The Deal

I was broken. I was just another normal person wandering the streets of New York with a smile upon my face even though I was completely empty on the inside. I convinced myself I could never love anyone ever again. I thought that she was the one. I wanted to spend my whole life with her – marry her, have kids, and just be happy. My whole life was planned out and she was in the picture. Now that she's not, I don't know what to do. Okay, maybe now I'm sounding over-dramatic, but love does that to you.

I'm guessing all of you are probably confused by now, so I'll just start from the beginning.

Hey, I'm Percy Jackson – 21-years old, attending NYU to major in marine biology, working part time as a lifeguard and Montauk beach, and currently in love with Rachel Elizabeth Dare. We've been together since our senior year in high school. We were one of those popular couples in school. Students would tell us that we'll be together forever. At first, we took it as a joke, but a year into our relationship, I found myself thinking that maybe we could be.

Rachel, she was amazing. Her red hair was a little frizzy; some freckles sprawled around her face which I thought was cute, and at last, her green eyes. They were lime-green, and sometimes glowed. It mesmerized me. When I first met her, she had the habit of wearing baggy t-shirts with skinny jeans that had doodles all over them. She's grown out of that sense of style but she still tends to wear my shirts at home.

Now, when I mean "home", I don't mean literally our home. After graduation, my mother loaned me some money to buy my own apartment across NYU. It's small, cozy, and convenient and was good enough before I get a real job to buy a real house. The lifeguard job only pays me enough to pay rent each month. Once I major in marine biology and become a marine biologist, those plans could come true. Until then, I'm staying in a $430/month apartment.

So back to my relationship with Rachel. It was fine, the furthest we went with our relationship was second base. She was religious and supposedly her religion believes in no sex until marriage. So, with that being put into the rule book of our relationship, I was still virgin.

Anyways, I hope that's enough information for you to catch up to what's happening right now because today is a very special day. Looking at my calendar, a heart was drawn on today's date: July 8 – Me and Rachel's 3-year anniversary. We were planning on going to a fancy restaurant that probably costs as much as my apartment rent. I didn't care though, because of all it will be worth it when I pop the question to her and she accepts.

Yes, I am proposing to Rachel tonight. I finally decided that I want to be with her for the rest of my life. After getting ready and freshening up in the bathroom, I took out a white tux that was loaned to me from Grover – my best friend. I pulled out my drawer to grab a tiny red-velvet box. I opened it and in it was a 0.5 carat diamond ring. It's not big or too small. I could barely afford it with the money I already had so I had to work extra shifts on the weekends for the past year or so to get the money. I just hope it was enough for her.

I stuck the box into my pocket and brought out my phone to dial Rachel's number. She was out for today. She said she was going to run some errands before tonight. I waited until she answered the phone.

"Hello?" Rachel answered from the other line.

"Hey, babe, Happy 3-year anniversary," I told her, smile creeping my face.

"Happy 3-year anniversary," she replied. I could hear the hesitant in her voice and the slight off-tone of it. I chose to ignore it, though.

"Can't wait for tonight," I said, gripping the box in my pocket.

"Me too."

There was a little silence coming from both sides of the line.

"Hey, Perce, I'm going to have to go. I'm sort of – uh – busy right now. I'll see you tonight. I love you," Rachel said hurriedly.

"Love you too," I said and I heard the line end with a beep. Well, that was strange. Actually, she has been acting a little strange for the past few months. She told me that her art gallery was going through some hardships right now so I understood the change of behavior.

With a few hours to spare, I decided to go take a walk in Central Park. When I say walk, I mean practicing how I'm going to pop the question to Rachel. So here I am, talking to myself probably looking like a lunatic.

I cleared my throat. "So – um – Rachel. I was wondering . . . we've been together for a long time now and – " Ok, Percy that's lame. You want to ask her to marry her and not tell her you're pregnant or anything. Try again.

I kept trying to come up with ways to start it off, but I couldn't without stuttering or choking up. Gods, how the hell am I going to ask her in person if I can't even do it without her here? Negative thoughts started to overcome me. What if I mess up? What if I forget the ring? What if she doesn't like the ring? Oh, shut up, Percy. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? Wait, what if she said no? What the hell would I do then? Oh, c'mon, she loves me –

"Hey! Watch it!" Someone yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry," I apologized to the stranger I bumped in to. I reached out my hand to help them up. It was a female and she looked about the same age as me. She had curly blonde hair that was tied into a tight ponytail, a nice tan, an inch or two shorter than me, and an athletic figure. Asides the fact that she was sweaty, she looked good. Hey, I'm allowed to compliment someone even though I have a girlfriend.

"It's fine, just watch where you're going next time," she said, a bit annoyed. Looks like someone got their panty in a wand. But then she looked up, and my breath got caught. Her eyes were just plain – what's the word to describe it – unique? They were grey, and looked like storm clouds. It made her look intimidating. I could tell that she was also staring at my eyes. Something about her was familiar.

A moment of just staring at each other passed by until she spoke up. "Have we met before?" She asked, her eyebrows scrunched up.

I still couldn't explain why she looked familiar, so I answered, "I don't think so."

The girl gave another hard stare at me and her eyes widen like a light bulb went on. "Percy Jackson?" She gasped. Whoa, how does this chick know me? I stayed silent, trying to figure out where I've seen her before. "It's me, Annabeth Chase."

Nothing clicked but that name was still familiar. I opened my mouth to say something but then closed it again.

"We went to summer camp together when we were eleven," Annabeth said. Now a light bulb turned on for me. I can't believe it was her. It's been 4 years since we last saw each other. We met at some camp when we were eleven; I believe it was called "Camp Half-Blood." It was a camp for kids who had only one parent and it basically taught us to fight and defend ourselves from danger. Annabeth and I became friends since we first met there. But sadly, when we turned 16, the camp closed down due to some complaints from the community. So Annabeth had to leave and since she lives in San Francisco with her dad, we didn't talk since. I took a good look at her and realized how much she's changed. She grew out of that skinny girl and into well-fit women with nice curves.

Annabeth laughed, pulling me out of my wandering trance. I composed my cool again. "What're you doing here?" I asked her.

"Oh. I take a morning jog every weekend."

I chuckled. "I meant here, here – in New York. I thought you lived in San Fran?"

"Well, I'm going to NYU here to major in architecture," she replied.

"Wait. You go NYU too? That's awesome. I'm in there too, majoring in marine biology," I told her. I was surprised that she's attending the same college as me and I haven't even noticed her.

Before Annabeth could answer, a man ran up from behind. He was a shorter than me but okay-built. He had sand-bleached hair and blue eyes. The man wrapped his arms around Annabeth's waist from behind and kissed her full on the lips. Okay then . . .

Annabeth's cheeks showed a little pink shade after his lips parted hers. "Percy, this is my fiancé, Luke Castellan. Luke, this is Percy Jackson. We used to go to camp together." I shook Luke's hand.

"Nice to meet you, man," Luke said. I nodded with a smile in reply. He turned his attention to Annabeth again. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, sure." Then she turned her attention back to me. "Hey, it's nice seeing you again. We should hang out sometime."

"Sounds good. I'll see you at school then." I said. Annabeth smiled and she walked away with Luke's arm around her waist.

It was evening when I got back to my apartment. The bathroom was occupied, signaling that Rachel was home. I waited for Rachel to come out before I went in to get ready for tonight. I sat on the couch impatiently. It's amazing how long girls take in the bathroom. What do you girls do in there anyway? It's like you guys are having a freaking party in there.

After forever, Rachel finally exited the bathroom. I hid behind the corner of the hallway to surprise her. As she turned the corner and luckily didn't notice me, I jumped from behind and wrapped my arms around her waist. She let out a giggle when my lips met her neck.

"Go take a shower!" She yelled, still giggling. I smirked and laid a small kiss on her cheek before entering the bathroom. It took my about 10 minutes to get ready whereas Rachel took about an hour. The wait was useful though. While she was getting ready, I kept practicing on my proposal. I locked myself in my room to practice. And no matter how many times, I just couldn't do it without messing it up.

"What are you doing in there?" I heard Rachel ask from the other side of my door.

I fumbled to put the red-velvet box in my pocket. "Uh – nothing! Just trying to put on this stupid tie," I said.

I heard Rachel sigh and enter my room. "Come here," she told me, gesturing her hands to her. I smirked and walked over to her. She grabbed the tie and did a bunch of twists and over-unders until the tie was neatly tied. After she lightly brushed my tux off and patted my chest, she left the room without a word.

The car ride to the restaurant was unusually silent. It kind of made me nervous if Rachel overheard me practicing the proposal. My hand on the wheel gripped harder and I could feel my palms sweat a little.

"So . . . what kind of errands did you have to run?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Rachel stayed quiet for a bit before answering. "I had to pay off the mortgage for the art gallery."

"Is that all?" I had the feeling that she was hiding more information.

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p' sound using her lips.

Again, silence fell in the atmosphere and to my luck, we already arrived at the restaurant. We exited the car and I offered my arm for Rachel. She snuck her arm in-between in response. My other hand was in my pocket where the box was. I kept rolling the box in my hand when I got nervous.

"Reservation for Percy Jackson," I said to the waiter. The man took a look at the list and gave a slight nod when he came across my name.

"Right this way Mr. Jackson," he said and guided us to a table next to a huge window, showing a great view of the city lights.

We took our seat and our orders. The food was super expensive but hey, I was with my soon-to-be-fiancé so it didn't matter to me. The waiter told us the food will take about half-an-hour before it was ready so I decided to take my chance at the question now. I took a look at Rachel and she had this worried expression on. I wanted to ask what was wrong but she already beat me to it.

"I have something to tell you," Rachel blurted out.

"Okay, but I have something to ask you," I said. She gave me a confused look but shook it off.

"All right, you go first," Rachel said. I would've asked the question right then and there but Rachel still looked worried.

"No, you first," I told her, eager to hear what she wanted to tell me.

Rachel hesitated before continuing. She took in a deep breath, "I got accepted into University of Dallas."

"That's great! I'm so proud of you, Rachel," I said, "congrats." I was happy for her. She has been applying for that college since we met. She wanted to major in art and that college was the best to do so. I had plans for us if this ever happened and that included skyping and visiting her often at the campus.

"Yeah . . ." Rachel trailed off.

"Why don't you sound happy? I thought you wanted this," I asked.

"I do! It's just," she sighed, "they have a campus up in Rome and –"

"Wait. You're seriously not thinking about going to Europe, are you?" I asked, in shock. Now I wasn't expecting this. I had plans if she ever went to college in the mainland, not in a different country!

"Percy, that campus is where famous artists went to. It's an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Rachel tried convincing me, but I just couldn't take it.

"So you're saying that you are actually going? When are you going?" I asked.

"Tomorrow."

I swear, I felt my eyes bulge out of my eye-sockets. "Tomorrow?" I gasped. "How long have you known about your acceptance?"

Rachel sighed. "Since January."

"January?" I felt my voice crack a little. "You've known this whole time?" Now I understood the real reason why she's been acting weird for the past several months.

"I didn't know how to tell you! You were too busy taking extra shifts at your job!"

Yeah, so I could get the money to buy you a ring.

"So you decide to lead me on? And on the day that supposed to be the happiest day of our relationship, you decide to tell me?" People in the restaurant were starting to stare at us but I didn't care.

"It's not like that, Percy! I wasn't thinking, okay?" Rachel defended.

"So what does that mean for us, huh?" I asked. I already knew where this was leading, but I just wanted to hear her say it.

Rachel took a deep breath and her eyes were starting to get watery. "You're a sweet guy, Percy. I'm sure there will be many other girls who – "

"So you're breaking up with me?"

Rachel pursed her lips. "What else am I suppose to do, Perce? You know that this can't work. I'm going to another country for god's sake."

"If you told me earlier, I could've made things work!" I snapped. Everyone was now watching, but again, I didn't care.

"Percy, please, you're making a scene." Rachel tried saying in a calm tone.

I ignored her. "Are you giving up on us that easily?"

She didn't answer. I felt my heart break into a thousand pieces. 3 years with the woman I thought I could spend the rest of my life with has gone down the drain. I wanted to feel happy for her. She's been working her ass off to get into that college. But we've been together for 3 years and I've been helping her apply for it. So it's like, everything I did to help her was a waste. And the fact that she was just giving up without even talking about it hurt even more.

I started to get up from my seat. I wasn't going to stay one more second of this. I couldn't believe her. But before I pushed my chair back in, Rachel reached out to grab my hand.

"Percy, at least ask me what you needed to ask me." Rachel pleaded.

I pulled my hand away and that's when I saw tears roll down her cheeks. I kept my composer. I put my hand in my pocket where the ring was. Rachel waited for me to ask her the question. I just looked her straight in the eye.

"Forget it. It doesn't matter anymore." I said.

So that's my story. That night was supposed to be one of the best things that ever happened to me. But instead, it turned out to be a life-changing event. I haven't fallen into some deep dark side that most people would after being dumped. I continued my life with work, school, and paying the bills to my apartment. But still, I was hurting in the inside. According to the Grover, I was "depressed" and needed help. He's probably the only one that can see through the smile I wear every day for 3 months. He's been suggesting help for me but I turned them all down. Who needs help when you have a nice bottle of wine to cheer everything up?

No, I'm not an alcoholic if that's what you're thinking. I just drink a few sips here and there to relieve the stress. And most of the stress is not even from the whole Rachel incident. It's school. It's been hard lately. I have ADHD so it's hard to stay still in class. Then there's my dyslexia problem. Rachel was usually the one who helped me with that. So now I'm on my own in this wonderful world known as college.

Then there's Annabeth Chase. We've gotten much closer since we met at Central Park. We've caught up with each other and what's going on in our lives since we last saw each other 4 years ago. She doesn't know about what happened between me and Rachel. Hell, she probably still thinks we're together. And because she thinks that, she tells me about her relationship with Luke. She told me that they're on a long-term engagement and supposedly planning on making their wedding official next week. I was happy for her, really, but the more she talked about it, well, it didn't help with my coping.

The doorbell of my apartment rang, snapping me out of my thoughts. I groaned in annoyance. Who would be here on a Saturday? I took one last sip from the cup of wine in front of me and got up to answer the door. I opened the door to be greeted those familiar grey eyes.

"Annabeth?" I croaked. Her eyes were puffy and dry tear stains down her cheeks. I never saw her cry before. "What's wrong?"

Annabeth whipped her eyes. "I'm sorry. I just – "

She was stuttering and I could tell that she was fighting the urge to start crying her eyes out. I let her into my apartment and she walked straight to the couch and took a hold of the cup of wine resting on the table. Wait, Annabeth doesn't drink.

"Whoa, Annabeth, you don't – " Too late. She chugged down the whole glass, coughing and gagging right after. " – drink." I finished.

I sat beside her. I wondered what was going on because whatever it was, it was so bad that it made Annabeth drink for the first time. I patted her back to help her with the coughing. "What happened?" I asked her.

Annabeth took in a deep breath. "I caught Luke cheating on me."

Ah, so that's why. So now she was going through the exact same thing I was going through. Well, maybe not the exact same thing, but the outcome of it was the same. I did something that I knew would help her because it would've helped me. I hugged her. Well, embraced her I should say. My arms wrapped tightly around her, ensuring her that I was here for her. She hugged me back just as much. She started sobbing into my shoulder – like full on crying. My shirt was probably soaked with her tears. I couldn't help but experience the past pain all over again. Without even knowing, tears started trickling down my face. Annabeth let go when she heard me sniffle. I quickly whipped away the tiny tears.

"How are you and Rachel?" She asked out of nowhere.

I inhaled deeply. If she came to me to vent, why shouldn't I? "We're – um – over. It's been 3 months actually."

Annabeth's eyes softened. "Oh. I'm so sorry," she said with sympathy. I nodded slowly and she made her lips into a tight line. "Can I have another glass?"

I gave her a knowingly look. "Are you sure?"

"Just pour it, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth rolled her eyes and I did too.

"I'm not responsible for you, Wise Girl," I warned, using our old nicknames that we used to call each other back at camp.

"Yeah, yeah," she replied while I poured her another glass and poured one for me.

We held the glasses in our hands. "Here's to love: fuck you love." I said.

Annabeth laughed. "Cheers to that!" We brought our glasses together and raised it up to our lips. We laughed and drunk some more. I have to admit, I never laughed like this since the break-up and it felt great. We continued to drink and drink more than the limit that I'd usually reach. One thing led to another, we did what any two teenagers of the opposite gender would do when they're drunk off their minds and hormones going crazy.

So many of you think that Annabeth and I had a one-night stand and it was over between us. Well, you're wrong. After that night, Annabeth and I made a little deal. We were heart-broken and swore to never fall in love again. But who says that you still can't have pleasure. That's where we got the idea. We could still be friends but this time, with a few benefits. It's like pleasure without the pain, or lust without the love. That was our deal. No strings attached.

Ever since we made that deal a couple weeks ago, I've been getting a bit better. It kind of made me forget about Rachel and it sure helped Annabeth with her Luke problem. So now, we're like benefitting each other. Hey, I even quit drinking because of it. That's a major benefit from this. No one knew about the whole benefit thing. Not even Grover. We swore not to tell anybody. So no flirting around each other when we're around family or friends. That was easy.

My cell rung, interrupting my thoughts. I reached over my bed to fetch my phone. It was a text message from Annabeth. I opened the message and on the screen were 3 stars. I smirked to myself and plopped off my bed. I got up and brushed my teeth thoroughly. I fixed my bed and threw the clothes that were sprawled all over the floor under my bed. I sprayed some ocean-breeze scent into my room, just to make it smell better. I examined my "clean" room and thought it was fine.

Ten minutes passed since I received that text and there was a ring at the door. I took my time walking there. By the time I got there, the person was angrily pounding on my door. I opened the door and there on my doorstep was Annabeth Chase.

She was already letting her hair out of her ponytail and mumbling a few words that aren't appropriate. "I expected you," I said in a deep, teasingly voice. Annabeth, however, didn't seem in such an amused state. She scoffed and pushed me further into the living room, slamming the door behind her.

"Should I even ask what happened?" I asked her. Though, it came out as a gasp because her lips were all over my neck at this point.

"Just shut up and do what you're supposed to do, Perseus," Annabeth growled while tugging on my shirt. Well, she only says my full name one time. And that's when she's angry.

Yep, that's our deal. I don't know how it got to this, but hey, who am I to complain?

Characters belong to Rick Riordan

So this is just a for-fun story that I've decided to start up. I was just finished watching Friends With Benefits and had a not-so-original idea to write this story. So I hope you enjoy this story so far. If you like this, you should check out my not-for-fun story, Reunited. (: Check it out, I update that every Friday/Saturday. I'll probably update this story every week or whenever I get a little tired from my other story. Subscribe, favorite, review, or whatever tickles your pickle! (:

~ Breana