& here I thought this might've been love (Lexrin)

I smiled, and entered inside after him. I looked around the cabin. It was amazingly shiny and looked so clean, I guess because people rarely stayed in the Hera cabin. I walked over to what I presumed was Torin's bed, and fixed it up for him, smoothing everything out. "It's no problem," I responded, smiling brightly. It was the least I could have done for ditching him without a notice.

He thanked her quietly and went into the bathroom, grabbing a razor. He applied a layer of shaving cream to his face before taking off the stubble with his plastic blade. "So..." he began anxiously, lingering on the word, "Do you maybe wanna hang? Later, I mean. But now is good too, you know, only if ya want."

I sat on his bed, and cocked my head, my hair getting in my eyes. I quietly tucked it behind one ear. His question didn't seem like a very straight forward question. "Well," I began. "I would have kinda liked to stay here, but I guess we could hangout later if you want," I said, sounding just as jumbled up as he had.

Torin was unable to hide his smile. Her disappointment at not being able to hang out with him was the cutest thing he swore he'd ever seen. It warmed his heart and he turned to her, moving to the bed. He kissed her forehead and used a finger to stroke down her cheek. "No stubble when I kiss. Better?" He chuckled and straightened his stance, moving back to the bathroom to get a comb. As he walked away he still talked to her. "And you're welcome here, always. Whenever you want. I just thought you might want to get away from me for... I dunno, girl time or something. I'm more than happy to entertain you here, though. What would you like to do?"

I laughed. "Yeah, it works well," I giggled. I look up, and watched him walk away, then blushed and moved my eyes higher, feeling like an Aphrodite perv.

It felt nice to be welcomed in the cabin. Although, I doubted I would come whenever I wanted, because I preferred my own cabin for some strange reason. "Girl time," I scoffed. Honestly, I had enough 'Girl Time' the few days that they had 'broken up'.

Torin poked his head out from the bathroom to look at her, then broke out laughing. "What, you don't do girl time?" He retreated back in and stood in the mirror, running the comb through his hair to try parting the curly mess that was his bangs. "I thought girls were, like, independent, and demanded that kind of thing." He shrugged, to himself, mostly, since she couldn't see him. "That's okay, I don't really do 'guy time' either." By that he meant, I have no friends to have guy time with, but he wouldn't say it out loud. He was a little bummed, though. He was going to make a deal with some sneaky satyrs and the kids from the Hermes cabin to smuggle some things in for them so he could at least show some proper charm and maybe actually go on a real date that didn't involve him fixing her injuries or her fighting minotaurs. Preferably a normal date, at a restaurant, but that wouldn't work. The harpies would probably catch them and eat them or something if they tried to sneak out. So last case scenario, Torin would sneak stuff in.

I nodded. IT seemed extremely silly. "Ya," I told him, laying back on the bed. " I think that girls night out stuff is just silly." I sighed, staring up at the white shining ceiling.

"Well," Torin mused, playing the devil's advocate, "It is good to have other friends you hang out with. You don't have to live, laugh, and breathe Torin." He rounded the corner out of the bathroom again and smiled at her, placing his comb on the surface of the wardrobe. After his spazz attack from her leaving for a few minutes to get breakfast, he wanted her to know it was okay to have her own time. It was dumb of him to freak out over something like that. At the time it wasn't, but now that he looked back on it... Torin didn't want to make her feel like she had to stay. He wanted her to know she had a choice, and that not being with him at all times was okay.

I studied him silently for a moment. I noticed that he was able to talk to me so much more easily now. I liked that, but I also liked how cute he was when he stuttered.

"Yeah, I know," I told him, wondering if he was trying to push me out of the cabin or not. I decided to go with the 'not' since it was much more pleasant. "So...got any movies?" I asked. Back at the Aphrodite cabin we had TV, but Chiron didn't know, so we didn't risk the chance of getting movies with those loud soundtracks and everything.

Torin shook his head no, frowning. "Hera's cabin is...Well, everything echoes here. Things are incredibly loud. We didn't want to risk the Harpies hearing it." He shrugged. "Sorry...We have, erm..." He scratched his head. What did they have? Mostly all he did in the cabin was sleep, because of how eerie the place was. "We have statues..." He sighed, sitting next to her on the bed. "All we have are statues." The thought was a little saddening, the cabin being void of anything amusing even in the slightest.

I giggled. Statues..wow...fun, huh?

"Right..." I smiled, as he sat next to me on the bed. I sat up and wrapped my arms around him. Usually, being the daughter of Aphrodite, no one would even care if I sat in their lap, but I decided not to do that since we had just,,,had a little time away from each other.

I rested my head on his shoulder, realizing that he had lost muscle since they last met. I felt kind of bad for that, but I closed my eyes, and pretended I hadn't realized. "So, what should we do, then? I asked.

"Whatever you want." He had to resist the urge to call her baby, in case she found it offensive. Honey, baby, dear, some girls didn't like pet names. They were usually signs of affection so Torin didn't understand, but he just shrugged it off as a girl thing.

She sat close to him and her arms slid around his neck. He responded by sliding his arms around her waist and touching his forehead to hers. He breathed out slowly, smiling at her, his eyes soft. "I'm not much of a socialite, so...I don't really...know." He hesitated with his words, unsure of whether to admit he was so knew and horrible at this dating thing. Instead he moved on, "I leave this decision up to you."

Crap, I thought. I really didn't want to be kissed, and I didn't appreciate how close our foreheads were. Still, I tried to relax. It was uncomfortable and nerve wracking.

"How about," I started, nervously. After he had pressured me to have my own time, I kinda felt like he wanted me to get away for a while. "Uh.." I muttered, still thinking, my lip quivering a bit. "How about we meet at the beach in...2 days?" I said. "Not counting today." That would give me time to think things through and work on my hair and everything.

"Only if that's okay with you," I concluded, hoping to get out soon. His breathing was making me even more anxious. Don't get me wrong, I liked the big guy, but I don't know...I guess I had a sudden change of mood for now.

Not counting today? Torin moved back and shrugged, his smile fading. "Sure," He reluctantly agreed. "For your not-girl time." She had wrapped her arms around him but when he showed affection back she suddenly wasn't interested? An uneasy feeling fomented in the pit of his stomach, but he covered his feelings with a forced smile. "Two days. Not including today." He repeated, nodding. "So does that mean we are or aren't going to hang out today?"

I got the feeling I had hurt him. Crap. I knew how sensitive he was. I took the hair stretchy thingy(<-?) off of my wrist and twisted my hair into a bun. I adjusted my wrist brace, feeling a bit better now.

"Hades ya," I said. I would've said heck ya, but I didn't find that appropriate anymore. I scooted closer to him, wishing there was a friggin fan in there cause it was hot. "So what should we do for today..." I said, looking around the cabin. All I saw was statues, like he said, and me and him.

Torin blinked in confusion, one eyebrow raising. She wanted to be close now? He...didn't really understand, but he didn't ask or complain. Instead he just let her do what she wanted to, without fighting it or making a move back. "Uh, well, I don't really know...Whatever you want, I guess..." This time it wasn't a challenge not to say baby or dear. Something seemed off now, and he felt anxious.

I was positive now that I had upset him. I sighed and studied the wall for a minute or two.

"Well, you could help me out in the arena?" I suggested, knowing that was where they had first met, plus she really needed some help with her fighting skills.

Torin was unsure but nodded anyway. He so wanted to know what she was thinking of him right then. He rose to his feet and held out his hand to help her up off the bed. "Arena it is. Will you be fighting with--wait a minute. What about your wrist?" He looked at her wrist and frowned. It had only been a day and she was still in a brace. Plus with the minotaur fight... She'd probably hurt it more. "Uh, actually... I'm not sure...Your arm." He had returned to square one, unable to throw a sentence together.

I took his hand and stood up. Then, I frowned, and looked at my wrist. Dang. Thanks to my stupid injury I wouldn't get to do anything with him. I sighed, still holding his hand. Then, a thought occurred to me, and I wondered why I hadn't thought of it before.

"We could go to the costume ball," I blurted.

The Costume Ball? Torin licked his lips nervously. He would love to go to the ball with her, it sounded like fun but...Well, most importantly, he didn't have a costume. And secondly, he had never danced in his life. Not even informally. His eyes skirted around the room and avoided locking with Lexi's. He shrugged. "I'm in, but..." He looked down at himself, and pinched a piece of his shirt with his thumb and pointer finger, pulling it away from his body and letting it fall back. "No costume...."

I sensed he was nervous. Maybe it was the dancing. I, in all honesty, was not good at dancing either, but we didn't even have to dance. We could just talk and drink punch. I looked around for a wardrobe. I didn't see one in this whole cabin. He probably only had a closet.

"Don't worry," I told him, going over to the door. "I can find you some amazing things in the Aphrodite cabin. Stay here. I will be back in five minutes. The only real reason I didn't want him to come was because my sisters would harass him, and he would die of the smell of perfume. "I'm not going to ditch," I added, winking, before I quickly shuffled off to get us costumes.

When she added that she wouldn't ditch, he felt a pang of guilt strike him through the heart. He would never live that down, would he? Torin nodded and tried to smile, but it was difficult. He'd been hoping that she would say, oh, no costume? Well that's too bad. Guess we can't go, or something along those lines. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. Torin moved to his bed and laid down, throwing his face in his pillow with a groan after she left. This was going to be a very long night, he was sure.

I quickly dashed across the courtyard, thrilled that we would finally get to do something I would enjoy, like go to the ball. I entered the perfume infested cabin, ignoring the smell. I went to the costume closet and found two matching costumes. And yes, we did have boy's costumes. You don't want to know. I quickly tugged mine on, and dashed back to the Hera cabin, knocking on the door, rapidly.

Torin sighed and got off the bed, dragging himself to the door. Maybe he could come up with some excuse? Like he was sick or something. No... That wouldn't work. He'd feel terrible if he lied to her. Then again, another boy in his cabin was sick. Maybe he'd get really lucky and contract whatever the other guy had by tonight? Not likely.

He put on his best fake smile and opened the door for her. Her knocking was quick and she seemed to be excited. Great. "You don't have to knock, ya know. You can just let yourself in."

I smiled and kissed him on the cheek, stepping past him into the room.

"I know," I said happily. I held out the costume for him. It was a masquerade costume, but for guys. I was so excited. I looked up at his face, and my smile melted. "What's wrong," I asked. He had a fake smile that looked for like a grimace, and his shoulder drooped.

» I'll do anything for you, even wear this stupid costume [Lexrin]
» Never regret would should of been thought through
» Just thought y'all should know....
» Just Thought I'd Say Hello C:
» Just thought y'all should know...