Author's Note – All right, so this is my first Percy Jackson fanfic so please bear with me. Reviews are much appreciated.

Disclaimer – I don't own anything but the plot of this story!

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Hotter Than July

By Tabitha's Paws

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It only began to sink in my head when we got to the waterfront.

I was going to spend an entire week at the Mediterranean Sea in my step dad, Paul Blofis' private cruiser with Annabeth Chase.

All right, so the idea of spending seven days in a yacht with Annabeth should not at all make my palms sweat and blood rush. After all, we've been on dozens of escapades and adventures together so it wasn't at all, the first time that she and I would voyage together. Besides, Grover, Tyson and Thalia would be coming along so it wasn't as if Annabeth and I were going to be…alone.

"Where is Annabeth!" Tyson exclaimed, as he paced around the creaky jetty, making the ramshackle lumber wobble and tremble under his heavy weight.

"Girls are always late," Grover remarked, as he chewed a Pepsi Can impatiently. "The last time I asked Juniper out, she came an hour...

I was not listening to him. I was so anxious for her to arrive that I couldn't think straight. My mind was essentially in turmoil, and all I could think about was the fact that Annabeth – my best friend (and almost-lover, as Thalia claims) was going to be sailing seven days away with me.

"Nervous, Percy?" said Thalia, who was sitting on her duffle bag and chewing gum so loudly that my headache worsened. "Are you FINALLY going to ask her to be your girlfriend?"

Before I could answer, a car swiftly pulled up in front of us, blasting sand and asphalt on our faces. The door swung open and out came Annabeth. And man, did she look awesome.

Her strawberry-blonde hair was tied in a bun and she was wearing a dark blue tank top over an orange swimsuit. Below, she wore denim shorts that called so much attention to her long legs that I couldn't stop my jaw from dropping.

"PRETTY ANNABETH!!!!!!!"

Tyson tackled her and gave her a huge, Cyclops-hug. And if you're wondering how a Cyclops-hug feels like – well, just imagine two massive boulders smashing the life out of you.

"Somebody's blooming!" Thalia declared, walking up to Annabeth and patting her on the shoulder. "Right, Percy?"

"Uh. Yeah" I said, scratching my head. I felt ridiculously hot. I seriously hoped I wasn't blushing and the heat on my face was just the scorching hot sun.

Then Grover began singing. "Like a flowerrrr! Like a roseee! Like a daffo –

"Okay, stop it with the nature stuff" Annabeth said, smacking Grover on the back. She turned to me and gave me a smile. "Long time no see, Seaweed Brain"

"You've grown some" I said, trying to sound cool.

"Considering you're four inches taller than me now, thanks," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"I think he wasn't talking about height," Thalia said, wiggling her eyebrows. "If you know what I mean"

Just before Annabeth was about to knock me off my feet (literally), I hopped onto Paul's yacht, which fortunately was docked at the end of the quay.

Anyway, Paul's yacht was a really awesome decked-out pad. The varnished dock had a built-in Jacuzzi, barbecue grill and a flat screen television. If that was not awesome enough, inside there was a mini-bar and a fully stocked sub-zero refrigerator, a billiards table, a pinball machine and a poker table. A chandelier hung from the ceiling and there were snug velvet plush couches at every corner of the room. There were three bedrooms, but each was nonsensically awesome. Every bedroom had a king-sized bed, a fireplace, a huge wardrobe drawer and a private balcony. Thalia and Annabeth were going to share one bedroom, Grover and Tyson in the other, and guess what – yeah, I was going to be alone at night.

We set off cruising straight away. The weather was perfect, the waves were calm and the sky was blue as the sea. I thanked my dad, Poseidon for making the day just right for our trip.

We barbecued burgers on the dock. I hoped the smell of the chow wouldn't attract any harpies or sea serpents. The last thing I needed was to summon Riptide from my pocket and clash with the Titans yet again.

"Hey, Percy," called Grover from behind. "This looks like a real nice place for swimming! Can you pull over?"

Being a demigod dedicated to the sea, I'm capable of controlling ocean vessels at will. With a snap of the finger, the yacht's engine shut off and we came to a stop. My friends began filing out of the yacht in their swimsuits. "Rainbow!" I heard Tyson cry out, and before I knew it, they were all having a joy ride on wild hippocampi. Well, everyone but Annabeth.

Where was she? I wondered. She couldn't have drowned and –

"Looking for me, Seaweed Brain?" popped Annabeth from behind. She had been wearing her Invisibility Cap.

"Christ, Annabeth. You scared the hell out of me!" I said.

"And you're burning a burger" she said, pointing at the grill.

Oh, damn. She was right. Lying pathetically on the grill were several charred, flaming once-burgers.

On impulse, I willed a few bucketfuls of seawater to crash down on the blazing grill. Well, that got Annabeth drenched too.

"You're acting really weird today, Percy," Annabeth chided, after spitting out a mouthful of saltwater. "Is anything wrong?"

I stood there absolutely bone dry, watching Annabeth squeeze water from her clothes as seawater sloshed back and forth on the dock. She apparently realized that I was staring at her and looked at me mischievously. "You got something to tell me, Seaweed Brain?"

Oh crap. I remember her asking me that last summer, when she tried to spit out a confession from me. I was stupid enough to stumble on my words, stammer awkwardly and trip over the point. In other words, my efforts were fruitless and just ended in one awesome kiss. I wondered if she was going for the same thing.

Wrong. She was going for something even better.

"Uh…well…" I began, "Last summer, I –

And then she put her hands over her tank top and pulled it off, revealing an orange and blue bikini.

Holy Crap. It took me awhile to register. Annabeth. In a bikini.

"What? Spit it out" she said, sounding completely casual. But I knew she knew what she was doing to me.

"You ALWAYS make things hard for me, don't you?" I said, dropping the barbecue tongs on the floor.

"It's all in your head, Mr. Jackson," she said, and unzipped her shorts. I could not take it anymore. "Would you like to go for a swim?"

"No" I grumbled.

She shrugged. "Suit yourself" and she plunged into the water.

Okay, I shouldn't have said no. But I knew if I said yes, I wouldn't be able to contain myself and boy, would the gods and goddesses let all Hades lose on me.

I watched my friends have a swell time in the ocean as I sat there on the railing of the yacht, miserable and frustrated. Annabeth was my best friend, Zeus damn it! I shouldn't feel all scatterbrained and muddled when I was with her.

But honestly, could I help it when she looked wickedly hot in that swimsuit?

Hey, don't blame me. I may be half god but that does not at all stop me from having human fixations. I've never seen Annabeth in anything else but a Camp-Half-Blood t-shirt and tattered jeans, and hey – a bikini was another real good option.

I didn't notice Grover sitting next to me.

"Are you FINALLY going to confess to her and seal the deal?" he said, sounding as irritated as I was.

I stared at him. "Yeah, sure, if I can even get my words straight. Face it, Grover, I am not temperate when I'm with Annabeth. Dude, it's as if I'm DRUNK!"

"Drunk," Grover repeated, nodding intently. "Drunk"

I shot him a look. "What?"

He smiled at me slyly. "Nothing. Anyway, I'm up for a swim"

He jumped into the water, and his weight shook the entire railing that I fell into the water too.

Oh well. It's about time I swam.

After an entire day of swimming and sunburn, we finally retreated back to the yacht for dinner. We microwaved some macaroni and cheese and some TV dinner pizza. We ate in front of the television, watching movies and (occasionally) flipping to the news channel just to make sure that monsters hadn't invaded the world yet.

We were halfway done with dinner when Grover stepped out for a moment and returned with a giant paper bag of….

"DRINKS!" Thalia said, as Tyson tore open the paper bag and cans of cold beer rolled out. Tyson clapped cheerily. "Now we can get Annabeth and Percy –

Grover clapped a hand over Tyson's mouth and gave an awkward laugh. "Anyway, what's a cruise with friends without the alcohol, right?"

"I don't drink" Annabeth said firmly, picking at her burnt macaroni.

Thalia rolled her eyes and slammed her fist on the table. "Oh come on, Annabeth. After years of fighting demons, monsters and Titans, you've got to relax! Let loose!"

"Let loose!" Tyson echoed.

"You've got to have some fun!" Grover insisted.

"Have fun!" Tyson whispered.

"And you have to –

"Alright, alright!" Annabeth groaned, rolling her eyes. "Give me a stupid can"

"YES!" Grover said, punching the air. "And you, Percy?"

All eyes turned on me.

Thalia threw me a can.

I gave everyone a wicked smile and popped open the can. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Demigods have high tolerance.

Apparently, Grover had come prepared with a chockfull of beer. And with Paul's well-supplied mini bar, everyone got real high and tipsy. I was on my twentieth can when everything got blurry.

I could hear my friends talking, but their voices seemed so far away and distant. They seemed to be talking in gibberish – probably in Ancient Greek, I don't know. But the world before me was turning into odd, contorted shapes and changing into really gooey forms. It was as if each image was being mixed and churned and twisted into a kaleidoscope. Well, everything BUT Annabeth.

Annabeth was real drunk too. I mean, her face was all red, her blonde hair was tangled and sticking to her neck in tendrils and she was jabbering about all kinds of architecture, which was pretty much normal for her – except for the fact that she talking about structural designs for mushroom apartments and rabbit holes.

"I'm…I'm…going to get more beer" she said happily. She tripped over her own feet as she got up and landed on my lap, giggling like there was no tomorrow.

"Sorryyy, Seaweed Brain," she said, and gave me a kiss on my cheek. She then managed to get up and stumble inside.

For some reason, I got to my feet and followed her. I found her at the mini-bar, scrounging for more beer. She was still wearing that awesome bikini, and her long blonde hair was so tangled and wild from swimming that she looked totally irresistible.

"Annabeth," I said, coming from behind. "You look…you look crazily hot"

Okay. What the hell was I saying? Percy, get a hold of yourself.

She turned around to look at me, her gray eyes locked on mine. "Well, well, well, someone's rather brave tonight"

I willed the doors to shut and the curtains to drop. Hey, Annabeth and I never got enough privacy with my friends around.

She put her arms around my neck and kissed me. Right there, right at that moment.

"Gods, I love you," I said, momentarily pulling away.

I wrapped my arms around her waist, feeling the perspiring touch of her soft skin. I kissed her again, but this time it was loads better.

We've kissed before, many times. But never in Olympus like this. Each time she kissed me she sent a dozen electric sparks up my brain and I got more and more drunk in her spell. I couldn't remember where I was or who I was. All I knew was the hottest, smartest and the BEST demigoddess was making out with me. And I could not ask for anything more.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," I kept saying, as the kisses got hungrier and hungrier. I could feel the waves outside getting stronger and faster, as if it's current was going in my pace.

Before I could go any further, the doors swung open and in stepped – oh my gods – Annabeth's mother, ATHENA.

This was going to be one interesting summer.

Author's Note: I hope you liked it! Please leave a review! Thank you!