Hello again…chapter 8. I am trying to post a chapter on the weekend too but this may not always happen, thanks for the support from Potatoqueensnow and her guess on what Aphrodite was hinting at…which will be revealed in Chapter 9! Sorry it's a little late.
It's been a week, Piper, Annabeth, and a bunch of other HoO/PJO characters are coming out for Piper's/Annabeth's bachelorette party! But has Annabeth fully planned it all?
I swear on the River Styx, I don't own PJO.
Annabeth hunched over her desk, coordinating. In a few hours, she had to get to her architecture party, change into something different and get down to the nightclub where Piper was going to be celebrating her bachelorette party. At the same time, Percy rummaged in the closet where he was looking for something suitable for Jason's bachelor party which Leo had coordinated and invited him to. "Annabeth, what should I wear to a bachelor party?
"I'm not a bachelor." She replied dryly, standing up and moving to the closet where Percy turned around. She stood up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I have to go to the firm's party tonight. And then I have to rush to the bathroom, throw on a cute party dress and three inch heels, and drive down to the nightclub I booked for Piper's party. So you don't have to worry about anything but what you're wearing, I did all of this and I need to follow through." Percy gave her a pitying look but didn't say anything, his face seemed to say, 'Annabeth you made your bed when you accepted and didn't plan and now you have to lie in it'.
"Okay. Just, don't get to crazy at the club," Percy said. "It's too early in our marriage to break up because you got drunk and cheated on me." There's a lighthearted worry in his eyes that lets her know he's joking, but there's still concern all the same, and it hurts Annabeth just a little even if she knows she has no right to be that way because she used to be the same, whenever Rachel came up in a conversation. But it still hurts her that Percy can't trust her enough to let her go out for the celebration of Piper's freedom and know that she is his forever, that's what the wedding band is supposed to symbolize. But Annabeth smiles all the same, because that was a joke, definitely, and she's not going to let Percy's jokes get to her when she's drinking at a nightclub.
"I'm not a lightweight, Percy. I'll be just fine. The real question is, when I come home tonight, will you be alone?" she lets him know she's also joking, but the air is definitely tense. Too tense, they've only been married and not in honeymoon for a month, but Annabeth knows they can laugh it off. They fell into Tartarus together. She kissed him before he blew up Mount. St. Helens in their Labyrinth quest. Their spilled blood raised Gaea, and it was her anchoring him to the mortal world in the River Styx. She took a knife for him and nearly died to save his life, and they're Percy and Annabeth. They're unstoppable.
"Of course not." Percy's eyes wrinkle around the edges, a little worried, not too much. That's good. Annabeth hates those men who decide the women aren't good enough for them, Annabeth loves that Percy knows what she can do and trusts her to do it. Even though both have already promised, to never be separated again.
"Me, too."
Once Annabeth is in the car, she starts to break down. What was that, back there? The air was so electric it was like the time when the quest first started that Percy and Jason tried to sit in the same chair at the head of the table. She and Percy got married. There was no hesitation in their voices when they said I do. But there was that- the insecurity they never had that came and tried to rip everything up. She drives too slowly and too fast and thanks the gods that she keeps tissues in the car, because that back there was enough to make her cry.
She leaves her party dress in the car in the backseat, walks out professionally. She's moved up pretty high in the firm, her designs are used in not only Olympus now but New York as well. Her name, Annabeth Chase (even though it's now Annabeth Jackson), is known not only at Camp Half-Blood but also in certain architecture circles.
She isn't quite the big boss yet but she's getting closer, and even though she missed a few weeks last month and came back with a shiny silver wedding band on her left ring finger, she's pretty close to the others. When Annabeth came back from the honeymoon, they crowded her with questions and she couldn't stop smiling, for once it wasn't the picture perfect Percy-and-Annabeth story Camp Half-Blood has immortalized them in.
She just hopes her picture-perfect marriage keeps. Her boss at Delta Architecture, Miss Nyssa Papadopoulos, is already mingling and gestures at Annabeth to join her. Nyssa is one of those people Annabeth wants to be like, in appearance and mind. She's a great architect and Annabeth was fortunate to be an intern so many years ago at Delta, and Nyssa's got the dark hair Annabeth wishes she had, long and straight dark brown, so maybe Annabeth's just a little bit jealous and maybe, yes, she wants to be more like her, but it's just fine. She has to leave to be with her best friends in two hours anyways.
Eventually, Annabeth gets to peel off her tight ballet flats and runs into her car to drive down to the nightclub where she changes in a small, dirty stall into a silvery gray, partially revealing dress and heels. Annabeth hates heels. But it's worth it to see the grin on Piper's face when she heads over to see Hazel, Calypso, Rachel, and Reyna.
Piper dressed in a lavender-and-periwinkle-blue gown that hugged her figure and flowed down to her ankles, cinched at the waist with a bright gold braided belt that made it reminiscent of her Greek goddess mother. She'd probably gotten it from one of her various modeling shows or ads, Annabeth couldn't go far in New York without seeing her friend as the face of Gucci or Birkenstock or something like that. Those had given Piper jewelry and handbags and shoes, and then there were various modeling shows and companies that Piper also modeled for that gave her cute dresses and shirts and things, some of which were passed to Annabeth or other friends if she didn't like the style. This dress was probably one of them. Piper's career was starting to skyrocket even as she left her prime, but as the daughter of Aphrodite, a major Greek goddess, Piper wasn't going to be out of that league anytime soon.
Aphrodite, who'd predicted something to change Annabeth's world happening sometime soon. She didn't know what to make of it, she wasn't sick or ill, just a little nauseous sometimes.
"Annabeth!" Piper flounced over, ignoring the looks from the guys who stared at her unashamed, eyeing her figure. "What took you so long? I've been waiting…" she paused dramatically, "for two whole minutes!" It took all of Annabeth's willpower not to burst into laughter at Piper's antics.
"I'm sure you were quite occupied." She nodded at the dress. "A modeling deal?" Piper nodded, twirling. The dress billowed up and around her ankles, and Piper smiled.
"Yup. You could model too, you know, you have a good face, what with the cheekbones and the hair and eyes. Very striking." Annabeth may or may not have pushed Piper into…Jason? Wait. That wasn't Jason- oh, yes. Annabeth was screwed so much this week, she thought it couldn't have gotten worse, and yet…it had.
"Jason?" Piper asked. Jason's eyes were wide, staring at her. "Jason!"
"P-pipes? What are you doing here? This is my bachelor party." He noticed Annabeth and the other girls. "Oh. Leo why didn't you-" the short little Latino who'd ruined Annabeth's night appeared.
"Someone say my name? Calypso?" Frank, Percy, and Coach Hedge appeared over Leo's shoulder.
"Annabeth?" Annabeth's lips moved for a moment but no sound came out, this party was going splendidly wrong tonight, and she was getting a headache. She was trying to forget what had happened earlier, but Percy said nothing.
"Hazel?" the cinnamon-haired daughter of Pluto smiled at him but both sides were confused.
"Cupcakes?" Coach Hedge- why was he here- was thoroughly confused. "It appears both the bachelors and bachelorettes have chosen this club for the party." Annabeth nodded numbly. Bachelor and bachelorette parties don't happen in the same place for the sake of tradition, and I messed up. Piper's going to be very mad at me if she doesn't spend the whole night dancing her feet off with Jason.
"Wow," Piper said. "Well, I guess it could be worse. We could've both chosen to go to a stripper club." Annabeth cracked a smile.
"Piper, I'm married." She stared at Percy. "I wouldn't do that, that's a guy thing." Leo sighed dramatically.
"Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth. I have a serious girlfriend over here! Do you really think that I'd be able to go to a stripper's and get away with it? Seriously. Cal would kill me and ruin my chances of having little Leos and Calypsos." Calypso's smirk showed that he wasn't exactly wrong, and Leo grinned.
"Well, uh…" Jason looked like a deer in headlights. "Should one party leave, or…both stay?"
Eventually, both parties stayed.
Annabeth didn't remember very much of it. She remembered dancing, dancing by herself and with Piper and all the others and dancing, one or twice, with Percy, as his eyes lit up and she smiled, because they were finally back to normal.
So what if at the end of the night, Annabeth's ankles were swollen from dancing and she'd drank some sort of fishy mocktail that had given her nausea?
She had Percy.
