A/N: *hides* Yes, I'm in the middle of another story right now, but I found this unique prompt for an AU on tumblr and decided to write this oneshot. Rated T because I'm paranoid :P Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: All rights to Rick Riordan.
Annabeth was driving home at 2am from the college campus library. Why would she be driving at 2am, one might ask? Annabeth had spent the entire day studying for a goddamn quiz weeks away at the library, claiming her entire life could crash and burn if she did only average on this quiz.
"If I fail this quiz, I'll begin to fail more and more tests, and before you know it, I'll be failing my classes. And then I'll be a college dropout and a disappointment, and then I'll never get a job or be successful," Annabeth had ranted, much to Piper's amusement when Piper had asked her to come to a college frat party instead of spending the whole day and night studying. Piper had rolled her eyes, claiming her to be insane, but Annabeth continued talking. "-And then I'll die on my deathbed like a failure!" Annabeth had concluded. Piper had laughed at her, waving away her worries, but Annabeth had refused to listed.
"It's called having fun," Piper had told her. "You need to let lose a little, or the stress with begin to get to you, Beth," Piper had advised. Being the serious, stubborn girl she was, Annabeth turned down the party request and had went to her favorite library on the campus. Piper had shrugged," suit yourself. See you later!" Piper had kissed her cheek and left. There was no way in hell Piper would miss this party. She'd been invited by Jason Grace, a frat boy she couldn't stop obsessing over (or talking Annabeth's ear off about).
After spending the whole day and night at the library, Annabeth found herself driving to her own apartment. She was utterly exhausted and though Annabeth would have much more preferred to pull an all nighter at the library, the library closed at 1:45 am. So of course she had to go back home. Unfortunately she hadn't counted on a certain medium-size rodent sneaking into her vehicle. Annabeth had left her sunroof open all day while her car had been parked in the parking lot and she hadn't thought much of it...till now.
Annabeth let out a bloodcurdling shriek of surprise as she came face to face with that beady eyes creature. The squirrel seemed unfazed, but Annabeth was caught off guard. Startled, Annabeth lost control of her car and rammed gracefully straight into a pole. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, the tires swiveling, her knuckles turning white on the wheel, the horrendous sound of her tires squealing, and then the loudest smash she'd ever heard in her life. She jerked forward, and the airbags exploded in her face. Slowly, she blinked, opening her eyes. Annabeth sat still for a moment, accessing the situation.
The hood of her car was smashed in, but only dented. She'd have to get a new car, but the damage wasn't so bad it'd injured her. If it had Piper, she would've freaked out, if it had been anyone else they would have panicked, but even with the glass shattered and the adrenaline rushing through her core, Annabeth managed to remain calm, cool, collected, unflappable. Annabeth let out a shaky breath and scanned herself for any injuries. There wasn't even a scratch on her and she let out a breath of relief. She was okay, it was okay. Cautiously, she looked around the car for the squirrel, that damn squirrel that was costing her a new car. It was nowhere to be seen, fortunately for the squirrel. Annabeth was angry enough that she would have smacked that stupid squirrel with any and all objects in the car.
Annabeth let out a few deep breaths, calming her heartbeat. She needed to call the police so they'd close off the road or something at least while she got a tow truck. She didn't want any other cars to be driving down the road and crash into her car that was currently in the way. Of course, there seemed to be no other cars around because it was freaking 2 am and who drove around at 2 am?! Annabeth silently berated herself for being an idiot.
She also needed a ride back to her apartment so she could assess the car damage the next morning. She was much too tired and frustrated to do any of that now. Slowly, Annabeth reached out to the door and shoved at it, trying to unjam the stupid stubborn car door. Annabeth swept some of the glass of the handle with her shirt and then tried again, using all her weight to get the door open.
By some miracle, the third time she rammed against the door, it creaked open. Annabeth stumbled out of the car, pulling her backpack out of the car, which had been on the passenger seat. Her things would be fine, she'd claim them tomorrow, it was just her car that was all fucked up now. Annabeth breathed out a heavy, frustrated sigh and fished her phone out of her backpack. Dialing a number, she surveyed her surroundings and eyed her destroyed car in irritation at herself.
A police car pulled up near hers, blocking the road from other cars ten minutes later and Annabeth looked up. Out stepped a young man, around Annabeth's age, he must have been a fairly new police officer. He had dark, unruly hair and bright sea green eyes. He walked over to her, evaluating the car and damage as he approached her. Annabeth stood up from the curb and brushed off her jeans. "Officer... Jackson," she greeted him with a polite nod and tired eyes, scanning his name tag. "I'm awfully sorry to bother you at this day of day," Annabeth apologized sheepishly.
"It's alright," he said in response, looking at her car and then at her. "You're alright?" he asked calmly and she nodded a little. "You were very lucky," he added and Annabeth nodded. He came and sat where she'd been sitting on the curb. Annabeth blinked.
"Aren't you supposed to act more... formal?" she asked, surprised. She'd never really seen a police officer casually sitting on the curb like a young kid before.
The corner of his mouth turned up in amusement. "It's two am and I'm not even in my complete uniform," he told her, half smiling. "Why don't you sit down and tell me what happened-?"
"-Annabeth," she supplied, extending her hand. He shook it.
"Percy," he introduced himself as she sat on the curb next to him. "How on Earth did you end up here at 2am?" he laughed lightly, meeting her gaze. Annabeth thought of how she'd ended up in this situation and felt her face warm up, flushing red.
"Well..." she began, throat feeling dry and feeling overall embarrassed. "It's 2 in the morning and I was just trying to get home from my college campus library, but I left my sunroof open all day and now there's a squirrel in my car and it scared me and I drove into a pole- would you please stop laughing, you're a cop, you're supposed to be helping," Annabeth explained, crossing her arms over her chest and let out an annoyed hmph when she realized Percy was laughing at her.
Percy Jackson shook with laughter, clutching his side. "You crashed into a pole because of a squirrel?" it was a question designed to clarify things, but the laughter erupting from him made it obvious he was teasing her. "Oh my lord, in all I had to study in the academy- I have never- oh my god," he cracked up, clutching his stomach as he laughed. After a good five minutes, he added," I am helping, I already called for a tow truck," he laughed lightly as he finished laughing at her. There was still a grin on his face as he wiped a tear of amusement from his gleaming sea green eyes.
"God, you're really one of a kind, Annabeth," he smiled, shaking his head to himself.
"It's not funny!" she protested, rolling her eyes her eyes and averting her gaze, pursing her lips to hide her begrudging smile. "You're the worst," she groaned, laughing a little now. Maybe it was because it was 2am and they were both delusional and tired, or maybe because the story was just that ridiculous, but Annabeth found herself joining him in the laughter. They made a ruckus, crying-laughing and joking about the whole situation, probably waking up everyone nearby, but they had fun and Annabeth decided that the night hadn't been so bad after all. Of course she was still disappointed about her car, but Percy seemed to help her feel better with his jokes and endless teasing.
When the tow truck, Annabeth almost felt reluctant to leave Percy. They were having such a good time. Sensing her feelings and reciprocating them, Percy spoke up as her car was hauled away. "You need a ride home?" he offered.
"That'd be great, Percy" Annabeth sighed, the exhaustion catching up with her. Percy yawned himself and held the passenger door open of the police car for her, a gesture that made her laugh lightly. "Thanks for everything," she said as he pulled up outside to her apartment complex.
"Don't mention it," he smiled at her, his sea green eyes meeting her own steel grey orbs. "It was nice meeting you."
Annabeth stepped out of the car, shouldered her backpack, and turned to the building, before she realized she forgot something. "Oh, wait! I need the receipt to see my car tomorrow." She spun to face the car.
Percy laughed a little," oh yeah," he grinned. "Guess I just forgot," he fished through his pocket for the receipt the tow truck driver had given them. Percy stepped out of the car after scribbling something on the back of it quickly and handed it to her. "Get some rest," he smiled and handed it to her. She smiled back at him, unable to help it; his smile was contagious. Percy got back into the car and drove away.
Annabeth sighed tiredly and made her way into the elevator of her apartment building. She flipped the receipt over for the car from the towing company she had received from him as she unlocked her apartment with her keys. She groaned at the fine ticket he'd written up for her, but smiled a little as her eyes traveled down. Under the ticket, he'd written his phone number with a smiley face next to it.
Smiling to herself, Annabeth locked her apartment door behind her and made her way to her bed, finally collapsing on it out of exhaustion. It had been a long night, but maybe, just maybe, some good had come out of it after all.
A/N: I hope you liked it! Please review and let me know what I can improve on; my last one shot got some awesome constructive criticism that I was hoping I could receive again this time. Thanks for reading! :)