𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

xi ━━ that's the closest i've come to my heart exploding

03. chapter eleven

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I SAW LEO BEFORE DINNER ACTUALLY.

after our meeting, i retreated to my cabin. i wasn't sure how i felt. i was still kind of mad at jason and leo, but i definitely wasn't seething anymore. i also wasn't sure if i was looking forward to the charleston trip to meet the mysterious southern belle spirit. mostly, i was worried about the detour route and whether we would have enough time to rescue nico.

when i got to my cabin, i picked up the cd player and brought it over to my bed. i opened the plastic cd case and removed the disc. i placed it into the space in the player and shut the little plastic door. the disc began to spin for a few moments without any music.

suddenly, a song began to play. too happy. i skipped it. the next song was also too upbeat. i skipped six more times until the seventh track. i let that one play through. i realized half way through that leo had me listening to country music. the worst part was that i liked it!

i listened to a few more songs from the cd and hated the fact that i liked them. what had leo said the girl's name was, taylor smith... swift? that sounds right.

i was listening to a piano song when there was a knock at the door of my cabin, taking me out of my lyrical daze. i look up. "hello?"

the door opened slowly. in the doorway stood leo which made me mad, but not in the typical way i usually got angry. it was like i was upset with him, but i didn't want to be. that wasn't a feeling i was used to, and i wasn't sure i liked it.

"what?" i said.

he left the door just a crack open and stepped into the room then stopped. "festus said we should get to charleston tomorrow morning. that means we should have enough time to reach rome and save nico."

i blinked. i tried to read his face. i wasn't very good at reading emotions except for the fact that with a touch, i could see someone's broken dreams if powerful enough. (a painful ability to have when surrounded by a bunch of demigods who have seriously been through the ringer). i couldn't tell what leo was thinking. he looked a little guilty which i understood.

"that's good." i stared at him. it was kind of awkward.

"so..." he took a few steps further into the room. "hypothetically speaking, you know... if i were to say something really stupid that i did not mean at all, would you forgive me?"

i considered it, then crossed my arms. "depends... would you hypothetically be sorry?"

he took another step. "i would hypothetically be overflowing with sorry. i would be so sorry you wouldn't know what to do with me."

taylor swift was still playing quietly. the cd player sat beside me on the bed. leo was standing a few feet from the bed where i sat with my legs crossed.

"oh, i think i know what to do with you." i said, trying to sound angry and menacing, but i was pretty sure it came out really, really wrong because leo grinned at me.

"oh, yeah? what?"

"um..." i thought. "punch you?"