Encounters

AN: I'M SO SORRY PLEASE HATE ME FOREVER I KNOW I'M HORRIBLE. I'm sorry you guys junior year was a hell storm and I got swamped with school and ap testing and just everything im so so sorry you can hate me forever because I suck but here's the next chapter I'm sorry- ShyGal

Annabeth

I watched as Thalia turned and stared at herself in the mirror, running her hand over the forming bump on her stomach. In the light of her room, she appeared to be glowing. Her hair was a bit unkempt, reaching past her shoulders for the first time in a long time, and her skin was so pale it reminded me of the snow that was starting to fall outside. She was messy, but she was Thalia, and it was just so her. I could see how she caught Malcolm's attention. She held herself in such a way that her whole existence was a big middle finger to anyone who stood in her way or gave her any type of shit. She was just so confident about everything. Even when she was telling her parents that she had a human being growing inside of her body, she did it in the same way that someone would tell their parents that they were planning on moving out, or getting a new job, or anything.

"Why my brother?" The words were out of my mouth before I could reconsider, and as soon as I'd asked she turned around and met my eyes. They were such a bright blue, unlike Malcolm's dark blue ones, and I suddenly found myself imagining what their kid would look like when it finally made its way into the world. Thalia shut her eyes and then walked herself over to me, sitting down on the bed.

"You're going to be upset, but I need to tell you how this all happened." I let out a slight smile, thinking about Percy before shaking my head.

"Trust me, I think I might be more understanding than I previously was." She shot me a confused look but I shook my head for her to continue.

"So, remember when you were in that summer exchange program in freshman year?" I nodded quietly and curled my hands together. "Well, during that first month that you weren't in school with us, we got paired up in American sign language for this project, so I came over after school and I was teaching him signs and we just started talking to each other like we'd never really talked before. I think the real reason that I grew interested in him was because he wasn't scared of me like everyone else was. I mean, you know how it is at school. People are too scared to say shit to me because I'll rip them a new one. Malcolm didn't give a fuck if I ripped him a new one. We kinda balance each other out. He's the cool and collected one, I'm exactly the opposite. It just kinda worked. After the project, I started getting feelings but I was always really opposed to telling him because he was such a player, but then, remember when you broke your leg second semester of freshman? While you were in the hospital, Malcolm kissed me in your backyard, and I punched the shit out of him, but after that we were kind of in this secret relationship thing for a while? I don't know, it just kinda worked."

"You guys have been dating for that long? And you didn't tell me?"

"I know, this is why I didn't wanna tell you, I knew you'd get mad."

"No, I'm not mad, I'm just really…surprised?" I said truthfully, not meeting her eyes and instead shoving my spoon into the pint of ice cream I was currently consuming.

"Really?" I nodded as I raised the spoon up to my lips. Brief moments went by when we were both quiet, but then she grabbed my hand quietly and met my eyes.

"Annie, I really am sorry. I should've told you, and your anger from before was totally justified. And I'm sorry about taking him away when I did. If I had told you, you would've understood. I'm sorry." I could hear Thalia's voice getting thick with emotion and I shot her a smile. Hormones were definitely not Thalia's thing.

"It's okay, really. I'm over it. I'm just here to support you now. I love you."

"I love you too." And her smile was bigger than I'd seen it her entire life. This was the rare Thalia, the one you only saw once in a million years, with shining eyes, and pearly white teeth, and light in her spirit. That's the Thalia I would remember if something ever happened to her, and I was glad that I was getting to see her now. Suddenly, the door was opened, and in came Piper, her eyes sunken, her hair in her face, and tears streaming down her face. She looked angry and sad at the same time, and I honestly didn't know what to say. But, apparently, Thalia did.

"Was it Jason?" Piper was shocked as much as I was when this was said, but she shut the door quietly behind her and dropped onto the carpeted floor.

"How did you know?" She asked as I passed her the pint of ice cream.

"Pipes, I have experience dating my best friend's brother, I'm not exactly an idiot."

"Are you saying we were obvious?" Piper asked, eyes wide.

"No, I'm saying I'm intelligent. You guys actually did a good job of hiding it, but the long glances gave you away. So what'd he do?" Piper's face fell and she dug into her ice cream.

"I found him with another girl." She said quietly, and my face fell.

"What?" Thalia and I both asked at the same time.

"I was waiting for him outside the locker rooms and it'd been like twenty minutes and he wasn't picking up his phone so I started walking around, and when I turned the corner, he was there, kissing some girl by the wall." I shook my head in disbelief as she passed me the ice cream.

"Do you know who the girl was?" I asked quickly. Piper sniffled and nodded, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"Reyna, the senior?" Thalia proceeded to spit her drink all over her bed sheets.

"The soccer player? The one who's super mega hot?" Piper glared at her but Thalia shrugged. "I mean, I'm not happy he did that to you, but you have to admit Pipes, that girl's impressive."

"What do you mean?" I asked Thalia because I was mostly unaware of this famous Reyna.

"Annie, this girl is set up to be valedictorian, she's captain of the soccer team, president of our GSA, president of our NHS, speaks three different languages, and has a full ride to NYU. Not to mention she's hot as fuck, she's so stunning even Drew envies her."

"She is amazing. I mean she's so smart and empowering, and she's absolutely breathtaking." Piper mumbled absentmindedly, causing Thalia to shoot her a questioning look. Piper caught her eyes and straightened up. "I mean, everyone knows that, she has a reputation. I can see why he likes her."

"Oh come on, Pipes. Just because they kissed doesn't mean he's in love with her. Look I'm not defending him, but why don't you go talk to both of them, and get both sides of the story."

Piper leaned back on the rug and let out a breath, and I proceeded to follow her by lying down next to her. Thalia, staring down at us, joined us right away.

"I'm scared about this baby." Thalia admitted, letting out the biggest breath of her life. Surprisingly, none of us commented, or asked if she was okay. Instead, Piper spoke.

"I'm scared about my relationship, in more ways than one."

"I'm scared that Malcolm's gonna leave me."

"I'm scared that I won't be wanted anymore."

"I'm scared that my baby won't be healthy."

"I'm scared that my depression will get the better of me again."

And they sat there, for a good five minutes, exchanging fears and confessions. I remained silent the entirety of the time, until we came to a stop where neither of them talked. I closed my eyes and let out a breath, making fists with my hands and convincing myself I could trust them. I mean it would help to be able to talk to someone about the feelings that were currently wreaking havoc on my life. So I decided I'd take a chance and tell them, but as soon as I opened my mouth, my phone rang clearly and loudly, disrupting any chance there was for me to tell them. I picked up my phone, saw that it was Malcolm calling, and hastily swiped at it.

"Hello?"

"Annabeth, it's me Percy."

"Percy? Why are you on Malcom's phone?"

"Listen, it's a long story but to cut it short, Helen found the jewelry box in your room and went ballistic, she's donating everything. I know where everything is though, so please don't panic, I'll send you the address now, we're going to get everything back. Please don't freak out, I know how you are I know you're panicking right now but just please don't, stay calm. I'm going to hang up and send you the address and you're going to get in the car and it's going to be okay. I'm going to hang up now."

And he did. And then he sent me the address and I stared at it for a good two minutes while Thalia and Piper asked me what was going on to which I responded that everything that was fine but that I really had to go because I had some things I needed to take care of. Then I got up and I felt my feet moving me down the stairs and out the door and guiding me into my car until I felt myself driving to the address that had been sent to me. And I kind of just felt numb because this was such a Helen like thing to do.

I didn't really know what to think until I got to the donation site and saw the boxes dumped by the pick-up spot. Malcolm and Percy were holding the boxes of jewelry, looking into them all the way up until the point where I jumped out of my running car to see if everything was still exactly the way it was in those boxes. Things were banged up, some were out of place, but for the most part it looked okay and that gave me some relief.

"Are you okay Annie?" Malcolm asked after a couple minutes of watching me paw through the jewelry. I looked up quietly and nodded, biting my lip hard to stop myself from expressing how relieved I was that all of this stuff hadn't gone to waste. He pulled me into a hug and I leaned into the embrace because it felt good to know that he was still there for me even though he wasn't as much as he used to be. I avoided Percy's eyes even though I knew he was staring right at me, and instead turned around and walked back to my car with a box in hand, the both of them trailing behind me and putting things in the back seats after I opened the doors.

"Listen, I'll be okay. I'm not going to get shit on by Helen, but if you come home today Annie, you will and I don't want that for you. Do you think you could find somewhere to stay tonight, maybe Thalia? You can't come back home with these boxes anyway she'll kill you. " Malcolm said as I was getting back in the car.

"Not Thalia, I don't want her to know what happened because she was asking questions earlier, plus Piper's there, too many people asking questions and I just don't need that now."

"She can stay with me tonight." Percy said, speaking for the first time since I'd gotten there. I kept my eyes steady and once again avoided his eyes while Malcolm glanced his way unsurely.

"Really?"

"Yeah, Mom's working the late shift tonight, and I can sleep on the couch so she can take the bed, it'll be fine. Plus, she can leave the stuff at my house." He assured him, linking his own hands together.

"Are you sure?" Percy nodded as Malcolm raised his eyes at me shooting me a look to see if I was fine with this. I nodded back and his face relaxed. "Alright, but please watch out for her, Annie has nightmares sometimes." I cringed, thinking about the time I had woken Percy because of a nightmare. Obviously Malcolm never knew about it because as far as he was concerned, the first time Percy and I ever shared a room was in Florida.

"Alright, don't worry she'll be fine." And with that, Malcolm jumped in his car and started it, waiting until we made our way onto the road to get on his way home. The ride home was silent, neither of us making any effort to speak about anything. As soon as we got to his house, we unloaded the boxes from the back, and walked in without a word. It was when we were putting boxes away that one of us finally spoke.

"How are you?" Percy asked, breaking the silence. I set some boxes down and let out a breath. I don't think I could've talked to him while Malcolm was there because if I had I would've just broken down all together.

"I'm okay." I lied. I was not okay. I was better now that I knew that everything was okay, but still disturbed because of the fact that eventually, I'd have to go home and face Helen. Sure, it wouldn't be as bad if I went home now, but she'd still be pissed and I was not looking forward to it.

"Come on Blondie, you think I don't know you by now?" I huffed and risked a glance at him. He looked so concerned, his cool demeanor being blown by his clenched fists and drawn in eyebrows.

"Sometimes I wish you didn't know me."

"Why?" He asked as I shoved one of the boxes in the deep ends of his closet.

"Because I'm a mess. I brought you into all of this, and I'm internally freaking out because I don't want to go home to Helen any time soon but I can't stay here forever, and-"

"Hey." He interrupted, placing a hand on mine and halting my thoughts. "You're okay. I know you're scared and that's okay. I'll be with you through it all I'm not leaving you alone I promise. You're amazingly strong, which is why I know you can get through this. I'm glad I know you, you're an incredible person." I shook my head, trying to shake away the fact that the touch of a hand brought me so much comfort even though we'd been closer before and sat down on his bed. My head felt like it was running a thousand miles a minute and I didn't know how to focus.

"You wouldn't have these problems if you didn't know me Percy, you wouldn't have had to pack anything up today, you wouldn't have to deal with my mess."

"That's not true, Malcolm is still my best friend, I would've still been around if you decided to kick me out of your life." He said, sitting down next to me.

"Sure but at least your interactions with Helen would've been lessened if you didn't know me." He let out a breath and locked eyes with me. They were so bright and full of so many things that I couldn't read that I just didn't know what to do with myself other than sit there and stare back at him.

"Listen. I'm going to be there for you no matter what. You can try and kick me out of your life, you can ignore me, you can do whatever you want, but it doesn't matter because I'm still going to be here. I know you're more than capable of being able to care for yourself, but help is good too. I'm not trying to paint you as some damsel in distress because I know you're not like that, you're so strong and determined and wonderful, but I want you to be able to know that you can come to me if you need something. I don't care that you're dragging me into your mess because this is something important and I want to be able to help. I just want you to know that I'm going to be watching out for you, and that's not going to change if you decide to kick me out of your life."

And it was one of the very rare occasions in which I didn't have a comeback, or a witty remark, or anything. I just continued sitting there in silence, until I managed to say the word okay while gripping the comforters like my life depended on it, the minutes ticking by. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I felt a shift on the bed which turned out to be Percy getting up with a pillow and a blanket in hand.

"Where are you going?" I asked as he started walking towards the door.

"I said I was sleeping on the couch remember?"

"You're actually going to sleep on the couch?" I asked, legitimately confused. He raised an eyebrow at me, a smirk playing on his lips before he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Are you saying you want me to stay?"

"Are you being serious right now?" He shrugged casually, leaning against the door and I instantly knew that he was trying to get me to ask him to stay because he knew how stubborn I was and he knew that this would hurt my pride dearly.

"I mean I'll stay if you want me to, but I need verbal affirmation, I wouldn't want to impose or anything."

"Percy, come on."

"What? I'm just being nice, you're a guest you deserve your own space."

"Percy we've slept in the same room before."

"Okay?"

"We've slept in the same bed before."

"And?"

"WE HAD SEX." He cracked a smile and stared at me.

"That doesn't mean you want me to stay."

"This is not fair."

"I don't know what you mean. I guess I'll be going now."

"Seriously?"

"Goodnight." He drawled out, faking a yawn and opening the door. I rolled my eyes at him and crashed my face into my hands.

"Okay fine." I yelled out and he turned around in the doorway.

"Yes?"

"I want you to stay." I mumbled quietly, glaring at him in the process.

"What's that? I can't hear you."

"I want you to stay." I said a bit louder.

"Huh? Still can't hear you."
"God damn it Percy. I really would like it if you stayed." I yelled, falling back on the bed with my arms crossed over my chest. I heard his footsteps approach me as he shut the door behind him and before I knew it, he was leaning over me, his hands on either side of my head, our faces inches apart.

"If you wanted me to stay so bad you could've just said so, Blondie." He whispered quietly, the smirk never leaving his face. And then he backed away, throwing the things he had gathered on the bed and leaving me flustered.

"I really hate you." I stated as I sat up and backed up against the headboard.

"Oh really?" He asked as he joined me on the bed, flipping the TV on. "Because the color on your face says otherwise."

"I really really hate you."

"You love me, don't even lie." He said teasingly.

"I hate you." And the night went away in a teasing manner, with heartwarming moments, and a facade that everything would be okay.

AN: I know it's not all that great I'm not too proud of it but I felt bad waiting any longer because it's been like a thousand months. Anyway, leave me a review because reviews help me write faster and give me motivation, and also tells me if I did good or not. Till next time- ShyGal