"…I can't do this anymore, Luke," Annabeth sighed.
How could she tell him now? Now, after everything he'd said. He said he wanted to be with her forever, and that he loved her, but…
A coffee shop around the corner from their apartment building in San Francisco with a buck ninety-nine coffees that tasted like sour mud and no pastries didn't really scream, "I love you."
His expression turned hard. "What?"
"I just can't handle anymore…things with you!" she sighed regretfully.
"Baby," he took her hand form across the table. "They're just bumps in the road. We can get through them!"
"Since when was cheating on me a 'bump in the road'?" she asked.
"That only happened-" Luke started, but Annabeth finished for him. "Three times."
"But, Baby, they were all different girls!" he said, like it proved something.
"And is that supposed to make me feel better about it?" she asked.
"It proves that I never really liked any of them! And to my defense, I was drunk when I slept with that pink haired girl," he replied.
"I've always found out and we've always broken up, but somehow you always come and woo me and bring me back. I'm sick of it!" she replied and stood up, wrenching her hand out of his grip.
"Baby, please, sit down," he whispered. "Can't we just talk about this somewhere a little more…private?"
"What? You think I don't know you're sleeping with the girl who's sitting at the table farthest from us? What was the point of asking her to come here? Some brutal way to break up with her by showing her you already have a girlfriend?" she asked incredulously.
"Annabeth," he whispered pleadingly, but she took her bag from next to her chair and slung it over her shoulder.
"You won't see my at our house. Ever," she replied, and opened the door and left.
Annabeth was looking through her bag when she realized she'd left her car keys on the table.
She turned around and saw Luke stand up and the girl from the table next to the counter stand up.
She ran into his arms and he hugged her.
What the… she thought, and walked back up and opened the door slightly so she could hear what they were saying.
"…really think it worked?" the girl asked.
"Yeah, it did. Annabeth and I are done. Now," Luke backed away and touched the girl's stomach gingerly, "we can be together, Drew. Now we can raise our baby, as a couple."
And then he got down on one knee, pulled out a ring, and proposed to her.
She nodded, and with her right hand on her stomach, she held out her left hand.
Luke slipped the ring on her finger and they kissed, right there in the middle of the coffee shop.
Right there in front of Annabeth.
Everyone in the coffee shop had seen Annabeth's outburst and their break-up, Annabeth knew it. And that's why everyone was standing there, mouths open and wide-eyed, not clapping or moving anything.
Annabeth opened the door, walked in casually, whispered, "Sorry to intrude, I forgot my car keys." And left and saw a gaping pregnant girl, Drew, and Luke, staring at Annabeth as she closed the door behind her, tears streaming down her face.
"Percy, who are you talking to?" Rachel voice made Percy jump.
He spun around in his office chair at his desk and said, "Hang on one sec," to his business partner on the phone and put his phone down on his desk.
"Hey, Rachel," Percy smiled.
"Who are you talking to?" she asked again, a little impatiently.
"My business partner, Grover," Percy said. "He proposed to his girlfriend of two years and she said yes. They're getting married next October."
"Juniper?" Rachel asked.
Percy nodded. "She's scheduling the wedding, but they're going wedding gown shopping soon, so he wanted to know if I could cover the assignment we had on my own."
"He can't do that to you," Rachel said, leaning against the door frame. "We were going to visit your cousin, Thalia this weekend!"
"We will, we will, I just might…need to bring work with me." Percy replied. "May I get back to my phone call now?"
"Yeah, sure. Ask him how long wedding dress shopping will take," Rachel sighed as she turned to leave.
"It depends on the girl!" Percy called after her.
"Then tell him to put a time limit on it!" she yelled down to Percy.
He chuckled and continued his conversation with Grover.
"Was that Rachel?" Grover asked.
Percy sighed. "Yeah, yeah, it was. Don't worry about it, man, I'll do the work."
"You're new girlfriend of a month is already living in your house?" he asked.
"No, she slept over last night because we were up so late having date night in, she just crashed on the couch, so I took her into the spare bedroom," Percy shrugged. "No big deal."
"Why didn't you sleep in the same bed?" Grover asked teasingly.
"Neither of us are ready for that yet," Percy replied. "She'll be leaving to pack for our trip to meet Thalia and my mom over in San Francisco, and then we hop on a plane tomorrow morning."
"Dude," Grover said. "I didn't mean to put a burden on your vacation!"
"Nah, nah, man, it's cool," Percy said. "I've got it figured out."
"No, seriously, I'll do what Rachel said. I'll put a time limit on it, and we can come back some other day if she doesn't fall in love with one today," Grover said.
"Dude, if you do that, I will be forced to kill you," Percy smiled. "Don't let work hold up love."
"Neither should you," Grover replied.
Percy hesitated, but then he sighed. "We haven't really figured out if it's love yet. So, for now…it's safe."
Annabeth threw all her clothes out of Luke's dresser and into cardboard boxes.
She pulled her purses out of his closet and threw them in a box with her shoes and her jewelry box full of nothing but papers from her job, old notes from college that she wanted to keep, and a drawer designated to love notes from Luke.
She pulled the drawer out of the box and put it on Luke's bed. She scribbled on a sticky note; Give these to your fiancé! And left it beside the box.
"I'm so done with you, Luke Castellan!" Annabeth snarled, and stacked all her boxes and left the apartment, shoving them in the trunk of her car, and drove off to find her dad's house.
Percy shoved their suitcases in the compartment above the seats and closed the door.
He sat down next to Rachel and pulled out his laptop. He opened up the word document, found the chart, opened up the e-mail on his phone, opened PowerPoint and started typing away at the new idea for their company.
"Really, Percy, do you actually have to work on the plane?" Rachel whined.
"If we want to have a freer vacation, then yes, sweetheart, I do." He leaned over and kissed Rachel on the cheek.
He saw Rachel out of the corner of his eye. She pulled out her phone and started texting and sending e-mails.
He'd been working for a while and had almost finished the third chart when the flight attendant said, "Excuse me, sir, but I need you are your wife to power down your cell phones, please."
Rachel turned her cell phone off, blushed and looked out the window.
"Um, we're not married," Percy whispered as he turned off his smart phone. He basically knew the plan anyway. "She's my girlfriend."
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, looking embarrassed. "Complimentary wine?"
"I'd like one," Rachel said.
"We'll take it, yes," Percy smiled.
She nodded and walked off.
Rachel was silent the whole time, and when he tried to talk to her, she said, "Just let me be, Percy. Tell me when the wine gets here."
So, he finished all the charts, added a couple new slides to the PowerPoint, added the charts to the slides, and was revising the Word document for spelling errors when the flight attendant finally came back with two wine glasses and a bottle of red wine.
Percy pulled down their food trays from the seat in front of them, and she set the wine down and left them.
Percy poured Rachel some thick red wine and she drank from her glass quietly, not talking, not even looking at Percy.
"Did I do something wrong?" Percy asked her, leaning in.
"We'll talk after the plane ride," she replied coldly.
Percy had a small sip of his wine but mostly continued working.
After about two minutes, Rachel had already poured herself two more glasses of wine and was definitely bubbly, if not drunk.
She put her glass down and moaned, "Peeeeeeerrrrcccccyyyyyyy…"
He looked over at her. "Yes, Rachel?"
"What that flight lady said made me sad," she whispered.
"Why?" Percy asked. "Who were you texting?"
"No, not that! About us! Percy, why aren't we married yet?" she whispered, looking into his eyes.
"Because we don't even trust each other enough to sleep in the same bed. It's only been a month, Rachel," Percy said. "Don't you think you're rushing it a little bit?"
"No!" Rachel said. "But if you feel that way, then fine!" she turned away and pressed her face against the glass window.
"Rachel, I-" Percy started, but then he heard her snoring softly, and Percy took the glass out of her hand and sat it on her tray.
Does she really want to get married? Percy thought. I'll ask my mother when I get home.
Annabeth was still looking for a new apartment that was low priced and not in Luke's building during work the next day.
There was a loud knocking on her office door.
She switched from her house browsing to the window about the newest news story, and said, "Come in."
Her friend, Thalia Grace, came in and smiled at her. "Hey, Annie."
"Not in the mood," Annabeth grumbled and pulled back up her house search.
"What happened to you?" Thalia asked and came and stood behind her. "And why are you house hunting?"
"Luke cheated on me again, but this time he got this girl pregnant and he used, like, reverse psychology on me and made me break up with him in public. He'd invited her there to be there when we broke up, and as soon as I left the coffee shop she ran into his arms." Annabeth sighed.
"Ouch," Thalia said. "But you guys have always gotten back together after stuff like this! You guys will be okay."
"I'm not done, and did I not mention she's pregnant with his baby?" Annabeth asked.
"Finish your story," Thalia said.
"So, I forgot my car keys, so I went back to get them, when I saw him propose marriage to her." Annabeth sighed and slammed her head down on her desk.
"Oh…my God. Well, it's definitely over," Thalia said simply.
Annabeth picked her head up, looked at her, then groaned and hit her head back down on her desk again.
There was another knock on the door, but Annabeth felt too defeated to pick her head back up.
"Hey hey hey!" a peppy voice came from her doorway. "Am I welcome?"
"Selena," she sighed. "Come in."
"Whoa. What did I miss?" she asked.
"Luke dumped her for a girl he knocked up and they're getting married," Thalia said, describing the event with extreme lack of interest.
"Thanks, Thalia, now I truly know you care," Annabeth said sarcastically.
"That would be much more offensive if your head wasn't sitting on your desk." Thalia replied.
"Wait, who was this girl?" Selena asked anxiously.
Annabeth picked her head up and looked at her. She was holding a small brown paper bag, and she looked kind of scared.
"Um…I don't know, I think he said her name was Drew," Annabeth sighed.
Selena dropped the bag and squeaked. "No, no, no! Annabeth, I'm so sorry!"
"Wait, what?" she asked. "Hold on, Selena, why are you sorry?"
"Drew is my sister!" Selena said, and she ran out of Annabeth's office. "I'm so sorry!"
Thalia glanced at the paper bag, bent over and picked it up. She opened it, and her eye brows rose.
"What's in it?" Annabeth asked.
Thalia tilted the bag toward Annabeth and said, "Donuts." (A/N: Best solution to any problem? DONUTS! I know, I just felt like putting that)
The plane landed and Rachel seemed to be having a hangover.
They'd taken a taxi to their hotel, and Percy had had to take both their bags in, with some help from the bell hop.
"Ugh, Percy, my head hurts!" Rachel moaned.
"Take an Advil," Percy replied, finishing editing a sentence in the PowerPoint.
"I have jet lag. Would you get it for me?" she asked sweetly.
He chuckled, put down the laptop, filled a glass with tap water and found an Advil in her suitcase.
"You know," he said as she sat up and he handed her the water and the pill, "jet lag only happens when you're riding in a plane going form east coast to west coast or vice versa."
She smiled at him, and Percy found her right red hair seemed to be happier.
Percy went back to his laptop, when Rachel said, "You know, there's only one bed in this hotel room."
"I'll sleep outside of the covers," Percy replied simply, typing on more of the Word document.
He connected to the hotel's free Wi-Fi and e-mailed the PowerPoint to Grover.
He closed the laptop and smiled at his girlfriend. "Unless Grover isn't happy with my work, then I'm done."
"Really?" Rachel perked up even more. "Maybe we could go out tonight?"
"Um, aren't you still hung over?" Percy laughed slightly.
"Oh yeah," Rachel sighed. "My headache's gone, though, thanks to you."
"Yeah," Percy sighed.
"I guess you just can't stop saving me," Rachel sighed.
"Okay, Rachel, you don't need to remind me," Percy said. He really hated thinking about what would have happened if he hadn't been late from work that one day, Rachel probably would be dead.
He'd left work, and some guy had her on gun point, telling her to give him all her money.
Problem was, she'd left her purse in her house. So, Percy, had come out of his office, and they'd been across the street. He'd heard Rachel plead; tell the robber she didn't have any money.
Percy had reacted on instinct; he ran across the street and pushed Rachel onto the ground, then kicked the gun out of the guy's hand.
The gun had flown into the middle of the street, and a bus had run it over.
It nearly exploded, but it only popped.
"Get out of here before I call the police!" Percy had shouted, and the man ran off, pulling the hood closer over his face.
Rachel and Percy had started dating recently after.
"Percy," Rachel snapped him back to the present. "Can you get me some more water?"
Percy nodded, got up, took her glass, filled it, and gave it back to her. She smiled and said, "So, when so we meet your family?"
Annabeth had had it up to here with life.
She was sitting in her old bedroom in her dad's house and thinking about how this all tied together with Selena.
She was ignoring all the text messages she was getting form Selena and Thalia.
Her phone beeped again. She didn't even look.
Her phone beeped a second time. And a third time after that.
And it just kept on beeping, and beeping, and beeping…
She finally got so frustrated she grabbed her phone, put it on vibrate, yelled in frustration and threw her phone across the room.
It hit the opposite wall and shattered, sending bits of metal, wires, and small sparks across the floor of her bedroom.
She collapsed on her bed with a small, depressed moan. She stared at her ceiling and remembered when she used to come back in here after a bad day at school and shut off her computer and not talk to anyone.
She also remembered how her dad had come in and talked to her about it. She would complain about how she was one of the only kids who didn't have two parents.
He would always tell her that her mom wasn't good enough for her, but Annabeth knew that there was a woman out there that slightly resembled her, and she would never know it.
She sighed, trying to stop herself from thinking about her mother.
She picked up the remains of her cell phone and wanted to shove all the wires and metal pieces into her brain and see if they still shock.
She didn't know why she was so worried about losing Luke…maybe it was the same reason she kept going back to him…she loved him.
She instantly started laughing.
Good step, Annabeth, she thought happily. Making yourself laugh is good.
She walked out her room and decided to take a walk to Thalia's house. She would have gone to Selena, but she didn't want to risk her sister being there.
What am I going to do when I see Luke? Ignore him? Annabeth thought as she pulled out of the driveway and drove off down the street toward Thalia's house.
Percy was driving Rachel to his mom's house when he got a call from Thalia.
He put her on speaker. "You are on speaker, Thalia, so control yourself."
"Hello to you, too, Cousin," Thalia replied sarcastically.
Percy rolled his eyes as Thalia said, "Your mom called me to tell you that she had to go out to help my mom so she won't be in tonight or all day tomorrow."
"Help her with what?" Percy asked as Rachel's face fell.
"She got arrested for shop lifting, so she needs to bail her out," Thalia said simply.
Percy could hear her chewing, but Percy asked, "That shouldn't take more than an hour."
"She assaulted an officer because she didn't want to go to jail. That's what this is all about, really." Thalia confessed.
Percy groaned and Rachel threw her head back against her head rest.
"Yeah. I hate to break it to you, but your aunt is a total nut," Thalia sighed. "I can't even believe she's the same woman who raised me."
"So, what do we do now?" Percy asked, stopping at a red light.
"I guess this idea didn't even pass through your mind, but maybe you could introduce your girlfriend to your favorite cousin and swing by my house?" she asked.
"Sorry, Thalia," Percy sighed. "I guess I hadn't thought about that. I'd love for her to meet you."
"That's better," Thalia said. "Just swing on by now. Looking forward to seeing you, Cousin!" and she hung up.
"So, I guess we're going to meet you cousin, then," Rachel said. "We'll meet your mom later. Does she know about how you saved me?"
"Mom does, Thalia doesn't. Please, do me a favor and don't mention it," Percy begged.
"Why?" Rachel asked.
"Thalia will tease me, probably call me Romeo…it would just not end well," Percy sighed.
"Okay," Rachel replied. "I won't mention it, but you owe me one."
"Deal," Percy replied.
Annabeth pressed the intercom for Thalia's apartment outside the door. "Thalia, buzz me in!"
"Annabeth?" Thalia's voice popped and cracked over the old intercom.
"Yeah, I wanted to call…" she decided not to tell her about her tantrum. "My phone is dead. Can I come in or what?"
"Uh, sure, I guess," Thalia said.
The door clicked, and Annabeth pushed it open and walked up the stairs to the second floor. She rang the doorbell and Thalia said, "It's open!"
She turned the knob and pushed it open. She closed the door behind her and called, "Do you always keep it open?"
"Yeah," she replied from somewhere down the hall. "I figure that if you can't get in without a key or being buzzed in, then no one can rob me."
"Except for your neighbors," Annabeth said, stepping through the minefield of dirty clothes and empty cardboard boxes the littered the small hallway in front of her door. "Or people your neighbors buzz in!"
"Hey, would you lock that door behind you?" Thalia asked.
Annabeth smiled and locked the door. She continued walking down the hall until the possible harmful objects thinned and she approached the first doorway on her left; Thalia's living room, which was connected to her kitchen by a half wall, which on one side supported her television, and other side supported her kitchen counters and her stove.
She had a black leather L-shaped couch that was squished against in the living room that one would have to climb over the corner of it to walk into the kitchen from the living room.
Her bedroom was the last door down the hall, but before that on the right was the bathroom.
The door was closed and the water was running. "I need to tell you something, then ask you a favor."
"What?" Annabeth asked cautiously.
"Will you help me get rid of all the junk by the door?" she asked.
The water stopped as Annabeth asked, "When?"
"Like, right now," Thalia said as she opened the door.
"Why?" Annabeth asked.
"My cousin is coming over in, like, a minute and he's bringing his girlfriend and I don't want to seem like a total slob. The less she hates me the better," Thalia said.
"Yeah, sure. I can't imagine anyone hating you, Thalia," Annabeth replied as Thalia stepped in front of her and Annabeth followed Thalia down the hall as they picked up piles of clothes and trash bags.
"Just put all the clothes in the trash bags and all the stupid knick knacks in the boxes, packed as tightly as possible," Thalia instructed.
"There are knick knacks around here?" Annabeth asked.
"Shut up," Thalia mumbled.
They went through about twelve trash bags full of clothes and all the cardboard boxes were stuffed with stupid things like snow globes or small plush toys and baby toys.
"Why do you have all this stuff? Last time I check you didn't have any babies," Annabeth grunted as she haled the twelve trash bags as well as possible down the stairs.
"The clothes are for Good Will," Thalia replied. She was carrying all the boxes. "The toys are for various charities."
"Well look at you, Thalia," Annabeth teased.
"Oh, hush!" Thalia scolded. "Would you open the front door?"
Annabeth opened the door and walked outside…only to smash into someone and fall, dropping all the bags and nearly falling into Thalia behind her.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," a young man with black hair and sea green eyes was looking down at her. A red haired girl who was slightly shorter than him with green eyes stood behind him, looking worried.
"God, Percy, what the heck!" Thalia asked, outraged. "You could have split her skull open!"
"Leave him alone, Thalia, I'm fine," Annabeth muttered.
"Annabeth, Percy," she gestured to Percy, then back to Annabeth, "Percy, Annabeth."
"Hi," Percy said. He stuck his hand out for her, and she took it. He pulled her up and helped her gather all the trash bags.
"What did you do last night, Thalia?" Percy asked. "Throw a party?"
"Haha, Percy," Thalia replied and placed the boxes on the sidewalk. She grabbed the bags out of his hands and turned to Annabeth. "You sure you're okay?"
Annabeth was silent for a quick second, her glance lingering on Percy's eyes for just a second more, then she cleared her through and mumbled, "Yeah, yeah."
She gathered up the remaining bags of clothing and put them next to the boxes.
Annabeth looked back to find Percy looking at her, almost staring.
"And I'm Rachel," the red haired girl piped up.
"Oh, yeah," Percy said, looking away from Annabeth toward Rachel and ran a nervous hand through his hair. "This is my girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you, Thalia. I didn't know you had a guest," Rachel smiled innocently.
Then Annabeth realized Rachel was talking about her, and she held her wrist nervously, then she said, "I just popped in. I'll leave, don't worry about it."
"No," Thalia and Percy said.
Rachel glared at Percy, and Thalia gave him a shocked look.
Annabeth was slightly surprised, too.
"If you're here visiting, we're not going to kick you out. We can just go back to out hotel and come back later," Percy replied.
"Or," Rachel butt in, "she can leave, like she suggested, and I can meet your cousin."
"Rachel, don't be rude," Percy replied, irritated. "She was here first, and they're obviously friends. Let's just let them talk."
"Um, isn't it my house?" Thalia asked.
Annabeth looked over at her friend, and she was kind of frightened. She knew Thalia was going to cause a scene; the neighbors would be talking about it for weeks.
"I'll go, Thalia, it's no big deal," Annabeth replied.
"Thank you," Rachel said sweetly, and Annabeth couldn't help but want to stay.
"IT'S MY HOUSE!" Thalia shouted.
Everyone was quiet. "Annabeth, Percy, and Rachel, you're all staying, unless Rachel or Percy, you guys want to back out now?"
Rachel said nothing, just looked sour and turned away.
"I'm staying," replied Percy.
"We're staying," Rachel replied, annoyed.
"Right," Percy replied. He smiled at Annabeth, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling back, even with Rachel glaring at her.
Thalia led the way into her house, and Rachel walked next to Thalia. They talked for a little while. Thalia seemed really, really bored.
Annabeth followed, and she found herself standing next to Percy.
She glanced over at him, and he looked over and smiled at her. "Hey."
"Hi," Annabeth replied. Her felt her cheeks heat up and she knew that the red coloring was creeping up her neck, like it always did when she was embarrassed.
It happened a lot back when she had been dating Luke.
"So, how do you know my cousin?" Percy asked.
"Um, well, we met once at a party for our friend Selena, and we got along well, and Selena was happy that her two best friends from work were now friends, and then I found out that all three of us worked in the same office building. So, we're friends and business partners." Annabeth said as Rachel looked down at her from the staircase above them and glared at her.
Annabeth considered sticking her tongue out at her, but decided against it.
"Why does she hate me?" she asked Percy.
He seemed slightly caught off guard. "She's my girlfriend. Strange girls around her boyfriend must make her uncomfortable."
"Oh," Annabeth said. That's stupid. It's not like I'm going to do anything!
But the pounding in her chest and the embarrassed, happy feeling she was feeling currently, she knew that she was wishing she was wrong.
"So, what was your reason for coming here?" Percy asked.
"You like asking questions, don't you?" she replied.
"I'm a business man," he shrugged. "I like to know stuff."
"Well, I'm here because Thalia is my friend," Annabeth replied.
"If you just wanted to be with a friend, why not go to Selena?" Percy asked curiously, but slightly teasing.
Annabeth sighed. "Her sister was probably there."
Her eyes grew wide when she realized that had actually just come out of her mouth.
"What's wrong with her sister?" Percy asked, genuinely curious now.
Before Annabeth could answer, thankfully, they were at Thalia's front door.
Percy opened the door for her, and Annabeth stepped in. She told Percy not to lock the door behind him.
They walked down the now clear hallway and she directed him in to the living room.
Percy sat down next to Rachel, who was chattering away to Thalia, and Thalia was sitting there, nodding and saying, "Uh-huh."
Annabeth said, "I'm just going to go use the bathroom."
"I'll show you where it is," Thalia jumped up at the opportunity to leave.
Thalia walked her down the hall. "If you leave, I swear to God, I will pound your head in at work tomorrow."
"Please, Thalia," Annabeth begged. "She hates me, and I just want to go!"
"So do I!" Thalia whispered harshly. "But I can't leave, so neither can you!"
"Fine, Thalia, fine!" Annabeth sighed, and they walked back into the living room.
Rachel and Percy were kissing on the couch, and Annabeth leaned over to Thalia and whispered, "I'm just going to go now."
This time, Thalia didn't stop her as she turned and walked out the front door, down the stairs and outside, feeling heartbroken for the second time that week.
Why are you so desperately sad? Annabeth thought helplessly as she turned on her car and drove off, crying, not really going anywhere.
Percy pulled away and looked around for the blonde haired girl, Annabeth.
He saw Thalia standing in the doorway, looking uncomfortable, and he got up and walked over to her, feeling furious at Rachel and mad at himself for kissing back.
Percy couldn't explain why he felt so ashamed for kissing his girlfriend in front of a total stranger, but maybe it was the part about how she was a stranger.
Maybe he wanted to get to know her better.
Maybe…he wanted to kiss her instead.
Percy was confused, but not mad. Definitely confused, definitely not mad about his feelings. He was mad at Rachel for making him kiss her, which was all he could be mad at.
He burst out the door just in time to see her drive off in her car.
He hopped into his car just as Thalia came outside, and pressed all her weight against the door so it couldn't be opened form the inside.
Rachel slammed into it from the inside. She had to push it open, but Thalia kept it closed, and she called to him, "Go get her, Cousin!"
Percy smiled at his cousin and closed the door. Stuffing the key in the ignition, he drove off, following Annabeth's car just as it turned the corner.
Annabeth had just sat down at the bar stool and ordered a drink when the door burst open and the black haired, sea green eyed boy from Thalia's apartment came tumbling in.
He looked around and spotted her on the stool. He walked in and sat down next to her.
"That drink's on me," Percy said.
"How do you know I've even ordered a drink yet?" she asked coldly.
"Have you ordered a drink yet?" he asked.
"Yes," she admitted sourly.
"Then it's on me." He winked and when the drink came he ordered another just like it and gave the woman his credit card.
She drank form the side of the glass and swallowed it in about four gulps. She put the glass back down on the counter and looked over at him.
He was staring at her, seemingly awestruck.
She swallowed hard to try to get the lump in her throat to disappear before she said, "What?"
"Nothing," Percy said self-consciously, looking away from her. "Um, nothing, nothing, it's just…I've never seen a girl drink like that."
"Then you've never seen your cousin drink," Annabeth replied simply.
When the woman came back with Percy's drink, he ordered two more and she handed him back his credit card and winked. "On the house."
Percy was speechless as she walked away.
"Yeah," Annabeth sighed as she stole his drink. "Good looks get you far in here. One of the younger bartenders gets me at least four free every time I come."
She took a sip, and he muttered in agreement. He looked down, saw his drink was missing, looked over at her and said, "Hey!"
He put his hand on the drink, and their fingers touched.
Annabeth stared at him, and thought repeatedly, he has a girlfriend, he has a girlfriend, he has a girlfriend!
He cleared his throat and she pulled her hand away. He finished his drink and the next two came along.
They drank to nothing but the sound of the ice hitting the sides of their small, glass cups.
Percy put his glass down. Annabeth put her's down too, and looked around.
He turned to her, and he was about to say something when his cell phone rang.
"You should…probably get that," Annabeth whispered, and when he nodded and pulled the phone out of his pocket, he answered it and said, "How did shopping go?"
As he turned away, Annabeth got up, grabbed her car keys, got up and left, leaving Percy alone to talk to Rachel.
He's in a relationship, she sighed. Just get up and move on.
"Okay, man, you can get back to your fiancé now. I have to call Rachel and tell her where I've been," Percy replied.
"Okay, man. Wait…why doesn't she know?" Grover asked.
"What do you mean?" Percy asked.
"Well, aren't you two, like, always together?"
"Not…always, but yeah, we are together a lot."
"Oh…I guess I just assumed that you were in your hotel room with her."
"Well, that's where I'm going. I guess I'm becoming predictable," Percy sighed. "Bye, Grover. Tell Juniper that a purple tinted wedding dress isn't unnatural at all. Bye."
"Bye," Grover replied and hung up.
"Sorry, that was-" Percy started and turned around.
Annabeth wasn't there.
She wasn't there!
Didn't she know he had come all the way down here to find her? Didn't she know that he wanted to spend time with her?
How could she know, he thought. I never told her.
But why would she leave?
He got up, slid his credit card in his back pocket, finished his drink and left, leaving a twenty dollar tip for the bartender.
He found her car was missing, again, and as he got into his car to try to find her, he got a phone call from Rachel.
He picked it up reluctantly. "Hello?"
"Where on Earth have you been? You're cousin basically locked me inside while you drove off to God knows where, and now she finally lets me leave! Where are you?! Come get me right now!" she screeched.
"Sorry, Rachel, I just-" Percy started, but she interrupted him. "Um, no. I don't care if you're sorry. I don't care if you love me or anything like that. Just come get me, now!"
"Yes, Rachel, I'll be right there," he sighed, and hung up.
He drove to Thalia's apartment, and when he arrived he saw Rachel, screaming at Thalia.
"You're ride's here, Princess! Get in and boss you're driver around some more!" Thalia yelled.
"He's my boyfriend, you brat!" Rachel shouted back.
"Really? No one would know that, seeing how you treat him like a dog!" Thalia shouted after her and Rachel walked up to the car.
"I am the best thing that ever happened to Percy! Best thing, and he knows, you know it, so just back off, crazy animal!" Rachel shouted to Thalia as Rachel stepped in the car.
"DRAMA QUEEN!" Thalia shouted after them and Percy pulled away, driving back to their hotel.
They said nothing. Absolutely nothing. He though she was going to scream. She didn't. He thought she was going to smack him. She didn't.
Once they were in their hotel room, however, she turned around and smacked him.
He rubbed his cheek as she hissed, "How could you leave me there with her!"
"I'm sorry, Rachel," Percy started, but them Rachel began ranting.
"She called me names, said you made the choice in leaving me like that, said you were happy that you had gone! But I knew she was making it up! I called her a liar! She screamed at me, and I screamed back. Then she let me call you."
"Rachel, I understand you're angry, but-"
"I'm not finished!" Rachel hissed. "When I called you, you sounded scared. Scared. Why on Earth would you be scared?!"
"I was scared of this," Percy gestured to her with his hands.
"You insensitive little jerk!" she screeched, and she slapped him again.
"Rachel, listen to me!" Percy yelled.
"No!" Rachel shouted. "You're going to listen to me!"
"Not this time!" Percy shouted.
"WE ARE OVER, PERCY JACKSON! DO YOU HEAR ME?" Rachel shouted. "WE ARE DONE!"
Those words hit Percy like a knife to the gut. He stepped back slightly.
"Take your stuff and leave," Rachel said quietly. "Do it now, before I start yelling again."
Percy hadn't even unpacked his suitcase. He slid his laptop into his laptop bag and picked it up. He carried his suitcase in his other hand.
Rachel opened the door for him. "There's nothing for me here," she whispered, and she closed the door behind him.
He staggered down the hall to the elevator. He pressed the lobby button and the elevator dinged closed.
He rode it down in silence. It opened, and he staggered out. He felt like he was…well, he didn't feel anything.
Could he even feel anymore?
Percy hadn't realized he was outside the hotel until a man had run outside and asked him if he was checking out.
"Yeah," he was able to mutter. "Just me, not her."
He nodded and he ran back inside.
Percy dropped his suitcase on the sidewalk. He put his laptop down beside it, and then he sank down on the concrete.
The sun was setting over the horizon, and Percy sighed.
He held his head in his hands and stared at the street.
He got up then, and leaving his suitcase but taking his laptop, he walked down to the bar he'd just recently been at.
He ordered three more beers, and the woman gave one of them to him, free.
He drank until he could barely keep his head up, one out of every three free, until it was one out of four.
Right when he was about to order an eighth, maybe ninth, maybe even tenth, Percy had stopped caring after four, he got a buzz from his cell phone.
He looked at the text message. It was from Thalia.
A phone number.
Percy knew whose number that was as soon as he saw it.
He got another message from Thalia.
An address.
He knew it was her's quicker than he could count to two, but in this state it wasn't too impressive.
Then another message from Thalia.
Go get her, Cousin.
He sprang up from his stool, placed a twenty and a ten on the counter, and ran off down the street with his laptop.
He came to the address and walked up to the front door of the house.
He rang the door bell, and Annabeth opened the door.
Her eyes grew wide. "Percy?"
He stepped toward her, cupped her face, and kissed her.
She started to pull away, when Percy whispered, "Rachel dumped me."
Annabeth was against his lips in a second. Between kisses, she said, "I'm. So. So. Sorry. Percy."
He buried his face against her neck and whispered, "I was heartbroken. Then I remembered you."
"And?" Annabeth asked quietly.
"Annabeth, I wasn't sad anymore. I had hope," he lifted his head up and pressed his forehead to her's. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Annabeth replied, and they kissed again.
They kissed for a long time, before Annabeth pulled him into her house and closed the door behind them.
Ta-da! The long awaited one-shot is finally created!
I have to give thanks to this idea to SerenaRose3, who reviewed my Mark of Athena story and said: I love it! Really good! You should write a Percabeth romance story.
Well, SerenaRose3, that's exactly what I did!
I also wanted to tell you what happens to them...
Percy moved to San Fransico to be with Annabeth after taking her back to New York for Grover and Juniper's wedding. ;)
Luke and Drew break up after the child is born; a baby girl named Natalie.
Rachel moved back to New York and took Percy's old job.
Thanks for Reading!