12. Tetris

"You're doing it wrong," she said as she watched him struggle helplessly.

"Am not," he complained.

"Percy, you're supposed to make them fit together, not stack them up," she said, as she saw the pieces pile up to the point of no return.

"I am!"

"You're doing it all wrong!"

"No –"

GAME OVER the machine called as it switched back to the menu. Thalia laughed and Percy let out a heavy sigh.

"I told you," she said smugly. "Who knew the all mighty Percy Jackson can't play Tetris!"

"You know… I asked you to join me to actually hang out, not criticize my gaming skills," Percy said raising his eyebrows. Thalia smirked.

"If you had any skills," she said, as she slowly turned and walked away. Percy ran after her and fell in step next to her.

"You know, I saved you from hours and hours of hard, hard homework," he said, exaggerating every word.

"Hours I'm going to have to make up when I get home," Thalia said, as she rummaged in her pocket for some tokens.

"No biggie," Percy said, as he looked around for another game to play. "Hey, you owe me a rematch." Thalia looked at him with raised eyebrows. Percy smirked and patted a racing game.

"You want to be beat again?" Thalia asked, as she plucked two tokens and shoved the rest in her pocket.

"You wish," Percy said, as he jumped into the seat and slipped the tokens in. Thalia slid into the other seat and pushed the tokens in. The thing she hadn't told Percy, and wasn't planning to, was that she was a pro at this game. Her father would bring her every Thursday night to play and even though he wasn't in the picture anymore, she still practiced. Winning the game and faintly imagining her father cheering her on. It was one of the few things she still enjoyed of her sad past.

The game started and she slammed on the gas, pulling up in front of him. Last time, he had been all about making fun, but now he was determined to win. It was a close race, each car only coming in seconds in front of the other.

"I'm winning this time!" Percy said, as he sped around a corner, almost hitting a cow. Thalia didn't say anything, but ever so slightly released pressure on the gas. Her Mustang that had been seconds in front of him, came in third.

"Ha!" Percy exclaimed as he jumped up.

"Oh darn," Thalia said, feigning defeat. She usually didn't bother letting others win, but she wasn't a cold hearted person. Percy smiled smugly, clearly unaware of her pity in letting him win. Thalia rolled her eyes and glanced at her watch. It was beginning to get late.

"Hey, I'm gonna head home. See ya," she said as she began to leave without waiting for a reply. She heard his quick footsteps behind her.

"Hey, come on. Why do you always do that?" Percy said, as he fell in step next to her.

"Do what?" Thalia asked, as she walked through the double doors of the arcade.

"Suddenly leaving without even letting people say goodbye to you," Percy said as they walked down the sidewalk.

"I don't know," Thalia lied. She never thought about it, or even really did it on purpose, but she knew why. It was all her father's fault. She knew it was stupid, but she hated it when people said bye to her. She always tried to hide her sadness whenever someone said something so simple and so common, because it reminded her too much of that fateful day that her father walked out. He didn't give her some last time advice, or soulful quote or even "I'll see you some day"; he had simply looked at her with his piercing blue eyes and said "bye" before he walked out of the door, never to be seen again. Being so young, Thalia had been deeply hurt and couldn't bear to always hear people bid a farewell to her and walk away.

Percy didn't say anything else about the subject, noting that she wasn't going to talk about it even if there was a valid reason.

"Can I walk you home?" he asked, casting a cautious glance at her. Thalia chewed on her lip, then she sighed.

"Fine, just don't be annoying," Thalia said as she shoved her hands into her pockets. She could almost hear his smile as he finally got her where he wanted her. They had walked a few minutes in silence, until Percy started to talk about his school; mostly mentioning one girl; Red. Red this and Red that.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Thalia asked, suspicious by the apparent close bond he described and the fact he had hit on Thalia before. His eyes opened wide.

"Girlfriend?! No way!" he said in disbelief and shock that Thalia had asked him such a question.

"Oh no? You certainly talk about her that way."

"Look, she's pretty and a good person, but we're definitely not together. We're friends, good friends," Percy said defensively. "And anyways, she can't date."

"Can't or won't?" Percy rolled his eyes.

"Can't. She doesn't really trust a lot of guys, mostly because a lot of them have been after her money," Percy explained.

"Money?" Thalia echoed.

"Yeah, she's rich. Minor detail," Percy said nonchalantly. Thalia snorted.

"Yeah, minor detail," Thalia echoed. Percy looked at her and smiled. When Thalia glanced at him, she caught something in his eyes she hadn't seen in a long time, so long she wasn't even sure that that was what she had seen. Thalia shook her head. The light's just playing tricks on me.

"But anyways, she's cool, you might like her. Once I was getting bullied, I mean, this guy was huge, not to mention ugly! But that didn't stop Red from throwing her hairbrush," Percy laughed, as he recalled the day him and Red had become friends. "It was the first day we met actually."

"I'm happy for you," Thalia said dryly. They soon arrived in front of her apartment building and she walked up the steps.

"Well, have a nice night," Percy said. The sun had been setting and now his black t-shirt was tinged with the softest red and his hair seemed to shine in the remaining sunlight.

"G'night," Thalia said as she went to open the door.

"Thalia," she heard Percy call as she opened the door. She turned to find him a few inches away.

"I enjoyed today," he said softly. "Even if you were in a bad mood most of the time," he added, a playful tone in his voice. Thalia forced a smile, even though she wasn't really sure how to react to him. When he realized Thalia wasn't going to add something to what he had said, he whispered another goodnight and left; his unruly hair whirling in the wind. Thalia watched him go for a few moments, before she turned and walked into the building and up the stairs.

She couldn't get the look Percy had giving her before he left out of her head as she opened the door to the apartment. She knew he was trying to tell her something without using words but whatever it was, Thalia didn't get it and soon after, she quickly forgot about it. She walked inside to find her mother sleeping soundly on the couch. Well, she can stay there because I'm not dragging her ass to her room.

She put a blanket over her mother and left to sleep. She threw herself on the bed after a nice warm shower and slowly drifted off into nothingness.

Okay, so I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and like always, tell me what you liked and disliked! Sorry if it seems kind of slow, but there's a key component in each chapter that will make a lot of sense in the end! :)