Sometimes Things End Right
Chapter 3
Annabeth
My conscious was seething. She was stomping around, her arms crossed over her chest, muttering about how pissed off she was. Every now and then she'd turn around and glare at my subconscious, who sat on a little imaginary couch looking pitiful and sorry for herself. I decided to call my subconscious Olivia and my conscious Lydia.
The truth was, I was just as pissed as Lydia was. She had every right to be mad at Olivia- Olivia was the whole reason we were in this mess! If I hadn't listened to Olivia babbling about "how cute" the stranger on the plane was, or "how hot" he was, I wouldn't have even noticed.
Then I realized I was getting pissed off at imaginary people in my head.
I groaned and sat on the couch, my head in my hands. How could I be so stupid? Percy did have a point, after all; how could I not know he was Mal's boyfriend? Like Percy said, they were apparently all over the news. I could see that much from glancing at the piles of magazines on the coffee table in front of the couch. A seductive Mal Chase peered at me from under her eyelashes on the cover of a magazine, an arm slung around the neck of a tanned guy with the same jawbone belonging to Percy Jackson. I knew it was him, even if they had cropped out his face.
I reached over and shoved the top magazine off, sending it and three others to the floor.
So it was partly my fault, then. If I hadn't gone out of my way to avoid literally anything having to do with my father and sister maybe I wouldn't be so ignorant. If I had done some research before coming to live with them I would probably know better.
But that didn't leave him innocent, either! I stared at the magazine cover of Mal and I realized how much we looked alike- even if she had straighter and longer hair, a delicate, heart-shaped face, longer eyelashes, a different facial structure, you could see it all in the eyes. Just like I should've known better, he should've, too.
Still, I ignored Olivia when she piped up about how Percy and I were both in the wrong, and I didn't stop Lydia from snarling in her direction.
I was pissed off, and I knew that part of the reason I was so angry was because I had really felt a connection with him.
Dad walked into the sitting area and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "So, um, dinner has been cancelled. Your sister isn't feeling well… I'm sorry, Annie. This isn't how I wanted tonight to go."
I sighed and stood up, picking up the coffee cup I had held earlier. "I'll just put this away, then."
"You can still eat, but we won't be eating all together. I'd rather show you around, though. I would love for you to get comfortable and to know your way around before everybody gets busy tomorrow. Your sister has a media thing-,"
"Cool," I interrupted, not really caring about whatever media thing Mal was doing the next day. "I'll just put this away."
Dad followed me into the kitchen, seeming to relax a bit. He looked sort of stressed. "Savannah, honey, this is Annabeth."
A woman stood in the kitchen, her hand halfway in the oven and reaching for something wrapped in tinfoil. She spun around, the foiled package sitting on a grey pan. The woman smiled brightly, blonde hair wisps falling around her face from the tight bun on her head. It was obvious she was sweating by the looks of her makeup beading up around her forehead.
For some reason, I appreciated this. I appreciated that she was working to make dinner.
Even if she was wearing a body-hugging black and white striped dress and tall black heels.
"Oh, hello!" She said excitedly, sliding the pan onto the top of the counter and pulling her kitchen glove off her hand. "I'm so glad to meet you! Finally!"
She reached her hand out to shake my hand. Immediately my eyes caught on the sight of a giant ring on her left hand's ring finger. Before my eyes could narrow, though, the woman thought better of a hand shake and pulled me into a hug.
"You can call me 'Sav,'" She pulled away, holding me at arm's length. "I'm really sorry about dinner being cancelled. I had wanted to change out of my day clothes and fix up myself before we had our first introductions… I do hope you don't think anything bad of me!"
"Of course not," I smiled back at her, surprising myself with a genuine promise. "I actually admire you for cooking. I've never learned."
Sav's eyebrows rose. "Really? That's wild- every girl should learn a little about cooking."
"Of course, this isn't an every night occurrence," My dad chimed in, "We have family dinner maybe three times a week because of how busy our schedules are. We like to eat together on Sunday's, but the other two nights kind of just fall into place."
"I always make breakfast, though," Sav winked. "The most important meal of the day!"
"Sav is Mal's manager," Dad said, opening one of the cabinets in the kitchen and pulling out a long loaf of bread. He handed it to Sav and she began unwrapping it. "We hired her when we moved, and she's hung around ever since."
Sav chuckled and hung her head while she sliced away at the bread. "I don't know if 'hung around' is the most appropriate word, hon."
"Right," Dad turned to me, his eyes crinkling. "I wanted to tell you…"
"You guys are engaged," I raised an eyebrow at him. "I saw the ring."
"Oh," He said, surprise overtaking his expression.
"We were going to announce it at dinner," Sav turned back around to me, leaning on the counter. She held her hand out to me, showing me the huge engagement ring again. "But then Mal got sick, and it's just so hard to get everybody together, and we didn't want to wait until Sunday to tell you all together… It's just so exciting, you know? It wouldn't be fair for us to keep the secret any longer."
I nodded and pretended to look over her ring. It was gorgeous, but something inside of me was bitter about it.
I was still pretty bitter about the while situation, to be honest.
"So, let me introduce you to the others," Dad cleared his throat. "Come with me."
I followed him through the house. He pointed out a dining room, a closed door leading to a master bedroom, a guest room, and double doors he called "the office." The hallways were long and wide, and each wall had a huge portrait on them of people I've never seen before- specifically, two blonde boys doing mundane things like playing sports at different ages. I still wasn't sure how old they actually were- or who they actually were- because the oldest picture I had seen was what looked like a high school portrait. There were also several portraits of Mal, mostly professionally taken pictures of her from albums, or guitars she had used in the past- or so I assumed. I had never kept track of what guitars she used or whatever.
"This is where Sav works," Dad pushed open the large double doors. Inside was an office bigger than my mother's living room back at home. A large desk sat in the middle of the room with papers stacked neatly on every corner and a big bookshelf stood behind with albums and glittering awards perched on the shelves. Two men, blonde and brunette, sat at desks opposite of each other, both dressed smartly and working on computers. They looked up and nodded at me. "Her desk is the one in the middle, and this is our bodyguards, but they've been around for almost two years…"
The blonde man stood, holding his hand out to me. I took it and shook his hand, feeling his tight grip. His arms were huge and muscular, even beneath his button-down. "Hello, I'm Luke. It's nice to meet you, Annabeth."
Before I could question how he knew my name, the other man stood up and held his hand out to me, too. He was bigger than Luke, with a round chest and a thick neck. He had arms bigger than Luke's and his grip was tighter. Luke was taller, though, with longer legs and a leaner abdomen. Travis wasn't short, but he was probably a few inches shorter than Luke. Olivia was drooling. "I'm Travis."
Travis had a country accent and a boyish, mischievous grin. I pushed away the thought that he was undeniably attractive, because the last time I thought that about somebody, I ended up hooking up with my sister's boyfriend.
"So these two work for us, monitoring security systems, hanging around Mal during events, just keeping precautionary measures for us…" Dad said, waving his hand around. "She had this ordeal with a stalker once, and that's when we got Luke… Travis came in a little while after that once her fans got a little crazy at concerts."
"Cool," I nodded, trying to look anywhere but at Travis or Luke. It didn't work, though. My eyes landed on Luke's, and he smirked at me.
"If you ever need them for anything, they're most likely going to be here during the day, but they chauffer and trail us when we're out. It all depends on social and public matters, too… for example, if Mal heads out to the set, she'll take both guys with her, but if she just goes to dinner it will probably just be one of them that goes."
"That sounds like a busy job," I said, making eye contact with Travis. He shrugged, moving the mouse on the computer silently.
"It's our job," Luke spoke up. "We literally live for your sister's safety. Besides, we get a lot of time off, believe it or not. Lately she hasn't been going out much, so only one of us is on duty."
"At this point she feels more like family to us," Travis said. "It's like getting paid to be comfortable around our only families."
"Right," Dad said, smiling. "They're like 30-year-old sons I've never had."
"Oh, Frank," Luke laughed, "We're not even thirty. Don't let him lie to you."
I didn't need Dad to lie to me. It was obvious both men were young. Olivia had noticed, and was walking around the room with heels on, strutting and showing off her legs under a mini skirt. Lydia was disgusted at her tramp-ness. Travis had to be about twenty-six, and I would call you crazy if you told me he didn't have past military experience. Luke looked like he was about the same age, but something about his eyes threw me off and I couldn't guess his age. However, even though they looked somewhat young, there was a definite air about them that spoke no-nonsense, and though they laughed with my father and joked about being family, it was obvious they still took their job seriously.
Dad turned around and walked out of the office, leaving me to wave a goodbye to the bodyguards. I saw Luke nod his head back, but Travis' eyes lingered for a moment, his mischievous grin ghosting his lips. I hesitated at it, not sure what to make of it, but ended up closing the double doors behind me the way they were when we entered. Olivia waved goodbye, sashaying her bottom as she exited the office. Lydia rolled her eyes and shoved Olivia the rest of the way out of the door.
We started to climb the big marble staircase, Dad breezing past the hanging pictures as if he'd seen them thousands of times. It blew my mind how he could stroll so casually through this place. The portraits were framed in glass frames with metal decorations and lavishing little touches here and there. There were portraits of Mal with beautiful backgrounds, her bleach-blonde hair standing out against each one and the top of her head framed by the sun's glow, almost like a halo. There were baby pictures of two little boys with blonde hair that fell over their eyes, chubby arms that waved above their heads and brown eyes that sparkled at the camera. Closer to the top of the stairs were pictures of Mal with the little boys, but they were older, maybe middle school age, with short hair and boyish grins.
"So the boys are Sav's sons," Dad started to explain as he stopped at the first door in the hallway. "This is Matthew's room, but the boys usually hang out in the basement. We call it their man-cave…"
He trailed off as he knocked on the door twice and turned the knob. The door swung open, but it caught on something as soon as it opened enough for one foot to slide through the crack. Dad muttered something under his breath and shoved the door the rest of the way open with his shoulder.
The first thing I noticed about the room was that it was an absolute mess. There were clothes everywhere, and I couldn't tell you what color the floor even was, or if it was carpet or wood. A bed was supposedly in the corner of the room, but there was no comforter and there was a mess of take-out boxes and food bags on every surface in the room- a coffee table, two dressers, and a wardrobe. I saw Gatorade bottles thrown around, and a flat screen TV hanging on the wall. I finally found the comforter piled onto the couch in a heap, a pile of socks and underwear near it. I also noticed a mesh bag with what looked like football gear inside by the door, which had to be what was in the way of the door. I cringed.
"Jesus," Dad muttered under his breath. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number, holding the phone to his ear with his lips pursed. A few moments later, I heard a phone ring from inside the room, and something moved under the comforter piled onto the couch.
"Matthew!" Dad growled, stepping over piles of clothes and yanking the comforter off the couch. A boy was under it, half-dressed and with wet hair. He blinked up at my dad, his face looking drowsy and tired. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned.
"My phone is ringing." He acknowledged, patting around him on the couch in search of it.
"That would be me," Dad said dryly, hanging up on his end. Immediately the ringing ceased. "What in the hell are you doing in here? Why does your room look this way?"
"No reason," He shrugged, standing up and kicking his way through the piles of clothes around his feet. He wore blue striped boxers and white socks that came above his ankles. "I guess the cleaning ladies haven't come this week yet, huh?"
"This is ridiculous," Dad replied, crossing his arms over his chest and looking around the room. "I can't believe you live like this."
The boy, Matthew, shrugged. He pulled a shirt from the floor and sniffed at it, and then obviously debated on whether to wear it.
"Annabeth, this is Matthew," My dad said, coming back to stand by me. "I'm sorry you had to see him like this, but, uh… this is him all the time, you know?"
Matthew had obviously decided that the shirt was good enough to wear because he had shucked it over his head and was now grinning at me. "Hey, what's up?"
"Of course, we had planned on better introductions…" Dad trailed off. "Matthew, where can we find Bobby?"
"Bobby could be in the basement," Matthew shrugged, pulling on a pair of gym shorts. I crossed my arm over my shoulder awkwardly, rubbing my hand up and down my arm. "Then again, he could be at, like, math club or something."
Dad rolled his eyes. "Anyways, this is Matthew. Bobby is his twin, they're both in high school; the only difference is, Matthew lives like a pig and plays sports while Bobby studies and organizes…"
"I'm also the cuter one," Matthew winked at me.
"And she's also going to be your sister-in-law," Dad snorted at Matthew. Though it was a joke, there was an air of fun between my dad and this boy I had never met before. It was obvious there was a bond between them, something much deeper than what could have been formed over a few days' time.
I began to wonder just how long Matthew had been in my dad's life.
"We met earlier," I said, remembering Matthew pushing open Mal's bedroom door and the scene unfolding before my eyes. I remembered Percy, with his eyes closed and holding my sister's blonde hair while she…
I squeezed my eyes closed and shook my head to get rid of the memory. "Right," Matthew said quickly, "Way before dinner was supposed to happen. The guest room wasn't set up so Annabeth was chilling in an empty room."
"The guest room should be ready by tomorrow afternoon," Dad said apologetically. "Besides, I thought Bobby showed her around?"
"That was me," Matthew rolled his eyes, "We showed her to Mal's room, but Mal was, uh-,"
"Busy," I said, avoiding Matthew's eye contact. "She was busy."
"Right," Matthew nodded, "But I guess this is our formal introduction."
"Hey," I nodded at him. "Nice to meet you."
It was all a game, because Matthew and I had met, but he was right, it wasn't formal. I hadn't even known his name before Dad introduced us. He was just somebody Dad had pointed at and told to show me to my room. Now it was clear that he was more of a family member in this house than I was.
Dad's phone started ringing in his pocket. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and rubbed the back of his neck. "I've got to get this. You can serve yourself in the kitchen when you're ready," Dad nodded at me. "What time is your orientation tomorrow?"
"Orientation is at nine," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. It was a habit I did when I was nervous. Why was I nervous? Was it the realization that I was an outsider in this family already? Or was it the memory of my sister with Percy?
"I can probably drive you," Dad nodded, "If not, I can have somebody…" He trailed off, answering his phone and pressing it to his ear. He stepped out of the room.
"Does he always answer the phone in the middle of a conversation?" I asked, looking at Matthew.
He shrugged, "You get used to it. Mom and Frank can't go a half hour without answering or making a phone call. It's like their fingers twitch if they aren't talking on some cellular device about Mal."
"It's all about Mal here, isn't it?" I muttered, not expecting Matthew to really answer. It wasn't a real question, anyway. It was more of a comment for him to agree to, or to leave in the air. Instead, Matthew surprised me.
"You know, it always has been about her. Bobby and I grew up with everything being about Mom's work. Then one day our lives literally turned into her work. We moved in, and we grew up with it. Mal has been the center of our lives for years. It wasn't as bad when she was only doing commercials, but once she started singing, her acting career took off. She became popular, and we saw less and less of our mom. Basically, the busier Mal got, the busier my mom got."
It was like the whole picture was being revealed now. Mal had been in Matthew and Bobby's lives for years. Long enough for them to see her grow up in her fame, and long enough for my Dad and Sav to have been together for a long time.
I wondered briefly if they had had a relationship for all this time, too. When had their relationship began? I pushed away the thought that they had been together since my dad and Mal moved to LA- because he was still with my mom at that point.
~oOo~
I spent the night on a couch in Mal's room. She had gone to bed early, still "not feeling well." I hadn't seen her since she screamed at me to get out, and when I came in for bed, she was asleep with a sleeping mask over her eyes, surrounded by fluffy pillows in her California king-sized bed. There was a pillow and a comforter folded up together on the couch, a bottle of water on the coffee table, and a sleeping mask laying on the arm of the couch.
Despite my annoyance at having to stay on a couch, it was the most comfortable couch I had ever laid down on. I immediately sank into the cushions and pulled the comforter over my body. I realized how tired I was, and I thought about how busy the day had been. When I closed my eyes, I thought of Percy.
How could he? He was still with my sister, and though he had been honest on the plane and said he was back and forth with his girlfriend a lot, I still couldn't stop thinking about the connection we had on the plane. We had kissed, and I guess it could have been me, but I felt something with him. It had felt like a spark, something real.
I rolled over in the darkness, trying to piece together why it hurt so much. I knew that I would never see him again on the plane. I knew that we wouldn't be a real thing, which made saying goodbye so easy. I had this idea, I guess, that we had a real connection, and that I had him for myself. He was somebody I didn't have to share with my sister…
For a short while, anyway.
I squeezed my eyes closed and told myself that it was done and over with now, though. I was done with Percy, and if he wanted Mal, he could have her.
He just couldn't have us both. I wouldn't let him hurt me.
~oOo~
The next morning, I woke up to an empty room. One peek towards Mal's bed told me that she wasn't in it. The bed was made, all the fluffy pillows were stacked neatly, and the curtains were drawn. Sunlight streamed through the windows, lighting up the whole room. The sunlight bounced off the glass coffee table. I sat up and drank the entire water bottle that I found last night.
I felt weird about leaving the comforter I had slept with all balled up on the couch, so after I folded it neatly, I stacked it under my borrowed pillow and made my way to the kitchen downstairs.
My growling stomach lead the way to the kitchen, my feet remembering the pathway from the tour the day before. The house sounded empty, the only sounds coming from my bare feet on the marble floors. The closer I got to the kitchen, though, I realized that I could hear somebody rummaging around.
"Hello?" I said, turning the corner into the kitchen. I stopped in my tracks when I saw who was making the noise. "What are you doing here?"
"Annabeth," Percy smirked at me from the kitchen counter. He was shirtless, his bare chest mocking me. I looked away quickly, and he dipped a spoon into a bowl of cereal and raised a challenging eyebrow at me, almost like he dared me to fight him. "Good morning."
I tugged the hem of my pajama shorts down my leg a bit, aware of how short they were. "You must've misheard me. I didn't greet you, I asked you what you were doing here."
Percy coughed and put his spoon down on the counter next to his cereal bowl. After he took a long moment to take a sip of his orange juice, he settled back into his chair and crossed his arms over his bare chest. I tore my eyes away from his arms, trying really hard not to stare at the way his upper arms bulged around his muscles. "I'm eating breakfast. Is that okay?"
He was definitely mocking me. I couldn't tell him no, it wasn't okay, because it wasn't exactly my house. I was a guest here just as much as he was. "So you're staying, then? With Mal?" I crossed my arms over my own chest, mirroring him. I tried to busy myself with finding breakfast, something that was seeming to be a hard job in such a huge kitchen.
Still, I wanted an answer, and Percy seemed to be taking his sweet time with giving me one. I opened the fridge adjacent to Percy, doing my best to act casual while waiting for his answer.
"Yeah," He said after what felt like an eternity. I felt my breath hitch.
I spun around, a carton of almond milk in my hand. "Is this some kind of joke?" I blurted at him, feeling my face heat up. "You really don't care, do you?"
"Don't care?" He sat up in his barstool, bristling, "What do you mean?"
"I just thought you were somebody different," I scoffed, opening a cabinet and pulling out a cup. I slowly poured milk in while shaking my head. "You told me you were sick of going back and forth. I was thinking about it last night, and I can't come up with any explanation for why you're the way you are. You keep screwing around with her, going back and forth, yet you're okay with screwing around with some stranger on a plane?"
"It isn't like that," Percy shook his head at me, "You don't know what you're talking about."
"You don't love her," I said, "If you loved her, you wouldn't feel this way. If she loved you, you wouldn't feel this way!"
"Why do you care so much?" Percy slid off the barstool and sauntered over to me. I gripped the cup of almond milk in my hand and tried not to shake. He stood over me, the smell of sweat on his skin. I hated how I didn't find it unattractive. I wasn't even disgusted; instead, I found myself wondering if he had worked out that morning, and what he had done. Did he run? Olivia wagged her eyebrows, clearly interested in what made the boy sweat. Lydia wasn't around.
"I don't," I protested, "I don't care at all about your relationship with Mal. It just proves my theory."
"What's your theory?" He asked, his eyes flicking to the glass of milk I gripped in my hand. I lifted it to my lips and sipped quickly before answering, trying to stall while I thought about what I'd say.
"That love doesn't exist, and if it does, it doesn't last." I replied, "It's never real. Somebody is always going to love the other person more… there's no such thing as a mutual love. If you loved Mal, you wouldn't screw around with her feelings, and if she loved you, she'd leave you. There's no way you guys are happy going back and forth constantly."
My insides were shaking. I was so overwhelmed, and so amazed by how calm and collected my words seemed to spill out. They almost sounded rehearsed, like I had thought that through before. Part of me wanted to take it back, though, and admit that though I'd like the idea of being in love someday, it seemed like it would never happen.
"You have a really screwed up vision of what love is," Percy shook his head and backed off, running his hand through his hair. He leaned against the counter opposite from me and looked at me, concern in his eyes. "Love isn't some passionate, I'll-buy-you-the-world, simple romance you see on TV or read about in Twilight. Love is devotion, and though sometimes you have real world interventions like infidelity and problems, you continue to work through those difficulties with your partner. Love is knowing that even though your girlfriend cheated on you, you couldn't live without her in your life. I'd rather work through heartache seventy times over than live without Mal in my life. She's my best friend, and yeah, we've hurt each other, but just leaving isn't easy.
"We both screw around with each other's feelings, but it isn't like you can help that. That's the way humans are made. We both overthink things, and our feelings get hurt. Yeah, she could easily leave me, too, and decide that this isn't worth it, but she hasn't, and frankly… Annabeth, it's none of your damn business." He seemed to be getting fired up throughout the conversation, finally ending with his arms crossed over his chest again. "If you try to say it is your business because I kissed you, or something stupid like that, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it, but like I said, the real world gets in the way sometimes. I think you are an amazing person and I was really attracted to you, but I love Mal, and I plan on sticking around for a while."
My mouth dropped open. "You're a real ass," I shook my head and put my glass down on the countertop. It made a loud noise when I slammed it down, but it didn't break. "You were 'really attracted' to me, huh? You 'really love' Mal, huh?"
Percy rubbed at his temples. "I still don't get why you're so hung up over this! I do! I love her! Sometimes things end right, Annabeth! Not everything is going to end in a shit show like your parents' marriage! If that's why you don't believe in love or whatever, that's your own fault!"
I raised my eyebrows, suddenly pissed. He had no right! I felt my cheeks heat up. "You fucking psycho-!"
"Hear me out," Percy raised his voice so he could be heard over the beginning of my rant, "You can't keep deciding that life sucks because your past was crap! Your parents screwed up, and they didn't work out. It happens, Annabeth! Sometimes people aren't what they seem, but love is real. You just haven't found it yet… maybe if you'd give people a chance instead of bitching out at them for every little thing you'd see it's all around you-,"
I cut him off by slapping him. I lunged at him, reaching up on my tiptoes and rearing my hand back. He tried to catch my hand once he realized what I was doing, but he was too late. I slapped him hard. Before he could react, though, the booming voice of Travis interrupted.
"What in the hell is going on in here?" The bodyguard stomped in and came between us. Percy was seething, his hand coming up to cradle his jaw. My chest was rising and falling in absolute fury, my gaze fixed on Percy. When neither of us answered, Travis shouted again. "Answer me! What is going on?"
"Nothing," Percy growled, glaring at me. "Nothing is going on, and nothing should've ever went on."
And just like that, I knew his words had a deeper meaning. His regret was evident, and it was obvious he wasn't leaving Mal.
"Get out of here, man," Travis glared at Percy, "I don't know what's going on, but it would be a good idea for you to calm down."
Percy grabbed his cereal bowl and scooped up his spoon, turning away from me. "Right," He huffed, "I'll do that."
Then he was gone, and Travis turned to me, his eyes wide. "You haven't even been here for twenty-four hours and you're already attacking Mal's boyfriend. What the hell is going on?"
"Like he said, nothing," I grabbed my milk and turned away. "And nothing should've ever went on."
