A/N: Hey guys! I am back with another one-shot, or rather two-shot! I know, most of you are probably gonna yell at me for not updating Why Me? Sorry. I'm still working on the next chapter, but I think I'll be able to get it up by next weekend. However, I have been working on this lovely Valentine's story just for Valentine's Day. Well, it's not my best creation but I still think it's good enough to post. :) I also think I didn't do a spectacular job because I practically wrote this whole thing at school. I got help from one of my best friends while writing this. She was actually the one who kinda brought up the basis of this. Anyway, I'll stop blabbing about my life and let you read the story.

DISCLAIMER: Must I always? Ok. I do not own any characters of this story. All rights go to the wonderfully awesome Rick Riordan.

Valentine's Part 1

"What are you doing on Valentine's Day?"

Percy looked up from his textbook with a puzzled expression.

"Why do you ask?" he said.

Annabeth shrugged. "I was just curious. You know, since you and Rachel broke up."

"Oh," he said, seemingly disappointed. Percy had hoped that she would ask for them to hang out on Valentine's Day. It had been a while since they had some time to themselves, for him to spend some time with his best friend. It didn't help that Annabeth was currently dating Luke Castellan, who had hated Percy from the very first day Annabeth had introduced the two.

To break the sudden awkward atmosphere, Percy asked, "Are you going out with Luke?"

To Percy's surprise, she sighed heavily and said, "I'm not sure yet. He told me he might be going out of town with his parents during the weekend before Valentine's Day."

"So he's gonna be out of town on Valentine's Day," stated Percy, trying hard not to show his eagerness.

Annabeth frowned. "Most likely. You know how his parents are. They're always going places and having dinners with all sorts of important people."

Percy immediately slammed his textbook shut, ringing out a loud bang throughout the quiet library. He abruptly stood up and stuffed all the contents he had currently been studying into his backpack.

"Keep it down, you idiot!" Annabeth hissed. "This is a library, you know, and where are you going?"

Percy was already rushing to exit the library. He looked back at Annabeth who was still sitting in her seat.

"I need to take care of some things. See you later!" he called back to her, ignoring the librarian's feeble attempts to shush him. The library doors swung back as he pushed through them, revealing a very confused Annabeth.

Several Days Later…

Percy was driving to the beach, happier than he'd been in a long time. He'd just called Annabeth to ask her to meet up with him, though she seemed annoyed that he wouldn't tell her the reason. Of course, he wanted all of it to be a surprise for her. Since he'd learned that she would be spending Valentine's Day alone, he'd prepared a special picnic just for the two of them. No, it wasn't meant to be any sort of date. It was merely a chance for them to catch up on their best friend time. However, he hoped that Annabeth would take this picnic as a hint to his feelings.

He couldn't deny that he was in love with her. Sure, he'd dated Rachel for a while, but deep down he knew that Annabeth had always been the one. That was probably his reason for breaking up with Rachel in the first place. Luckily for him, the feelings were mutual between him and Rachel, and their breakup wasn't fussed over.

The only problem standing in the way of being with Annabeth was if she didn't return the feelings. Actually, there were two problems. One, being that she wouldn't return the feelings, and two, she was with Luke. Luke. Just the sound of the name brought a bitter taste to Percy's mouth. He couldn't fathom why Annabeth would go for a guy like Luke. Luke was a pompous, insensitive jerk. He was the type of guy that used girls and dumped them once he got what he wanted. The thought of him doing that to Annabeth made Percy's blood boil. The only reason she was with that guy was because he was handsome and "charming."

What did he have that Percy didn't? Percy may not have been as arrogant as Luke, but he was confident that he wasn't that low in the looks department. Plus, Luke's personality wasn't nearly as great as Percy's. So why him? Why not Percy?

The sound of waves rolling in and crashing against the sandy shore snapped Percy out of his reverie. He turned into the parking lot, finding the space closest to the beach. Once he'd parked, he opened the trunk where the picnic items were. He was keeping them all in the trunk until it was time to reveal his surprise. The only thing he was bringing was a "Happy Valentine's Day" balloon bouquet.

Closing his trunk, he looked up just in time to see Annabeth walking down the steps toward him. He grinned, putting the hand holding the balloons behind his back.

As he walked to her, he noticed she was dressed casually, wearing a T-shirt and shorts. Her hair was tied in a messy ponytail, and as always, not a trace of makeup was on her face. Percy wondered how somebody could look so stunning without even trying.

"Hey, Wise Girl," he greeted, beaming down at her.

She rolled her eyes. "When are you going to learn that you did a horrible job in finding the proper nickname for me?"

Percy shrugged. "It doesn't matter. The name fits." He continued to grin at her, unable to refrain himself from expressing his eagerness.

However, just as he opened his mouth to say something, a hand snaked around Annabeth's waist. He was about to break the arm of the creep who had done so when he realized that the creep was actually Luke. Even worse.

"Is this gonna take long, Annabeth? We don't want to keep my parents waiting," Luke said.

"Yeah, this will just take a second. Percy wanted to tell me something, and I think it's important to him," said Annabeth, turning back to Percy.

Then, her eyebrows shot up as she finally noticed the balloons behind Percy.

"Who are those balloons for?" she asked, pointing at them.

Percy cleared his throat. The bubble of happy energy inside him had burst when he saw Luke.

"They're for, uh, you don't know her," he muttered. He scratched the back of his neck nervously and tried to avoid making eye contact with Annabeth.

Annabeth's stormy grey eyes pierced into him as he felt her trying to look past his façade.

Still studying him through narrowed eyes, she asked, "So, is there any particular reason that I'm here?"

"I just wanted to ask you about our biology project…but I see that you're kind of busy so maybe tomorrow," he managed to say.

"Well, okay then," she said, slowly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Percy gave her a measly two-finger salute before she turned around and walked back to the parking lot, tucked under Luke's arm.

Once they were out of Percy's sight, he brought his hand from behind his back. He sighed and walked back to his car. Stopping by the steps, he tied the balloons to the railing, hoping that they would be gone by tomorrow. Then, Percy stuffed his hands into his pockets before trudging to his car. Never once did he look back, nor did he want to. He refused to think about what could have been.

A/N: Aw poor Percy! But never fret! I have another chapter for this, a Part 2. Anyway, that last part about tying the balloons is actually where this entire story started. My friends and I were walking to go get frozen yogurt when we saw this Happy Valentine's Day balloon bouquet left by the railing of some stairs. So then we kinda started making up a story of how some guy got dumped and left his balloons by the stairs. And so came the inspiration for this story. I had lots of fun writing this and I hope you guys have fun reading it. Now, onward! I have one more chapter for all of you. (Unless you're nice enough to review this chapter as well as the next.)