Annabeth's POV:

I wake up in the morning to the smell of something burning. I instantly bolt upright. Panic streaks through my mind. Is there a fire? I dart out of bed and check my door to see if it's hot. It's not. It's cold, thankfully. I cautiously run out the door, searching for any sign of a flame. But what greets me is unexpected.

Thalia stands in the kitchen, smoke billowing out behind her back. She turns to me at the sound of the door opening.

"I tried to make homemade waffles." She mutters apologetically.

There are pieces of who-knows-what in her hair. Her apron is smeared with batter. The entire apartment smells like a smoke bomb went off. There are burnt waffles and half cooked ones all over the kitchen counter. The floor is smeared with something that resembles grease.

I attempt to keep from laughing. "Emphasis on tried." I say, bursting out laughing, no longer being able to keep it in.

She glares at me. "Well, in my defense, we have the worst waffle maker in history." She states pathetically. "You want to help me clean up?" She gives me a hopeful smile.

"No thanks. How about I go shopping for groceries and you can clean up?"

"Ugh! So I have to clean all of this up on my own?" I look around the kitchen. It was beyond a mess.

"Next time, why don't you let me cook." I say consolingly. She nods her head and makes her way to the broom closet to get the mop.

I walk back into my room to get ready for the day.

An hour later, I am walking down the grocery store aisles, looking for the right kind of soup that Thalia and I always get. I find the correct one and reach for it.

"Hey!" I hear a deep voice say to me. It scares the shit out of me, and I jump, dropping my soup can in the process. It cracks, the contents inside spilling out onto the floor. I turn around to see who scared me, and I immediately regret it.

Percy Jackson stands before me, decked out in an amused grin. He has on casual attire, jeans and a nice white, long sleeve shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He looks good. His eyes trail down to the soup can and then meet mine once more.

"Thank you, Mr. Jackson for making me drop my soup." I am already annoyed by this man's presence.

"We're outside of work, Miss Chase, I think you can call me Percy." He says sarcastically. "Let's make a run for it." He says, pointing to the can of soup.

"I can't just leave it here!" He rolls his eyes and grabs my hand, pulling me out of the soup aisle.

Once we're safely in a new aisle, he speaks again, "See, that wasn't that hard."

"I feel bad, what if someone accidentally steps on it and slips?"

"You are such a goody-goody." He laughs at me.

"I am not. I'm just concerned for the well-fare of others." I respond defensively.

"Don't go getting all defensive. I think it's cute, how much of a prude you are." He smiles, gaining attention towards his lips from me. I mentally yell at myself for my lingering eyes.

I think he catches me, because his smile turns into a smirk.

"Like what you see?" He says arrogantly. His face moves closer to mine.

My cell phone rings out of the blue, making me flinch away from him. I hold up my finger. I reach in my pocket and pull it out. The caller ID says Conner. Oh, no.

"Hello?" I answer, cautiousness evident in my voice.

"Hey, Annabeth. Guess who?"

"Hi, Conner." I look up towards Percy. His expression changes when I say Conner's name. His attractive sea-green eyes become darker. Is he angry? Why would he be angry?

I focus back on my conversation. "What happened this time, Conner?"

"Aw, come on Annabeth. I didn't do anything illegal…this time." I could practically hear his grin through the phone. "I was just wondering if you were still going tonight?"

"Tonight? What's tonight?" I gasp. I just remembered. Katie and Travis's engagement party. I look up towards Percy. He's looking at me questioningly. I nod my head, letting him know that everything is okay.

"Annabeth Chase forgot something? Now that's not something you hear of everyday."

"It's just, I've had a lot going on lately," I look pointedly at Percy. He just smirks and then turns to the shelves, scanning its contents. Matthew and my new job have had my stress meter extremely high lately. I've had absolutely no time to think about parties. And that is what makes me feel guilty. Katie is my best friend, along with Thalia. And Travis is my good friend too. I'm a bridesmaid in their wedding for crying out loud. I shouldn't have forgotten this. It's not like me. I have to go tonight.

"You're still going, right?"

"Definitely. Wouldn't miss it for the world. And Thalia's coming too, whether I have to tie her to the roof of my car and drag her there myself." Percy laughs at that.

"Alright, hey can I go in on your gift?" Thankfully, with my years of tedious scheduling, I have already purchased them a gift: a set of beautiful wine glasses. I know how much Katie loves her wine.

"No, you may not. You're the best man and the brother of the groom, you have to get your own gift."

He lets out a sigh. "But I don't know what to get them!"

"Get Katie flowers. From a fancy flower shop, not the grocery store. Trust me, Katie can tell the difference. And get them both some flashy shot glasses or beer mugs for their bar at the new house. Travis will like that."

"Thanks Annabeth, you're a life-saver."

"No problem, I'll see you tonight." I hang up my phone and put it in my back pocket. I turn around and face Percy.

"You have to sneak out on me at work tonight?" He says, before I can even get a word out. I give him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry. I'm a bridesmaid in the wedding. Tonight's the engagement party. I can't miss it."

"It' fine, honestly. I think we're going to the same one, actually. Travis and Katie's?"

"Yeah, wow. What a small world." Great, I'll be seeing him, again. We start to make our way down aisle after aisle. Occasionally, I'll drop something in my cart.

"So, how do you know Travis and Katie?" I hear him ask conversationally.

"I met Katie back in high school, freshman year. We've been best friends ever since. And I met Travis through Katie, after he moved into her apartment complex, right down the hall. I remember her telling me how he would always play pranks on her. She would get so annoyed. And now look at it…their engaged." I smile.

"Hey, at least you didn't have to walk in on them the morning after they first got together." I laugh at the new piece of imagery.

"You did not!"

"I did." He winces, and nods his head. "Katie was so embarrassed. Travis just looked proud of himself."

I laugh again, grabbing some white bread off the shelf. "I knew it was serious after she told me that they slept together. Katie isn't the kind of person to sleep around."

"I didn't peg her as the type." He says to me. Wow, am I actually enjoying this man's company? He's not so bad, once you have a normal conversation with him.

"So, how do you know them?"

"Well, considering I've known Thalia since I was in diapers, I think I'd know some of her friends. You know, now that I think of it, how is it that we've never met?"

By now, we are in the check out aisle. I start to load my items onto the conveyor belt. I take a minute to answer. "I don't know. I always knew you were related to her. Nico, too. I just didn't want her to think that I was friends with her because of her connections. Plus, Thalia would always tell me how you were always so busy and had a really hectic schedule." He avoids eye contact with me as I say that last part, looking down at the ground. I wonder why. I continue speaking, ignoring his weird action. "And she would constantly say that Nico was just 'being Nico,' disappearing and reappearing whenever he felt like it. "I always knew her family was a touchy subject, so I just left it alone. I let her tell me about it when she was ready." By the time I finish my thoughts, Percy and I have checked out, and are standing by the door.

He stares at me, looking captivated. "Each time I say goodbye to you, I grow more and more impressed."

My heart beat accelerates. Impressed? By boring old me? "Really?" My smile matches his as we may our way outside. I try to quickly break off whatever this is. "Um, we should get ready….for work. We both have work later."

"Yes, in about four hours." He smirks, knowing he just got me all flustered.

"Well, I don't want to be late." I say defensively. I walk away from him, my head held high.

I hear him laugh behind me. I head over to my car, opening the trunk. He wordlessly helps me load all of my groceries. And finally when I'm done and about to get in my car, he stops me.

"If you want, we could carpool to the engagement party." I'm surprised at his words. "Not as a date or anything. Just an assistant and her boss carpooling."

"Alright," I say slowly, "I'll see you in four hours."

I make my way inside Percy Jackson's building once again. I walk past Kristen, who seems to be here all the time. I give her a smile and walk towards the elevator.

In my very rare moment of tranquility inside the elevator, I start to think about Matthew. I came right here after visiting him at the hospital. He's doing good. I got all the information about his first session. It went well. He hasn't lost any of his hair yet. I think that might be his biggest worry. I promised him that when this is all over, it will grow back. I don't know if that helped or not.

I step out of the elevator when it dings. I see Silena at her desk, typing away at her computer. When she hears the elevator ding she jumps up and makes her way towards me, a smile stretching across her perfect features. "Hey, Annabeth." I smile back. "Hi, Silena."

"Percy told me that you're going to Katie and Travis's engagement party tonight."

"Yeah, I'm a bridesmaid in the wedding." She squeals at my answer.

"Oh my god! So am I!"

I'm stunned by her sudden exclamation. "Really, I didn't know Katie knew you?"

"I didn't know Katie knew you either. Travis and my husband Charlie are friends. Their Sunday football days soon became me and Katie's salon days."

I laugh. "That sounds like her."

Silena is about to speak again, but a deep voice interrupts her. "Silena, would you please stop stealing my assistant from me." Mr. Jackson appears in Silena's little section of the office. She rolls her eyes at him. "Sorry, Mr. Jackson. She's all yours." Silena says sarcastically. Percy starts to walk away, and I trail behind him.

Silena calls out a quick, "See you tonight, Annabeth!"

And I respond, "See you tonight."

I regain my spot behind Percy. He glances behind himself to see if I'm still following him. And he gives me a small smile in the process. I smile back at him. And- oh my god, did my stomach just flutter? No, I must have imagined that. My busy day must already be getting to my head.

"-Does that sound good?" I hadn't even realized that Percy started to talk.

"I'm sorry what?" I mutter, embarrassed that he knows I wasn't listening to him."Oh come on now Annabeth, I didn't just hire you for your good looks." He looks over his shoulder, sending me a wink. My stomach flutters again, making me glare fiercely at him.

"Are you this comfortable around all of your assistants?" We stop in front of his office door, facing each other. "Because if you are, I should probably call the sexual harassment hotline now."

Amusement twinkles in his eyes. "You wouldn't have that strong of a case, if I must say so myself."

I scowl at him. "And why is that?"

"Because, secretly…" He grabs a strand of my hair, a loose curl from my messy bun, and tucks it behind my ear. "…You love it."

I stare into his eyes incredulously. He has that same, annoyingly handsome smirk on his face. I regain some of my composure, that infuriating fluttering of my stomach driving me to speak.

I snort. "Please-"

He cuts me off. "But, I don't expect you to admit it to yourself…not just yet." He gives me one last smirk and then enters his office, closing the door on my very confused and bewildered face.

A/N: Thanks guys for all your encouraging reviews! I'm sorry for taking a little longer to update this chapter. I'll try to be quicker with the next one. Stay tuned for the engagement party! (: