Jake Mason and the Human

Natalie's Desperate Attempt to Play Matchmaker

"Yes! Of course I do."

"Alright, and what do you want?"

She gave me a sarcastic little smirk. "I've got everything I want, right here."

"Aw," I teased and leaned in to kiss her again, but she held back.

"Wait, not everything." She turned away and called, "Lady!"

The dog came bounding from the room next door and jumped up onto the seat with us.

"There we go. Now, everything is perfect."

I couldn't help but agree.

I watched Natalie play with the dog's ears and probably would have given in and kissed her, if her cousin and Kayla hadn't walked in.

"We've decided," Kayla started, with her arms crossed, "That I'll be joining Dave on his trip back to his old camp."

A grin started forming on Natalie's face. "Yeah?"

"Kayla decided," Dave corrected.

Kayla shrugged.

"Um, when?" I asked.

Dave started to speak, but Kayla answered, "As soon as possible."

"As soon as Chiron lets you," I corrected. "And let's be real. He's not going to let you."

Kayla pursed her lips. "You're right."

"Chiron?" Dave questioned.

"The camp director," Kayla answered.

"Oh, right."

I couldn't help but give a bitter laugh. "How old are you, Kayla? You've got, what? One more year left at camp?"

She nodded. "Less than a year left. Why?"

Letting a grin form on my face, I replied, "Then, hypothetically, if you were to leave without his permission, how much trouble would you actually be in?"

Kayla smirked. "Hypothetical."

"Hypothetical."

"Hypothetically," Kayla grinned, "I honestly wouldn't care what punishment he would inflict."

"Interesting," I said.

"Huh," Dave said.

Natalie peered at us. "You lot are a bunch of trouble, you know that?"

I grinned at her.

"Alright, well, I'd better start packing," Dave announced.

"Me too," Kayla spoke as she made her way towards her shoes.

"Okay, but you all better come back soon!" Natalie yelled after them.

Once the front door was shut and the house was silent, Natalie sighed and muttered after them, "Great to see you both."

I rolled my eyes and watched her pat her dog's head for a moment.

Then, she turned to me with bright eyes. She put her hands in my hair and beamed. "The two of them are leaving..." She pulled me closer. "Together."

Oh, boy.

---------------------------------
15 years later

"It looks good," I told her.

"Yeah?" she asked looking down at me.

She gave me a grin and put her hand on the back of my head as she sat down next to me.

"Yeah, it...fits."

"Good." She sighed. "Can you believe it?"

"I know. Did you think we would have ended up like this?"

Natalie rested her head on my shoulder. "Not at first."

"And then..?"

"And then you did something cute," she laughed.

"Everything I do is cute."

"Keep telling yourself that."

I brought her closer to me and asked, "What was it?"

She sat forward to look at me. "Remember when we went to the café and that barista thought you were cheating on me."

"I was cheating on you, " I joked.

She rolled her eyes. "Anyways, I thought that was weird and didn't connect the dots until I found two cups of hot chocolate in the kitchen garbage."

"Is that right?"

"So," she continued, "I concluded that the two drinks were for us and you wasted the money you spent on them just to go out to breakfast with me."

"Huh..."

"Am I right?" she pressed.

I looked at her for a moment. Her hair was darker than what it had been when I first met her, but she still had that amused look in her eyes- she was still so beautiful.

I sighed. "You got me."

"See? That's when I knew you were cool."

"Sure, but, at that moment, did you think we'd be where we are now?"

She shrugged a little. "Indirectly, I guess. That was when I knew I'd start falling for you hard."

"Aww," I teased.

"Cute, right? But never in a million years did I think you would keep it."

"You told me if I didn't have it hanging over my fireplace in twenty years, there'd be trouble."

"I did say that."

"Well, I didn't want trouble."

Her eyes wandered to the torn up canvas hanging above our fireplace with a smile. "It doesn't go well with the room's colors," she mumbled.

"Ah, who cares?"

"When we have people over they'll ask questions."

"We'll make something up."

She took my left hand and started playing with the ring on my finger. "I like it."

I smiled and said, "Yeah, I like it too."

The End

Thanks so much for reading this story! As another part of my Not As Important Demigod series, I'll be continuing the story with Kayla and Dave!

Please check out my Flash Fiction: "The Meeting" !!!!!