"Oh, come on."
I watched Annabeth sigh as she dropped her pencil and pushed her chair away from the table. For the last hour I had been watching her study some of the maps on Quintus' laptop, and obviously something wasn't right. I looked at her quizzically and she rolled her eyes.
"C'mon, Seaweed Brain. I need to walk."
I followed her out of the Athena cabin and we started to walk towards the direction of the ocean. Her hair was pulled back in a careless bun, several strands hanging around her face. I itched with the longing to put the stray hair behind her ear. Her grey eyes seemed dulled, though, like they had been ever since she had come back to camp. I sighed quietly and she glanced at me.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing. Just..." I waved my hand absently in the air. She smiled slightly at me and we continued toward the sea in silence. It was an easy silence, natural, not like those awkward moments that usually occurred with other people. It was so easy being around her.
We had reached the lake. Absentmindedly, we both sat down in unison, overlooking the water. After a few minutes of quiet, I asked her, "Are you ok?"
Her expression was slightly frustrated, her eyes still dull.
"What do you think, Percy? I can't concentrate, I can't sleep, I can't think!" She rolled her eyes, gesturing frantically. "Do you know how unheard of that is for an Athena child?"
"Yeah, I'm guessing pretty uncommon. Why can't you...do anything?"
She shook her head at my inept language. "Just...a lot of things."
"Luke?"
I didn't know how his name slipped out of my mouth. Saying it, remembering him and how he betrayed us, it was like acid.
"Percy, you don't understand." She was pleading now. "How would you feel if you lost somebody important to you? I loved him-"
That was just too much.
"Annabeth, I can't believe how stupid you're being! He BETRAYED us. He's not Luke anymore. Stop wasting your time loving him, ok? He's not coming back!"
Her expression was not what I expected. It was shocked, furious even. "Percy Jackson, for once let me finish my sentence!"
I sat back down. Unconsciously I had stood up during my rant.
"I loved him like a brother. Nothing more than that, ok? And nothing less either. It's like we were practically family. And anyway, I don't know why it matters to you so much, with your red-headed mortal, Rachel." Annabeth's voice had taken a turn to annoyance, with the same tinge of frustration. I was puzzled. How did Rachel have anything to do with this?
And then everything clicked.
So that's why Rachel had been looking at me like I was clueless. That's why Annabeth had never like Rachel. And while realizing this, my heart seemed to swell too big for my body. I was floating in my happy place.
She liked me too.
Loved me, even.
Annabeth was staring at me in the strangest way, her face in an expression I couldn't quite place. I knew that my face showed the sudden realization I had just experienced.
"Who's Rachel?" I whispered, leaning in towards her. Our lips touched.
The kiss was a lot of things-soft, nice, calm-but above all things, it was right. We broke apart and I nearly laughed with relief.
Her eyes sparkled once more.
