and then a gagging noise. She then blinked away from the concept as a thought came to her. "Oh, my gosh! What if we invite all of our friends from Camp Half-Blood?!"

"Lacey!" Piper hissed. "You don't just scream about that in public. Keep your voice down!"

"Sorry," Lacey whispered. "But wouldn't that be so cool?!" She squealed.

Piper opened her mouth to respond, but then she actually began to think about it. They needed as much help as they could get and it would be pretty unique if all their friends helped out. She could imagine them walking down the runway goofily with her fashion line on. A smile began to spread across her face and as she pressed a button for the elevators, she asked, "How many models do we have?"

"Um…" Lacey flipped through the notebook again. "All the spots are filled up for the females but we only have a couple."

"Call all of our friends and see how many of them would like to help. If so, that number should change." Piper answered as she the silver double doors in front of her slid open. She stepped inside.

Lacey beamed at her. "Will do!" and she trotted away before the doors closed in front of Piper.

"Dude, are you even listening?" Leo asked as he waved a hand in front of Jason's face.

Jason blinked, sitting up from his cheek in the palm of his hand. "Yep," he said.

Leo gave him a look. "Really? Then what did I just say?"

"You were talking about…" the rest was indistinctive mumbling. He was bored during Leo's lecture on this new company that was trying to promote Jason. He didn't really care; in fact, he didn't want to be promoted anyways. Too much guilt would evade him and he didn't want to turn into some celebrity snob.

"Mmhm, sure." Leo said and turned back to his device. He was about to continue talking when a loud shrill pierced the air.

Jason jumped at the buzzing in his pocket and he hurriedly fumbled for his phone in his pocket so that he could be excused from the conversation at hand. He didn't even bother looking at the number that was blinking across the screen.

Leo saw this and he pointed a finger. "Don't you dare—ah." He stopped with a sigh when Jason said: "Hello?" into his phone.

Jason heard a pretty voice on the other end. They greeted him back.

"Hi, who is this?" Jason asked, turning away from Leo in his wheelie chair and then standing up. His knees popped and it felt good to be on his feet. He was in the conference room of their team's empty stadium that they shared. Many of his teammates were roaming around, talking and such.

He heard the woman reply, "Piper," on the other end.

A smile grew on his face. "Pipes!"

"Oh, brother," Leo mumbled behind him, thumping his jaw into his hand, resting it on the glass table.

"Can you come over? I gotta ask you something and Chris isn't going to be here. I thought it'd be perfect timing for us three to hang out." She said into the phone.

"Us three?" Jason echoed, his eyebrows scrunching together and he turned back to Leo, standing next to him.

"What, you jealous?" Leo asked.

Jason disregarded him as Piper answered, "You, me, and Leo,"

Realization crept onto his face and he sighed with relief. "Oh…with Leo." He had thought he was going to be with Piper's boyfriend. He didn't want that because that would've been awkward.

"Duh." Leo rolled his eyes. "Jeez, you get so stupid around her sometimes."

Jason lightly punched Leo in the arm as he slid the speaker over his neck so he could ask Leo, "She asking us to hang out with her tonight."

Leo stood. "No thanks. I'd rather not be around you guys when you're flirting."

Jason pursed his lips. "I wouldn't flirt with her. She has a boyfriend." He said in a low voice in case the phone couldn't pick it up.

"Yeah," Leo scoffed, "Sure."

Jason narrowed his eyes at him. "Whatever." He put the phone back to his ear. "Leo's not up for it, but I'd be glad to—so you won't be alone."

"What was that?" Leo asked obnoxiously loud, his fingers bending his ear forward like he was trying to hear better. He got closer to the phone next to Jason's ear. "Jason likes Piper?!"

The other players around them started to chuckle and Jason covered his entire hand over Leo's face, pushing him back down into his seat. Jason chuckled dryly and said to Piper, "Leo's just kidding around,"

"What did he say?" She asked. "I couldn't hear, it sounded muffled—"

"Nothing." Jason cut her off hastily. "You don't want to know; it wasn't that funny anyways."

Leo scrambled and groaned as he finally pried Jason's hand off of him. He started to laugh as he screamed, "What was that about Piper, Jason?! She was, what? Oh, you're in love with her? Oh, okay."

"What?" Piper asked. She heard bits and pieces, but not the whole thing. She had picked up her name.

"Nothing!" Jason laughed. "Hold on a second," he said and put the speaker against his burning neck again. He whipped around and punched Leo in the arm—harder this time. "Shut—up!" He said through gritted teeth.

Leo laughed, his giggle an octave higher this time. "Jason's in love with Piper!" he repeated, though it was a little muffled from Jason's clamped hand.

"What's Leo saying?" Piper asked.

"Nothing, he's being an idiot," at the emphasized words, he punched Leo in the arm again.

Even though he had a silly grin plastered on his face, he yelped, "Ow!" and then he started to chuckle again.

"Oh, okay." Piper said.

"So when do you want me to be there?" Jason asked, stepping out of the room that was exploding with laughter from his friends and team. It was cut off as he closed the metal door behind him.

"Oh, now would be fine. But could you pick up a box of pizza on your way, please?"

"Sure," he said through his smile that she couldn't see.

"Whoa," Piper said, her eyes growing big at the small print. "Popcorn can reduce chances of heart disease? I didn't know that."

Jason chuckled. "What does it say?" he asked.

"It says it calls for six tablespoons of oil," Piper said as she read the instructions on the back of the popcorn oil bottle.

"Okay." Jason said and he took the bottle from her hands and squeezed the oil into the spoon. Once it filled to the top, he dumped it into the popcorn popper. Piper didn't have any popcorn bags to make in the microwave, but she did have popcorn kernels and oil. And even though neither of them knew how to make it, they tried, because a movie and pizza is only perfect if a bowl of popcorn is involved.

"What now?" Jason asked.

Piper's thumbs slid under each line and her eyes narrowed on the printed black words. "It says…now it calls for two cups of popcorn kernels."

"Two cups!" Jason exclaimed. "Are you sure? That's seems like a little too much."

"That's what it says," She said, passing the bottle to him again so that he could read it as well.

He shrugged after reading it. "Okay, then."

Piper took a measuring cup from the cupboard and Jason got on his knees on the tile floor. He began to pour the container of popcorn kernels into the measuring cup, a rattling noise clattering as the kernels spilled into the cup and made contact with the glass.

Eventually it reached up to the red mark that read two cups. With his hands on the counter, he pushed himself to his feet easily and let Piper pour the kernels into the popcorn popper. Another clattering was heard as the kernels fell in between the three blades. The popper looked sort of like an incubator with the bottom part black and the top dome part a clear plastic cover to watch the popcorn on the inside.

Piper stepped back. "It's not doing anything." She noted.

"Yeah, maybe we should plug it in first." Jason said. Piper snorted with his cocky smile as he took the cord and plugged it into the wall. As soon as it made touch with electricity, the blades started to whir. Jason jumped, taking the cord with it and it came away from the outlet. The blades immediately stopped.

Jason looked back to find Piper with her hand over her thumping heart. They exchanged a look.

"Maybe it wouldn't be safe that we do this." He said.

Piper took her hand away from her chest and she stepped forward. "No, it'll be fine. What could happen?"

The answer hung in the air.

But Piper tried to not hear it as she took the cord, her fingers brushing against his, and plugged it in. The popper whirred to life and the blades started to spin around slowly, mixing the kernels with the oil. It was slow and gooey, they both thought.

They stared at it expectantly, both wanting to watch the popcorn pop. But nothing happened.

"It's still not doing anything." Piper said, looking up at Jason.

His shoulders went down and he considered, "Maybe it doesn't pop right away. Maybe it takes a while."

It dawned on her then. "Right," she said.

"I'm going to go put the movie in." Jason said and he made his way into her living room.

Piper stood uncomfortably in the living room and she watched the popper. Then the thought came to her that maybe it would explode, having two cups be too much. Her eyes widened at the sudden enemy and she backed away, her bare feet making slight suction noises against the tile.

"Jason, I'm worried. What if it explodes?" she voiced her thoughts to him, her voice projected so that he could hear her from the other room. She lifted herself onto her tip toes as she stood near the refrigerator, which was across from the popper.

"Well, it's not like it's gonna burn the apartment." She could hear his faint reply.

That got her to thinking again. "Don't say that!" She said. "Now I'm even more worried!"

"Don't be," She suddenly saw Jason's head from behind the bar that encircled her kitchen as he rose from the DVD player. "It'll be fine."

She opened her mouth to respond but then a loud popping noise erupted. She yelped and then yelled, "Jason!"

He ran into the kitchen, stopping once his feet his tile grounds so that his socks led him further inside, sliding into the kitchen like a little kid or like he was riding a wave in the ocean. But he wasn't concerned, no, a smile was on his face. He stopped next to Piper, who's arms and hands were tensed by covering her face and head.

Jason put an arm around her. "Look, it's popping!" he pointed with his free hand.

Piper looked up and found that it was popping faster and violently. She saw the kernels jump and then when they came back down, they were puffs of white. She smiled and they watched it pop more. The pile of popcorn was rising to the top of the clear plastic dome and was filling the leftover small spaces. But it didn't sound like it was going to stop any time soon. Piper inched behind Jason and pushed him forward at the small of his back.

"What are you doing?" He asked as she made him slide closer to it.

"Stop it!" she told him.

"How?"

"I don't know, just do it or it's gonna explode!" She peeked from behind his arm and found that the last bit of popcorn made the lid rise up. The popcorn was so caked inside the container and the popcorn was so compressed under the lid that it all went rigid, but the lid was open and unlatched from the bottom half.

"Gah!" Jason exclaimed and he raced over, quickly unplugging the machine and the popping stopped.

Piper came next to him and they stared at the giant container overflowing with popcorn. "Wow." She said.

His neck made his head turn smoothly toward her, ducking and then facing her with a smug expression. "I told you it was too much."

She gave him a short glare. "Shut up," she said, but couldn't stop her smile or blushing.

Jason laughed and then wondered out loud, "How are we going to get it out of there?"

They were silent until Piper said, "Tip it upside-down."

Jason tilted his head at the popper and then put his hands on either side of it, holding the lid down as he flipped it over. The lid was now the bottom part, like a fishing going belly-up. He then clutched the black bottom and raised it up, the popcorn finally collapsing and spreading itself all over the counter.

"Holy gods of Olympus!" Jason said with a laugh. Piper joined him.

They ended up having five bowls of popcorn. They weren't even paying attention to the movie. Well, they were, up until Piper felt a piece hit her jaw and then slid down her chest, falling into her tank top and resting into the inside of her bra. She yelped and clutched the small opening of her black tank top.

She looked over at Jason with wide eyes. He had tears growing in his eyes as he puckered his lips together to try and stifle his bursting laughter.

She narrowed her eyes on him and then turned away to reach inside her bra and search for the piece of popcorn. She pulled it out and kept it in her fingers at her side with her eyes trained on her television screen like it never happened. Then, as quick as if it never happened, she threw the popcorn at Jason on her right. She looked over at his shocked face and found that it hit his cheek.

That led to them having a popcorn war.

They sneaked attacks and then their attention was completely drifted away from the movie. They even tried to throw it into the other's mouth to see if they could catch it.

They laughed and played and when they had no more popcorn left they stopped and watched the movie.

But their attention left it again when Piper let her head rest on his shoulder.

They didn't talk for a while and Piper could feel his body tense. She could feel his breathing suddenly get caught off-guard. She didn't mean to, but she knew that she was teasing him. She wished she didn't have to. Another guilty picture of Chris entered her mind. His smile and his way of holding her, Piper remembered.

Finally, the movie was over, and she sat up. The credits rolled through and she looked at him.

"Hey, I have to tell you something."

Jason's face paled but he turned to her, folding his leg under his other knee. "Yeah?"

"So I'm having this runway show. It was scheduled for a couple months but was reduced down to a couple of weeks." She looked at him to see if he was catching on. She took a deep breath and then said, "We still need a couple of things like lights and guy models. Lacey is calling up for chefs and maybe even some people from camp."

Jason nodded, his top lips curling upwards. "That sounds so cool."

Piper gave a small smile and then said, "Yeah, and I was wondering that…you know, you guys have a stadium and stadiums have bright lights, right?"

Jason hesitated. "You want to borrow our lights?"

"Just something extra if you have it." She said hastily, not wanting him to think that she needed the lights that were already in the ceiling. "Would that be okay?"

"Yeah, if we have some in storage," he said as he scratched his eyebrow. It led to rubbing his eyes.

"I was also wondering if you and your team could fill in as the male models."

Jason's hands dropped immediately and he stared at her with somber eyes. "What." he said.

Piper sat back, pausing. "Well, we might have some guys from camp helping out but if we don't have enough, do you think that you guys can fill in the extra spots?"

Jason's expression was blank. He didn't want to sign up his team for something they didn't want to do behind their backs, but then again he didn't want to say no to her. "Pipes, I—"

"It's just one night. Come on, it'll be a lot of entertainment for the show and more people will come! Besides, you guys'll be the highlight of the show."

"I don't know…" he trailed off.

"It's gonna be fun with everyone else there!" she took his hands into hers, giving him a pleading look.

Jason was lost in her wide blue eyes and his body felt numb. "Okay," he slurred, trapped under her charm speak.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she screamed with delight and her arms wrapped around his neck, hugging him tightly.

He was surprised but instinctively put his arms around her too. The embrace was meant to be a short one, but they were reminded how good it felt to hold each other again. It was warm and touched both of their hearts like a line was tied around both of them, their beats becoming one, and their breathing echoing the others.

Piper drew back as the doorknob clicked like a key opening it. It began to rattle like someone was turning it and then the door opened, revealing Chris.

He hadn't seen them yet as he turned and locked the door behind him. He raised his glasses with one hand. "Pipes, I'm
here! Mom was okay, she seemed to be a lot better without dad and—" he turned around, finding the two; Jason had turned around with his feet on the ground. "—Jason Grace is here." He cut off from his sentence with wide eyes.