Getting shakes and stuff

Jace had promised to take Valerie out for shakes. He kept his promise. It took about half an hour to walk from camp to the diner, which was fine with Jace. He loved exercise. They arrived at Artie's (that was the name of the diner) right after the dinner rush, so the place was pretty empty. Jace sat in a booth and grabbed a menu. This place had a pretty good selection of shake.

Valerie walked along with Jace, she was feeling happier with his company. When they arrived after a long walk (Especially if you had little legs like she did) she seated herself down on a booth facing Jace. 1950s swing music played through the speakers, she couldn't help but smile at the various songs all familiar to her.
"This reminds me so much of..." She leaned forward and whispered. "My past." It wasn't something she liked to admit around the mortals, just in case they overheard her. She picked up a menu, despite already knowing what flavour shake she wanted. Banana and chocolate, that happened to be so good.

Jace had been contemplating between the basic chocolate shake or a cookies and cream. Both were in his top 10 rankings and they were the best Artie's made. Valerie's comment brought his attention back. He looked around the diner. Yup, it was laid out just like something in the 1950.

He smiled sheepishly, "Sorry about that." They had just put that behind them. Jace had suggested going out to cheer her up. Hopefully this would remind her of good memories.

A pretty blonde waitress in a pink uniform came up to our table. She gave Jace a wink and asked their order in a cheerful voice. He smiled at at her, "I'll go with a large chocolate shake."

"Nah it is alright it is nice to be somewhere familiar to me for a change." She smirked at her older half brother, though technically she was older than him. God, this being stuck in the Lotus Hotel made life very confusing at times.
"I'll have a chocolate and banana shake please." She added after Jace gave his order, Valerie noticed the wink, she whispered teasing to her half sibling. "I think she likes you."

Jace glanced back at the retreating form of the waitress then back at Valerie, He gave her a don't-you-think-I-know-that look. Jace had been told before he was quite good looking. And back at camp plenty of girls had shown interest in him.

He leaned back, folding his arms, "What's not to like about me?" The waitress returned the shakes balanced on a tray in her arms. Jace flashed her a smile as she gave him his. She giggled and placed Valerie's in front of her.

Valerie shook her head with a smile on her face at her half brother. "Well..." She shrugged, Valerie couldn't fault him. Jace was an epic older brother. Valerie didn't believe she drew much attention from guys at Camp Half-blood, she did not see herself as beautiful like some of her sisters. Short girls, particularly those like herself who lacked in the perpendicular were only listed as cute.
Was there a boy for her? That Valerie didn't know at least, not at the moment any way. It was not like the daughter of Apollo was actually looking, she found herself to be more than happy without one, it might be nice to have a boyfriend however.

Jace face was starting to hurt from smiling the whole time but he wasn't going to stop. Valerie was happy, he had a pretty waitress flirting with him, he took a sip of his milkshake. It was really good. Things could be worse. Without realizing it he had already already drank half of his shake. Jace pushed his shake to the middle of the table, taking a spoonful of Valerie's. He made sure to get a piece of banana, otherwise it tasted the same as his.

Jace tapped his spoon on his glass, "I feel like we haven't hung out enough lately. So, how's it been? You know besides the picture and stuff." He took another spoonful of his shake.

Valerie objected with a smile on her face. "Hey." She didn't mind him stealing a bit of her delicious milkshake. Her milkshake tasted amazing. They hadn't really hung out, so it was nice but for Valerie for things weren't going well. Her second attempt to reach Vegas in order to see if one of her old friends, someone who ended up trapped with her in the Lotus Casino still lived, if so she intended to rescue him.
However, nothing was found, Valerie in the end had been forced to accept defeat. Of course she did plan on another such quest to find her long lost friend. Assuming of course, Valerie made it to Las Vegas alone. Her eyes grew distant and her smile faded somewhat. "I... I miss my friends." She admitted quietly. "Plus these new Laptop things are blowing my mind out of the water a bit."

Soon the shake was gone and Jace was satisfied. Well, he was a little thirsty. The same pretty waitress brought some glasses of water to their table. Jace read her name tag, Brenna. She stayed and flirted with Jace for a while. It was a little awkward with Valerie sitting across from him. They must of been giving off a pretty strong brother-sister vibe.

Brenna left and Jace returned mentally to Valerie. He knew he shouldn't of brought up the picture. Valerie seemed to deflate the moment he brought it up. He tried to maintain a cheerful laugh about her observation of the Laptops. "Don't forget smartphones and the tablets as well." Time to redirect stuff away from sad things. "So we've already discussed my hotness." He leaned in close to Valerie. "I bet there is someone you like, Val." Nosy older brother should be a fun one.

Valerie in turn finished her own shake but a while after her brother's. She tried not to feel too awkward whilst Jace flirted with the waitress for a bit. It would be weird in a good way in Brenna and Jace started dating, though it might be somewhat difficult to explain his being a demigodness to her. Assuming of course if the pair of them became a couple.
"Yes those to." Weird things, how everyone used them was beyond her, just give her a good old book.
At his next statement Valerie turned a bright shade of red, fanning herself with her hand. "Oh..." She said awkwardly. "No there isn't." Perhaps it may have been because of her past but Valerie as of yet hadn't managed to get a boyfriend.

Valerie reacted exactly the way Jace expected and wanted her too. Blushing and becoming flustered. She denied everything but Jace wasn't going to let that slide. A mischievous grin appeared on his face, "Oh, come on. Someone must of caught your eye." Jace could be quite nosy if he needed to be. And he wanted to be right now.

She shook her head. "No Jace there isn't anyone at Camp who has caught my eye." Valerie wondered if she might have managed to catch the attention of someone at Camp Half-blood, though she doubted it.
"Can we change the topic please? I'd rather not talk about my non-existent love life." She sighed quietly, wishing that there was something in it instead of emptiness.

Being nosy and being annoying were two different things with two different possible reaction. It was a fun being nosy, older brother but Jace knew when to stop. Talking about liking people was obviously a subject Valerie didn't want to talk about anymore.

He jumped straight to another topic, "Have you done anything fun in or out of camp lately?" He drank some water. "There has been some fun combat mission I've got to go." Well maybe fun was a strong word. He nearly died on half of them.

"I've been taking archery and surfing classes with my friend Bee, she is a Demititan." Valerie said quite happily pleased for the topic has been changed. "Yeah same... Just not very successful." Valerie's history with combat missions was rather poor, even before she ended up trapped in the Lotus Hotel. Despite escaping she seemed to never escape her legacy of defeat, failure and casualties. Any combat missions which the Valerie took part in always appeared to go wrong.

Jace laughed, "Why would a daughter of Apollo need to take archery classes? Are you really that bad at dad's special skill?" Jace himself liked and was quite good at archery. He even made his own bow. But she was doing it with a Demititan. Interesting people the Demititans were. None of Jace's friends were Demititans so he knew near nothing about them.

Jace waved Brenna over, she came over very quickly. He gave her a wink and ordered a large order of fries to share with Valerie. "Surfing though, I never got to do that." Growing up in Utah, there was really no way to surf.

"I don't." Valerie objected with a grin. "I am an excellent shot with my short bow just don't give my a large one to fire." As the bigger bows tended to be far too big for the tiny life form that was Valerie.
"It is great fun... Though I tend to fall off a lot." For Valerie surfing was basically crashing into the waves, finding shore, swimming out again and repeating the process. "You should try it Jace try and impress some of those sunbathing daughters of Aphrodite." She teased her elder brother playfully.

The fries arrived quickly and when Artie's said large, they really meant large. The fries came in a container the size of a football with a bunch of sauces to experiment with. Jace had come here enough, whether on dates or with his friends, that he knew which sauces to get at. He mainly focused on the Jalapeno Aioli, a thicker whitish dip. Garlicky with a hint of spice, yum.

"Surfing has interested me and people say I look like a California boy." Jace admitted, pointing a fry at Valerie. "I don't need it though to impress those Aphrodite girls. I just need to show up." He chuckled then threw the fry into his mouth. "Maybe when you get it down you can teach me."

Valerie's eyes widened when the fries arrived, wow that was a whole lot of fries. "Wow." She said commenting on the vast array of fries presented before her. "Really California?" She commented raising an eyebrow. "Yeah of course not I'm pretty sure that I'd have to turn up and surf well to impress any..." She was about to say the sons of Ares, Valerie always possessed a soft spot for the sons of the God of War. There had always been something about them which attracted her attention.
"Maybe though at the present it is mostly me falling into the water." Which though fun did get increasing frustrating with each fresh failure.

Valerie had been about to say something about impressing some one. Jace was very tempted to press on it but he resisted by shoving a handful of fries in his mouth. He swallowed then chugged his water. That got him past that temptation. "Yes, California. I'm tall, blond, tan, and handsome."

Jace grinned, "No one has ever done anything right their first time."

"You forgot doesn't mind to toot his own trumpet." She teased playfully, Valerie wished she shared her brother's confidence and his ability to attract those of the opposite gender. "That is true but so far it is waves many Valerie very wet." She said with a small smile on her face.

Jace spread his arms out to his side, "There is a difference between being cocky and being confident. I am confident in my charm." To prove his point he made eye contact with Brenna then winked. She giggled and went into the back. Jace gave Valerie a that's-right smile.

He dug through the fries until he found a good sized one, "I believe in you, Val. You'll be able to get. And once you do you will be as good as a kid of Poseidon."

Valerie laughed quietly. "Oh dear gods." Before making a gagging gesture at his actions with Brenda. She shook her head at his encouraging comment though she doubted it. "Maybe but thank you Jace." She helped herself to a few fries.

Soon the fries were gone and the check arrived. Jace placed some mortal cash on it and watched as Brenna took it back. He leaned back against his padded booth, "Why don't you just have some confidence in yourself? You can do anything you put your mind to." Valerie was an amazing person. With her past, she is stronger than almost anyone. Probably stronger than Jace.  

Brenna returned with his change and receipt. Jace noticed a phone number written on the bottom. He simply smiled and pocketed it. He left a fair tip and stood up. He grinned at Valerie, "Since we're in town do you want to go anywhere else?"

She shook her head. "I'm in the same place just everything is different... All the language and the fancy technology." Valerie sighed, she would never understand these computers, she barely understood the mobile phones. She was quite happy playing the various games that could be played on the phones or the Ps Box.

"Well..." Valerie winked at Jace. "You might want to go get something nice and phone the waitress." Her half brother might be going on a date soon enough. If only she shared his skill in the fields of romance. Perhaps if she stopped looking at the sons of Ares who probably didn't even notice the daughter of Apollo she might be able to.

Jace waved of Valerie's teasing of the idea of a date. Sure he was probably give her a call on a weekend but he was out spending time with with his little sis. That was the plan for tonight and he wasn't going to bail on her for a girl. He walked to the door, "We could go to Central Park. It should be nice this time of year." It was also late enough it should be nice and cool.