I
There were many things Percy had expected to be bad at. He had expected to be bad at English literature, despite his stepfather, Paul's constant references to the 'great literary works' of Shakespear and Fitzgerald. He had expected to be bad at dancing ever since his Middle School Winter Formal when he stepped on his date's toes as they slow-danced to Ed Sheeran's The A-Team. He had even expected to be bad at swimming when he tried out for the team, seeing as he'd only ever been near a large body of water when he went to Montauk each summer with his mom. At 17, he did not, however, expect to be bad at sex. Rather, he hadn't expected sex with the girl he'd been seeing for the last couple of weeks to be bad because of him.
Sure, she was older, but it wasn't like this was his first time either, he'd had sex before. There was Calypso, the exchange student he'd met two summers ago and whom, after weeks of pining and missed sexual innuendos, he'd lost his virginity to before she went back to Greece. Then there was Rachel, the redhead artist he'd had a short fling with the year Paul decided he wanted to take them on a real Christmas vacation, and they went skiing in Colorado. So what if he didn't have a ton of experience under his belt, or if both girls had been incredibly out of his league, there hadn't seemed to be any complaints! Or maybe there were, you just never heard about them, he thought, as he sat on his bed, letting the humiliation of what was happening sink in. The girl pushed her long, chocolate brown hair behind her shoulder as she reached over the bedside table for her bra.
"Listen, don't take this the wrong way, I just… I don't really think it's gonna work out." Reyna said, searching the room for the remainder of her clothes. You don't say, Percy thought but decided that if he wanted to salvage whatever was left of his dignity, he was better off toning down the sarcasm.
"Right…" He responded, disappointment creeping in his voice, as she quickly slid her jean shorts over her golden thighs.
"Yeah, I don't want to give you the wrong idea and besides, I'm leaving for California anyway, so it's really not like this was going anywhere." She said, her deep accent lacing her smooth voice as she looked around the room for her top. Her dark eyebrows were furrowed together as she tapped her fingers on her hips. Percy could tell she wanted to get out of his apartment, and despite wanting her to leave his apartment, he couldn't help but think he still found her attractive with her messed up waves, in her lacy, deep red bra. It struck Percy as just a little bit disappointing he would probably never see her again.
"Finally…" She sighed as she reached underneath the bed, for the dark red crop top she had been wearing earlier.
"Can I ask you something, you know, before you leave?" He said, nervously running his hands through his hair. "Shoot." She responded without hesitating, tying the shirt on the side. "Was it really that bad? I mean I didn't even hear you moan once, and I've been with other girls before, so I mean, I know what I'm doing -" Before Percy could keep digging even a deeper grave for himself, Reyna let out a small chuckle.
"I'm sure you do, Jackson, and you're an attractive guy, I'm sure whatever that was works on whichever little high school sweetheart you have drooling over you. It just… Didn't work on me." She said confidently, giving him a small shrug. Harsh, he thought feeling embarrassed. It must've shown on his face since she took one look at him before playing absent-mindedly with her hair.
"Hey,"- she said softly, sitting on the edge of the bed, biting her lower lip as if thinking of how to proceed "you know, not everyone you fuck with is gonna be the best of your life," she said looking at him sternly. He lifted his gaze to meet hers as she spoke. "But, a good rule of thumb is to think of this as a marathon, not a race, okay?" She added, and he nodded sheepishly.
What the fuck, he thought zoning out whatever came out of Reyna's mouth afterward as she gathered the last of her stuff and closed the door behind her, leaving him to his thoughts. Was she saying he didn't last in bed? He was captain of the swim team for heaven's sake, he had stamina! Besides, up until that moment, the chemistry seemed to be there. Sure she was a little intimidating since was starting college at Stanford that year, she owned a motorcycle, and she had barely laughed at most of Percy's jokes on their first date, which should have been his first inclination that things were probably going to end in a flaming pile of shit. He buried his face in his hands, before throwing himself back on the bed. His cheeks felt hot, and he wondered if maybe he should text Rachel and ask her what she thought of his sexual skills, though a better half of himself knew that wouldn't really help things or get him his confidence back. As he wallowed in what was probably an unhealthy amount of self-pity, Percy remembered that, as if things couldn't get much worse, he would be starting his Senior year at Goode the next morning, which meant he would have to shower and be back in bed within the hour, if he had any hopes of looking alive in the morning.
At least no one in school will find out about... He began to think to himself but was cut short when he remembered the way he'd met Reyna had been through Jason, who definitely went to his school and would most definitely be hearing about what happened from her. As he turned off the lights and got into his bed, which still smelled like bodies and sweat, he only had one ringing thought.
Fuck me.