Chapter One: The Day They First Met Part One

Disclaimer: I do not own Rick Riordan's
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
and the Heroes of Olympus Series, and I do not
own the songs I put into this book either.
I only own my fan made characters and of course
the plot line.

Added Songs – In Order Of Appearance
No songs in this chapter.

~Author's Note~

Hey, this is my first Percy Jackson and the Olympians fan fiction and I hope you enjoy my first chapter. I hope you like it, I have worked seriously hard on this so I hope you enjoy it.

Today was another typical day for twenty-three year old Percy Jackson. Wake up at six-thirty, prep for work, catch the bus and grab a cab to the center of town and arrive seven-thirty sharp at the Cloud Olympus Cafe where he worked as a regular old barista. He had such a long day ahead of him, the café being the most popular and successful one in all of New York City.

"Can I get an Americano with a triple shot?" A customer ordered as Percy did his job as usual every day. He smiled as he handed the brunette her regular order and had her exact change ready because she always paid with a twenty and her drink usually cost seven dollars, thirty-seven cents. "Thank you Percy. Call me." The brunette winked as she exited the café.

Life had been really rough for Percy; he grew up with an abusive step-father since his father had abandoned him when he was born and then was left with his mom to fend for themselves and then proceeded to marry his abusive step-father. He was now a mature twenty-three year old with hopes and dreams, and is working on getting a degree in marine biology.

When he had turned the ripe old age of eighteen, he gave the police evidence showing the true side of his abusive step-father, saving both his mom and himself from further pain. They were both brutally beaten by him, and now after long years of abuse they were finally free of him. Percy was a shell of the person he wanted to be and it drove him crazy but he learned that he shouldn't let it hold him back from what he wanted to be.

Percy has lived alone for the past two years in his New York apartment, his best friend Grover Underwood used to live with him but he moved out two years ago when he got engaged to his four-year girlfriend, Juniper Johnson, and a year ago, they were united in marriage and are happily living together, their lives filled with love and romance.

Percy didn't ever have much luck in the love department; he had a few serious relationships that went so wrong for him. His first relationship was first love for him, he had a girlfriend by the name of Calypso Greaves, they were high school sweethearts, well they got together when Percy turned sixteen and they were together for a year and she broke his heart. Cheated on him, never asked who she was with behind his back because it hurt him too much to even ask.

Now she is a music pop star, but she cannot compete with Platinum recording artist Annabeth Chase who is on top of her game. Percy hadn't seen her since they separated but he heard about her making a career in the music industry but he didn't really care because she broke him.

His next flame was an art student by the name of Rachel Elizabeth Dare, she and Percy weren't too serious but they kinda were in a way, they got together when he was eighteen and um... broke up, well he was actually dumped once again after six months, and yet it still hurt him badly, having opened up to someone again, only to have his heart torn apart again.

Percy wanted something more serious and all Rachel wanted was to have his body, she was just looking for a good experience with a strong powerful man but because Percy was so closed off and was not ready to go that far with Rachel and she just turned round and said good-bye and left him there in his apartment.

The one lost relationship that hit him really hard and the most recent to hurt him was the one he had with Reyna, she was it for him, they were together for three years, and then just like that, she was gone, and I don't mean she left him, she passed away. That was a year ago, Percy was completely closed off person now, completely swore against love because of Reyna but not because of her leaving him, because she died in a tragic accident. She was as a tactic's officer in the US Navy, and she was appointed to the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier when it had a major system malfunction.

An explosion in the engine room killed all twelve people inside, Reyna one of them. At the time she was doing an inspection when it blew, she never made it and Percy was affected badly by it, cause when she was scheduled to return from the coast (which was two days after she died), Percy was going to ask her to marry him. And it was just before Christmas.

He still had the ring, and all of her stuff was tucked away in the back of his closet in his apartment. They didn't live together but she spent all her time there. He had a rough life, and he desperately wanted to feel that love again, since he lost Reyna it had been hard for him to get back on his feet but he had done it but he was still broken inside.

Something about today felt different, his sixth sense nagged at him. Every day was just a regular day for him but something about today felt different.

As Percy worked his usual afternoon shift, and he smiled to himself as the door opened and a new customer walked in. He knew every regular that walked in but this was most definitely a brand new customer, first time one no doubt. This girl had long black curly hair and she had a beautiful unique eye color. She had what seemed to be electric blue but it was way, way darker and its shifting colours made her look unpredictable..

She had on a plain simple T-Shirt with 'JUST BEING ME,' written exactly like that, caps and all in red on a plain black back drop that was the shirt. She had on a pair of old faded jeans, tattered and torn, but at the same time, it was funky and unique and different. She had a regular sea green fleece hoodie on top of her shirt and a pair of black Nike trainers.

"Morning ma'am. My name is Percy, what can I do for you today." He spoke calmly, his lopsided and quirky grin plastered on his face as the woman walked up to the till. She smiled and tapped her finger against her chin, deep in thought as she debated over what she wanted. It wasn't busy at this time of day so he didn't mind.

"Can I please have a vanilla Chai latte, with a dollop of foam, two shots and a piece of quiche but which quiche should I get. What do you recommend?" She asked curiously, her eyes focused on his, as Percy turned his gaze to the variety of savory quiches, finally coming to a decision.

"I recommend that if you are vegetarian which I highly doubt you are, I would go with the feta and spinach but if you are not a vegetarian, I would go with a subtle but delicious slice of regular of ham and cheese, it is the best in the city." She hummed, deep in thought once more and she gave a thumbs up as Percy neatly cut her a slice of the homemade quiche and placing it on the plate for her.

He quickly prepped her coffee, placing the lid neatly onto the Styrofoam cup and led her to a table and placed the things down neatly on the table as she took a seat. "If you need anything feel free to ask. I already said this but I am Percy, Percy Jackson." He said as he extended his hand out in a vouch of friendship.

"Nice to meet you. I am Anna, Anna Olympia." She said as she accepted his extension of friendship and she shook his hand happily. He enjoyed the feel of her hand in his and blushed when he realized that he was still holding her hand. She pulled away blushing and had grabbed out a pen and a notebook, she scribbled something on it and then tore a page out of the book and handed it Percy.

"What is this?" Percy asked looking at the piece of paper, a sequence of numbers written on the paper, short, only about ten digits long. It also had her name written above it, 'What was it?' was the only question running through Percy's mind.

"It's my number. Give me a ring sometime, maybe we could meet for coffee one of these days." She suggested in a pleased yet nervous tone. Percy smiled and tucked the number in the back pocket of his jeans and smiled as he said good-bye and went back to work.

Percy was in a good mood the entire day having met Anna, he just wasn't sure if he was ready to start hanging out with women, I mean he hung out very often with his cousin and that but he hadn't dated anyone since he found out about Reyna's death. Anna had left about an hour after Percy met her and in a way he already missed her.

Walking down the street he smiled as he listened to his favorite artist, a beautiful young artist exactly his age, goes by the name of Annabeth Chase. She was beautiful, bodacious and has a laid back kind of vibe but she is passionate and serious about her music and tuition too. Graduated from Harvard with masters in Architecture even while she worked on her music.

Appearance wise, she is stunning, and the same thing can be said about her voice. She has long curly blonde hair and she has such a unique and exquisite eye color. She has grey eyes that suited her. Percy's favorite song was 'Here I am.' He enjoyed humming to the music as he rode the nine pm bus to his stop.

He fiddled with his keys when he arrived in front of his apartment door, when he found it; he entered his ordinary apartment where he lived. Locking the door behind him, he sighed and headed to his bedroom, he didn't have classes today or tomorrow which pleased him greatly. He stopped and went to his kitchen and dug in his deep freeze searching for a microwave dinner.

He found a ready meal beef lasagna and popped it into the microwave setting the timer for ten minutes and he sighed as he headed straight to his room, pulling on a pair of pajama boxers and a matching black vest and as he carried his jeans to the wash basket, the piece of paper tucked in the back pocket of his jeans.

He picked it up, smiling and then he frowned, he felt odd but in a good way but he sighed as he crumpled up the paper and chucked it into the small basket waste basket and he went to his cupboard, the very back of it and pulled out a sealed cardboard box and placed it on the bed. He hesitantly looked at the top, 'Reyna,' written capital letters with a black bold marker.

He breathed in, nervously pulling out his pocket knife, flicking the blade out, stabbing the blade into the silver duct tape that kept the box closed and pulled the blade through, splitting the tape open. He blew off the blanket of feathery dust that had accumulated on the box, due to the fact he hadn't opened it once since Reyna's passing and ran his hand over the top of it.

He breathing stuttered as he started hesitantly started opened the panels of the worn out cardboard box, his heart drumming against his rib cage, a lump formed in his through as he gazed down into the box, tears forming in his eyes as he looked at all of Reyna's old trinkets.

He reached in and pulled out a plush toy dolphin, his hand shaking as he held it up to look at it, recalling the day he gave her this little good luck charm on her first briefing onto the aircraft carrier. It brought back painful memories, although they were all wonderful memories of her smile and face, it ripped his heart right out of his chest and he quickly dropped it back into the box and shook away the memory.

So many old things that belonged to his girlfriend, but the one thing that haunted him, that was staring him in the face was the small rounded plush red ring box, seated on top of the item he was looking for, Reyna's diary. He grabbed the sea-foam green book and pulled it out from underneath the ring box, he had no intention of ever opening it ever again.

He pulled off the stretchy black band that kept the book closed, placing it on the bed next to him and he calmly sat down on the bed next to the box, but he didn't open it, he just stared at the cover, a small smile creeping onto his lips and he remembered the day he gave her this, he had never seen a smile that big on woman's face before, it gave him the necessary strength to open the diary to its first page.

He gazed down at the oddly crisp and fresh white page that was covered with scribbles and loops of writing formed neatly across the page and smiled as he ran his finger over the writing, reading the deep and personal thoughts of his deceased girlfriend, never realizing how deep she went.

He flipped through various odd pages of her diary and he found a book mark sticking out of the diary and he pulled it and opened it to the last page of writing. His eyes widened, his hand started shaking, his lip quivering uncontrollably as he looked at the date on top of the page. It was December 23rd, 2013; this was the day that Reyna died.

He couldn't find it in himself to read the last thing she wrote before the accident, the tears poured from his eyes like a river as he gazed down at the page, sobbing uncontrollably as he covered his mouth with his hand to muffle his sobs in an attempt to calm himself down which was an epic fail, he needed to take a breather.

He just closed his eyes and steadied his breathing but taking in deeper breaths, he never realized just how hard this would be for him, almost a year and he could barely look at her things without having an emotional breakdown. He did the one thing that calmed him down, he remembered the day he first met Reyna, it was the day that changed his life all those years ago. It was a sunny Wednesday afternoon, three and a half years ago and Percy was once again working at the cafe...

Percy was as enthusiastic as ever, beaming with pride as he started his next day of work. The cafe was buzzing with life once again on this fine afternoon and Percy felt great. Many beautiful woman had come into the room and tried to give him their number but he couldn't find it in himself to accept any of them.

Percy wasn't looking for a relationship right now, considering he had recently just been dumped by Rachel and even though they weren't that serious, Percy wished they were more but he could be with someone who just wanted his body and not his love, and anyway he was focusing on school and that.

The bell at the entrance rang and another customer entered the cafe, it was a woman, she had curly black hair that was tied into a single low lose ponytail. She was wearing a pair of worn down faded three-quarter jeans and a simple red zipped up hoodie and a pair of black trainers.

She came right to Percy and smiled at him and Percy looked down and smiled inconspicuously at her, quite taken back by her and he felt that he would blush if he stared into her perfect charcoal eyes, that were as dark as midnight. "What can I get you?" he asked curiously like he did with every customer.

"Can I please just have a cinnamon Chai latte with extra foam to go." She asked politely as she dug in her wallet for the money, Percy happily poured the latte into the regular Styrofoam cup and placed the lid on, grabbing a spoon and two sugars and handed it to her. 'Thanks, how much it is."

Percy looked in her hand and saw that she didn't have enough, and judging from her clothes, she really didn't have much do so he felt a sense or more of an obligation to help a damsel in distress. "Don't worry, it's on me." He said politely and she blushed beet red and smiled at him.

"Thank you so much. I'm Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, how can I repay you, um what's your name." She asked, wanting to know more about this kind gentleman that was Percy Jackson.

"Perseus Jackson, but you can call me Percy. You can repay me by having dinner with me tonight, sounds fair enough?" Percy asked in a quizzing tone and she smiled at him and nodded, accepting his offer. "I will pick you up from here at seven, sounds good."

"Perfect, I can join you." A voice shouted from behind Reyna and a woman looking exactly like Reyna and she was wearing a leather jumpsuit with a pair of high-heeled boots that were black as hell."Hi, I am Hylla Shannon Ramirez-Arellano, Reyna's twin sister, and thanks for inviting us to dinner."

"Um Hylla, he payed for my coffee and I am taking him to dinner, dear sister, as on a date." Reyna growled at her sister all Hylla did was laugh at her twin.

"Oh please, you choose him as a possible future lover, he is decent but what will you gain from such a mediocre relationship." Percy stared at the woman, completely shocked by the statement just made about him and Reyna looked furious, the two started arguing and Percy found himself unable to stop smiling, he found this so amusing.

"Guys, calm down," Percy asked politely and they turned round and faced him, Reyna smiling brightly, Hylla scowling at him. "How about this, if I am such mediocre boyfriend material, then how about you both come over to my apartment and I will cook you both a fancy homemade meal, and based on that, you Hylla can judge me accordingly based on the meal and my hosting and not just by the fact that I have a boring mediocre job like every regular person."

"That sounds fair Hylla, you can judge him, and I can judge if I he is a good cook and worthy to be in a relationship with me." Reyna said hopefully, winking at Percy and he found himself smiling as he played with his dish cloth he used to dry the coffee cups and Hylla was deep in thought, her facial expression was serious and then she grinned.

"Ok, how about we have lunch tomorrow." Percy shook his head.

"Sadly I cannot, I am in my final year of my studies at NYU, marine biology, my father owns the top marine biology research center in the USA." Percy stated as he leaned against the counter top, looking completely poker faced at Hylla, knowing that he had just caught her out on her analysis of him. Reyna winked at Percy with a smirk on her, Percy had played her sister so well and Percy saw it as well.

Hylla was dumbstruck, she tried to hide her shocked expression but she just couldn't, she knew that this one was absolutely perfect, especially for her sister. He would be a perfect addition to the family. "Oh, silly me, I guess I can't come for dinner so you can return to you plans. Reyna, I will be waiting outside for you." Hylla spoke in a rushed and surprised tone and she left the counter heading outside the cafe but Percy saw her looking through the window at them.

"So, dinner tonight. Pick you at you place." Percy said with a smirk and Reyna smiled as grabbed Percy's hand and pulled the pen out of his apron pocket and furiously wrote down something on his hand. "What is this, might I ask." Percy asked curiously as Reyna put his pen back in his black apron pocket.

"My phone number, call me and I will text you the address." Reyna said hopefully and Percy grabbed her hand and pulled out his pen and wrote down his number on her hand. "Thanks, I look forward to tonight Percy." She said hopefully and he smiled at her. "Don't worry about Hylla, she is always like that but she will change her tune, trust me." She laughed and Percy joined in the laughter, her laugh was infectious and so was her smile. 'Bye Percy."

"Bye Reyna," and with that she walked out the door...

Percy opened his eyes and breathed out, he felt so much better, that day was the highlight of his life, and boy was Reyna right when she said that her sister would change her tune, Hylla found Percy as interesting as Reyna did. Those two were inseparable, sisters for life and if anyone was as broken and destroyed as Percy was that day, it was Hylla, she lived in Washington DC and if there was anyone he could talk to, it was her.

Hylla had gotten engaged and Reyna was going to be her maid of honor, the engagement was the day before Reyna boarded the USS Midway for the last time. Although his hand was shaking, he felt calmer than he did before. His thumb traced the lines of writing, as he began reading Reyna's final thoughts, a lump formed in his throat, he began choking up badly as he started reading over Reyna's final diary entry. The tears pouring from his eyes like a waterfall as he read over the entry, his heart clenching as he read over every word to the next.

Dear Diary

Today early morning has been rough and now I have to do an engine room inspection, besides that, everything has been great, I can't wait to go home, I miss Percy so much and I miss Hylla so much too. In just two days I am going home and I am so excited. I love it on the ship, it is amazing, but I want to be back home. I wish I was back home with him, I love Percy so much and you know something, my boyfriend isn't as covert as he thought he was with hiding that ring he has hidden in his dressing table drawer. I only just figured out what it is for and of course I would have said yes if he asked me to marry him, which is if he asked me before I left for the ship. I want to marry Percy; I want to spend my life with him, ever since we first met. I miss my Percy so much; I can't wait to see him in two days. May be if we plan quick enough, Percy and I might get married before Hylla, I can just see the look on her face, I will have finally succeeded in showing up my sister. Ha ha ha ha. Well off I go to work. I love you diary, I love you Hylla, I love you Mom and dad and most important of all, I love you Percy so much…

Percy was bawling his eyes out, unwanted sobs escaped his throat but somehow managed to calm himself down. He smiled as he closed the diary, and placed it back in the box, well he actually dropped it because he couldn't stand to look at it anymore. His gaze was directed at the waste basket where he threw Anna's number in and he dashed to the bin and emptied it, finding the crumpled up phone number he was looking for. He pulled out his phone and dialled the number, 0779567332 (Made-up Number); and put the phone to his ear and after two rings, a feminine voice answered.

"Hello, whom I am speaking too." The voice spoke cheerfully causing Percy to smile brightly, as he thought of what to say. No fear entered his mind that is until he wanted to speak.

"Hey Anna… um, it's Percy, Percy Jackson…we met at the, um, the Olympus Cafe. I was your barista today." Percy said nervously, as he calmed himself, the difficulty of doing this was extremely hard and emotionally painful for him, this would be the first time he had asked anyone out since Reyna died one year ago.

"Oh, hey. I didn't expect for you to call me so soon." She said in a shocked tone, as if she wasn't even expecting him to call her at all. "So, might I ask why you have called me so suddenly?" She inquired, Percy's nerves starting to get the better of him.

"well, I was… sort of, may be wondering… if may be, I don't know..." Percy stuttered and then closed his eyes and breathed in, "I wanted to know if you might want to meet with me for coffee tomorrow. I don't have any work or classes tomorrow so I thought you might want to meet up... like you suggested." Percy said confidently this time, sure that he wanted to do this, to start dating again. He anxiously waited for her answer.

"Of course, I would love to go to coffee with you. How about we meet at the park, may be you could get us some coffee, you know what I like." Percy smiled and nodded, happy that this was happening.

"That sounds good. Say at about nine tomorrow we could meet at Central Park, north entrance." Percy cleverly suggested, genuinely excited about this now, having accomplished a huge step in the way forward.

"That sounds perfect. So see you tomorrow Percy. I can't wait." She said excitedly, and Percy grinned like a toddler with a lollipop and almost jumped up excitedly.

"I will see you tomorrow Anna." Percy said calmly as the phone call ended and he sighed in relief, happy and content that he was on the right track, he was going to give this a try, he wanted to give it a try and now after reading what Reyna wrote, he was ready to try and move on.

As he tucked the diary back in, he pulled out the top picture frame, smiling happily. It was taken the day before Reyna left for the ship, they went to the beach and she took a selfie of them and Percy couldn't help but print out the picture and frame it. He knew at that moment, that he would be ok, he would truly be ok.

Hey my Fictioneers, hope you liked my first chapter, it is a part one, part two because it was tooooo long to be a chapter on its own. I hope you liked this first part, the second will be posted soon, give a huge round of applause to my fabulous beta Akakuro4869 and give a big round of applause to Captainravenworld for all the wonderful advice you gave me, and thanks to Akakuro4896 for helping me get this in tip top shape.

Also, I want to know what you think, let me know everything, I want to hear from you all.

Got to run, so see you with the next post, bye bye.

Michaela…