HEY GUYS!
As I may have mentioned before, this author is highly unorganized and tries to have a clue. Keyword: Tries. I made a plan for this story waaaayyyy back when (dear god) and I've pretty much thrown it away even though it glares at me from its taped up location on the wall. SO what do I do? I twirl on my spinny chair around and around until I figure out what I need to do and become very dizzy in the process. Pro tip; if you spin too fast you can fall off and that hurts.
So I present to you the chapter of which I wrote after much spinning and the long awaited taking down of my story plan. AKA: I have no clue what I'm doing now dear lord give me strength
ENJOY!
Four Weeks Later
ANNABETH
She was going to kill Silena when she got her hands on her.
She would just somehow do it and make sure to buy bleach and garbage bags before to clean up the evidence or perhaps she wouldn't because really that girl had it coming because in all technicalities, this was all her fault.
Okay.
Technically it wasn't Silena's fault.
Technically yes, it was because Annabeth was really not in the mood. She furiously walked on the New York sidewalk to the subway wearing Percy's sweatpants and luckily, her own t-shirt and hoodie after she'd brought over an extra pair of clothes for a reason that she couldn't remember but was thankful for.
No, she wasn't mad that she probably looked horrible in her sneakers and sweatpants that pooled around her ankles.
She was just aggravated at the whole thing and hoped to god that nobody saw her. Luckily it was a Saturday morning and with the crisp air and sun still near the horizon, she highly doubted that no teenager apart from her would be out and about.
Still, she glowered at the seat across from her that was empty as she felt a blush roll up in her cheeks. How dare she let that happen? The last thing she remembered was Nemo and then suddenly she was closer to Percy Jackson then she'd ever imagined and she accidentally pushed him to the floor despite the sudden loss of warmth.
Oh, Silena was going to get it.
Right after she took a shower.
.o.
GotS
.o.
The Previous Night – 12 Hours Prior
PERCY
"Thanks Silena," he said as she arrived with Beckendorf slightly behind her with his hand on her waist.
"Not a problem Percy," she leaned towards him and set her voice to a whisper, too low to be heard below the blasting dance music, "I'm just surprised that you actually wanted my help this time."
"Yeah well," he shrugged, "I never was good at fashion, even when I was younger."
"Mr. Olympian always was well dressed," she murmured, "and I expect that he'd want his son to be well dressed as well."
Percy frowned as Silena nestled into Beckendorf arm, "How's Lacy doing?"
"Mom good. Struggling with Drew. Half-sisters are pesky things."
Percy sighed, "I always will never remember how you are related…" he said, looking out to where many well-dressed students were dancing, and Drew was sipping on a glass dressed in a very elaborate dress.
"You can't change family," Silena shrugged, "But do keep that low-key please."
"Just the way you keep me, low-key," Percy smiled but stared firmly. They each had their secrets.
"Oh, of course," Silena smiled.
Percy looked around, attempting to change the subject, "Where are the girls?"
"My, my, Mr. Jackson, looking for your date?"
"She's not my date. I'm just curious."
"Do you want something to drink?" Beckendorf, asked Silena, "I'm thinking about getting a water."
"Get me one too," she kissed his cheek, "Thank you."
Percy smiled and leaned on the wall, "Cute."
"You could be cute too."
"I'm not following," Percy frowned.
"Perhaps you should look to your right. It would also answer your previous question," Silena grinned, "Katie and Juniper helped Annabeth get ready, that's why they're probably a bit late."
He eyed the door and saw the familiar light brown hair of both Juniper and Katie wearing dresses and looking a couple inches taller than normal.
"Where's- " he started to say when somebody tapped his left shoulder.
"Hey!"
He looked around to see Annabeth. Like the other two girls she was taller and almost his height and he couldn't resist giving her a once over. Her blue dress looked stunning in the lights and her hair was styled and while he was sure that Annabeth wore a bit of makeup at school it was nothing like the long lashes and lipstick she was wearing tonight.
"So this is how New York semi-formal dances work."
Percy blinked and remembered he was supposed to answer, "Yeah. You pay a lot for the tickets but then they rent a nice place like this so, it's worth it."
"Annabeth! I knew you'd look amazing in that dress!" Silena interrupted them clapping her hands and taking a bit of the material in her hands.
"Hi Silena," Annabeth smiled shyly, "thanks for helping me."
Silena rolled her eyes and looked at Percy, "she didn't even have a good dress to wear. I had to help her."
"Ah," he said as he looked down at his own clothes. He wore a black jacket, shoes, and pants like almost all of the boys but he had a deep blue shirt and an even darker blue tie on. Silena had picked it out. He couldn't help but notice that his shirt and Annabeth's dress matched in color.
"Well, bye you two," Silena said, "I've got to go find Charlie. He's not back with the water and I'm a bit parched." And with that she disappeared into the crowd.
He laughed when she was gone, "So it looks like Silena didn't put you through hell then."
Annabeth smiled back to him, "Not quite. This dress is actually very comfortable, but the heels…"
"Take 'em off."
"I'll lose them, and they're not mine."
"Really?"
"Silena's. I'm wearing pretty much all of her stuff."
"Well it looks great," Percy said earnestly and looked around, "Hey do you want something to drink? I know you just got here but I'm dying."
"Did somebody go dancing?" Annabeth asked as they made their way to the refreshment table.
"Yup. Conner and Travis backed me up. We were here a bit early so we had some fun with the DJ. I've got some great moves to the Safety Dance."
"Oh yeah?" Annabeth, as they went to the tables.
One table had bowls of chips and other snacks while the other was filled with large 2 liter bottles of various kinds of pop, red cups, and a few cans of other refreshments. Annabeth reached for a red cup but Percy slowly took it out of her hand and gave her a can of Nestea, "I hope you like Nestea."
"I do," She stated as she opened the can, "Thanks."
Percy shrugged and got one for himself, "I heard some people were going to try to spike something, and I'm a bit paranoid so with cans I know there's nothing wrong. Hope you don't mind."
"Not at all."
"PERCY!" the two turned their heads to look at a group of about ten people, with one of them in the middle, beckoning him over, "Come over!'
It was Drew. She held up her cup and jiggled it a bit, "Don't worry, its water. I'm taking a break in-between the before and after parties."
She walked over to them and leaned close to him, "Do you want a sip? You can test if it's water or not…"
"Uh."
Annabeth saved him. She put her hand over the top of Drew's red cup, "Percy's fine with his drink right now."
"Percy come with us," Drew smiled, "you don't have to have anybody speak for you," she said, nodding towards Annabeth.
One of her friends came up to them and smiled hazily nodding with Drew, "C'mon! Annie! You can join too!" she giggled.
"Annabeth. My name is Annabeth."
The girl pouted and Drew took another sip of whatever was in her glass, water or not, "I'm sorry. But can I call you that? It's so much easier than Annabeth. Now that's a mouthful!"
Percy frowned, "She doesn't like being called that."
Drew tried one last time, "C'mon. She's evidentially ruining your chance of fun. She's a spoil-sport."
Percy looked at Annabeth, evidentially unsure of what to say. Annabeth realized that he wanted to say no, but he didn't want to hurt the girl's' feelings.
"Um. I was thinking of leaving guys. Sorry." He said finally.
"Are you sure?"
Annabeth scowled, "Do you need him to say it again?"
Drew smiled, "Well, have fun then Percy! Turn that frown upside-down! And if you want to come to the after party you're definitely invited."
The girl waved, "Bye!" she called as she ran back to the group and immediately started laughing.
Percy gave a weak laugh and gave a little wave.
"Did you actually mean that?" Annabeth asked him.
"Mean what?"
"That you wanted to go right now."
Percy looked at the ceiling. "Well…"
"If that's your plan you should take me with you."
"Huh?"
Annabeth nodded seriously, "I wasn't planning on coming anyways and my feet are freaking killing me."
Percy's eyes looked over to Annabeth, "Sure. If you don't mind walking barefoot on the street I know a couple places that sell some good pizza around here."
"Excellent, I'm starving."
"Annabeth Chase," Percy grinned, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"That I'm glad I won the bet last week so you had to pay for my ticket? I've only been here twenty minutes and am planning on ditching already?"
"No," he answered, thinking instead about how he'd purposely lost a game of UNO against her so he could pay for her ticket. Not that she would know anytime soon.
"That you should pay for my pizza because I don't have money?"
Percy frowned, "Not that, but close enough," He put on a horrible English accent that clashed with his New Yorker one, "Shall we go, my dear lady?" as he offered her his arm.
She took and put on her own posh accent, "I believe we shall. Lead the way."
Percy smiled as the cold air hit his face and Annabeth took off her shoes and held them in one hand. Luckily the streets weren't' so crowded in this specific part of New York later at night.
"So as I was saying," Percy said conversationally, "There's this great place around the corner for pizza and if you want, bowling."
"How much does it cost?"
"Not enough so you don't have to worry about paying me back," Percy smiled, "Besides, the owner knows me well anyways."
"Fine. I'll still pay you back though."
"You can try," Percy shrugged, "But seriously it's fine," he said as they headed on their way.
True to his word the owner, a man who epitomized the large Italian rooted New Yorker stereotype –his name was Franky and he spoke Italian and worked at a pizzeria and had an accent like really- hugged Percy on sight that left him gasping but it also left them with a free pizza and a free game of bowling so she couldn't complain.
"Mmmm," she said closing her eyes and licking her fingers, "How is it that New York pizza is just so much better?"
"I have no clue," Percy responded, "And I don't intent to find out. Just appreciate it."
"Barbarian."
"Hey, you're digging into this pizza just as much as me."
"I'm hungry. Shhh," she said and pushed his face away making him miss his bite of pizza.
"Rude," he sighed, "Well at least I'll beat you at bowling. What a tragedy it'll be for you."
"You? Beat me a bowling? Never."
"Best game out of one after this pizza?"
"You mean, best game out of one, because that's what we got for free?"
"Yes."
Annabeth stood up and stretched her arms, finishing her slice, "Okay. You're on."
.o.
GotS
.o.
"I still don't know how you beat me."
"It's okay Percy," Annabeth said in a sing-song voice as they walked down the steps of the subway and she donned her heels again because the ground was too dirty, "I'm just amazing."
"Yeah, well," he said gruffly as he paid for them to go through the subway, and found he had no comeback.
"It's okay," Annabeth said seriously, as they stepped down to the platform, "It was a fun game."
"So what station are we going to?" Percy asked.
"Well, I was supposed to be picked up with Katie, Silena, and Juniper by Juniper's mom, but don't worry, I texted them telling them I'd come later."
"Juniper's house it is."
Annabeth stared at him.
"What?" he said defensively, "I'm not letting you go around New York alone," he stressed, "At night," he paused and pointed with his eyes down the subway car where a group of rowdy college students were. He'd noticed them eyeing her up when they walked in the subway car.
"Very gentlemanly."
"More like, I don't want anything to happen to you especially in those heels."
Annabeth nodded as they entered the train, "Thank you, seriously."
"Not a problem," he said as the train began to move to the next station.
They sat in comfortable silence, listening to the conversations around them in the subway when it suddenly started to slow down until it was at a complete stop and seconds later, a voice came over the intercom.
"Attention all customers on the Blue Subway and Orange subway lines."
Percy and Annabeth perked their ears.
"Due to electrical difficulties and delays due to a medical emergency the trains will no longer be running Northbound or Southbound. All trains will no longer be running Northbound or Southbound on the Blue and Orange subway lines. Please get off at the next station.
Annabeth looked at Percy in horror.
"We apologize for the delays and situation. We hope that you arrive at your destination safely."
Annabeth swore under her breath.
"What's wrong?"
"We won't be able to get to Juniper's house. It's too far to walk."
"What about your house?" Percy reasoned, "You guys own a car."
Annabeth shook her head, "They're out at dinner. They won't be back. Bobby and Matthew had a babysitter."
Percy blew out his breath. So much for that plan.
"What am I supposed to do?" she asked as they stayed inside the station to avoid the cold air.
Annabeth handed Percy his phone back, "Does your uncle own a car?"
Percy shook his head, "Subway or taxis all the time. But he's away and he'll be back in two days."
Annabeth looked around, "How much money do you have?"
"Not enough."
"What are we supposed to do?"
Percy shrugged,"You're the smart one."
"Not helping," Annabeth scowled.
Percy looked at where they were. It was only four long city blocks away from his apartment, the one that Annabeth knew about.
"Promise not to hit me?"
Annabeth nodded, "What's your idea?"
Percy pointed in the direction of the apartment,"My place is four blocks that way," he said slowly, "you could text the girls and explain what happened. I know I have some small sweatpants I never got rid of that you could wear."
"Percy."
"It's warm," Percy said, looking colder than her despite the fact he was wearing a suit jacket, "You can go back in the morning, when the problem is fixed and your parents wouldn't know, if you're worried about that."
Annabeth stared at the city traffic for a long time, before sighing and taking her phone, "Silena will never let me live this down."
Percy looked away, "Oh god, she's not isn't she?"
"Not in a million years," Annabeth said as she finished sending the message to her three friends, "Now let's go or I swear I'm getting hypothermia."
"Oh shit," Percy swore, "Here," he started to shimmy out of his jacket.
"No, it's fine," Annabeth said, "Let's just get to your place."
He nodded and they got to it and nine minutes later Percy's cold hands were putting the key into the lock and opening the door.
A wave of warm air hit them and they both sighed.
"After you, Madame."
Annabeth daintily walked in, "Thank you, Jeeves."
"Anything else, Milady?"
"Perhaps a hot chocolate and an exquisite vanilla cake that I know you have."
Percy closed the door and shook his head grinning, "Get it yourself."
"Worth a try," she said and plopped down onto his couch and rolled into a ball and snuggled into the pillows and the blanket.
Percy walked over to her and raised an eyebrow as he ditched his jacket and tie and watched Annabeth stretch across the couch, still wrapped in a blanket and take all of the room.
"Wanna make room?"
"Not particularly."
Percy put his hands on his hips, "You sure about that?"
"Very. There's a nice chair over there."
Percy leaned down over Annabeth and scooped her up in his arms. She considered fighting but she didn't want to be dropped.
"You see Annabeth? There is a perfectly fine chair over there," Percy grunted as he set her down in the chair and dove for the couch with Annabeth in tow leaping from the chair she'd been deposited in, both wanting the best spot to watch a movie.
After a brief minute of fighting Percy had the footrest and was sprawled mostly of the left side of the couch with his feet resting on the cushion while Annabeth was lying completely across the couch like before but with her legs simply resting on Percy's legs underneath her. It was comfortable for the both of them they decided as Annabeth settled the blanket over her and therefore half of Percy and stared flipping through the channels.
"Stop. Go back," Percy said
Annabeth went back and saw that a channel was showing Finding Nemo.
"We're watching this."
Annabeth laughed, "Finding Nemo?"
"Yes. Is there a problem with that?" Percy asked.
Annabeth shook her head, "No. It's just I haven't actually seen all of it, only bits and pieces."
Percy looked at her incredulously, "You haven't?"
"Yeah. It's not that strange Percy."
"Yes it is! That's like as strange as hating puppies!"
Annabeth laughed, "So what if I told you that I didn't like puppies?"
Percy pointed towards his door,"I would search this apartment up and down for money for a taxi and kick you out."
"Really?
"Everybody loves puppies."
"Don't worry; I'm part of that everybody."
"Good," Percy declared, "Ok, have you watched Lion King?"
Annabeth nodded her head.
He sighed with relief, "my faith in humanity hasn't been lost yet."
Annabeth smiled, "I'm not that weird."
"Yes you are."
"Shhhh," She pointed at the screen, "We'll argue about this later. We're at the part that I haven't seen yet."
Percy looked at the movie. Dory had just met Bruce the shark. He leaned forwards, "This in my favourite part."
Bruce was at the front of the submarine, "Right then. The meeting has officially come to order. Let us all take to the pledge."
Percy put his right hand and recited with the sharks, "I am a nice shark. Not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself."
Annabeth was shaking with laughter as Percy proclaimed, "Fish are friends! NOT food!"
Percy, evidently pleased that he had remembered it all perfectly exclaimed, "Best moment. Right there."
"If you say so Percy." Annabeth laughed and they settled back into silence to watch the movie.
Percy changed his attention back to the screen and when the movie was done he smiled.
"Annabeth, what did I tell you? Amazing movie."
He was met with silence.
He looked over and saw Annabeth, still in the exact same position but the only difference was that her eyes were closed and she was breathing softly.
Unbelievable.
She'd fallen asleep during Finding Nemo.
He was going to have to review this friendship.
Percy sighed and looked at the predicament with the light coming off of the screen. Annabeth didn't look like the heaviest of sleepers although you never knew, but he didn't want to risk it and wake her up.
He checked his watch, signaling it was well past midnight and maybe he should get to sleep soon anyways and the couch was pretty comfortable and Annabeth's legs were keeping his legs warm.
"Screw it."
Percy reached for a blanket at the end of the couch and settled it half over him and half over Annabeth and using his feet, shimmied the large square footrest closer to the couch so that there was no gap and turned off the TV.
"Goodnight Annabeth," he murmured more for his own benefit and closed his eyes.
Shit.
Okay this wasn't comfortable, Percy realized. While his legs were horizontal his back was too vertical and he had to crane his neck an insane amount to get to the back of the couch. He couldn't lean to his left because there was no couch and the footrest was too small to scoot forward.
He sighed and placed a pillow in the area in-between Annabeth's side and the couch. Thank god they'd bough a large couch.
He slowly laid sideways, finding a position that put no weight on her but kept him comfortable and he tried for the second time.
Sleep came easily.
SO THAT'S BASICALLY IT!
I gave you guys Percabeth, and they're becoming a lot more friendly with each other, which is nice.
So please REVIEW- encouragement, who doesn't love it?
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:)
PEACE OUT!
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