42. Iron Man 3

Thalia was still a little surprised, but nonetheless happy she didn't have to deal with suspension. She lay on her stomach on her bed as she read Pygmalion for her English class. In the solidarity of her room, she kept trying to pronounce the words the way Eliza did.

"How do you do?" she said in a deep voice. "How do you do?" she said, changing the pitch each time she said it. "How do you do? How –" she stopped when she heard a light scratching sound. She looked around, but didn't see anything. Plus, what could it be? It was like 9 at night. She kept reading, speaking Eliza's parts in her best impersonation when she heard it again. She stood up, placing the book face down, but open to not lose the page she was on. Then, she heard it again. It sounded like something hard hitting her window. She walked towards the sound and sure enough, she saw something dark hit her window. Okay…

She unlocked the window and tugged it open. She stuck her head out, only to feel something pointy and hard hit her forehead.

"Ow!" she complained as she rubbed her forehead.

"Sorry!" a voice came from down below. She leaned further out to see Percy standing under her window.

"What are you doing? Why'd you hit me?!" Thalia complained. Percy opened his hands.

"I didn't see you!" he said embarrassedly.

"What? Are you blind?" Thalia called down. His eyes darted around as his hands slipped into his jean pockets.

"The light from the light post was in my eye," he said. Thalia laughed and rested her chin on her knuckles.

"So, what are you doing here? Besides throwing rocks at my head?" Thalia asked.

"You wouldn't answer your phone!" he said.

"Whoops," Thalia said flipping her hands out, not the least bit sorry. Percy rolled his eyes.

"Can I come up? It's kind of chilly down here," he pleaded as he rubbed his bare arms.

"Why should I? It's not like you've done anything for me," Thalia said, smiling evilly.

"You are a devil spawn," Percy said, trying to go for a serious look, but failing and breaking out a toothy smile. Thalia rolled her eyes.

"You gonna murder me?" she said, as she stepped out and loosened the ladder.

"Nah, left my machete back at my apartment," he smiled. Thalia chuckled. The ladder dropped and Percy climbed up. She crawled back into her room and sat on her bed. She looked around to make sure she hadn't left any dirty clothes lying around. She would probably die if she had a bra or a pair of undies on her floor for the world to see. Luckily, it was clean, except for her guitar. She quickly grabbed it and shoved it under her bed right when Percy jumped in. He smacked his hands together to get rid of the rust from the ladder.

"Okay, so why were you calling me?" Thalia asked, as she sat on her bed. Percy went to sit next to her, but she pointed towards the chest. He rolled his eyes and sat down on the chest across from her.

"I was going to invite you to come with me to the beach tomorrow," Percy said. He looked around her room as she pondered it.

"Oh… Me? In a bikini? At a beach? Hmm… No," she said. Percy chuckled. "Beaches aren't my thing."

"Okay… so what do you want to do?" he asked, his green eyes watching her intently. She still couldn't figure out why someone as handsome as him would want to be with someone like her. She wasn't special, she wasn't even that pretty. She shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs; his black hair falling into his eyes. He casually flicked it out of his way as he pursed his lips.

"Okay, how about the movies? I hear they've got Iron Man 3 and people say it's awesome!" he said, getting excited.

"Sure, I love Iron Man," she said. Percy smiled.

"How much do you know about him?" Percy asked. Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"Is this one of those "is my girlfriend cool enough" tests?" Thalia asked. Percy raised his hands.

"Depends how much you know about DC," he said, sending her a crooked smile. Thalia stood up.

"Slick," she smiled confidently. "I know enough about Iron Man to know he's Marvel," she said, crossing her arms. Percy laughed.

"You caught me," he said. He walked over to the window. "So, what time you want to watch the movie?" he asked, as he stuck one leg out the window.

"I don't know. Like eight?" she said.

"Well, if you want to get up that early…" Percy trailed off as he stepped out.

"At night!" Thalia said, walking up to the window.

"Oh… right," Percy said, sending her a wink.

"You're such an idiot," she laughed.

"Yeah, but remember, you're dating the idiot," he said, as he bent down and gave her a kiss. She found herself getting up on her tip toes to reach him. She hated being so much shorter than him. He nipped her lip before he turned and started scaling down the ladder.

"Pick you up?" he called, half way down.

"I think I can get to the theatre on my own. I'll meet you there," she said. She watched him as he jumped off the ladder and strode out onto the sidewalk. He turned and disappeared. Thalia pulled the ladder up and closed her window. She felt a lot better with his short visit. She had momentarily forgotten everything that she hated, and her muscles didn't feel as wound up. She marked her book and took a shower. She took her time, feeling the water rush over her skin. She imagined she was washing away everything screwed up in her life and that it was all washing down the drain. If it only it was that easy. She hopped out, got dressed and went to bed.

She had hoped she wouldn't have any dreams, but of course, nothing ever went her way. She was in the middle of a New York street, but it was completely abandoned. No cars and no people walking around. It was in front of her building, she could tell that much. There was a slight breeze, which disturbed all the trash that was piled up on the sides of the street and on the sidewalk. She turned around, wondering what was going on when she saw someone standing next to her.

It was Percy. She was about to say hi, when her mother appeared behind her. She whipped around, catching another figure materializing behind her; a blob of changing faces. She stared at the floating object with changing faces and when she glanced at her mother, she realized she didn't have her swollen belly. The blob must be her unknown sibling. That only made Thalia's skin crawl. She looked away, not wanting to look at the disturbing and distorted figure. There was a loud sound, frightening familiar to a gunshot sound and her mother collapsed to the ground. Thalia ran toward her mother when the sound went off again. She spun to see the blob of an unborn child melt into goo. Thalia screamed.

That only left one person.

"Percy! Get down!" she yelled, as she ran towards him, but the sound went off and he collapsed. Thalia jumped forward catching him in her arms.

"No!" she yelled. His white t-shirt turned scarlet red and when she looked down, a smoking gun was in her hand. Percy's green eyes looked at her.

"Why?" he said in an old and spooky voice that seemed to drip betrayal. Thalia screamed, sitting up straight in her bed. She shuddered. She pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them. That nightmare was terrible. It had been worse than all the others. She tried to take deep breaths and calm herself down. She looked up and sunlight was trying to pass through her thick purple curtains. She shakily got out of bed and opened the curtains, getting a mini headache as the sunlight smacked her in the face. She glanced at the clock on her table; 10:43 AM.

She walked into the kitchen and pulled out some Coco Pebbles. She had to do groceries; there was barely anything left to eat. She poured some milk into her bowl and walked into the living room. She turned the news on and sat back, enjoying the chocolate goodness.

"Rumors of the family gambling are spreading. Though some believe it is the sudden drop in the stock market that is bringing the famous family to their knees," a news woman spoke. Thalia rolled her eyes. She figured they were talking about another celebrity they had no business talking about. Seriously, don't they have lives of their own?

"Regina Tempalwhirl refuses to give comment on the issue, but she does assure us that the rumors are exactly what they are, rumors." Thalia sat up. Tempalwhirl? As in Cindy Tempalwhirl? Thalia knew Cindy was rich and very snobby, but to be considered famous? Thalia decided she should probably watch the news more often, but she had enough of Cindy already. Plus, as much as she hated her (and she hated her a lot), but somehow watching her problems so publicly felt wrong. It wasn't fair. Before she could second guess herself, she changed the channel. With a sigh, she leaned back, put up her feet and watched 27 Dresses.

She spent the entire day criticizing the blonde in 27 Dresses, but admiring her best friend; wondering how cool it would be to work at a museum where things came to life, thinking she would totally love a car that transformed into a kick ass robot and studying the effectiveness of Hannibal's plans and applying them to Cindy (it's not like she's going to do anything, but a girl can dream right?).

An hour before 8 she hopped into the shower. She loved her showers; warm water and absolute silence. Nothing was more perfect and no place was better for thinking. She stepped out and wrapped a towel around her. She stood in front of the sink and wiped the mirror to brush her teeth when she saw her long black hair hanging below her shoulders. She grabbed the tips and frowned. Long hair didn't frame her face right. She pursed her lips.

She walked into the kitchen, grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer and ran back to the bathroom.

"Here goes nothing," she murmured as she grabbed her hair and cut it. About three inches worth of hair tumbled into the sink. If she wanted to change her mind, it was too late. Not very methodically, she cut around her head; hair littering the floor and clogging the sink. The more she cut, the more excited she got. She was beginning to look like her old self again and it felt liberating. She cut some ragged bangs that slid to the left, hanging right on her eyebrows. She pulled out her mother's old hair dryer and pointed it at her hair. She didn't bother with taking the brush and straightening it out. She just shook her hair and let the dryer do the work for her. When she was done, she looked in the mirror and couldn't help but smile.

Her hair was now around the middle of her neck, and the different lengths looked spunky and her bangs made her icy blue eyes pop even more. You could see her freckles better as they lay scattered over her nose and across her cheekbones. It looked like a whole new Thalia. She blew the dryer like it was a smoking gun and put it away. She skipped into her bedroom and got dressed; pulling on a pair of jeans, her ankle boots, a black tank with a black and blue, slim hoodie.

She left the apartment half an hour before 8. She tried not to sweat, because she hated smelling and looking gross. She wondered if she would have to call him, but she didn't need to. He was squatting down with his back against the wall as he held his phone in his hand. He seemed concentrated, biting his tongue as he looked intensely at his phone. Thalia stepped in beside him and squatted next to him.

"Assassin's Creed. Nice," she said, making Percy jump.

"No- aw!" he said, as he fell off a building and plummeted to his death. Thalia laughed.

"Oops," she said in her not-so-innocently way.

"Now I'm gonna have to start all over again!" Percy complained as he stood up and tucked his phone away.

"I feel so bad for you," Thalia said with fake sympathy. Percy cracked a smile.

"I like your hair," he said. Thalia suddenly felt self-conscious, but she nodded, forcing herself not to touch her hair.

"I've already got our tickets," he said, whipping out two small white pieces of paper.

"I can pay for myself!" Thalia burst. She hated when people bought things for her or even held the door for her. She could do things on her own perfectly fine. She's done it for ten years. And she's been doing pretty good.

"It's just a ticket –"

"No. I don't like it. Here," Thalia said, pulling out a ten.

"Thalia, that's what boyfriends do. They buy tickets for their girlfriends," he said, wiggling the tickets. Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm not a typical girlfriend. Now take the damn ten," she said, slamming it in his hand. She picked the tickets and walked into the theatre.

"Okay, okay," Percy said as he caught up to her. One of the guys that worked at the movies checked their tickets and pointed them in the right direction. They bought a large popcorn and soda and walked into the theatre, picking seats all the way at the top. She wiggled in, hearing the crunch, crunch of popcorn as she walked towards the middle of the isle and sat down.

Since Iron Man had been out for a while now, the room wasn't as full as it probably was before. Thalia held the popcorn, stuffing handfuls of the butter covered heaven in her mouth.

"Leave some for me," Percy teased. She chucked a popcorn at him and he stuck his tongue out. They had finished the exploded kernels by the time the movie started. Thalia pulled her feet up, leaving the empty bowl of popcorn on the floor.

About twenty minutes into the movie she felt something touch her hand. A little jolt went up her arm as someone else's fingers entwined themselves with hers. She wasn't sure if the sudden speeding up of her heart was good or bad. She left her fingers limp, wondering if she should rip her hand away or let him hold it. Percy looked at her and softly squeezed her hand. He smiled as if trying to tell her that it was okay. And it was. She wasn't even sure why she was putting so much thought it something so common.

Chewing on her lip, she curled her fingers around his.

Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews :) So, I don't even remember when Iron Man 3 came out, but I'm not really bothering with that time, just pretend it was out already. I hope this chapter was okay. I know it doesn't have as much fluff as the previous fluffy chapters, but it's a real relationship and real relationships aren't always lovey dovey XD I hope you liked it :)