fake | tratie | EDITING |

| seventeen |

"Travis!" I giggled as he threw an arm around me and pulled me closer to him as we walked up to the pavilion. There weren't a lot of people present, but the group of demigods still finishing up their lunch swiveled their heads to look.

I would have felt self-conscious of the situation, especially considering I felt awkward with Travis. I'd just shared a piece of my soul with him, and I wanted to tread lightly.

However, Travis didn't allow that.

He guided us straight past the Aphrodite table as if just to show he could. Half of them sat and gaped, the other half whispered to each other excitedly. Piper was with them, but Ashley wasn't, fortunately. Although, Piper's eyes widened before she squinted at us with suspicion.

A prick of uneasiness struck me as I realized I'd have to explain myself to my friends. I hated the feeling of having to justify my actions, especially since I went along with their whole 'strong independent woman' regime. They were livid with him.

"I think I need to sit down," I mumbled.

Travis nodded in agreement, taking me to sit with him at the now-empty Hermes table. "You should probably eat something, too. You look like you're about to pass out."

I didn't overlook the concerned expression on his face, even though it arguably seemed like he felt even worse than me.

"Only if you do, too. You look like death warmed over."

It was strange to jokingly insult him after bullying him for real for so long. But, not strange in a bad way. Just strange. He grinned at me, and I actually allowed the butterflies in my stomach to persist instead of fighting them down.

"I haven't eaten since Tuesday," he admitted, dragging me back to our conversation.

"Travis, it's Thursday!"

He shrugged. "I haven't had an appetite."

I knew how that felt.

As we grabbed food, I offered half to Demeter at the still-burning fire. I silently thanked her for the food, for the good strawberry season...

And for Travis.

We ate in relative silence, making a comment every once in a while. He appeared to know that I didn't feel up to much talk after everything that happened, and I appreciated that he gave me space to think. So much happened in the last hour that I hadn't had the time to go through in my head, I was afraid of being too overwhelmed.

But somehow, he understood that.

I noticed that I was sitting at the Hermes table, with a Stoll, and not chewing him out for anything. There wasn't any yelling, or cheeky comments, or annoying pranks to be sorted out. Rather, a peaceful calm blanketed us and I felt the most at ease I had in weeks.

"I'm glad I went down to the strawberry fields," Travis remarked as he popped a french fry into his mouth.

I furrowed my brow. "About that... how'd you know I was even outside my cabin?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a third party.

"Hey, Trav, I- Oh, what do we have here?"

I turned to see Connor walking up to us, a smug grin on his face.

"On a makeup date, are we?"

"I don't think 'we' fits into that sentence," Travis said pointedly.

Connor chuckled. "I get it, I know when I'm not wanted. Too bad I don't care, though."

The younger Stoll sat at the table with us, next to Travis and across from me. I stared at the tabletop, working my jaw as I waited for Connor to inevitably make fun of us.

But he didn't.

"About time you two sorted that out. Katie, Travis has been in his moping phase forever."

I pinned my eyes to Travis, who nodded.

"Fair," he said.

"He's been useless as a counselor, I've had to do all the work myself!" Connor continued his whining. "I've been begging Miranda to convince you to talk to him, but she just brushed me off."

"It's because we're mad at Travis," a fourth party joined in the conversation.

Piper.

I hurried to explain myself. "Piper, we're on good terms now."

She snorted. "Miranda wants to rip your throat out, Travis."

"Please." I sent her a look begging her to drop it until I could talk to her in private.

Sighing, Piper gave in. She motioned at Connor. "Come on, we should leave these two alone."

The two stood up (Connor begrudgingly so), and they left the pavilion. I took note that the Aphrodite table was now empty, and the thought crossed my mind that they had left to tell Ashley.

"Hey, don't worry about them." Travis waved his hand at their table and reached over to lay his hand on mine. "They're a bunch of drama queens and they'll grab up every bit of gossip they can."

I nodded, but on the inside I wondered how much of it was their godly trait and how much was their desire to strike me down for Ashley.

The rest of lunch went without interruption, and I was glad to see Travis snarfing down his food. Maybe it was because I was a daughter of Demeter, but I felt compelled to take care of things. I wanted to make sure he was okay now.

And that still scared the Hades out of me.

"Do you wanna hang somewhere?" he asked as we wandered out of the pavilion. His fingers intertwined with mine, and I squeezed his hand.

"I think I need some time alone to think about everything," I started, worried he'd be disappointed.

He rubbed circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. "That's totally fine. It's a lot to wrap around. Just make sure you come back out in the near future," he joked, eyes light.

I smiled warmly. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad we sorted all this out, and that it ended up like this."

"Yeah, me too."

We stopped at the foot of my cabin, and I felt a swell in my throat. I couldn't handle normal social situations, how could I do this one?

"Well, see you at dinner?" he offered hopefully, still not letting go of my hand.

A wave of comfort washed over me, and I stepped closer to him. "Yeah."

I didn't know how to initiate a hug, but he did. The second I leaned in, he wrapped his arms around me and pressed the small of my back. I laid my head on his chest and sighed with content.

His head was buried into my neck when he mumbled, "I'm glad this isn't fake anymore."

"Me too, Trav."

When we broke our embrace, a goofy grin was on his face.

"See ya later, Katie-kat!"

And he was off.

With a smile painted on my face, I hopped up the stairs of my cabin with a pep in my step. This turned out a lot better than I expected.

But then I opened the door to Miranda, Natalie, Piper, and Calypso.

"Care to do some explaining, Katie?"

+ + + + +

This chapter is dedicated to the readers who spent the whole of last night theorizing on a comment thread about how on earth Travis could've known Katie was in the strawberry fields. Sorry it was so short (I keep saying that lol), but I'm so happy you're invested in the story! You don't get to find out yet, but worry not because I'm feeling inspired to write the next chapter. :P

And some of you were wondering how many more chapters were left in the book? I figured out the plotline, and there are about ten more. I know, that sounds like a lot, and I'm super sorry if it's boring and drawn out, but I tried to pace it well.

Tell me what you think so far!

- mckenna