Spurned

I still sat on her bed, watching with a sense of detachment as her long lean figure raced out of her cabin.

I waited for the hurt to affect me, as I knew it would. But in the meantime, in that little place between pain and happiness, all I felt was relief.

It was finally over. The anxious looks that I would send her way, hoping against hope that she felt the same way that she felt about me; the feeling of almost losing control of my mouth whenever she lightly brushed against me, or gave me the most innocent of hugs, as I wanted to shout of the three magical words; the long nights that we would huddle in my cabin during the thunderstorms that she was so afraid of, letting me play the hero, her savior, (in my mind, because I knew that she could take care of herself) once again.

She had spurned me.

My mind tugged me back to our conversation just minutes ago.

"And then you doused her with toilet water! She looked so mad; I thought she was Ares himself for a second!"

We collapsed onto our backs, laughing our butts off.

But finally, we calmed down enough to wipe the tears that had collected in our eyes. I looked into her stormy gray eyes, and caught them. They were so beautiful; I felt that if I really wanted to, I could lose myself in them. They would be my drug.

Driven by passion, I reached out my hand, sliding it over the cool mattress until I laced my fingers between hers.

She gave no resistance, but looking back, I realized that it was confusion that affected her, not compliance.

I held her hand tenderly, caressing her fingertips with my own. And then I spoke, for once without a stutter as I poured out my feelings.

"Annabeth. You're, like, my best friend. And I mean in the whole wide world."

I paused for dramatic affect, thinking that I was doing extremely well.

"I want us to be more than …'just friends' though."

Her eyes widened as she digested my words. I took this as a good sign, and pulled myself up from the bed, wrapping an arm around Annabeth and pulling her up with me, so that we were both sitting on the bed.

"I love you, Annabeth. I always have. Ever since that first summer, when I was dragged across the borders, and I woke up seeing your 'princess curls'."

Her eyes actually sparkled, and I thought with happiness. So I took my chance.

I leaned in.

I closed my eyes.

I parted my lips.

And I kissed Annabeth Minerva Chase.

But it was too short. I felt my heart flutter in panic as Annabeth roughly tore her hands away from her hand and waist. It was almost as rough as her pulling out of my heart and stomping it on the ground.

She looked at me with her stunningly beautiful eyes, disbelief and anger coloring them with an even deeper gray.

She was silent, and I was silent. The only sounds in the room were her deep breaths as she strived to claim control.

My heart clenched onto itself tightly as I heard her words, spoken in a quiet voice, brimming with barely controlled anger.

"Perseus Jackson. You're right. We have spent a lot of time together. Too much to be anything more. I thought you understood."

Given any other circumstance, it would have called for an accusation of 'Seaweed Brain'. But this was not the right circumstance. It was the furthest you could get from the right circumstance.

She opened her mouth as if she was going to say more, but then she stopped, turned smartly on her heel and marched out her cabin door. Yes, that's right. Instead of telling me to leave, SHE marched out of HER OWN cabin to get away from me.

I opened up my eyes, I didn't even know that I had them closed, and surfaced from the memories.

My skin tingled like it always did around salt water, and I looked around the cabin looking for the source.

But then I stopped.

Cautiously, as if I was going to get bitten, I touched my hand to my face; my cheek.

I pulled it back wet.

Tears glistened on my cheeks, and that was the trigger.

The full weight of what just happened fell on top of me, making an even bigger weight than that of knowing that the whole world's survival depended on me. Although Kronos and the weight of the world was gone, this new weight was even more to bear.

And this time, I didn't have Annabeth to help me deal with it all.

I loosely remember getting up from her bed and leaving her cabin.

I fell more than once, feeling as if I was drunk off my ass on nectar.

Grover tried to contact me through the empathy link, but I ignored him. I needed to be alone.

*^*

Dinner was at six that night. Needless to say, I wasn't there. Instead I was at the beach, hoping some all knowing fish would leap out of the water and pour wisdom onto my head.

I sat on the sand, absentmindedly drawing in the sand.

I heard someone walking towards me. I hoped it was Annabeth that she had somehow found it in her heart to forgive me. Personally, I felt that I had done nothing wrong. But to completely lose Annabeth seemed like an even worse punishment than that of Prometheus, having his liver eaten out again and again.

But no such luck. Instead it was Nico.

He stood there, and I was glad he stood. He didn't want to stay long, having an in-depth conversation.

"You screwed up."

"Yup."

"It's not the end of the world."

I blinked. Somehow, I knew that it was. It was the end of my world. So I responded to Nico's comment with utter calm after spinning to face him.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW,NICO!? You're, what?, thirteen, and you look like death warmed over! You don't get it, do you? Without Annabeth, there is no world!"

I wanted to say a lot more, but I felt exhausted, like that one outburst had drained me of all my strength.

I turned back to the ocean. And Nico spoke in a light carefree tone.

"Don't get pissy. But do get therapy. Look at the sand."

He walked away, and only then did I look at the sand.

Written in large, capital letters was just one word. Over and over and over again.

AnnabethAnnabethAnnabethAnnabeth

I thought I had already been through this. But I was wrong. Completely wrong.

My scream made the waves respond. Ten foot waves crashed onto the shore, but a five foot circle of sand around me stayed completely dry.

I screamed again, hoping that it could somehow empty me of all my pain, my lonesomeness.

But I knew that it was all for naught. This was the end.

And in the end, I knew that I was alone, stripped of one very good friend-and nothing more than a friend, much to my distaste.

In the end, I knew that I was spurned.

A/N So I have been sitting on this for a while now. Its about some trouble I had with a girl, in fact, one of my best friends. But now, I'm sad to say, we she barely gives me a second glance. I'm sorry if it wasn't entertaining, but it's based on a true event, and I tried not to infuse too much fiction.

The confession, the aftermath, and finally my sorrow and regret. Yes, I know I sound dramatic, but she meant something to me, and now she's gone.