Leo's Angel

Chapter Eight

"Piper! Piper!" I screamed.

She was the only one in the cabin, but I still screamed.

"What?! What?! What happened?!" she screamed back, probably thinking that there was an attack or something.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her furiously.

"I'm going on a date with Leo! I'm going on a date with Leo!!"

She screamed.

"That's awesome! When?"

"Tomorrow night."

"That gives you plenty of time."

"For what?"

"To figure out what to do and what to wear."

She was undeniably happy. As was I. I smiled as I went to sleep. I couldn't wait for tomorrow, and my date with Leo.

I woke up, made my bed, grabbed some clothes, and ran to bathroom. I was dressed in an orange Camp Half-blood T-shirt, Capris, and flip flops, my hair in a long braid.

I ate cereal, that was it. I was bursting with happiness. I was so excited. I even gave Claresse more than the usual time. When I came back to my cabin, I found something on my bed. A note that said:

Meet me at the canoe dock, at 7 o'clock.  ~Leo

I smiled. I looked at the clock, it was 6:10. I went to take a shower. Then I went back to the cabin and got my dress.

It was royal blue, long droopy sleeves, the body went to my knees, and was a V neckline. I put on gold diamond earrings, gold two inch high heels,  and strawberry scented perfume. By then my hair had dried. I looked at the clock again, 6:50.

"I have to go." I said to Piper, who was doing paperwork.

"Okay, have fun!" she said.

I walked down to the docks and saw him.

He was wearing a white dress up shirt, black dress up pants, and black leather shoes. He looked as if he tried to tame his curly hair and failed.

But, I didn't care. He was handsome. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Hi!" I said when I reached him.

"Hey!" he replied.

He stepped into a boat that was next to him and offered me his hand to help me get in the boat. I took it and sat in the boat.

He stepped in and rowed the boat to a grassy spot on the river. It was dark and I couldn't see, but Leo helped me to get out of the boat.

"I'm going to show you something, just promise that you won't freak out, okay?"

"I promise."

He created a ball of fire and lit most of the candles that surrounded us.

"You can control fire?"

"Yeah."

I smiled, held up my hand, and created my own fireball, except my fire is blue and his is red.

"Me too." I said as I lit the candles he didn't light.

Then I looked around for the first time.

We were surrounded by candles in a little glade filled with wild flowers. It was beautiful. Not too bright, not too dark. Perfect.

"But, you're a daughter of Aphrodite."

"I'm different from my other half siblings, but I don't know why."

"It's because you're better than any of them."

"Even Piper?"

"She's more like my sister, so she doesn't count."

I laughed as he grabbed a picnic basket that he had been hiding in the boat. We sat down on the blanket that he laid out.

He pulled out a big bowl of food that was covered by a metal lid.

"Sorry that's it's not really fancy, but I can't cook anything else unless you can count tacos." he said with a disappointed face.

"I don't care, I'm sure that it's delicious."

He smiled.

"Ta da!" he said as he lifted the lid.

Bean and beef stir fry. It smelled amazing.

We ate, talked, and laughed. After the main course, we ate chocolate covered strawberries.

They were juicy and the chocolate sweetened them to perfection.

After we ate all of the strawberries, he pulled out what looked like a pack of gum.

He pressed a bottom and I found out that it was a music player. He stood up and offered me his hand.

I smiled, and took it. The song played as we swayed side to side.

Wise men say, Only fools rush in, but I can't help falling in love with you.

Shall I stay, would it be a sin? For I can't help falling in love with you.

Like a river flows, surely to the sea. Darling, so it goes, some things are meant to be!

Take my hand, take my whole life, too. For I can't help falling in love with you.

Like a river flows, surely to the sea. Darling, so it goes, some things are meant to be!

Take my hand, take my whole life, too. For I can't help falling in love with you. For I can't help falling in love with you!

We stopped and sat down again.

"Leo, this is amazing!"

"Only because you're here with me."

I smiled. He put his hand on my cheek and left it there. I leaned into his hand, enjoying the warmth.

Then he started to lean in toward me.

"Diana..." he started to say.

Oh my gods, he's going to kiss me! 

Our lips met, softly.

I'm dreaming, I have to be!

But, I wasn't. A deadly asteroid could've been speeding towards Earth, and destroy it, but I wouldn't have cared.

Leo Valdez was kissing me and I loved it. He pulled away slowly and kissed me softly as if trying to stop, but didn't want to. I didn't want him to either.

In fact I was fighting the desire to dive deeper into the kiss. He pulled away without any more kisses.

"Sorry." he said.

"For what?"

"Kissing you. I shouldn't have done that-"

I stopped him by gently pressing my lips to his.

We pulled away and he looked at me surprised. The music player beeped. He sighed.

"We have to go back, curfew soon."

We rowed back in silence and I was fighting the want to lean over and kiss him again.

We got to the dock and he offered to help me out. I took his hand, but I still tripped on the side of the boat.

Quick as lighting, Leo caught me and held me. We looked at each other and then Leo's lips were on mine again.

This time with a new strength of longing. He pulled a part way before I was willing to let him.

"Diana, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked quickly.

"What?" I said, not sure if I had heard the question.

He didn't know.

"Sorry." he said again before he ran.

Leaving me with the unspoken, "Yes", on my lips.