DEMIGODS. (Percico/Pernico)

˚‧º·Chapter Twenty‧º·˚

After we got Nico cleaned up in the bathroom, we got in my car and sat in the parking lot in silence. With a sigh, I shut the door behind me and planned to take Nico home. His gaze was locked on his lap timidly. He probably was humiliated from the punch shower, and how I reacted to Luke. I felt kind of ashamed, but I didn't regret it. Nico didn't do anything to deserve that.

I looked over at him, wondering if I should have asked him if he wanted anything to do with me in the future. His gaze remained downward, his hands fidgeting in his lap.

"What do you want to do?" I asked, breaking the silence.

He focused his gaze on his shiny, polished dress shoes, not uttering a syllable. I sighed defeatedly.

"Look, I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't've—"

"No." He looked up at me with a meaningful look. "Don't... I mean, it was kinda...cool. You know, the way you fought off Luke. He... I..." His face was completely flushed, as if all the blood in his body rushed to his cheeks. He looked down in his lap embarrassedly. "No one's ever done that for me before."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, not expecting his response. Was this the part of those romcoms where the boy leans over the console and kisses the girl? I looked over at him, casting him a smile. All of my courage clenched into a little ball and disappeared into a cloud of smoke in my gut.

"No problem," I told him, mentally cursing myself.

It was quiet for a moment, only the chirping of crickets filling the empty spaces of silence, and Nico looked up at me with a question on his face.

"We can go to my house, maybe," Nico suggested. "Get out of these suits, and all that. We can, I dunno, have like a movie, video game night, maybe? We can always swim, too."

If a sleepover with the boy I'd been hardcore crushing on for months wasn't the greatest opportunity presented to me on a silver platter, I didn't know what was.

♩     ♪     ♫     ♬    ♭    ♮    ♯

The street was quiet when I pulled up to Nico's house. The windows were dark, and only the sounds of crickets were to be heard. The headlights of my car sliced through the darkness as I looked over at my gorgeous passenger whose face was still flushed from earlier. He gave me a shy smile before he unbuckled his seatbelt and moved to get out.

"Wait," I said, effectively pausing his movements.

"What?" he asked.

I didn't answer; I gave him a sly grin as I opened my door and stepped out onto the pavement. He watched me walk around curiously before my hand was on the door handle, and the door was opened for him.

"If you could let me be a gentleman for just a little while," I shrugged.

He returned my smile as he stood, thanking me playfully, and, like a lovesick puppy, I followed him into the house.

"You've never seen the hot tub, have you?" he asked as I loosened my tie and kicked off my shoes at the door.

I shook my head, but I was excited.

"I don't have a swimming suit."

"Underwear works fine. Unless you're a tighty-whitey type of person," he teased.