Annabeth's week went out fine enough. She had reconciled things with Percy after the game on Friday, and then had a girls' night with Piper and Hazel where'd they just watched movies and relaxed.
Saturday and Sunday practices went good, the later practice followed by a study session with Percy. Her brothers had really missed her friend, and both were thoroughly excited to see him when he came into the house.
She talked to Luke on FaceTime almost every night, and things were good. She was happy. Happier than she had been in a while.
They won their game that week against the Jackson Tigers, her and Percy were studying again, Luke and her were good, and things were great.
Up until that Friday.
The boys had an away football game that they won, and when they got back Drew threw a big party. Annabeth was hanging out with Piper and Hazel while waiting for the boys to arrive, and she got the text from Luke: 'Can I call you?'
She was all smiles as she hopped up and ran out to the back patio to call him, thinking he just wanted to talk, until he started speaking. It all seemed to go by quickly for her. "Not gonna work out...too much distance...too busy...still want to talk...I'll always love you..."
She was in shock, frankly. What was she even supposed to say for that? Annabeth was never one to openly display her emotions, and even then it was rarely.
She was just shocked.
They'd only dated for about 5 months or so, but it felt like so much longer. They'd been talking for years, had been childhood friends... And now she was just supposed to throw that away. She remembered him saying he still wanted to be friends, and she remembered herself agreeing.
When she spoke she sounded as if someone had pressed down on her lungs and squeezed every single bit of air out of them. The phone call must've only lasted a few minutes at most, but it felt like years. When he finally did leave, she slipped her phone back into her pocket and walked inside, her face stony.
Inside she was breaking. Everything felt as if it was in pain.
She walked straight to the kitchen and grabbed the first drink she saw, gulping it down within seconds. She was four drinks in and getting her fifth when Piper walked in, smiling to herself. "Hey, Beth, the boys are-" she stopped in the middle of her sentence when she saw Annabeth.
They'd been best friends for some time, and she could clearly read the emotions in the blonde's eyes. Something was wrong and she knew it. Piper rested her hand on her friend's arm, biting her lip. "What's wrong?" she asked softly, her brow furrowed.
Annabeth drank down the fifth cup before she set it down, staring at the floor for a moment. The alcohol hasn't hit her yet, but she knew it would in a bit.
"Luke just, uh...broke up with me," she mumbled, not even wanting to say it out loud. It made her feel sick to her stomach. Piper sucked in a breath, and the blonde couldn't even meet her gaze. "Oh, Beth," she said softly as she walked forward, tentatively touching her arm. "If there's anything I can-"
"I'm fine!" the blonde snapped, getting herself another drink. She couldn't even meet her friend's gaze. She couldn't look up. "I'm fine." She looked down before chugging it, setting it down.
She was drinking to get drunk, and the brunette could tell.
Piper sighed and patted her friend's shoulder. "Alright. I'll give you a ride home whenever you're ready," she assures with a small smile before she walked out.
There's not much she could do. Her friend was too stubborn to admit needing help. Annabeth just needed to ride it out however she saw fit. The blonde was alone once more, and she grabbed another drink, leaning against the counter as she sighed.
It was gonna be a long night.
Percy arrived to the party with his normal crew of Jason, Leo, and Frank, and as soon as they got in the door they all dispersed to find whoever they were there for. Percy, of course, made a beeline to find Annabeth, which he eventually did.
She was seated on the kitchen floor, gripping a red plastic cup in her fingers like it was a lifeline. He could smell the booze on her from five feet away, and his nose wrinkled. She never drank this much. "Hey, Annabeth," he said with a smile as he went to stand in front of her. "I have to tell you about this dude in the other team, it was nuts. He-"
He was cut off shortly after by the girl in question, looking up at him with a glare. "You," She slurred as she struggled to get to her feet, having to pull herself up entirely with the countertop. "I-it's your fault."
His brow furrowed confusedly. "Uh...what is?" he asked curiously. She lurched forward, her face set into a deep scowl as she jammed a finger into his chest. "Luke and I."
She was cut off but a nasty sounding burp that made Percy think she was going to throw up on him, though it passed as she glared at him again.
Wait...what?
He just stared at her, his eyes wide. "Wait, what happened?" She sneered and rolled her eyes, stumbling away as she went towards the fridge. "Y-you heard me, asshole," she grumbled as she went to pour herself another drink from some bottles on the counter.
While she was pouring stuff, he walked towards her, gently touching her shoulder. "Hey, maybe you shouldn't drink anymore," he said gently. What he definitely wasn't expecting was for her to turn to him and throw the entire drink into his face.
His eyes and mouth were both open, so he got a nice taste of vodka and lemonade in his mouth and a stinging sensation in his eyes. He stumbled back, crying out in surprise as he raised his hands to his eyes, furiously rubbing at them with his sleeves to try and ease the stinging.
"Y-you asshole," she snarled, throwing the plastic cup at him. It hit him harmlessly in the chest, but he backed up nonetheless. "What? What are you talking about?" he pleaded, wincing as he wiped his face with the sleeves of his hoodie.
She gave him a murderous glare, and it was the first time he was afraid that she was going to actually kill him. "Y-you're the reason Luke broke up with me." He froze, and his eyes widened.
That, he didn't know how to respond to. "Wait, he broke up with you?" he asked as she took a step toward him, her face set into a scowl, her eyes fading in and out of focus. "Yeah, he did," she mutter, taking a swing at him.
It was a clumsy shot and he didn't even have to move, since she appeared to try to hit the air a foot to his left. "It's your fault. If you hadn't butted in, we would've been fine."
He understood she was just drunk, but there was genuine venom dripping from her voice. Wait...did she really think that?
She took another swing at him, and managed to get his shoulder. He sighed and gently grabbed her wrist, making sure she couldn't keep hitting him. "Hey, listen, I'm so sorry that happened," he said gently. "And I'm so sorry that it was my fault."
Truthfully, he didn't know if it even was his fault. Was that really Luke's reasoning? She snarled and jerked her hand away from his grip, pushing him hard in the chest for someone so intoxicated. "G-get the fuck away from me, right now!" she yelled, which began to attract attention.
He vaguely heard a lull from the rest of the people in the kitchen as well as those that could see them from outside the doorway in the living room. "Get away!" she yelled again, punching him hard in the chest.
He stumbled back a step, his lungs tightening up. What did he do?
As Annabeth continued cussing at him, rage filling every inch of her body, Percy felt a gentle hand on his arm. He arched his head to see Piper was the one who touched him, and saw Jason behind her with a look of confusion on his face.
Piper gave him a small smile and squeezed his arm. "Hey, it's gonna be alright. Let me handle this. I'll get her home alright. Why don't you head out with the guys, and I'll let you know what happens."
She had such a way of calming people down, and Percy's heart stopping beating so hard and fast at the simple sound of her voice. He just nodded, casting one last longing look at Annabeth before he walked over to Jason.
His cousin wrapped his arm around his shoulders, smiling. "Hey, c'mon. Leo and Frank are going to the car. We're gonna go chill at my place."
Percy just nodded, offering a small smile, and even as he left he could hear Annabeth cursing in the kitchen.
Piper had known Annabeth for years, ever since they were kids at summer camp together and Annabeth had stolen her juice box at breakfast one morning. She protested for a moment before the two became friends.
What a ride.
She had been with her through everything, from her parents' divorce to losing the state finals to when she broke up with her first boyfriend around the beginning of high school. Even through all of that, Piper had never seen her friend this upset.
Annabeth had this way of repressing her emotions, feeling the need to be and be seen as strong, and it wasn't the healthiest thing.
She was pretty far gone at the point where Piper was buckling the blonde into her car, her face set in a deep scowl and her clothes and breath reeking of booze. "I don't want to leave," the blonde complained as Piper slammed the door and walked around.
"I know, Beth," she sighed as she started up the car. "We're just gonna get you back to my place and let you sober up, alright? It's gonna be okay." She tried to make herself sound as soothing as possible, and she just had to hope and pray that it was actually working.
Her friend did quiet down over in the passenger seat, and opted to just stare out the window during the ride, which Piper figured was better than her swearing like a sailor.
She was glad Jason was there to handle Percy. They both knew that the raven-haired boy was into Annabeth, and the drink getting thrown on him and the cussing him out did a number on his sanity. Jason quickly offered to take his cousin home, which Piper was grateful for.
She missed the days where all of them could hang out together. She knew it would happen soon enough; that it would just take time and maybe some divine intervention.
When Piper pulled into her driveway, she turned the car off and went around to retrieve her drunk friend. The blonde could barely stand on her own, leaving heavily onto her friend as they headed inside together.
Piper walked them up to her room and set her friend on the bed before she walked to find her a change of clothes. They stayed in a state of comfortable silence together. Piper knew that if Annabeth wanted to talk about anything, she would.
What she definitely didn't want to do was press the freshly dumped girl into talking about feelings she didn't want to address. That is what she called a surefire way to get punched in the face by a feisty blonde drunk.
So, she got her a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt, helping her change out of her nice party clothes into the comfy ones before laying the blonde down in the bed.
Piper got her a glass of water and some medicine before she changed into her own pajamas. A calm silence still filled the room, and it was only broken when Piper flicked the light off and walked over to the bed.
That's when she heard quiet crying coming from where Annabeth was cuddled up under the blanket.
Piper's heart broke into a thousand pieces as she sat next to her friend, wrapping her arms around her. Neither of them spoke. They didn't need to. The contact and the notion of being there and being supportive was all the blonde needed.
She curled into her friend's arms and let herself cry for the first time since the initial call. She let everything out. Piper was glad she finally was letting herself feel something.
She would be there for her anytime she needed it, and was grateful that she was one of the people Annabeth felt comfortable enough around to let herself go.
The only words she ever spoke to her that night were when she finally stopped crying, laying there as a sniffling mess. Piper just gave her a tight hug and sighed gently, staring off into the darkness.
"This'll pass. You're going to get through this. It's all gonna be okay" The brunette smiled softly and looked down, vaguely seeing the figure of her heartbroken friend curled up tightly under the covers.
"You're the strongest person I know."
Annabeth felt numb. She wasn't even distinctly upset or sad or anything. Just empty, like her heart and her brain had just decided to take a sudden and indefinite vacation from her body.
She didn't want to eat. She didn't want to get out of bed. She didn't want to do anything but sit and stare at the ceiling.
It even took too much to make her brain work. But, she had to keep moving. She couldn't shut down. Not entirely anyway, and not during the time where she needed to be studying, practicing, or anything else.
So, she went to school. She went to practice. She smiled, she laughed, she talked like normal. Every time she was alone though, she felt everything weighing down on her.
Her smile melted from her face within seconds, her shoulders sagged, her mind took off again and she fell into a state of not being able to comprehend anything. Like when she sunk into the drivers seat of her car after practices, she just stared at the steering wheel for a solid few minutes, unable to even move to turn the car on.
She had to force herself to move, to turn the key, to start driving home. It was the same way when she parked in her driveway. The same lifeless, dead stare at her steering wheel.
It was tiring pretending to be okay. Exhausting, in fact. Everything hurt. Every step, every breath. Her lungs felt like they were full of shattered glass. Every smile felt like it sapped every single bit of whatever strength she had left in her body.
She couldn't eat much when she was at school, and she didn't eat anything when she was home. She just drank Gatorade at practice and hoped it had enough calories and sugar to keep her going for another day.
Some people might ask, "What's the big deal? You only dated him for a few months, it's not the end of the world." Yeah, they pose a good point. She understood that.
They hadn't dated for long, but they had been best friends forever. Ever since she was a little kid. Luke was all she'd ever known. He was her rock. To everyone around her she was strong, a leader, someone to depend on. She rarely found people she could lean on, and Luke was the main one. Her best friend.
What did she do wrong for him to leave like that? What was wrong with her? If he couldn't love her, how could anyone else? It gave her a lot more worries and a lot more questions than a breakup should.
That week went by slowly. Too slow for comfort. Every day was painful. Percy hadn't talked to her at all. He couldn't even look at her. Every day in calculus she would give him a quick glance, and every time she looked he was staring straight ahead at Ms. Dodds. At every class's end, he would stand right up and leave, one of the first out the door.
She couldn't blame him. After the stunt she had pulled at the party, she would've avoided herself too.
Aside from school, even every volleyball practice was excruciating. Even on game day that Thursday she could barely function. She forced herself to keep going, but she was severely subdued from her usual intense self.
Her coach noticed and sat her the third set against the Redwood Raiders. When she protested, Kim just held up a hand to her and went back to coaching.
Following their victory, she walked over to Annabeth, who was still sitting on the bench, and set a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, dear," her coach said in a soft voice, more caring than she'd ever heard. "You don't need to say anything. I know something is going on."
She sat beside her in the next chair and sighed, staring out across the gym where players and people were talking and the JV team was taking down the nets. "You've been off during practices, and you weren't all there tonight."
She looked over at the blonde and offered a small smile. "Take tomorrow off, alright? Get yourself in order and come back on Saturday."
Annabeth wanted to protest, but she couldn't. She just nodded weakly and dropped her head, staring down at her feet. Her coach stood, placing a hand on her player's back. "It does get better. Just keep up that Annabeth strength we all know and love," she said with a smile before she walked off, and the blonde was alone again.
She eventually did drag herself to her feet and to the locker room. She changed as fast as possible and headed out a back door to her car so she wouldn't have to see anyone.
Mainly Percy, but she didn't think she'd have a problem with that again. He hadn't even so much as looked at her all week. She didn't blame him, though.
On her drive home, she felt even more hollow inside. She should've been happy. They'd won tonight, they were still undefeated, and she didn't have to bother with practice tomorrow, yet she felt worse than ever. What were the odds of that?
She just spent most of her time thinking up ways to forget her problems, and most of the time she settled on drinking. Her parents would kill her if they found her taking alcohol from their stash, so instead she just decided to wait for the weekend, when she knew there'd be a massive party where she could get trashed and forget everything.
She just had to wait for the day to come. Somehow that was the worst part.