Chapter Fourteen
"Looking out on the morning rain I used to feel so uninspired; And when I knew I had to face another day; Lord, it made me feel so tired. Before the day I met you, life was so unkind; But you're the key to my peace of mind. 'Cause you make me feel; You make me feel; You make me feel like a natural woman." - Aretha Franklin
Percy decides that the best (and safest) option would be to take her somewhere he wouldn't be recognized.
Nico suggested the movies, but the movies are only good for, like, a fourth date? Maybe? But movies on a first date are a mistake. You sit there, next to each other, not talking, and then afterward your mind is all muddled and stuck in a different reality and it's all a mess.
Percy has had a few first dates at the movies that he would rather not like to redo.
Plus, he's not all nervous about this date. He's really only doing it to get back into reality. Living in his bedroom for weeks can only do harm.
After Jason recommended going wine tasting, which is definitely a date you save until after you're married and have had three kids, Percy decided to pick the date himself.
After a while he chose to make the date something very not-special. He doesn't plan on a second date, so why go all out?
Don't get him wrong: Percy does not get joy out of playing with people's hearts, or whatever, but soon after he asked Beth out, he realized how much of a mistake it was. He thought for a hot minute that this was a good way to help himself, but now he feels bad.
He's not looking for a relationship, but Beth might be. And she's roommates with his cousin's girlfriend, so that also a downside.
Percy decides on the pier.
For someone he guessed had been living in New York for a while, Beth had probably been to the pier before and therefore, it wouldn't be as exciting as it would be if she was going for the first time.
He learns quite a bit about her on the ride over (he drives). It turns out, Beth works at a library, and she is also an author.
He's pretty sure she already knows, but he explains his career anyway. He tries not to look at her while driving, but as he talks he can see her nodding her head.
Okay. Let's just get this straight: Percy hasn't gone on many dates, so he has no idea what he's doing.
But on the few dates he had gone on, the girls just find him attractive and lead with that. The dates always go the same. The girl is pushy and Percy is awkward. Then she gets mad when he doesn't walk her to her door, but normally Percy just wants to leave so bad that he honestly just forgets. He rarely has second dates.
But Beth seems different to Percy. She seems to really want to hear what he's saying. (At least, that's what he's been picking up from her head nodding.) Percy feels upset about that because, yes, she seems really sweet and genuine, but as of now, he really isn't in the best state of mind to start a relationship.
Once they arrive at the pier, the first thing they decide to do is eat. "That way we won't be hungry later and have to stop having fun to eat," Beth explains as they walk to a pizza parlor.
They walk closely and if an outside observer saw them, they'd definitely look like they're on a date. Percy supposes that's a good thing, they are on a date. He takes her hand, then Beth looks up at him (because she's very much shorter than he is) and smiles.
His heart skips a beat. Beth's eyes are a whole lot more piercing and bright than he remembered. Her hair more blonde.
It aches him knowing that he won't be having a second date, because jeez, she's really something (as far as he can tell). It especially sucks considering that her personality is one-of-a-kind and she's the nicest person he's met. (She did save his life from almost the whole world knowing where he lives.) But he sucks down his regret because possibly he could have a good time tonight and thinking of sad things will make him sad, and truly that's not the target for tonight.
The pizza parlor's daily special is cashier's choice, and in light of the fact that the cashier happens to be a nerdy looking teenager, maybe sixteen, Percy chooses two slices of that one. Sue him, he's feeling bold.
"I'll have two slices of cheese pizza, please," Beth asks politely. The boy slides his glasses up his nose and inputs the numbers.
Percy stares at Beth incredulously. "Cheese pizza? Please don't tell me you just asked for cheese pizza?"
Beth smiles daringly at him. "Yup. Cheese pizza is the best. Can't go wrong."
He raises an eyebrow at her, entirely too amused by her response than anything. "Come on, you have to have toppings."
She pretends as if she's considering this while saying, "No, I don't. And it's not like cashier's choice is going to be any better."
Percy leans his hand on the counter. "Did you see the cashier? I'll bet the kid lives in pepperoni."
Beth smirks. "You can't bet that he's going to give you any of his pepperoni. He might as well put anchovies on your pizza."
Percy cringes. "Well, I'll take what I can get." Beth laughs, and Percy's heart does that thing again: where it speeds up really fast for, like, no reason.
The cashier (his name is Lucas) clears his throat. "Ten forty-seven."
And Percy hands his credit card before Beth can even argue. Though she does glare. (It's a joke-glare, the kind with the hidden amusement, but he can't help but be kind of terrified.)
Rule One: As the guy, always pay, or you're a douche. (This means you can't forget your wallet, because Percy did that once and it wasn't good.)
Once Lucas gives Percy the receipt, he tells them, "Your number is eight nineteen forty-seven-dot-seventy-six. Don't forget it, cause once we call it and you don't get your pizza, we're throwing it away."
Percy stares at Lucas for a couple of seconds before saying, "Could you repeat the numbers? And can I have a pen to write it down?"
Lucas mutters something under his breath while he looks for a pen. Percy makes a face of amused disbelief to Beth who laughs softly.
"Okay," Lucas says, once Percy has the pen and is ready to write the numbers down on his left arm. "Eight. Nineteen. Forty-seven. Dot. Seventy-six." He says them slowly as if talking to a child.
Percy writes each number, then stops, staring at his arm. His soulmate, Annabeth, would probably see this later, and after not responding to all her notes for the past week (has it really been a week?) he feels bad for just writing something down to remember and not even regarding her.
"Hey? Dude? I need my pen back," Lucas interrupts his thoughts, and Percy looks up at Beth who's staring at him oddly.
"Yeah," Percy says, "Sorry…. I just.. Um.." He trails off and writes on his arm: haha sorry but I never wouldve remembered, then caps the pen and hands it to Lucas.
Percy now feels bad, his soulmate, who's name coincidentally happens to be Annabeth, probably would be hurt knowing he's on a date. But then he thinks, she dated another guy for four years. One date shouldn't hurt, right?
He just starts to feel worse and worse about himself as the night goes on.
But then their extremely long number is called and the two go up to collect their pizza.
Beth laughs, but Percy doesn't find it very funny. Lucas, their cashier, gave him two slices of cheese pizza.
"What do you mean, they're soulmates?"
"They both had the same writing on their arm when I saw Annabeth, then Percy the next morning."
"But that doesn't mean-"
"Percy's mom's name is Sally, Piper. He got the letter 's' tattooed on his left wrist for his mom. Annabeth has the same one! And Percy literally told both me and Nico the other day that his soulmates name is Annabeth."
"You make a very compelling argument…. But how is he so dull? Her name is Annabeth, his soulmates name is Annabeth, why doesn't he connect the dots?"
"He thinks her name is Beth."
"Holy shit.. Excuse my French."
"It's alright, Nico's worse, especially when he's watching soccer. He was really rooting for England."
"Percy and Annabeth … has a nice ring to it."
"Yeah."
"Did you really bring Love Actually or is this the only reason you came over here?"
"No, I have the movie."
"Fantastic."
Their next goal is to go to the arcade.
When they get to the entrance of the building, though, there's a sign that says: NO FOOD OR DRINK BEYOND THIS POINT. So him and Beth share a look, then shove their faces with (cheese) pizza. He's sure they'll both get a stomach ache, but who cares?
Beth trips over her feet as they walk inside and Percy grabs her arm to steady her. "Are you okay?" he asks.
She smiles a bit off-putly and says, "Yeah, I-uh, tripped the other day, while running, and twisted my ankle. I'm fine, but I just can't really put all my weight on it."
Percy responds. "That's funny. Just the other day, I twisted my ankle, the stories a bit less tragic as yours, but the injury is just as real."
She smirks. "Let's hear it then. How'd you hurt your ankle?"
Percy takes a breath, and looks down at her (seriously, she's really short) with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I move around in my sleep and I accidentally got all twisted in my blanket, and when I got up in the morning, I fell trying to get untangled." He shrugs.
Beth smiles. "Manly."
Percy smiles and bows. "I know, thank you. Now," he says, turning towards the huge room before them, "what do we do first?"
It is insane. Beth is absurdly good (and better than Percy) at every game they play. She beats him in Pac Man, skeeball, Donkey Kong, and the silly basketball game. She rubs it in his face, too.
"How many tickets do you have?" she asks, feigning innocence while they scout the room for more games; they had pretty much done everything.
Percy grumbles, "Five hundred-something. You?"
"Three thousand-something. Not sure."
He could be mad, but there's a small smile on her face that puts butterflies in his stomach, so he moves on quickly. "What about that one?"
He's talking about the dance game. The one where you step on the arrows on the platform and compete against each other. He's never been a good dancer, but he always beats Nico, so he considers himself somewhat good at the game.
Beth tenses up. "Um, you know what? I think I wanna do something else-"
"You're not afraid you're gonna lose, are you?"
Beth pauses, then meets his eye with a gaze burning of a thousand suns and says, "You're on."
She sucks. And not 'sucks' in the form that she's just not better than Percy, but she's just really bad at the game. At one point she mixes up her and Percy's screen, which he thought was impossible, but apparently not. Then she switches her right and left, and soon enough, Percy wins. They go again, and again, and she doesn't really get that much better, and after the third round, Percy realizes that he doesn't really want to do it again, but she insists.
She chooses some old 2003 top ten hit song, which she somehow knows every word to. Beth breathes the words under her breath and laughs every time she messes up; by the end both Percy and Beth are kinda sweaty, but laughing and dancing a dance that is most definitely not apart of the game.
The screen pauses and giant, blinking, red letters pop up saying: YOU LOSE. The two of them leave their tickets behind because Percy points out that none of the prizes are actually worth getting. (Anything is better than Batman stickers or rainbow slinkies.)
Once they leave the arcade, it's already dark out. Beth takes a deep breath, and Percy looks over to her. There's a ghost of a laugh on her face as she looks up to the night sky. The stars twinkle in her eyes, they look like reflective glass, and her cheeks are flushed from dancing.
She's absolutely beautiful, and Percy doesn't care anymore; he throws everything he previously thought out: she's too unbelievably breathtaking (both physically and personality-wise) to disregard after one date. He wants to see where this goes.
"Do you wanna go get some ice cream?" he asks her, "Down the way, I saw an ice cream parlour."
She smiles at him delicately. "I'd love to."
He gets chocolate and she gets vanilla, to which he protested ("Cheese pizza and vanilla ice cream?" "I like things plain, sue me!"), and then they decide to go walk along the shore once they've finished eating.
Percy doesn't quite understand her yet, because he's only just met her, but he wants to figure her out. He wants to know what kind of evil witch scarred her enough into only liking toppingless foods. He wants to know about her family and her childhood; how she met Piper and why she lives in New York. He wants to read her books, and ask questions about the main character.
Because, for some reason, out of everyone he's met, she sticks out above them all. She makes his heart skip, like, eight beats when she smiles, or laughs. It's all her. Only her. And it's only the first date.
On the shore, they carry their shoes so they can walk where the water hits their ankles. This time, she grabs his hand, and he smiles at her. (Did he mention how beautiful the moonlight makes her look? Because w o w.)
It's rather peaceful: the whole scene is. It's fairly late at night, not an inch of sun left in the sky, now replaced with brilliant twinkling lights and the moon, though not full, it's still magnificent and bright. The sand squishes beneath his toes, and he's sure it is under her feet too, but the silence is so comfortable, he doesn't want to break it.
The night is ludic, he decides, for it's the only word he can come up with to describe the high he's been on since it started.
The moment the first drop of rain hits his forehead and he flinches, he knows that this night is more than a first date. It's a new beginning. It's him pushing everything away and letting go for once. It's not Percy Jackson, Olympic gold medalist, traversing around the pier, scouting for a pretty girl. It's just two kids on a date.
(Two silly soulmate kids who are too dumb not to have noticed their spirits are connected, but alright.)
Percy allows himself to become free of the stress that has pushed him so far down lately as Beth laughs while the rain starts to poor, and a huge wave that comes to their knees almost knocks them both over. They run to the sand, hands intertwined and laugh in the rain that consumes them.
"May I have this dance?" Percy reaches his hand towards her as he yells above the pounding rain and crashing waves.
Beth smiles and nods. They dance sloppily and trip in the uneven sand, laughing at themselves and each other.
It's not bad for a first date. Not bad at all.
They can both agree on that.
hello hello there
soooooo this chapter was amazing???
next chapter is my number 1 all time favorite one to write and i'm so excited for you guys to see it ahhhh!
sorry for uploading a little late on this lovely friday but i got today off school so i slept in a bit (and had some weeeired dreams)
uhhh my dog literally just ripped some curtains off the window so i might have to go in a sec.
also thank you? to everyone? who wished me good luck with that boy you are all amazing!!!!
(he just likes me as a friend so bleh.)
anyway
i took psats on wednesday and woah that was not fun at all. i definitely failed the math portion because i didn't study at all but oh well.
also i have auditions next week (our school is putting on legally blonde i'm so excited) so wish me luck i guess!
one last thing: i'm uploading a two part story on tuesday (so that the second part will come out on halloween!) so please check that out! i'm soooo proud of it and i hope you all will like it too!
i wish you all a wonderful friday, i know you deserve it!
xx Leigh