Tratie in Love

Kissing Katie Gardener

I was super excited for capture the flag tonight, we have the best team I've had all summer! It's Demeter, Athena, Poseidon, Ares and Hermes vs Apollo, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Zeus, and Hecate. As the game started we were all in positions, the Ares and Athena cabins were spread out across our side and Percy had taken a group of Hermes kids with him across the border, while the others, Connor and I were guarding the flag up close. Meanwhile, the Demeter cabin was all hidden away in the trees ready to attack at any moment.  

It must've been about an hour and Connor and I were bored out of our minds. I kept wondering what Katie was doing. 

Damn, Katie Gardener, she might just be the bane of my existence. We've always been friends but lately, I just can't stop thinking about her. What a cliche, I know, I know but I might just be a tiny bit in love with her.  I think I hide it pretty well though, no one knows, not even Connor.

Anyways it's been a long time so I decided to go see what she was up to. I wandered around the forest until I caught a glimpse of her long hair trailing down from one of the trees.

"Hey Gardener what's up?" I called, probably louder than necessary.

"Shhh- Travis what the hell are you doing?" she hissed back, not even looking at me from her spot in the tree.

"Oh, you know, just felt like stopping by" I felt kind of stupid now cause I had forgotten why I'd come here the second I looked at her. Honestly, I don't consider myself a cheesy guy but when I look at her my insides just completely melt, my heart starts beating out of my chest and I get the worst butterflies. It's infuriating. 

At that moment a group of Apollo kids dashed straight by me, Katie managed to trip some with one of her vines but at least  5 or 6 got past her. 

Realizing I was being pretty useless I started to run after them but it was too late, even being one of the fastest campers there I was too far behind. They charged the remaining Connor and the other 2 Hermes kids and grabbed the flag. Their whole side erupted in cheers and Connor gave me a sharp glare.

"Too busy with Gardner again huh?" he said smirking

So maybe I wasn't hiding it as well as I thought...

But before I had any time to respond Katie came charging out of the forest straight at me.

"YOU SERIOUSLY COULDN'T EVEN GUARD THE FLAG FOR 1 HOUR, WHAT WERE YOU EVEN DOING?!" she shouted, marching straight up to me. 

Oh no, I forgot how competitive she got during capture the flag. I backed up all the way until my back was up against a tree. 

"Sorry, Katie-Kat it's just fun to get you all riled up" I knew she wasn't really angry with me, she never really was. Even when I used to prank her every day of the week she would get angry for a bit and then an hour later we were laughing about it.

"God, you even look so smug right now, I could punch you," she said but she was already sounding less angry and more amused. 

I was very aware of how close we were now. her face was inches away from me and all I could see was her shining green eyes and the corners of her mouth which were twitching. 

"Yeah?" I said "well you look so cute right now" oh no, shoot I can't believe I said that, wow this is awkward. Except she hasn't pulled away yet and she's still smiling even if she looks kinda confused. So screw it, I thought.

I closed the remaining gap between us and suddenly I was kissing her and it felt like fireworks were going off in my brain. I was faintly aware of some cheering in the background and I definitely heard Conner wolf whistle once or twice. But none of it mattered because I was kissing Katie Gardner and it was better than I ever could have imagined. 

THE END