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Currently, Rory was sitting in the back of a cab, freaking out.
Her hands wouldn't stay still. She kept bouncing between picking at her freshly painted fingernails, playing with hair, and flattening her dress.
This was her first time seeing Percy in person since his spring break in March. Sure, they had been Iris-messaging constantly, but this was different. Rory was going to meet him at his school after his orientation ended and take him back to camp. But before that, they would be going on their first date.
At least, Rory assumed it was a date. They would be going alone — just the two of them — to the movies. That had to be a date. Sally basically told her it was a date, convincing her to wear the dress she had bought her for Christmas. Annabeth kept making fun of the outing, calling it a date.
But what if it wasn't a date? What if Rory was reading too much into the afternoon? Oh gods, she would be so embarrassed.
Things had been confusing between them since the winter solstice — when Rory kissed Percy. They never really talked about it... but it also wasn't totally ignored. They both completely acknowledged that they weren't just friends, but they also did nothing to remedy that fact. Honestly, Rory wasn't too eager to rush that change. She was so worried that her kissing Percy would completely ruin their friendship, but it didn't. She was happy to stay in this state of limbo if it meant keeping Percy in her life.
Until about a month ago when he asked her on this supposed date. For four weeks now she had been anticipating this day, and it was finally here — and she really didn't know how to feel.
By the time the cab pulled up to the corner of East 81st and FDR Drive, Rory thought she was going to be sick. She considered asking the driver to take her right back to Camp Half-Blood. In the time it took her to pay for the ride, she mustered up the courage to exit the car. Now all she had to do was wait for Percy.
She didn't have to wait long. Not even five minutes later, Percy ran right into her. Rory was so happy to see him that she didn't even question why he had emerged from an alleyway and not his actual school.
"Hey, you're out early!" she greeted, grabbing Percy's shoulders to keep him from tumbling into the street. "What's got you in a rush, Wonder Boy?"
Percy didn't answer her. Instead he just stared at her, almost as if he was surprised to see her. Rory felt her face flush under his gaze.
"Hey," he finally breathed out, after a solid thirty seconds of silence.
"Hi?" Rory laughed.
From behind Percy, another figure emerged from the alley. A familiar redhead wearing a maroon tee and ratty jeans decorated with marker drawings, covered in monster dust.
