For Rachel, for being an awesome friend, and because I love you and can't give you a physical present. Merry Christmas! :)
A match flickered to life in the dark, illuminating the tanned face of the girl holding it. She quickly brought it down to the candle below, and blew it out with a small puff of breath, flitting it back and forth so that the small trail of smoke drifted upwards.
She dropped into a chair and slumped over so that her arms rested folded on the table, her head resting on her hands. She stared into the steady orange glow of the candle as it flickered and struggled to fill the room with light.
A tear inched sluggishly down her cheek, reflecting the glow of the candle in front of it. It looked like a tear of pure gold. Instead it was of loneliness, of fear, of the utter weight of being so far away from home. She missed her parents, in spite of her hatred of them for doing this to her. She wanted to be home for Christmas, and yet she was stuck in a cheap, dingy apartment she could barely afford, nearly three thousand miles away from home. On Christmas Eve.
She was a freshman in college, barely eighteen, a stranger to the city that she lived in. She had wanted desperately to get home for Christmas, but there were complications. Her parents refused to fly out to visit her, and refused to pay for a flight. She didn't have enough money to pay for one herself, and she didn't have a car. So what could she do?
Well, exactly what she was doing.
Sitting here alone on Christmas Eve.
In the corner of the room, barely visible by the candle light, was an ugly Christmas tree, small and scrawny with only sparse needles on its branches. It was decorated half-heartedly, and only a couple of sad, measly presents sat underneath. On the dusty mantel above, several cards sat propped open, with messages like Merry Christmas, and Wishing you were here!
They didn't make the girl feel any better.
The girl fell forward onto her arms, shaking with silent sobs that no one in the world saw or cared about. Her messy golden curls were splayed about her, wild and untamed. She had not seen the point in dressing nicely when no one would see it or care.
Money had been scarce. She had struggled through the first four months of the year on cheap, disgusting food, and her Christmas Eve dinner consisted of a soggy, floppy burger from McDonalds. With a side of fries of course.
But even that was left forgotten and uneaten.
With a shaky breath, she wiped away some of her tears. Then she walked slowly over to the window. The city sparkled with Christmas lights, and she could hear laughter coming from the street below. People enjoying Christmas like they should be.
Ignoring everyone on the street below, the girl stared up at the sky, searching for a star. The city lights glared most of them out, but finally she found one. She knew it was the north star, bright and cold on a night like tonight.
She closed her eyes.
Please God, Santa, whoever out there exists, she thought, her eyes screwed shut, a very slight smile on her tearstained face, don't leave me lonely on Christmas day.
She opened her eyes, half-expecting to see a bright red sleigh pulled by reindeer flying through the night. But everything looked exactly the same as it had a moment before. With a sigh, she turned away from the window, tears burning her eyes again. Of course it wouldn't work. Why should it? Stars were just tiny specs of light, millions…billions…trillions of miles away. Light years away. More, even.
The girl snatched up a blanket from the couch, wrapping it around her shoulders. She grabbed her candle, and retreated to her room. For some reason, she didn't want to turn on the lights. The candle seemed more fitting.
Though it was still early, the girl decided to go to sleep instead of staying up and feeling sorry for herself. Without bothering to brush her teeth or even change into her pyjamas she slipped under the rough sheet of her bed. For a moment she stared at the candle, the only source of light in her dark life. Then she blew it out. A thin trail of smoke reached for the sky it would never touch.
The girl with the honey blonde curls awoke with a start to the loud bang of a door slamming, and shouts from an apartment below. She glanced over at the clock beside her bed, blinking sleep out of her eyes. 9:34 am. For a moment, she debated staying in bed. What was the point in getting up? But in the end she pulled herself from her bed.
Her clothes were rumpled and uncomfortable, her mouth tasted like something had died in it. She made a quick trip to the bathroom, then brushed her teeth. Then she moped out to the living room, bright with daylight now. Her tree looked so very sad. The girl couldn't even bring herself to open the few Christmas presents. It wasn't like she had no friends…it was just that they had all left for Christmas or avoided her in their plans, without giving her any presents. They weren't really very good friends.
So instead of opening her presents, she brought her knees to her chest on the couch she sat on, and cried some more. There didn't seem to be anything else to do.
Suddenly the doorbell rang. The girl leapt up startled. Who was coming to see her? She tried her best to mop all of the tears off her face, then walked over to the door. She took a deep breath. She wrenched it open.
"Merry Christm—hey you're not Thalia!"
A boy of about her age stood on the doorstep, snowflakes sprinkled through his messy black hair. He looked confused. She immediately decided that he wasn't the brightest.
"Not as far as I know," she said.
"Huh," he speculated. "Well, I must have the wrong apartment. Do you know where Thalia Grace lives?"
The girl nodded, her heart sinking. No one did want to see her.
"Apartment 607, not 706," she choked out.
"Ohh, yeah that's right," agreed the boy. "Thanks!" he turned to leave, then stopped and turned back around to stare at the girl in the doorway. "Hang on, you've been crying!"
"What?! No I haven't!"
"You have! Why are you crying? It's Christmas, you should be happy!" he peered rudely around her into the house. "Where's your family?" he whispered.
"San Francisco." She choked back more tears.
He made a soft 'oh' sound. "You're all alone on Christmas?"
She nodded. "You really should get to your party. Your friend Thalia must be waiting for you."
"Cousin, actually," he said, with a funny half grin on his face. "I'm Percy Jackson."
"Annabeth Chase," said Annabeth.
"You know…" said Percy, "I'm early to Thalia's party…but usually I'm late to everything, so she won't be expecting me for another half hour at least."
Annabeth stared at him. What was he saying?
He sighed. "Look Annabeth, I don't know you, but you seem nice enough. And I can't leave you alone on Christmas day…you…you should come out into the hallway…and…and tell me why you're crying."
Annabeth stared at him harder, trying to see into the mind behind those green eyes. She didn't understand how any random stranger would want to know why she was sad, but some weird, gut feeling told her to let him in. And he was Thalia Grace's cousin. Annabeth knew Thalia a little bit, and was certain she would not invite any creeps to her Christmas party. So she said okay, in a small and shaky voice. After a pause, she invited him to come inside, where it was comfier.
She led him through the house, leading him to a seat on the couch. He stared around, at her tiny tree, at the tiny unopened presents below.
He turned back to her. "So…Annabeth. What's wrong? Why are you here alone on Christmas day?"
And Annabeth found herself spilling out everything to this strange boy, about her parents, her small amount of money, her struggle through the first semester, how she barely had any friends…before she knew it she was crying again. Again. In front of a total stranger.
Percy Jackson watched her very closely, his distracting sea-green eyes never leaving her, full of sympathy. When she finally finished talking he wrapped her in a hug, and for a while she cried into his shirt, only pausing once or twice to think about how nice he smelled. Like the sea.
When finally Annabeth was calm again, her face dry, Percy smiled at her.
"How would you like to come to Thalia's present opening thing with me? I'm allowed to bring a date."
"I—really?" Annabeth asked softly.
"Sure!"
"O-okay! I'll change."
When Annabeth looked decent they descended down the stairs to Thalia's apartment. Percy knocked three times, and the door flew open, a girl with spiky black hair, bright blue highlights and thick eyeliner standing in the doorway, a smirk on her face.
"Percy! Finally! I—oh, who's this?"
"This is Annabeth!" said Percy proudly. "I found her upstairs! Well, I went to her apartment by mistake and she had no one to spend Christmas with, so I brought her with me!"
Thalia rolled her eyes at Percy and turned to Annabeth. "Well, you're very welcome here. Come on in. We're gonna open presents now that our late member of the group is here.
"Hey!" protested Percy.
In the living room sat a group of people around Annabeth's age, talking and laughing in a pile of presents. A girl with choppy brown hair and colourful eyes was holding the hand of a tall, muscular blond boy with glasses. A smallish Latino boy with curly brown hair sat beside a girl with long, light brown hair and sparkling almond shaped eyes. He absentmindedly played with her hair as she spoke animatedly about something. A small dark skinned girl with luminous golden eyes sat curled up in the lap of a tall, sturdy Asian boy who dwarfed her completely but still somehow managed to look like a teddy bear. There was a girl with curly red hair and paint stained jeans, and across the room a girl with long, dark hair and a commanding expression. Somewhere in the back sat two boys who were holding hands, one tan and blond, the other small and pale with dark hair. They all stared up at her.
"Guys, this is Annabeth!" said Percy."
"Hi!" they chorused.
"Whoo, she's hot! Good find bro!" said the boy with the blonde hair and glasses. Everyone laughed, and his girlfriend punched him on the arm.
"Shut up, Jason," Percy blushed. Then he pointed to the rest of them in turn. "Piper, Leo, Calypso, Hazel, Frank, Rachel, Reyna, Will, Nico, Thalia, me…come on, sit down! We're gonna open presents now!"
It was the best morning that Annabeth had ever had in her life. All of the others chatted to her like she had known them for years. She found herself laughing more than she had all semester. She went home with rosy cheeks and a dozen new friends who made promises to hang out soon…tomorrow even.
Annabeth still wasn't sure if she believed in wishing on stars. But two years later, when Percy Jackson put a diamond engagement ring on her finger, she decided it might be worth believing in them. Or maybe…maybe it had just been a Christmas miracle, that the boy with the sea-green eyes had accidently come to the wrong apartment on a snowy December the 25th.
A/N: Merry Christmas (or boxing day, I guess) everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, or Hanukkah, or whatever you celebrate. I really hope you enjoyed this little oneshot. I'm honestly not quite sure where it came from. If you enjoyed it, shoot me a favourite and a review! If you're new to my stuff, I would love it so much if you would go and check out my current story: Childhood! Merry Christmas, PJO fandom!
-GGW