A/N: Hi guys! So here's another one shot, hope you like it! Also, I don't know how to publish new edits on (I'm still new, feel free to check out my stories on Wattpad!) so if you guys could tell me how to update line breaks and publish changes, that would be great! Anyway, onward ho!
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DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, or anything else you might recognize.
Annabeth walks out of the building with a skip in her step. She even stops by to make conversation with Rob, the guard at the entrance of the building, who she'd smiled at everyday for the last three years without ever bothering to actually speak with him. It had been a particularly rough week, and she was ecstatic about the weekend. She's ready to go out to drinks with some of her friends tonight, and spend the next two days curled up in her sheets, reading books or watching The Walking Dead or doing anything that didn't involve her scrutinizing blueprints.
She slips into her car, smoothening her pencil skirt and checking her lipstick in the rearview before she starting the engine. She feels all the stress in her muscles slowly leave her body on the way home. She doesn't once get mad at the jerks who cut her off, or the idiots who didn't turn on their warning lights. She even takes the time to help old Mrs. Barnes hobble into a cab before finally getting back into her apartment.
She puts away her coat and her bag, and changes into a large hoodie that belonged to her brother before he'd left it behind when he visited. Now, of course, it was hers. She decides to make herself some hot chocolate, because she deserves it, and finally settles on her couch with a steaming cup before she checks her phone. She's got a volley of texts from Silena, all of which was just a really messy way of saying, 'I'll pick you up at seven thirty'. Annabeth responds with a poop emoji, which is her way of acknowledging texts from her friends.
Silena sends her one of the new, rude emojis as a response, and Annabeth shrugs to herself before tossing her phone.
oOo
Percy grins at Thalia as another group of people walk into their bar. He isn't ashamed to say that he absolutely loves Friday evenings. Sure, it keeps him busy and on his toes, but he loves the atmosphere at the end of the week, when everyone seems to just want to hang out with their friends. Friday evenings have a very positive vibe to it, and Percy's in love.
The new group isn't as large as some he's seen- There's about five of them in total, and they seem to be around his age. They slide into a booth just a little further from him, so while three of them are obscured from his vision, he can see two of the girls pretty clearly.
Both of them are pretty, that's for sure- In fact, Percy thinks the brunette's probably one of the prettiest girls to ever step into the bar. Her friend, the blonde, very nearly takes his breath away. He literally struggles to breathe, because he doesn't think there's anyone who's allowed to look that perfect. She's got her hair tied up at the back of her head, and she's wearing this tight red dress that matches her lips, and she looks downright sinful.
He hears Thalia snort behind him, and feels her slap him across the head. He look up at her, mirroring her smirk, but she only rolls her eyes.
"Stop ogling, Jackson. You're on duty." He rubs the back of his neck, smile still on his lips. Thalia seems to take pity on him, because she drops it. "I'll take them for now, get your hormones together." She nods to his pants, and for a minute, Percy panics because he's had a lot of pretty girls here and all over him, but he's never had an issue during work, but he catches Thalia's laugh. He shoves her lightly.
"Not funny." He tells her, just as a woman at the counter calls for their attention. As if rehearsed, Thalia slips out of the bar to approach the pretty girl and her friends, and Percy tends to the woman. Because everyone seems to be content with their drinks for a while he leans against the bar, striking up a conversation with the lady. She seems a good few years older than him, has a silver band around her ring, and her eyes look lonely.
"Long week?" He asks, offering her a smile that she returns, even if it's small. She nods, rubbing her face tiredly.
"Like you won't imagine." She doesn't offer more, and Percy wonders if he's even welcome to speak with her. He's about to slip away when she asks for a shot of vodka. He raises his brows but doesn't question it.
"Drinking to forget?" His tone is light, and she snaps her face up at him suddenly. She relaxes almost just as fast, but she's definitely startled Percy. She sighs out an apology and nods.
"Can't believe he stood me up, is all." She says by means of explanation. "My fiancé. I feel like I deserve an explanation, if nothing else." She gestures to the rest of the bar. "Not just unexplained absence." Percy nods in silence, because he doesn't know what to tell her.
Luckily for him, Thalia's yelling for him, so he excuses himself and makes his way to her.
"Brunette's Silena and the blonde's Annabeth. Who were you interested in?" Her tone makes it sound like they're trading private information, and Percy feels his blush run up to the roots of his hair.
"You didn't have to-"
"Which one was it?" Thalia cocks an eyebrow, and Percy sighs.
"The blonde." For some reason, Thalia seems relieved by his answer.
"Great. From all the eavesdropping I did, I think the other one's dating one of the guys, and I mean, sure, I was prepared to cause some problems for you to swoop in and save the day, but really, I like to stay out of the drama." Percy snorts, because that's a blatant lie- Thalia thrives on drama, even if it's just a drunken bar fight- Nothing gets her adrenaline pumping like some good old fashioned name calling and screeching.
"Whatever you say. I'm not going up there." He's telling her, but she's already shoving drinks into his hand and pushing him towards the table. He stumbles up to them, setting the drinks down and completely avoiding the girls' eyes.
"Here's your drinks! I'm Percy," He smiles awkwardly. "If you ever need something, just- holla at me." He ends, internally cringing at himself. He wishes he wouldn't get so hassled by seriously beautiful girls. He hears the girls giggle softly. He looks up to see three men- they look like they could be roughly his age- nod at him, and he's hit by how very attractive one of them is. It's probably he scar running down the side of his face, Percy thinks, because it makes him look like the guy who'd be a great friend, but an absolute terror if you got on his wrong side. He's just about to turn around and leave, when a voice stops him.
"I'm Luke." The attractive man says with a smile, holding out his hand. Percy blinks, because he's not very sure he's ever had anyone introduce themselves to him. The man seems to read his mind, and shrugs. "Sorry, I feel like if I don't introduce myself, I'm leaving the conversation midway. Seems rude." He sends the pretty blonde a smirk, and Percy takes his hand, gaze flitting to the woman who's blushing so hard her skin almost matches her dress. Percy decides to pretend he didn't notice, goes on to shake the others' hands as they introduced themselves- Travis, Charlie, Silena, and-
"Pleasure to meet you." He touched her hand, and it's soft and beautiful and she's smiling at him and Percy thinks he's dying. He isn't sure if he heard her say her name, or if she just smoothly left it out, but he's glad, because he swears his hormones would've been driven insane if he'd heard her say a word as beautiful as Annabeth out loud.
He straightens up. "Great meeting you guys. I'll be about- Mostly in the bar, but, well, you get it." He walks away, rubbing the back of his neck.
oOo
If there's one thing she's sure of, it's that Annabeth hates Luke Castellan.
"Why would you do that?" She swats him across the chest, even if he's laughing at her.
"You're still blushing." Travis joins in, and she decides that she needs new friends.
"He was cute." Silena adds, trying- and failing- to hide her smile. "And he's definitely into you." Annabeth feels her face heat up, and Travis' laugh gets louder and more obnoxious.
"What? No-!" Annabeth tries, but Beckendorf cuts her off, and that's saying something, because he never teases her.
"Annabeth, he looked at you like you were half god." He says softly, smile playing at his lips, and if Annabeth had any more friends, she'd have left, but she doesn't, not really, so she grits her teeth and ignores them.
"Aw, is our little baby girl upset?" Luke pouts at her, and she scowls at him. "So, how was work?" She's thankful for the change in subject, and jumps on.
"Like you won't imagine. Robertson's been on my backside-"
"He wishes." Travis says between coughs, sending another fit of laughter through the group, and Annabeth remains unamused, choosing to ignore them and carrying on with her story.
They settle into an easy enough routine, and she doesn't think of the unfairly attractive bartender for the remainder of the night. At least not until she's well into her fourth drink- And everyone knows she can only handle three (She's a lightweight, but she doesn't mind).
Everyone's in a heated argument about presidential candidates, and she slides out of the booth, tripping over herself as she heads to the washroom. She knows she's falling, and braces herself for the impact, and she waits for a long while until she finds herself leaning into the bartender, and oh, god, Annabeth really needs to pee, or something to calm her raging ovaries.
"Careful there." He breathes, and he smells like alcohol and what a very tipsy Annabeth brands as butter, and she decides she likes it. She smiles at him, trying to get onto her feet, swatting off his hand when he tries to help. He doesn't let go, though, and it occurs to her later that, if he did, she'd have landed on her rear end.
"Thanks." She mumbles, headed to the washroom, until he pulls her back by the shoulder, a smile playing on his lips. She glares at him, and is about to snap, but he points to the right.
"The ladies' is that way." She rolls her eyes, because she knew that, and stumbles out.
When she's out, she notices her friends still talking about politics- Something that had never actually held her interest, so she settles comfortably on a bar stool. She thinks maybe the crowd's gotten thinner since they arrived, but she can't be too sure- Her memory's a little hazy.
"Pour you a drink?" He slides back into her vision, and she's nodding, although she knows she shouldn't.
"Something light. Like an appletini. Not much alcohol." She's hearing herself from miles and miles away, which is strange because how can she hear herself from so far away? That's definitely not natural. She then hears herself voice out this concern to the bartender, who's telling her something that she isn't sure is English.
"-enough for the night." He's saying, when he switches back to a recognizable language.
"I'm half Greek, part French, did Spanish for five years, and minored in German." She tells him slowly, hoping he'd understand simple English. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you speak." She slows further, and raises her voice so he could decipher her words, but he only laughs.
"I'm not the one to decide, but I think you've drank enough." He suggests, and Annabeth is a little offended, but lets it go.
"I'm offended." She states, letting out a long sigh. "But I'll let it go."
He's giving her this smile, that's driving her nuts. She's never been this attracted to anyone before, she decides, and what little of her mind-to-mouth filter is left tells her it's a good idea to keep it to herself.
"So, what do you do for a living?" And now he's making conversation with her? This guy's fucking adorable, she nods to herself.
"I'm a building, you know, I design architects." She tells him with pride. She'd struggled for years to actually get to where she was, and she liked to let people know that things don't come easily. "Easier now than it was to get here." She elaborates. "What do you do?" She asks him, and he shrugs, gesturing to his button up that he's wearing. She frowns at him.
"Fashion designing? I've never been great at charades." She says, genuinely a little sorry about that. He lets out a full laugh that awakens the butterflies in her stomach. She can't help but smile at him too.
"I'm a bartender, you know, I tend to bars?" He says, and god, Annabeth just wants to kiss him.
"Oh. That's interesting." She tells him. "What's business like?" He shrugs.
"It's not too bad, but then, this insanely beautiful woman comes in, and makes it all worth it." Annabeth feels herself getting a little angry.
"Who's that?" She demands, feeling a little possessive of this man she met about ten minutes ago. He's laughing and talking in another language again, so she gives up.
oOo
Percy doesn't think drunk people are attractive, but good lord, Annabeth is doing it, and she's doing it so well. He finds it hard to stop laughing when she's talking, and with every answer she gives him, he likes her more.
Sure, he's got some alcohol in his system, but drinking's a part of his job. He listens to her, and he doesn't know how long it's been, them just talking. He's particularly proud because he's managed to keep a conversation going with her, all the while serving the others and occasionally juggling bottles to keep her entertained. Her friends are still going strong, and don't seem to be too bothered by her whereabouts, although the good looking blonde guy occasionally turns around, like he's making sure she's still alive.
She'd downed two more drinks since she'd been here, and he knows that isn't healthy, and that it's wrong to take advantage of someone drunk, but he couldn't help it. He wants to know why she looks so sad, even when she's so happy, and he asks her.
"I'm not unhappy." She tells him. "I'm fine. You think I'm lonely, don't you? Everyone does, that's okay." Her eyes are shifting in and out of focus, and Percy slides her cocktail a little further away from him, trying to keep himself from laughing, because this perfect human being, can't get past a couple of cocktails without being piss-drunk.
"Lonely?" He asks her, frowning.
"I'm not. I'm good, alone." She insists, suddenly very aggressive. "I'm fine. I don't need people." Her eyes are watering, and Percy's started to panic. "I don't need anybody. What, you want to help me? So, he left me. So what?" Her voice is rising and tears are starting to flow, and Percy's trying to calm her down, but she's screaming now. "Michael's just another one. Who left me. So what if it was at the altar?" Her voice cracks, and one of her friends is beside her in a flash. Percy tries to explain to the guy- Travis, he thinks, but he's got his arm around her shoulders and his attention is focused solely on Annabeth.
"Hey, hey, Annabeth. It's okay. Just, let it out. There we go." He looks up at Percy, too sober for all the shots he's done. "I'm really sorry-" Percy cuts him off with a wave of his hand.
"It's okay." He nods to Annabeth, who's a mess of tears and slurred words that make no sense- Probably Greek, French, German or Spanish, Percy thinks dryly. "What's wrong?"
The guy hugs her closer, but sends Percy an eye roll.
"Messy break up. Suppressed it for two years, but it's got to come out, doesn't it? She doesn't mean it." He rubbed circles on her back. "Major abandonment complex." He says by means of an explanation. He holds out his hand. "Don't believe we've met. Connor Stoll." He says with a smile, and Percy blinks.
"Percy. I think we have met, though-?"
"Travis is my brother. Yes, we look very similar." Connor waves off. "I came in later- Sober companion duties, you see. Like sorting out this mess." He says softly. He smiles, and comforts Annabeth, all the while carrying a pretty comfortable conversation with Percy, who was still a little rattled by Annabeth's outburst.
It's once his friends are screaming for him to hurry the fuck up that he gets off the barstool, picking Annabeth's now unconscious form up easily, like he does it often enough.
"You're a good guy, Percy." He tells him sincerely, and Percy smiles.
"Great meeting you." He says out of habit, but Connor leans further to the bar.
"Don't mind the breakdown- Just waiting to happen. It was a long time ago." Connor says, almost apologetic, and Percy waves it off.
"I'm just the bartender, man. You know what they say- Bartenders make a great listening ear."
"I think Annabeth would like for you to be much more." Connor tells him, and Percy thinks he's going to die. He laughs, because there's no way someone like her would like someone like him.
"I don't-"
"Give her another chance, will you?" He flashes him a smile before leaving, and Percy wants to say there's no reason for her to return here, and he doesn't know whether he'll ever see her, and he wants Annabeth to stay because he's not done speaking with her, but he stares hopelessly at them.
He slouches over the bar, and something in his hand buzzes, and he looks down at an iPhone that is definitely not his. He frowns at the screen, that has a single message on it.
Everyone needs their phones. Dress to impress tomorrow.
oOo