Annabeth loved Fridays. She loved knowing she got to spend an entire weekend at Camp-Half Blood away from her snobby, inconsiderate roommate and with her friends. She loved not having as much homework to do each day, so she could spend time on her various architectural projects, which were infinitely more fun than writing a paper on the Civil War for the tenth time. Most importantly, she loved knowing she could spend three days with Percy.
Even though they try to Iris Message every night during the week, it's never as good as actually being with him. Being able to feel his presence, his warmth, his lips, that's what Annabeth loved about weekends. While at Camp-Half Blood, they were never apart: talking, swimming, sparring, even sleeping, Annabeth thought with a blush creeping up her face. Although not everyone (aka the Stolls) believes them when they catch Annabeth at Poseidon's cabin in the morning, the couple has never done more than just innocently cuddle together and fall asleep in Percy's bed.
Not that I haven't thought of doing more, she thinks as the blush continues to crawl up her face. It's perfectly reasonable, Annabeth. You're a teenage girl with very real hormones! she tells herself as she drives over to Percy's apartment to pick him up for the weekend.
It's not that she's not ready, because she thinks she is, and she thinks Percy is too. But she's a planner, and she won't let their first time be some random weekend in the Poseidon Cabin. It has to be perfect, and she'll make sure it is one day.
One day soon, she thinks, accepting that her face will now look like a tomato for the next few minutes.
Thankfully, her face has returned to normal color by the time she knocks on Percy's apartment door, because she would not want to explain how her face got that red to Percy's mom.
Sally opens the door and immediately gives Annabeth a hug. Annabeth would never describe herself as a hugger, but with Sally Jackson, there's no choice; and, admittedly, Annabeth loved getting hugs from Sally.
"Is Percy almost ready to go?" Annabeth asks Sally, trying to look past her shoulder to catch a glimpse of her boyfriend.
"Oh, I thought he texted you. Percy went over to Will's house after the swim meet with the rest of the team," Sally says.
"My phone's been off all day, so he probably did," Annabeth says as she reaches into her pockets and turns on her phone.
WE WON! I'm going over to Will's for pizza to celebrate. Want to come by and then we can head to camp from there? Love you Wise Girl.
With a smile on her face from the last line of the text Annabeth tells Sally, "Yeah, he texted me. I'm going to head over to Will's then."
"Ok, drive safe honey. See you Sunday," Sally says as she hugs Annabeth.
"Thanks Sally. Bye!"
On the short, 5-minute drive over to Will's house, Annabeth could only think of the upcoming weekend and how she was already planning on spending the night with Percy in his cabin.
As she drove up Will's street, Annabeth noticed an usual extra amount of cars around Will's house. After finding a parking spot over a half a block away from the house, Annabeth walked up to Will's house with growing suspicion.
She knew what this looked liked. Annabeth, although far from a normal teenager, is not oblivious to the signs of normal teenage happenings, and this was definitely a quintessential party.
I'm going to kill Percy, she thought, not for the first and definitely not for the last time as she rang Will's doorbell.
After staring at the door for a minute, Annabeth realized no one would hear the bell over the blaring music inside and opened the door and let herself in. The first thing Annabeth noticed was the smell. She was hit with the combined stench of alcohol and sweat so strong that she almost wished she was facing Mrs. O'Leary after Percy forgot to give her a bath for a month.
Find Percy, get out, go to camp, Annabeth recited as her mantra as she made her way further throughout the throng of unrecognizable hoard of red-solo-cup-holders littering the house.
Find Percy, get out, go to camp; Find Percy, get out, go to camp.
By the time she got to the kitchen, Annabeth was ready to take her anger out on Percy tomorrow in the arena for making her walk through this awful high school party. As soon as she entered the kitchen, Annabeth spotted her boyfriend.
Thank the gods, she thought. But her relief at finding Percy quickly turned to disbelief and more anger as she really took a look at her boyfriend. Heavily leaning against the counter, with a bottle of something that was definitely not Diet Coke in his hand, eyes half-lidded, laughing hysterically at one of his teammates failing to use the keg on the counter next to him, Percy looked like any other person at the party.
Annabeth immediately saw red and stormed over to Percy. As she stood in front of her boyfriend, surrounded by a chorus of "Oohhs" from the crowd, Annabeth almost gagged from the stench of alcohol on Percy's breath.
"What in Hades name are you doing?" Annabeth asked with the mirth she usually reserved for her lease favorite monsters, empousi.
"ANNABETH!" Percy shouted right over Annabeth's question. "Oh my gods, I'm sooo happy you're here!" Percy continued to say, with an apparent slur.
"We won, and Will wanted to celebrate, and they…spiked my drink, and I didn't know, and…now I just...I feel so good Annabeth!" Percy continued on in between spurts of laughter that caused him to double over and pause between his slurred speech.
Annabeth didn't know what to feel. She was feeling so many things at once and the only thing the daughter of Athena could think was Leave. Now.
She grabbed Percy's arm, took the bottle of what she could now identify as Jack Daniel's out of his hand, set it on the counter, and turned toward the door. As she drug Percy behind her, she could barely make out his slurred attempts at protesting leaving the party over the deafening music and accompanying groans from Percy's fellow party-goers over his departure.
Once the couple reached outside, Annabeth put her arm around Percy's waist, and his arm automatically went to his normal place across her shoulders. If she thought hard enough, Annabeth could probably count all the times she and Percy had walked like that, with their arms around each other.
This walk from Will's house to her car, though, was like no other time before. She had supported Percy's weight before, in and after battle when he'd been wounded; but those times it had been for honorable reasons. This time, Annabeth was helping Percy walk not because of a life-threatening injury, but because he was drunk. No, not drunk, Annabeth thought venomously, plastered, shit-faced.
During the half-block walk to her car, all Annabeth concentrated on were 2 things: getting Percy to her car and getting him into Camp Half-Blood. Unfortunately, Annabeth couldn't concentrate on these problems in silence, because Percy would not shut up. He was jabbering on about his meet, and then the party, and then a very detailed description on an intense game of beer pong that he won that was "almost as hard as that time we beat Kronos."
As they got to her car, Annabeth walked Percy to the passenger side of her car, and helped him ungracefully plop into the seat. As she leaned over him to put on his seatbelt, Percy let out an uncharacteristically girly giggle that even Annabeth would never utter.
"Annie, you're going…*giggle*…to have to buy me….*giggle*….dinner first," Percy said and let out a round of hysterical laughter.
Annabeth rolled her eyes, angrily sighed and slammed the door to her car. As she got in her seat, and violently slammed her own door, she sent a prayer up to the only god who she could think of who may even have the slightest of sympathies for her and Percy at the moment, Mr. D.
Please, just let us get into Camp unseen and I'll provide your Diet Coke for a month.
Annabeth started her car and began to pull out of her spot and realized that it was finally quiet. She looked over to find Percy slumped in his seat with his head against the door lightly snoring.
"I am going to kill you in the morning," Annabeth said to her unconscious boyfriend.
