failure in flirting [THALIA]

[leo valdez]

Leo Valdez was lying down on his stomach on his bed, writing in the notebook. His hand swiftly wrote on the paper, his slightly messy but legible handwriting covering the page. He had been doing this a lot during his days on the Argo II, whenever he wasn’t chatting with his friends or inspecting the Argo II for instructions. With Jason so busy on directing the Argo II, Leo commonly talked to Piper, Annabeth or one of his siblings. If Leo was going to be honest, he preferred talking to Annabeth or any of his siblings over Piper. Though he loved the beauty queen, as a friend, of course, the girl got more and more worried as they got closer to Camp Jupiter, anxious about the possibility that Jason had a girlfriend there. After a while, Leo could only take so much of listening to his friend worry about whether Jason would find his old girlfriend and dump Piper. The last time Leo had checked, Jason and Piper weren’t dating, so how could she get dumped? Plus, Leo was kind-of annoyed on how Piper just stood a chance with Jason. Leo was still at Square Zero when it came to his love life.

He had already complained about this to his mom, though, so this time Leo was thinking about Medea, and how Gaea was bringing spirits back to life from the dead. What if, somehow, Leo’s mom could be brought back? Leo’s mom would be so happy to see him again, all grown up and a teenager. She’d get to finish her drill design and patent it, and they’d be rich. His mother could relax, and Leo could visit her during the year.
Despite some part of him that protested that it was impossible, that his mom was dead and going to stay dead, the life they could possibly have haunted him every day. He knew that his mother probably wouldn’t want to be brought back, though. She was dead and would stay dead. Plus, when Medea was brought back, something hadn’t been completely normal about her. Leo remembered too clearly her glowing skull at the mention of Jason’s name. Leo wasn’t sure if his mother would want her skull to become like a glow stick whenever she was angry. But his mother never seemed to get angry. The mini argument inside his head was overwhelming, so he decided to end the letter.

I know, Mom, you’re not the type you’d want to be brought back from the dead. But the thought still haunts me. If you’d have a chance to see me again, you would, right?

Love,
Leo

With that, Leo closed his red spiral notebook and placed it in his super secret hiding place… underneath his pillow. Leo then began to hum to himself as he left the Boys Bunks of the Argo II and headed on over to the main deck. Waving hellos to people he saw, Leo paused as soon as he saw the masthead. Festus. The dragon hadn’t survived the quest that Leo, Piper and Jason had been on, but he had a new job now. Festus was their masthead, their eyes at sea. Or sky, since the boat had been flying to Camp Jupiter. Now that they were here, though, at the Roman camp, Festus was taking a break. Leo kept staring at Festus, memories of their quest and the night that Leo found Festus playing through his mind. It was only when Leo caught sight of the love of his life that he walked away. Thalia Grace. There she was, sitting on the steps that lead up to the Girls Bunks. They all tossed Leo out when he tried to inspect it, so he put Nyssa in charge of inspecting the Girls Bunks from now on. Thalia didn’t appear to see Leo. If she did, she probably could care less about him. She was exactly Leo’s type!

Giving himself a quick inspection too make sure he looked, and smelled nice, Leo put a breath mint in his mouth. Once the mint had melted, Leo walked over to Thalia, a slight swagger in his step. Once he got there, Leo sat right next to Thalia, just so their shoulders touched. With Jason probably snoring down in the Boys Bunks, Leo felt braver than normal, and placed his arm around her shoulders. ”Hey, beautiful,” he said with a smile, glad that he had brushed his teeth very well this morning. ”What’s up?” He was probably going to be slapped, as Leo endured a lot of slaps whenever he flirted with Thalia, but at the moment, he didn’t care. Thalia would realize that she and Leo were meant to be soon enough, and then he’d get kisses and hugs instead of slaps and insults. Leo would never give up on Thalia. She was beautiful, tough and a keeper in Leo’s books. He’d never met anyone as beautiful as her. Well, there was Khione, but she had turned out evil. Thalia was different. Thalia was good.

[/blockquote]