I grinned. "I can have my moments too, you know."
"I'm glad I could be here to witness it," His chest rumbled with a chuckle as he took my hand and guided me into a twirl before bringing me close to him again.
God, his laugh was so sexy. Was he just going to dance with me?
I would have expected him to make some sort of move by now. No, I scolded myself. Hip wasn't like that. He came off as carefree and a bit of a goof, but he was probably the most romantic of all five of the men that I was slowly giving my heart too. He wouldn't make a move unless I gave him permission.
Before I could give it a second thought, I lifted myself up to close those few inches between us and brushed my lips against his. Just a small peck, an invitation, one that for a moment I thought he might not take when he went still and sighed. My heart soared when his hand came up to meet my cheek and pulled me closer, sliding his lips tentatively against mine.
It was the sweetest kiss I'd ever had.
My attention was pulled away when I heard a splashing sound and the clearing grew darker. Breaking our kiss, I saw that the amazing fairy balls that Hip had made float around us as we danced fell apart, falling to the ground with a splash, reduced to puddles of water and glow sticks once again. Before I could comment, Hip pulled my mouth back to his, more heated than before.
Desperate to touch him, I ran my fingers through his hair, which was like the softest silk. A part of me wanted to tug his hair, demand for him to unleash the tension I felt building in his body, to turn this sweet romantic kiss into a frantic one. I was curious to see what Hip would do when he lost control. As if the universe sensed my plans, Hip's phone began to ring, causing him to break our kiss again too soon and pull away.
Pulling his phone out of his back pocket, he answered. “Ye-llow?"
"Hey, I know Percy said she was fine with you, but it's past midnight. Can you bring Atalanta back? She has school in the morning.”
It was Jason. I smiled. He was so cute with his worry. Remembering what he told me before, I took the phone from Hip and whispered calmly, "Hey Fishy Fish.”
"Are you okay? You sound a little winded.”
I smiled up at Hip. “Yeah, I'm fine. We’ll head back soon, okay?”
"Okay. And tell Hip he should have just woken us up and told us he was taking you. Waking up with you gone was... unpleasant.”
“I’m sorry, Jason.” I frowned, feeling bad that I hadn’t told him myself.
“Not your fault. I’ll see you when you get in.”
“You sound like my Dad,” I said.
“Ew.” Jason gagged over the phone. “Would your dad threaten you with eating your chocolate?”
I raised and eyebrow. “Is that a euphemism for my body?”
“No, it means he’s literally eating the chocolate he got you.” Percy called from somewhere in the background.
“Yeah. That’s totally what I meant.” Jason said, sounding sarcastic.
“Leave my chocolate alone, you dick!” I hung up on him and turned back to Hip. “Okay, Hip. Let’s go before he eats all of it.”
Hip grumbled something under his breath. He brought me back in for a quick kiss before taking my hand and walking me back through the forest towards the cabin.
His body, flush against mine on the motorcycle, was so warm in the cool evening.
The rest of the night was utter chaos as Hip and Jason had decided that playing board games and staying up till dawn was the best way to spend our time. Damn, were those two competitive; the monopoly board got knocked over more times than I could count. Percy sat quietly in the corner reading his book, but Theseus and Ajax joined in on a few of the games, getting swept up in the yelling and merriment. I ended up falling asleep in Ajax’s lap just before the sun rose.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, it’s time to wake up.”
“Go suck on a nut,” I grumbled as I snuggled into the warm bed.
“Come, little one. You are the one who insisted on going to school today.” My bed said as it too tried to nudge me awake.
I growled. “That was before Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum demanded for us to play monopoly for the 3rd time.”
“Name calling is rude, Atalanta.”
I cracked open my eyes to see Jason and Hip eating at the kitchen table, already dressed and ready for school. Had they slept at all?
I was still in Ajax’s lap on the couch while Theseus stood in front of us with a welcoming smile. I didn’t see Percy.
“Yeah, you could have simply said no,” Hip said as he bit into his toast.
“I was on a winning streak,” I pouted.
“You were not!” Both Hip and Jason shouted.
I pressed my cheek into Ajax’s chest. “Ugh, no loud noises before food.”
“Percy made you a breakfast sandwich before he left. He also wished you the best of luck at school today.” Theseus said as he held out a wrapped sandwich.
I took it, grateful to have something to fill my empty stomach and scarfed it down.
“Are you sure you want to go, Atalanta?” Jason walked over and crouched in front of me. “If I’m being honest, there is going to be a lot of staring and people asking questions. Especially with Hip and I being gone, Davie and Margo are saying there are a ton of rumors flying around.”
“The curse of small towns, I suppose,” I mused, putting on a brave face despite the shiver that ran up my spine.
Ajax pet the top of my head.
“What are some of the rumors?” Hip asked as he cleaned up their breakfast.
Jason pulled out his phone and stared at the screen. “Margo said that it’s mostly that either one of us had eloped with her, and the other is too embarrassed to show their face. Davie said he heard one that said Hip and I fought over you and after winning, one of us ran off with you after burning the other’s body.”
“That’s stupid.” I rolled my eyes. “People really don’t have anything better to do with their lives?”
“It’s funny, the things humans come up with,” Theseus snorted as he looked over Jason’s shoulder at the text messages.
“It’s getting late.” Ajax poked me in the side, encouraging me to get up.
“Right. Get dressed, we need to get going.”
Jason and Hip played rock paper scissors to decide who took me to class. Jason won. I wondered if the guys were just going to make all their decisions based off of rock paper scissors.
Ajax helped put the bandages on my eye and hands. We had decided that for now I would wear them until I could control my shifts completely and look into colored contacts. Until then, we would keep with the story that I had been in a boating accident.
A half hour later, Hip, Jason, and I were pulling into the school’s parking lot. Students were hanging out next to their cars, chatting before the bell rang. I could already see several of them staring as they realized whose car it was.
“Ready?” Jason asked me.
I could do this. It was just school.
I nodded, grabbed my backpack, and stepped out of the car. Hip, who had ridden behind us on his bike, winked at me and held out his hand.
Just before I was about to take it, however, Jason stopped me, his hand against my risen one.
I gave him a questioning look and he explained. "They think that the two of us are dating. Holding his hand will cause more rumors to spread.”
My frown deepened and I quickly glanced around. The number of students blatantly staring had risen, and my heightened hearing picked up on several conversations about us.
‘Look, they’re all back. What happened to Atalanta?’
‘Did you see? She was about to hold his hand. Are they dating? I thought she was with Jason.’
‘I thought for sure Monroe had killed Clark.’