My Boyfriend is a Dead Roman Hero | Jason Grace

I Beat a Guy Up

Paul Blofis has walked in on a lot of things since meeting Sally Jackson.

He knew some oddities were to be expected when dating a single mother. And, when Sally had told him over the phone a few weeks into their relationship that she'd be taking in a young girl to live with her and her son, he knew their relationship would be far from conventional. But, he'd always been the adventurous one of his family. And, there was no way he was letting Sally Jackson go - especially not over a selfless act like opening her apartment to a homeless eleven year old.

But, when the time had come for him to meet the kids, Paul walked into that cafe with very muddled expectations on what he might find.

Sally had told him stories about Percy - always with a defensive gleam in her eye when topics like his expulsions and school infractions came into conversation. She'd painted a picture in his head of the typical troublemaker with a heart of gold. He'd had enough of those in his own classes at school to be able to sympathize with Percy's situation. He figured he could expect the regular awkwardness between a teenage boy and the man dating his mother. The thought made him cringe, but it wasn't anything Paul couldn't handle.

When it came to Juliette, Sally hadn't shared quite as much. She always had a troubled expression when the girl's family situation came into question, and all Paul had been able to glean was that Julie's absent mother wasn't Sally's favorite person. He knew she was Percy's cousin on his father's side. Any details of her personality never really came up beyond the fond smile Sally would get when she was mentioned.

But, walking into that cafe to find the two kids covered in dust and wearing clothing that looked like it had been lowered into a vat of hungry pirannahs was not on his list of things to watch out for.

Sally had looked mortified, but in a fondly exasperated way that was pretty much handled with a swat on the back of their heads and a whispered order for them to be more careful.

"We crashed our bikes." Percy had explained with an easy smile that reminded Paul a little too much of a shark to do anything for his rampant nerves.

Paul had seen pictures of the boy off Sally's phone over the last few months, but they certainly didn't do him justice. The fourteen year old was nothing out of the ordinary at first glance, dark haired with a shock of grey and a windswept look that suggested he spent plenty of time on a skateboard. But, there was something about the depth of those green eyes that unsettled Paul. Percy's hands were calloused and scarred when he reached out for his utensils, and the relaxed posture he'd slumped into was calculated in a way that screamed "danger!" in Paul's subconscious. He was funny and polite, but his eyes tracked everything. Every movement Paul made, from a sip of his drink to a nervous adjustment of his vest.

Juliette seemed in every way Percy's opposite. While Paul had been expecting her to be the mysterious one, she had instead been warm and forthcoming about anything he asked her. Although she'd spent the first ten minutes of the meal loudly lamenting the loss of her favorite sweatshirt - white with little cartoon suns- she'd spent the rest of it excitedly chattering about her new place on her school's cheer squad while Sally and Percy listened with indulgent smiles. Juliette looked absolutely nothing like her cousin. Her hair was long and strawberry blonde, her eyes a bright apple green, and her smiles frequent and genuine. But, when she reached out to sip her strawberry milkshake, there were callouses on her fingers as well. When she talked animatedly with her hands, her sleeves slid down to reveal a multitude of scars down her arms. So, maybe there was just as much mystery to be found in Juliette Aster as Percy Jackson.

After that first successful meeting, things with Sally quickly got more serious.

He'd had a whole proposal planned out - roses ordered, the ingredients for a home cooked meal burning a hole through a shelf in his refrigerator - and yet the words had just slipped from him one evening in her living room. The kids had gone to bed, and the two of them were lounging on the couch editing each other's papers for class. Sally's hair was up for once, little ringlets having come loose and fallen to brush against her cheeks. They must have tickled because she'd kept swatting at them irritably between clicks on her laptop. Her pajama pants had ridden up to her knees, and she'd shoved her icy feet beneath his calves ruthlessly the moment he sat down. Her blue eyes were focused, sparkling. She was so beautiful. It had just slipped out.