Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus series, RR does.


CHAPTER 6


She was asking herself why she hadn't laughed at him. Or snorted maliciously. Or simply declined.

Why she'd agreed, she had no idea. She could guess the date she'd die and she'd be more sure of that than of what had made her follow him to that restaurant again.

Walking in and taking the place in her sight, noticing Joe's kind smirk, she decided to blame it on the undeniable deliciousness of the meal they were going to have. Nothing more, nothing less. The food was what was important. It didn't have anything to do with who she was going to eat with.

They sat at a different table that time and she felt an unpleasant twitch in her gut when she'd suddenly remembered who'd been eating there last time they'd been around.

Yup, the lovebirds.

She shook her head, trying to get rid of the annoying thought. "Um... Is everything alright..?" she heard Leo's uncertain voice and straightened, alarmed.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she answered in a military sharpness, looking him in the eye and trying to show her domination she obviously had. Interesting, he didn't lower his eyes... He was staring at her kind of shyly, but didn't break the eye contact. Not many had done this earlier. Certainly interesting...

That was the first time Reyna had been looking at him for that long. Her eyes were terrifyingly intimidating but his common sense couldn't convince himself not to stare. How could he when the source of fear was so lovely? Not even once had he seen such dark eyes, the pupils almost undistinguishable because of their somber surroundings. If eyes truly were a mirror of the soul, hers showed the undiscovered depths of mystery deep inside of her. He suddenly wondered just how many secrets she was hiding and felt curiosity wash over him. Leo Valdez had always been an explorer, hadn't he?

Finally, she cleared her throat, waking him up from the reverie. "So" she started, hoping to sound casually "Shall we order?" she asked, looking in Joe's direction.

The waiter smiled at them mysteriously and went to the kitchen, shouting "Two plates of pollo en fricasé, on their way!" and laughing from gods knew what.

Whatever it was, Leo probably knew, because when she turned back to him, he gave her a sheepish smile, his cheeks flushing. She lifted her eyebrow. "What have you two been plotting..?" she asked, hitting the bull's eye as a paper napkin he was playing with fell from Leo's hands to the floor.

"We..? You mean, me and Joe..?" he laughed nervously and bent in half to pick the napkin up from the floor. "There's nothing you should be worried about" he assured her, sounding almost convincing. Almost.

"But there's something I should worry about" he thought, sending mental death glares to the big guy. Why it was that he could be perfectly fine when he turned off and went on lead by instinct, but when Joe had reminded him that he was trying to make a good impression, he immediately seemed to forget his famous hot stuff side? Losing the ability to flirt was certainly not helpful on a date.

Or whatever it was in her dictionary, at least...

He cleared his throat. "So..." he smiled weakly "How have you been..?" he asked, starting playing with the napkin again.

"Fine, thank you" she answered casually, linking her hands on the table top and raising her eyebrow in an anticipative look. Was he expecting her to lead the conversation? No way she was going to do that.

Fortunately, he seemed to had understood it was up to him to work on the dialogue. "Uh..." he parted his lips, thinking, which gave him a look of a fish in some way. Had the scientists already given some fish the name of the most stubborn Latino she knew? "You know, when I first came to LA, I didn't even dream of finding a place like this" he grinned, pleased with himself for finding a non-committal topic, throwing her out of the nonsense alley of her thoughts. Small steps, he'd been telling himself. "And now I can't imagine my life without it" he took every corner the place in his sight, his eyes dreamy.

"Why are you so worked up on the Caribbeans?" she found herself asking before she could have bitten her tongue. He was surprised that she interrupted his monologue so fast. Not that he was complaining. He smiled brightly, bulgy cheeks and all of their alluring additions present again... She was trying to ignore just how adorable one part of her brain still found it. It had to be its' breakdown or something. It would go away eventually.

"When I got to my high school back in the Big Apple, I wasn't so keen on the whole idea" he started saying, smoothing out the napkin he'd finally put down. "On the first day, before the lessons, I walked to a girl to introduce myself" he put his elbows on the table and leaned forward in her direction. Reyna sat straight despite one part of her mind urging to lean back on her chair, aware of the shrinking distance between them. "She was listening to music and offered me one of her earphones-"

"It's unhealthy to do so" Reyna cut into his speech with a look of disapproval on her face. Leo chuckled at her furrowed eyebrows. So she was cute when she was disgusted too, huh?

"I know, but I took it anyway. We were listening to David Rudder's Calypso Music and I thought..." he hesitated.

"You thought..?" she pushed, not quite thinking about what she was doing.

"I thought that maybe that rhythm was a good sign..?" he mumbled, blushing and ruffling his locks. "And it was" he grinned at her. "That girl was Piper and she's been my best friend ever since" So that was how those two became the unrelated twins?

"A... pleasing story" she said, her gaze softening a bit.

"I know, right?" he grinned. "And then I fell deep into calypso. I was a member of a band back there, actually..." That surprised her. She couldn't imagine him playing any instrument. Could one do that, being in move all the time like he was?

"Really? What do you play?" curiosity made her ignore the sudden flush of kindness he could obviously hear in her voice.

He smiled and shook his head. "Nothing too fancy, just the Flamenco Guitar" he said, smiling even wider at the sight of her addicting eyes shining with excitement. Well, she was trying to hide that, but it couldn't escape his almighty sight.

"What happened to the band after you moved?" her tongue-biting mechanism must had gone broken that day, she thought with annoyance. Don't be so elated, she reminded herself for the umpteenth time.

"The guys are still playing and I'm technically still a member" he answered, intrigued by her sudden interest in himself. Not that it didn't make his day. "When they finally find an occasion for a world tour, they'll tell me" he winked at her.

She rolled her eyes. "You do realize the chances are-" she froze, hearing the song that had just started playing on the radio.

Ritchie Valens' La Bamba.

Why did that place insist that she'd been reminded of the carefree years spent with her father every time she'd been there?! It had been his... No, their favorite song... She remembered his bright smile, the skin by his eyes wrinkling, when he'd played it, like he always had, and had pulled out his hand, saying "Echa pa'ca, princesa!" [Come over here, princess!] and lifting her in his arms to have a dance with her rapt younger self.

"Is something wrong..?" Leo's concerned voice and furrowed eyebrows brought her back to reality.

"Y-yeah..." she mumbled, not being able to take her eyes from the radio. The sudden flow of bittersweet memories was too much for her to resist.

"Oooh, you must love the song, right?" he asked, grinning, making her turn back to him sharply to see him pointing at her hand. Damn the unconscious rhythm tapping.

She felt her cheeks flushing. "Yeah, I do. My father-" and that time, her tongue was finally bitten just in time successfully. Leo smiled, one of the few times she'd actually seen him smile, not grin or smirk or just do strange things with his mouth.

"He must be a great guy, huh? You've already mentioned him a couple of times" he said before he could have thought about what he was going to say. Her expression fell and she focused her sight on her hands.

"He's dead" she said quietly. Leo's eyes widened and he felt all blood leaving his face. He definitely was the biggest idiot in the whole universe for bringing that topic up. Damn, man, you were supposed to be cautious! You were the one who knew best how hurtful parents' topic could be..!

"Uh... I'm sorry... I... Shouldn't have said that..." he muttered. She looked at him again and shook her head.

"You didn't know" she said in a soft voice, seeing how much pain in his eyes upsetting her had brought. No, it had to be something else. He wouldn't have already been so dependent on her mood, they barely knew each other, after all!

He looked at her, remnants of that painful sadness still present in his eyes. He smiled at her, a sorrowful smile that made her heart ache. It definitely was something else, he was carrying a shadow of his own tragedy for sure, she felt...

What interrupted their silent session of grievous stares was Joe bringing them their meal. "Uh..! Maybe I'll come later, kids..?" he chuckled nervously at the sight of their intense gazes.

Reyna broke the eye contact and looked at the waiter, trying to smile. "No, thank you very much" she said, not being able to see that Leo still couldn't keep his eyes off her.


ZJeM, 13-27.01.14


From author:

I wanted this chap to be full of teasing and stupid jokes but... It didn't go well. XD

Some teasing's gonna be present in chapter 7. :D

Thank you, MxMSupporter, for taking up playing the guitar and reminding me of La Bamba. Thanks to you, now we have a Caribbean loving a Latino song and a Latino in love with Caribbean rhythm. ;)

THANKS FOR READING! (and sorry for the wait ;))