Stay
Summary: "Their fingers lingered on each others' for a moment longer than necessary, to a point where when he broke off, and it became absolutely unbearable to her. Her eyes stung as she swallowed down the lump stuck in the back of her throat. He shuffled in his spot before looking up at her and rasping out a weak farewell, her gray eyes following his every move. She wanted to cry out. She wanted him to come back for her. She wanted him to stay."
Stay
She shivered as the wind brushed her back, sending chills up her spine. She hugged herself, trying to contain as much warmth as she could.
"Annabeth!" a familiar voice behind her called out, and she was once again reminded of why she was standing outside.
She turned around quickly and grinned widely as her teeth chattered. "Hey, Percy!"
Percy's eyebrows scrunched together, and a very concerned gaze followed. "Are you cold, Annabeth?"
She smiled and shrugged nonchalantly, trying to play it off as cool as possible. "Nah, I'm perfectly alright," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
Percy's laugh rang out to her, and sweet sound that Annabeth could never get tired of hearing. She smiled at him once again, and biting her lip, she let him slip his jacket onto her. She closed her eyes as she hugged herself with the jacket on, inhaling Percy's trademark scent: cool ocean breeze and warm, sunny beaches.
She opened her eyes to see Percy peering down at her, a mischievous smile playing on his lips and a twinkle in his sea green eyes. She bit her lip so she could keep from laughing as she mumbled, "Percy?"
His grin grew wider, as he leaned in close, next to her ear. She could feel his minty fresh breath against the side of her face as he whispered, "Come with me."
He grabbed her hand and she was pulled along as Percy ran swiftly. Annabeth was already tripping after the first few steps, but could feel her legs pumping perfectly fine after she caught up with Percy's pace.
"Where are we going?" Annabeth had to yell against the wind.
There was no response from Percy, and Annabeth had to sigh.
After what felt like a century to Annabeth, the two of them stopped in front of a Percy's apartment.
"What's so special – " Annabeth was cut off by Percy, who was clamping down her mouth with his mouth. She was tempted to lick it, just so she could get it off of her mouth, but he let go, and took the signal to stay silent.
He smirked at her. "Just wait," he said ominously, and she had to laugh at him.
The two walked inside, and Annabeth noticed that nobody was home.
"Where is everybody?" Annabeth asked him, and got no response. She tried a different statement altogether next. "You could have just called me over, and I would have come straight here, instead of having me meet you at the beach and running over here," she explained blatantly. California beaches are nice and all, but if Annabeth had known she was going to be running all the way to Percy's apartment from there, she would have just showed up there itself.
Percy shook his head at her, and started to search for something.
Then, he held up a finger at her, signaling for her to stay in her spot, which she did reluctantly.
She heard some clatter as he went near the kitchen area, but she couldn't see anything, as she was blocked off by a wall. Getting tired of standing completely still, she sighed, crossed her arms over her chest, and cocked her hip to the side, balancing her weight on one leg. She playfully tapped her foot, mocking the impression of getting impatient, loud enough for Percy to hear in the kitchen.
"I'm coming!" he yelled.
She covered her mouth with her own hand so he couldn't hear her laugh – it was always more fun like that.
She heard one last final clatter, and out came Percy, holding a tray of blue brownies. "Happy friendiversary!" he yelled childishly, shoving the tray in Annabeth's face.
She cracked up, but something inside of her told her that something bad was about to happen. She smiled, but the inside of her was screaming "WHAT'S GOING ON?"
"Thanks!" she said merrily, maintaining an unsuspecting smile. She looked at Percy expectantly as he handed a brownie to Annabeth. She put it up to her mouth and slowly tasted it. She tasted the chocolate on her lips, and before she could take the first bite, she could already tell that it was burnt.
Her shoulders sagged, and she looked disapprovingly at Percy. "Percy, these are burnt!"
He smiled, something Annabeth loved to see, before setting the tray down on the counter top.
She laughed at him, but his smile faded as he said, "Annabeth, there's something I need to tell you."
Annabeth's composure was about to crack, and she was going to lose it. Instead, she calmly inhaled deeply, before her wavering voice said, "Sure, what's up?"
Percy motioned for her to come inside and sit down on the couch, so she did. She hid her shaking hands in her pockets as she heard him mutter, "Um, well, I got a scholarship for a college in Manhattan. And, uh, I think I'm going to go," he whispered.
Annabeth blinked up at him. After a moment or two, she said, "What?"
He shrugged, looking down and fiddling his fingers. "I just think that it's something that suits me."
Annabeth's shoulders sagged, and she whispered, "Oh," drawing lines with her fingers on her thigh. "Good for you," she offered weakly, but she was definitely about to crumble.
He shrugged again. He ran to the kitchen all of a sudden, startling Annabeth. She looked behind her, where Percy had ran off, but he came back a minute later carrying the brownie tray, and she just had to laugh.
"Is this why you made the brownies though?" Annabeth asked with a giant smile on her face. He always knew how to let things down easy.
He let out a low chuckle before saying, "Nah, it's because today really is our friendiversary."
Annabeth wanted to melt. "They're burnt," she pointed out again.
He grinned widely before shoving the tray in her lap. "But that's my plan, after senior year is over," he mumbled, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
"No colleges in California for you?" she said lightly, trying to joke it off.
He smiled at her. "Nah, I don't think so." Annabeth nodded acceptingly, looking down at the rug beneath her feet.
She opened her mouth to say something, but it quickly shut back up. She didn't what to say. She didn't know how to say what she even wanted to say.
"Um, I just wanted to say," Annabeth started, and then glanced at the hopeful look on Percy's face, "that I wish you good luck." She heard Percy sigh with relief. "There's also something else I wanna mention – "
Percy hugged her tightly all of a sudden, and completely cut her off. "Thanks Annabeth!" he said excitedly.
Annabeth nodded into his chest as her heart broke. The back of her throat burned as she said, "Congratulations."
She felt like crawling up into the fetal position and crying endlessly for days. She felt like the worst person in the world. She felt like she needed to tell Percy how she felt about him…
But she couldn't. She couldn't do that to him. She couldn't let him leave with that last thought of her.
She sniffled slightly, and pulled away from him. "So when are you leaving?" she asked, after clearing her throat.
"The day after this school year is over," he replied bluntly. "So, in a week."
Annabeth nodded, and then pretended to check the watch on her wrist. She couldn't bear to stay with him any longer, or she would break. She would crumble. "Well," she whispered, keeping her eyes on the watch, "I need to go."
Percy thrusted the brownie tray at her. "Take some brownies before you go."
Annabeth bit her lip to keep from laughing, because that would just ultimately lead to crying. Instead, she shook her head. "Happy friendiversary, by the way," she added, as she made her way to the door.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him nod, and lead her to the door. "Bye Annabeth," he said quietly, holding the door open for her.
Annabeth mumbled a quiet, "Bye," but it felt like she was saying goodbye to him as if she were never to see him again.
The last day of high school for Annabeth was quite an emotional one. She hadn't seen her best friend, Percy, anywhere, and he was leaving the next day, early morning.
She just didn't know what to do.
She tried searching for him in the hallways, while she walked to her classes. When the final bell rang, she was ready to burst out into tears.
Sighing, she walked home, as she lived only five minutes away from her high school. When she got to her front porch, she saw Percy standing there, holding a crisply folded sheet of paper.
She stood there, for a moment or two, and then decided to walk up those small stairs and greet Percy.
He smiled widely and held his arms out wide, and Annabeth hugged him tightly, afraid that he'd leave. Once they let go of each other, Percy handed her the sheet of paper. "Don't read it now though," he said, smiling. "Read it after I'm gone."
Annabeth nodded. "So what're you doing here?" she asked in all her bewilderment.
"Well," Percy said, shuffling in his spot and shoving his hands in his pockets, "I just wanted to say that it turns out that I have to leave early. We moved the flight to 8 tonight." He sighed and scratched the back of his head.
Annabeth was just about done. "And you didn't tell me?!" she yelled, slapping him lightly with the sheet of paper, tryign to break the tension.
He let out a carefree laugh, his shoulders shaking. "I'm really going to miss you, Annabeth," he said, moving in for another hug.
She held him tightly, but really, she just wanted to say, Is that really all you have to say?
"I'll come with you to the airprot," Annabeth declared, pulling herself away from him. She cleared her throat to get rid of the huge lump sitting there, and turned to unlock her front door. "Do you want to come in?"
He shook his head, and Annabeth's heart dropped. She nodded, showing indifference more than anything, and said, "Will you pick me up as you're going to the airport?"
He nodded. "I just have to pack, and if I come in," Percy trailed off, "I'll get carried away, and it'll definitely be harder for me to leave." He let out a light laugh, and turned to walk away. "I'll see you later?"
Annabeth smiled at him. "Of course."
As he ran off, Percy yelled, "Don't read the letter until I'm on that plane to New York!"
She let out a laugh, and put the note up to her, close to her heart.
She walked into her home and set her things down in a corner. She was tempted to rip that note open, but this time, she was actually going to listen to Percy, and read it after he was on the plane.
Thinking about him leaving her just made her crumble though, and as soon as she got upstairs to her bedroom, she collapsed on her bed, and her eyes started to water. Composing herself, she went to wash her face, but she knew she was definitely going to break tonight.
"Thanks so much for coming," Percy said as soon as Annabeth made her way to the backseat of Mrs. Sally Jackson's car.
"Yeah," added Percy's mother, "it means a lot to him, Annabeth, that you're coming along."
Annabeth plastered a smile on her face, and willed her voice not to break out when she spoke. "Of course!" she offered. "We've been best friends since, what? Like, ten years ago or something?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Percy smile.
The car ride was so long, Annabeth didn't know how she survived it, but anythign to spend as much time with Percy as she possibly could.
She helped unload all of Percy's bags from the truck, and walked him into the airport.
She stood awkwardly to the side as Percy and Sally talked together.
When she saw Sally beckon her towards them, she walked up towards him and stood there for a moment or two, deciding what to say. The both of them opened their mouths at the same time, but snapped shut.
"You first," Percy offered.
Annabeth shook her head. She looked at Sally.
"I'll just give you two some time alone," Sally offered, standing off to the side where she couldn't hear them. Annabeth smiled gratefully at her, and turned herself to Percy.
Annabeth looked down at the Converse she was wearing. Instead of saying something, she hugged him on a rash decision, and on the inside, she was scolding herself.
She felt Percy hug back, and as they let go of each other, she felt his hands lasp hers.
Her heartbeat raced, a dark red blush tainted her pale face, and she was sure her palms were sweating. She metally cursed at her sweaty palms as she smiled at him.
"I'm going to miss you so much," Percy whispered to her, holdign on to her hands.
Annabeth bit her lip to hold back the tears that were going to come. She nodded fiercly, "You don't know the start of it," she whispered back, her voice giving out on her.
Behind her, Sally tapped on the watch on her wrist, and Annabeth wanted to collapse into a ball and just cry. Her heart felt heavy and her eyes burned.
Their fingers lingered on each others' for a moment longer than necessary, to a point where when he broke off, and it became absolutely unbearable to her. Her eyes stung as she swallowed down the lump stuck in the back of her throat. He shuffled in his spot before looking up at her and rasping out a weak farewell, her gray eyes following his every move. She watched him give his mom a hug before rolling his luggage (and himself) out of her life. She wanted to cry out. She wanted him to come back for her. She wanted him to stay.
It was around ten at night when Sally dropped Annabeth off at her house. She thanked Sally and sprinted inside, wanting to read what Percy had written to her.
She ran to her room, changed into some comfortable clothes, and jumped into bed, clutching onto the letter.
She unfolded the piece of crisply folded paper, and started to read.
Annabeth,
You know who this is.
Sorry if this is awkward. That's kind of my specialty, but you already know that anyways.
Annabeth, I have known you for almost ten years, and ever since then, you became my best friend.
Annabeth, I love you so much. I'm so sorry to leave you like this.
I'm so sorry.
I'll call as soon as I land. I'll Skype as soon as I can.
I'm sorry.
"I love you. I love you. I send this message through my fingers and into [her], up [her] arm and into [her] heart. Hear me. I love you. And I'm sorry to leave you."
― Jenny Downham, Before I Die
Love, Percy
Annabeth's lips were trembling, and the tears finally let out. She fell backwards on her bed, the tears flowing down her pale face freely. She covered her face with her hands and started sniffling immensely.
Once the waterworks died down, she sniffled, grabbed her pencil off of her desk, and wrote underneath Percy's quote:
"Leave something for someone but don't leave someone for something."
― Enid Blyton, Five on a Hike Together
The next few days Annabeth spent cuddled up in a comfortable ball on the couch, watching comedy movies. Almost like the cliché post break-up scenario.
Almost.
Except it wasn't. Annabeth felt broken inside, for loving him for so long and yet not a sliver of that feeling came back to her., but it wasn't technically a break up. And she wasn't watching sappy romance movies.
She didn't regret not telling him. She didn't want to burden him with something that might hold him back. She didn't think it was all that important anyways, to be publicized about.
Sighing, she wrapped the soft brown blanket around and got up from the couch and headed for the kitchen to grab another bowl of ice cream. Her parents were out of the house, so she picked up the phone to call them to buy more ice cream.
As soon as she finished talking to her parents and convincing them to buy more ice cream, the doorbell rang.
At first, she got the strangest thought that it might've been Percy, coming back for her, but when she opened the door and saw it wasn't him, she still wasn't disappointed.
Her best girlfriends, Piper, Thalia, and Hazel all stepped into Annabeth's abode, without being invited in.
Rolling her eyes and sniffling, Annabeth turned around to walk back to the kitchen, letting the three girls close the door themselves.
"Look at this girl," Annabeth heard Thalia say to Piper. "Something's definitely wrong with her."
Hazel butted in. "That's kinda why we're here, Thalia. Newsflash, Annabeth," Hazel said, catching Annabeth's attention now, "we're here to cheer you up."
Piper slapped Hazel's arm and shushed her. "Way to go, Hazel," Piper said sarcastically. The three girls laughed, and Annabeth couldn't help but join in. Piper pulled out three Disney classics: Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, and Sleeping Beauty. Annabeth had all of the rest anyways, which is what she had ended up watching with them later in the day.
A couple of hours later, Annabeth had taken her mind off of it, but her heart was still numb. Annabeth yawned and stretched, and just when she was about to kick the girls out, her phone started buzzing.
She leapt across the couch, over her friends, just to reach her phone. Her friends started giggling as Annabeth's heart leapt. She picked up the phone and recognized the husky voice on the other end.
"Annabeth?" she heard Percy say.
Annabeth grinned, still laying down on Thalia, Piper, and Hazel's laps. "Yeah! Hey, Percy!" she said excitedly. "You never called after you landed," she said to him, trying to sound angry.
The rest of the night, the girls and Annabeth stayed up late, talking to Percy.
Annabeth's spirits were lifted up all over again, much to her dismay.
It was a whole year after Percy had left, and most of the time, he and Annabeth kept in touch.
Annabeth had decided to go to Berkeley, since it was only around fifteen minutes away from where she lived. She moved out of her parents' house and into an apartment, to try living on her own for a while.
She was studying architecture, which was exactly what her dream was.
Annabeth didn't know how exactly she was doing it. She kept in touch with Percy, but she still had a longing for him. She still loved him with all of her heart, because frankly, she never quite got it back. When they were younger, and she fell for him, she gave him her whole heart, and he'd left town with it.
It broke her heart how he still hadn't realized how she felt about him, but then again, she hadn't quite made the move to tell him.
She just didn't know what to do.
Percy sighed. He shifted around in his cramped seat, ready to slap the girl sitting next to him, who just wouldn't stop talking.
"So why are you going to California?" she asked in her shrill voice.
Percy shrugged. He honestly didn't know. "See my mom," he mumbled, putting a cracker in his mouth.
Annabeth.
That's why he was going back.
"That's so cool! Do you know how long this flight is?"
Percy shook his head and slouched back in his chair.
He hadn't realized up until he left her.
He hadn't known how much he would miss her.
He hadn't known how much he cared for her.
He couldn't live without her.
Sighing, he closed his eyes. He couldn't concentrate on his thoughts properly with the girl next to him.
"Are you alright?" The girl asked, poking his arm. "Ooh, don't you have nice muscles." She grasped his arm tightly, making Percy squirm in his already crammed seat.
"Get off of me," he grumbled.
The girl huffed. "Why, you gotta girlfriend or something?"
Percy looked at the girl for a moment. Taking in a deep breath, he said, "Yeah," unsure of the answer itself. With a tone of finality, he repeated himself. "Yeah, I do."
Crossing her arms over her chest, the girl said, "What's her name? You gotta a picture?"
Percy smiled, and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through his photos until he found the most recent one. He smiled even wider as he showed it to the girl. "Her name is Annabeth."
In the picture, Annabeth was smiling widely, her gray eyes sparkling and her dirty blonde hair curled.
She looked absolutely beautiful.
The girl slouched back in her seat. Turning her head away from Percy, she said, "She's actually pretty."
Percy looked down at the picture. "She's beautiful."
Annabeth put the warm mug up to her lips and took a long sip of coffee. She sat in front of her laptop at an old Starbucks in her area, working on the next big project as an architect, for the infamous Titan Industries. She was quite content with her life at age 20, and even though she'd stayed in California after graduation, she found herself quite happy.
Sighing, she finished her cup of coffee, packed up her things, and headed outside of the shop.
As she fit her laptop into her laptop bag, she pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. She unfolded it, sighed, and slouched back in her chair, rereading the note over and over again.
Over the past few years, Annabeth convinced herself to move on. Percy was her first love, and she hasn't been able to let that go.
Of course, she didn't feel as miserable as she did when he had first left. She still felt bad, though, and then she felt worse because she couldn't seem to move on.
Rolling her eyes, she shoved the note back in the bag, and swiftly made her way to the door. Just as she was about it open it, she bent down to if she had everything in her bag, and she hasn't realized that someone was coming to open the door.
She looked up, startled. "Sorry," she mumbled, and pushed her way through.
"Annabeth?" said a familiar voice that she just couldn't forget.
Percy landed there in a calm state of mind, as the girl fell asleep and finally let Percy appreciate the silence.
He grabbed his rolling carry-on luggage and grabbed a taxi as soon as he got out of the airport.
The ride back to his mom's place was less than 45 minutes, and Percy was able to call her to warn her that he was on his way.
After stopping at his mom's place, he went out for a nice long walk.
The Starbucks by his mom's place was still open, and it only took him 5 minutes to walk there.
When he got there, he stood in front of the door, only to be pushed by it. A girl apologized to him, and before she could leave, Percy blurted, "Annabeth?"
The girl turned around, and her eyes widened. "Percy?" she asked cautiously. Percy nodded, and hugged her tightly, happy to see her again.
"You don't even understand how much I missed you."
Annabeth couldn't contain her happiness. She felt pathetic for feeling for him so much, but she couldn't help herself.
Seeing his sea-green eyes and his ebony black hair, and hearing his husky voice again made her remember why she loved him.
And it wasn't hard to say that she still loved him.
She felt that if she hadn't seen him, the feeling wouldn't have completely died out, but it would've been temporarily gone.
Sighing, she walked inside the coffee shop for the second time that day, but this time, much happier and with a Percy by her side.
"How have you been?" Annabeth asked, looking up at him. He'd grown taller in the last two years, and Annabeth had to bend her neck back just to see his face.
He smiled down at her. "I've been good. I've missed you, Annabeth," he said sincerely.
You don't know the start of it, Annabeth wanted to say. Instead, she settled on a polite, "I missed you too."
He nodded, and ordered his coffee. "Would you like anything?" he asked Annabeth, turning around. She shook her head and waited for him to pick up his coffee, and found a table the two could sit at.
"Annabeth," Percy started, after getting comfortable, "I'm sorry."
She was taken aback. "Why?"
"I'm sorry I left."
Annabeth shrugged, but looked away from him. She couldn't stand to meet his gaze.
She couldn't tell him how she felt about him, otherwise that would make him feel even guiltier.
"No big deal," she said, sucking in a deep breath and looking back at him.
Percy leaned forward, setting his elbows on the table. "Really," he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. He scratched the back of his head and said, "I shouldn't have left you. I didn't realize how much I'd miss you. I didn't realize how much I cared for you."
Annabeth's heart leapt. "What?" she said, her voice catching.
"Um," Percy said, fumbling with his words, "I, uh, I mean, the past two years, I realized that, uh, I can't really live without you."
Annabeth was wondering if it was all a dream. Her eyebrows scrunched, she crossed her arms over her chest, and she leaned back in her chair, crossing her right leg over her left.
"Annabeth?" Percy asked.
She didn't respond. She didn't know how to. What she'd always wanted from him was about to happen, and she was sitting there, idly.
"I'm sorry," she heard Percy whisper.
Now it was her turn to go. She leaned forward on the table, just like Percy had, their noses only inches away.
"Perseus Jackson," she said calmly, "I love you. I have loved you since the 9th grade, and I was absolutely heartbroken when you left. I think you're absolutely stupid and a seaweed brain."
She could tell Percy was taken aback. His green eyes widened, and she could tell his jaw was about to drop open.
Then he did the unexpected.
His hands went up to cup her face. "Funny," he whispered, "because I love you too." He pulled her head closer to him, closing the distance between them. Annabeth's eyes flew open at the unexpected kiss, but she sunk into it, pulling her hands up and burying them in his soft locks.
They pulled apart, and smiled at one another.
Annabeth's gray eyes widened, and she abruptly let go of him. She bent over next to her and dug around in her bag, until she found what she was looking for.
Percy's eyebrows scrunched as she handed him a crinkly, folded piece of paper. He opened it up, scanned it, and Annabeth could tell that he was appalled. "You kept it?" he asked, his eyes stopping at the quote that Annabeth had written under his words. Annabeth simply nodded.
"I can't believe I left," Percy said breathlessly.
Annabeth smirked. "That's why you should have just stayed."
Um, hello! I'm Bubbles, or .AWESOMENESS. Yeah, I know, lame name and stuff. In my defense, I think unicorns and bubbles are pretty awesome. I mean, I think I'm pretty awesome. Haha, just kidding.
Anyways, this is my first story for the PJatO fandom, and I really hope those of you that read it liked it. I really do hope to continue writing for this fandom :)
But, uh, on a side note, the characters are a little OOC, so I apologize for that. I'm still trying...broaden my writing skills, as I've mostly been writing for the Maximum Ride fandom.
Please review or let me know what you think!
Thank you so much!
~Bubbles