Chapter XII:

the eyes that break the boundaries / will there be an end

Percy was completely off the rails. Physically he was present, but mentally he wasn't there. At all.

But everything seemed to be better when he was by the water. He walked right next to the calm, lapping waves, letting the cool water splash over his toes.

Maybe it was because of his father that he always felt a connection to the ocean. Almost like a part of his soul would always be there to protect him.

It was almost two in the morning, a couple hours removed from the events at the theater. The moon was out, but muted by a thick layer of clouds.

He was still wearing his suit and tie, but he carried his shoes in his hands. He texted his mom that he would be staying at Frank's so that she wouldn't be worried. Mad parents were the last thing that he needed tonight.

Objectively, it might have been weird to be overly attached to a girl after only a couple of weeks. But the relationship that they had built up felt like one that had been around for years. And Piper wasn't your typical girl.

Incidentally, Percy found himself wandering into the secret cove, and he sat down on one of the shaggy rocks.

He looked out towards the horizon and followed the small lights of a distant boat, as it made its voyage across the open water.

Piper was gone, and he would have to get over it. That's just the way things were.

-Ω-

Reyna was the first one to find out what happened. Something was obviously off about the boy when he showed up to work that morning.

"What's wrong?" She asked while setting up the shop for service.

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me."

She watched Percy move like he was stuck in molasses towards the backroom. "Piper's gone."

Reyna stayed silent for a moment, processing the information and trying to formulate the right thing to say back. She knew that he probably didn't want to hear an apology from her, but it was all she could think of.

"I'm sorry, are you ok? You don't have to stay here at work today if you don't want to. Tourist season is slowing down anyways."

She watched Percy stare blankly on the clock of the wall, before slowly nodding his head.

"Thanks."

His parents and the rest of his friends handled it just about as good as they could've. Estelle and Octavia were rightfully devastated at the loss of their friend. Frank tried to make light of the situation, and he loved him for that.

Percy sent a single text to Piper, asking how she was doing, but got no response back. Which was ok, he guessed.

He told himself that it wasn't like she died or anything. It was eventually going to happen, just didn't go down the way they wanted.

Getting good closure was always the hardest part of breaking up with somebody. The way things ended between him and Callie could only be described as...nuclear. He was hoping to avoid such a situation this time around, but now he was questioning whether the former was the better option.

Was it better to be ghosted or toasted? He wasn't too sure.

-Ω-

Soon he was off to college, and the months swiftly passed like trains departing from their stations. Living on the mainland US, in one of the major cities, was quite the change. But it was awesome. Freaking awesome.

San Diego was like a chiller, less crowded version of Los Angeles or San Francisco, which was perfectly fine with Percy. Swimming was going well too, even though he was a freshman, he managed to sneak his way on to the conference team.

In terms of girls, there wasn't anything really notable to report. There was a drunken kiss that occurred every now and then, but nothing to write home about. Nothing that lasted longer than a stinky turd in a toilet.

The best part had to be the food. The street burritos that he always saw on Instagram lived up to the hype. Who knew that french fries, orange chicken and guacamole wrapped up in a tortilla would make the greatest (and unhealthiest) meal he ever had.

-Ω-

Before he knew it, the spring semester was over, which meant one thing: summertime.

Mrs. Ramírez-Arellano was more than happy to let him take up his seasonal job again with Reyna. He was surprised that he actually missed the sound of the little bell on the door, one that signaled a new customer had entered Rita's, in search of ice cream to satisfy their taste buds.

Percy was busy in the backroom washing some of the dirty dishes, when the bell rang for the first time that day. "Welcome to Rita's, I'll be out in just a second!"

He didn't hear a response, so he figured that the customer had airpods in, or they didn't care. Some of the tourists that swung by were absolute brick walls to talk too.

He quickly dumped the rest of the metal bowls into the industrial sink and dried his hands before walking back to the front, only to come face-to-face with a pair of multicolored eyes that he thought he wouldn't ever see again.

"Can I try vanilla, please?"

Author's Note:

Sorry about the dogwater chapter that I had posted instead of this one (that's hopefully better). That wasn't fair to you guys. Thank you so much for reading through this entire fic, means a lot. I started a new story called Memento Mori. It's a Preyna mortal AU and I would love it if you checked it out. See you guys sometime soon. Peace and love.

Disclaimer: Lyrics from Dreamcatcher's 'Odd Eye.'