Chapter 7-Chug! Chug! Chug!

Aphrodite looked at Apollo with a glare almost as scary as Annabeth's, and that's saying something.

"Hephaestus, take that machine apart. We still have two more activities planned before we get back into karaoke!" She demanded. He gulped.

"Y-yes, dear," He looked about ready to pee his pants.

While Hephaestus was demolishing my karaoke machine (Why?!) Aphrodite was explaining how this was gonna work.

"Ok, for those of you who don't know how to play spin the bottle, allow me to explain," The glare had been completely wiped off her face. She now had a mischievous grin. It was almost looked like she was planning something. All I could do was hop and pray to the gods—other than her, of course—that it didn't have anything to do with me. "You will each take turns spinning the bottle. Whoever the bottle lands on, you have to kiss. It must last at least 3 seconds, but you are allowed to go longer than that if you wish," Now her grin was starting to scare me worse than her glare. And her glare was scary!

"I'll get a bottle," I muttered as I walked into the kitchen. Unfortunately, we didn't have empty bottles. Fortunately, we had bottles filled with coke! I pulled the top off with my teeth (Ouch) and walked back into the living room, sitting in the circle. Well, here it goes.

I started drinking. The gods (except for Athena) started cheering, shouting, "Chug! Chug! Chug!" All my friends just rolled their eyes at their parents. I finally finished and placed the bottle in the middle of the circle.

I grinned. "Alright, now who's going first?" Nobody volunteered. Shocker.

Poseidon sighed. "Ok, I have some straws here. Whoever picks the shortest stick goes first. One of the people that sat out for strip-poker must rejoin the group and one different person may sit out. The other person may remain out. Now, who would like to sit out?" Only Bianca raised her hand this time. She noticed she was the only one with her hand raised, so she sighed in relief as she slid out of the circle. Clarisse and Nico played rock-paper-scissors to see who got to stay out, and in the end Nico was the one able to sit out once again. Clarisse rejoined the circle and I was able to add some new words to my vocabulary. Bad ones. Everyone sitting in the circle grabbed a straw out of my dad's hand. I noticed mine wasn't the shortest and let out the breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. I looked at everyone's straws and Clarisse's was the shortest. Oh gods. She just sat there wide-eyed.

"Are you gonna spin the bottle or what?" Zeus asked in a dull voice.

"Oh…right," She muttered. She spun it. It gradually slowed down and eventually landed on…Grover. Ouch. Sorry G-man. They both stood up and quickly leaned in. They ended it as soon as the 3 seconds were up. Grover looked a little green. What was with them today. Their lips have touched twice. Twice. I feel so sorry for that goat.

Anyway, Luke was next to Clarisse, so he spun the bottle. It landed on Thalia and her face lit up. They—surprisingly—only kissed 2 seconds over the minimum time.

Thalia's turn now. She spun it and it landed on…CLARISSE?!

We all broke out into laughter. Oh my effing gods. This was just too good. They leaned over and kissed the 3 seconds.

Thalia clutched her stomach. "Percy?" She asked. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Down *Giggle* the hall *Giggle* to t- *Giggle* the left," I managed in between giggles.

Annabeth was next. I prayed to, well, a lot of gods that we wouldn't have to kiss in front of all these people. She shyly reached out and spun it. It got slower and slower until it finally landed on…me. Aphrodite really has it in for me today.

The whole room was silent. My face felt like it was on fire, but I'm sure Annabeth was the one that looked like a tomato. Everyone was staring at us expectantly. Aphrodite was jumping up and down. I bet you all my drachma's that she set us up. We slowly stood up and turned to each other. I grabbed her shoulders and leaned down. The minute our lips touched, I felt lost. I tried to count the seconds, but I couldn't even remember my own name. But there was one thing I knew for sure. I was in love with my best friend.

Then I remembered where we were. We pulled apart and realized that somehow, my arms had gotten wrapped around her waist. Her hands were around my neck and tangled in my hair. Her body was pressed up against mine. We untangled ourselves from each other and sat down, our faces flushed. Luke was looking at his watch and his eyes were big. Everyone else's mouths were hanging wide open.

"How long was that Luke?" Thalia asked.

Luke gulped. "2 minutes." Annabeth and I both looked down. I couldn't believe we'd kissed—Carry the 1—117 seconds over the necessary time. Oh wow. That's…embarrassing. Oh well. At least I enjoyed it.

"Okay, um, I guess I'm next," I stated to break the awkward silence. I spun the bottle and, whadda ya know, it landed on Annabeth. This time we managed to keep it down to 7 seconds. We were to out of breath from that first one.

Grover spun it and it landed on Luke. Another fit of laughter started.

Grover gulped. "Yeah, um, not gonna happen. If Juniper found out…"

Aphrodite sighed. "Very well. You will sing Boom Boom Pow by The Black Eyed Peas with Percy and Annabeth. But since you have a good reason, you don't have to kiss them."

Annabeth, Grover, and I all sighed in relief at that last part.

* * * * *

The game went on and on, and every time me or Annabeth was up, we had to kiss each other. Definitely Aphrodite.

Eventually, it was decided that our lips needed a break and we stopped playing. Hephaestus easily put my karaoke machine back together. Thank you!

"Okay," Aphrodite said with glee, "Now for people to fulfill their penalties. Percy and Annabeth, you're up first." Great. Time to sing with the girl I was forced to kiss Zeus knows how many times.

The sky rumbled. Oh, sorry, even Zeus doesn't know. Well, at least I know who to thank. *Mental cough* Aphrodite *Mental cough*.

This should be fun…

A/N Ok, we're getting back to the karaoke part of the story. YAY! PLZ review! CC appreciated, flames not appreciated.

Oh, and I'm thinking about writing this story in Annabeth's POV as well. Review and tell me what you think!