ALEA IACTA EST ; GRACE

020.

THE MONTHS PASSED by in a hurry.

Philomena spent her time training in the arena or sitting near the lake, wondering what the mud-lady could've meant. She knew she was good at archery and that she could see the emotions of others but there was nothing more to it, right?

It wasn't like she would be able to control them. And even if, she would never want to do that.

Oh, and there was also another thing that had changed in her routine: Philomena had a new friend, or rather new friends.

First there was Reyna, whom she wouldn't quite consider her friend but they had grown closer and talked a lot with each other and loved to bully Jason whenever they had the chance.

Then there was the new girl at Camp, who had arrived in September. When Hazel Levesque had entered the Camp, Philomena couldn't believe her eyes, she looked exactly like the girl in her dream. This has to be her, but where were the two guys who were with them on the boat?

Philomena and Hazel grew closer, especially since Jason had instructed her to show Hazel around New Rome and Camp Jupiter, while he went on to talk to her brother, Nico di Angelo, about some things.

So yes, Philomena's life was going pretty great, there was only one thing she didn't quite enjoy: Jason being praetor.

Of course, he was born to be a leader, it was in his blood as a son of Jupiter but Philomena hated how they could only talk in the evenings when he was off-duty or in the little moments when he took a break to drink a coffee with her.

But well, she was happy that he put effort into their meetings and more often than not, her heart fluttered at the sight of Jason appearing, having run from the office to wherever she was right now, to take her into the city to get ice cream or something else while he had taken a break.

Soon after, Reyna would come to find them, also getting an ice cream but mad that Jason was abandoning his duty. However, after Philomena and her had teased him a bit, his face growing flushed, she smiled along, no longer minding the interruption of their work.

And now, it was almost November, the air cold and Jason's hair, which had been cut not so accurately by Philomena some months ago, was now grown out and he no longer had to hide it under a baseball cap.

"Okay, November 22nd that's when we'll celebrate your birthday," Philomena stated one day as she sat together with Reyna and Jason in a cafe sipping on her hot chocolate.

Jason choked on his drink, while Reyna looked between the pair in confusion, "His birthday?" She hadn't known Jason's birthday was in November.

"Yup," Philomena nodded enthusiastically, and pointed to Jason. "I decided that he finally had to celebrate it, so that's what we'll be doing, so mark your calendar Reyna and get a gift."

"I was hoping you'd forget about it," Jason muttered. "We really don't have to celebrate it and I don't want any gifts."

"But that's no fun," Philomena protested. "Birthdays and presents go hand in hand and Hazel and I already bought you gifts, so you can't back out."

Jason wanted to refute again, he didn't want to get anything from her or anyone for that matter, but then he saw Philomena's excited expression as she talked to Reyna about what she was planning, so he decided to remain silent and enjoy the sight of Philomena smiling.

"Okay, well, then I have a lot to do, if I want a free afternoon to go shopping," Reyna informed them and stood up, her coffee in hand. "I'll see you 'Mena and Jason if you don't come back to the office soon, I'll cut off your head."

With those words she walked off, leaving Jason and Philomena alone in the cafe.

"Do you really not want to celebrate your birthday?" she asked, doubts suddenly settling in her mind. She didn't want to pressure Jason into doing anything he didn't want to do.

Pulling his chair closer to hers, Jason sighed and grabbed her hand, interlocking their fingers slowly, a blush on his face as he concentrated on their fingers, not daring to look into Philomena's eyes.

"As long as it's a smaller party and I get to decide who comes, I'm okay with it, especially because you're the one organizing it, Philo."

Last month, while Philomena had been reading through a greek dictionary because she wanted to research something, she had come across the word 'Philo' and its translation. Loving, love. It was a Greek word that described the emotion of love and Jason, even if it was unintentionally (he totally knew what he was saying) called her love almost every day.

Ever since then, Philomena's face burned bright red whenever he called her Philo and she really just wanted to punch him in the face. Or kiss him, but first she wanted to punch him.

Philomena looked at their hands and then at Jason's blushing face. He was surrounded by pastel pink, which kind of looked good in combination to his hair and Philomena just wanted to kiss him but she wanted to wait for him.

He should get comfortable with her first and she would wait until that time came and he'd make the first move.

Or well, that's what she told herself.

Out of instinct, Philomena moved closer, her gaze locked onto Jason's face and when he finally lifted his gaze, their lips were only mere inches apart.

His eyes widened but then, he pressed his lip against Philomena's in a quick peck, before removing them and standing up, his chair almost falling over by the quick movement.

"Uh, I- Work-," after having spluttered out these words, Jason turned around and left Philomena behind in the cafe.

She watched him leave, her hand moving up to her lips and touching them softly.

A shrill voice appeared next to her out of nowhere. "Do I need to get my eyes checked or did you just kiss our fucking praetor? The Jason Grace?"

"Gods, Hazel, you scared the living shit out of me," Philomena exclaimed, holding a hand to her heart as the enthusiastic daughter of Pluto sat down in the chair Jason had just sat in mere seconds ago.

"Good, because you never told me that you reciprocate his feelings. I thought you would just friendzone him," Hazel told her. She then forced her friend to tell her everything that had happened, her eyes shining as she listened to Philomena's words.

"So what's going on now? Are you two together?"

Philomena looked out of the window, "I have no idea, after we kissed, if you can even call that a kiss, he just disappeared."

"Uh, oh, that doesn't sound so good. Well, I'm sure you two are going to work it out because he is head over heels in love with you, I'm sure of that. One look at him when you're around would be enough for anyone to realize that."

HOPE speaks !

a kiss is a kiss right? but what will happen to our pair now?

love you lots <3