Honestly? I have no idea my night was going to turn out the way it did. Percy and I were hanging out earlier in the day, working out at the gym and talking about the party. Nothing was different, since we usually work out together. But today, I was wearing my running capris and a red tank top, and when I looked over at him, I caught him staring at my ass. I naturally teased him to no end about that, and every time he blushed as red as my shirt. To be honest, I reveled in all the attention I was getting from him. I'd had a secret crush on him since the beginning of the summer, I'd just never had the opportunity or guts to act on it. After we'd had our fill of weights we moved on to play some one on one basketball. Maybe it was my imagination, but his defense seemed a little... hands on. Our smack talk was a little more flirty than usual. I shook all this off and attributed it off to my excitement for the upcoming party and my brain being muddled by my crush. We parted ways to go shower and get ready, agreeing to meet later. Entering my cabin, which I stay in alone, I plugged in my trusty iPod and blasted my 'pump up' playlist and started to shower and get dressed. Whenever I get drunk, I have a habit of taking my shirt off, so I grabbed my cutest bra and panty set and slipped them on. My tights came on after that, then my dark gray cami and green and black flannel followed after. Brushing my teeth and hair and putting on some light makeup, I was ready to go.
The Aphrodite sons and daughters, our gracious hosts for the evening, had supplied us with enough alcohol to get blackout drunk 3 times over. I walked into the cabin, and was awestruck by the sight. The lights were dimmed, and different lights were flashing and spinning around. EDM was blasting through speakers I couldn't seem to locate. Almost all the high school campers and every one of the college campers and counselors were here with their friends having a good time. In total, there was probably about 80 people packed into the Aphrodite cabin. All the bunks had been pushed into one corner of the house and all the desks had been pushed together to create one giant bar. There were bottles of all shapes and colors as well as plenty of shot glasses and cups and at least 5 kegs. I could see already that there were going to be no shortages tonight. Percy was across the room, red cup in hand, talking to Annabeth and Nico. After the Second Great Titan War a couple years ago, Annabeth and Percy dated for a few months, but then decided that they were better as friends and parted amicably. They're still best friends, even subbing as each other's wingman if the opportunity arose.
When I saw Percy, my heart fluttered and I got really excited. Now was my chance to go over and see if he had the same feelings that I did. But first, I had to get him alone. "Hey Perc." I said, not wanting the others to know that something was up.
"Thalia, hey! Killer party right? I heard that some of the Apollo guys sound proofed the cabin, so no one from the outside would know that this is happening right now." Percy grinned at me. We started up our own conversation as Nico and Annabeth excused themselves to refill their cups.
The music was really loud, so I inched a little closer to him and said, "So how does it feel to be 18? You're legally an adult now!" He laughed, "I feel so old, partying with all you children." I punched him playfully in the shoulder "Hey remember I'm not that much younger than you" We talked about all the cool grown up stuff he was going to do now, such as get a motorcycle and a tattoo when his body language shifted. "So, did you come with anyone?" He asked jokingly but his tone gave away as a very serious question.
"Why would I come with someone when I plan to leave with you?" I had the perfect plan. Either he could take me up on my offer, or take it as a joke. Either way, I'm not rejected; it's a plan worthy of Athena. He stood there, looking shocked, but then a slow smile started to form on his face. Suddenly, Percy broke out in laughter so infectious I couldn't help but join in.
"That was excellent and now that you're here, we need to go take some shots. So far, I've only had one beer, and tonight is the night to forget everything!" Percy grabbed my hand and led me to the bar, where he helped himself to a bottle of vodka and two shot glasses. "Alright, now that we're stocked, let's go find some place to chill"
I grabbed the glasses from him, and he reached down and took my hand to lead me out the back door. Still holding my hand, we went down to the beach. It was strange going from the deafening music to complete silence. He took off his jacket and laid it down on the sand, which we promptly dropped down onto. I held out the glasses and he poured us some vodka. We clinked glasses and took the first shots with a surprising amount of ease. "Oh gods that tasted like... Nail polish remover!" I whisper-yelled to him. He nodded in agreement, and then poured us a couple more. "What do you say we make this interesting?" I can feel the mischievous glint in my eyes as I say this. "I like the way you think Pinecone Face," he said with a wink.
I grabbed my glass from him and simply said "Never Have I Ever." He gives me a satisfied look, obviously I passed a test I didn't know I was taking. "Let's take another one to get us nice and buzzed first." We turn towards each other, cross out legs, and down our second shot. "Alright, I guess I'll start" I said as Percy filled up our glasses to the brim. "Remember, if you have done it, you take a shot, if you haven't, I take the shot. Also, no questioning the answers given. Right! Never have I ever... Manipulated water." I get that that was an easy one, but we were way too sober and I needed to change that. "Aw come one! That was low," He laughed and then drank, ready to take revenge. "Never have I ever struck my friend with a bolt of lightning during an argument" "I knew you're still bitter over that" I mumbled into the brim of my glass, to which he started chuckling.
"Game on Jackson. Never have I ever talked to pegasus." He drank.
"Never have I ever been turned into a pine tree!" I drank.
"Never have I ever been in Poseidon's domain." He drank.
"Never have I ever been a hunter of Artemis." I hesitated at this one. He noticed and accused me of being a lightweight, but it was time to tell him the truth. I took my shot and told him what I have been building up the courage to say for a while. "Percy, I left the hunt." He sat slack jawed, just staring. "Shit Thal I had no idea. Can I ask what happened?" I forced a smile as I said: "That's a conversation for much later," gestured for another shot, and downed that as well.
Most of a bottle later, we were still on the beach giggling and very very drunk. The questions had continued in such a way that we were just alternating taking shot after shot. We were laying on our backs, looking at the stars and making up new names for all the constellations, when I suddenly rolled on my side.
"Percy?"
"Thalia?" He responded slowly.
"Can I ask you a serious question?" He rolled over and looked at me, suddenly very interested, and nodded his consent.
I stared at him very seriously and asked "Does my hair look alright?" We both started laughing even harder, and rolled back onto our backs, struggling to catch a breath.
"Thalia?"
"Percyyy" I drawled out.
"Can I ask you a serious question?" His words slurred together a little, and I had to concentrate on what he was saying to make sure he was still speaking English. I nodded my answer—very vigorously of course—and he continued.
"Did you mean what you said earlier, about wanting to leave with me?"
I rolled on my side, facing him, and stared at his face, trying to read his facial expression. I sat up, facing the ocean with my arms locked behind me, supporting me against the spinning world. He followed soon after, and assumed the same position. We locked eyes and it was obvious that neither of us wanted to break the connection. I didn't answer. Instead, I moved and put one leg on either side of his, facing him. Our faces were so close I could see the green flecks in his blue eyes. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and leaned in. Right as our lips were about to touch, I whispered, "No," and sat back, laughing hysterically, while he sat there, dumb struck. I was laughing so hard my stomach was starting to cramp up and I could feel the tears coming on. All of the sudden, Percy started to move under me, and somehow, I ended up on my back with him above me. The situation wasn't as funny anymore. His legs were now between mine, and his hands were braced on either side of my head and his eyes were glued to mine once again.
Keeping eye contact, he lowered his face till it was inches from mine and breathed, "How about now?" to which all I could do is breathe in shakily. Even after a night of drinking, he still somehow managed to smell amazing, like the beach and summer. Finally, I couldn't take the tension anymore, and grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his lips to mine. It felt like fireworks were going off and all the air was sucked out of my lungs. He knotted his fingers in my short hair and felt him lay the length of his body along mine. At this realization, I moaned softly into his mouth. I never wanted him to stop. When he pulled away, my heart was racing and I was panting like I had just run a marathon.
"Thalia" he also sounded like he was having trouble catching his breath and I felt proud that I, Thalia Grace, made him feel this way, but also a little scared. Deciding we'd had enough solo time, I suggested we head back inside. Plus, I really wanted to dance. Percy stood up and offered me his hand, which I pretended not to see. He looked hurt, so I pulled him close and whispered in his ear that I want to dance with him. He perked up at that, grabbed the bottle, which he took a swig from and handed to me. I followed his lead as he picked up the two glasses and his jacket. We laughed and passed the bottle back and forth as we headed back up to Cabin 10 with his arm slung lazily across my shoulders and mine around his waist.
We opened the back door to the cabin and plopped the glasses and mostly empty bottle on the makeshift bar. The party was almost more crazy than before we left. Everyone is a lot more drunk now, so naturally then were more people dancing. I turned around and grabbed his jacket, pulling it off, and threw it onto one of the beds. Then we made our way to the dance floor. As we got more towards the center of the "dance floor" the dancing got more and more graphic. When we were almost in the center, I started to grind on him, my butt pressed firmly against his crotch and moving my hips in time to the music. He put his hands on my hips and held me against him. We danced like this for a few songs, until I realized that I wanted to be even closer. I turned around so that now we were grinding face to face. We caught the other's eyes and it was almost like we gave a signal. He reached for my face and pulled me to him to continue our earlier make out session. Percy had one hand resting on the small of my back, keeping me as close to him as possible, while I had both of my arms wrapped around him.
Eventually, Percy leaned down and put his mouth right by my ear and asked me the question I'd been dying to hear since I entered the building so many hours ago: "Do you wanna get out of here?" I put my hands on either side of his face, kissed him one last time, and said, "Yes."
The smile that broke out at my response practically split his face in half. He grabbed my hand and practically dragged me out of the Aphrodite cabin and towards his own. On our way there, he kept on stopping to kiss me. That and the ground continuing to spin around, we made slow progress. We made it to his cabin though, and that's when the real fun came. He opened the door, and entered first. As soon as I stepped foot in his place and the door was closed, he pushed me against it and kissed me; hard. I reached down towards the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head as he did the same with mine. He picked me up and I instinctually wrapped my legs around his waist. I couldn't help but moan his name as he started to kiss his way down my neck. His hands snaked around my back and unclipped my bra, which he then prompted to throw across the room.
Percy then carried me towards the bed, never taking his mouth off of my body. I was moaning in complete ecstasy at this point, whimpering for him to not stop. He traveled back up to my mouth and we were making out once again. Our drunken kisses had become sloppy, a battle for dominance between our tongues that both of us seemed to be winning. This was completely new territory for me. I could barely think, all I could do is moan. He continued his journey down my body, kissing and nipping the entire way. I was gripping the sheets and writhing more and more as he went more south. As he reached the hem of my pants, he hooked his fingers and started to pull them down. I lifted my body and helped him slide them off so that I was only in my panties. I pulled him up by the chin, kissed him, and started to unbuckle his belt and slide off his jeans. Simultaneously we reached for the others underwear and pulled it off. We took a moment to just take in the other's naked body. I don't think either of us was prepared for this moment, but now that it was here, there was nowhere we'd rather be.
I decided that it was time that I pleasured him for a bit. He was still standing from when he took his pants off, so I went and knelt down in front of him, and took his member in my mouth. His hand went immediately to the back of my head, guiding me. I heard him saying my name, and it made me once again proud that I could elicit these feelings from the great Percy Jackson. Suddenly he tensed up, and panted "Thalia, I think I'm gonna cum soon." He grabbed me and pulled me up on my feet and choked out "Babe I don't want to finish like that tonight." At that, he turned to his nightstand and pulled out a condom. I helped to guide it over his tip and down his erect member. His hisses of pleasure were music to my ears. I pulled him towards the bed, and once I felt the frame hit the back of my knees, we fell back onto the mattress. He guided his tip towards my entrance and slid it in slowly. Going very slowly and asking if I was ok. The pain of my first time was almost unbearable, but I knew that this would be the worst part. Once he was entirely sheathed inside me, I gave him a smile signaling I was alright with him going faster. He started to pump in and out of me, and it was amazing. It felt like the first time we kissed, but instead of just seeing fireworks, I felt them all over my body. "Oh gods Percy..." I trailed off, unable to complete any thought. As he thrusted towards me, I ground my hips up to meet him in the middle. I felt him press his face into my shoulder and my hands clawed their way up and down his back and we both muttered incoherent exclamations. Soon we both were breathing hard and I could feel the growing pressure in my gut; we were both coming up to the point of no return. I was the one to climax first, wave after wave of pleasure accompanied me screaming Percy's name into the empty cabin. He followed, grunting and moaning "Thalia.. Oh Thalia.." while he thrusted a few last times.
He slid out and threw away the condom, and then came back to bed and pulled the sheets over us. I turned to face him, putting my hand on his chest and our legs becoming tangled up in each other. "Hey Perce?"
"Yeah?" He replied, lazily tracing patterns onto my back.
"The reason that I left the Huntresses..." At this his hand stopped its motions and he struggled to look at my face. Upon realizing he couldn't see me, he settled for just cupping my face with his hand that wasn't trapped under me.
"What is it Thal? You can tell me." He reassured me, giving me the courage to go on.
I took a shaky breath and admitted a secret I had told no one besides Artemis all those months ago. "I left the Huntresses because I discovered a simple fact that I never knew before... I do actually believe in the possibility of happiness within love. Men can make me unhappy, but there's always a chance that a man could make me very happy."
At the conclusion of barring my soul to him, I looked up and saw the same face-splitting grin on his face that I saw earlier in the night. It was then that I knew that I made the right choice.