My First Major Shopping Trip

Note to self, talk to Hazel about trading some gems in for money. If this shopping trip taught me anything, it's that I won't make it very far with only drachmas remaining.

Calypso and I hailed a cab. While I may not have any issues with walking, I was a little reluctant after our little incident.

"Where to?" The cabbie asked.

"Manhattan Mall."

Fortunately the drive wasn't very far, only a few blocks at most, and the streets were relatively clear following the afternoon lunch rush. That's right, after everything that happened, it was only a little after four in the afternoon. Talk about a long day.

When the cabbie dropped us off, I took a look at the building in front of us. Manhattan Mall was a massive four story shopping complex almost completely covered in windows. I could almost see the back of the building from the outside, but there were too many people to make out the details. I turned to Calypso.

"Well, here we are," I said. "Where do you want to go first?"

Calypso pouted and glared at me. "I don't know. I haven't been here before."

I felt like facepalming myself right then and there. Of course she's not gonna have a clue. Before I could let my own embarrassment show, I held out my arm to Calypso.

"Well, let's just browse then. Let me know if you see something you like."

Her frown lessened as the edges of her mouth were pulled upward. A gleam in her eyes made me a little nervous about how much she was going to spend on this trip. She laced her arm through mine and we walked into the massive shopping center.

If leading Calypso around Manhattan was difficult, then leading her around the mall was suicide. Nearly every store had something she was enthralled in. She didn't take much interest in the technology stores, which left me relieved. For one thing, I didn't have that kind of money. Also, being a demigod around technology really doesn't end too well.

Our first major stop was some sort of sportswear shop. I was in need of some new running shoes, so I couldn't complain. While I was off getting myself a pair of new Nike's, Calypso browsed through various outfits and tried them on in the dressing room.

"Hey, what do you think of this one?"

I looked up and took a quick breath. She looked… well, you'll figure it out. She was dressed in a skintight turquoise singlet with a pair a grey leggings that went just past the halfway point of her calves. A pair of black biker shorts rested just above the leggings. Just to sell it further, she wore a pair of black biker gloves with cut off finger tips. I reminded myself to breathe.

"Uh… um… dah…" I just couldn't enunciate my own thoughts. This was Calypso. I spent so long just seeing her in dresses that I never really considered how she would look in anything else. If this was anything to go by, I may just have to reconsider my stance on keeping my hands off of her for now.

She took my stuttering as a good sign. A coy smile danced on her lips as she drifted over to me. Her lips delicately trailed along my jaw before she pulled away.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

Something's about to have my tongue, I thought to myself.

Before I could make a move, she pulled away and skipped her way back to the dressing room, happy with the stuttering wreck she turned me into.

She purchased the outfit (I actually did, but let's not get into the details) and we made our way around to see more shops. As if she were doing her best to reduce me to nothing but a gibbering mess with a raging hard on, she dragged me into a swimwear store to pick out some choice outfits for the pool and beach.

So many of Calypso's choices in swimwear left it difficult for me to breathe. Several one piece and two piece swimsuits of varying colors and designs dressed her body before she finally settled on one that she really liked. It was an olive green two piece bikini with a small bronze ring connecting everything in the back. A slightly frilled skirt hung from her panty line, traveling just about to her upper thigh. Seeing her in this may or may not have left me drooling. As if this wasn't enough, one of the store attendants decided to let us in on some news.

"We're having an end of the summer sale," she said. "Two swimsuits for the price of one."

Murder me now. Calypso wasted no time revisiting all of her previous choices before picking a white one piece swimsuit with a deep plunge, revealing a not too subtle amount of cleavage. The image of her tanning in this wormed its way into my head and left my brain fried as we continued to move on through more and more shops.

We passed through so many different stores, I'm sure that I wound up with vertigo by the end of it. A few of them were trendy and casual clothing stores that Calypso had a field day with. The opposite was the case when we made our way into a very formal dress store.

"These designs are terrible," Calypso sniffed. "They are way to restrictive and the material would rip with some of the most basic movements. I was designing better gowns than this twenty five hundred years ago."

We didn't get anything from that store. Nearly two hours later, I was left carrying half a dozen bags from different stores with several sets of clothes in each.

"Can we take a break real quick?" I begged. "My arms are killing me."

Calypso looked disappointed but thankfully agreed. We took a seat on the edge of a massive fountain on the bottom floor. The sound of the crashing water was soothing for me. It reminded me of my cabin back at camp.

I looked down at the bags at my feet, then to Calypso.

"Enjoying the shopping trip?"

"Absolutely," she said cheerfully. "There's clothes here that I never would have thought to weave! The variety. The colors. It's all fantastic!"

She then leaned forward and kissed my cheek. "And of course, you have been a fantastic chaperone."

My face got a little hot at that comment. I was with arguably the most beautiful girl in the entire complex and she was the one flirting with me.

"I try my best."

She grabbed my head and turned me to face her.

"You've done much more than just try."

Her next kiss was equally as warm and tender as the one back in front of my parents. Apparently she had no concept of privacy, because she failed to notice the dozen plus people staring at us for the PDA. She pulled away and gave me a bright grin. There certainly was no dampening her mood. I wished I could say the same for myself. There was one thing that I just couldn't get off of my mind.

"Hey. You said earlier that I wasn't under my own control. What exactly did you mean by that?"

Her lips took a slight turn south. "Like I said, I could sense some other power at work. I don't know who's or why or how exactly it works, but someone else was responsible for you actions. Or at least influencing them."

I shook my head dejectedly. "No one is responsible for my actions except me."

Calypso placed her hand on mine. "Percy, just as mortals cannot see through the mist, you could not have seen through this. I don't know what exactly the magic was. All I know is that this was definitely not the work of some two bit sorcerer."

I picked up my head. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

She smirked. "Most likely. This was the work of a god."

Fantastic. So not only was I being watched by the gods, but they were also toying with me like some sort of puppet. On that cheerful note, I stood up and stretched.

"Hmm. Sure that you're not the one responsible? Maybe you're bewitching me."

Calypso furrowed her eyebrows and glared at me. "Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. It's almost always the pretty ones that are the most wicked."

She stood up and slinked over to me. Her hands rested on my shoulders.

"So you think I'm pretty enough to be wicked?" She asked sultrily.

"Definitely."

She replied by shoving me backwards, sending me straight into the fountain with a loud SPLASH. I panicked a bit before realizing that I can't drown and pulled myself out.

Calypso had her hands on her knees, laughing her head off at my expense. "I guess I really am wicked. Care to see what else I have up my sleeve?"

I willed myself dry and ignored the stares of about seventy people. "I'd rather not."

"Awww," Calypso pouted and moved forward again. I braced myself for another push, but she simply moved her head to my ear and whispered. "Are you sure? It could be a lot of fun…"

I got the hint at what she was implying. Seriously? In this public of a place, she's going to try seducing me? It was working. Goosebumps flared up across my body at her words. I wasn't about to let her get away with this.

"Maybe later," I whispered back. "But only if you're a good girl."

That was my trump card and it worked wonders. Her eyes went wide and she was left stuttering trying to find a comeback.

Before she could properly get back at me, I gave her a quick peck on the lips and picked up the bags.

"Shall we get back to it?"

"Okay," she pouted. "But there's one store that I really wanted to go to next."

Victoria's Secret. Of course it had to be Victoria's Secret. How is it that a girl who lived isolated from all of society for over three thousand years managed to find the one place that would be expected of her to look through?

She searched through various panties, bras, bustiers, and stockings. I did my best not to die of embarrassment. So this is what it feels like for most guys in a relationship. I never had this problem with Annabeth. Lingerie just wasn't her thing. Before too long, Calypso came up to me holding a crimson and black set of some very exotic looking underwear.

"Do you think this would look good on me?"

My shirt seemed to be getting tighter as she asked this.

"Um. I don't know. Besides, it's what you think that matters."

She glared at me. "No. I'm not getting this for my own visual pleasure. I'm trying to find something that you would like to see me in."

In that case, we may as well just walk out of the mall. As much as she's been teasing me all day, I'd rather see her in nothing. Then again, the idea was actually pretty intimidating. You don't just imagine someone like Calypso spreading their legs for you. When I first arrived to Camp Half-Blood, I thought Selina was pretty intimidating when she flirted with me. Now that several years have passed, Calypso definitely takes the cake.

"Uhh," I said intelligently. "I don't know then. I'd need to see it on you to know for sure."

Someone give me some rope because I honestly felt like hanging myself off of the fourth floor balcony for that line. Even worse was Calypso's reaction.

"Oh. Well, I wouldn't mind showing you. The problem is that there aren't any dressing rooms in here." She immediately started reaching for the hem of her shirt. "Unless of course, you want to cover for me and have me show off right here in the store."

Okay, seriously?! I know this girl hasn't left her island for several millennia and thus, hasn't really discovered the concept of confidentiality. But she was being very bold with her actions.

She began pulling her shirt up, but I stopped her in her tracks.

"Oh? Do you not want to see me in this?"

A pained expression worked its way onto my face. "You have no idea how badly I want to. But we can't do that here."

She put her shirt down and turned around before bending over to pick up her set of lingerie. As if I wasn't already worked up, she made a very suggestive action by shoving her butt into my crotch and tantalizingly rubbing against it. It didn't help that the skinny jeans she was wearing hugged her figure very well, mapping her well formed rear with too much detail to ignore. A small whimper may have escaped my throat at some point.

"Okay then. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what you think later."

She stood back up and proceeded to the checkout. Ugh, this girl is going to kill me. Why did she have to be so alluring and scary while still being stupidly friendly about this?

Our last stop was a store that seemed to be right up Calypso's alley. Sun dresses and various other loose fitting gowns adorned the windows and models. Some of them looked like they had been ripped straight from Calypso's loom on Ogygia.

"Well," she sniffled. "Doesn't this feel nostalgic?"

I tried my best to give an uplifting half smile. "We could try and find something like what you were wearing earlier today. That dress looked really good on you."

She looked away at my statement. "No. I can still repair that dress… Though I will need a loom."

I considered introducing Calypso to the world of sewing machines, but I decided not to open that can of worms.

"Well, there's still plenty of other items here that I could definitely see you wearing. Want to look around and see if you find anything you like?"

She smiled gratefully. "I would love to."

Calypso was much more reserved and quiet with this particular store while shopping. In almost every other shop, she would bustle around and grab anything that caught her eye. That wasn't the case with this one. She would drift from dress to dress, milling slowly as she examined the work of each.

After some time, there was one that she found to her tastes and made her way to the dressing room. I patiently waited outside and listened to her quietly curse to herself as she tried getting out of my mom's clothes. A few minutes passed before she finally called out.

"Okay. Let me know what you think."

The door opened and I lost my ability to think. She was adorned in a pearl colored flowing satin gown. Silver medallions pinned her dress at the shoulders. A lightly pleated skirt trailed down her legs, adorned in lilies, with a thin fuchsia silk belt tying the dress around her thin waist. Her feet were dressed in some laced leather sandals that worked their way up her legs, the straps tying together just short of her knees.

"Well," she repeated, her face flushed. "What do you think?"

I responded by grabbing her shoulders and walking her back into the changing room. I turned her to face the mirror as I stood behind her. With my chin resting on her shoulder, I wrapped my arms around her waist.

"In front of me is a beautiful woman in a beautiful dress. I don't think that we'll ever find one that can truly do you justice, but this is by far my favorite outfit of the day."

Her eyes were wide and her face was beet red. For once, I truly had her at a loss for words. I could feel her shiver in my arms.

Before long, I pulled away and smiled at her image in the mirror. Not a moment passed before she whirled around and tackled me with a kiss, knocking me against the opposite side of the dressing room. Her previous attempts at this had been warm and tender. Now, she kissed me with a passion that rivaled Piper's. Her arms worked their way around my neck and held me in place for a few minutes as she gave me her physical expression of gratitude.

Eventually, she pulled back with a broad smile on her face. I took a moment to collect myself before brushing my hand over her cheek.

"Why don't we make this purchase and head on back to the apartment?"

Fortunately, the attendant had no problems with Calypso wearing the dress while we paid for it.

"You're paying for it one way or another. Who cares if you wear it now or after you leave?"

Following the extremely long day, I came to the sudden realization that I was out of money for a taxi ride. Looking down at the collection of bags in my hands, I realized how that was possible.

"Um. I don't have any problems with carrying some of those," Calypso said.

With as long as I had been carrying them, I wasn't about to refuse her offer. I split my carrying load in half and let Calypso hold four bags.

The return trip was fortunately uneventful. As much crap that we went through today, it was a breath of fresh air for me. Well, as fresh as you can get in Manhattan.

The sun was beginning to set when we found ourselves back in front of the apartment building. Paul's blue prius sat along the curb. Four very suspicious hoof marks dented its hood.

"I hope you enjoyed this little trip," I said. "It's been a long time since I've been back here."

Calypso gave me a curious look. "Percy, this day could have been terrible and I still would have found only good things about it. This is the world that I've been wanting to see. Sure, it's not exactly picture perfect, but it's something outside of an island with nothing but water in every direction. Trust me, I loved today. The incident in the alley notwithstanding."

That was a delight to hear. I was honestly really nervous about showing her the real world. Now, even after all the crap that happened today, she still had a positive outlook on everything. It was honestly really endearing.

Satisfied with her answer, I led the way into the apartment. Fortunately, I grabbed my key from the key box before leaving, so I didn't have to wait around for my parents to admit us again.

Once inside, our heavy footsteps reverberated through the building as the floor struggled to carry our weight mixed with the clothes. Four flights later and we made our way through the door to my apartment and were met with a rather warm welcome.

"Glad to have you guys back," my mom said. "You can put the bags down by the couch. Dinner's almost ready."