Peaceful Sunday (2)

Artemis' POV

Artemis stared at Jayce who was in front of her, his eyes looking a little glazed. She quickly realized he wasn't staring at her face, his gaze lower than usual. Shaking her head, she splashed some water at him.

The action made him move his head to avoid the cold water. He then turned to look back at Artemis with confusion, like he was asking why she had done it.

Artemis smirked. "Watch where your eyes go."

Jayce went a little red at the comment, understanding what she meant. "Sorry…Guess I now know what little kids feel like walking past the candy store."

Artemis raised her eyebrow at the comparison. "Are you seriously comparing me to a candy store?"

"Mhmm…" Jayce nodded, smiling widely. "You two have a lot in common."

"Really?"

"Yip. You're both full of sweetness, hide something delicious under wraps and always have the right amount of different flavors." Jayce listed, putting a finger up for each point.

"Is that so? I have 'different flavors'?" Artemis laughed at the cheesiness.

"Yip." Jayce took a step closer, well swam closer until the two were touching noses.

Artemis suddenly felt hot despite being in a lake with cold water. She felt her mouth go dry and her inner wolf was getting into a frenzy.

"You're mostly sweet but sometimes there's some spiciness." Jayce whispered softly, his breath caressing her ears. "And who doesn't like the combination of sweet and spicy?"

Artemis parted her lips slightly, gaze going to Jayce's soft looking lips. She suddenly wanted to see for herself if they felt as soft as they looked.

"Boo!" A voice called out unexpectedly.

Artemis screamed along with Jayce, splashing water in the direction that the voice had come from. Her heart was beating frantically, making her gasp for air and moving away quickly.

When she had recovered, she turned to the direction of where the voice had come from and saw Xander was standing close to where she and Jayce had been a moment ago.

He was combing a hand through his hair, a look of annoyance on his face as water dripped off every inch of him.

"Did you two forget I was here or something?" Xander muttered as he stared at the two.

Jayce glared at the other male. "Way to go dumbass…Just ruined the mood…"

Artemis felt herself go red, realizing what she had been planning to do with Jayce a second ago if Xander hadn't suddenly appeared. She couldn't believe she had wanted to kiss Jayce and in the lake of all places…

Taking a deep breath, Artemis calmed herself down, swimming towards the two males who were having another staring contest.

"Sorry about splashing you Xander." Artemis murmured, a little embarrassed.

Xander turned to look at her and smiled. "It's fine…"

Suddenly Artemis got hit with water in the face, taking a second to figure out that Xander has splashed some water at her. Wiping the water off her face, Artemis saw Xander was smirking at her, making her think she probably looked like a drowned cat.

"We're even now." Xander laughed.

Artemis grumbled but decided to let it go. At least now everyone had forgotten about what had happened a few minutes ago.

She dove into the water, swimming towards the shore. Her body was starting to get winkley and she could finally feel the coldness of the water. Her stomach had also decided to voice its hunger, growling a little.

After a few minutes under the water, she rose to the surface, opening her eyes. She saw the shore was a few meters away and decided to wade the rest of the way, walking on the soft grass.

She made her way to a blanket, pulling out a towel from the bag on the blanket. She swiftly dried herself before sitting on the towel, grabbing a packet of chips to eat.

As she nibbled on the chips, she watched Jayce and Xander messing around in the lake, Xander disappearing under the waterfall a few times. Jayce meanwhile seemed to enjoy floating on his back.

Xander's probably going to the hidden cave behind the waterfall. Artemis thought.

After a few minutes Xander came back to the shore, Jayce soon following him. Artemis put her half empty packet of chips to the side and dusted her hands off before she grabbed two towels for the males to dry themselves off.

As she handed the towels to them, Artemis noticed Jayce was staring at her weirdly as he took a seat next to her, Xander taking the opposite side and grabbing Artemis' abandoned packet of chips.

"What's it Jayce?" Artemis asked, not understanding the weird look.

"Oh…um…" He pointed at his abdomen, looking a little awkward. "Is that from…you know…"

Artemis stared at him confused before she looked down at her abdomen, remembering that she was wearing a bikini. The claw mark scars that covered most of her abdomen were quite visual and a little red from the cold water.

"Ah…yeah." Artemis replied nervously, trying not to recall how she got the injury. "Louis gave me those…"

She looked at Jayce, watching as his face twisted into rage, his eyes blazing brightly under the glasses. She wasn't embarrassed about her scars, the scars proof of her strength to survive a monster's attack, but she didn't often show them, hating the looks of pity and disgust people normally gave her upon seeing them.

"Um...They'll go away after a few years." Artemis said, trying to break the tense silence in the air. "Becky gave me some special ointment to help make them fade."

Jayce's face quickly changed, softening. "Artemis…I don't care about them…I mean I'm angry you got them…But they don't make me think less of you…You're still beautiful, scars and all."

Artemis smiled at Jayce, the unknown tension in her body disappearing as the tense air around the two washed away with Jayce's words. She was happy he was okay with scars, knowing most would have hated her for the marks on her body or be disgusted by them for "ruining" her body, wanting to end things with her.