Chapter 6
Percy
Though Percy would never admit this to anyone else, the small town was growing on him. The days ran together, and he couldn't tell a weekend from a weekday. His little morning ritual of driving half an hour into town to the coffee shop that his cousin's friend Hazel worked at. It was kind of nice having someone know your order before you even open your mouth.
It was a normal day in Bridgeport. The sun was out, beating down on him and he could feel the heat even through the window in his air conditioned room. He had just gotten him and his dad coffee - being confident enough to drive the truck faster than twenty miles an hour was a newfound hobby - and he was about to leave for his job at the Chase's ranch.
Yesterday was fun. He had never really thought horses would be his thing, but he might have been slightly wrong. At least now he wouldn't have to be left in the dust every time his friends wanted to go riding.
Point is, he was in a pretty good mood when he showed up to the Chase's at the ungodly hour of seven in the morning. Another thing he had learned about country life - they all woke up at 4 in the morning and sleeping in was unheard of. Instead of birds chirping and a nice morning of saying hello to the horses before he started chores, he got a handful of reigns thrown at him complete with an agitated horse and an even more pissed off Annabeth.
"Wash her down." The blonde ordered, hanging her hat on a hook by Lily's stall.
"Can I get a please?" Percy asked, mostly joking. What was she doing up now anyways?
Annabeth shot him a nasty look. "You work for me, remember?"
Percy dropped his smile and was about to throw the reigns back at her but thought better of it. He did need this job. He tied Lily up silently, and got to work hosing her down, trying to ignore Annabeth as she paced up and down the length of the barn.
"It's just stupid." She finally sputtered out. She was a full cowgirl today, in jeans and riding boots with a flannel, her hair slightly mussed from being under a hat. "I mean, of course my car breaks down. What am I supposed to do, let him pick me up? Are you even listening?"
Percy glanced up. "Honestly, I thought you were talking to the horses."
Annabeth huffed. "I give up. Boys are ridiculous." She turned violently on her heel and stalked out of the barn, hopefully to go take a shower.
Scott, another farmhand came out from behind the office, shaking his head. "She's nuts."
A week ago, Percy would have agreed. Now… "She's not so bad." He heard himself say.
Scott looked at him like he was the one who had just thrown a tantrum. "Don't tell me you're catching feelings too." He shook his head, like this was a common occurrence in Bridgeport. Percy got the feeling it didn't always end well for the boys.
Percy blushed, stuttering out, "O-of course not." He said, before turning his attention back to the dusty back legs of Annabeth's horse.
The southern sun beat down harshly, and Percy found himself covered in sweat barely after lunchtime. Up until today, Leo and Percy's shifts had never crossed paths, but when Percy stumbled down to the creek to cool off after a glass of water and a sandwich, he found his… friend had had the same idea.
"Percy!" Leo said with a wide grin. "Get in, dude. Best feeling ever. Don't let the boss know, though. This doesn't constitute a paycheck."
Percy laughed. "Noted." He said, stripping down to his boxers and slipping into the water. He floated on his back, reveling in the cool feeling, the first time he had felt a comfortable temperature since he left his house this morning.
The boys were splashing around, until they heard the unmistakeable sound of a truck rumbling down the driveway. They froze, knowing this was not considered something worth a paycheck, watching as a head of blonde curls was barely noticeable through the trees. They didn't move again until the sound was long gone.
Leo let out a breath. "The last time the Chase's caught me cooling off when I was supposed to be working I had to work for free for a week."
Percy frowned. "Isn't that illegal?"
Leo looked at him like he was weird, so he dropped it. Leo shook his head, glancing in the direction the truck had gone. "Hopefully she's okay." He frowned. "She hasn't been the nicest to be around lately."
"Yeah," Percy grumbled, thinking back to their interaction that morning. "I noticed."
Leo raised an eyebrow. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was biting his tongue. "We should get back to work." He declared, throwing Percy his sweaty t-shirt and slipping back on his own work boots.
In five minutes, the boys were dressed and walking back through the woods, ready to start an afternoon of chores.
"You know," Leo stopped suddenly. "I love Annabeth, but…" He trailed off, shuffling his feet uncomfortably.
"But what?" Percy questioned, irritated.
"Just be careful, is all." Leo advised. "She tends to think of new kids - especially new boys - as… how should I put this. Fresh meat?" He kicked at the dirt, not meeting Percy's eyes.
Percy glared. After his short talk with Scott this morning, he didn't need anyone else implying he was falling for the infamous Annabeth Chase. "I can take care of myself." He grumbled, stalking off before Leo could say anything else.
"Perce, man -" Leo stumbled, but Percy's legs were longer and before long Leo's voice faded into the distance. Percy rolled his eyes. Like he would ever be interested in Annabeth.
He hadn't planned on staying at Annabeth's house longer than the time his shift was over - a solid six pm, time for him to be home for dinner - but he couldn't resist the dip in the pool she offered him.
"My brother's have swim trunks in their rooms." She pointed at a closed door with a large paper sign that said KEEP OUT in mismatched colors. "They should fit you."
Annabeth was still in a terrible mood. Her company was definitely not what sounded appealing to him. It was mostly the summer sun, and the sweat that was literally dripping down his back after today. It had gotten over ninety for the first time since he got here, and he was sure it wasn't going to be the last of the sticky, humid days.
He changed quickly, throwing his wet work clothes onto a lounge chair opposite the side where Annabeth was swinging her feet in the shallow end of the chlorinated water. Her curls were up in a ponytail, wisps sticking to the back of her hot neck. Another - a very tiny - reason he might have wanted to stay was due to the white triangle bikini she was wearing and the sun glinting off her tanned skin, and the fact that her grey eyes were still sparking with anger when he came over to her, but that he found it… no. There was no way. Angry Annabeth was not turning him on.
He settled in next to her, an uncomfortable silence blanketing them before she finally spoke.
"What do you really think of it here?" She asked quietly.
He waited for her to expand, but she was silent. Percy didn't have an answer for her. Did he hate it? No. Did he like it? No. He was indifferent at this point. He wanted to go back to New York, of course, but he also had found people he was… friends with here. "It's fine." He responded weakly.
Annabeth snorted. "That's a pathetic answer." She snapped. "If you were wondering, I hate it here."
"I wasn't." Percy snapped back, immediately regretting it.
Her eyes flashed with anger. "Remember who pays your little minimum wage." She snarled, turning to face him. She was breathing heavy, her chest heaving against the small constraints of her swimsuit.
Percy yanked his eyes up before she could catch him looking. "You seem to remind me of that often, Chase." He chuckled humorlessly, his body moving subconsciously closer.
Her cheeks flushed. "At least I'm not the one stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere because I couldn't keep it in my pants, Jackson."
"Careful." He warned, his face dangerously close to hers. "One might think you were interested."
Her breath stuttered. "I have a boyfriend, mind you. He's dangerously jealous." She emphasized, in a way that made it sound like she needed the reminder that he was jealous.
Percy's groin twitched. He was definitely interested - or at least, his dick was - but there was no way he was going to let her in on that little secret. "Right. I forgot. You and your little All-American football player are gonna settle down, have a few babies and pretend like you never wanted more out of life."
"Percy," She flared, but he was on a roll.
"You wanna know what I think about this place? I think it's dreadfully boring. I think nobody here has any goals, they have zero excitement. They have no idea what it means to live their lives. You sit around doing chores and drinking cheap beer and you all talk about getting out of here like it's a fact but you know as well as I do that that will never happen. You're stuck here, and I think you're jealous of me. You're jealous that at the end of August, I'm walking out of this shit hole and going back to live my life. And you'll still be here, with your high school boyfriend. " He spit out. Annabeth had leaned far away from him, her breath no longer spilling over his lips, her cheeks flushed and red from anger or embarrassment, he couldn't tell.
She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again before standing up and stalking off in the direction of her house. Percy stood and followed her. "Nothing to say?" He taunted.
She whipped around. Her eyes were wet, and Percy kind of started to feel bad. That feeling disappeared, though, when she spoke, "At least I know how to treat my family and friends." She bit her lip, the move unreasonably affecting Percy. "You're a grade A asshole, and we both know the only reason you're here. So I suggest you save the lectures on how terrible we are and start looking in the mirror. Because from where I'm standing you still have a lot of work to do."
Percy didn't argue. The words stung. She turned away from him again and wrapped her towel around herself before running back into the house.
She was right, unfortunately, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He grabbed his own towel and got back in his truck, whipping out of their driveway at speeds that would have scared his mother to death. Fuck Annabeth. Fuck this town. If that's what they thought of him, then he didn't need friends.
Percy smirked. If they thought he was an asshole, then he was determined to prove them right.
I am back and have zero good excuse as to why I have been gone. However, I don't plan on abandoning this story and I hope to be back to regular updates again. I have a couple other stories started, so let me know if you want me to post those or finish this before I start another one. Also, next chapter will be this day from Annabeth's perspective which will explain why she still calls Luke her boyfriend at the end of this. I know it's short, but I wanted to get it up for y'all. Let me know what you guys think!
-a
