Chapter 14: Annabeth Figures Out Her Feelings

Also known as

Percy is Strangely Knowledgable About Everybody's Love Life But His Own

A/N: Hey guys! Right on time, as promised. If you didn't go back and reread the ending of chapter 13, please do that now because everything will make more sense if you do :)

Love. I'm in freaking love with Percy Jackson.

She wasn't quite sure how it had taken her so long to put a name to , just thinking about it, the mere possibility of her being in love… it was like the idea of Thalia submitting without a fight or Silena becoming skeptical of true love – it just didn't happen. Yet it was the only word that seemed to fit. How else could she explain the warmth that the mere thought of Percy brought? Or the security of being in his arms that night of the premiere, tucked against his chest, as if she hadn't been yelling at him earlier that evening. The twist of jealousy when that fan girl came flouncing up with more courage than Annabeth had, when it came to Percy. The pain, the gutwrenching pain when he left her last night, and her relief, like she could finally breathe again, when she saw he had returned.

How could she had been so ignorantly blind?

It was then, as the sun broke the clouds, that Annabeth realized that she wasn't always as smart as she thought.

:Percy's POV:

"Errm, Annabeth?" Percy asked after a few seconds of a silence that apparently seemed awkward only to him. "Is something wrong?"

She was staring up at him with an expression he had never seen on her face. It was as if she had just come to a shocking realization, though Percy had no idea what that could be. Behind him the sun broke from the clouds, and Annabeth suddenly appeared to be outlined in gold, stenciled in by the gods themselves. The light gave a softness to her sharp cheekbones and sweetened the pink curve of her lips as they parted, and for the eighth time that day Percy was struck with how really beautiful Annabeth was when she wasn't yelling at him.

Oh hell, even then it was like being chastised by an angel.

She blinked against the light, and looked away as if it hurt her eyes. Still though, she was smiling in that peculiar way. "Nothing's wrong, idiot." Annabeth laughed, looking at him again with that face.

Percy was very confused.

Very,

very ,

confused.

Just a second ago Annabeth glared him down with the force of an exploding star, and then was suddenly grinning up at him with the brilliance of one.

"I do not understand," he said, scratching his head.

She just laughed again and began to walk back to the building. "Just forget it," she said, shaking her head. "Let's go back before Chiron freaks."

"No, I seriously don't understand," Percy tried to persist, following her. "Who was that guy? What did he want?"

Earlier he had gone back inside to go over his lines with Silena, but she was busy. He had searched for her everywhere before finding her in a very secluded corner of the set. It was almost like she hadn't wanted anyone to find her. She wasn't alone however – Beckondorf was there, too. She had said they were practicing for some later scenes, but Percy couldn't recall any where her character had to kiss anyone. Whatever – Percy wasn't as stupid as Annabeth's nickname for him would suggest after all. Still he liked Silena and Beckondorf, and figured their business was their business.

Bored, he looked about, but couldn't find any other of his castmates either – both Ethan and Travis had disappeared somewhere as well. Percy had some strong suspicions that they were practicing for some later scenes, too.

It was only the first day of filming and it was already feeling like a rerun of Degrassi.

(Annabeth was completely oblivious to this kind of stuff, but not him – he could always tell when someone had been hit with Aphrodite's arrow – or whatever it's called. He had absolutely no idea what was going on with Annabeth though…)

When he had finally located Annabeth standing rather far apart from the group, he had simply grinned and began walking towards her. He hadn't seen the seven foot oaf with the stupid haircut until he got closer because of the view-obstructing crowd, and his stomach soured when he did.

Not a single overly-producted hair seemed trustworthy. Percy had seen Toy Story 3, after all, and he knew the dangers of Ken dolls, okay.

In reflection, Percy knew perfectly well that Annabeth could handle anything thrown at her without blinking an eye and was by no definition a damsel in distress. It was part of the reason he l – liked her so much. If he was to be completely honest, he'd have to admit that it was more for his assurance than hers that he marched up to the pair.

Still, he was kind of glad he did.

Every second less that asshat spent lingering around Annabeth was another second Percy could relax.

To his complete and utter astonishment, Annabeth didn't seem to be that furious with him either. For a second there he was seriously contemplating a quick and strategic retreat, but her anger seemed to have melted away within seconds – a new record.

To be honest, it was extremely scary.

Now she was dragging him back towards the group, her hand soft and smooth in his. Percy immediately felt guilt at how he'd overreacted, and considered seeking out Luke again to apologize.

But of course, if anyone was owed an apology, it was Annabeth herself – besides, he had to know what had inspired her to act so oddly.

"Annabeth, wait." He said, coming to a stop. She slowed and walked back until she was standing only a foot away. "We have to talk."

Annabeth frowned slightly, and Percy almost regretted bringing it up. "What's wrong?"

"First of all, I'm sorry I barged into your conversation. I'm also very sorry I was rude to Luke." He tilted his head slightly. "Well, I'm averagely sorry about Luke."

"Ah, I don't care about Luke anymore," Annabeth said with a dismissive shake of the head.

Percy hesitated. "Wait – what?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"You don't care about Ken doll from back there? Because you sure seemed to care at first, and not to seem like I'm trying to steal your man or anything – even though I totally could, because hello, have you seen my glorious abs? – but even I cared a little about Luke."

This was kind of true. It wasn't so much of a 'I want to be on you', more like a 'I want to be you' kind of thing. Plus, now that Annabeth was securely not interested in Luke, Percy could begin to appreciate his finer features. He was as straight as they came, but god, did that man have an ass.

Annabeth laughed really hard at this when he voiced it aloud, but just shrugged.

"I guess I've actually found out what I want now."

Percy narrowed his eyes at the uncharacteristically vague sentence. It was almost ominous sounding.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Annabeth sighed wearily. "Oh come on, Seaweed Brain. It's not that hard to figure out."

"I... I don't…" he groped around for any possible meaning, but came up empty handed.

Someone rather far away was calling all the cast, extras, and production crew back inside the building to continue filming.

"Think about it, Percy." She said softly, before turning away.

Incredibly perplexed, Percy was left standing in the middle of a decrepit lot staring at Annabeth's willowy figure walking away from him.

He's always sucked at guessing games.

Xx

They filmed the rest of the afternoon, and most of the evening. Most of the scenes featured Percy and Annabeth's characters, so little break was had. Unfortunately, this also meant little time for talking.

As the vans pulled up into the lot, Percy had been practically shoved aside by Travis as he started to climb in after Annabeth and Ethan.

"Asshole," he had muttered as Travis beamed unapologetically from the last seat in the van, squeezed in between Annabeth and Ethan.

"Language!" he trilled as the door shut between them.

So he was stuck in a car between Silena and Beckendorf, and by the time they finally stumbled out into the hotel parking lot, the car was reeking with unresolved sexual tension.

Ugh.

The six of them stumbled blearily into the lobby. Thalia, who had called it quits early with the equivalency of a stuck out tongue at the actors who were forced to stay the entire day, met them there with a grin.

"How was filming?"

A tired groan erupted from the group. She smirked and seemed to take this as an appropriate answer.

Even he didn't want to stick around any longer than he could, and went straight to his room. He was too tired to figure out the enigmatic puzzle that was Annabeth right now.

Still, it seemed he would have to anyway.

He pushed open the door to his hotel room with a sigh, throwing his jacket onto the floor and ruffling his hair as he stretched. He froze midyawn as he realized he was hardly alone.

Grover sat on the edge of his bed, which was normal and to be expected – what he hadn't expected was Rachel, sitting crosslegged on his bed.

He froze midyawn.

"Perce!" she crowed.

"Rachel!" he reciprocated halfheartedly. It wasn't that he wasn't glad to see her – he was. But he was so tired he could've fallen asleep while walking. "No offense or anything, because you know I love you but – what the fuck are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "I was bored and my two best friends were finally in town – what did you think I was going to do?" She patted the space beside her. "You look exhausted." She squinted at him, as if by doing so she could map out his entire thought process. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah, I'm just tired."

Rachel crossed her arms petulantly over her chest. "Yeah right. Come on – we're all friends here. What's on your mind."

Hesitating slightly, he glanced around to Grover's earnest expression and Rachel's crossed arms. They weren't going to let him sleep until he spilled – God, it was like they were back in high school. Rolling his eyes, he told them what Annabeth had said.

After he finished, Rachel and Grover were both giving him dumbstruck looks.

"What?"

"You've got to be fucking me." Rachel deadpanned, blinking at him before turning back to Grover. "He's fucking with me, isn't he?"

"I don't think he is," Grover mused in the same sort of voice.

"What?" Percy snapped – he was too tired for this shit.

"Percy," Rachel was looking at him oddly. "Percy, I love you, but you're dumb as shit."

Percy, who was still reeling at this point, spluttered. "I literally have no idea what you're talking about right now!"

"Yes, love, that's the problem."

The duo shared another meaningful glance.

"Should we tell him?" murmured Rachel.

"I think it might be best if we let him figure this out on his own." Grover said back, as if Percy wasn't sitting right there.

"Oh for the love of God, just tell me." Percy groaned.

Rachel and Grover looked at each other again before turning to him.

"No, I don't think so."

"Yeah, I really don't think that tonight's the night."

"I'm just not feeling it."

Grover turned out the lamp, pitching the entire room into darkness.

"I swear to God you guys, if you don't tell me I'll smother you both in your sleep."

"Night, Percy!"

Percy screamed into his pillow.

Xx

Later that night, Grover stumbled out into the hallway, bleary from sleep. He had stubbed his toe on the way to the restroom and was sure there was an ice machine somewhere in the lobby.

He had just rounded a corner when he ran smack into someone.

"Thalia?" He said in surprise, dark eyebrows disappearing beneath a fringe of crazy curls.

She scowled and rubbed her forehead.

"Oh, now you speak to me." She grumbled. "I guess you have no choice now that we've literally run into each other."

Grover blinked at her, tiredness muting his ability to think. "What are you talking about?"

She stared at him incredulously.

"You haven't talked to me once since this entire thing started." She accused.

Grover felt a small lump of guilt in his stomach. He couldn't deny it, not really.

"So what's this all about?" she said once it was made clear he wasn't going to offer anything up.

He said nothing.

Thalia poked him hard in the stomach. "Oh come on. You're not mute."

"You know why, Thalia." He said softly – barely above a whisper.

Her face melted into something almost like understanding. "Grover – is that seriously what this is about? You know I've forgiven you, right? I forgave you a long time ago – not that there was really anything to forgive in the first place."

He looked at her sharply. "Nothing to forgive? I ruined your career."

She tsked. "You did nothing of the sort. I quit, Grover. I wasn't forced out of the business. Plus I love being an agent. I'm good at it."

Grover appeared to have gone mute again, running his finger along the rim of the empty ice bucket.

"And," Thalia started again. "it wasn't your fault. You were honorbound to tell. Luke and I… I never should have encouraged him. We were all teenagers back then, we couldn't control our hormones. You were the only one with enough sense to know that it was wrong."

Grover's laugh was sharply bitter. "Luke…"

Thalia bit back at her thoughts. She knew he was working on this movie – hell, she had even seen him earlier that day. The sight of him shook her like nothing else did – she was Thalia Grace after all. She didn't run from her conflicts. Except for today, when she did, all but fleeing the set after a glimpse of the wavy blond hair she used to love.

Thalia used to be a child actor, just like Annabeth. Luke was always lingering around the set on this one movie she did– his dad was set manager after all. They had both been thirteen at the time, curious and naïve. At the time she had a pretty big name. She was the spunky child star everyone loved – or whatever. One time Grover, at the time Thalia's best friend, caught them kissing in her trailer. Long story, blah blah blah, Thalia was told not to hang around those kinds of people anymore – she was a starlet. Time to start acting like one.

So she quit acting all together. It didn't bother her – her talents were elsewhere. Still, she couldn't see Luke anymore, and all of a sudden Grover was gone, too.

She had felt very, very alone.

Now it appeared that he had stayed away in guilt all these years – ridiculous.

"Luke was a decade ago." Thalia snapped. "And I have my future to look forward to. And seeing as it appears we'll be spending a lot of time with each other, I want to know if you'll be there. As my friend."

Grover, now wide awake and feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, just reached forward and wrapped his arms around her. It felt like a familiar action, though it had been so long since they had last hugged.

"I missed you,"

"I missed you, too."

A/N: HEY GUYS. So, I was kind of playing around with this story and where it's going and what not, and I've finally decided - this story will only have one more chapter left and then a bonus epilogue type deal. I've actually been planning out a next story (that will be much, much better thought out) so the fact that this one will be wrapped up soon makes me very, very happy. Several times while I was writing this, I've wanted very much to give up, and it's thanks to you guys, who review/fav/follow that made me get off my lazy ass to keep going, so thank you.

Please, please review! The last chapter (before the epilogue) will be up next Wednesday (the 22nd).

So much love,

Anna x.