A/N: Just an idea I had after finishing (and mentally rejecting) The Burning Maze. This is just a little college AU fic where they're just regular people, doing regular things. Hope you all enjoy!
Piper had never been a morning person. She had never wanted to be a morning person. She had never been the type of person to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn, stretch out, and say, "You know what would make this freezing-ass morning even better? Putting on a bra and going for a run before the sun starts melting the frost off the ground."
As far as she was concerned, mornings were good for one thing and one thing only: Sleeping. She despised morning people, with their cheery attitude and coffee mugs with sayings like, The Early Bird Catches the Worm. The only reason the early bird caught the damn worm was because the worm was still sleeping, like all sane creatures.
In fact, the only morning person who Piper could even stand to be around was Annabeth, her roommate. Annabeth had willingly registered for an 8am class. She'd continually stated that she didn't have a choice, it was a prerequisite for advanced architecture classes she'd begin taking the following semester for her degree, but still. Piper knew. Annabeth would never be the girl spotted dashing haphazardly across the quad in her pajamas while chugging a redbull because she had hit the snooze button on her alarm one or five too many times and was now late to class – not that this had ever happened to Piper. More than once or twice, anyway.
But the painful truth of the matter was that this morning – a Monday morning, no less – Piper had set her alarm for 5am, three hours earlier than normal. She wasn't thrilled about this by any means, but she had to admit that it was her own damn fault. She had a paper due in – oh, about five hours – and she was only halfway done. She'd spent the weekend binge watching Netflix, catching up on all her favorite shows. The hours had slipped away like water down a drain, and suddenly it was 9pm Sunday night and Piper hadn't written a damn thing since Friday afternoon. Shit.
She'd considered e-mailing her professor and faking a sudden illness – the flu would probably do it – but then he'd just ask her to e-mail her paper to him. He was a stickler for deadlines, and nothing short of a natural disaster would convince him not to fail her. Pulling an all-nighter had seemed like a good idea for the first five minutes, until Annabeth had decided to spend the night in her own bed for once, instead of banging her boyfriend. And since Annabeth had to have absolute dark when she slept, there was no way Piper could get away with working on her paper.
And so there she was, trudging out of her dorm room disgustingly early on a Monday morning, backpack slung over her shoulders and her dark hair clipped up in a something resembling a bun. She trekked from her dorm room and cut across the jogging path that circled the quad. A lot of the athletes and crazy people used it first thing in the morning, but Piper prided herself on her sanity, so she never even glanced at it unless she needed it as a shortcut. Which she most certainly did this morning.
She made her way to her favorite library. This one was smaller than the main library most people preferred, but it had a coffee bar on the bottom floor and a great view of campus on the third. It was also quiet, so it was more conducive to hammering out a paper last minute than the other one. Plus, it was closer to her dorm room, which made it Piper's preference by default.
The early October morning felt frigid compared to the warm weather the students had been enjoying just the week before, and Piper shivered in her sweatshirt and leggings. At least her feet were warm – her favorite fuzzy Hello Kitty socks always did the job, and paired with her Ugg knockoff boots (she refused on principle to buy anything name brand, unless it was something cool like Hello Kitty) she could tromp through a sheet of ice and a foot of snow and her feet would never know the difference.
She pushed her way into the library, grabbed a free cup of coffee after flashing her student ID at the pale and tired-looking student worker behind the counter, and headed up to the third floor, where she was guaranteed peace and quiet.
She plopped down in a chair near the window, booted up her laptop, and took a sip of her coffee. She'd dumped a bunch of cream and sugar into it, since the only way she could drink the stuff was if she fooled her brain into thinking it was actually dessert, so the color was a pale golden brown, and it was nearly as thick as a Frappuccino. And it was perfect.
Lovely.
Once her laptop was ready, she stuck her earbuds in her ears, blared her favorite pop playlist, and got to work.
All was well and good for the first hour and a half. Nothing distracted her. She worked steadily. Her page count slowly increased, and her word count sped ahead. She could do this. She was doing this.
And then it happened.
She had just looked up to take the last sip of her coffee when a speck of movement out the window caught her eye. She blinked. The students with 7am classes had already made their trek across campus, and the window for 8am classes wouldn't clear for another forty minutes. So what the hell –
And then she realized it was someone running the jogging path. She narrowed her eyes, wondering who was crazy enough to brave the trail at 7:15 on a freezing morning. All she could tell was that whoever was running was doing it shirtless, which made them even crazier. She vaguely wondered if she should alert campus police that there was some lunatic running around in the frost, but before she could roll her eyes at herself, she realized she recognized the figure.
It was the cute but quiet blond guy in her history class. The very class she was writing the paper for. Jason, right? He always sat in the back and kept his head down, but when Professor Rodriguez had a question, Jason always nailed it on the first try. Normally quiet and brainy guys weren't Piper's type. She'd always tended to go for bad boys, the kind of guy who'd made her dad threaten to send her to reform school on more than one occasion. He'd always blamed her boyfriends for Piper's wild child behavior in high school, never quite realizing that Piper liked them simply because they reminded her of herself and never presented much of a challenge. Since starting college, Piper had kept up her streak with poor decision making when it came to guys. She'd dated a guy in a heavy metal rock band the year before, who had gotten kicked out of school when word got around that he'd cheated on his finals. She'd dated another guy who had gotten his license suspended after he was caught drunk driving by the cops. And then there was the guy who'd already had a girlfriend and hadn't bothered to inform Piper of this fact. Piper may have made some questionable decisions, but she'd never been the 'other woman' in a relationship. And she never wanted to be again. And so this year, she'd sworn off guys until she could get her head on straight.
And now Jason Grace was running around the jogging trail half-naked. And she couldn't look away.
Even from the third floor she could see the planes of his back and the curves of his shoulders.
"No," she told herself firmly, and painfully wrenched her gaze away, "stop it. You have a paper to finish. Besides, he's not your type."
And so she resolutely went back to her paper. It helped a lot when Jason ran out of sight. It did not help so much when he decided to take a second lap around the track.
At least he'd given Piper enough time to reach her conclusion.
As he came back into view, she grabbed her phone, tapped the camera app, and zoomed in, focusing on Jason. She could see sweat pouring down his face despite the chilly morning, and his short blond hair was ruffled up from the wind. And she couldn't help but think of another situation where he might be all sweaty with messy hair. And with a jolt, she realized she wouldn't mind being the other one in that situation.
"Oh gods," she muttered. "Not now."
His sweats hung off his hips and clung to his ass – his very round, very firm ass. She bet she could bounce a nickel off it and it'd come straight back to her.
She shook her head, trying to focus on her conclusion, but she couldn't take her eyes off the blond boy. And then, thankfully, he disappeared out of her view, and she hurried to finish her paper. She half-hoped he'd make another lap, but he didn't. Clearly his early morning run was done, and so was she.
She did a quick edit and proofread, and then decided to just e-mail Rodriguez her paper while she was thinking of it. And with that, she returned to her dorm room to get ready for the day. And as she changed into jeans and a sweater, it occurred to her that her dorm window overlooked the jogging trail. Not that she was going to get up early just to watch a boy run by. That would be crazy. Right?
***
It was official. Piper had gone crazy. For the next week, she woke up to her alarm at 7am on the dot, climbed out of bed, and sat by the window, just waiting for a certain blond boy to run past her building. Her dorm room had an even better view of the trail than the library, and she could huddle up next to the window, wrapped in her comforter and sipping a cup of coffee or hot chocolate as she spied on Jason.
She'd expected him to take a day off from running, but every morning like clockwork there he was, running straight past her building, hair dark with sweat no matter the temperature. Some mornings he wore a t-shirt or tank top, but other mornings he ran shirtless. Those were her favorite mornings.
The following Tuesday morning was warmer than it had been the last week, and the sun shone down brilliantly on the quad. The leaves of the maple trees lining the path burned orange and red, reminding the campus that it was autumn, even if the temperature was in the sixties at 7 in the morning. But Piper wasn't entirely buying it. She had thrown her window open and foregone the comforter, instead choosing to perch in the window seat as she waited for Jason to make his usual two laps around the path.
And then her dorm room door swung open and Annabeth sauntered in, her long blonde hair a tumble of curls and bedhead. "Morning," she chirped as she kicked the door shut and began pawing through her closet.
Piper's stomach dropped. The last week she had avoided being caught by Annabeth by pure luck. Annabeth usually spent the night at Percy's, and almost never stopped by the dorm room before her first class. And on the odd night when she did sleep in her own bed, she was out of the room by 6:45 so she could hit the gym and get breakfast before her first class. But apparently this morning she had decided to forgo the gym in favor of…what?
"What're you doing here?" Piper asked, trying to sound totally casual and not like she was about to totally perv on some guy.
"I forgot to grab a change of clothes yesterday afternoon," Annabeth explained. "I can't believe I blanked on that, but there you go. Anyway, why are you up so early? I thought for sure you'd still be curled up in bed with the covers pulled over your head."
"Oh, you know, just trying to start healthy habits and a better routine."
"I see." Annabeth peered into Piper's mug. "So that's why you're drinking hot cocoa with the mini marshmallows. Healthy habits and a better routine."
Piper fought back a blush. "Well, you know, a girl's gotta splurge sometimes."
"Uh huh. And you chose to splurge on hot cocoa and not on, say, a chocolate covered donut or vegetarian lasagna with extra cheese?"
Both sounded amazing, but Piper wasn't about to admit it. If she was lucky, Annabeth would be dressed and out of the room before Jason came into sight.
"I'll stick with hot cocoa," Piper said offhandedly, taking a sip from her mug. She stared resolutely out the window as if she was merely people watching. Behind her, she could hear the rustling of clothes and the scratching of jean zippers as Annabeth changed into a fresh outfit.
"Whatever. You do you and all that crap," Annabeth responded. "But I still don't think you're telling me the whole story."
Before Piper could think of some other bullshit excuse to try, she spotted a tall, blond guy jogging down the path, muscled legs pumping. She couldn't help but lean forward in interest, and Annabeth caught on at once.
"Oooh, so that's why you're up so early. You're totally perving on some guy!" Annabeth cackled and plopped down on the window seat with Piper. "The blond? Oh, hey, I know him. That's Jason Grace. He's on the swim team with Percy."
That explained the body. Even though Piper was firmly against perving on her friends' boyfriends, she had to admit that Percy was smoking hot. But so, apparently, was Jason. Thank you, swim team.
"Is he?" Piper murmured before licking hot cocoa from her lips. Her gaze was planted firmly on Jason now, and she wasn't about to look away.
"He is," Annabeth confirmed. "And roommates with Percy."
"Oh." Piper frowned. "If he's roommates with Percy, then where does he go when you stay over?"
"He bunks at a friend's place," Annabeth explained.
"A friend's place? Like a girlfriend?" Piper felt her stomach churn sour with jealousy. She had never given a thought to whether or not Jason was seeing anyone. She hadn't even considered the fact that maybe, just maybe, she had a little crush on the cute but nerdy boy who sat in the back of the classroom. And she hated it so damn much. It made her feel like she was 12-years-old and mentally planning her wedding to her dad's hot teenage costar. Her first crush, completely unrequited. Shit.
"No, I think just a guy friend. His roommate is always over at his girlfriend's place, so there's usually a free bed for Jason."
"Oh." The tension in her shoulders loosened, and Piper let out a whoosh of breath. "That's nice of his friend. Especially since you and Percy act like you're sex-starved about ninety percent of the time."
Annabeth smirked at her. "And yet, you're the one who's been stalking my boyfriend's roommate."
"I'm not stalking Jason," Piper retorted. "I'm just…watching him. Appreciating him. I can appreciate a hot guy, can't I?"
"Of course, Pipes." Annabeth nudged her. "But maybe you should think about doing more than just appreciating him. Do you want me to introduce you?"
"Gods, no! I couldn't – I wouldn't – no. No," Piper added more firmly. "I'd prefer to just appreciate him from a distance, where I can't ruin his life and he can't ruin mine."
Annabeth sighed. "Piper, Jason's not like your other boyfriends. He's really nice. A little uptight, but nice. He'd actually be a good change from the other guys you've dated."
"No thanks. I'll just perv on him in secret, thank you very much."
"Fine." Annabeth let out a long breath. "So, you want to meet in the library at one today?"
"Sure," Piper shrugged. "You need help with French?"
"Please?"
Piper's lips twitched. Annabeth was smart, brilliant actually. But the one subject she had trouble with was French. And that just happened to be Piper's natural gift. She had grown up speaking the language, thanks to her jet-setting supermodel mother, and had spent much of her summer vacations in France, pretending to be a Parisian local and ignoring the fact that both her parents were famous. She much preferred going local and incognito. People tended to treat her differently once they knew her father was Tristan McLean, blockbuster action star, and her mother was the supermodel known solely as Aphrodite, infamous for a million broken hearts. People either expected her to be spoiled and stuck-up, or they expected her to smash in paparazzi cameras and kick dirt in the faces of people wanting an autograph. She'd had people who she thought were friends use her for anything and everything they could think of, from scoring designer clothes courtesy of her mother, to getting front row tickets at a rock concert thanks to her father and his millions of famous friends.
Piper was yanked out of her reverie by a sudden movement out the window; Jason had apparently finished his jog, and instead of making his way back to his dorm room like normal, he had plopped down on the grass and began to stretch out.
Piper leaned forward with interest. "Well, this is new."
Annabeth snorted in amusement. "It's just stretching."
"Yeah, but look at those muscles."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You really need to get laid. And I think you need to get laid by Jason."
"Not happening."
"Mmm hmm. Well, I gotta run. Don't want to be late for class."
***
"Oh gods, this was a setup, wasn't it?"
As promised, Piper had met up with Annabeth at the library – the smaller one, the quieter one, the one with the coffee bar – at 1pm on the dot. But the girls had barely crossed the threshold from the stairs when Piper had caught a flash of blond hair and high cheekbones – Jason.
"No, I swear, Pipes, it wasn't," Annabeth hissed, even as Piper spun on her heel and marched back down the stairs. Annabeth hurried after her. "What would I even say to get Jason to the library? 'Hey, Jason, I know this place where you can study in quiet. By the way, how would you like to bang my roommate'?" She raised her eyebrows at Piper as they reached the ground floor. "Anyway, you said you didn't want me to introduce you to Jason. So, I'm not going to introduce you. Though I do think you should meet him, since you've been spying on him for – how long now?"
"Eight days," Piper mumbled, cheeks flaming red.
"Look, the swim team has practice at four this afternoon. They always do conditioning on the lawn near the pool. I usually pop in for a bit so I can watch my boyfriend get put through his paces. It's really entertaining."
Piper gaped at her.
"And hot. Really hot. So you should come. I can introduce you to Jason afterwards. And it'll be in a total normal setting. You can just say that I dragged you along to watch Percy with me, because I wanted some company or whatever. Nice and simple."
Piper chewed on her bottom lip. "And you won't, like, shove me at Jason and scream, 'get some, Piper'?"
Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest. "Now really, Pipes, would I do a thing like that?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I so would. But I won't. I'll be nice and polite and respectful. God forbid you get left alone with a nice, quiet guy for once in your life."
"Getting left alone with guys is usually how my worst mistakes get made."
"Yes, but they weren't nice and quiet."
"The nice and quiet ones are always the worst," Piper grumbled, but nevertheless agreed to meet Annabeth in the bleachers outside the pool later that afternoon.
Clouds rolled in mid-afternoon, and humidity choked the air like syrup. Piper sat on the bleachers outside the pool with Annabeth, both girls tugging their shirts away from their bodies to keep the thin cotton from sticking. Annabeth had knotted her thick hair on top of her head, but it had still poofed out like a cloud.
Annabeth flicked a strand of hair out of her face and grimaced at Piper. "I hate having curly hair. You're so lucky yours is straight."
Piper tugged on her dark braids. "Yeah, but my hair doesn't do anything. It just kind of…hangs."
"I wish mine just kind of hung."
Piper opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could the door to the pool opened and the men's swim team piled out onto the soft green lawn. Piper's gaze immediately found Jason. She hoped he hadn't noticed her freak out in the library earlier that day. She'd barely been able to so much as glance at him in class, and she sure as hell hadn't tried to talk to him. It didn't make much sense to her, because she'd never been particularly shy. But for some reason, she just couldn't seem to get up the courage to approach him. Maybe it was because she was embarrassed and ashamed that she'd been spying on him, or maybe it was just because she was terrified of being rejected.
She turned to Annabeth to ask her opinion on the matter, but Annabeth was too busy gazing at Percy as the coach gestured for the team to run laps.
Piper sighed. Watching a team of hot guys do calisthenics usually sounded like her idea of fun. But having to sit there and watch the guy she'd been secretly lusting after perform pushups and sit-ups and whatever-the-hell-else the coach would make them do, while not ever being able to so much as touch him? That just sounded like her own personal torture.
At last the coach called for a short break, and Annabeth jumped to her feet, tugging Piper up with her. "Come on, time to go meet Jason."
"I can't believe I agreed to this," Piper groaned as she followed Annabeth down the metal bleachers and into the grass. "This is so stupid. He's going to see right through us – oh, hi, Percy."
"Hey, Piper." Percy nodded at her as he wrapped an arm around Annabeth, who leaned into him. "What're you doing here?"
"Oh, I insisted she come with me," Annabeth said brightly as Jason joined them. "I get so bored watching you guys sometimes, and I thought she might get a kick out of it. Oh, Jason, do you know Piper?"
Jason nodded politely to Piper, who had to resist the urge to take a step back. His dark blue eyes were intense as they met her hazel ones, and suddenly it was like all the breath had been sucked out of her lungs. She couldn't decide if she wanted to turn and run like hell, or if she wanted to grab Jason by the collar of his t-shirt and kiss him senseless. Both sounded like pretty good ideas. And neither one was going to happen, because, she had to remind herself, she wasn't crazy.
"Yeah, we have American History together," Jason told Annabeth.
Piper smiled weakly. "Gotta love those prerequisite classes."
"Rodriguez is a killer, isn't he?" Jason said to Piper with a friendly smile. A friendly smile. Not a come-hither smile, or a flirty grin. Just a smile. And Piper felt the crash of disappointment, even though she hadn't expected anything else. They didn't know each other, had never spoken to each other before this. But her whole body felt as if it was zinging and she knew it was strictly from Jason's presence. He was way too close to her, yet too far away. She wanted to reach out and touch his cheek, but she also wanted to hide under the bleachers until he was gone.
Maybe she really was crazy.
"Yeah, his papers are nuts," Piper agreed, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I used to like American history. Not so much now."
"At this point, I just want to pass his class," Jason told her. "And, you know, somehow save my GPA from his merciless scoring."
Piper laughed, and was it just her imagination or did Jason look pleased by this? Maybe it was all in her head, but suddenly she felt as if she was on top of the world.
And then the coach was shouting at them to get into the pool.
"See you later," Jason said to Piper with another smile. He paused and rolled his eyes dramatically at her as Percy grabbed Annabeth and kissed her like he was about to be shipped overseas. "Could they be any subtler?" Jason cracked to Piper.
"Yeah, you'd never know they're together," Piper retorted with an eye roll of her own.
Percy let go of Annabeth. "I can hear you and I don't care. I'm happy and in love. So there." He stuck his tongue out at Piper and Jason, blew Annabeth a kiss, and strolled towards the pool, leaving Jason to hurry after him if he didn't want to be the last one inside.
***
"Well, I feel like your first meeting with Jason went well," Annabeth proclaimed as she slammed her architecture textbook shut. The girls were in their dorm room, doing some studying before dinner, and they hadn't spoken in over an hour.
"It went okay, I guess," Piper allowed.
"Are you kidding? It went great! Jason's not usually very talkative, but he seemed super happy to be talking to you."
"It was either that or try to make small chat with you and Percy. No one wants to try that when you two are mentally undressing each other."
"We're not that bad," Annabeth huffed out.
"Sure you're not," Piper snipped. "Because you're totally not about to leave the dorm to go meet Percy for dinner and sex, are you?"
Annabeth flushed.
"That's what I thought," said Piper in triumph. She rolled off her bed and grabbed her backpack. "I need to go to the library anyway. Rodriguez is making us use actual hard sources for this next paper. Like his class isn't hard enough as it is."
Annabeth snickered. "Imagine, being intimidated by actual books."
It was Piper's turn to flush. "I'm not intimidated. I'm just saying, it's easier when you can just get sources online. But whatever. I'll see you tonight."
"Stay warm walking across campus," Annabeth told her as she grabbed a pair of boots. "It's supposed to cool down a lot tonight."
"I've got my fuzzy Hello Kitty socks," Piper said with a small grin. "I'll be fine."
***
It was nearly 9pm by the time Piper returned to the dorm room. She'd checked out a handful of books and magazines from the library, stopped by her favorite dining hall to grab some dinner – vegetarian enchiladas, yum – and took her sweet time crossing campus.
Only, when she approached her dorm room, she noticed something hanging off the doorknob. As she approached, she let out a groan. It was a sock. And she knew what that meant.
As if on cue, she heard Annabeth make a noise she would have paid big money to never hear her best friend make.
"Yay for traumatizing moments," Piper muttered. The moment of sarcasm cleared her head and forced the bigger issue on her: She had nowhere to go.
"Is Percy in there?"
Piper spun around at the question. Jason stood a few feet back, having apparently just climbed the stairs.
"Sock," Piper managed to gasp out, pointing at the offending object.
Jason's eyebrows skyrocketed. "Sock?"
"Sock."
Great, she thought. With conversations like these, who needs a dictionary?
"So that means…" Jason trailed off and jerked his thumb at the door. It was Percy's turn to let out an obscene groan.
Jason let out a sigh. "Well, shit."
Piper blinked, before feeling a smile tug at her lips. Somehow, it had never occurred to her that Jason was a normal guy, the kind of normal guy who cussed. And she liked that. He seemed so straight laced and clean cut, but maybe not always. She knew she'd really like to find out, though.
"What's up?" she prodded him.
"Percy was supposed to quiz me on French verbs. But obviously that's not going to happen now."
Piper smiled for real. "You're taking French?"
"And coming close to failing it. I swear, this whole semester has been nightmarish."
"I can help you study for French," Piper offered. "Je parle Français."
Jason gaped at her.
"I speak French," she translated. "Oh man, you really do need help. Come on, let's go back to your dorm room. I'll get you up to speed."
"Are you sure?" he asked, even as they began to move towards the stairs. "I mean, you must have plans."
"Like what?" she laughed. "I've just spent the evening studying and gorging out on enchiladas. Are you jealous yet?"
"Not really," Jason chuckled. "Mostly because it sounds a lot like my night."
"I see. We make quite the glamorous pair, don't we?" She grinned at him before realizing what she'd just said. But instead of running for the hills, he just smiled back.
"I suppose we do, what with all our studying and gorging. The whole campus will be so envious of us."
As they walked over to Jason's dorm, Piper asked, "So, how do you deal with Annabeth constantly sleeping in your dorm room with Percy?"
"I bunk with another swim team buddy. Frank Zhang," Jason added for Piper's benefit. "His roommate, Leo, is always over at his girlfriend's apartment, and he doesn't mind if I crash in his bed. It's not like he uses it much."
"That must be nice," Piper said, a little envious. She had other friends besides Annabeth, but she couldn't imagine spending night after night in a friend's dorm room. She'd worry about being too annoying.
Once they reached Jason's dorm room they set up shop on his bed. Piper flipped through his French textbook, before examining his notes. They were meticulously written in neat print.
"I just can't seem to understand French sentence structure," Jason fretted, running his fingers through his short hair.
"That's because you're used to English sentence structure. You need to forget all the grammar rules in English. Just put them out of your head."
For the next hour, Piper worked with him on his French homework, helping him to understand sentence structure better and quizzing him on verbs. At last she set the textbook down.
"You're doing really well now," she told him. "But I think you need a break. You're starting to look a little strained."
"I feel a little strained," he admitted. He shifted on his bed. "So, how come you speak French so well?"
"My mom...she's a model," Piper explained. "She spends a lot of time in France. If I want to see her, I have to go to France, so that's what I do. And my dad's shot a couple of movies in France, so there's that."
"Your dad's a director? Or an actor?" Jason asked.
Piper winced. She hadn't intended to mention that. "He's an actor…"
Jason waited patiently for her to elaborate.
"He's Tristan McLean," she admitted reluctantly. "And my mom is Aphrodite, the model."
"Wow. So, you're the daughter of an actor and a supermodel." Jason let out a low whistle. "That must be tough."
Piper stared at him. Upon learning who her parents were, people usually made comments about how exciting and glamorous her life might be. No one ever bothered to consider the fact that with two famous, jet-setting parents, that her life might suck sometimes.
"I – yeah – it can be," she said, trying to get her footing. "I don't see either of them a lot, especially not now that I'm at college. I don't really care. I mean, I do, but it's a lot easier to focus on myself and school and making good grades and good choices without either of them distracting me."
Jason nodded. "I get how that can be. My mom is – was – Beryl Grace," he explained when she looked at him inquisitively.
Piper clapped her hand over her mouth before she could even think. Beryl Grace had been a TV star back in the '80s and '90s. But her career had fizzled out in the early 2000s, and she had become a major alcoholic. She'd ended up driving her car drunk into a tree.
"Jason, I'm so – " She paused. Sorry that his mom had died? Sad that he'd had to go through that sort of pain? Regretful that she'd as good as asked him about it?
Jason shook his head. "Don't be. I didn't know her very well. I spent most of my childhood with my dad and stepmom. I mean, neither of them are really anything to brag about in the parental department, either. My dad runs Zeus Corp., and my stepmom runs my dad. They shipped me off to a boarding school when I was 10, and that's about as involved as they've ever gotten in my life."
"Damn. That's rough," Piper reached out to touch Jason's arm. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she thought she felt a spark of electricity. "My dad sent me to every fancy, private school in southern California he could find. I got kicked out of most of them. Usually for fighting," she added, in case Jason got the wrong idea. "It's kind of amazing I even got accepted to a school like this one, but my grades were always good, and I managed to stay at the same school my junior and senior year."
"Wow. So you speak French, you're not afraid to get into fights, and you're vegetarian. You seem like kind of a dangerous girl." Jason's eyes glittered as he said it, and the corner of his mouth tilted up in a half-smile.
"How do you know I'm vegetarian?" Piper retorted.
Jason blushed. "I, uh…I asked Percy about you. After swim practice. I was curious," he said quickly. "I've actually been wanting to talk to you all semester, but I could never get up the nerve."
"Really." Piper smiled coyly. "So, what else did Percy tell you about me?" She hoped fervently the subject of her ex-boyfriends hadn't popped up.
"Oh, you know, things." Jason smiled just as coyly.
"Good things?"
"Very good things."
Piper smiled for real. "Good." And with that, she leaned over and kissed Jason Grace. And the best part? He kissed her back. And she definitely felt electricity.
***
Annabeth stretched languidly in her bed. Percy had left her dorm room for his just 10 minutes ago, and she felt pleasantly relaxed and sated. She would have loved to have Percy stay over, but she wanted to make sure that Piper had her bed to sleep in tonight. She felt bad enough pushing Jason out of his dorm room constantly. She didn't want her best friend to feel unwelcome.
She'd texted Piper that it was safe to come back, but Piper hadn't responded yet. She hoped Piper was somewhere safe and warm and comfortable.
And then there was a knock on the door.
Frowning, Annabeth slipped out of bed and padded across the floor. Maybe Piper had forgotten her key and couldn't get in?
Annabeth unlocked the door and opened it. Percy stood there, a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Percy? What're you doing here?" Annabeth asked, rubbing her eyes.
"I found this on the doorknob to my dorm room." Percy held out a single sock – fuzzy and Hello Kitty.
Annabeth slowly took it from him, her mouth falling open. "No way," she breathed out. "No friggin' way."
"What?" Percy demanded. "What's wrong?"
With a giggle, Annabeth yanked him inside her dorm room. "I think you better stay here tonight, Seaweed Brain. Something tells me your roommate and mine are going to be busy for awhile."