Author's Note #1: Hello people who must not know me too well to know that I write 2 author notes, one to tell you I don't own the story/tell you about my life and the second to thank people for taking the time to pay attention to this story. So here's the deal: looked at the Lost Hero cover a bit more and recognized it. It was Québec City, which I realized later was actually a part of the book (I was looking for a French mistake, just to feel superior. Found none.) which I had forgotten. I also forgot how much I love Leo. I mean, I like Leo and all, I was routing for him and all his hopeless endeavours to romance, but at the same time while I said that, I had forgotten how AWESOME he is. I am sorry Leo Valdez, please forgive me for my ignorance. Forgot to mention this, but this is AU, if you couldn't tell. Also, don't argue about Percy's height. I got into a long and debated talk about it and since it says he's not "tall", but he's "tall", we chose the height we did. Also, I'm totally Annabeth. I don't know my own phone number.
Foot In Your Mouth
by: Setkia
"Sorry," he said quickly. "You're unnaturally pretty and I don't know how to deal with it." He reached out quickly and grabbed a glass from the counter, beginning to chug down its contents in order to shut himself up. And people wondered why he stayed home.
To: Annabeth Chase
From: Percy Jackson
Subject: Hey, Remember Me?
Hey uh …. it's Percy, or Seaweed Brain as you called me. We met about a week ago at that club, Olympus, and we got talking? I told you bad pick-up lines and then your friend came over and brutally pulled us apart? Am I ringing any bells? I was the one who called you attractive about a hundred times?
Never realized how one-sided e-mails are until you hit send.
I've probably written this e-mail about thirty-seven times and am still undecided on how to proceed. I'm starting to think I waited too long to contact you (because I didn't want to come off as needy) and since you know, I kind of realized I never gave you any way to contact me which might've given off the wrong impression that I didn't want to see you again, which I do …
I think the longer this e-mail is the bigger a fool I'll make of myself.
So I just hope this is the right e-mail and I haven't just sent out a thing to some random old lady or body builder man or whatever.
Awkwardly,
Percy
P.S. I'm really hoping this isn't a fake e-mail cause I was that one cute guy that you talked to but decided you didn't like enough to see again so you faked not having a cell and instead gave some crummy address to him …
Percy stared at the e-mail.
Wrong, wrong, WRONG!
He should just dig himself a hole, climb in and fill it with water. Drowning himself wouldn't be the worst way to go. He couldn't send this thing to the attractive blonde.
No, you're going to do this. When was the last time you got in the game? Do they still call it that? Press send, idiot, before you second-guess yourself again.
Percy pressed send.
Instantly he regretted it. He shook his computer screen, desperately praying for the e-mail to come bouncing back, part of him hoping it was a fake e-mail just so he didn't embarrass himself anymore in front of the grey-eyed beauty.
He let his head smack against the keys, groaning.
"Perce, what are you doing?"
Percy sat back up, a loose K stuck to his forehead. He needed a new laptop, all the keys were falling out.
"Nothing," he said hurriedly. "I was just … uh …"
"Hmm?" pressed his best friend Grover, raising an eyebrow at him. He leaned forward, looking over Percy's shoulder and began to grin like a maniac. "Who's Annabeth?"
"No one!" he said quickly. "Well, someone of course, I'm not going to deny her existence, but no one you need to be concerned about."
Grover's grin split even wider to astronomical proportions. "Have I ever mentioned to you what a complete moron you sound like when you get all flustered? You're twenty-four, Perce, learn to lie a bit."
"She's no one okay?" Percy said, rolling his eyes and yet he nervously glanced back at the screen. "She's just some girl I met."
"The one who got you all pink last Friday?"
"Maybe …"
"Does she know you're such a pathetic loser?"
Percy smacked Grover over the head, affectionately, but aggressively. "Shut up, would you? I was way out of my league. I hardly think she remembers me." It was true, she was definitely worlds more attractive than him, was able to beat him to a pulp, and hadn't been nearly as awkward and fumble-y as he had been. He had his foot in his mouth throughout the entire conversation while she had been all cool and collected.
"I'm just kidding, I'm sure this is great for you," said Grover. "Ever since that thing with Calypso."
"There was never anything with Calypso—"
"She's totally in love with you, can't you tell?"
"What? No she's not!"
"I bet the only reason you're friends with her is because you've got a fetish for all things Greek."
"You know me, baklava has got me all hot and bothered." Percy rolled his eyes. "Anyway, don't you have a date with Juniper? What are you doing over here?"
"Well, I was going to ask you to join, drag you into a double date with the lovely Ms. Dare—"
"I've told you a thousand times, Rachel does not have hots for me."
"She's going to be very disappointed that some bimbo has stolen you away from her—"
"Annabeth is plenty smart. Smarter than me," Percy admitted.
"That's not that hard to beat," Grover said. He ruffled Percy's hair and gripped his shoulders. "Ah, young love! You have fun, waiting on your You've Got Mail fantasy."
Percy's laptop notified him that he had mail.
He immediately launched himself forward towards his computer and ignored Grover's laughter at him for his reaction. Part of him was scared it was some advertisement or junk mail but when he saw her name in the address bar, he almost had a heart attack.
"Have fun, Meg Ryan."
"Who says I'm not Tom Hanks?"
Grover laughed and closed the door to Percy's apartment behind him as the dark haired man leaned over in his chair, trying not to get ahead of himself. With a shaking hand, he opened the e-mail.
To: Percy Jackson
From: Annabeth Chase
Subject: Re: Hey, Remember Me?
Still as awkward as ever, aren't you, Seaweed Brain? As if I could forget the one who so anxiously volunteered to be my boyfriend. Don't let it go to your head, but when you compliment a girl every ten minutes about her appearance, you make yourself hard to forget.
That girl you met before, she's Piper. She's sorry about the whole interrupting thing, she claims she was saving me from a stalker. I don't think you're a stalker, by the way. I work part-time at a diner downtown, you should visit. It's called Yancy's, ever been there? I drink too much coffee for my own health, maybe you'd join me for a cup? Since you volunteered and all.
Sincerely,
Annabeth
P.S. I actually do have a cell phone, but the embarrassing bit is I can't remember my cell number. Mainly cause I have very few friends who I all text first and then just add me to their contacts. Give me yours and we can talk anytime.
Percy had to resist the urge to dance around his apartment. Instead, he got to work writing a response.
Annabeth stared at her e-mail and couldn't help smiling. That was a much faster reply than she had expected, not that she minded all that much.
When she had been forced out by her friends to go to Olympus she had never expected to be clumsily swept off her feet by a five foot eight and a half man with messy dark hair and sea green eyes that reminded her of (as cheesy as it sounded) sunset walks alongside the ocean. He was tanned and wore over-sized clothes and was adorkably awkward and fumble-y. She didn't know what else to call him other than adorably dorky and geeky and a bonus was that unlike all her other friends who just tolerated her obsession with Greek mythology, he embraced it and seemed just as gods-obsessed as she was.
With a grin that probably looked foolish on her face, she opened his e-mail.
To: Annabeth Chase
From: Percy Jackson
Subject: RE:RE: Hey, Remember Me?
Yancy's, huh? I hear they're kind of stuck up there, all fancy and that sort of thing. I'm not much of a coffee man, but I suppose I could stop by. I just sounded totally uninterested, didn't I? I didn't mean to, I do like you. A lot. Probably more than I should for someone I've only met once and bumbled my way through our conversation with a few horribly timed pick-up lines.
What are your hours? I'll stop by if I can. While we're mentioning jobs, I'm a life guard. I'm on the clock from 9 in the morning till 5 at night, but any time after that I would love to stop by.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to write an e-mail and pray you won't make stupid spelling/grammar mistakes so that an incredibly beautiful woman won't laugh at you?
I think I've realized my broken filter applies even to e-mails, despite the fact that it shouldn't since I have time to think about these e-mails before I send them but choose to send them before I regret everything I've ever done in my life.
Am I interrupting your work? I am so sorry!
Quirkily,
Percy
P.S. I don't mean to sound rude but you could've just asked for my phone number. If you wanted to talk to me, that is. Dyslexic people like me tend to avoid texting. And anyway I'll give it to you when I see you. If I see you. If you want it. I'm shutting up now.
Annabeth couldn't help but blush.
The thing about Percy that made him so different to her was his openness. She knew few men who were so aware of their own feelings and so upfront about them. He was very blunt to the point where others would call it rude but with the way he rubbed his neck and dug his foot into the ground you could tell he was humble and just socially awkward. Besides there was a little habit of his that she found endearing.
She had been called pretty, sexy, hot by many men. She was attractive with a slim, surfer figure, blonde hair and grey eyes that tended to catch others off guard. She was tanned and well-muscled, she wore nice clothes and went about life like anyone else but the thing was that you could call a girl pretty and she could never believe you.
Annabeth wasn't under the illusion she was ugly, but she had never felt beautiful before.
The way Percy had told her up front on their first encounter how attractive she was, he had called her beautiful and maybe a girl needed to be called beautiful more often than sexy or hot. He never used those terms. The way he said it like fact, as though there was no way anyone could not find her attractive and become as tongue-tied as he had made her feel it.
When Percy looked her in the eyes, perhaps a bit too intimate for her to handle, she had felt beautiful from the crown of her head to her toes. All her insecurities seemed to fall away under his gaze, and she couldn't help feeling flattered and acting like she was in high school.
Perhaps she was acting like a school girl with a crush, but if she had met Percy in high school she had no doubt she would've had a crush on him. Captain of the swim team he had said. As a life-guard, he must be very attractive underneath all the humble shirts. She was sure if he had gone to her school they would've eaten him up. For one because she had gone to an all-girls school and for another, because Percy just seemed so innocent it wouldn't surprise her if he got overwhelmed by a large crowd of girls attacking him all at once. And they would attack him.
The quiet, sort of shy type with the amazing hair that just screamed to be touched. Yes, everyone would've drooled over him. Everyone probably drooled over him now. She had no doubt that he probably had a bunch of girls at his wimp who he didn't realize liked him. How he was single was a mystery to her, but she would not oppose to a good thing.
Besides, she needed something like this after Luke.
Cracking her knuckles, unable to get that stupid grin off her face, Annabeth got ready to type her reply.
Author's Note #2: The thank-yous, where I personally reply to all of your reviews and favorites/follows. I'll have more to say if you review.
nerdycook24: I really loved writing Percy that way. Percy in this story is like me, but you know ... I'm a girl. I do like it, the confidence is attractive but at the same time I find awkward uncertainty is really cute too. So if I were to tag Percy in this story I would call him oblivious/awkward/adorable/adorkable/sweet/clumsy/geeky/dorky. Yeah, this is why I don't tag things, I'd overtag.
Vexy Minion: I am going to do something I promised myself i would not do and it is this: let the story go where it takes me. Basically, each chapter will determine the next chapter with no actual plan. If you have requests, make them.
Thundercade: Thank you, I love to make others laugh. If I can make you laugh (unable to hold it the better), I am very happy with my achievements.
Rampageblast: So yeah ... multi-chapter. I'm not really planning anything specifically, it's going to be very random/randomly chosen things.
If you guys have a request, please tell me!
Now the other thank-yous for:
Favorites: HBooks15, King of Beasts 007, PurplePiratedofProcastination, Rampageblast, SpiritAni, Thundercade, Vexy Minion, celestiawishfulsoda, devonleney27, fio16, and nerdycook24
Follows: Rampageblast, Thundercade, Vexy Minion, and nerdycook24.
