Chapter 14

"No, I made a reservation," Percy insisted.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you're name isn't in the book."

"But I called yesterday and I spoke to a woman and I made a reservation for two under the name Jackson."

"As I've already told you, there is no reservation in that name and as you can see, we're completely booked this evening."

"Could you please just check again?" Percy snapped.

Percy wasn't usually the type of person to lose his cool, but he couldn't help it. Not only was he angry, he was also embarrassed because Annabeth was standing right next to him, hearing everything. Keeping his cool was not very high on his priority list. However, grabbing the reservation book the host was looking at and ripping it into little pieces was quickly rising to the top of his priority list. That and kissing Annabeth as much as he possibly could.

The host sighed and looked back down at his book for the fourth time. He knew that the name Jackson was nowhere to be found, but he was trained that the customer was always right, so he checked again.

Percy squeezed Annabeth's hand and smiled at her weakly. They hadn't let go of one another since they had gotten out of Percy's car and the valet had driven it away. That was almost ten minutes ago. Percy had been arguing with the host ever since.

While the host rechecked the book, which Annabeth thought was rather silly since Percy's name obviously was nowhere to be found, she looked around the restaurant. It was an incredibly elegant French restaurant with crystal chandeliers and linen tablecloths that probably cost more than the rent on her apartment. The waiters were all dressed in tuxedos and carried white linen towels draped over their arms.

As her eyes took in her surroundings, Annabeth caught the eye of an older woman who had a sour look on her face and a glass of red wine in her hand. She was sitting across from a man, whom Annabeth assume was her husband, who was quite obviously staring at an attractive, younger woman across the room. Annabeth smiled at the older woman politely, but the woman simply frowned and focused her attention back to her wine. A little put off by the woman's reaction, Annabeth looked at the next table. It was the same old thing, an older man and woman dressed to the nines staring at each other across the table with miserable expressions on their faces. Annabeth quickly noticed that all of the patrons in the restaurant seemed cold and uninviting. Aside from a few businessmen entertaining their wealthy clients, most of the other diners were older couples who seemed very un-couple like. The tables they were sitting at were so large that it was as if the couples were eating in two different places. It certainly didn't hold the same romantic atmosphere as the small Italian restaurant they had gone to on Valentine's Day. Not to mention that there wasn't a person under forty in sight.

"I'm sorry, sir, but there is no reservation and we are full this evening. Perhaps you would like to make a reservation for another night."

"I don't want a reservation for another night," Percy insisted.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He began to let go of Annabeth's hand so that he could pull out some money to bribe the host when Annabeth tugged on his hand, not letting go.

"It's fine, Percy, we can just go somewhere else," she stated.

He looked over at her.

"It's not fine. I made the reservation and…"

She leaned against him and put her lips close to his ear.

"Please, let's find somewhere that's more…us," she whispered.

He looked at her for another moment and then nodded. "Okay." He said it even though he was fuming. He felt like a fool, even though he knew he had made the reservation. Everything was ruined now because some hostess couldn't get his name right.

"Have a good evening," the host said as Percy and Annabeth began to walk out.

Percy turned back around to glare at him. Annabeth pulled on his hand and they both walked through the doors. Percy handed his ticket to the valet, who walked off to get their car.

"Annabeth, I'm so sorry. I swear I made the reservation and…"

"Percy, it's fine."

"But I wanted this date to be perfect and now it's not. And…"

"Did you look around in there?"

"Yeah. It looked nice. It was recommended by the top food critics in almost every New York magazine and…"

Annabeth put her finger in front of his lips, quieting him.

"It was nice, Percy, and I'm sure that the food would have been excellent, but it was too nice."

"How can something be too nice?"

"Percy, the tables had three forks on them. We've battled monsters and been thrown off cliffs. We're not exactly three fork people."

He laughed and snaked his arm around her waist.

"You're right." He sighed. "I just wanted to make tonight special."

"And it will be. As long as we're together, it will be."

The valet pulled the car up to the sidewalk.

"So, now that three fork restaurants are out, where do you want to go?" Percy asked.

Annabeth smirked. "I have an idea."

"Something tells me I should be afraid," Percy said as he opened Annabeth's door for her.

"Don't worry, you'll love this place."

"Oh, and how do I know that?"

"Because it's got good food and good service."

"So, tell me where it is."

Annabeth shook her head. "You're just going to have to trust me."

She slipped into the car. Before shutting the door, Percy bent over and stuck his head into the car.

"Just tell me one thing," he said.

"What's that?"

"Tell me we're not going to meet your personal chef who walks around your apartment shirtless with nice abs, are we?"

"Oh no, Jacque doesn't have nice abs. He's got a nice ass," Annabeth teased.

Percy rolled his eyes and shut the door. As he walked around to the driver's side, Annabeth reached into the glove compartment and pulled out his GPS.

"What are you doing?"

"Bosco is going to tell you where you're going," Annabeth explained as she began to program their destination.

"Bosco?"

"Your GPS."

"You named my GPS?"

"It needed a name."

"So you chose Bosco?"

"Is there something wrong with the name Bosco?"

"No, just seems like an odd name for a GPS."

"Would you prefer something else? Something Greek perhaps? Maybe Poseidon," she teased.

"No, Bosco's fine," Percy insisted.

Annabeth attached the contraption to the window and faced the screen towards Percy.

"So, are you going to tell me where we're going?" Percy asked as he fastened his seatbelt.

"No, but Bosco is."

As the GPS's computer voice told Percy to go straight for two miles before taking a left, he glanced over at Annabeth. She was looking out the window, gazing at the buildings that surrounded them. They were in an older section of town. Most of the buildings had been built in the late 1800's. Percy knew that Annabeth always appreciated any type of architecture, but especially old buildings. He loved seeing her so happy to be doing something as simple as looking out the window. Percy reached for her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it lightly.

"What was that for?"

"Just reminding you how amazing you are," Percy answered.

Annabeth blushed. "Thank you," she said as Percy gave her her hand back. Percy winked at her as he began to follow Bosco's directions.

They drove for nearly twenty minutes in silence. Annabeth was happily looking out the window while Percy continually glanced over at her. He still couldn't believe that she was finally there with him on a date. This wasn't just lunch or a trip to the park as friends. This was a real date.

As the city gave way to a small neighborhood, Percy began to recognize where they were and he smiled.

"You know where we're going now, don't you?" Annabeth asked as she noticed the expression on his face change. She hoped he would like the place she had chosen as much as she did. Of course, it wasn't so much the place as the memory of it.

"I have an idea," he replied.

She reached over and put her hand on top of his, which was resting on the gear shift. "Are you surprised?"

He thought about it for a moment. Of course he hadn't expected the location that Annabeth had picked out, but it wasn't exactly a surprise either. It was very Annabeth.

"Not really. But are you sure you want to go here?" Percy asked. "It's not quite as fancy as French food."

"Good," Annabeth answered, squeezing his hand.

Percy pulled into the nearly deserted parking lot. He quickly parked the car, ran over to Annabeth's door, opened it, and looped her arm through his.

"See, this place is definitely us," Annabeth stated as she looked up at the painted sign that had a dancing boiled egg and a piece of bacon with a smiley face. It was the same place they had gone on their first non-date.

"No argument here," Percy said.

He opened the door for her and they both walked in. There was no hostess to greet them, no crystal chandelier, and no waiters in tuxes. Instead, a handwritten sign taped to the front counter told them they could pick any seat they wanted, one of the overhead light bulbs had burnt out, and the waitresses all wore jeans.

"Don't you feel a little…overdressed?" Percy asked as the only two other people in the restaurant stared at them.

"Not in the least. Formalwear is the perfect thing to wear to breakfast."

Still holding his hand, Annabeth dragged him over to a table in the far right corner. They sat down in the booth opposite each other. Annabeth plucked the menus from behind the napkin dispenser and handed one to Percy.

"Thank you," he said.

He opened the menu and began to look through it. He knew he basically had three choices, pancakes, French toast, or eggs. Although he had expected a much finer cuisine for their evening's dinner, pancakes sounded just fine.

Annabeth looked at him intently. His hair, just a little too long, fell into his eyes. He brushed it aside. She stared at his long fingers and large hands that had once saved them from so many enemies. He had gone from a boy to a man. The man she wanted. The man she had almost thrown away because of fear.

"What?" He asked, noticing that she was staring at him.

"What what?"

"You were staring at me. Is everything okay?"

"I was just thinking that I should be the one thanking you."

"For what?"

"For being so persistence. For agreeing to go out with me even when I've done everything in my power to stay away from you."

"Well, when you put it that way, maybe I shouldn't have agreed," he said, smiling.

"I wouldn't have blamed you if you didn't."

"Annabeth, nothing would have stopped me from going out with you."

"Not even our parents?"

"It would take a whole lot more than the wrath of Athena to make me not want to go out with you."

She laughed. It had been a long time since she had last seriously thought about her mother. It felt strange to her that she was suddenly talking about all of the things that she had tried so desperately to forget. How many times had she wished that she had had a normal childhood? Until, that is, she looked into his eyes.

"Do you remember the first time we met?" She asked, the memory washing over her like a wave.

"On the porch," he answered. "At camp. I collapsed after fighting…" he lowered his voice. Even though the only other people in the restaurant were nowhere near them, he didn't need them to attract any more attention than her dress and his suit already did. "Fighting the minotaur."

"I'm surprised you remember that. After all, you were…"

"Ill…delirious…near death," Percy finished. "But I don't care how close to death I am, I never forget a pretty face."

"We were twelve."

"You were still pretty."

She smiled. "When I saw you…when you collapsed on the porch. I knew."

"Knew what?"

"You were meant to do something great. And I was meant to do it with you."

"How could you know that? I could have been some creep or something."

She smiled and shook her head. "You weren't a creep. I could tell."

"But how?"

"I could see kindness in your eyes and a sense of loneliness, just as I felt. That's why I insisted on nursing you back to health. I knew I had to be the one. We were the same inside. Lost. Searching for ourselves. I knew when I saw you that I wanted to know you, to really know you."

"I don't know if I ever thanked you for saving my life that night."

"I only did what you would have done for me in a heartbeat."

He reached across the table and squeezed her hand.

"Do you know what I remember about you the first time I met you?" She shook her head. "Your eyes. When I truly saw you for the first time, I thought you were this California girl who didn't have had a care in the world. Until I saw your eyes. And that's when I knew you were more like me than I thought. Any time I've ever been in danger or I've been scared or felt alone, I've thought of your eyes."

"You're just saying this to make me blush," Annabeth said as her cheeks turned red.

"I'm saying this because I've wanted to say it for a very long time. And there's something else I've wanted to do for a long time."

"What's that?"

He leaned across the table and kissed her hard on the mouth.

"I thought we did that yesterday," she said, flustered.

The kiss was just as good the second time.

"Yesterday seems like a very long time ago," he muttered, leaning in for another kiss.

"Percy?" She whispered against his lips.

"Mmm?"

"Come here."

She pulled on his tie and he slid out of the booth and sat down beside her. He put his arm around her and they locked lips until the waitress came over to take their order.

Author's Note: Okay, so I've been agonizing over this chapter for the last day or two. I was originally going to completely skip the date and move right on with the story. I thought that since I already did a "date" scene earlier in this story, it was sort of unnecessary. But, after writing the next chapter, I decided that there was just something missing and that my readers might be pretty mad if I skipped the date completely, so, while bored at work, I wrote this chapter. But then I wondered if I liked it and I've been going back and forth ever since. In conclusion, I hope you enjoyed it and that I made the right decision by adding it in! (Oh, and can someone please tell me what a lemon means?)