Stupid Cupid

~Stupid Cupid - Chapter 13

        After I grabbed my drink, Nico and I had left as soon as possible. We both thought it'd be best. No need to get mauled by a monster and ruin a perfectly good coffee shop, right? Exactly what we thought. So, he and I are currently riding a train - a real train - to Illinois. The thing is, there’s no seats so we’re sitting on the floor trying not to fall out of a moving train.

“So, how’s it going?” I ask stupidly.

“Really?” he questioned and I shrugged.

“Yeah, I thought so," I said after a few seconds.

I can’t help but start to feel really agitated because of sitting still for so long. I stand up and try to walk around a bit but when I move my feet, I stumble back and end up almost falling onto Nico. I tried again and was able to get a few steps and soon enough, I’m pacing along the train car. It feels good to move around until the train stops suddenly and I fall on Nico facing him. My face flares red because I have one knee on either side of him and my hands are on his chest. I stay frozen like that for a few seconds and then I look at Nico’s eyes. They glow a bright red and I jump off of him.

“What’s wrong?”

“You - your eyes. They're glowing red.”

“Oh, yeah they do that if I get mad or for other reasons.” He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably.

“Okay,” I nodded still embarrassed about earlier. “Yeah.” It’s silent for a few minutes.

“Why haven’t I ever noticed your eyes before?”

“I can usually control it and all the times you’ve made me angry I either leave before it gets that bad or you’re too busy falling into the ground.”

“Oh, right. Can’t forget that, now can we?”

“No, not really.”

“Is that how the scar near the Mess Hall got there?” I asked him.

“Um. Yeah, yeah it is.” I opened my mouth to ask what made him mad but he interrupted me.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Apollo’s gift will probably tell me anyway.” I grumbled and Nico looked up.

“You don’t like the so called gift, do you?”

“Sometimes it’s cool but when it takes me to my past or to… To your past, it gets annoying. I don’t feel like remembering my past and I don’t want to invade others' pasts. It isn’t fun.”

“Most powers are not.”

“This isn’t a power!” I shout.

“Not one given genetically but it is a power. And like all powers, you have to learn to control it.” I hate when that boy’s right.

We sat in silence again. I've noticed how Nico tends to talk in a proper way sometimes. I remember when I first got here and Leo was showing me around. Leo was just about to say something about Nico, something like, 'he's not from this cent,' and then Nico showed up. What could be the ending to that? Cent. Cent, cent, centaur, centurion, cent-

"We should probably get some sleep. I'll take first watch. I'll wake you in two hours." Nico snaps me out of my thoughts and I nod.

Curling up in a ball, I close my eyes and try to fall asleep. After a few seconds the wind shifts and it blows right on me. I shiver and move closer to the walls of the train car. Cold metal doesn't help warm a person by the way. I kept moving closer to the wall until I stopped at the feeling of someones body. This just got awkward.