Daughter of Wine

Leo

I try to be happy and upbeat as Calli and I work on the aerial stabilizer, but something is clearly bothering her. She keeps scowling and muttering under her breath, her face a deep shade of red. I'm terrible with people. I'm scared to ask her what's wrong at the wrong moment and have her turn me into a dolphin. 

Besides, she's got a mouthful of nails that she's using to hammer the stabilizer back in place. At one point, a blast of smoke erupts from the machine, straight in her face. She erupts in a coughing fit, spitting out the nails. 

"Gods!" She exclaims loudly, making me jump. She kicks the machine in frustration and walks away, running her hands through her hair. I've never seen her like this. I don't know how to fix it. I wish I could just take a screwdriver and open up a control panel, refill her happy juice, and get back to work. But obviously, people don't work that way. 

"Umm, you okay?" I ask nervously. 

"I'm fine." She snaps. "Everything's fine." 

"Um, okay." I try. "I just... you don't seem fine."

"I'm not your problem, Leo." She huffs, sitting down to pick up the nails. "You don't have to worry about me." 

Her words hurt, yeah, but I think I've found the problem. "Look, Calli, that thing with Hazel-"

"I don't want to talk about it." She interrupts quickly. 

"I do." I insist. "It wasn't what you think. Hazel was showing me a flasshback."

"A what?" She scowls. 

I quickly explain what happened when Hazel took my hands, the vision of her when she was a kid with Sammy, and then the image of my great grandfather, who was also Sammy. 

Calli looks like she's been poked between the eyes. "Huh?"

"It wasn't anything... you know. Romantic." I insist. "We just... we figured out why I look so familiar to her. That's it."

She looks like she wants to melt into the floor. "Oh."

I can't help but grin. "You were jealous, huh?"

"No!" She exclaims loudly, then clears her throat. "No. I don't get jealous."

"Okay." I roll my eyes. "You were so jealous."

She scowls again, this time less angry, and more cute. "Shut up, boludo."

"Okay," I sit back for a moment. "Let's say it was what you thought."

"Let's not." She insists, her voice thin. 

"Jealouuuus." I poke her in the ribs with a sing-songy voice. 

"I don't know what you're talking about." She hammers in another nail, rather aggressively. 

"You thought I was dead, didn't you?" I ask, examining her closely. I saw her expression when we popped out of the water. She looked like a mess, and when she saw me, she looked so relieved, like the weight of the world had been removed from her shoulders. 

She scowls angrily again. "Yeah. What the hell, Leo? I was so-We were so worried about you. We thought we'd never see you again. I thought I was going to have to figure out how to get the ship to Rome on my own."

"Hey, from what I've heard these past few days, you're pretty good at steering the ship."

She blushes. "I did what I could."

"You fixed the leak in the hull." I remind her. "That's pretty impressive too."

"Stop it, Valdez." She shoves me playfully, and I feel her returning to normal. "You know this ship can't run properly without you."

"You looked really worried." I continue. "Like, bad."

"I was!" She cries out, standing up suddenly. "Leo, do you have any idea how I felt? I thought I'd lost you! I thought you were gone, just like that! I thought I'd never get to-" She stops suddenly and sits back down, as if she wasn't mid sentence. 

"Never get to... what?" I ask gently. 

She says nothing. Apparently, she's suddenly very focused on what she's working on. 

"Calli." I insist. 

She looks up at me, a panicked look in her eyes. "I thought..." Her voice is quiet now, like she's scared I'll hear her. "I thought I'd never get to tell you how crazy I am about you. That I absolutely adore you, and... and that..." Her face flushes very cutely. "That I love you, you stupid mechanic."

This time, I'm taken aback, at a loss for words. "Wh-what?"

"Don't make me say it again." She sighs. "I'm not good at this." 

A grin forces itself across my face. "No, please, say it again." 

"Leo," She sighs. "Don't look at me like that." She looks really embarrassed, which is not usual for her. 

I can't help it. My head is buzzing. Calli  doesn't just have a little crush on me. She loves me. Me! She could be with someone tall, handsome, strong, and powerful, like Jason or Percy, but she loves me. 

She goes back to working on the machine. "Don't say anything." She mutters. "Makes me feel really good."

"I-" I can't form sentences. "I- I just, I never thought-"

"It's fine, Leo. I just... I had to get it out. In case you do die." 

I realize she sounds heartbroken. She thinks I don't feel the same way. 

"No!" I cry out, pulling her up out of the seat. "Are you kidding? I'm just... I'm thrilled!"

She looks at me warily. "Huh?"

"Calli..." I take her hands, my heart pounding in my chest. "I love you." 

She blinks in surprise. "Yeah? I mean Annabeth and Piper said... but I didn't think..."

I cut her off with a kiss. It feels so right, so... electric. Like I'm kissing Jason, which would be weird. She's completely surprised at first, but very quickly, she kisses me back, wrapping her arms around me tightly. 

I feel dizzy. I'm kissing Calli. I run my fingers up her waist, through her hair, touching her as if for the first time. 

She pulls away from me, resting her head on my chest to catch her breath. I can feel her pulse racing. I'm completely ecstatic. 

"So...." I speak first, making her jump. 

"So." She agrees. She finally looks up at me, her eyes sparkling nervously. 

"Can I like... call you my girlfriend?"

She laughs a little, rubbing the back of her neck. "After a kiss like that? You better."

She seems genuinely flustered, which makes me feel really good. It's good for a girl to be flustered and blushing after you kiss her, right?

Above us, the ship's bell rings for dinner. 

"Guess we should..." She's still smiling to herself. 

"We should go?" I finish. 

"Yeah." She nods. 

I offer her my arm. "Shall we?"

She takes it, grinning up at me. "We shall."