Carved Into My Skin (Heroes of Olympus AU)

17: Café de Roses

sorry it's been so long guysss

LLAASSTT TTIIMMEE:

Connor FINALLY asked Rachel out.

THHISSSS TIIIMMMEE:

Connor and Rachel go on their date!! <3

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(Rachel's POV)

I'm having a panic attack.

Okay, maybe it's not that  extreme. I'm just freaking out. Connor finally grew some balls and asked me out! And I was so excited. But now I don't know what to do, at all!

I looked up a "getting-ready-for-a-date" Broadway playlist, because I'm that extra, but it was mostly...how do I put this...All That Jazz  -y. If you catch my drift.

I face-planted into my bed and screamed into a throw pillow. We're gonna eat at Katie's work, Café de Roses, and then run around the mall. I don't think Connor knows it's Katie's work, now that I think about it. He wouldn't bring me to his brother's crush's work for our date.

And everyone in drama club will find out soon enough. We're big  gossips. I bet all those kids clapping told everyone that Ram asked out Heather McNamara, which is actually accurate to the story. But anyway, it's gonna be weird.

Oh jeez, and when we do the play? If we're dating at that point, we have to have many implied "mish-mush" scenes, and a scene where I leave Piper for goners by him. How wonderful. All the gossip for Drew.

I finally decided on a salmon pink tee with white stripes and short, distressed, washed out denim shorts. I grabbed a pair of Vans (which, by the way, don't always land upwards. That's a dumb story) and sat at my mirror. What to do with my hair? Should I leave it? Should I braid it?

I decided on pigtails, like when he asked me out. I grabbed a pair of round fashion glasses and put them next to my makeup. Oh, jeez, makeup! What am I going to do about that? I can figure something out, can't I? It's only makeup. I do makeup everyday. I took a deep breath and started.

I managed, even though I messed up my eyeliner about twenty times. I pretended it looked fine, even though if you looked really closely, you could tell it was uneven. I put on the glasses, and hat's when I heard Connor's car honking outside.

My hands scrambled to open the window, where I signaled as much as I could for Connor to stop honking. Dad couldn't know. He's way  too overprotective. I looked down, making sure my dad didn't come outside, and he didn't. Checking behind me, I sighed, and grabbed a small purse.

Now, ever since I was thirteen, there's been a vertical row of shingles under my window that I broke specifically for sneaking out. Since my room is facing the left wall of the house and not the front, my dad's never noticed.

I climbed out the window and down the broken shingles, Connor looking at me skeptically. I hopped in the door, and laughed at Connor's face. "What was that?" he asked.

"I just...don't want my dad knowing I'm on a date," I said, blushing at the word "date".

"Why not?" Connor crinkled his nose, and started to drive. He's one of the oldest people in the friend group, already having his driver's license. "Won't your dad notice you aren't home?"

"If he asks, I'll just use an excuse from the List of Excuses. Katie, Piper, Calypso, Will, Frank, and I made it in middle school," I shrugged.

"Seriously? I want in," Connor quipped. I laughed.

After a quick car drive, we made it to the mall and Café de Roses. Oh no, it just sounds  romantic. Katie will freak.

Café de Roses was right in between fancy and Starbucks. It was nice enough to the point where it had stone walling and round tables with detailed legs, but you could dress casually, no problem. Except for the waitresses. They all wore a tight grey shirt and a black skirt with reddish pink roses decorating it.