Thanks, whoever you are and wherever you're from.
This is mainly a descriptive chapter…but it was really fun to do. I may have gone overboard a tiny wee bit. I know it's wordy and confusing, but if there's any questions lemmie know:)
ENJOY!
Chapter 2
-Friday 2:45pm-
Sally told Thalia that she would come with us to the "Big House" to help get me moved in.
Then, from the lobby I heard a voice –definitely a male- shout, "Mom, you in there? I'm here to get a truck, but I figured I'd step in and say hi first!"
Sally brightened up and said to no one in particular that, "Percy's here!"
She turned to me and said, "Come meet my son! He lives in the middle part of the house, and I'm sure he'd LOVE to meet you!" She put extra emphasis on the love part, and Thalia chuckled quietly behind me.
I was super confused now as she left the kitchen. We went to follow her, but she stopped us and told us to wait for her call. After a moment's delay, I heard her say, "Percy! I need you to unload the things out of the truck you're towing and put them in my car for me, please."
You could almost feel his confusion as she paused before explaining, "I found someone to fill Tyson's apartment, and since you're here, and you're a strong 20 year old, I figured it be nice if you'd help!"
Percy groaned, "Mom, I told you! I don't want some random guy living up there! It's-"
Sally stopped him by saying loudly, "Come on up!" I assumed it was for us.
I heard her quietly mention at Percy, "Who said anything about a guy? "
I looked at Thalia. She smiled and started moving us to the front. Percy was looking at his mom, so I got a moment look him over before he saw me.
He had on an old pair of faded blue jeans, and a blue t-shirt. The sleeves were cut and the holes torn to where large holes exposed a section of his torso. The Big 3 logo was brightly printed on the front in neon colors. His tan body was a little on the dirty side, and his arms shimmered with sweat, but they were obviously solid muscle. His shoulders were squarely set and his midsection had an unknown number of abs, which you could see outlined through the holes where his sleeves had once been. He had thick, jet black hair that was all over the place, and he had a little chin scruff that made his jaw pop out. Then he looked at me. His cheeks and nose were lightly sprinkled with freckles. I met his gaze, and felt myself just barely lean closer, trying to get a closer look. His eyes were this strange mix of green with just enough blue hues that seemed to be constantly swirling around, making you feel as if you were looking at the ocean.
He stared at me silently for a good 4 or 5 seconds before he shook his head and blinked a few times.
He stuck out his hand as he said, "Pardon me, my name is Percy! Nice to meet you...?"
I looked at his hand and thought to myself 'they sure shake hands a lot here', but I shook it anyway, "Annabeth."
He smiled and looked at his mom, "I'll go get those bags, Ma!"
After he walked away Thalia slapped my back and said, "HAH! Great, have fun with that! He's never acted that way with any of the other girls around here!" I blushed in response.
Sally grinned and started towards the door, "Thals, go tell Donny that it's just him up here for a bit would ya?"
As she went to go tell Donny (the cook I assumed), I walked with Sally to her car, just as Percy was closing the trunk of a white Honda Accord. He looked up at us for a moment before walking back towards the tow truck with my truck loaded up on it. Sally said to him, "Thank you, dear!", as she got in the drivers seat. I opened the door and got in the back seat. Thalia showed up a few moments later and got in the front.
She turned back to face me, "So, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other?"
I shrugged "Apparently! We will have to see how this goes first, but honestly, I'm still a little confused. I don't really know what just happened in the last, what? Hour? My truck died, and now I've accomplished almost everything I set aside months to do, in one day, all with the help of one woman? Can you...explain this whole situation to me? How does Big 3, and Inland Seaside Diner all work?!"
Sally, who had been deep in a text message since she got in the car, looked up as I finished talking. She put her seatbelt on and said, "You want the life story or summed up?" Thalia looked at her and then back to me, waiting for my answer.
"Well...I'm a detail person...so the whole life story would be grand." I said while my eyes switched between them.
They nodded and I felt the car begin to move. Sally started off by saying, "I met Poseidon on the beach 22 years ago. It was like love at first sight. I'd never met anyone like him! We clicked instantly, and after a while I met his family, and then we got married, and started our life together. Zeus is his younger brother, and he owns the towing company. Poseidon owns the diner along with the boats that supply the fish. The boys work with Z, and Thalia works at the diner with me. She's the only girl in the entire family. So it'll be nice to have another one around! Percy, Tyson, and Nico are the boys. Poseidon is on the coast with the fishing boats for a couple of days. So, it's just me and Perce at the house. Did I cover everything?"
"Who's Nico?" I asked, trying to connect the dots.
Thalia (who had turned to look at Sally while she talked) glanced at me and seemed to get a little red faced. She answered this one somewhat hesitantly, "He's like my brother", she held up her hands and gestured quotations around the word brother before continuing, "but also kinda my boyfriend. He is Hades son. Hades was Poseidon and my dad's oldest friend, and they started big three together, but when Poseidon married Sally and pulled out of the business, tension began to rise but they managed. A couple years back Poseidon finally just gave his share of the company to Zeus. Hades didn't take it well. Last time we saw him he left Nico behind. Dad took him in and we jokingly acted like we were brother and sister, but last year…well you don't need to know that part right now!"
I smiled in acceptance of her case and looked back at Sally, "So, why did Percy seem to be ok so quickly with me being above him?"
She gave a joyful laugh, "As if you don't know!"
I shook my head. Reading people had never been my strongest subject.
"I guess you'll just have to figure it out then!" she grinned slyly.
-3:03pm-
We pulled into the driveway a few silent moments later. On the left there was a shop sitting on the top of a hill overlooking a large pond, and on the right there was a very interesting three-story square building that had a different look for each story. It looked as if they had smashed three houses on top of one another, yet it was surprisingly pleasing to the eye.
It had a simple, white, modern rustic look to the bottom level, with a wrap-around porch and a tin roof jutting out from the bottom of the second floor to cover it. I could see a large 4-pane window to the left of the door that was off-centered towards the left, and two others to its right.
Figuring the first floor was Sally's, the second would be Percy's. I was just a plain and simple, light colored brick with a small circular window almost completely to the left. A 4-pane window a few feed to the right, a section of space, and another 4-pane. There was a separating roof again, with slate colored shingles.
The top was the coolest one. It was quite literally, a log cabin with a large fireplace set in stone in the same area where Percy's floor had nothing but space; a 4-pane window on either side of it.
"Wow." I said bluntly, "That's really cool, in a really peculiar way…"
"It's only a few years old. We cleared the land to build a house. We all designed what we thought the new place should look like, and after a lot of arguing we just put it all together. Mass chaos, I know. But, it turned out well in the end! Shall we take you up to where you'll be staying then?" Sally asked.
"Yes, please!" I answered earnestly. I grabbed my backpack and rolling suit case and tried to grab the box of my other things from my truck with one hand.
Thalia came up and took the suitcase, mumbling something that sounded like, "Might as well make myself useful."
I followed Sally up to a door, and she opened it saying, "This is the front door, obviously, and there's a staircase all the way to the left that goes up all three stories." We headed up the stairs, passed Percy's floor, and ended up at the door to my soon-to-be floor. It swung open effortlessly, and I stepped into my new place. It was a beautifully crafted space that was very spacious, seeming almost like a well lit forge or something, warm and welcoming with a vibe of stability.
There was the kitchen and living area in one big room separated by an island/dining area. Towards the back there were two doors I assumed led to the bed room and bathroom. The wall perpendicular to it had one window beside the fireplace, with a 60 inch flat screen hanging on the section of stone above the mouth of the fireplace. In-between it and the other window there was a wood pile. I looked closer and saw a surround sound system, a PS4, an Xbox, and a few other gadgets along with an arsenal of DVD's and games. A dark leather couch sat in front of it all. On the connecting wall, there was a large desk with a wall lamp folded neatly to the side, and a rolling chair pushed underneath. A beautiful round shield with a coat of arms, two Greek swords crossed behind it hung on the wall overlooking everything. The extra space on the wall after was used for a few small, but beautifully crafted metal sculptures and picture frames, some with pictures of family, and some empty.
The kitchen was simple, with a stainless steel fridge on your left, flush with the wall, right as you walk through the door. An L shaped, burnt orange clay counter, tiled with dark, multi colored stones, ran along the wall. Rough wood cabinets ran along the entire bottom of the counter, starting after a small oven/stove that was right next to the fridge. A stainless steel microwave was hanging below one of the cabinets that hung down from the ceiling, spreading after the fridge and ending at the corner of the wall, leaving about three feet of space that was painted brown from their bottom, to the counter below. There were three large circular windows lining the dark grey wall above the longer side of the counter top, with some bronze colored shelves spaced out around them and an empty 4 square bookshelf on the wall next to the end.
I looked at the bar separating the kitchen and living room. It was a beautiful island made of this giant slab of tree trunk that had been cut down the middle, to raise one side half a foot for the dining area that faced the living room. There was a large, stainless steel sink, with a faucet sticking out into the middle on the lower side that faced into the kitchen, and it had two cabinet doors below it. 4 hand-crafted, tall pewter chairs with leather cushions sat around the dining side. The floor of the kitchen was dark stained concrete. The rest was dark stained wood with diagonally alternating grain layout. There was one odd square section that was a lighter shade in-between the couch and TV. The right side walls were antique looking rough wood planks of different shade. The back walls of my room and bathroom were painted a lighter shade of grey. Everything was finished and painstakingly detailed. Bright ceiling lights were in the kitchen, and barn lights hung down from everywhere else. There were lanterns here and there that seemed to use actual fire but when I got closer, I found they produced no heat.
I was in awe! "This is amazing. What kind of wood is the island made of? Is that real fire? Who made the sculptures and everything? The TV is so big! I don't know what to do with myself…I'm afraid to touch anything." My excitement and hesitation was evident as I hurriedly mashed all my words together.
"Tyson did everything, we just gave him the supply money and he did the rest. Let me see if I can remember everything you said, and I'll try to give an answer." She said laughing sweetly," He and Percy took a trip to Louisiana one morning and they came back with a chunk of ancient cypress that had been under the water for decades. Tyson made the majority of the things here. He can do some amazing things with his hands. He spent two months locked in the shop trying to come up with a fire-like flame that was harmless; that's the result. Pretty cool, huh? He's a big guy and wanted a big TV so he actually made a bunch of sculptures and stuff out of scrap metal and wood and sold it all at the Goode Trade Days. He made enough to get an even bigger TV than he wanted, the sound system, and the gaming systems!" She had a small smile on her face, as if she were reminiscing on a fond memory.
"Are you sure it's ok I stay here? It seems wrong to just come in and take it...especially with all the electronics and hand made stuff and everything. I don't want to take over his space." I said quietly, looking away.
Sally put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, "Well someone needs to use it! And I think you're the perfect one for the job!"
Thalia set down my bag, and said something about going downstairs and raiding Percy's fridge. I watched her walk away in slight disbelief! They were a strange family.
I walked to the back and opened the door on the right. Discovering it was the bathroom; I turned on the light, and found it to be completely barren of everything but a dark tiled walk in shower with a glass door, a toilet, and a simple sink. The walls were blank. Curious I walked to the bedroom and opened the door to find it completely barren with white walls also. There was a queen sized bed with a simple wooden frame in one corner and a closet on the right.
Sally saw that I was confused and said "He was never satisfied with one color, constantly starting over on these rooms and when he left he took out all his stuff and painted the walls white," she held up her two hands and put invisible quotation marks in the air, "so the next person could do whatever" she said in a slow deep voice. She dropped her hands and smiled before returning to her normal voice, "As soon as you get settled in to can paint them any color you want!"
I smiled gratefully, and she continued, "But for now, I'll leave you to your own devices. Dinner is at 6:30 down on the first floor, and you're welcome to join us. Tomorrow we open up at 11, and you can ride over there with me if you want, but the kids don't work on Saturdays or Sundays. Maybe you can hang out with them and get to know some people in this town! Oh, and Zeus said your truck was in need of some major TLC… said it would take him a day or two, so just let us know if you need to go anywhere or anything, and we will take you." With that, she smiled, and walked away.
Thanks for reading! Might as well read the next chapter too, right?
