¹Royal Cries, p. jackson

Bonus 002.

ROYAL CRIES
━━ bonus two

━━ IT WAS ODD to live like normal teenagers after the hell that had been their summer. Odd, but incredibly welcomed. ( And deserved, too, Elisa figured. ) She thought everything was finally alright as she and Percy relaxed on the Great Lawn in Central Park on the warm September day.

               They had a comfy blanket, some snacks, water, and a box of pizza. The pizza was mainly for Percy as Elisa wasn't much of a pizza person ( which Percy said hurt his heart, but she just ignored him ). Oh—and they couldn't forget some emergency Celestial bronze weapons in case of a sudden Greek mythological attack.

               "Hey, Elisa," Percy said, leaning on one elbow to look at her, "today's September eighteenth."

               It was hard to stay concentrated on the conversation when Elisa looked the way she did, but Percy managed. Her skin seemed to glow under the sun and she had on some cherry-flavored lip balm Percy had unabashedly grown addicted to the flavor of. She was wearing an AC/DC T-shirt and some blue jeans shorts. Her black hair curled around her face and she had chosen to let the curtain bangs grow out some more. Around her neck hung a leather cord with two colorful beads from their demigod training camp—Camp Half-Blood.

               "Yeah?" she said, looking over a pair of sunglasses she had stolen from Drew. "What's up with September eighteenth?"

               Percy nudged her shoulder. "It's our one-month anniversary," he reminded her.

               "Oh ..." Elisa trailed off, looking at the picnic around her. She frowned, and Percy feared it was directed toward him. "I'm sorry, Percy, I forgot. I figured we weren't going to celebrate our one-month anniversary."

               "Well, don't forget next time," he said. "We're gonna celebrate every month. So October 18th; our second-month anniversary. November 18th; our third-month—"

               "Okay, I get it!" she promised with a laugh.

               Still, it didn't feel like enough to Percy. A simple picnic didn't feel like enough to celebrate their relationship. Being with Elisa was awesome, and a picnic didn't express that. The last month Percy had been the happiest he had ever been and he wanted to tell Elisa that, but he was bad with words.

               Elisa was pretty chill when it came to dates. She always told him she didn't care much about where they went, what they went to do, or whatever else, but that she just enjoyed spending time with him but Percy felt like he needed to do more. He wanted to be the best boyfriend possible. That's what Elisa deserved.

               Before he could say anything, a sudden streak of light flashed across his face, as if someone had flashed a mirror in his face. He looked around and he saw a brown delivery truck parked in the middle of the Great Lawn where no cars were allowed. Lettered on the side were the words: HERMES EXPRESS.

               "Oh, good," Percy muttered. "We've got mail."

               "What?" Elisa frowned, taking off the sunglasses.

               He pointed at the truck. The driver was climbing out. He wore a brown uniform shirt and knee-length shorts along with stylish black socks and cleats. His curly salt-and-pepper hair stuck out around the edges of his brown cap. He looked like a guy in his mid-thirties, but Percy knew from experience he was actually in his mid-five-thousands.