"Okay, okay, hold up. Did you just say she's twenty one?" Nico questioned with disbelief clear in his tone.
It was late afternoon on a Saturday and the boys had just finished practicing a new song Percy was working on when he told them about the girl he had met the day before. Percy answered Nico with a low 'yes' and Leo was suddenly full of pride. "Damn, props to Perce."
He reached over to give the boy a fist bump, which he gladly returned with a small grin, and Percy spoke, "Thank you, Leo. At least someone believes me." He looked pointedly at his cousin.
Beck was full of doubt. "Oh come on, Perce, what are the odds that you meet a girl, who, may I add, is an older woman and from the way you described her, is incredibly hot, when we're not there? We're always together, like twenty four seven. Plus, meeting on a bus sounds a bit too cliche to me."
Percy rolled his eyes and fished his phone out of his pocket. Sighing, he kissed his teeth. "Well, if you don't believe me, then maybe you'll believe her."
The boys were a ton more lively now. Leo, the more excited one of the three, immediately came to sit next to Percy, who sat on the couch. "You got her number?" He asked cheerfully.
Percy smirked. "Yep." Seconds later, he finally found her contact, having been struggling to read with his dyslexia. Once the loud trilling filled the room and "Annabeth" was displayed on his phone screen as he waited for her to answer, Nico strode over to the three with his guitar pick between his fingers and sat on the armrest of the couch. Percy was nervous, to say the least. If she didn't answer, his friends would never believe him and if she did answer, he wouldn't know what to say. The girl made him speechless. So when it became known that someone had picked up the phone, his stomach immediately dropped. "H-Hey, Annabeth?" He squeaked.
His friends only snickered and he was more than glad they were more interested in hearing this girl's voice rather than making fun of his. But then something happened and they made fun of him anyways.
"¿Qué dijiste?"
That was most definitely not Annabeth's voice, considering it was a man's voice, and everybody except Percy burst out laughing. Laughing so loud, he barely hear what the man was saying, not that he knew anyways. Leo grabbed the phone from Percy's hands and wheezed pass his laughing, "Perdón, número incorrecto."
And with that, the call was hung up.
And Percy was devastated.
...
Time passed by and the boys had settled down their laughter. Percy was slumped in his seat with his hood over his eyes. He'd just learned she'd given him the wrong number. Whether purposely or not, he was still completely miserable about not being able to contact the girl of his dreams. Leo clamped a hand over his friend's shoulder and sighed. "Don't worry, bud, there's other fish in the sea."
"Yeah, and maybe some that are actually your age." Nico quietly snickered at Beck's remark.
Percy's jaw clenched as he shoved the hood of his head, which revealed his messy mop of black hair and sat forward, "You guys don't understand. Annabeth was... special. I know I only talked to her for a few minutes but..." He sighed in frustration. "Those were some of the best minutes of my life and that's saying a lot. She was just so easy to talk to and joke around with. Plus, she's so beautiful. She was the whole package and I lost her the moment I found her."
As Percy lowered his head, his friends shared glances and all wore the same guilty ridden look on their faces. Nico spoke, "Look, we don't know for sure if she meant to give you the wrong number or not and I think you deserve some answers. Is there any other way you can contact her? Did she give any clues as to where she might go on the daily? Somewhere where we can cross paths with her?"
Percy pondered for a moment then suddenly his face lit up. "She mentioned she was an architect. She worked at some place downtown. Athena's... something."
"Athena's Parthenon?" Leo and Beck said simultaneously. A small grin reached Percy's lips, "Yeah, that's it."
"Our dad supplies them with a lot of stuff they need for their construction sites across the country. We know where their office building is." Leo lightly smacked his brother's chest. "Beck can drive us there and hopefully we'll into her when we get there."
Excitement bubbled in Percy's chest. "Hopefully."
Without another word, he shot up from the couch, ran out of the garage, into his home and up the stairs to his room to change out of his sweaty clothes.
...
The words of encouragement that were showered onto him throughout the entire ride to the building could not deter his nervous demeanor. And when Beck parked the car in front of the sixty floor skyscraper, Percy gulped. "Okay, here we are. You ready?"
"No."
"Cool, now get out." Leo shooed the anxious boy out of the truck and yelled at him to call them when he was ready to go home before driving off, leaving a very flustered Percy behind. It wasn't long before he spotted Annabeth exiting the building and, of course, he didn't want to seem like he was stalking so he had a plan. Percy stepped out of the sandwich shop that neighbored Annabeth's workplace just as she neared and purposely bumped shoulders with her as he passed by. He tried his best to act like he hadn't seen her until the moment they came into contact.
"Annabeth, hey!" Her wide smile mirrored his.
"Jazzy Jackie, fancy seeing you here. Shouldn't you be at home? Lazing the day away?"
Percy sought the joke as an opportunity to create a conversation instead of flat out asking why she gave him the wrong number. "Oh yes, but you see, I learned about a fifty percent off sale at the shoe place down the road and I just couldn't pass up on it. I need new heels after all." He casually stood on his tip toes and fell back onto the balls of his feet in a swift motion.
The sight emitted a stifled laugh from Annabeth. "You're weird, you know that?"
He smirked and laughed at the statement. "Yeah, I do."
She smiled. "Good. I like weird."
A light blush colored his cheeks at the sound of that. The natural awkwardness that consumed him when he talked to girls began to crush his chest so he quickly made an escape from it by changing the subject. "Yeah, so, um, I tried calling you earlier. The... number was wrong?"
Annabeth frowned. "Wrong?"
He chuckled nervously. "Yeah. When I called, some guy was speaking Spanish to me and unless you know how to make your voice deep on command and are also bilingual, I'm pretty sure that wasn't you."
A brow hiked towards her hairline as amusement etched onto her face. "Let me see your phone."
Seconds later and it was revealed that she really did put in the wrong number. "The bus driver was rushing us, I must've mistyped a number."
Her fingers tapped lightly against the screen as she typed her real number then handed the phone back to Percy. "There."
Green eyes looked skeptic. Gray eyes rolled clockwise.
"Call it," The blonde said and the boy obliged.
When a ringer began to go off, Percy knew she was telling the truth. He'd gone to hang up the call but instead, Annabeth answered. She smiled, "Hello?"
Percy smiled back. "Hey."
"So, as an apology, I was wondering if you would like to go get some hot chocolate with me. My pay."
He pretended to really think about it then eventually said, "I'd love to."
...
When the two arrived at the nearest Loco Cocoa, shivering in the slightest as the cool breeze blew against them when they opened the door to the run of the mill coffee shop, Annabeth ordered first, like she'd been here a thousand times and knew exactly what to get out of the millions of options to choose from.
"I'll get a locomotive."
Since it was his first time here, Percy only ordered what she was having. As the cashier totaled up their beverages, Annabeth glanced at Percy to give a surprised look.
"Are you sure you can handle a locomotive?"
His brows furrowed. "Why? What's in it?"
"Only a crap tom of caffeine and sugar. If you're normally hyperactive, this'll drive you completely insane."
"Why are you drinking it then?"
"Because, although I'm hyperactive myself, it's not enough to keep me awake all night to finish up some work I've got to do so this little bad boy has become my life saver."
"Then it's not a good idea for me to drink it."
She rested her elbow on his shoulder. "Nope, it isn't. If I were you, I'd stick to the classic hot chocolate and then work your way up the ladder."
Percy changed his order and the barista went to the back to grab their drinks. When he came back with both cups in his hands, Annabeth reached into her purse to grab her wallet but before she could even pull it out, Percy paid the boy behind the counter and took the drinks in his own hands. "Let's find a seat." He winked at her prior to turning on his heel to head towards the closest open booth.
"I said it was my pay, not yours." She grabbed her locomotive from Percy's hands and glared at him.
Percy had never seen anything so scary in his life but he somehow managed to keep his cool. "I wanted to be a gentleman and pay for the lady."
His words softened her hardened features and she sighed. "Fine, but I'm paying next time."
That caused for an inevitable smirk to appear. "So there's going to be a next time?"
Annabeth raised a single brow at him and tried not to smile as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and pointed a finger at him. "Don't get too cocky."
The two erupted into simultaneous laughter that only lasted for a few seconds and came to an abrupt end when the jingle of the bell hanging above the door tinkled, signifying that someone had walked in. And that someone was not someone Annabeth liked.
"What the hell is he doing here?" She whispered to herself with a deep scowl on her face. It was almost as if she'd forgotten Percy was there. Percy snuck a peek around his shoulder to spot the unwanted stranger but froze in his seat.
Crap, crap, crap, crap.
Percy swallowed dryly and turned his attention back to Annabeth. Once again, he was trying to keep his cool. Stay looking like a mature adult instead of a scared little boy who was terrified of the lightning in a thunderstorm.
"Who's that guy?" His voice came a bit deeper, seeing as he was trying not to let his fear show and acted like he didn't already know him. Of course he knew him. That was Matt Sloan, Percy's childhood bully. That guy made Percy's life a living hell back in middle school and eventually became the reason why he would have to change schools when the issue became too much.
"Some little shit who won't stop flirting with me. He's like sixteen or seventeen and thinks we're dating." Annabeth's jaw set just as the boy walked over. Percy didn't seem surprised to hear that. Matt was the littlest shit around. He was a pest, a flirt, a playboy and ugly. Incredibly ugly. How he had dated so many girls back in middle school was a complete wonder to him. With his rotten cracked teeth, severe acne and terrible fashion choices, how could anyone date him?
"Hey, babe." Matt attempted to kiss Annabeth the moment he got to their table but only received a push from her.
"Don't call me babe. We're not dating. How many times do I have to tell you that before you get that into your head?"
Percy tried to stay quiet and unnoticed but then Matt caught sight of him and his face contorted into rage and jealousy.
Please don't recognize me...
"Who the hell is this dude?"
Oh thank god.
"Matt, this is Percy, my-"
"Boyfriend." Percy finished. Annabeth seemed a bit taken aback but said nothing of it, though, Matt was nothing but taken aback.
"Boyfriend?" He spat. "You're cheating on me?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes and looked more than exasperated with the kid. "Will you just leave already? Literally no one asked for you to be here."
Matt ignored Annabeth and menacingly leaned closer to Percy. If Percy were twelve and scrawny, he would've been utterly scared for his life. But over the years, he had developed muscles and a slight beard. And was scared of bullies no more.
"This is my girl, asshole. Don't you ever touch her or I swear to god, I'll-"
"You'll what? You'll beat me? I'd like to see you try." Percy let his rage towards the boy who'd tormented him for years to show within his eyes as he glared intensely at him. It was so much rage that Matt even stepped back, fear clear on his face.
"Get out before it's too late." Annabeth cut in and Matt listened to her. He sent one more wimpy glare towards the silently seething Percy and left without another word. Percy lowered his gaze.
"Sorry about him," Annabeth apologized. He shook his head and dismissed the subject. "It's alright."
Moments of tense silence went by, so thick that not even a chainsaw could cut through it. Annabeth spoke up and attempted to cut away at it. "You like Nirvana?"
Percy raised his head to meet eyes with her and saw her pointing at his shirt. He smiled. "Yeah, I do. You know them?"
"Who doesn't? Plus, they're only like my favorite band ever. Kurt is legendary,"
A glimmer of happiness broke through the tension and lit up Percy's face. "No way. What's your favorite song by them?"
"Lithium."
Percy could just gasp. "Wow, I never pegged you as a rock kind of girl."
She brought her cup of locomotive to her lips and just before taking, she said, "Well, there's a lot of things you don't know about me."
Ditto, Annabeth. Ditto.
...
After five minutes of arguing, Annabeth finally let Percy walk her home.
It was late. They'd spent hours talking about everything there was to talk about, ranging from rock music to interesting facts about the sea and space. They didn't realize that it had been nearing midnight by the time they had finished talking about what could be in the depths of the oceans. Time really did fly by when he was with her. "So, is Lithium your favorite song or is it a different one?" He asked after a few minutes of walking.
"No, my favorite song is by Bon Jovi. I'm sure you can guess which one it is."
"Livin' on a Prayer?"
They smiled at each other.
"That's the one."
"My friends and I did a cover of that once. I had trouble hitting the high notes." He admitted through a laugh.
"You sing?" She inquired. He hadn't planned on telling Annabeth about his singing anytime soon. He was a bit insecure about his vocal abilities. He was sheepish when he said, "Yeah, my friends and I have a band."
"A band? That's so cool."
He grinned as a burst of confidence surged through him. "You should come over someday and see just how cool we are for yourself." He was so relieved when she agreed. "Sure, I'd love to. What is your band called, by the way?"
"The Four Horsemen."
"Magic movie or religious freak?"
"Movie." Percy revealed, referring to one of his favorite movies, Now You See Me.
"Who's the flirt of the group?"
"That would be Leo." He chuckled. "He may be scrawny but that doesn't hold him back from flirting with every girl that comes into sight."
Annabeth chuckled as well. "Are you guys any good?"
"I'd like to think so."
The two came to a stop. "Well, this is me."
Percy stared at the apartment building in awe. The building looked brand new with it's fresh looking brown and white paint. The place was ten floors high and lit up like a Christmas tree but instead of psychedelic colors, bright yellow lights were in place. Each room had a wall of glass and a balcony that overlooked the city. In other words, the building was fancy as hell. "This is... wow."
Annabeth laughed at the boy. "Thanks. My mom designed it herself."
"Your mom has a good eye."
She glanced up at the building with a look of admiration. "She does, doesn't she?"
She inhaled sharply moments later and abruptly stated, "Alright, well, I guess I'll see you later, Perce. Thanks for spending the afternoon with me. I had a good time."
"So did I."
They stood in front of each other, unsure of how they should say goodbye or if they should even say goodbye. Eventually, Annabeth simply gave him one more smile before turning around to head towards the entrance of the building. Just as soon as she got to the door, Percy spoke. "Hey, why don't you come over tomorrow and see our band perform a song? I mean, if you want to. You probably don't ever want to see me again nor do you you want to listen to my band but, I was just wondering if you would like to come and listen in, not that you have to and... yeah."
Annabeth looked relieved to have a reason to stay a little bit longer with him and amused by his rambling. She walked back to him and said, "I would love to see you perform and also, don't worry," She approached him and gave the boy a kiss on the cheek, whispering in his ear, "I'm here to stay."
...
"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to invite her over."
It was half past midnight and Percy was with his friends, driving back home.
"I know, Leo, but it's a great excuse to see her again. You guys will love her."
"What about your mom? She won't exactly love the twenty one year old who's dating her sixteen year old son." Nico remarked.
Percy blushed. "Okay, first of all, we're not dating. Second of all, I have a plan for that. And third of all, it is a damn good plan."
"And what is this damn good plan of yours, genius?" Beck inquired as he slowed down at a stop sign and his eyes scanned the road.
"Well, my fellow band members, I am going to trick my mother into looking for medicine that doesn't exist!"
"What does that mean?"
"It means I'm going to make up the name of the exact medicine I'll be needing for my cough," Percy fake coughed. "Make my mom go look for it and she'll never find it. Therefore, we'll have a lot of time to ourselves at home and she'll never have to meet this twenty one year old." He smirked proudly at his own plan. Leo still looked confused. "Wait... what?"
Instead if explaining it to the poor slow minded boy, the three laughed and Leo reluctantly joined them, still unsure of what the plan was and why they were laughing. Then, all fell into a companionable silence as Beck continued to drive them all to Percy's home, where the boys decided to stay at for the night.
"Perce... Do you light this girl?" Nico said suddenly. Percy gave him a quizzical look. "I thought that was obvious."
Nico sighed and turned in his seat to face the boy next to him. "You're my best friend, Percy, and best friends don't like to see each other get hurt."
"And how would I get hurt?"
"Annabeth."
Percy raised a brow at Nico, still confused as ever. "Look, Annabeth is twenty one years old. She's an adult. She has a stable job and a nice place downtown and I'm pretty sure this is how she's going to live for the majority of her lifetime. Now all she's missing is someone to live her life with and she's choosing you. But how do you think she's going to react when she finds out you're not even out of high school yet?"
"Are you telling me to let her go?" Percy inquired.
"No... Well, yes. Just... Maybe you should back out before the hole you're digging with this lie of yours becomes too deep for you to get out of."
"What?"
"He means you should stop this thing you have going on with Annabeth before it goes too far and you get your heart broken." Beck intervened.
Percy sighed exasperatedly once finally understanding just what exactly his friends were saying. "I'm not backing out, guys. Not now, not ever. I really like this girl and I don't care what it takes to be with her." He paused and looked at all of them pointedly as he said, "I'm going to be with her," Looking out the window, he grumbled to himself, "Whether you like it or not."
Leo rolled his eyes as he too stared out the window. "Let's just let him make his own decisions on this one, guys."
Percy was more than relieved they were letting the subject go.
...
Now Percy was exhausted.
The teen stayed up very very late, only running on an hour of sleep for he spent the night writing a new song to sing to Annabeth. The other boys weren't any better. They helped him and stayed awake with him so they too only slept for an hour. They sleepily rehearsed the song until they mastered it (or came as close as they could get to perfection) and crashed out in the garage. Percy had woken up mere minutes before Annabeth was to arrive. She was set to show up around eleven, having been off work on Sundays.
"Mom!" He rushed into his living room and found his mother sitting on the couch watching TV. He leaned against the back of the couch and looked at his mom, wearing the best frown he could muster up. "Ma, I have a really bad cough, can you go get me this medicine Nico recommended? He said it helped him better than any other type of medicine when he was sick that one time." He fibbed. Sally reached up to feel her son's forehead and frowned as well. "You don't feel warm, sweetheart. Are you sure you're not okay?"
Percy then abruptly began to expectorate to really sell off his so called cough. He knew it had worked when worry began to climb his mother's features and she stood from her seat. "What is this medicine called?"
After he got his mom to leave the house, he went to wake the others up. Grabbing two pots from the kitchen, he ran into the garage and began to bang them against each other, the loud noise startling his friends awake.
"Percy! What the hell, man?!" Beck threw a drumstick at the boy.
"Time to get up! Annabeth will be here any second." And then he left the room.
With a grumble, Nico got up from the floor as Beck dragged his still sleeping step brother by his scrawny arm to stand where his guitar rested.
"Alright! Beck, at the drums. Nico, grab your guitar. Leo, get off the floor. Let's move, people!" Percy retrieved his guitar from the couch just as the doorbell rang.
"She's here. I'll be back. Beck, please get Leo off the floor."
Percy slung his guitar over his shoulder and heading to the front door. "Annabeth." He breathily said through a smile. You look good in casual clothing, he found himself wanting to say but didn't.
"Hey, Perce." She moved to hug him at the same time he moved to give her a kiss on the cheek, then they alternated moves and ended up indecisive on how to greet each other.
Then a drowsy Leo came into the picture and ended the awkwardness of their hell. "Well," He dragged out of the L of the words in a flirtatious tone, now awake as ever. "Who might this fine lady be?"
Of course a woman would be able to wake him up instead of loud noises and being dragged around.
"Annabeth." She introduced, giving out a hand for him to shake. He shook her hand, then turned it to the side and raised it towards his lips.
"Did my heart love till now? Foreswear it, sight. For I ne'er saw beauty till this night." He quoted before kissing the back of her hand.
Percy looked at him point-blank. "It's morning."
"It's Shakespeare." Leo retorted.
"I'm guessing this is Leo."
Percy nodded at her question with a smile, taking her hand from Leo's as he began to lead her to the garage. Leo closed the front door and followed in pursuit.
"Beck, Nico, come meet Annabeth." The two left their instruments to greet the blonde.
"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Nico di Angelo."
"And I'm Charles Beckendorf, but my friends just call me Beck." His soft brown eyes landed on his brother behind Percy and Annabeth. "I see you met my idiot step brother. Let me guess, he kissed your hand and quoted Shakespeare?"
Annabeth laughed. "Yeah. Not the weirdest introduction I've ever had with someone though."
Beck smiled politely. "Well you can tell us about your weirdest someday. Perhaps over dinner? We'd love to get to know you better, seeing as Percy never shuts up about you."
The green eyed boy beside Annie blushed. She grinned cheekily at him before returning her gaze back to Beck's. "Sure, sounds good to me."
Beck nodded and let Percy take her to the couches where she would observe the band. As he secured his microphone into the mic stand, Percy announced, "Now we sing."
Annabeth grinned a grin that reached her ears. He could tell she was incredibly excited but was keeping it on the down-low. "I think you'll come to like the song." And without saying more, they began.
End Up Here
5 Seconds of Summer
P - Percy
L - Leo
N - Nico
(P) You walked in
Everyone was asking for your name
You just smiled and told them 'trouble'
My head spins
I'm pressed against the wall just watching your every move
You're way too cool
And you're coming this way, coming this way
(A) How did we end up talking in the first place?
You said you liked my Cobain shirt
Now we're walking back to your place
You're telling me how you love that song about
Livin' on a prayer
I'm pretty sure that we're halfway there
And when I wake up next to you
I wonder how
How did we end up here?
(N) How did we end up
How did we end up here?
(P) Next day out
Everyone though you were so insane
'Cause you're so far out
Of my league
My friends say I should lock you down
Before you figure me out and you run away
But you don't and you won't
As you kiss me and tell me that you're here to stay
As they repeated the chorus, Percy had been keeping his eyes on Annabeth's throughout the whole time he sang. He could tell she was honored that he'd written a song for her. The wide smile on her face gave him butterflies within his stomach and he winked at her, bringing his mouth closer to the mic.
(P) Call me lucky 'cause in the end
I'm a six
And she's a ten
She's so fit
I'm insecure
But she keeps coming back for more
(A) How did we end up talking in the first place?
You said you liked my Cobain shirt
Now we're walking back to your place
You're telling me how you love that song about
Livin' on a prayer
I'm pretty sure that we're halfway there
And when I wake up next to you
I wonder how
How did we end up here?
(N) How did we end up
How did we end up here?
The boys gave it their all on their instruments towards the end of the song. They all really wanted to impress the girl and by the looks of it, they'd say they did just that.
How did we end up
How did we end up here?
And then the song ended with Leo plucking the wrong chord on his guitar. Though, instead of scolding him, they all breathlessly laughed.
"Holy craps, guys," Annabeth stood from her seat. "That was... wow. Okay, when you said you were good, Perce, I didn't think you meant this good. How haven't you all gotten famous yet?"
"That would be because of a dick who didn't see any potential in us when we played in Battle of the Bands last year. We weren't the best but we certainly weren't bad enough for fifth place. We should've gotten at least third or even second! But nope, at the time we had acne and skinny bodies so nobody wanted us to get that record label nor become famous by any means." Nico bitterly stated.
"The music industry can really suck sometimes." She gave a wary smile. "Sorry, guys. I'm sure someone will come and discover you someday. It's bound to happen. Your band is one of the best I've ever heard and I love Nirvana, just ask Percy."
Leo nearly fainted. "We've never been compared to Nirvana before."
"Well you're nearly as good as them."
Leo ran up to Annabeth and got on his knee. "Marry me."
Percy walked up to the Latino boy and pulled him upwards by his suspenders. "Okay, bud, no marrying is happening for you. At least not with her." Leo pouted and went back to Nico and Beck. When the three left to give them some privacy, Annabeth spoke.
"Can I ask you something?"
"What's up?" Percy sat down on the couch and Annabeth did the same.
"You'll figure me out and you'll run away?" Her eyes squinted in question as she smiled. "What did you mean by that, Jackie?"
Percy felt his stomach drop a bit but elaborately came up with an... elaborate answer.
"My drag queen life. Maybe you'll figure out that I'm not lying about it and it'll scare you away." He made it seem like he'd put the lyric there as a reference on the ongoing joke about him being a drag queen.
Annabeth giggled and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I said I wasn't going anywhere, idiot. Plus, you worried me there for a second. I've had trust issues in past relationships and friendships, I want us to be different." She uttered into his shoulder.
"Of course, I get it. No secrets."
Except maybe just one...
/
That's all folks!
Next chapter will be up on Friday. I'll be updating Monday's and Friday's (this one is a bit late because it took me a little longer to type than I thought it would), some earlier than that if a lot of people request it.
Thanks for reading!
- adowftaw
Disclaimer: All rights go to their respective owners.
