HOLIDAYS! :D For the next two/three weeks I will be able to write more often so there will be more updates. (I hope!)
Now enjoy the longest chapter for now! :)
Stephanie's guest room wasn't that big. It had one little wardrobe, a window facing the small garden behind the house, a simple bed in front of the window with a nightstand next to it and a bedside lamp.
The curtains were only half-closed so the moon was shining through the window on Annabeth's face. She was sitting on the bed which she refused to call hers, hugging her legs and looking out of the window.
She couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she would see the flames around her and feel the heat. Her mouth and throat would feel dry and she had to cough and choke to shake off the feeling of suffocating.
Her stomach clenched as guilt ran through her. She would understand if her dad was completely angry with her now. It was her fault that their house had burned down. She should have paid attention to the toaster. It had been such a simple thing and she hadn't been capable of doing it. And why was that? Because she'd been too busy dealing with her damn feelings for Percy!
Thinking of him only made her feel more guilty. For years she'd thought of him as a friend - her best friend, mind you - when he was in freaking love with her and she didn't notice although there were so many hints. Now it was vice-versa and she guessed that was her punishment. She deserved it, though. Maybe she even deserved that nightmare of a fire that had nearly killed her.
But Percy'd saved her. Which increased the guilt even more. There was no way she could ever thank him enough for running into the ablaze building and saving her life. She still wouldn't understand why he'd done that. He said it was because of her being in there. Because he was afraid of losing her. The thought made her stomach tingle and an emotion, besides her romantic feelings towards him, she couldn't place yet filled her heart.
He had told her he was over her. But was there a possibility of him lying? Most of the time she knew when he wasn't telling the truth. But this time she just didn't know what to make of it. In case he still liked her that way she merely had to tell him about her feelings and everything would be wonderfully okay, wasn't it? So why not just tell him? Maybe he just pretended to not have feelings for her. But she had a feeling that it wouldn't just be that easy.
How was there even that chance of him still liking her? Every time she would ask he would deny it.
He wouldn't go out with that dumb Rachel girl, though. But maybe she just wasn't his type.
He saved her life. But wasn't that something every best friend would do? She certainly would have. But she was in darn love with him!
They had to talk. But about what? She couldn't just go straight to him and say, 'Hi Percy, I love you but I really don't know about you. Will you please tell me? I hope you still love me', could she?
Then it hit her. Hope! She was hoping, of course! Hoping that he still had feelings for her. She had to think about the evening a few hours ago when they were standing under the mistletoe, moving closer. She'd been able to see every shade of sea-green in his eyes, to notice his chest rise and fall at the edge of her vision. He was taller than her, at least two inches.
A sudden exhaustion came over her, making her lie down and curl into fetal position. She closed her eyes and before she finally fell asleep the one thing she saw behind her eyes was no fire but his face.
An excited scream woke her the next morning.
After she identified her surroundings as the room in Stephanie's house she had to sleep in now for an yet uncertain amount of time she heard laughing coming from the living room.
The living room. Location of her and Percy's almost-kiss. Would she ever be able to forget that?
She quickly got dressed and made her way to the kitchen. There were sandwiches on the table; she took one and left for the source of the cheerful voices that just weren't fitting her gloomy mood. She hoped they would stop being so jolly, at least when she was around.
With an annoyed look on her face she entered the living room, trying not to glance over at the spot where the mistletoe was hanging. But unfortunately she had to because her father and Stephanie were standing right there with each of them holding a glass of champagne.
Are they celebrating my misery? she thought grumpily.
When the two of them saw her they had the brightest smiles on their faces she had ever seen since she'd made Percy that huge blue cake which he had kept talking about even weeks after. Ugh, seaweed brain, would you please leave my thoughts? she screamed inside of her head.
"Annabeth," her father said. "We have some very great news for you!"
That was when she realized there wasn't champagne in Stephanie's glass but water. And on both their left ring fingers were sparkling rings with little diamonds on it.
"I'm pregnant," Stephanie said.
"We're getting married," her father said.
Before they could say anything more Annabeth was gone.
The streets were almost empty - even in a mega city like NYC - except for some lonely people strolling along because they had nobody to be with right now.
"Merry Christmas," Annabeth murmured to herself as she joined them, disappearing in the constant paltriness of solitary forlornness.
Yep, she was very downcast right now. She was in love with her best friend who most likely only saw her as a friend he used to have a huge crush on. Her home was burned down and it was her fault. After four years since her mom had left her father wanted to marry someone else who wasn't part of her family and even wanted to start a new one. Christmas, which she had always seen as an opportunity to be with your family and make them happy by giving them presents because you love them, would never be the same again.
Her surroundings weren't helping at all. There were homeless men sitting around the corner, wrapped in blankets against the cold, and some business men and women wearing their dreary suits and speaking in their phones with cold and grumpy faces. A dark-haired young girl was eating some fish roll while she was talking to the air, pretending to have a conversation with a ghost. On a bench behind a big tree a girl with red hair was trying to convince another dark-haired girl to smile.
After a while Annabeth was glad to spot a familiar face within the crowd but simultaneously wanted to turn on her heels.
It was Luke. He was leaning against a street lamp, a bottle in his hand from which he took a long sip. Annabeth believed it wasn't kids glogg.
She hadn't seen him for, like, one month. Of course they had stayed in contact after she'd broken up with him but it wasn't much. At first he would call her to ask her out because he still had hope she would change her mind. After a while the calls turned into text messages that were saying he missed her, causing her a guilty conscience since she realized she hadn't even thought about him for quite a while when she received the newest message. About two months ago the texting had stopped too. One or two times per week they would pass each other in the school's hallways but would never more than nod towards each other.
Annabeth stood beside him. Neither of them said a word for at least ten minutes in which Luke took another big sips from his bottle.
Finally, he spoke but didn't look at her and neither did she. "Long time no see."
"Yeah," she answered.
"How are you?"
"What do you think since I'm here right now rather than with my - " She wanted to say family but the word kept stuck in her throat.
"Me too."
Silence.
"Do you want a sip?" Luke held the bottle in her direction and she took it. The alcohol was burning in her throat. She took another one and gave him back the bottle but he refused to take it. Instead, he grabbed a backpack stowed behind the street lamp, brought out another bottle full of that suspicious liquid and opened it.
Another silence in which they occasionally drank from their bottles. Annabeth wasn't proud of that but right now really didn't give a banana.
"Your dad on the road again?" He nodded. Hermes Castellan was a highly busy business man and thus didn't have much time for his family although she could tell he truly loved them. But Luke wasn't too convinced. "Where's your mom?" He shrugged.
Silence again.
"Merry Christmas, Annabeth," he mumbled.
"Merry Christmas, Luke," she answered.
He looked at her for the first time. "Annabeth?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you love me?"
She didn't answer but only sent him a telling look whereupon he emptied his bottle all in once and took the next one.
They stood in silence again until Annabeth took the last sip and got a full bottle from Luke without any further comment. They both knew they could get in trouble for underaged drinking, particularly in public, but as if anyone cared right now.
Annabeth already felt dazed and her head was starting to feel muzzy. When her bottle was empty she was staggering on the spot and had to lean against Luke to prevent herself from falling.
He gulped and looked her straight into the eyes.
"Annabeth?"
"Mmh?"
"May I kiss you?"
When her inebriated mind was yet about to handle what he'd just said he was already leaning in.
Percy was currently having a walk with his family. His mom and Paul had their arms hooked together and Percy's step-granny was leading the way with Percy falling behind.
He'd just had a nice Christmas morning with blue cookies and some cool presents but to top it all there was still something to do for him. Last night he had thought about it a lot and had come to one conclusion. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to go. His mom and Paul had considered letting him but Paul's mother had a different opinion. "It's Christmas," she'd said. "The boy can visit his friends tomorrow. Today, we're having a family day only."
Now as he was walking about 15 feet behind them he considered sneaking away but before he could further think about it Paul turned around to ask him, "Aren't that Luke and Annabeth over there?"
Percy followed his finger he had directed towards them and stopped in his tracks.
They were standing close to each other, almost empty bottles in their hands and looked as if about to kiss any moment. But before that could happen Annabeth leaned away, staring at her feet. Luke seemed to be disappointed and was about to say something when Annabeth turned her head and spotted Percy.
Her expression changed and her eyes widened. They stared at each other for a minute before Sally made a move to go on. "Let's go. Percy will catch up later."
Old Mrs. Blofis wanted to protest but Paul interrupted her. "Good idea. He can say hi to his friends and wish them a merry Christmas." He shoot Percy a knowing look, getting a thankful one back.
When the adults were turning around the corner Percy crossed the street and stood before Annabeth and Luke.
Luke narrowed his eyes on him and grabbed his backpack, putting his and Annabeth's bottles in it and swung it on his back.
"I see," he said, "I'll leave you guys alone then." When he left neither of them said anything.
"Merry Christmas," Percy said.
"Merry Chrismas, seaweed brain," Annabeth babbled.
"How much did you guys have?"
"Nnnothing. Absolutely nnnothing."
"I see."
Annabeth nodded, as if to prove they hadn't had any alcohol but Percy only raised his eyebrows.
"Do I have to take you home?"
Her expression turned dark. "No. I don' wanna go home. Besides, where is home? Isn't it our hearts that are - ", hiccup, "that are leading us home?"
Before she could ramble on about some philosophical home-is-where-the-heart-is he pulled her to a nearby heap of snow and threw some snow in her face. The cold made her shiver and obviously cleared her mind a bit. She looked ashamed of herself.
"What the hell did I do?"
"Drank a huge amount of booze, as it seems. And you almost kissed Luke."
"Oh, shit." She had a guilty expression on her face when she looked Percy in the eyes. He wondered why. "I'm so sorry! I didn't want to do that! I don't wanna be that close to him anymore, really! I don't love him!"
The way she emphasized that 'him' made Percy remember that there still was this mysterious guy she had a crush on. It didn't lift his spirit at all, to be honest.
"Why do you tell me that?", he asked. "You don't have to excuse to me for that."
"Sorry."
"You're doing it again."
"Sor- ugh!"
"Why did you even drink at all?"
"I... I don't know," she lied.
"Is it because of you being an arse? You said something like that yesterday."
She blushed at the memory and Percy couldn't help but find it cute. Nonetheless, he didn't understand.
"Partly it is," she admitted.
"Why is that, anyways?" he wanted to know.
She hesitated before answering, "Because I am such a horrible best friend!"
"You do know that is actually paradoxical, right? I mean, horrible... best friend... I thought you're the wisegirl." He received a glare for that.
"Seaweed brain, I'm serious! You had these feelings for me and I was too busy dating Luke to notice and as a best friend you have to notice such things!"
"It's... it's okay. How could you have noticed, anyway? I was good at hiding it. And though you are so smart you can't know everything, you know. And you never ever were a horrible friend!"
Something wet landed on his nose. Two seconds later he felt rain drops coming down. When exactly did it stop snowing? It was like in those cliché moments in films when the girl and the boy are standing in the rain. According to that, Annabeth and he would now either fight or kiss. (He really hoped for the latter.)
As the rain got heavier they kept standing there, staring at each other.
"Why won't you just go out with Rachel?" Annabeth suddenly blurted out.
"What?"
"You heard me! She obviously likes you. You two get along very well." Is it just me, Percy thought, or is she about to cry? Must be the rain.
He sighed. "Haven't we already talked about that? She's cool and I really like her but merely as a friend!"
"And why did you kiss her, then?"
"I had already had something to drink. And I was... you know, having a hard time getting over you."
"But eventually you got over me. Why didn't you go out with her, then?"
He didn't say anything and she narrowed her eyes.
"You did get over me, didn't you?"
He ignored her question. "Rachel... She's only a friend and I don't think she could ever be more. And why are you so desperately wanting me to be with Rachel?"
"Because..."
"Because what?"
"Ugh, just because!"
"Uh-huh. Do you even have a reason? Or - " and he just couldn't stop himself from saying that, "do you want to get rid of me?"
She stared at him in shock.
"Is it that, Annabeth? Do you want me to have a girlfriend in San Francisco so that you can have your mysterious boyfriend here and don't have to feel guilty for not having feelings for me?"
She remained silent and still stared at him in shock.
They were now soaked wet from the rain and he already couldn't feel his fingertips anymore because of the chill. He began to think that this wasn't the kiss-y type of raining-cliche.
After a minute she still hadn't said anything.
"Fine, then." Percy turned around and hesitated a second before he left. At the next corner he turned his head one last time towards Annabeth. Even from the distance he could see her hands shaking; she slowly sank to the ground and began to cry. He wanted so much to go back to her and rock her in his arms until she stopped crying, just as he used to do. But his feet were taking him home instead.
Percy was sitting in the kitchen alone. He'd just had a hot bath but despite his now warm body he felt cold inside.
What let him say those things to Annabeth? What let him go away when all he wanted to do was hold her and kiss her?
He was a coward, that was he. Five minutes before, he'd wanted to confess to her that he still was in love with her, but no, he had to screw everything up.
Percy wondered if she was ever speaking to him again. If she was ever wanting to see him again.
His phone buzzed; he'd gotten a text message.
Hoping for it to be Annabeth he quickly opened it. It said: Merry X-mas. Got any cool presents? Looking forward 2 c'ya again. Wanna talk a bit? Rachel.
He sighed and pressed a button.
"Rachel? Hi. I need to talk."
Hehe, you did not expect that, did you? ;) I guess I have to hide for your evil murderous screams right now...
(Laiba and Melli, did you find yourself in this chapter? :D)
(...review, please? :D)
