Annabeth and I were sitting her backyard, under her maple tree. We had been trying to outdo each other in who could remember the craziest story. It was her turn.
I poked her in the side. "You're taking forever to think of one. Do you give up?"
"Never." she said," I can't let you win."
"Okay." I smirked.
"Oh! I've got one!" she cheered.
"Well, spit it out. It better be a good one." I said.
"Remember when..." she chuckled, "we were stuck inside because of the rain. And we were so bored that you pulled out your rain gear." Annabeth laughed, "And then we went to the park-" she stopped realizing where she was going.
Neither of us had made any attempt to mention her Mother's party or that rainy day before now. It got dead silent. I didn't want this, not now. I didn't want to be embarrassed about the fact that I'd almost kissed my best friend. I didn't want to pretend it never happened, because it did. I wanted to know what Annabeth thought, because until this point, we hadn't kept anything from each other. I think we had both gotten a little further away because we had ventured into something a little closer. But not anymore, this had to be resolved.
For better or worse.
"Okay." I said. "Okay. Are we just going to ignore it? Because I can't help but think that it hasn't helped our friendship by ignoring it."
"You're right. You're right. Gosh, you're absolutely right." Annabeth sighed.
I felt my heart jump a little.
"So..." She said.
"So…" I said.
"We both know where this is going so..." she trailed off.
"Okay well, you almost kissed me, twice." Annabeth said shortly.
"Well, yeah… I mean, yes I guess I did. I did. But was it just me? Did I almost or, did we almost? I did..." I said. I was so blushing. But I said what my mind thought for once because well, it was the best time to do it. "Because I like you. As in I want to hold your hand and take you on dates like you. I want it to be you and me. And sometimes I can't help but want to kiss you. Annabeth, you are the most amazing and talented and beautiful person I have ever met. I love you as a friend, as a best friend. But I guess, for a while now, I've loved you a little more. And I do."
Annabeth was beaming. "That is really sweet, Perce. You are my best friend. I mean, okay that sounded bad. Percy... honestly, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. And… gosh this is hard. Okay, so moving past best friends is hard so... You know what, forget it."
And she crashed her lips to mine, and pulled away. She was quiet for a minute.
"I guess that hardest part was that I was nervous about being in love with my best friend." She looked at the ground.
I entwined our hands, smiling.
I brushed some of her hair out of her eyes, and pulled her chin up looking her in the eyes. "I was too." I said and kissed her.
Fin.