It was surprisingly easy to get Chiron to allow me to use the kitchen.
Of course, I had to do the dishes while I was in there, but something like that would take my mind off... things.
The hard part was actually baking. I could have probably made something decent myself, but Tyson had begged to help me, and for some reason I couldn't say no.
Tyson doesn't know how to bake. Let's just put it at that. So I sort of put him on dishwashing duty. I felt kind of bad about it, but he didn't seem to mind.
It was peaceful, in a way, hanging out with Tyson. He was pretty quiet. Until he started asking questions.
"Annabeth?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are we baking?"
"Because it's Percy's birthday."
"Oh. Right. Yay! Birthday!"
He didn't say anything for a while. I slid the cupcake tin into the oven and turned the dial to the right temperature, then started mixing the frosting. Blue, of course.
"Annabeth?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you like Percy?"
That caught me a little off guard. I realized that Tyson probably meant platonically, so I said:
"Of course! He's my best friend!" Which is true. Even though sometimes I wish it was a little different.
"Oh. Annabeth?"
I sighed to myself.
"What?"
"Do you think Percy is pretty?" I laughed at that.
"Well, Tyson, I don't know about pretty, but I would he was handsome."
I paused.
"Don't tell him I said that, though." Knowing the Seaweed Brain, it would probably go right to his head.
"Okay. Percy said that too." Huh?
"What do you mean?"
"Percy said not to tell you."
"Tell me what?" I hoped Tyson was as gullible as I thought.
"That he thinks you are pretty." I dropped my mixing spoon. Percy thinks I'm pretty?
"He likes to talk about you when he is sleeping." Tyson said nonchalantly. Like it was normal. Which it most certainly is not.
"Tyson..." I trailed off. I didn't really know what to say. He started humming and I dropped the subject. I got some blue food coloring out of the cabinet.
"Annabeth?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you love him?" I accidentally squeezed the dropper a little too hard.
"Love who Tyson?" I asked, already knowing (and dreading) the answer.
"Percy. Do you love Percy?" I was silent. Part of me wanted to tell him the truth. I don't know why, but it was so easy to talk to him. But he had just blabbed about Percy, so I wasn't so sure.
I decided it probably wouldn't hurt to tell him (Well, it actually probably would, but I just felt the need to tell someone, and I don't really have any friends besides Percy and Grover, so...
"Y-" Just then I deafeningly loud beeping noise filled the kitchen, accompanied by clouds of smoke. Oops. The oven.
I pulled out the burning hot tray and inspected the damage. They were pretty much completely burnt, so I just let Tyson pick the one he though that Percy would like. We stuck it in the freezer for about five minutes, then slathered on some extremely blue (my fault) icing. Tyson rummaged around the drawers and found a candle, which he jammed into the center of the cupcake. He begged to light it, but I didn't want the kitchen to go up in flames, so I did myself. Tyson wandered off, and I prayed that he wouldn't run into Percy before I did, just in case.
I thought about what Tyson had said. Percy said I was pretty... and has apparently talked about me in his sleep... could it possibly mean that... that...
I made a split decision and grabbed another cupcake, (the one that was the least burnt) put on my Yankees cap, and headed towards the dining hall.
He was there. I wasn't expecting that. I could see the outline of his profile, and it reminded me that I wasn't lying when I said he was handsome. I had grown fond of his obnoxiously messy hair, but I had always been fascinated by his eyes. They were the first things that I noticed about him when I met him. If it wasn't his personality that made me fall for him (yeah, I'm admitting it), it was his eyes.
Thinking about him made me self conscious. I ran my fingers though my impossibly tangled hair and checked for frosting on my face. Then I quietly tiptoed to the fire pit, hoping that Percy wouldn't notice the cupcake, which looked like it was just floating along on the breeze. When I reached the pit, I made a silent offering to a god that I never thought I would make an offering to.
When I was done, I pulled off my cap, took a deep breath, and walked over to Percy, hoping that Aphrodite liked burnt cupcakes.