Annabeth

I quickly shove as many of my old clothes as I can into bags. Not for me. I'm not the kind of person who'd wear thigh high boots or pearls anymore. Piper, however, will love the clothes. I finish the abrupt packing and dig my hand under my mattress, finally finding what I'm looking for. My fingers graze smooth glass and I pull the bottle out. A full, beautiful bottle of vodka. I twist the cap off and tip the bottle against my lips, letting the bitter drink fill my mouth. I haven't had alcohol since before the Home, so it burns my throat on the way down, causing me to choke.

I sit on my bed, not bothering to do anything with my rumpled clothes and messy hair, and wait for the world to go out of focus. It usually takes about twenty minutes for the alcohol to do its job. I swallow another mouthful, and lean against the wall. I can't get the memory from my mind, from last night. Percy sitting on my bed, his fingers flitting nervously across my hand, like he's afraid of breaking me. His lips, so close to mine that if I'd even leaned forwards the slightest bit, he would have been pressed against me.

Even now, just thinking about it, a jolt of nerves runs down my spine and burns in my stomach. You did that, I think miserably. You made that happen. What's wrong with you?

Just for the hell of it, I set two pills on the back of my tongue and wash them down with the vodka.

I look down at the bottle. It's almost half empty. Scowling, I tuck it into my backpack of belongings along with my bag of pills, a hairbrush, my phone (which I'm really not supposed to have), and a few packs of cigarettes I found. My head is beginning to spin a bit. Good. I need an escape.

My door swings open. Dad stands in the hallway just outside my room, beaming at me. "Ah, you're packed, huh Annie? Lovely. We'll take it out to the car." He grabs the bags of clothes I packed for Piper and leaves the room. I slip my backpack onto my shoulders and follow him, letting the bag thump between my shoulder blades with each stomp. He is in the process of stuffing my bags into the back of Percy's car. I scowl. He means nothing. He is nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Dad turns back to me. "I'll visit soon. You'll be home again soon enough." He smooths my hair, like he used to do when I was little.

"Goodbye," I tell him, and turn to the car, sliding moodily into the passenger seat. Percy sits in the drivers seat and turns the key. He's sitting up perfectly straight, and his eyes stay dutifully trained on the road ahead. Great. He's probably scared of me, or hates me, or both. Spoiled little rich girl who hates everyone, but not as much as she hates herself.

The first half hour is pretty awkward. He fiddles a bit with the radio and asks me what I want to listen to. I tell him that I don't care.

After that, we sit in silence. My head begins to feel wonderfully spinny, and I lean my head back against my seat belt, letting it support me. Everything around me shifts and whispers and twists in ways I can barely keep up with. I find that my eyes have landed on Percy. His green eyes are bright, so bright, and his hair lifts around his head like he's underwater. He's not, of course. It's a silly thought, so I laugh.

He turns to look at me. "What's so funny?" he asks, and his voice sounds far away and up close all at once. A shiver runs through me as I remember the feeling of that voice tickling the hair and skin at my ear. A fire ignites in my stomach, and my hands begin to sweat.

"Nothin-ing," I slur unconvincingly. I shut my eyes and bask in the blissful feeling of the high I've missed all of these cold turkey months at the Home. The car lurches to the side, or maybe it's just my imagination.

"Annabeth," his voice sounds different. What does it sound like? Worry? Sadness? Anger? I can't tell.

I shake my head. "Nuh," I say back.

His hand closes around my wrist, his long fingers slipping over my skin. My eyes flutter open. He's pulled over to the side of the highway. "Why are...we...stopped?" I ask him. I look at his hand on my forearm and a pang goes through my chest.

"What did you do?" He shakes his head. "I saw you...the pill, last night. Did you take more?" His eyes are so green. The color of precious gemstones that used to adorn my jewelry box.

What did he ask again? Pills. Something about them. "They're good," I tell him. Maybe he wants some too.

Percy recoils, his hand leaving my wrist. It feels suddenly very cold. "Annabeth. I thought you wanted to get better," he says quietly.

Better? "Yuh-huh-uh," I respond, my lips too clumsy to form a better response. Better, better, better.

"You can't do this to yourself!" His voice is loud now. I turn my head to look at him. He looks agitated, I think. That or very, very surprised. I reach out a hand and find his.

"N-no, you don't get it," I tell him, but I forget what it is that he doesn't get.

He sighs. "Annabeth, I can't bring you back to the Home like this. When does it wear off?"

"Dunno," I tell him. Never, hopefully. If I'm lucky, this soft world will never go away, and I'll never have to live in the harsh world again.

Percy stares at me for a moment, looking incredibly bothered. "We'll wait it out," he says.

Or at least, I think he does.


Percy

Her blonde curls are unbrushed and float around her face in a fuzzy halo. She looks peaceful, her face devoid of all expression except for calm. Her sweaty hands move clumsily in my lap until they find mine. I should pull my hands back, but can't bring myself to do it. My fingers wrap around hers on their own. She smells like alcohol and cinnamon.

"P-Percy," she slurs, and her voice sounds smoothly disconnected. I stare back at her.

I don't want her to be like this. I want her to be better. I want her to...what do I want? I want...I want her, chimes in the voice in my head unhelpfully. I want to hold her, and kiss her, and- I stop the train of thought quickly before it has the chance to escalate. "No more pills," I tell her.

"No?" She sounds amused. The calm look goes from her face suddenly, replaced with a white mask. She stares at me. I look at her, at those big gray eyes. Her voice shudders on the way out. "Did you...you w-want to...?"

A tremor runs down my spine. "Want to do what?" I respond carefully.

"Kiss me. Last night," her voice is strangely clear. My throat goes dry. My memories, the ones I told myself to forget, the ones that can't ever happen again, flood back. Annabeth, wrapped in a towel, her lips against my ear, her lips hovering before mine.

I let out a strangled noise in the back of my throat. The next word jumps from my lips before my brain has time to process what I'm saying. "Yes." I quickly amend my response. "I won't though. I'm sorry, it's so wrong, it's all my fault."

She hums a bit. "W-why?" When I don't respond, she lifts her hands and grasps my face, letting clumsy fingers slide along my cheekbones. I want so badly to lean into her touch, but I can't. Not when she's drunk, or high. Not ever. She looks me straight in the face.

"Kiss me, Percy," she says. My mind flits over the possibilities; I could lean in, pull her lips to mine, feel the addictive pull of her in my mouth the way I almost had last night, feel her thin form through her shirt, feel her soft curls in my hands, feel her. But I can't.

"Annabeth. It's not right," I tell her. Her fingers drop from my cheeks to the neckline of my shirt. She slips her thumb into my shirt and traces my collarbone with her soft fingertip.

She leans across the center console. "Please," she sighs. I take her small hands in mine and gently pull them away from me, even when my senses scream for me to do the opposite. She surges forwards, grabbing my upper arms and pulling herself onto my lap. I turn my head so I don't have to look her in the face. Not when her face is inches from mine. Her lips press to my throat, to the side of my neck, clumsy and excruciatingly slow. I stifle a groan that rises in my throat.

"Go back to your seat," I say, and it's my turn to have an unsteady voice.

She breathes out heavily against my neck. "Why?"

"Because we can't do this," I tell her, and it sounds more like a question than a statement. She giggles against my neck, her fingers running painstakingly up my back to pull at the hair at the base of my neck. "Annabeth. You're drunk. Go back to your seat."

She huffs out and slides back into her seat, curling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "Fine," she says, unnecessarily. She fumbles for her seat belt and clicks it into place.

I start driving again, hoping that the drugs won't last so long that she'll be obviously high when we get to the Home. Hera would probably fire me. No, she'd definitely fire me. "No more pills," I tell her again.

She doesn't reply. I look over at her. She's fallen asleep, her mouth slightly open. I feel a small smile tug at the corner of my mouth, but no matter what, I can't make it leave my face. I turn back to the road, hoping she doesn't remember what she did when she wakes up. It would be awkward at the best. And I don't even think things could get more awkward than they already are.

Somewhere, in the back of my mind, my brain keeps cycling through the possibilities of what could have happened had I done what she asked. She wanted me to kiss her. But I can't, and I won't. The radio begins to play a soft, tinkering song that sounds almost melancholy. Tell me, I'm your baby, and you'll never leave me...

I turn into the driveway of the Home, not wanting to wake up Annabeth. She sighs in her sleep and her lips form words that don't quite reach my ears. Whisper, that you love me, that you'll never leave me...

I gently shake her shoulder and she wakes up, and all I can think is that she will be the death of me.

Be mine for always, I'll be yours forever...


Oops, sorry, it's been another nothing chapter full of absolutely nothing.

I'm on vacation right now, so there are probably all kinds of mistakes and stuff in here. Oh, well. I gotta soak up the sun while I'm here. It's been freezing where I live, and now I'm in a place where it's sunny and 80 degrees Fahrenheit every day - it's kind of crazy!

Anyways, it's cheesy, but whatever.

The song on the radio is Tell Me by Johnny Jewel. It's one of my favorite songs and I recommend it to all of you.

Thanks, as always, for reading!