The First Times

First Date

Ana could see Benny puffing and gesticulating to himself and wondered what was wrong with him.

"Benny?" Benny jumped in surprise, surprising Ana. "Easy there, Bunny-Man." Benny slightly glared at her, but it was not in him, specially when Ana chuckled. "Out with it, what's wrong?"

"Um, well, you know, I- um..." He took a deep breathe and stared at her. "Iwaswonderingifyouwantedtogotothecarnivalthisweeked...?" Ana blinked fast, catching the words 'carnival' and 'weekend'. She smiled and nodded, but Benny wasn't done. "Um, but... like a shsohds." He mumbled, all red.

"Like a what?" Ana seriously couldn't get the last part.

"Like a date."

One.

Two.

Thr-

"YES! I mean..." She composed after a second, smiling and blushing. "I'd love to, Benny." Seeing him smiling in relief was enough for Ana. They arranged a time and, in all honestly, nothing else mattered to Ana now. She was beyond Cloud 9. The mood even continued after Will picked her up from school. She walked around the house with a sense of daze.

"What's with her?" Nico asked at Will who shrugged, smirking.

"She wasn't very talkative in the car..."

Oh, but Ana was talking. As soon as she was home, she called all her Aunts- Piper was the first one, with Thalia being the last one -, asking for advice and stuff. Everyone gave similar advices which were 'be herself' and 'you're allow to hurt him if he hurts you'. Ana chuckled at that last one, but nodded in agreement. Now, to tell the adults!

Will took it better than Nico, who was still struggling with his little girl being a grown-up woman. What made it different from other times was the mention of the word 'date'. Nico didn't like that word.

The rest of the week flew in Ana's opinion and when Saturday arrived, she couldn't stand still because of the excitement. She wore her best dress- even if she was a fan of jeans -with short boots and a jacket. Her hair was braided and- against Nico's desire -she had make-up on. When the bell rang, she jumped from her seat, waving goodbye and leaving through the door. Will laughed loud at Nico's defeated face.

Benny made sure Ana would remember this date. He had liked her for years and wasn't going to blow his chances. He was the perfect gentleman and Ana was having a really good time... until a guy dropped dead next to them. Benny immediately called the Police and tried to comfort a shocked Ana who stared at the body without blinking.

Police started to arrive to the scene and Ana recognized one of them. Detective Travis Stoll immediately saw her and gave orders that they were taken to a patrol to wait. A nice officer even placed some blankets around them before Benny found the courage to speak.

"Next time I wanna take you to Carnival, can we avoid make it a family meeting?" Benny asked, while Ana smiled apologetically at him.

"Like you knew that a man was gonna drop dead next to us." She argued back, trying to hide she was shaken up.

"Not trying to blame you..." Benny defended himself. Minutes later, Travis arrived to them looking concern.

"Uncle Travis, what's wrong?" Ana wondered at him, not used to see him all this serious.

"Ana, I need to know if you and Benny saw anything unusual before that guy dropped to the floor." Travis spoke with his officer's voice, which meant it was a serious issue. Ana swallowed and shook her head, as if giving a wrong answer would get her in troubles. Benny also shook his head.