"I thought Logan's standards were a little higher than that. Guess I was wrong. Then again, guys will do anything-and anyone-to get some."
Helena's voice was low, but the cruel smile on her face told me that she meant for me to hear every word. I'd never done anything to Helena, except stand up for another girl she'd been teasing, but that had been enough to put me on the Amazon's hit list. Now, every time she saw me, Helena went out of her way to be snotty to me. Try as I might, I could never seem to get the best of the Amazon, not even dream up a quick comeback to get her to shut up.
Helena whispered something to her friends, and they all started snickering. My hand tightened around my mug of tea. Not for the first time, I wished that I had an Amazon's quickness so I could bean Helena in the head with it. But she would only catch the mug and throw it back at me before I could blink.
"Ignore them," Logan said. "They're just jealous that you're here with me."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. You and your ego."
His grin widened, and I couldn't help but laugh. No matter how bad things got, the Spartan could always make me laugh, if only for a moment. Something else that added to that warm, fizzy feeling in my chest.
We sat there in silence, listening to the murmurs from the other kids and the gurgles of the espresso machines. After all the battles we'd survived recently, it was nice to just hang out with Logan without worrying about what was going to happen next or what Reapers might be lurking around, masquerading as students, professors, or even the coffee shop staff.
But after a few minutes, the reality of the situation hit me. I was on a date with Logan freaking Quinn, one of the cutest guys at Mythos-and I had no idea what to say to him.
"So . . ." I said. "What do people talk about on dates?"
Logan looked up from his espresso. "What do you mean?"
I shifted in my seat. "I mean, you have a lot more experience at this than I do."
In fact, Logan had a reputation for being a total man-whore who went from one girl to the next. Me? I'd had exactly one boyfriend for a grand total of three weeks before I'd met Logan. So going on a date was still sort of a new experience for me. Besides, the Spartan had this natural, easy charm that made everyone like him-girls and guys alike. Me? I was about as charming as a wet sock.
"I know what we talk about at the academy. You know, weapons training, where Loki might be hiding, when he's going to come and kill us all, how we're supposed to stop him."
Actually, that last one was more like how I was supposed to kill the god. Yeah, me, kill an actual living, breathing, walking, talking god. And not just any god, but Loki, who was pretty much evil incarnate.
But that was the seemingly impossible mission that Nike had given me the last time I'd seen her a couple of weeks ago-something that I hadn't shared with Logan or any of my friends. Kill a god. I had no idea how the goddess expected me to do that. I had no idea how anyone could do that, especially me, Gwen Frost, that weird Gypsy girl who touched stuff and saw things.
Logan kept staring at me, and I found myself opening my mouth once more.
"I guess we could talk about how I'm actually getting a little better at using weapons, although I doubt that I'll ever be in your league. Or we could talk about Nyx, and how totally cute she is. Or Daphne and her healing magic. Or Carson and how obsessed he is with the winter concert the band is putting together . . ."
Babbling. I was finally out on a real date with Logan, and I was babbling like a wind-up doll someone had cranked into high gear.
Logan reached over and put his hand on top of mine, which was still wrapped around my mug. "Relax, Gypsy girl. Relax. You're doing fine. We don't have to talk about anything, if you don't want to. I'm just happy to be here with you. It's nice to just sit here and relax, with everything that's been going on these past few weeks. You know?"
His fingers felt warm against my own, but more than that, I felt the warmth in Logan's heart-and all his feelings. His strength, his bravery, his determination to fight Reapers and to protect me no matter what. All those images, all those feelings, flashed through my mind, driving away all my doubts about me, Logan, and everything else that was going on right now.
My Gypsy gift let me know, see, and feel the history of any object I touched. Given that, I had to be careful about touching things and, most especially, people. More than once, my hand had brushed against someone's, and I'd realized that what he said didn't match what he felt. That's what had happened with my first boyfriend. He'd kissed me, and I'd realized that he was really thinking about another girl instead.
But there was nothing to be afraid of with Logan. I knew all the Spartan's secrets, and he knew mine. Well, except for the whole Gwen's-supposed-to-kill-Loki thing. I still wasn't sure exactly how to bring that up, and I wasn't going to. Not today. There would be time enough to obsess and worry about that later. Right now, I just wanted to enjoy my date with Logan.
"How is it that you always know just what to do and say to make me feel better?" I said.
Logan grinned. "Just another part of that Spartan killer instinct. I can slay the ladies just as well as I can Reapers."
I rolled my eyes and leaned over to punch him in the shoulder-and managed to knock over my tea and his espresso. Liquid cascaded all over the table, most of it spilling off the far side and into Logan's lap. The Spartan jumped up, but he didn't have an Amazon's quickness, so he couldn't avoid getting soaked.
"Sorry!" I said, getting to my own feet. "I'm so sorry!"
I reached for the silver holder on the table, intending to rip some napkins out of it, but instead I ended up knocking it to the ground as well. The napkin holder clang-cla-cla-clanged across the floor.
By the time the holder skidded to a stop and the noise faded away, everyone in the shop had turned to stare at us. Embarrassment made my cheeks burn, while Logan looked like he'd had water dumped all over him.
"Sorry," I mumbled again.
"It's okay," Logan said, holding his hands out to his sides to keep from touching his now-sticky clothes. "I'll just go get cleaned up."
He headed off toward the bathroom. I sighed, picked up the holder, put it back on the table, grabbed some napkins out of it, and started mopping up the mess. After a few seconds, most people went back to their conversations-except for Helena and her friends. They were too busy laughing at me to talk.
I put my head down, ignored them, and cleaned up the liquid as fast as I could before wiping my hands off. I threw all the used napkins into a trash can, then sat down and slumped as low as I could in my chair. So far, this date hadn't exactly been a big success-or even just the fun time I'd wanted it to be. Once again, I'd messed up everything without even trying. Sometimes, I thought that was my specialty in life.