The Child of Hera

Chapter 20-Birdie

Birthday party!  Yay.

Luke was running all over the place preparing the celebration.  He even assigned people jobs.  Piper and Jason were in charge of decorating.  Leo and Calypso cooked.  Hazel and Frank were in charge of presents.  Percy was in charge of guest list, and Annabeth was there to keep him on track.  Luke got a clipboard!  Not.   Annabeth took the clipboard away from him and told him to distract Birdie.  She read his mind and figured it all out.

They had a race on the beach.  Birdie tried to catch him, to find out what he was getting her, and he ran.  Eventually she sat down on the sand, winded.  He came back, not even breathing heavily. 

"H-how," she said, not able to form coherent sentences.

"Hermes thing.  I have to run a marathon before I get a cramp."

Birdie scowled and reached for his head.  He ducked.  Then he sat next to her.

Sunset.  Her favorite part of the day.  She took in a deep breath of ocean air, and sighed.  The orange and read hues illuminated the sky as Apollo landed his chariot.  She threw herself onto the sand and laughed.  A good clear laugh that rang through the air.

Luke raised an eyebrow.  "Why are you laughing?" he asked.

"Today is the best worst and most frustrating day ever!" she said, smiling like a maniac.

"Frustrating huh?"

"Yes.  You keep trying to make me immeasurably happy with a birthday party, when I haven't celebrated any holiday in years.  I don't know how to act at a party!  I'm very distant."

"Sure," he said.

Birdie had said those words jokingly, but his tone made her realize that he sensed the truth behind them.  She'd never had a real friend.  She had gotten close, but they judged her too much.  She knew a good friend if they didn't laugh when she called her father Daddy.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked.

"You just did."

She rolled her eyes.  "If a friend, hypothetically, had done some really bad things in the past, what would you think of them?"  Her words were dead serious, and almost nervous as she asked them.

"Hypothetically, what kind of things did this friend do?"

"Join monster gangs, hurt people on order, without hesitation, perhaps kill demigods on quests because the gang leader wanted dinner?"

"Well, I would, hypothetically, tell them that I don't care.  I've been given a fresh start, so I'll give them one too."

"Thanks, Luke."

He laid down next to her, and she turned he head to face him.  His face was two inches away. She wanted to close the gap.

Stop, don't think like that, she thought.  

But he's so close.  

Too bad.  

Please?  

No.  

Pretty please?  

The general appearance of the please won't help your case.

But he's so perfect.

Actually, it's the imperfection that makes you attracted to him.

Exactly.  He's made just as many mistakes as I have.

So?

SO, no one else has ever done that.

Ok, maybe.  But not now.

I'll take what I can get!

Birdie was perplexed.  Did her practical side and her romantic side just argue in her head?

She stared into Luke's eyes, and he blew into her face.  When she opened her eyes again, he appeared to have moved even closer.  Just in inch away.

They stayed there like that, until Birdie fell asleep.