In Between Space and Time WIth You
"Who's this?" I asked my father in a voice that made it clear that I would have a very hard time forgiving him. My dear father looked crestfallen to his right, only to quickly switch his gaze to the left. Everywhere to avoid my flashing eyes.
'Who is this?!" I repeated with emphasis on every single word. The fury boiled inside me like a volcano, and it felt as if everyone in a short distance from me could sense how much I wanted to scream and shout.
In front of me stood a guy my age. He had raven black hair, eyes like a puppy in a beautiful sea-green color and was in general hot as hell. There were nothing wrong with his looks, no, not at all. He was actually utterly perfect in all areas, clearly one of those guys I would check out. Surely I would happen to look down in a girly magazine in, oh I don't know, maybe ten years and realize he's the new Justin Bieber. Surely I would be completely fine with it too, to check out the guy in secret. Note in secret, but no...
My beloved father had just told me that he was going to live with us!
"I'm right in front of you, you know," the guy said in a voice that belonged to the red carpet among crowds of howling fans, and definitely not in a half-dirty kitchen with yellow-painted walls. "You can be polite and ask for my name." He looked a little curiously at me, and I felt that the blood pumped faster through my veins. My face slowly adopted a marvelous red color.
Once again I looked at my father, who intentionally averted his eyes and instead observed a fly in the kitchen's darkest corner. I think he wished he was a fly in that moment.
"Annabeth," he said tentatively. I directed my gaze at him, and a pair of sad brown eyes met my steely gray.
I didn't want to live with this guy whose name I didn't even know. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that my dad had agreed with his friend that his son could live in our home without discussing it with me first. I wanted to be alone, and my dad knew it.
But when I looked at my dear father all of my arguments went up in smoke. He hadn't been himself since my mom had disappeared. And I knew he worried that I would turn out like him - with no stable work and a worried expression - or worse.
Maybe I would end my days as a crazy we hermit on Antarctis with only the penguins to keep me company.
My heart melted, and with that, my gaze.
"I can give it a try," I mumbled. My dad's eyes beamed, like they had only done when mom was still with us. Two tiny suns, placed in my fathers face.
But if he's the sun, what does that leave me? I'm sure dad would assure me that I was his own little star, his beautiful little daughter. But wasn't that all parents duty? To think that their own child was the most beautiful and wonderful kid ever existed?
I know what I am, I thought. A black hole, swallowing everything in its path.
I was alone with the guy in my room. He watched my cobalt blue walls critically and the books that dominated every inch of the room. It was pretty clear that the person who lived here was slightly crazy.
I gathered myself.
Okay, I thought sorting through my mind. Think big, think optimistic. You don't want him to believe that you're a ancient granny reincarnated in a seventeen year old body.
I drew a deep, calming breath, that got stuck in my throat when I realized the guy was staring at me with a puzzled and wondering expression.
He opened his moth, and I could tell that his lips were moving.
Damn, he had a hot mouth.
He looked at me again, but not the same way as before. He looked more irritated. Once again he moved his lips, but no sound could be heard. I could only catch a few words and phrases.
"...answer...how...me neither..."
Black and red spots were dancing in my view. A yellow light billowed around the guy's head like a halo. I laughed, and pointed at it to show my experience. He stared at me angrily, but his furious gaze was soon replaced by a concerned look.
My head throbbed and it felt like a knife was sawing my head in two. The awful pain was getting worse by the minute, and it felt like I was on top of a roller-coaster, just before it tipped down in a low roll.
I saw the guy with the raven black hair close the distance between us gingerly with his arm raised to support me, but it was already too late.
The pain I my head reached its climax and the flickering lights I've seen earlier shone with full power. The floor rushed towards my eyes, but was quickly replaced by blissed darkness that clouded my whole soul. I let my mind embrace the dark.
Anything to escape the excruciating pain.
I woke up to the sound of his voice.
"Annabeth... Annabeth," he half sang melodiously. I forced my eyes to open, but shut them fast. Too bright for my taste.
"What's the time?" I asked thickly and grimaced when the vibrations my voice caused made my head pound. "Where am I?"
"Home," the guy replied matter-of-factly.
I forced myself to open my eyelids again.
The guy stood bent over me in - to my own surprise - my own bed. The well-known environment made me slowly relax.
The guy looked down at me and asked: "How do you feel?"
I ignored his question and peered down at myself. Hmm... I still had two arms, two legs and all fingers and toes intact. From that I could draw the conclusion that he's not a crazy axe killer. "Pessimist," I heard him mutter in a low but amused voice.
"What?" I asked. He looked at me with his adorable sea-green eyes that looked so much like a lost baby seal. The image was soon destroyed by the mischievous lopsided grin he unleashed a couple of seconds later.
"You've got all of your body parts left," he noted. "Does that mean I'm not a crazy axe killer?"
I twirled my blonde hair around my finger and sat up. "Mm."
"How about mind reader?"
I stared at him, at loss for words. Was he serious?
"I have my thoughts about that." I replied. He grinned again, like he actually could read my mind.
Eager to leave the topic what kind of lunatic he actually was I asked: "What happened really? I can only remember that I saw a bunch of weird lights and then collapsed."
He thought about my question for a while, and then said gravely:
"Yeah, that was basically what happened. I stood there, wondering what I'd done to piss you off, and when I turned you stood there and giggled like my sister when she watched My Little Pony. You were pretty horrifying in that moment," he added.
I sat for a while and thought about what he had meant when I actually realized what he had said.
"You're making fun of me, aren't you?" I said sullenly. His funeral face was replaced by his usual lopsided grin.
"Always," he said.
I sighed and rested my forehead in my palms. He was so annoying!
But still...
"I guess I owe you an apology," I said quietly. He looked at me weirdly.
"Nah, not really. I get your reaction."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Could he imagine himself in my shoes? To be forced to live with a complete stranger without any warning?
"I kind of understand," he continued. "I know that I'm hot, but I've never actually got a girl to stop breathing." He smirked at me again.
Of course he can't know how I feel, I thought angrily. It was only naive of me to actually believe that he could.
I took another deep breath, calmed myself, got my anger to sink back.
"I'm sorry," I tried again, saying each word slowly and carefully. "I made a bad first impression on you, but it wasn't you I was angry at. I was impolite and rude and that is what I'm apologizing for, not your appearance even though-" I cut myself off quickly. Stupid Annabeth, I scolded myself. No need to make his ego even bigger.
He didn't use the obvious hole in my armor as I'd expected. Instead he surprised me by asking: "You read a lot, right?"
I didn't know what to answer him, except for the truth. "Yeah, why?"
He peered at me with his green eyes.
"I can hear it in the way you talk. It's bookishly."
I suppressed a giggle.
"What?," he asked confused.
"That's not a word," I explained through suppressed laughter.
He looked at me surprised. "Oh."
I giggled even more at that. I couldn't keep it inside me. Laughter that's been bubbling inside me for so many sad years escaped through my lips. I enjoyed it, I hadn't felt like this in a long, long time. Completely free.
The guy looked at me confused, but then smiled.
"You, I can agree that we had a bad start. But we can start over, you know. From the beginning."
I looked at him, and my laugh died away.
A new start, a new beginning.
The seriousness of the situation laid heavy in the air, and the silence stretched out to what seemed to be an eternity.
We looked each other straight in the eyes. A pair of sea-green eyes versus a pair of steely gray.
I stretched out my right hand, my palm open. Would he take it?
He looked at me. Then, slowly he took my hand in his own and held it in a firm grip.
A smile was tugging in the corner of his mouth, but he managed to keep his face straight.
"Percy," he said. "Pleasure to meet you."