the winemaker's daughter [ percy jackson & the olympians ]

chapter forty-one

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙴𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴𝚁'𝚂 𝙳𝙰𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝙴𝚁༉‧₊˚.[𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙲𝚈 𝙹𝙰𝙲𝙺𝚂𝙾𝙽 & 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙾𝙻𝚈𝙼𝙿𝙸𝙰𝙽𝚂]

chapter forty-one: i'm not exactly sure how to start this off on a joyful note

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ASHANTI WOULD never normally be a law-ignoring, joy-ride taking, teenaged ruckus inducing, citizen of new york city.

but when it was in her favor, like any other smitten teenaged girl, she couldn't help but ignore them just a teeny bit. for example, it was almost the end of the summer, and herself, and the campers at camp half-blood managed to live through almost two-and-a-half months of zero major attacks on their home. percy's birthday was in about a week, so there was no telling what would be coming really fucking soon, but she chose to just ignore those terrifying possibilities. instead, she chose enjoy the moments she had with him, and cherish the memories they were making hastily while the threat of the beginning looked overhead quite grimly.

anyway, the big three demigod wasn't to be sixteen until a few days more, but reluctantly, paul, after some convincing from sally, allowed him to take ashanti on a little spin in his prius. it was just the two of them, and they were feeling free, and exhilarated after a trip to a private stretch of beach on the south shore. sure, it might've been a teeny bit irresponsible, and quite literally against the law on paul's part, but the mortal had seen, and heard of more dangerous things her, and the poseidon boy had accomplished in the time between percy's orientation, and his fifteenth birthday alone. she figured the man thought, well, what the hades? they'd done more life-threatening things than take a prius a few hundred yards.

her, and percy were riding along with the windows rolled all the way down, and some cheesy pop song they loved equally blarred up high on the radio as they sang their hearts out along to the lyrics. due to the summer being over, and camp technically being done for the year, ashanti's mega-neat knotless braids had already been taken down. her inky black coils were loose, and blowing against the thick wind. her beautiful brown skin was gorgeously tan from the sun, her lips glittered with a new lip gloss she was trying out. she had on one of percy's oversized shirts, a choice of his suggestion, over a white two piece. and to the poseidon boy, she looked like a million gold drachmas.

"here! let's park here," she beamed at him, dimples displayed in the smile he loved so, so much. they parked on a ridge overlooking the atlantic ocean. it looked absolutely gorgeous, and the water looked especially nice that day — glittery green, and smooth like hot glass. no doubt, poseidon was giving them a bit of a break because of their upcoming circumstances, was keeping it nice, and calm for them. the thought made the dionysus girl's cheeks sting, but a small smile spread on her lips — the sea god had always been super approving of their relationship.

"so, what do you think?" ashanti asked him, blinking her long lashes at him in a way that was completely alluring. her deep purple eyes were wide in curiosity. she nervously tucked an inky black coil behind her ear, revealing a few new ear piercings she opted to get during the school year, and percy thought they looked absolutely amazing. he thought they made her absolutely badass, and was impressed when she'd showed him months before.

the dionysus girl has asked him to come to her homecoming dance. she hadn't gone to her first one, the autumn before, during her freshman year. she'd been on asked, of course, and was expected to be there due to her cheerleader status. ashanti admitted to him she would've felt odd, and out of place showing up to her homecoming dance date-less when the other cheerleaders had been asked by their boyfriends. she wanted to be a part of that normal, fully human experience, and hoped he would come to her sophomore year homecoming as her date.