Hey! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: If I killed off half as many characters as Rick does, I'd have a bunch of readers chasing with pitchforks. What that means, is sadly, I'm not brave enough to be Rick Riordan.
Percy needed to find her so they could sort this out. He raced back to the bed and breakfast as fast as he could, just to catch her. But with his luck (and Mr. D asking to talk to him, which ended up being a thirty minute discussion, slow car speed, multiple red lights, and several conversations with strangers he couldn't get out of), she was already sheltered in her room, and it would be a ridiculous invasion of privacy to get in there. It had been an hour- maybe two since everything.
But, it couldn't hurt to knock on the door, right? It's not like he was bursting into the room in a full speedo. He was decently dressed, and knocking.
Opening up the door to the stairs, he sighed, and tried to block out all the negative emotions going through his head. It was no use, but he tried. At least he could say that.
He paused for a second, before knocking, and then tapped lightly onto the door. "Go away." A voice called out, one that resembled Annabeth's. "I'm busy."
"Feisty are we?" Percy muttered. "Please Annabeth, open up. We need to talk."
Annabeth's voice stilled on the other side, as if she was in realization of who was at the door. "No we don't," She said slowly, almost as if she was paralyzed. "Thank you for helping me Percy. But we don't need to talk."
Percy cleared his throat. He knew she really didn't want to talk to him. That was obvious. He could see that. But this- this was something he needed to understand. He needed to realize what this meant. He needed to know if it meant anything at all.
Most of all, he wanted to know if what she had said, or started to say, was true. "Annabeth, please?"
She stopped, pausing for a moment, and Percy almost thought she was giving in, opening the door. Maybe if he was lucky, letting her in.
"You can't do this." She said finally, after a moment of silence. "You have a girlfriend. There is nothing to talk about. I-" she stuttered for a moment, and then pulled back, reordering her phrasing. Percy knew this, because she'd done it so many times before. Sometimes, there was so much going through her head, that she didn't know how to phrase things. It showed her intelligence.
Shit, he couldn't think about that. You're still dating Rachel, he thought, constantly feeling like a douche. Who had to remind themselves they were in a relationship? It was a screwed up thing to do. Even though he had decided to end things, for his own sake, it was still important to stay faithful.
God, he felt so bad for Rachel. So bad. He wished he could like her the way she did to him. He wished that he hadn't screwed up years ago- that this wasn't happening, and that he and Annabeth didn't have to experience this.
Shit, that was an even worse thought. "I-" it was Percy's turn to stutter now. "I'm sorry. I should leave."
Annabeth's voice was harsh behind the wall. "Yeah, you should."
"But I can't," He said, his voice low and rough, "please Annabeth, open up, we need to talk."
Annabeth stuttered. "I can't."
"Please." Percy persisted. "Please Annabeth. Let me talk, and if you still don't want me after, I'll leave. I swear just let me talk."
Annabeth stopped, and he could hear her clear her throat on the other side. "Fine." She said. "You can come in." She opened the door slowly, and Percy took her in. Her eyes were red, and she had earbuds on, holding her phone in her hand. Her curly locks stuck in all directions (probably because of the unfortunate swim she'd had earlier in the day.)
He went in, and looked around the room. He'd cleaned this place up a lot, but Annabeth had somehow made it look exactly like it was hers. She beckoned him over to the couch, and we went to sit. "So." She said sourly. "Talk."
"I love you Annabeth." He said, "and I hate that I do, and I know that you hate that I do. I know I'm in a relationship. I know it isn't fair to Rachel. I know I'm a dick, okay? I know that."
Annabeth didn't say anything. He wasn't helping him out at all. He cleared his throat. "But I can't help loving you." He said, looking up at her tearfully. "I want you Annabeth."
"Why not Rachel?" She said, after a moment of silence. "Rachel is awesome. She's amazing. She's the best. And she's perfect for you. She's a great person."
Percy shrugged, and simply said, "she's not you. I wish I could love her. But I only see her as a friend."
"Then why are you stringing her along?" Annabeth frowned, "Why don't you just tell her, break up with her?"
Percy stared at her. "Because I made a promise to myself I'd give it a try. Three weeks, is what I said. I was going to end it next weekend. But I just…" he trailed off, "I can't stay away from you Annabeth. It's crazy, it's like I'm a magnet, and your metal. I just am constantly attracted to you. I'm sorry. It's true."
They looked at each other for a long time, just assessing the situation. Until Annabeth finally spoke, breaking it. "I do love you Percy." She said. "I constantly remind myself not to say that, or even think it, but it's true." She shook her head. "I can't deny it."
"Then-" Percy said, moving closer to her. It seemed that they were moving to each other. Percy wrapped his hand around her neck, bringing her close to him. It felt so nice for her to be in his arms.
And then, when he thought that their lips were going to touch, a finger went to his lips. Annabeth pulled away. "I'm not going to kiss you Percy."
He felt surprised, and then bad for feeling surprised. Of course she didn't want to do this. Hell, Percy shouldn't be doing it. He had a girlfriend. Holy shit, cheating was literally the worst thing he could possibly do. Thank god Annabeth stopped it.
"I'm not doing that to Rachel." She shook her head. "She's my freind for fuck's sake!"
Percy's eyes widened. "But-"
"Don't string her along Percy." Annabeth said, turning away solemnly. "If you don't like her like that, break up with her. But I'm not kissing you while you're dating her."
Percy nodded. "I will, I swear, I'll end it." He hesitated. "But after that, what are we?" I want to try again, he stopped himself from adding.
"I- whatever we want." Annabeth said. She looked guilty, and then Percy felt bad about putting her in this situation. "And please. Don't tell Rachel about us. Don't make excuses. Tell her the real reason." She sighed. "And then, we can tell her everything together."
"I want to be with you Annie." Percy said. "I want to be the one you wake up to. I want to be the one that cheers you on. I want you."
Annabeth's frown turned up, just slightly. If you hadn't been looking, you wouldn't notice, but Percy was looking (they were so close, he couldn't not), and he noticed.
She pulled away a bit. "Percy." she said, "Before anything, I need you to tell me something."
He pulled back to, almost scared of what she was going to say next. "What?" He asked cautiously.
"Why did you do it?"
"What?"
"You know what."
Percy bit his lip. He did. "I- I was scared."
"Of what?" Annabeth brows furrowed.
He shook his head. "You wouldn't understand." He said, "You'd say I was stupid."
"Try me." Annabeth fired back.
"I was scared that you'd find someone better." He started, turning fully away from her. "I was scared of long distance, most long distance relationships fail, and most of all, I was insecure. I didn't want you to see that, and I thought by ending everything I was helping you."
Annabeth's face was expressionless. He tried to gauge what she was thinking, but he couldn't. And it was scaring him. "That's so stupid." She finally said, shaking her head. "I had those insecurities to Percy. Everyone does. That didn't mean I wanted to end it all."
"I didn't want to," Percy told her, seriously. "I swear, I never wanted anything like this to happen."
She laughed humorlessly. "And it was all for my own good."
"I was stupid Annabeth. We all were." Percy told her. He was getting annoyed. "We didn't know what the hell life as an adult would be like. Everyone broke apart. The lucky ones that stayed together, like Nico and Will were reasonable. They cut ties with this town."
She shook her head. "I cut ties with this town, and look where it got me."
"But I didn't Annabeth, you see?" Percy said. "We were perfect, don't deny that. But we were also stupid. I, for one was stupid. I don't know what else to say. I still love you, I know that. I don't know much, but I know that."
She paused for a moment once more, and then shook her head. "Tell Rachel how you feel, she's amazing, and she deserves to know."
Percy nodded. "I will, I promise."
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Also, I have a poll up on my profile, I'd really appreciate it if you could check it out and vote. Thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate the support! Leave a review, I'd love to hear your thoughts about the current… developments.
TheLil'Lion
Replies:
Ksi, I update on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. I'm glad that you're enjoying it, thanks for reading!
Ams017, yeah, this is a mortal AU. I'm glad that you like it! Thanks so much!