A/N: All of these will most likely disregard any events in The Lost Hero, by the way, unless otherwise noted.
20. fireworks.
She looks up at the sky, the bright fireworks reflecting off her eyes. You swallow, lying back on the red-checked picnic blanket spread out on the beach.
"Hey, Annabeth?" You ask casually, nerves coiling in your stomach like snakes.
"Hmm?"
"I, um..."—kind of like/want/love/need you. You chicken out, of course. "...forgot."
She looks at you skeptically, propping her face up with an elbow. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that, Seaweed Brain?"
You don't answer, pretending you can't hear her over the deafening sound of fireworks, spelling out the names of now-dead heroes.
Maybe next time.