The stars are odd things. They're really tiny-but not literally. From far away they look like little bottles of hope, filled to the brim with every single great thing about life and more. In reality, they're only flaming balls of gas thousands of light years away. Wow, that thought is horribly depressing.

"What are you thinking about, Wise Girl?" Percy asked me. We were just laying out in the grass, next to each other. We were laying as close as two people can lay without being completely intertwined, and to be honest, I didn't really have a problem with it. Not at all.

"I'm thinking. . ." I began, looking for the right words to express what I was feeling, "that no matter what, you always lose everything when you look at the stars."

"That's a very deep thought," he responded, not looking at me.

"What were you thinking?"I asked him, and joyfully added, "Seaweed Brain."

"That there is a really pretty girl laying next to me right now," he smiled now, and looked at me.

I smiled back. "Deep."

"Honestly," he scoffed, and sat up. "The stars aren't very interesting."

"They're plenty interesting," I said. "Really interesting, actually."

"I'd rather look at you."

"You trying to tell me I'm interesting?"

"Extremely interesting," he said. "No, wait, you're more than that."

I sat up now, and faced him. "I bet you can't name five synonyms for the word interesting."

"Yeah-huh!" he said, and counted them off on his fingers. "Fascinating, entertaining, intriguing, engrossing, riveting-"

"Bet you can't spell them."

He stood. "F-a-s. . . i. . ."

"Wrong."

"Well, you can't spell them, either," he said, holding out a hand to me. I grabbed it, and he pulled me up.

"You're absolutely right," I assured him.

He smiled at me. "You're really annoying, you know that?"

"And you're not?" I argued, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

His own wrapped around my waist, and pulled me to him. We were so close I could feel his breath on my lips. "I'm so not annoying."

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"Absolutely," he breathed. The word sounded soft, like a kiss.

The word became a kiss.