Chapter 10

"Hey, Piper," Annabeth begins as she straps the dog collar to Poseidon's neck, and attaches the leash Percy bought for her when he got her the dog, "you're staying here for a while, right?"

"Um, yeah," Piper nods, her eyes going over to the ceiling as she thinks it over. "Jason's not going to pick me up until 4, so you got about 5 more hours of Piper-time to enjoy."

She looks down at Annabeth, who is making weird faces with the Border Collie pup her counselor-friend! had bought her. Piper squints at her. "Why do you ask?"

The blonde's fingers curl over the fur of the dog as she pets him, and picks him up to carry with her arms. She presses her lips to the pup's forehead and the puppy yelps happily, and Annabeth smiles.

It's so sickeningly sweet and cute that Piper has to wonder whether this blonde is her bestfriend Annabeth at all. She isn't used to Annabeth being all affectionate and sweet over somebody, to a dog, nonetheless, when she has her cat Athena all along. It's a new and weird change for her friend, but Piper is glad that despite the change being weird, it is the good kind of weird.

"I'm gonna take Poseidon—" Annabeth begins, but the brunette raises a hand to stop her.

"Wait—who?"

"Poseidon," she repeats, gesturing to the dog. "His name is Poseidon. Haven't I told you that?"

"Nope. All I know is that your friend Percy—" Piper makes an emphasis on the word friend, "—gave you a dog because he thought it's friendship day without even remembering the fact that you have a cat. A cat. A grumpy one at that, mind you."

"Yeah well, even if it wasn't friendship day, it's still a nice thought. Giving a dog, I mean. They're much open with their affections. Isn't that right, Poseidon?"

The dog waggles his tail and licks her chin as if agreeing with her point.

"It looks like you've been attached to the dog ever since," Piper points out. "Too attached, I think. Athena's giving him angry glances and squinted glares if you haven't noticed."

"That's because he's such a nice dog. And Percy's always asking me about him," her friend answers smoothly.

Piper eyes her friend, looking for any signs of discomfort but there's none. She isn't lying. But Piper wants to press on further. "Are you sure that's just it?"

Annabeth stops petting the dog and tilts her head questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"That you're just attached to dog because he's nice. Are you sure there's no other reason? Like it being from Percy, for example."

"Of course, that's just it. It's not as if—as if I like Percy like that."

That brief hesitation makes Piper grin, but she has to tone it down or else Annabeth would notice. "I'm not saying about liking somebody, but you've been spending more time with him, to be honest."

Annabeth squints her eyes at Piper. "Tell me honestly, are you jealous I'm having a new bestfriend?"

"Wait. He's your new bestfriend?!" Piper exclaims, and cups her mouth with her palm. She feigns tears and hurt. "I'm so hurt you've replaced me."

"You're crazy," is what the blonde says and rolls her eyes.

Piper stops the drama and grins impishly at Annabeth. "But seriously, he's your new bestfriend?"

"I think. I mean, it's not like you've stop being my bestfriend or anything, but it just seems like he is too. I get along with him so easily it's kind of terrifying but we—we just connect. Just like that. I don't know how to say it and I haven't told him either."

"Okay. One more thing."

"You're being annoying. But, okay."

"Do you still see yourself marrying Luke?" Piper asked.

"I—" Annabeth stutters for an answer, but it doesn't come.

"Okay. You don't have to answer that," Piper says. "What're you gonna ask earlier?"

"Well, I'm taking Poseidon for a walk. I'm going to ask you to watch over Athena and the apartment for a while. I swear it's not going to be long. That is, if it's not too much to ask," Annabeth says with that giddy glow in her eyes it makes the brunette give in easily.

"Thanks," the blonde says, her hand going to the knob to open the door. "Enjoy yourself."

"Hey," Piper calls, for a last minute question. "Have you ever tried looking at Percy?"

Annabeth shakes her head ridiculously at her friend. "Of course, silly! How do you think I talk to—"

"No, not like that," she interrupts. "Try looking at him. Just try."

"Okay," Annabeth responds, unsure of the request, but intends to do it anyway. "I promise I'll try."

And she steps out of the door, leaving her thoughts to wonder what Piper meant about looking at Percy.

"I think, well, my worst prom experience was when this guy, he wasn't even my date, just stumbled upon me and decided that I might as well be his puke bag. He threw up on my dress that my stepmother insisted me to wear even if I don't want it. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I definitely had a reason not to wear it anymore," Annabeth tells as she sits with Percy on her floor on a Friday night.

Before this, he was just supposed to check on Poseidon and give him a treat when he got into telling Annabeth the story of his younger cousin's prom and how it really sucked in his opinion. After that, they started recounting stories of their own prom experiences as they eat some chips and drink Coke.

Percy laughs and Annabeth finds herself listening to it intently as she stores the sound in her mind. She doesn't know why, but she thinks it's a pretty sound to hear.

"That's so awful, but to think you've stop wearing the cursed dress makes it even, I think. My worst prom experience was when my date kept stepping on my toes while we're dancing. And she's wearing pointed heels! I never walked out of my room the next day. My feet were aching so badly."

Annabeth shakes her head at him, disbelievingly. "I don't believe you. Maybe you're just so bad at dancing that she kept stepping on you."

"Why! I'm a good dancer, Miss Chase. I'm very graceful, I'll have you know," he retorts, as he poses quite exaggerated moves.

She smirks at him, tauntingly. "Lies. Lies. You're bluffing, I know it."

"Let me show you," he says as he stands up from the floor and stretches. He extends his arm to her. "Come on, let's dance."

"Okay, I believe you now. You don't have to prove me," Annabeth says as she tugs on his pants, lightly.

"But I want to show you. Come on."

She grips the ends of her sweatshirt and shakes her head at him. "No."

"Annabeth..." he whines.

Annabeth bites her lip and avoids his gaze. Her grip on the material of his pants. "I, I—I don't dance, okay? It's just not my thing."

Percy then crouches in front of her. His fingers tilt her face to him, until she stares straight into his eyes. It is so, so green. Up close, his eyes look far more wonderful than she imagined; the seemingly normal green from afar are so much prettier closer now that she can see every swirl of its colors bending like blue at some point, creating the canvas for an ocean. Annabeth then decides that his eyes isn't just green, it's sea green, and somehow that thought makes her smile.

"Hey," he whispers, feeling as if the moment is too fragile for loud words and voices. "I'm sorry if I made you insecure about my comment. It's okay not to know how to dance."

"I know," Annabeth says because she knows. "It's just that I—um, nevermind."

He then takes her hands between his, and she notices how hers is so much smaller but remains a perfect fit against his larger, calloused hands. Percy then looks at her with so much intensity it makes her wonder whether this is what Piper says by looking at him. There's something in his gaze that draws her to him, strips herself bare of the walls she used to put up herself and reveals even the smallest things about herself that she used to hide. Annabeth then wonders if he could see it, see her as much as she thinks he could and if he could, her feelings start to bubble pondering if he ever liked what he saw at all.

"C'mon," he says as he tugs her up with him. "I'll teach you how to dance."

She stands there in front of him, barefooted and unsure, as he picks up his phone from where he had thrown it on the couch.

He scans and chooses a song, and he places his phone face down on the couch as the beginning chords of guitar starts playing from his phone's worn down speaker. The sound fills the empty walls of her apartment, crowding them in an atmosphere not present earlier.

He gazes at her embarrassingly, "I don't have a song best suited for dancing. I hope it's okay."

My eyes are no good—blind without her

"Yeah." She nods at him and smiles. "It's okay."

The way she moves, I never doubt her

"Okay," he says and heaves in a breath. "You just have to step on my feet and follow my lead. Then, you'll get the hang of it eventually."

She cautiously steps on his feet, and looks down at their feet; her tanned skin barely a shade away from his. Her hands rest on his shoulders lightly, as she tries not stumble on him.

When she talks, she somehow creeps into my dreams

Annabeth curiously looks up at him. "I'm not hurting you, am I?"

"No." Percy meets her stare and smiles. "You're not."

Then his hands press themselves on her back to pull her closer, his feet moving ever so careful and light to guide hers with his. He starts waltzing slowly, letting her feet move over and together with his as he—they dance on her apartment on a Friday night, through his phone's worn down speaker. They're pressed together, his hips on her hips, his chest on her chest—and she feels hot all over like she had just run a marathon and is heaving large gulps of breath to calm her racing heart. It's not the best place to be but it makes her heart soar and a warm feeling to spread from her chest down to every single nerve of her body.

Annabeth lays her forehead on his chest and wonders why her mind keeps on drifting on the thoughts of doing this with Percy for the rest of her life. How the thought of being beside him every single night doesn't repulse her at all, in fact she welcomes the idea. It scares her to no end now that she has a very vague and at the same time clear idea of what she feels and she doesn't know what to do about it. She knows for a fact what she wants, but she doesn't want to acknowledge it, hoping that if she'll ignore it, it will go away.

'Do you still see yourself marrying Luke?'

Piper's words play over her head and she remembers how she never got to answer the question. But now, as she dances with Percy, her heart knows the answer—have known the answer all along.

"So, want a change of career to be a dancer?" Percy asks her jokingly.

She grips his shoulders tight as she buries her face on her chest, hiding the grin on her face from him. "You're an idiot."

He chuckles and rubs her back, lightly. "But you're with me, anyway."

And I may feel like a fool,

But I'm the only one, dancin' with you

Annabeth looks up at his eyes, smiles, gratefully accepting the sudden racing of her heart.

"Yeah. I'm with you."

A/N: An update! Just because I want it to be fair that I have uploaded a chapter for The Olympus Institute, I should as well upload one here. Okay, so forgive the sickeningly cheesy Percabeth. I know it could have been better but I wrote this just now, so this was rushed really and maybe even Annabeth's thoughts aren't all the coherent.

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine and the lyrics of the song as well. Characters are from Rick Riordan. The song where they danced to is Baby Blue Eyes by A Rocket to the Moon. You can listen to it if you want. That's where I got the idea of dancing.

P.S. Please review. This chapter was long compared to the rest so I hoped you enjoyed. There are gonna be 3 or 4 more chapters, I think. So a few more pumps and their journey here is gonna end.