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Annabeth's P.O.V.

Annabeth felt as if the whole world's weight had been lifted from her shoulder since her exams were finally over. She had a free week before her flight to Boston, where she would live with her mom and do her internship. She came out of the exam room with Malcolm, feeling relieved. Even though she had been unwell just two days ago, she had managed to perform well in both her tests.

Malcolm and Annabeth discussed their answers as they walked towards their dorm rooms, both pleased with the results. Annabeth couldn't wait to start celebrating with her friends. She was going out with Piper and Thalia that night and was very excited about it. It had been a long time since she last saw Thalia.

Annabeth entered her dorm and saw that Piper was there, already looking for an outfit.

"I am free!", Annabeth yelled loudly.

"Me too!" Piper also had finished her last exam that day.

"When is your flight?", Annabeth asked after noticing that Piper's room was looking very untidy and there was a suitcase in the middle.

"Day after tomorrow." Piper was going to Los Angeles for the summer to intern in a PR company and spend some time with her dad.

"Oh okay. I guess I'll have a few days to myself." Annabeth was a little excited about this because even though she loved Piper, she wanted a little alone time when she could watch nerdy movies without Piper judging her.

Annabeth decided that she should take a nap since she desperately needed to catch up on some sleep before going out. By the time she got up, Piper had already started dressing up and told Annabeth to do the same.

Annabeth picked out a simple outfit, but one she knew that Piper would approve of. It was a silky black dress with a silver chain belt. She knew that Piper would want her to wear heels but she hated heels with a passion and chose to wear bellies. After doing her hair and light makeup, she picked up her phone to check her messages. She had not checked her phone in days and the first thing she noticed was that Percy had sent her a voicemail.

She clicked on it and listened curiously.

"Hi, I'm drunk. Woohoo. So, I just think that you're really pretty. Bye", came the sound of an evidently drunk Percy from her phone.

Annabeth was momentarily stunned by the voice mail and heard it again just to make sure that she hadn't misunderstood it. Wow. Ok. So, Percy thinks that I'm pretty. This doesn't mean anything. He was drunk.

She had never been the type of person who cared much about her physical appearance and such type of compliments had never affected her before but for some indescribable reason, she loved hearing it from Percy. She was pretty sure that she was blushing and was glad that there was no one there to see her. Before she could think more about the voice mail, Piper informed her that she was ready to go. Annabeth put her phone in her bag and left her room quickly, putting the voice mail at the back of her mind.

They had all decided to splurge a little and go to a nice restaurant to celebrate the end of their first year of grad school. Piper and Annabeth entered the restaurant and saw that Thalia had not arrived so they got a table for themselves and waited for her to come.

Piper's phone buzzed and Annabeth noticed a little blush on her cheeks as she checked the message.

"Let me guess, Jason messaged you?", Annabeth said in a teasing manner.

"Yeah, he did. God, he's so sweet.", Piper said, her blush deepening.

Annabeth was very happy for her friend who in her opinion, deserved all the happiness in the world. Piper had been a constant in her life and had always been there for her since the past 5 years. Annabeth had witnessed Piper date a bunch of jerks which made her very protective about her friend but she thought that Jason was a good guy and hopefully wouldn't hurt her friend.

Thalia came up to them at that point with a rare grin on her face.

"Hello girls, I missed you", Thalia beamed uncharacteristically.

"We missed you too.", Piper said as she got up to hug her.

After they had greeted each other, they ordered food and drinks immediately since Annabeth was starving.

"So, what are you doing this summer?" Annabeth had not talked to Thalia in quiet some time so she wasn't aware of her plans.

"I'm staying here and actually taking some classes. I wanted to start working on my theses a bit early so that I can finish it without stressing out too much." Thalia was a criminology major so her theses was going to be quiet research and analysis driven.

"I see, that's nice."

"Do you have any idea about who Piper is texting?", Thalia whispered to Annabeth.

"Yeah, it's a guy. His name is Jason and the two of them are too cute together.", Annabeth replied with a smirk.

Annabeth noticed that Thalia had an impish look on her face and waited excitedly for what she was about to say. Thalia could be the most hysterical person when she wanted to which was one of Annabeth's favourite qualities about her.

"Piper, you know if you wanted to talk to your new boy-toy the entire time, I wouldn't have come. I'm sorry that I'm not enough to satisfy your talking needs for just a few hours.", Thalia said dramatically and waved her hands to emphasise her point.

"Shut up. It was just one text; I'm keeping my phone down now. Happy?", Piper said defensively.

"No, no, keep going. Us mere mortals can't have such an exciting dating life as you so we have to live vicariously through you. Right Annabeth?" Thalia held her hand up to Annabeth for a high five which she happily reciprocated.

"Definitely", Annabeth said with a small smile.

"What? You are such a hypocrite Annabeth. Thals, Jason's friend, Percy has been pining over her for weeks and she is not willing to date him even though I'm sure that she reciprocates his feelings because apparently, she is 'too busy'." Piper looked smug after her statement.

"Ooh, I like this plot twist." Thalia looked expectantly at Annabeth, as if waiting for an explanation.

"Ok, first of all, Percy is not pining over me and we're just friends. Secondly, my reason is very valid because I'm busy all the time and I just don't time for a relationship."

"Look, I get the being busy reason but Annabeth, you need to make time to try new things in life. It's very important because that's what will make you completely happy. I'm not saying that a girl needs a guy to be happy because that's definitely not true but I'm just saying that don't let your study life also become your personal life." Thalia was rarely so serious so Annabeth knew that what she said was important.

"But can't I wait till after graduation?" Annabeth looked a little uncomfortable and was genuinely questioning her rules.

"You have two years left to get your degree, right? So, you're telling me that all you want to do in these 2 years is study?" Piper was determined to make sure that her friend saw her point of view and changed her opinion on the topic.

"Maybe not.", Annabeth acknowledged with a sigh.

Thalia and Piper could see that Annabeth did not want to talk about that topic anymore so they started talking about lighter subjects and let Annabeth think things through.

Annabeth's mind was in overdrive. She had been on dates before but she had never let herself get attached to someone so nothing ever felt real but now she was considering letting herself open up to people and finally being a part of a real relationship, hopefully with Percy.

She forced herself to stop thinking about it and tried focussing on the current topic of conversation between Piper and Thalia. Her phone buzzed and her heart rate sped up as she thought it was Percy. She picked up the phone and was a little disappointed to see that it was Will instead.

Hey, just wanted to congratulate you since your exams are over. Can we lunch together tomorrow? -Will

Thanks, and same to you :) We can definitely have lunch tomorrow. Also, any update on the Nico situation? -Annabeth

Shit, I forgot to text him. The past two weeks have been too hectic. I'll text him soon but he has probably forgotten about me by now. -Will

I'm pretty sure that he hasn't forgotten. Go, text him! -Annabeth

Annabeth had a great time with her two best friends that night. She knew that she would miss them immensely during the course of her stay in Boston.

…

Piper left two days later for L.A. The two girls shared an almost tearful goodbye which may have seemed silly to most people but they just weren't used to being without each other.

Annabeth wasn't used to being alone but she kind of liked how peaceful it was. Since the academic year was over and Will had cancelled the lunch because he had to go to the hospital, Annabeth had nothing to do. After Piper left, she changed into her most comfortable clothes, made some popcorn and settled down to do a Harry Potter movie marathon. It had been a while since she had watched the movies and that was horrible because she loved them dearly.

She was about 10 minutes into the first movie, when someone knocked on the door. Annabeth groaned and went to check who was at the door. Her annoyance turned to excitement when she saw that it was Percy.

"Percy? Hi. What are you doing here?" Percy had to hand in a paper the next morning so he hadn't left yet.

"Hey, I am so sorry to come unannounced but I just got some awesome news and I wanted to share it with someone. Since you are the only person, I know who hasn't left campus already, I came here." It was clear that Percy was very excited since he was talking quickly and his cheeks were flushed

"No problem! Come in." Annabeth ushered him inside, eager to know his news.

"Thanks, ok so, I just got a paid internship at the New York aquarium!" Percy had wanted to work there since he was a small child when he had gone there for a school trip. His dream had finally come true and he was over the moon about it.

"Oh my god, that's amazing! Congrats.", Annabeth said excitedly.

"Thanks! The best part is that I'll be able to live at my mom's house and spend time with her."

"I'm sure that she would love that." Annabeth could tell that Sally loved her son the most in the world.

"She was ecstatic. So, what are you doing?" Percy looked around the common area of the room and saw that Harry Potter was playing.

"Just watching some movies. Do you want to join me?" Annabeth realized that she was dressed in her ugliest clothes yet again. It baffled her that Percy only saw her when she was wearing her baggiest clothes.

"You sure? I love harry potter and definitely want to watch it but I don't want to intrude on your alone time.", Percy said shyly.

"You won't be intruding. What's your house?", Annabeth asked curiously while making some space on the couch for Percy to sit.

"I'm a proud Hufflepuff and I'm guessing that you're a Ravenclaw."

Annabeth nodded and told Percy to sit down. That's when she remembered the voice mail that he had sent her and it seemed that Percy had no recollection of it and was busy watching the movie.

"So, it seems that you had a lot of fun 4 days ago", Annabeth said with a smirk.

"Uh yeah, we had gone to the bar. How do you know?", Percy asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Well, I got a voice mail from you", said Annabeth, trying to hold back her laughter when she saw Percy's horrified face.

"Shit, a voice mail?", Percy asked in a tight voice.

"Yeah", Annabeth said nonchalantly and paused the movie.

"What the hell did I say?" Annabeth could hear the nerves in Percy's voice and felt a little bad for him but she was having too much fun to stop.

"I'll play it for you." Annabeth left the couch and returned with her phone. She played the voicemail and struggled to stop herself from laughing after seeing Percy's face.

"I'm so sorry for that. God, I'm such an idiot.", said Percy and proceeded to face-palm himself.

"It's okay", Annabeth said sweetly and played the movie once again.

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but for the record…I do think that you are pretty.", Percy said nervously

Annabeth didn't know how to respond since she never knew how to receive compliments so she just smiled at him.

They completed the first movie with many interjections from both of them as they talked about every scene in detail and were about to start the second one when Percy made a suggestion.

"Do you want to go out for ice-cream?" Percy was still excited about his internship and wanted to celebrate it.

"Sure! Let me go and change first." If Annabeth had one rule in life, it was to never say no to ice-cream.

She quickly changed into jeans and a t-shirt and tried to tame her hair. The two of them left the dorm and started walking towards the ice-cream shop. They talked about trivial things but Percy never failed to make Annabeth laugh. She realized that this is what Thalia had meant when she said being completely happy. Percy made her feel that way.

Somehow, their discussion became a little serious as they kept walking and they started talking about their insecurities.

"I just think that people overestimate me all the time because most of the times, I can't do anything." Annabeth was tired of feeling this way all the time because she hated limits and boundaries.

"Annabeth, you can do anything.", Percy said confidently

The confidence in his voice made Annabeth want to cry because only a few people in her life believed in her so much.

"Anything?", she questioned with a smile.

They both stopped walking and looked at each other with sappy smiles.

"Well, within reason.", Percy joked.

"It's too late for that because I want to do this." Annabeth leaned forward and closed the distance between them. Her lips brushed against Percy's; a bit unsure a first but her worries were assuaged when he reciprocated enthusiastically.

Annabeth felt complete.

She had found her missing piece.

….

Author's Note

Here it is! I am so curious to know what you guys think about this chapter so please review :)

I have planned the entire story out and there will be a total of 20 chapters, but from now on I will post once a week instead of twice because I have a lot of schoolwork and some exams are coming up.

I will post on every Saturday from now.

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