these violent delights (have violent ends)

chapter I

by nocturnalis

Annabeth had been so excited when she'd first entered Bianca's, a quaint little Italian restaurant near her house. It was her first date in a while. Lately, she'd been doing a lot of extra credit work. It was worth it, but it had cost her sleep and left little time just for her. Then, Matt, a new kid had asked her out. He had floppy brown hair and olive skin. His cheeks were dotted with freckles. He'd moved to New York a few weeks ago and she didn't really know much about him. So, left without a single reason to say no, she had said yes. Annabeth remembered how Matt had asked if she knew any good places near by. And so she'd recommended Bianca's. Annabeth had a friend who owned the place and she knew that the service was great, despite not actually having been there many times. Annabeth had given well-researched directions to and from Bianca's to Matt. She texted it to him several times as well to appease her anxiety.

Then the night came. She'd picked out a silvery grey blouse that shined like moonlight. It was her favorite, one of the few gifts she'd gotten from her distant mother, Athena. A strange one, too, considering the rest were mostly books and a few other hard-to-find antiques. But it had brought her nothing but good luck since her mother had given it to her. Annabeth wasn't exactly a big fan of superstition, but it couldn't exactly hurt, could it? Under it, she chose to wear a purple pleated skirt along with dark grey tights and a pair of indigo flats. She wore the same owl stud earrings she always did and skipped makeup entirely. She could sketch the Eiffel Tower easily from memory but she was hopeless with makeup. Oh, how the Fates must hate me, Annabeth would sometimes think to herself sarcastically.

She ignored her stepmother in the kitchen playing with her two half brothers, they'd had a fight recently and things were a bit tense between them. Instead, she went straight to her father. After saying goodbye, she'd Uber'd to Bianca's and arrived at 7 on the dot, exactly when they planned to meet, though Matt didn't seem to have arrived yet. After being led to her reservation by the maitre d', she set her bag down and looked out the window, maybe Matt was close.

After maybe 5 minutes, she'd given up on looking. The waitress, a short girl maybe a few years older than Annabeth, had come by once already, asking from behind her dark locks of hair if Annabeth was ready, but he wasn't here yet so she had asked for a few more minutes. Matt was late, but surely he'd be there any second, right?

To pass the time while she waited for Matt, Annabeth decided to look over the restaurant more thoroughly. She hadn't been there in several months and they'd obviously done a bit of renovation since the last time Annabeth had been there. Some things were the same. The wallpaper, for example, hadn't changed at all. In fact, it looked as pristine as the day she had first seen it, several years ago. The tables, on the other hand, were decidedly new. Before, they'd been small tables with square linoleum surfaces. Now though, the tables were some kind of antique wood with white linen tablecloth on top that added to the restaurant's charm. Overall the space felt much more spread out, too.

A voice interrupted her thoughts and Annabeth looked up to see the waitress with dark hair at her table once more.

"Are you ready to order yet?" She asked patiently.

Annabeth winced. This was the fourth time she had asked and Annabeth was no more ready than she had been 20 minutes ago. "Oh, um, could I just have a few more minutes, please?" Annabeth asked.

The waitress sent her a pitying glance but nodded politely before turning away and walking off to serve another customer. Annabeth's heart plunged. It seemed everyone in the restaurant was aware that her date had stood her up. The apologetic glances only served to make her feel worse and even Annabeth was beginning to doubt that Matt was ever going to arrive.

Annabeth glanced up at the small clock on the wall. 7:28, it read. Matt was nearly 30 minutes late, or at least he would be if he had even planned to show up at all. Annabeth felt like crying. Five more minutes, she decided. Five minutes, and if Matt still hadn't shown up after the five minutes were up, then… then- then she'd leave, her silver blouse having brought her nothing but bad luck for once.

Annabeth waited then. The pitying stares had only gotten worse. Every few minutes she would hear a "poor girl" or something similar echoing around the restaurant. She wanted nothing more than stand up and say that she didn't want their pity. But she couldn't do that, no, the last thing she wanted was to cause an even bigger scene than the one already unfolding at the moment.

Annabeth counted down the seconds in her head, trying not to let the tears that had already begun to well up in her eyes fall. 30 seconds left. 20. Ten.

Then, just as she was nearing 0. Someone new entered the restaurant. Annabeth wouldn't have paid attention to such a thing, but he was heading towards her. He looked 17, her age, with inky black hair and sea green eyes. He wore Khakis and a sweatshirt with the words "Goode Swim Team 2016" on it, as if he'd tried to look nice but had given up halfway through. He strode towards her table with confidence. She had never seen him before in her life, but that didn't stop him from striding over to her and sitting down at her table opposite of her.

Loudly, he said, "Sorry I'm so late, babe, traffic is crazy right now." He smiled earnestly at her but her only response was confusion. But the stares had backed off. No longer did she feel like she was choking under their gazes. She felt a million times better. Though, she couldn't help but stare at the boy in front of her, a question in her eyes.

"I'm Percy," he whispered to her, "just go with it, okay? Whoever didn't bother to show up is a dick."

Annabeth could hear her heart beating in her chest. This stranger had covered for her, prevented the embarrassment that no doubt would have occurred at this very moment had he not shown up, had she been forced to leave, tears threatening to fall because Matt had stood her up. But that hadn't happened, and she would be forever grateful. Of course she would "go with it" because he was being sweet and trying to save her.

At that moment, though, before Annabeth even had the chance to introduce herself, their waitress returned, smiling brightly. "Ready to order?"

"Oh, I think so," Percy said, but he hadn't touched the menu in front of him. "I'll have one Chicken Alfredo, you have that, right?" She nodded. "Oh, and a cherry coke please." The waitress wrote it down and then turned her head to Annabeth.

"And you?" She asked.

"I'll have water, and the Spaghetti Marinara, no meatballs, please," Annabeth said easily, she had studied the menu several times over while waiting for her douche of a date, Matt. She could probably recite it from memory by now.

"Alright," the waitress said, "should be ready soon."

As soon as she was out of hearing range, Annabeth introduced herself. "I'm Annabeth, thanks for the save." She smiled gratefully.

"Hey, no problem," Percy responded, "My apartment is right across the street and I noticed you sitting here. I had to do something."

"Well," Annabeth said, "aren't you a hero."

Percy rubbed the back of his head, "I guess, my best friend Grover says that I have a saving-people thing."

Annabeth tried to stifle her laughs. "Like Harry Potter?"

Percy grinned. "Exactly like Harry Potter."

"So," Annabeth said," tell me about yourself. Let's make this a fake date to remember. You're in high school right? You look my age, at least."

Percy raised his eyebrows teasingly. "Yeah? Okay, well, my name is Percy," his cheeks reddened, "um, as you already know. And yeah, I'm in highschool, I'm a Sophomore. You?"

"Oh, I'm a Sophomore, too." Annabeth didn't really know what to say next, though. The silence continued on for a few more seconds and only seemed to get more awkward. Trying to break through the ice, she asked, "You come here often? Since you live so close."

"Not really, but my friend Nico hangs out here often so sometimes I peek in to see if he's here. His sister owns the place."

"Oh, really? I guess I'm friends with his sister, then. Bianca, right? We met a couple of years ago." Annabeth said.

"Really? Cool, well look how much we already have in common, then." Percy grinned, flashing pearly white teeth at her.

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed, "guess so. How long have you lived in New York?"

"My entire life, though, I still seem to get lost every so often."

"Huh, well that's another thing we have in common then. Getting lost, I mean. I used to live in San Francisco, but I moved here earlier in the school year. Even with getting lost, though, you must know a whole bunch of shortcuts, wanna regale me with them?"

Percy smiled, he seemed to be quite talented at that, "I'd love to, but first, I think our food's here."

Annabeth turned, and sure enough, Percy was right. Their food was here. Percy's Chicken Alfredo looked delicious while Annabeth's Spaghetti Marinara seemed to glow in the soft lighting of the restaurant. As they ate their food, they continued to make small talk. Laughing every so often and smiling at what they had in common and what they didn't. Eventually though, the clock ticked nine o'clock and Annabeth knew that she had to go home soon, her father had asked her to be home before 9:30 so she wanted leave in the next few minutes.

"I had a wonderful time, Percy, but I should really be leaving soon." Annabeth said.

"Me too," Percy agreed. "If I stay out too late, no doubt my mom will think I've gotten into trouble. She's really paranoid about that sort of stuff. But, um, Annabeth?" He sounded unsure.

"Yeah?"

"I had a great night with you, and I was kind of wondering if maybe you'd like to go on another date? Like, with me?"

Annabeth grinned. "I'd love to."

Percy, who had been fumbling with his hoodie's drawstring, lit up brightly. "Great! How about, um here, I guess? Next Friday!" Percy pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket as if he had been waiting for this moment. He pressed the paper into the palm of her hand. "My phone number," he explained. Then he backed a few feet away from her, said goodbye, and crossed the street to his apartment.

Annabeth smiled as she watched him go. Maybe, despite the disaster that was Matt not showing up, her silver blouse was lucky after all. It had brought Percy into her life, hadn't it? She couldn't wait for next Friday.

A/N: I hope you guys like this, I know I haven't written anything in a while but I'm hoping to get back into writing this summer. Tell me what you think in the reviews and see if you can guess which character made a cameo as the waiter.

Have good day!

~nocturnalis