Chapter 17
Annabeth
"You're being ridiculous," Percy complained, but she knew he didn't really mean it.
Annabeth laughed, sitting up in the tall grass - or weeds, depending on how you looked at it. "Just a few?" She asked, referring to the pictures she had asked him to show her of New York City. Annabeth had jokingly told him that she had to know where somebody like him could have possibly been raised, but in truth she was more jealous than anything.
He looked up at her from his spot on the ground, arms tangled above his head. His eyes were thoughtful, scanning her face, hesitating over her lips. They had been doing this a lot - hanging out, just the two of them. It always ended with some sort of awkward moment. Either she said something just a little too flirty, or he would lean in a little too close, and then their moment of peace was over and he would clumsily leave, making weak excuses on his way out the door.
The last few days had been… interesting. After Piper had ditched them - which, Annabeth had ripped into her for - her and Percy's relationship had gotten better. Maybe she should be thanking the brunette instead of being mad. Percy had restarted his job at her property after being grounded, and everyday after his shift was over at four the two of them had hung out until dinner time.
It started with a hesitant invitation from her to go swimming in the creek. She had meant to extend an olive branch, wanting to show she was serious about a cordial friendship with him. He had accepted, and they had jumped in with all their clothes on, laughing like little kids.
The next night, she had promptly met him in the barn at the time he got off, watching from a distance as he finished up with the horses. He caught her eye, winking. "Like what you see?" He teased. The boy didn't lack for self confidence. She blushed, before taking control of the situation again.
"I planned on going on a hike tonight." She said primly, clasping her hands together in front of her dusty jeans. She had spent the latter of the day with Hazel and Piper, helping on their farms.
"If this is an invitation, it's a terrible one." He commented, but a smile in his eyes gave him away.
Tonight Annabeth had taken him out to a clearing about a half mile from the house where she usually liked to bring a book and relax. She had failed to mention to him that she had never brought anybody else here, not even Luke.
Percy sighed, giving in and pulling out his phone. "What do you wanna see?" He asked, opening the app and scrolling through his camera roll.
Annabeth flopped back onto the ground, this time on her stomach. "Like… the buildings?"
He tore his eyes away from the screen, "The buildings?" He asked.
"Yeah, like…" She took a breath, blushing, "Like the architecture." She said, not meeting his eyes.
He gave her a confused glance, but pulled up a few pictures of the streets there, the old and new architecture mixing together to form the narrow roads. "You're into architecture?" He asked quietly. They were close enough that he could have whispered and she would have heard, her head almost on his chest as she took in the lines of the apartments and high rises, all mixing to form the infamous skyline.
"Yeah." She breathed, flipping to another one. "I uh… I want to be one. When I grow up." She blushed harder, taking her eyes off the screen to find him staring intently at her. He smiled when he saw her glance at him, reaching up to brush a curl out of her face. She tried not to flinch. It was an innocent move, really, but it reminded her too much of Luke, of how he would do the exact same thing and then turn around and be an asshole five minutes later.
Percy's not like that. She reminded herself.
Annabeth flipped onto her back again, staring up at the sky. It was darkening, and looked like it might even start raining but she couldn't bring herself to mention this to Percy. She was enjoying herself way too much, despite her better judgement. The past action hadn't been a surprise, really. He had recently taken to touching her hair sometimes, or staring too long at her lips, or taking her hand when they would race home through the woods. She couldn't bring herself to reprimand him, and she doubted he was even aware he was doing it at all.
"Really?" He finally responded. The clouds moved faster, darkening. "I didn't - I mean, I would've never guessed."
She tried not to be annoyed by that, fingers twitching. "Yeah, well I do have other aspirations that go beyond living in the middle of fucking nowhere."
He seemed unbothered by the change in tone. "I never said you didn't." He said casually, twirling a blade of grass between his fingerblades before letting it go in the wind that had started to pick up. "I can picture it," He said, turning on his side to face her, head propped up by a hand tangled in his hair.
Annabeth found her heart beating unusually fast, but tried to ignore it. They had agreed to be friends, not - not whatever silly feelings were arising at the moment. She sighed, touching the nails Piper had painted pink yesterday after Annabeth had tried to convince her not to. "Sometimes I'm not sure I can anymore."
He paused, seemingly hesitant before responding, "Why?" He asked plainly. His gaze was on her, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him.
She took a minute to respond, listening to thunder crackle in the distance. She knew they should probably move, but the thought of Percy leaving, going home for the night, it was too - too much, for somebody who up until very recently had decidedly hated the boy next to her.
Why? He had just asked. The question was simple, yet so complicated. For all the time they had spent together in the past couple days - mostly because the siblings were preoccupied in the hospital and everybody else had work - she had lacked the courage to share Luke with him. He had never brought it up, but she could tell he was always wondering. The question was in the undertone of every comment, every sentence. She assumed he was waiting for her, not wanting to start another screaming match with each other, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything - not yet - maybe not ever.
Before she could think of a good enough response, one that skirted around the truth, she was luckily interrupted by a fat droplet of rain, hitting her square on the nose. And then another, on the cheek. Two next, her wrist and the crown of her head. And then they came down, fast and hard, soaking her within a minute. Thunder boomed above them and she thought she saw lightning a few miles off. She scowled, glancing down at her now soaked jeans and t-shirt.
"We should -" She started, about to say they should leave with a grimace on her face, but before she could look over she heard Percy laugh, although she couldn't find what was so funny about the situation. She was wet and her jeans were starting to chafe and - and he had the audacity to laugh again.
Annabeth turned, fully prepared to glare at him in his lack of response to the current situation, but he laughed harder when he saw the expression on her face.
She scowled. He was - was laughing at her, and she didn't like it.
"Come on," He said with a grin. "We should get going." The ground next to them had turned to mud, and then there was another burst of thunder, closer this time.
"This isn't funny." She fumed, glaring at him as he rose to stand. "These storms can be dangerous, and we have no supplies, and -" She was cut off by his hand, offering his aid in standing on the muddy ground. She glanced at it cautiously, catching the mischievous glint in his eyes.
Annabeth took it, feeling his calloused hand wrap her own. She ignored the shiver that went down her wrist, but before she could think more on it, he was falling. She noticed too late, she couldn't tear her hand away in time, and she watched as he started laughing again mid fall, pulling her down with him. They landed with a splash, mud spattering her clothes and hair.
"Percy!" She meant to growl at him, but it came out as more of a squeal of surprise.
He was laughing sheepishly though, and her lips couldn't help but curl, and soon she was giggling, laughing, with him. It was an odd feeling, but she reveled in it for the time being. Another clap of thunder, shocked the two of them though, and she realized just how close they were, her chest touching his everytime she inhaled, her right leg slipping between his - no, no - they needed to go - this was - she could feel her cheeks heat up, could feel the rush of that - that something in her lower stomach. He seemed oblivious, but she rolled off him quickly, pushing herself up in a burst of frantic energy.
He looked up at her, eyebrows knit in confusion, in disappointment.
She couldn't take it, looking away and biting out, "We should go." She started off towards the trail back to the house, but heard him scrambling to get up, to follow.
"Sorry," He breathed as he caught up, "I didn't - I mean, it was just fun. Sorry I pulled you down though."
Annabeth bit her lip. Like she gave a shit about that. A shower and some hot tea would fix a little mud. At least he was completely unaware of her inner turmoil, still bumbling on and on about how hopefully she wasn't hurt or something.
"I'm fine," She finally said, silencing him. "Seriously. It's alright." She tried to give him a smile, and although she thought it came out more as a grimace he seemed to accept that she meant it.
They walked mostly in silence, and as he pulled away from her house, giving her a wave and a smile, the idea came to her.
-0-
"Percy," She said, as soon as Piper picked up the phone.
Piper stuttered. "What?" The brunette asked, but Annabeth had already started talking over her.
"The idea," Annabeth stressed, impatient. "The idea we came up with on the hill. I think we should use Percy."
"Oh," Piper said, and Annabeth could hear her frown. "Annabeth, I don't -"
"It's perfect." Annabeth said, settling into the pillows on her bed, having changed into an oversized sweatshirt and a pair of ratty shorts. "He's perfect. We've been getting along recently, so it'll be easy."
"Annabeth," Piper sighed, "the idea was to flirt with a guy, maybe bring him to party, make Luke jealous. It was not included that we would fuck up somebody else's life in the process."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You're overreacting. Percy won't care."
"Right," Piper drawled. "So you're gonna tell him what the plan is?"
Annabeth didn't respond, just picked at a loose string on her sheets. "He won't…" She finally spoke, "It's not like he…"
"Is into you?" Piper snapped back. "Yeah, sure."
"Don't be silly." Annabeth sniffed. "There's no way he does - we just got over tearing eachother's throats out a few days ago."
"Whatever. I'll help you because you're my best friend still, but when this all blows up in your face…" Piper warned.
"Right," Annabeth said cheerily, barely listening to anything after I'll help. "You'll tell me I told you so."
Hey y'all, sorry this took longer than my other updates. It's also very short, but I had a ton written and wanted to split it into two so I broke it up here. Next one will definitely be longer. I started a new story called Olympia so go check that out if you want. Updates should be every other one so if you read that then you'll get more I guess haha. Anyways, the next chapter to this should be out within the week. Hope you guys enjoyed, review and all that as always!
-a
