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Sometimes when I laid awake at night flickers appeared in my mind. I’d known for about a year now that my memories with Jason were fake. We’d decided it didn’t matter. We made our own memories.
But everything felt wrong after Leo disappeared. Like there was a hole in my life.
I’d assumed it was my grief for my best friend, my brother. So I ignored it. But with the flickers of memories I saw a girl, blue streaks in her short black hair. Watching a meteor shower on the roof of the school with her.
But those had been false memories with Jason… right? Placed in my mind by Hera, they had no real merit.
But those thoughts didn’t go away and the hole only seemed to grow bigger. Dad’s reputation was shattered, we were moving from L.A. to Oklahoma. To Grandpa Tom’s old farm.
I snapped at Jason when he came over and found out.
“None of our memories are real!” I’d cried,
He’d blinked in surprise, “We made new ones, those are real, Pipes.”
“Does it even matter! Leo’s memories of you were fake, mine were fake! So what’s the fucking point of pretending everything is new!”
Jason had stepped back, recoiling as if I had slapped him, “Are you saying what I think you’re saying.” His voice was small,
“Yes.” I closed my eyes, turning around.
When I looked again, he was gone. Guilt hit me hard that night, adding to the strange memories that seemed to flow from behind a broken dam.
Lester came knocking and I was desperate for a distraction. Then Jason died on that beach and everything shattered around me. I’d never apologized for how I’d ended our relationship.
I hid in my nearly empty room, cutting my hair just like I used to back at the Wilderness School. When I got sick of feeling nothing, the blade of the scissors came down on the left side of my lips. Just like his scar. No one came in, Dad was always too lost in thought these days.
I sat in the silence with only those fractured memories to keep me company.
When I woke up I remembered her name. Shel. Fake memories hadn’t been fake, they just replaced the character within the story. I grabbed that cursed looking glass dagger and walked outside. Lester still needed help, I’d give it to him, my last way to remember the sacrifice Jason gave us. Time.
Guilt washed over me as I remembered more and more about her. The kiss on the roof… and then I’d been swept up with this kid I didn’t even know. She must hate me by now, I thought.
I stared at my phone, I hadn’t touched it due to Chiron’s warning about technology and demigods. But when I scrolled through the contacts… there she was.
I dialed the number, waiting numbly to see if she’d pick up.
And she did.
“Piper?” Her voice through the phone, “I- I thought… what’s up?”
I blinked back tears, “Just- I’m sorry about.. ditching you, I’m moving to Oklahoma, do you still live there?”
Her surprise was almost audible, “Yeah, I do, do- do you wanna meet up when you move in or…”
“That'd be great, if you want to.” I replied softly.
“It’s a date.” Shel’s grin was practically audible.
We said goodbye and the line died. I stared at her contact photo, her looking at the meteors. How had I left this unanswered for so long.
Leo had come back, the hole wasn’t from him though he added to it. It was from her. And the relationship Aphrodite and Hera stole from me.
We moved the Oklahoma, I sent Shel a text with the address. Seeing her in person again was a whirlwind of emotions. She looked near the same as I had remembered her. She smiled lightly, punching my shoulder lightly.
“Took you long enough, Pipes.” She grinned, the nickname finally sounding right as it was said in her voice.
I smiled lightly, “There’s a lot I should tell you.” I admitted, rubbing my arm as I avoided her gaze.
She took my hand in her’s, “I’m willing to listen when you want to tell me.”
We sat on the porch swing and talked. I knew Dad was watching us, a smile gracing his face for the first time in ages.
I explained to her what had happened, what I was, and who Jason was. She had listened without question until I finished.
“So you didn’t… get weirded out by what happened on the roof?” She asked, her voice was small, almost scared of the answer.
“No, I remember being really happy about it, but… then that memory was replaced with a fake one. I didn’t mean to ditch you, my meddling mother apparently didn’t approve.”
Shel blinked, “Your mother, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, disapproved of a romantic relationship.”
I rolled my eyes, “More like she thought Jason was the definition of perfection.” An underline of sadness was hidden within my words.
She caught it, she could see my grief as if I’d written it plainly on my face. She didn’t question it, only asking me if I could share more of my stories. And so I did.
And for once it felt right to have someone’s hand in mine. Felt right to feel the way I did when she smiled or laughed. Leo would’ve laughed his ass off, saying I should’ve figured it out ages ago. I’d argue I wasn’t physically able to remember. It wouldn’t matter, he’d tease me about it for years.
I’d call him, after Shel left, I decided. Once I’d run out of stories she told me her’s. Her panic at seeing a monster follow me in the halls. Her pain when I’d stopped acknowledging her. And we talked.
It wasn’t a grand declaration of love, but it was what we both needed to hear.
That it wasn’t our fault. Either of us. And that was good enough.
Shel came back to the farm practically daily. Driving her blue corvette into the dirt driveway. I watched it drive in with excitement every time. We explored the parts of the farm I hadn’t been allowed on the last time I’d been here. Flipped through old albums Grandpa Tom had kept. Read the older books he’d placed on his shelf.
After about a week of this Dad let us know there would be a meteor shower over the farm, and that Shel was welcome to stay and watch it with me. A secret smile passed between us.
We watched the shower, her dark blue eyes met my ever shifting ones. And her lips brushed against mine.
It had filled me with more happiness than kissing Jason ever had.
Out of the corner of my eye was Lester. I got up, telling Shel I’d be right back and spoke to the former mortal.
He’d been happy for me, disappearing with a wink and telling me he’d let me “get back to it.” I snorted, rejoining Shel on the front porch.
This time I kissed her and mumbled three small words against her lips, “I love you.”
And she repeated them.
And that was enough to make me happier than I’d ever been. Just, three small words.