watching our movie in my mind

"That much caffeine can kill someone. I hope you're not the only one drinking it." "Don't worry, I'm actually here for my cousin." /Percabeth

Word Count (w/o AN): 2929

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the products, characters, or services mentioned in this story.

"Reading in a coffee shop we share

Hiding shy behind my hair

Watching our movie in my mind"

The Girl and the Dreamcatcher, "Someone You Like"

Annabeth Chase was never the Californian golden girl that she was supposed to be. She didn't go out on Friday nights with her friends. She never had a fake ID. She didn't even rebel against her barely-there father and mean-spirited stepmother. She just kept to herself and went on with her life.

But that didn't mean she liked living in San Francisco. Oh god no. In fact, she despised it. So, when she was 17, her mother- yeah, the one who had walked out on her twelve years ago, but who'd blame her- contacted her and asked her to move to New York and help out at her architecture firm, Annabeth readily agreed. Leaving that wretched family of hers behind would be amazing.

After moving in with her mother and finishing up her last year of high school- because let's face it, it wasn't as if she was leaving many friends behind in the first place- Annabeth applied, and was accepted, to Cornell University in Ithaca. She managed to wrangle a scholarship but it didn't completely cover her tuition and she didn't want to burden her mother, so like any other struggling college student, she got a job at Starbucks.

She figured it would be easy enough, as soon as she got over the intoxicating- and not in a good way- smell of the ever-pleasant mixture of nutmeg, pumpkin spice, caramel, and… dragonfruit? What she didn't realize was that this Mean Girls haven would reap more benefits than she would sow.

-Ω-

Annabeth heaves a sigh and pushes open the door of her car. Why she has a car in New York, she's still not sure, but hey, less people to deal with, right? Lugging her giant bag out of the passenger seat, she looks around to see a light frost coating, and by that she means completely covering, the trees and the sidewalks. She locks to door to her car and walks inside the desolate coffee shop to clock in for her shift.

In her opinion, there was no point in waking up so early on a Sunday morning. Business would be slow until at least 9:30. Waking up for an 8 AM shift just to sit and do her homework was completely unreasonable. But, the bills won't pay themselves. So, Annabeth puts on a fake smile- for who, she doesn't quite know- and strides through the door, transforming into her jumpy, fake-ass self that she saves only for early morning shifts.

The door chimes and Annabeth looks up to see Piper McLean, her coworker and friend, walk through the door. Piper gives her a half-hearted head nod and sets down her bag to wash her hands. The bell rings once again, signaling the arrival of Georgia Roberts, a 34-year-old regular who somehow manages to go for a run every morning and drops by for her coffee right afterwards.

"The usual, Ms. Roberts."

"Yes Piper. Thanks."

"Alright one Grande Caramel Frappuccino, no whip, extra caramel coming right up."

Annabeth busies herself making the drink. She doesn't understand why a runner and a health freak like Ms. Roberts drinks a diabetes smoothie every morning, but she's getting paid to pour, not judge. By this point, the early morning order has become a pattern. Annabeth dances around, readying the drink. She rings it up and hands it to her daily customer, who tips her and walks out.

Annabeth sits back down, pulling out her blueprints. Though she hasn't reached a point in her internship where she could actually begin designing, she's been working on this one for a while now. She's almost finished, and her plan is to show her mother and see if her plans could become a reality. This one blueprint is Annabeth's pride and joy. She guards it with her life, and god forbid anyone decides to touch it because they're signing their life away by just trying.

Just as she pulls out her pencil to start drawing, a crowd of teenage girls pile into the store. Annabeth groans and packs her stuff away. She knows what's coming next. The teenage audience was high enough at Starbucks as it was, the addition of the Pumpkin Spice Latte only makes it worse. A gaggle of girls come in every goddamn day, flipping their hair, squealing their orders out in a way that makes Annabeth miss the Valley Girls that she went to school with back in California.

She takes a deep breath and becomes a machine, grinding latte after latte. No whip, extra cinnamon, cut the cinnamon, extra whip. She makes the lattes and hands them to Piper who rings them up. The cycle continues for a solid twenty minutes before the girls leave. When the last one is out the door, both baristas slump and let out sighs of relief.

"Thank God that's over. Hey, why don't you go ahead and get some of your work done? I can manage for a while. I'll take my break after you today," Piper offers.

Annabeth quickly agrees and thanks her friend. She slips out from behind the counter and takes a seat at one of the tables. She puts her headphones in and turns up the music, drowning out all noises of the outside world. Music has always made it easier for her to focus. She used to use it to drown out her parents fighting when she was little, and it just stuck.

She starts to sketch out the finishing touches to her blueprints. Her mother runs a huge firm- the one Annabeth currently interns at- and she had told Annabeth that if she does well enough, then maybe there's a real job waiting after she graduates. So, Annabeth works her ass off, day in and day out. She looks like a freaking zombie half the time because she's up till the wee hours of the morning. Concealer exists for a reason. Yeah, it makes her look so damn pale, but looking like a vampire is better than like a zombie, right?

But her friends are still assholes, so they keep trying to distract her. They know she can't resist espresso caramel chip ice cream and High School Musical marathons- she's a child at heart, okay- but that can only get them so far. So, they decided to turn to the only other way to distract a straight girl. A hot steaming bowl of testosterone.

Annabeth's best friend, and currently worst enemy, Thalia Grace, chooses to point out every man she sees on the street. Annabeth generally ignores her, but Thalia's tenacity is just on another level. This is where Percy Jackson, Thalia's cousin- the swimmer and oceanography major at NYU, enters. Thalia seems to think he'd be the perfect match for Annabeth. He's supposedly relaxed, while Annabeth is an "uptight know-it-all" who just needs to "have more fun because you're such a boring little bitch, Beth". As one can probably tell, Annabeth didn't take too kindly to that last bit.

Now, it's not like Annabeth's oblivious to Thalia's plans. Actually, she's quite aware of it. She knows Thalia's trying to set her up with someone. It was her gay cousin Nico one week- neither party was none too pleased- it was Thalia's brother another week- Piper was beyond pissed- and so on. Yet, Thalia's conspiring was never successful. So no, Annabeth doesn't know exactly who this week's conquest is, but she's willing to bet that there is one.

Too deep into her work to be bother, Annabeth misses the familiar chime of the door as another customer walks in. If she had been paying attention, she would've realized that this particular customer had a familiar face. Shocker.

Piper recognizes Percy as he walks through the door, and conveniently decides to take her break at that moment. She walks over to Annabeth and taps her on the shoulder, letting her know that it's time to switch out. Annabeth nods and packs her blueprints away. She reties her apron and quickly runs her hands under the faucet before directing her attention to the customer in front of her.

Standing in front of her is an extremely hot guy. Like freaking Greek God hot. No joke. He's about 6'1" and is in incredible shape. His hair is everywhere, as if it's never seen a comb. But somehow, he makes it work. And his eyes, holy shit, his eyes. They're swirling pools of green. Annabeth has to stop herself from getting sucked in. Then it dawns on her. She hasn't seen Percy in a year or two, so it takes a minute, but the second she does, she internally curses Thalia and vows to get revenge.

"Hi, welcome to Starbucks. What can I get you today?" Annabeth asks, completely ignoring the jumpy feeling in her chest as he smiles at her.

"Hey. Um… I'll just take a hot chocolate, an Iced White Chocolate Mocha, a Cinnamon Dolce Latte, and… a red velvet cake pop."

Annabeth rings up the order and tries to break the silence. "Seems like a lot for one person, if you ask me."

Percy laughs uncomfortably and waits for his order. The store was empty, so Annabeth takes her time filling the order.

"But seriously though," Annabeth states as she hands him the drinks. "That much caffeine can kill someone. I hope you're not the only one drinking it."

Percy laughs again, this time with more ease, and responds, "Don't worry, I'm actually here for my cousin and her girlfriend. Only the cake pop is mine."

Annabeth chuckles and waves as Percy leaves. It's a slow day, so she pulls out her work and settles down for the remainder of her shift.

-Ω-

Annabeth opens again the next day. She monotonously goes through the normal of Ms. Roberts and squealing teenagers. Business picks up today, which keeps Annabeth on her feet the whole day.

Only one customer catches her eye though. Percy Jackson shows up again around 2 PM this time, and orders three drinks, claiming Thalia sent him. Annabeth dismisses it, thinking Thalia would get over it soon enough. She needs some entertainment, what with Reyna being out of town and all, so messing with Annabeth's love life, or lack thereof, is her best option. It'll probably last a few days, maybe a week, before she finds a new guy for Annabeth.

It's been a week since Percy first dropped by, and he's been coming back every day, perfectly timed during Annabeth's shift. He orders the same thing every day, and makes sure to mention that it's for his cousin. Thalia's a persistent little bitch, she'll give that to her. But she tries and makes the best of the situation. She and Percy generally chat while one of the other baristas is getting his order ready, so now she knows way more about him than before. He's an oceanography major and is at NYU on a swimming scholarship (which would explain that physique because hot damn. Annabeth tries to look at his eyes when speaking, but shit, it's hard).

She's warming up to him, though she won't admit it if you ask her. If she begins to like Percy, even as just a friend, it's a win for Thalia, so Annabeth suppresses every feeling. (Yeah okay so maybe she looks forward to him coming in everyday, but she doesn't like him so shut up).

At this point, Annabeth gives up on being cold to the kid. Poor guy visibly deflates every time she simply moves to the next customer. So, she talks. A lot of times, Percy walks in during a slow time for the store, so Annabeth has time to talk to him. She knows his whole life story at this point. His father died when he was little, he loves blue food, his mom is the best cook on the goddamn earth "like seriously Annabeth, no one even comes close."

One time, Sally even shows up, ordering something for herself before noticing the barista's nametag and lighting up.

"Annabeth? Thalia's friend? Hello dear, I'm Thalia's aunt. Percy's mother. He talks a lot about you."

"Does he really?"

Sally chuckles and stays for a while talking. The two of them hit it off and Annabeth wonders how she got herself into this situation in the first place.

Percy continues stopping by almost everyday that Annabeth is working. By this point, Annabeth has had enough. She knows what's happening, and decides to fix it. How, she doesn't know, but she'll figure it out. Unfortunately, sometimes Annabeth's mouth runs a little faster than her head.

"She's trying to set us up," she blurts one day while Percy's ordering coffee.

Percy looks up, utter confusion all over his face. "What?"

Annabeth shakes her head. "No, nothing. Sorry, I say random shit sometimes."

"Mhmm," Percy mutters, smirking.

"Oh, shut up," Annabeth retorts.

Percy holds his hands up in defense, "Hey, I never said anything. You, on the other hand, did."

"Wipe that smirk off your face or I'll do it for you."

"Oh, will you now. I could get behind that."

Annabeth blushes, "Okay, no. Stop it."

"Only if you tell me what you said earlier."

Annabeth sighs, "Alright, fine. Thalia, your asshole of a cousin, is trying to set us up."

There goes the smirk. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said. It used to be a new guy every week, but somehow, she's been stuck on you for a while."

"I'm still so confused."

"Jeez you're dense. She sends you in here to buy coffee every day. And it's conveniently during my shift. Think about it."

"Wait, so she's trying to set us up?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes, "If I haven't already made that clear, yes. You spend too much time with fish. I wouldn't be surprised if your brain was made of seaweed."

"And you're a stuck-up wise girl."

"Really? Is that the best you've got?"

And with that, they launch into a banter, nearly forgetting any mention of Thalia. As Annabeth hands Percy his order, she waves goodbye and sinks into a chair. She hates Thalia right now. So much. Why? Because she was right. This endearing, idiotic goofball of a swimmer is stuck in Annabeth's head like a broken record. And she hates it.

-Ω-

As another long day at Starbucks rolls by, Annabeth finds herself eagerly anticipating Percy's visit. She's given up on suppressing the feelings. She knows that her little crush isn't so little anymore, so she openly admits it to herself. She's falling for the idiot.

Each time the door chimes, she looks up, hoping it's Percy, and getting disappointed when it's not. The day is slow. A total of maybe ten people walk in during her shift, and none of them are Percy. Piper is busy finishing some work up in the corner, so Annabeth doesn't even have anyone to talk to. She used to love solitude, but now that she lives on her own and does pretty much everything else on her own, she yearns for human contact and connection.

Just as she's about to clock out and close the store for the day, the bell chimes and Annabeth looks up to find Percy Jackson stride through the door, his signature smirk missing.

"Almost thought you wouldn't show up," she says, stepping back behind the counter.

Percy nods uneasily and asks for his regular. Two coffees, one hot chocolate, and one cake pop. Annabeth tries to make conversation as normal, but gets only one-word answers or head nods from her regular customer.

Confused by Percy's lack of cheerfulness, she asks, "Hey, is everything okay?"

Percy nods absentmindedly and hands her his credit card to ring up his order. Annabeth takes this as a sign that he doesn't want to talk and quietly hands his card back, letting him know that the store is closing.

Just as Annabeth places his order on the counter and unties her apron to leave, Percy grabs her wrist, stopping her from moving. Annabeth's head jerks up, startled by the sudden contact. She pulls her hand away and moves out from around the counter.

Percy steps forward, closer to her. "So, Annabeth," he whispers, his voice deep, sending shivers up Annabeth's spine as he says her name. "What if I told you Thalia hasn't sent me here every single day for the past six months?" He looks her in the eye and pulls her closer, his lips moving to her ear.

Annabeth shudders while Piper sits in the corner, having the time of her life.

Percy steps even closer, "What if I told you I came here to see you?"

Annabeth can't take his teasing anymore. She closes the gap, pressing her lips to his, her hand going up to his crazy, unkempt hair. She closes her eyes and loses herself in him. Wherever she turns, all she can see is sea-green. Those gorgeous eyes that she's spent months staring into.

She breaks away first at the sound of Piper whistling. She turns to her friend and flips her off.

She takes his phone and enters her number in. When Percy just stands there, looking dazed, Annabeth reaches up and kisses him one more time.

"Is that all you've got Chase?" Percy asks, breaking apart.

Annabeth smirks, "Come with me and I'll show you." She tosses the keys to the store to Piper and pulls Percy out the door.

Annabeth used to hate her job. The endless squealing teenagers and snooty business men. But now, she thinks, maybe it isn't so bad.

This story used to be Of Coffee Shops and Conspiring Cousins. I wrote it back in 2015. Young and naive me was not a good writer. So me, being the idiot I am, rewrote this instead of writing a new chapter for Prejudiced Love. My apologies.

But seriously, I hope this is the much improved version we all needed. If you want to see more one shots, be sure to check out like graffiti, can't ignore it or search for your light. My multi-chapter Prejudiced Love is also a great way to spend your valuable time. So check those out!

As always, follow, favorite, review.

Thank you!

Love,

-AnnabethGinevraJacksonPotter