Chapter Six
Percy and Annabeth walked to the back of the store, leaving a dumbfounded Nico and a nervous Thalia.
"Yes," Percy asked impatiently.
"Um, I just wanted to talk," Annabeth said uneasily.
"So talk."
"Percy, I miss you."
"I miss you too, Annabeth." He replied, but quite coldly.
"No, Percy, I miss you a lot. Can you just listen, don't speak, and just listen?" She asked. Percy nodded.
"Ok," She started. "So, I went out with Jason a few more times, and I thought that we were getting back into dating, you know? But then he took me to meet his girlfriend, and all over again, I mean, it was like South Carolina all over again, I just wanted to pour his drink all over him and leave. But, I was a bit more mature. Obviously he hadn't thought any of our dates were romantic, but just two friends hanging out. I kind of wanted it to be something more, just Percy, every time I held his hand or hugged him, and I kind of imagined it was you. I over reacted that night in the diner and I was so embarrassed about it I went to two nine year olds for relationship help. I never felt comfortable with Jason, comfortable enough to have a fight with him or piss him off, but Percy, I feel like our relationship was the opposite. I will tell you when you're being a cocky asshole and you tell me when I'm being a pain in the ass, which is 99% of the time," She admitted with her cheeks red. "Percy, I really, honestly couldn't get you out of my mind the past week."
"Annabeth," It took a moment for Percy to wrap his head around all of this.
"I never wanted to kiss anyone but you."
Instead of kissing her, which was what Annabeth really thought was going to happen, Percy just pushed her away.
"You feel sorry for me, that's all," Percy said, unfazed by Annabeth's confession.
"No, Percy, really, I like you," Annabeth said slowly.
"You wouldn't have ever cared if you hadn't felt guilty. You can get any boy in West Munroe with a glance at the eye, Annabeth, so stop running after the same one."
Percy turned to leave the store room, but Annabeth pulled him back.
"You're being a childish son of a bitch!" She exclaimed, anger withering through her veins. She knew she shouldn't curse, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
"I'm being childish?"
"Yes!"
Percy and Annabeth bickered back and forth, and little did they know, Thalia and Nico were listening through the wooden door.
"Wow," Nico muttered. "They act like they've been together forever."
"That's called true love," Thalia sighed.
"You really cause a lot of trouble here," Nico rolled his eyes at his girlfriend
"Wouldn't be West Monroe without some drama."
Percy flung the door open, ignoring Nico and Thalia, who crouched behind the door, praying Percy or Annabeth didn't see them.
"Goodbye, Annabeth," Percy said angrily, opening the shop door for her.
"Percy, goddammit, you're such an idiot!"
"That's saying something about you!" They were now outside the shop, and people were glaring at them as they fought.
"Listen, when a girl proclaims her love for you, don't turn her away!" Annabeth yelled at him, slapping Percy across the face and kicking him in the shins.
"Well, afterwards, maybe you shouldn't beat him up!"
"I take back what I said about girls proclaiming their love for you, because it's probably never going to happen again!"
"There you go again, like you said, you're a pain in the ass, like 99% of the time!"
"And you're just a cocky asshole!"
Annabeth couldn't say another word, because Percy's lips crashed onto hers.
She was surprised at first, but then felt the softness and warmth of the kiss, Annabeth kissed him back, his arms wrapping around her waist and hers snaking around his neck, pulling him in closer.
"Well then," Nico said inside the shop as they observed the couple from inside the shop. "They insulted each other like they wanted to strangle one another, and the next minute their faces are attached." He wrinkled his nose.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Thalia insisted. "It's true love!"
~oOo~
After Annabeth pulled away from Percy's lips, her cheeks grew red and she left.
She just turned on her heel and left.
"There she goes," muttered Nico. Thalia dashed out of the store, spitting a jellybean into the garbage can. She hated them anyways.
She and Percy ran after Annabeth, who apparently had the legs of a marathon runner. After a few blocks, Thalia looked back to see that Percy was no longer beside him.
~oOo~
"Dammit," Percy muttered, kicking a rack full of chocolate over after his run for Annabeth. He was back in the candy shop where Nico was reading The West Monroe Weekly from behind the counter.
"I'm not cleaning those up," He heard Nico say.
"I don't care," Percy grumbled.
"Well, I do." Nico gave Percy a hard glance in the eyes, and for one time in his life, Percy saw something threatening in them: anger.
"Shut up!" Percy screamed and Nico's jaw drop. A flash of hurt sprang across his face and guilt panged in Percy's stomach.
"Nico-"
"Don't," The boy replied coldly. "Just because you're mad at Annabeth doesn't give you a free pass to being an ass."
"Nico!" Percy started to yell, but with a fling of an apron on the counter and a ring of the bell that hung above the door, he was gone.
And Percy was alone.
~oOo~
Thalia was so behind Annabeth that she was about to lose her when she saw it. Jason's car, parked outside the market.
Thalia hopped in the driver's seat and looked in the glove box, where he keeps his spare key. When she turned the engine on and heard it roar to life she realized something.
She didn't know how to drive.
With a shrug, Thalia was driving on the roads of West Monroe, searching for a certain blonde.
~oOo~
He'd done it, Nico thought.
Percy didn't need to be like that all the time, Nico couldn't help but think of all the bad things that he'd done throughout their years of friendship, like the time he'd prank called Piper McLean telling her that it was Nico and that he loved her, or maybe the time when he'd told Zeus, Thalia's father about them dating, which he didn't approve of.
Percy was not a nice person, Nico concluded.
But then, all the memories of Percy being nice floated to mind, like the time he'd offered him the job at the candy shop, or the many times when he'd been his wingman for getting together with Thalia.
After that he concluded one thing. Percy was a good friend, just not a very nice one.
Walking down the streets of West Monroe alone angrily, he saw something peculiar.
Thalia was getting into Jason's car.
~oOo~
Annabeth ran through the streets, not knowing where to go. The only places she knew how to get to where Thalia's house, Nico's house, the diner and Percy's candy shop.
How could she have been so stupid? Kissing Percy like that was an idiotic move. He was an idiot, a heart breaker and an ass, Annabeth told herself. But yet, she couldn't help but think that he is sweet, a good listener and gorgeous. He's charming and …
Annabeth caught herself as she stopped by a drug store panting and thinking about all kinds of adjectives for Percy, good ones and bad ones.
When she was about to collect herself and go home, a silver buggy pulled up on the curb. A pair of electric blue eyes looked at Annabeth.
"Get in the car."
