Chapter 3:

The boutique had lots of nice dress clothes, so it was the perfect place to shop.

"Annabeth?" I looked around, and saw one of my good friends from college that I hadn't seen for a while.

"Piper! What are you doing here?" I said, while hugging her.

"Silena owns the shop, so I help her out every once in a while. What happened to you?" she asked when she noticed my stained clothes.

"Soda spilled on me..." I replied grimly.

"Who's that?" She said, refering to Percy, in a flirty way. I knew she wasn't actually interested in him, because she had a boyfriend.

"Oh, that's Percy. He's a client of mine. We were having lunch when the soda spilled." The sparkle in Percy's eyes seemed to dull when I refered to him as a client, but I ignored it.

"Well, let's get you fixed up!"

Piper found millions of outfits for me to try on—some were too casual, some were to fancy, and most were just not my style. I walked out of the dressing room confidently in a little black dress. It had a v-neck, with tank-top style straps. It went down to my mid thighs, with a tight fit all the way through. It also had a thin gray belt around the waist. When I came out of the dressing room, I heard Piper clap, and I heard Percy gasp.

"Well. What do you think?" I asked.

"Oh, that's definitely the one! If only Silena were here..." Piper gushed, while running to the cash register.

"You look... amazing. Really." Percy said shyly. I felt my cheeks get red.

"Cash or Card?" Piper said, interupting our moment.

"Oh, uh... I'll be paying for that, so card." Percy said before I could answer.

"Percy, you really don't have to do that."

"No, I want to. Besides, it was my fault." I sighed in defeat.

Piper rung us up, and sent us out the door. But just before I walked out, she whispered in my ear.

"Don't let him go. He's a keeper."


We went our separate ways, me to my office, him to his.

I walked onto the 4th floor, where my office was, and headed to my office.

"Annabeth? Your mother would like to see you." Alexandra said quickly. She was still pretty new, so she was still getting used to everything.

I walked over to my mother's office, and knocked.

"Come in." I heard faintly.

I opened the door. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. Close the door please." I did as she said. "It's about Percy. His father and I... have a bad history. I don't trust him. I don't want you getting involved with them Annabeth."

I scowled. "Mother, I'm not a child anymore. If I find out he's a jerk, and he's not worth my time, then I'll stop hanging around him. But you can't judge someone based off who their parents are."

She grimaced. "Fine. But I don't want you to get hurt. Remember what happened last time."

I stormed out of the office. There was no need for her to mention that. It was in the past, and I had gotten over it.


"So, what happened with the cute coffee boy?" Thalia asked as I came into the apartment.

"His name is Percy, and I'm pretty sure I told you that. And it turns out, he is my new client."

"What are you wearing?" Thalia asked, realizing I wasn't wearing the things she brought me.

I sighed. "At lunch, soda spilled on my clothes, so I went out and bought this."

"Oh, okay!" She said, turning on the tv.

"I'm going to go take a shower then go to sleep, so don't bother me."

I took time to reflect on the day, and what happened. When sleep finally reached me, I was plagued by a nightmare I hadn't had in years.

I was walking to my favorite restaurant, for my 3 year anniversary with my boyfriend. I wore a new dress. It was gray, with silver sequence scattered on it. It flowed down to my knees, and there was an elastic band around my waist. My shoes clicked on the ground. I opened the door to the restaurant.

"Reservations for Castellan."

"Sure, right this way, Miss."

He led me to the back room. It was beautiful, the architecture was amazing. But then, My eye caught something not as pleasant.

"LUKE?" I yelled at my boyfriend, who was currently lip-locking with some brunette that I'm pretty sure was an intern at his work.

"A-Annabeth, what are you doing here?"

"It's our freaking anniversary. How long has THAT been going on?"

Then the brunette piped up. "What is she talking about? It's OUR anniversary, right Lukie?"

I laughed at that. "Wow. I guess he didn't tell you, either. He's my boyfriend—well, ex, now—of 3 years, to the day."

The brunette paled. Luke looked flabberghasted. I took it as an opportunity. I walked right up to him, and slapped him square on the face. Then I fled, tears spilling down my face.

I woke up with a start. It had been a long time since I had relived that moment. I looked at my clock, and it was 1:12 in the morning. I shuffled myself to the kitchen and grabbed a big glass of water. I sat on the couch, and turned the tv on to my favorite show, Psych.

"Told you so. Touche."

"You can't touche yourself."

"Sure I can. Your bad."

"It's not my bad. You can't 'my bad' for someone else."

"Yeah, but you ain't mad at it, though. Know what you saying?"

I laughed. Soon, I fell asleep, to the soothing comedy of Psych.

When I woke up, Psych was still playing.

"Percy Dunn the lightning thief?"

"It's Percy Jackson, Shawn."

"I've heard it both ways."

(These are both lines from the show! It's a really good show, to anyone who hasn't seen it. The first line was from season 3, episode 9. The second one was from season 5, episode 7!)

Huh. That was weird. I don't think Percy Jackson is that common a name. Must be a coincidence. I noticed the time, and realized it was 6:45. I got up, and took a shower. When I got out, Thalia was up, too.

"Hey. I heard you get up last night. You okay?"

I smiled. "yeah. I'm fine now, but I had the dream again."

She smiled weakly at me. "Well... it's okay. It was in the past. You're over it. You've got a new boyfriend now, anyways!"

"He's not my boyfriend, Thalia!"

"Oh.. Sure..."

I smiled, and headed out the door. I walked towards the door, wary about the day ahead of me. With my luck, something was bound to go wrong. I clicked the button for the elevator, and waited impatiently. After a few minutes, the door finally opened, revealing another person inside. When I saw who it was, I smiled.

"Hey... Long time, no see, right?"