Dad!
A rustle and turning.
Dad! No! Stop! He heard a little child giggle and scream. Confused, Percy looked around from the wet sand he was standing on to find the source of the child's scream, only to realize it was coming from his own running body.
"I'm gonna getcha!" A man coaxed from behind him, his voice booming across the ocean breeze. "You better run big guy!"
"But I can't!" Squealed the little boy. A coat of sand covered his little hands and calves as he was trying to run away from the man treading behind him jovially as he went after the little one. He heard his dad chuckle in encouragement.
"Yes you can, buddy! Just a little more and you'll get to mommy before daddy gets ya! Run!"
Another turning and a furrow of eyebrows. Sweat glistened on his temples. The sound of the ocean roared on his sensitive ears.
In the distance from the little one, a beautiful woman was stretching her arms out with a huge smile on her face. Her hair shined in the distance, catching the sunlight giving her radiating appearance. She was beckoning her son over with the anticipation of a huge hug, and it only propelled the boy faster over before his dad could catch and playfully tackle him.
He at last after being dragged across the sand leapt into his loving mother's arms, pseudo-protecting him away from his father's grasp. She lightly tickled him and the boy erupted into a fit of laughter before kicking in the air to somewhat escape the tantalizing feeling of not being able to breath because of his overwhelming happiness.
"MOMMAY!" the boy managed to breathe out. He couldn't stop giggling as he managed to say, "STOP!"
Percy twitched slightly.
The woman's tickling stopped. Instead of her fingers reaching over again to tickle him, they lovingly stroked his hair into the directions they were intended to go. "My sweet boy," she said, turning him in her lap for him to face her. The boy gave her a toothy smile. "Daddy didn't get you, did he?"
"Nope!" The boy declared, his arms posed like Superman in dignity of his own strength. He reached up to touch his mom's face with his baby fingers. The man walked over and sat on the beach towel the mother and son were sitting at and chuckled, charmed by the boy.
"You're outgrowing me bud!" the little boy saw the man's eyes, identical in color with his own, shine with vitality and warmth. The man had a smile on his face, one that made wrinkles around his eyes. "Why don't we go for a cotton candy? What do you say?"
...
...
"BWUH!"
Percy woke up with a start, his hair drenched with sweat and heart beating wildly. He looked around in panic, but calmed down a little as he saw where he actually was.
He had to take a few deep breaths to stop a rising feeling of dread. He looked around his room and tried to make out the familiarity of the small room. Sunlight crept into the room from the corners of the curtain, illuminating the room just a little. He made out the bag in the corner, his kitchenette by his side, the book sprawled on the floor, and his laundry in a pile by the bathroom door. Okay. He was in his shitty apartment in Chinatown; nowhere else. He plopped down again and hit his head on the pillow and sighed loudly of frustration.
Dreams like that would only seldom find him, but when he did have them they were the ones that haunted him most, unlike any nightmares he'd encountered. A nightmare can be brushed off as a bad dream, in contrast of what pleasant dreams one could live that haunts the present. It wasn't even technically a dream because it was a distant memory of his past played to him in his sleep. It was one of the joyful days of his childhood. He distinctly remembers the day that his dad chased him into his mother's arms and them getting cotton candy at the beach. Those days would happen frequently in the happier times of his life. No— of all of their lives.
Sally never cried back then, and when she did it was of joy and not sorrow. Poseidon didn't get angry, the laugh lines around his eyes proof of the absence of his usual rage. Percy always thought that this limbo of joy would last forever; a naïve thought for a young child. It would only be a few years after that where his life would mold and shape into the one he was living and paying the consequences for his father today.
Out of sheer habit, still trying to catch his breath and slow his heart, he rummaged into his bag and pulled out his pack and picked out a cigarette. The lighter on his windowsill was soon used to light it up as he opened the curtains exposing him to the bright sunlight to crack the windows open to let the smoke out.
It took about ten minutes of breathing in and out nicotine-laced smoke that he started to calm down. His eyes stopped squinting as he started getting used to the sunlight. He blinked a few times, checked his phone, and realized it was a few hours before he was used to getting up.
He got up anyways and put on one of the t-shirts stacked in the corner of the room and went out into the fire escape with a fresh spare cigarette.
Percy wasn't the only one out on the escape. His next door neighbor, a middle-aged slightly deaf woman who had two college kids that rarely visited, was hanging out her laundry. He nodded to her in acknowledgement. They've only talked a few times.
He gestured his cigarette over to her. "Want one?"
The woman smiled and shook her head. She went back to smoothing out the laundry she was hanging, then waved him goodbye as she went inside again.
"Suit yourself," he grumbled, lighting up the one he was offering up and throwing his old one into the street. The lady always declined him whenever he offered, so he took no offense. Her loss, really.
He was fine now. He felt his reality brought into the real world. He hated dreaming in the first place because he did every time he slept, but dreams like that hit him differently.
Percy checked the time again and saw he had an abundance of it before he took the day shift. He ran over a possibility of things he could do in his head, and thought about how he had made that personal checklist earlier. He could go to the bank and get the ball rolling on saving up money by opening that savings account. While he's there, he could also consider a loan to pay Joe off by that vague deadline.
When he walked into the block where the bank is he saw that it was packed. In every seat there was a person, and where there wasn't a seat there were lots more standing. Percy assumed that the bank had air-conditioning but because of the amount of people in there half were folding up papers and fanning themselves of the heat. He didn't even stop to give himself to turn around and walk the other direction.
There was still a lot more time before he had his day shift. What was he supposed to do? He had his bag on his back and he always had the option to just go to the bodega and help Silas out and go over the notes... oh, no. Silas has a class now, so that's out of his options. He ran over a list of things he could do; perhaps the library? He briefly wondered if Annabeth would be working a shift now.
He caught himself. Instead of visiting to read or better himself, now it looks like he was going to the library so he could visit a girl. He felt like he was trapped in an eighteen-hundreds movie. "What am I doing..." he muttered to himself when he saw he was wondering about her. He rubbed his hand though his hair, making his messy hair worse. He shouldn't really be thinking about her. They were mere acquaintances, and it should stay that way.
But somehow when he snapped out of his internal monologue of if or if-not he should visit, he'd already found himself passing over the threshold of the library's entrance.
;
"Are we acquainted to entertain the other while at work?" Annabeth asked absentmindedly, a bottled coffee in her hand, leaning against the front counter to talk to Percy. The hall was air conditioned despite the chill of the weather outside, and Percy thought that he'd need an extra jacket for next time. The bottled coffee from the vending machine that he'd gotten for the both of them was chilled and had him wishing that they had a coffee pot around somewhere. Perhaps he took the bodega a little bit for granted, after all as an employee he could drink free coffee straight from the pot.
Annabeth was indeed on a shift when Percy had walked in. Apparently, according to her, she works from twelve to three in the afternoons during the weekdays. She usually mans the front counter because of her extended knowledge on the books and their locations here, but sometimes she'll be at different floors shelving when there's an overload of returned books. On special days, she'll be at the archives to help with displays with the head librarian when they have specific events. Really depends on the day, she'd said.
Percy took a sip from his coffee while leaning against the counter. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to stand around here and talk to Annabeth while she was working, but Stasie, the girl who worked the shift with Annabeth, didn't seem to mind as she clicked away on the computer. "Not our fault we are tied to our workplaces whenever the other is free." he shrugged.
"You're right. We're only free when the other is working," she said with mild interest. She most likely didn't make the connection herself from the tone of her voice. "Interesting. What did you do today so far?"
Percy took a sip from his vending machine coffee. "I was going to go to the bank but there were too many people so I resorted to coming here."
Her eyes danced, and Percy didn't see what was so funny until she spoke. "Ah okay, so I see the library has become a secondary choice of yours."
He humored her, retorting back, "Only when there's this student librarian here. I think she majors in Journalism but I could be wrong. Otherwise it would be priority." He grinned and saw Annabeth took no offense, but was smiling slightly, her eyes like a crescent moon.
"You're not that funny." She simply says, her face straightening. She put down her coffee in a show of emphasis.
He quickly smothered his grin as a que to follow the atmosphere she was creating. "I like to think I am." He looked at her seriously.
They watched students go in and out of the building, sipping their coffees at the sight. "I think you might need a second opinion," she put her forefinger on her lip, as if thoughtfully contemplating his options. "How about from the librarian from the library of your secondary choice?"
Percy chuckled, genuinely amused. "It wouldn't hurt to ask later."
She smiled. Annabeth lifted her coffee and shook it up to show him. "Thanks for the coffee, by the way. You didn't have to get one for me."
"It's no problem." He waves off.
She shuffles a bit in her seat, trying to adjust herself for comfort. "Do you need anything from the library? Any new books or...?"
"Actually," Percy took his bag off and rummaged through the bag. "If you could renew my textbook that would be great. And would you happen to know any on good skills to have for jobs? Like trade skills?"
She took the book from him that he offered her. "Trade skills?" She repeated. "Like welding?"
"Yes."
"Hm..." she absentmindedly hummed while she got onto renewing his textbook. "I can think of a generalized category here. Perhaps we can check it out and see what suits your needs."
"Bet," He received his renewed textbook and put it back into his bag. "Lead the way, when you're ready. I got all day. Sort of."
She talked to Stasie about her covering for her while she assisted Percy in getting his book then went around the counter to go out. "Do you work today in the daytime?"
"Yeah," Percy replied, speeding up to catch up to her pace. They walked across the tiled floor to the elevators. "I work a day shift everyday except when I have it off."
"You have a busy schedule." she noted.
"Happens to the best of us." He said as they stepped into the open elevator. Nobody else had been waiting with them so they went in alone into the empty elevator. He noticed that now during this time there weren't much people, thus him able to hang around the counter where Annabeth worked without being interrupted possible. He inferred that students probably had classes during this time, but then was curious about Annabeth's own schedule. "When do you usually have classes?"
She finished her bottled coffee before replying. She screwed the cap closed and held the empty bottle in her hand. "Most of them are early in the morning, and some are very late."
"Is that why your work is smack middle of the day?" he asked, taking a sip from his own bottle in the quiet of the elevator. He could hear the sounds of the bottle being screwed opened and closed along with the hum of the elevator.
"It was the only time that worked for me, and not so much for my coworkers."
The elevator opened to the third floor, a floor that Percy had been a few times through the stairs. He'd been at this floor for a few reference books because he didn't understand a few problems in his textbook, but he never knew that there would also be some technical skill set books here as well. He made a mental note as she navigated him through a set of double doors and into a maze of book cases. Before they could enter the labyrinth, he spotted a recycling bin. He took his bottle and asked for Annabeth's, who thanked him with a sheepish smile, and lightly placed them down so they wouldn't make much noise to the studying students in the corners. Unlike the fifth, this floor was deathly quiet.
"Okay," Annabeth whispered as she squatted down at a specific bookshelf. Her finger trailed along the spines of the book and her lips were whispering a certain title, at least what Percy was assuming she was; he couldn't make out what she was saying. It delicately trailed until it stopped at a specific book. She plucked it out and put it in her free hand before trailing again and plucking out another one. She picked them out with a lot of thoughtfulness, he noted, and was slightly touched by the gesture.
She then went for a third, and seemingly was looking for a fourth with the hand that travelled amongst the books now thoughtfully on her lip, tapping against them. He squatted down next to her to see the titles with her and she subtly flinched, but he didn't think much of it as he took the books from her grasp to lighten the burden on her. He resorted to sitting down, criss-crossed, on the carpeted floor to see them titles on his lap for convenience. Annabeth picked the fourth and final one from the shelf above and placed it on the carpet between the gap of his foot and the bookshelf. From his peripheral vision, she watched him shuffling through the books.
She picked them out with great care was what he could make out as he flipped through each. All the titles were about broad ranges of skill sets yet had specificities in each chapters, some of them supported with various links to videos he could find on the internet. The books were recently published, so he wouldn't have to worry about the validity of the links on the pages he could find them.
"Wow," he whispered, looking at her and smiling. "These are really useful."
He then promptly realized he could've just gone on the internet instead of reading about these skillsets, but that's what reading so much does to someone– you lose in touch with modern society. What Percy liked about having these books, however, is that he could do both now. He could read and watch through videos. It would be useful to him in places where he couldn't watch videos, or when he had shifts where he refrained from playing with his phone. He liked the idea of a combination of references and was glad Annabeth had picked out useful books. His gratitude towards her was unlimiting, it seemed.
He picked out two of the four. She understood he was done with the others and put them back in their rightful places, shelving them back gracefully by their Dewey decimal numbers.
"Thank you," he said. The quiet of his voice blew light wisps of her hair from her eyes.
She looked sheepish. "It's nothing."
He then stood, a little too suddenly as he felt a bit lightheaded, but gained his bearings on the balls of his feet. She stood as well and was inadvertently very close to him. Pieces of her hair brushed his chin. They both took a step back, startled, and Percy saw her wringing her hands behind her back. He ran a hand through his hair and calmed himself from the slight surprise.
"Uh," he muttered intelligently. "Shall we?" He gestured to the direction of the double doors. She nodded.
They made it back to the first floor counter, and she checked the two books out for him as well. "Thanks again. I really appreciate the thought you put in picking those out."
"Oh, it's really no problem, Percy," she said. It was weird to think about, but whenever she'd say his name it would have a strange effect on him. He liked hearing it from her. "These two are great, especially for the links they have."
"Yeah that's why I liked them," he said. "Don't undermine your book-picking skills. You've been very helpful."
She blushed slightly, red showing through her lightly tanned skin. "It's really no problem at all. Would that be all for you?" She handed them over like she had his textbook, and likewise he put it in his bag, now heavier than it had been ever. He shouldered it and set it by lightly bouncing on his feet.
"That's about it," he said. He adjusted the straps a bit tighter so the bag wouldn't mess with his inertia. "What time is it?"
"Two forty." She replied, looking at her silver metal wristwatch.
He nodded. He had enough time to see if the bank was still open, and Annabeth got out in twenty minutes. "Okay. Well, I gotta get going now. So I'll see you later."
"Bye," she says, and waves.
He waves back, his footsteps ahead of him set for the bank. His heart still jumps slightly.
;;
Luckily for Percy, the bank wasn't busy when he came back. There were empty tellers from what he could see that could help him. He pushed through the glass doors and entered the airconditioned building. He was immediately greeted with a representative who asked of his purpose to which he stated in reply. They kindly took him to a desk to sit down in front of another representative, who smiled and shook his hand and asked of his reasons for visiting.
After giving some identification and information necessary from him, they were able to pull his records of his bank account. The only things tied to his name was his checking account and the credit card he never used, aside from the brokerage accounts that his dad had set up for him when he was younger. To him, those meant very little and he flatly ignored them. Why Poseidon thought it was a good idea to give a kid a brokerage account instead of a savings, he could never explain. It didn't make sense to him.
He thought of his needs here in the bank. Joe's invoice was backbreaking. The only way he could pay for the repairs and theft was this choice, and it was his only. The repairs alone were a lot to take, but with the added costs of the alcohol... he hated that he had to but this was his only choice.
"I'm sorry Mr. Jackson," the teller had started after a few clicks on her computer. "Unfortunately, we can see that your credit score hasn't been readily calculated due to the non-use of your credit card after registering. It would be difficult for us to provide you with a loan suitable for your needs as of now with the limited information we have on file."
That's it?" Percy wanted internally to die. It was probably because he had too much money. He swears Poseidon fucks him up even when he doesn't try to. "Is there anything I can do? Could the brokerage prove some sort of loan eligibility? It's money that I need this instant."
"No, unfortunately we cannot provide you with one at this time, even with the brokerage information." the teller's voice was filled with business-like regret. "Although, you could withdraw money from the brokerage account to cover the expenses you have stated for your loan amount."
He wished he could sigh loudly, like he had this morning, but he refrained from doing so. "That's just not the best option for me right now." He instead said calmly, as professionally as he could. He is not accepting help from Poseidon, even though strictly speaking the money was Percy's ever since he turned eighteen. The brokerage would be absolute last resort.
"I'm sorry, unfortunately that's the only extent we can provide for you at this time. Is there anything else we an help you with?"
Percy sat there, defeated, but then he remembered he needed to open a savings account. He voiced his thoughts to the representative.
She nodded. "Okay. In order to open a savings account, you'll need a minimal amount of five hundred dollars to start out."
Percy asked how much was in his checking account. It wasn't enough. Was there anything that was going to work out at the bank today? He groaned internally. He shouldered his bag, indicated verbally that he wasn't in need of any more assistance, and stood up. The representative did the same, and Percy shook their hand that she had extended out. "Thanks."
He's irrevocably fucked.
;;;
Well, maybe not entirely.
Percy had his forehead above his forearms pressed above the counter. Woes flowed in and out his mind as he lamented about his most recent financial failures. He heard Silas wiping down a counter over by the windows and heard him stop as well. Percy lifted his head to see if Silas was struggling or needed any help.
"Hello? Oh! Hey man, thanks for getting back to me. You got something for me?" Probably another business call. Percy put his head back down. "Yeah, hold on just give me a sec."
Percy's then self-hatred thought train was abruptly interrupted by Silas scrambling to find a pen, pen as Silas mouthed. Percy dug into his apron, produced a sharpie, and gave it to Silas who then wrote on a sticky note found on the counter. Percy looked at him in confusion at the hurried nature Silas was presenting. He continued to write down and nodded along with his phone tucked in between his cheek and shoulder, ignoring Percy's stare.
"Alright. Got it down. Thanks. I'll tell him now." Silas hung up, then grinned at Percy. "I got a job for you man!"
Percy was confused, but then soon processed what he said. He looked at Silas, his bearer of good news, and perked a bit from his personal stratus cloud looming over his head. "Really?"
"Yeah! Here, take this." Silas slid over a piece of a sticky note and Percy plucked it from his fingers. His eyes went over the content written in sharpie. It was a number, date and time, and place. "What is this?"
"It's the number of my associate and the time and day they want to meet you. This place," he tapped on the third line of sharpie, "Is where you'll be working for."
Percy squinted at the piece of sticky note in his hand. "What kind of job is it?"
"Delivery, actually," Silas admitted, looking rather sheepish. Percy thought it was comical that Silas was considering Percy's trauma of the last delivery he'd done. "I hope you don't mind? That was the only thing I could find for now."
"Yeah no, it's no problem." In a sense even though that the last delivery job ended in the most terrible way possible, he was relieved that he could do something that he'd done for a few years. He didn't have to learn a new skill and just get used to his old ones again, which was only good for him. He would get to drive again! "So I just go here?"
"Yeah. Call the number first and let him know if you'll take the job or not. His name is Jadus, by the way. That's J-A-D-U-S. Forgot to write that down. He's an associate of the guy I know, so I don't really know him that well either. Calling him and seeing what you're up for would be a good idea."
"Bet," Percy wrote the name down on the bottom of the sticky note with a different pen he had close by. The thin ink looked out of place next to the capital letters of the sharpie. "Thanks, Silas. I appreciate this."
"It's no problem, dude. How much have you paid Joe back so far?"
"To be honest with you, I haven't even gotten started," Percy sighs, leaning back against the wall. He picked at a thread on his shirt. "I went to the bank and was declined a loan today."
"Oh, well. I'm sorry man." Silas furrowed his eyebrows in thought. He leaned against the broom that he had in hand. "Why did they decline you? I thought banks were pretty lax with small loans."
Percy shook his head. "Something about my credit score. I didn't use my credit card 'cause I didn't want to rack up debt, but I guess that was my downfall."
"You just gotta use amounts you can pay back."
"Finance is so hard." Percy complained. "How do credit cards work? It's embarrassing I'm twenty-two and still can't figure out how to use these damn things. It's kind of scary. It's not like I was taught in school or anything either."
Silas shrugged. "I've had a credit card for a bit now, I could teach you how it works. Do you have the app for your bank account on your phone?"
;;;;
The rest of the day was spent with Percy being on a partial cloud-nine.
After Silas' little financial lesson which Percy was extremely grateful for, he called Jadus, Silas' associate, and was hooked with a delivery job. Fortunately, he would be able to keep his job with Silas because the time he was expected to pickup, deliver, and drop-off was after the shift overnight. He wouldn't get sleep immediately but that was no problem. He could just switch his sleep schedule up again. He realized his sunlight blocking investment was now rendered void, but with the extra dough it shouldn't matter now.
He was to start tomorrow, as the post-it and Jadus had indicated over the phone.
Percy was ecstatic. The paycheck was biweekly so he could just handover every penny he gets from the first paycheck to Joe and never hear from him again. When Annabeth had visited during his overnight shift that night, he articulated the good news and they shared the excitement over a cup of coffee and avocado toast.
He bought himself a beer to celebrate with his credit card. He furthered his tiny celebration by drinking on his fire escape, one of his favorite movies he pirated playing on his phone.