Percy leaned his head on his hands as he stared adoringly at the girl next to him. Her eyes were narrowed at the whiteboard as the teacher wrote, and she pouted, scribbling down on her notebook. She hated physics, apparently.

Her blonde hair was braided today, reaching all the way to her waist, and she was dressed in a fluffy jumper. She looked gorgeous.

'You know,' she spoke up, 'The reason you're probably failing is because all you do is stare at me.'

Busted. Percy sat up sheepishly, grinning down at the girl next to him.

'It's your fault. You're distracting.'

She rolled her eyes and nudged him, just as the teacher shushed them, and focused back on the board. He chuckled slightly, and faced the front.

It was getting harder to just be her friend. The more time they spent together, and the closer they got, the more he felt the overwhelming urge to pour his heart out to this girl. It had been about three weeks since he first sat next to her, and they had had about 5 tutoring sessions. They mainly took place at his house, but tonight she asked if he wanted to come to hers instead.

'My family are staying at my stepmoms parents tonight, and i need to cat sit. You can still come round though!'

He was really excited to see her house. It sounds creepy, he knows, but he loved everything about Annabeth, and being able to see where she called home made his heart race. It felt like they were moving forward, and this was a progression in their relationship.

They agreed for him to show up at 7pm, she said she had something to do beforehand, and parted ways, Percy already eager to see her again.

God he was whipped. And he was completely fine with it.

————————————————————-

Percy's eyes widened as he knocked on the Chase's front door, and it swung open to reveal his best friend Piper.

'Piper?' He asked in shock, causing the girl to giggle.

'Don't worry! I'm leaving I'm leaving! Wouldn't want to interrupt your date!' She whispered the last part, causing Percy to raise his eyebrows.

'It's not a date!' Percy protested, and Piper laughed as she pushed past him, yelling goodbye to Annabeth and hopping in her car.

Annabeth appear at the door, and grinned at Percy, opening the door wider for him to walk through.

'You know, when you said you had something to do, i didn't think you meant hanging with my bestie!'

Annabeth laughed and motioned for him to take his shoes off, which he did.

'About that, we are going to have to have a custody battle or something, because i want her to be my bestie too.'

Percy frowned down at Annabeth, humour lacing his tone.

'Bring it on Chase.'

She laughed and turned to walk further into her house. He followed her into the living room where she flopped onto the couch, and sat next to her.

He scanned the walls, seeing lots of pictures of her father and her stepmom, with two little boys. Ah, they must be Bobby and Matt. He continued to glance around, and only found one picture of Annabeth and her father, placed on the windowsill, hidden slightly behind a curtain.

'Yeah, um, my stepmom redecorated when she moved in.'

He stared at her sadly and reached over to take her hand in his, giving it a little squeeze.

She smiled up at him and shuffled slightly closer to him.

'Okay, lets do this.' She spoke, pulling her hand from his and grabbing her laptop.

They worked in comfortable silence for around half an hour, Annabeth editing a recent video.

He jumped out of his skin when something brushed up against his leg.

'Shit!' He yelled, causing Annabeth to laugh. He glance down and saw a little cat wedging itself between his legs. He let out a breath of relief and turned to look at Annabeth, who was still laughing hard.

She composed herself and leaned down to pick up the cat, placing it on her lap.

'Oh god im sorry! This is Sock, she has no sense of personal space.'

Percy grinned down at the cat, and put his and down letting Sock sniff him. Sock approached cautiously, before giving him a sniff, then jumping off the couch and running into the kitchen.

Percy looked offended.

'What does that mean!'

Annabeth laughed as she grinned at Percy.

'It means she thinks you smell!'

Percy shoved her and huffed slightly, muttering under his breath about the 'fucking cheeky cat'.

He watched as Annabeth glanced down at her phone, smile leaving her face, and she sighed softly.

His eyebrows narrowed as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She snapped out of a trance and smiled at him softly.

'Are you okay?' Percy asked gently.

Annabeth lifted her legs from the ground and brought them up to her chest, cradling herself.

'Nothing, it's silly.'

Percy frowned and put his work down on the floor, staring at the girl intently.

'If its upsetting you it's not silly Beth.'

She signed again and moved her laptop to the floor.

'Ethan thinks Luke is cheating on me.'

Percy froze, eyes widening. Who would cheat on Annabeth? She was perfect!

'Why does he think that?' He asked.

She shrugged slightly, pulling on her sweatshirt nervously.

'He's just been acting really weird. Like, Ethan caught him in a couple lies and i asked him about it, he denied everything of course and i feel bad for not trusting him. But i don't know, Ethans convinced he is, he keeps texting me about it. I don't know what to do.'

Percy looked at the girl in front of him. She looked broken, and he could see the tears gathering in her eyes that she was trying desperately to blink back.

He hesitated, deciding on what to say.

'Well,' he started, 'If he is, then he is the dumbest person alive. He doesn't deserve you, and you were always too good for him. There are so many people that would jump at the chance to date you.'

He swallowed and avoided her questioning gaze, but continued,

'You really are the best, Annabeth. Don't let him make you feel like you are worth any less.'

Silence filled the room. He saw Annabeth nervously bite her lip in the corner of his eye, and he felt her hand grasp his and give it a squeeze.

He raised his head and looked at her, she looked so small, so vulnerable, but so beautiful. It made his heart flutter.

She stared into his eyes, and he could feel her playing with his fingers.

'I think,' she started, levelling her gaze with his, 'i think i need to break up with him.'

Percy was in a trance, and nodded in agreement.

He leaned forward slightly, her head now only a few inches from his, and he heard her breath catch. He squeezed her hand in reassurance and he felt her move closer too.

His nose brushed against hers, and he felt her hot breath on his face.

'Percy - I can't. Not until i've broken up with him.'

'Fuck him.' Percy replied huskily, moving to close the gap.

He was a few millimetres from her lips. Just a little closer -

'MEOW!'

They both sprung back from each other, and Percy glared down at the floor, where Sock was standing. He didn't know if cats could smile, but he swore that sock had the most shit eating grin he'd ever seen in his life.

Annabeth sighed a little dejectedly and squeeze his hand once more, before letting go and sitting back, picking up her laptop again.

Percy's breathing was heavy, and he turned to stare at her, heart pounding.

She needed time, to figure everything out. He knew that. But as he stared at her, nervously tapping on her laptop as Sock jumped onto her lap and settled, he wholeheartedly believed she would be worth the wait.

She smiled apologetically at him, and he sent her a grin back, picking up his homework.

Yeah, she's definitely worth the wait.