Hey for the twelfth time:) It's nice to update again but I have one thing to clear up.
I got a review from YayPercabeth123(Guest) saying that you felt that the plot was diminishing now that I've continued even after the shipped couple got together. I'm sorry you feel that way but, see, before I posted this story up, I was thinking about how all the stories are the same these days. The climax and then fighting against the enemy and then the couple gets together and then that's it.
My story, in my reasoning, was published onto here for different reasons. I didn't it to just want to be that - in just one point of view - and end just like that with no real...closure or anything except that they got together. The title says How Love Feels, and that's what I'm trying to achieve: different views on how love feels, which hasn't exactly been shown yet (in my point of view).
So, yes, there's more because we haven't experienced another part to Jason's confusion than just Piper's. The way I see it, Jason hasn't exactly experienced falling for Piper since he was already still in love with her at the beginning of the story. I really don't want you to feel as if the story was slowly just making you apathetic in some way - I don't want anyone to feel that way. I apologize if you do, but I just have to do these things to make sure that the story is full and complete with a good closure, the way I imagined it.
Does that make it easier to understand? I tried to say it in the most best way I could...So I hope that helps:)
And I still have a couple more loose ends to tie up so the story will go on for quite a little bit longer. I estimate...about five or six more chapters.
I don't own PJO but please don't hate me for what you're about to read.
Piper stared at her reflection in the mirror and smoothed down her dress that came right above her knees. It was emerald and almost shimmered in the light. Her shoulders and collar bones may have felt a little chilly due to its bareness because of the style of the dress, but she didn't care. Her lush brown hair was curled and then pulled back into a bun; her hair also seemed to shimmer in a blond tint in the light.
She slipped on black flats and left her room just as there was a knock on her apartment door. A grin immediately spread across her face and she bounded the rest of the way and opened her door to reveal her boyfriend, Jason.
A grin also came onto him when he saw her. He was always welcome inside as Piper stepped to the side and he came in. He first put his hands on her hips and kissed her. She enveloped into it, like she always does, but then had to pull back to close the door.
"I'm really glad that you're going to the dinner celebration as my date," Jason said.
"What, so that way no other girl can hit on you?" Piper asked with a taunting smile on her lips.
"No," he paused. "Well, I mean, yeah, but that's not what I meant."
She laughed and he smiled as he said, "It's because I want you there with me." he put his forehead against hers. "You know that, right?" he added on in a low voice.
"I know," She replied in an equally low voice. "I'm glad that I'm going with you, too."
"Good," he said and pecked his lips against hers.
She smiled and he pulled back to look at a clock. He found that it was at least 30 minutes until they had to be there and so he asked her if she was ready to go. Piper responded by grabbing her small hand purse.
There were many reporters and men with large cameras lying on their shoulders. Cameras flashed and they often pushed up against Piper, cramming a microphone in her face and asking her questions—each one of them having Jason's name in them.
She didn't respond, though. She just gave them a small smile and shoved past them, her other hand gripping Jason's hard. He gripped it back as they walked past the media together and were bombarded with questions.
"It'll be easier inside," He had told her.
And he was right. Once inside, it wasn't as loud and rough. It was nice and calm as people conversed lightly and dined together, the sound of glasses clinking in the background. The lights were dim and a large ballroom floor was in one area, where a DJ was, too. On the other side of the building was where the crowd of tables with white tablecloths were; the source of the clinking glasses. In the middle of it all, people stood in large groups, which was the source of the light conversing.
Piper was amazed and smiled gracefully as she took in the sights. Jason led her into the room. They weren't sure where to go first, but soon Leo solved that problem.
"Hey, guys," he said as he approached them. "You look great, Piper, and Jason," he looked his best friend up and down. "You could use a little style."
Piper chuckled a little and Jason gave Leo a look.
Leo's face cleared of the bemusement. "I'm just kidding, man,"
Jason cracked a smile.
"So you guys want to go dance?" He gestured to the dance floor.
Jason looked over at Piper and she looked back. He shrugged. "Sure,"
"Alright, well you guys have fun. I've got to go—"
"No, no, no, Repair Boy," Piper took his arm. "You are off of work and going to have fun." She told him sternly.
"With who? You guys are going to go dance; I don't have anyone,"
Piper opened her mouth to respond but Leo continued, "Listen, you guys take the first couple of dances and then if Jason doesn't mind, we'll take the one after that. Just let me deal with a couple things first,"
"Fine,"
"Okay, go have fun,"
Jason flashed Leo a smile and led Piper to the dance floor now. They instinctively got in their original positions and swayed to the music. It was a formal dance so everyone moved softly around them as well. They talked softly to each other because that's the only other thing they could do. After a while, the couple songs ended and they were starting to get settled into the setting.
"I'll go get us a couple drinks," Jason said.
"Okay. I'm going to go find Leo." Piper responded.
With a kiss, they set off to their ways.
Jason walked swiftly around the dance floor to the long horizontal table in the back, where the wine and champagne was being served neatly. His throat was feeling a little parched and he went ahead and took a sip of his drink. The tall wine glass was then rimmed with the saliva of his lips. He stood by the table and his eyes scanned the crowd. He found Piper dragging Leo to the dance floor as he was talking frantically into his cell phone. Finally, Piper turned around and took the phone from his ear and had a sweet face on as she talked into it and then hung up.
Leo looked as if she had burned a hundred dollars right in front of him.
Jason chuckled and saw his best friend's lips form the words, "Why the heck would you do that?!"
Piper laughed and Jason felt butterflies flutter through him. She gave him back his phone and kept forcing him onto the dance floor. This time, though, she had her hands against his back, pushing him forward.
Jason saw his lips then form the words, "Are you insane, woman? Honestly, what were you thinking?! I was in the middle of a phone call—"
Piper cut him off. "Quiet, Leo, I was saving you!"
Leo thought for a while and then agreed with a halfhearted shrug.
Jason chuckled under his breath and then drank the last of his wine. The end of the glass, flat so that it would steady when set on hard surfaces, acted like a telescope of some sort. He was about to set the glass back down but then through the misty, flat circle, he saw a head of dark hair. His brows furrowed and he was curious about this for some reason as it seemed to attract him.
He slowly set the glass down and everything zoned back out again. It made him dizzy for a second but he scanned the crowd for that hair again. He found it and it belonged to a woman. She had pale skin and in her hair had a hair band that pulled back the front of her hair, showing her forehead. And she had dark eyes that seemed to observe all of her surroundings.
Then it hit Jason that this woman was familiar to him. He knew it by the purple dress that silkily crawled to the floor like a curtain and her pose. Her stance was just radiating how independent she was.
If Jason still had wine in his mouth, he would've choked on it.
He almost wished he had as he realized that Leo was right: things were almost definitely going to get a little dramatic. Especially with Reyna now in the picture.
Jason set his glass down on the table and the server behind the table took it and put it in a tub with all the other dirty dishes. But Jason didn't notice as he kept his eyes trained on Reyna. She hadn't noticed him, yet, as she was talking to someone. But he noticed her eyes still glancing away from the person.
He pressed his lips together and shook his head to turn it away. Knowing about the relations that he and Piper had with Reyna, he knew he had to tell someone. And being her boyfriend, Piper was the first person on his mind.
Jason went back around the dance floor, opposite of where Reyna was, and tried to hide himself from Reyna's view. He didn't want her to see him just yet, if she hasn't already. But as he was walking around, he tried to get Piper and Leo's attention, whom were clearing out the dance floor as they guffawed as they thrashed around in their dance, goofing off like usual. He had to suppress his smile until finally Piper caught his eye.
He widened his own and gestured hurriedly for them to come to him.
She kept her now confused eyes on Jason as she settled down, Leo soon doing the same as Jason saw her murmur something to him.
Leo turned around and saw him as well. He then smirked, already having a hunch about what this was all about.
They exited that area and made their way to him.
"What's wrong? Something with the drinks?" Piper asked once they came up to him. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
"No," he shook his head slowly. "You'll never believe who I just saw."
"Let me guess: Reyna," Leo said.
"How'd you know?" Jason asked him, bewildered.
"I told you this already, remember?"
"You didn't tell me who was going to be here,"
"Oh. Yeah, well now you know." Leo said.
"How did you know, though?"
"She called me." He shrugged. "Said, 'Hi, it's nice that I see you're still alive.' She told me she's a reporter and was going to come to talk to you."
Jason's heart sank. He would love to talk to her again, sure, she was his best friend, but he knew about the jealousies between Reyna and Piper pertaining to him. He looked up at her and found her eyes mixing into a blue-green. She looked a little wary and unsure about how to feel.
"Listen, I'm just gonna talk to her, okay?" he said softly to her. "There's nothing to worry about."
Leo's phone rang. He looked at the screen and looked a little frightened. "If I get fired"—he pointed a finger at Piper—"I'm blaming you."
She gave a small smile. "Sorry,"
Leo excused himself and walked away and pressed a finger to one ear as he raised his phone to the other.
She turned back to Jason and took his hands into hers. "Just promise it won't end up like last time?"
Jason nodded. "Remember the last time; when I said there was absolutely nothing to worry about? That's how it is here. No breaking up because I love you. Reyna and I are just friends especially as we're just about to meet again after years and years."
"Okay. But just remember that you promised," Piper said. She gave one last squeeze of his hands and then she was about to turn around and leave but then she saw the other woman.
Reyna was also staring at them. The three looked like deer in headlights because they were all shocked. But Reyna blinked it away, her eyes turning back to stone. The corners turned upward in acknowledgment and she excused herself from the person she was just then talking to.
Then the couple watched as she began to walk towards them, the crowd seeming to part before her.
Don't hate me; like I said, this is just part of the story to make the plot complete. Tying up loose ends here. I will try to get the next chapter typed up but it may take a while again because I'm going to be pretty busy for the rest of the week and going out of town for summer. But I promise I'll try and give you a longer chapter next time. Yeah, sorry for the short chapter. If I don't update before then, have a great summer!
(Thank God for it because then I can catch up on all my other stories. :))
Please tell me your thoughts!