ix. Piper

Piper thought planning a date was easy. After all, it shouldn't be so planned and structured so as to erase any sense of spontaneity and make it dull and boring. It needs an element of surprise and a lot of impromptu lines and actions.

And she knows she breathes 'spontaneous'. So, there's really nothing to worry about.

Ha. Right.

As it turns out, Jason doesn't do spontaneous. He needs a plan; a well-structured outline to help him navigate his way to this 'double date thing'.

"We need a plan," Jason said as they walked down the hall to their next class.

Thinking that he was joking, she just shrugged carelessly. "Maybe we can just wing it."

"Uh, no. We can't just wing it," he protests. "What if we slipped and they saw right through us? Percy would feel so betrayed."

"We're doing this for his sake, he'll understand."

"But what if Annabeth figures us out? You know she's scary when she's mad. I don't want her rage on me."

Piper stopped walking and placed a hand on his mouth. "You're just overthinking this, Jason. Just act like yourself and be charming."

Red crept up to his cheeks. It's a good color on him. "Be charming, right. But the plan—I'll make one just in case."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Thanks, Pipes. And for the record, planning doesn't help me sleep. A good plan does."

"Yeah, yeah, big nerd."

5 hours later (2:07 am)

Piper: jASON hELP

Piper: HELP

Piper: youre right,,we need a plan

Piper: aRE YOU EVEN AWAKE/

Jason: I'm not.

Jason: Ha! So you finally admit we need a plan.

Piper: whatever,, tell me ur plan now, NOW

Jason: But it's too long to type in here.

Piper: ill call u

Piper: ALSO, sTOP typing properly, its just a text

Jason: I can't. It makes me cringe.

Piper: u make me cRINGE

Annabeth

"It's after school right?" Annabeth asks Percy, as she plops down on the seat next to him. She had already moved from her previous seat to this one, after realizing the benefit of being able to plan quickly for their ploy.

"Yep. Also, no need to dress fancy. It's just in this small diner downtown," he answers. He's wearing a good jeans and shirt combo today, which admittedly, brings out some of his good features.

"Right. They're never gonna back down, huh?"

He shakes his head with a frown. "I don't think so. When Piper has an idea, she tends to do it all the way."

"Guess we just have to brave their questions later. Don't act awkward."

"You too."

The hours pass by quickly, and before Annabeth knows it, she's already packing her things inside her bag. Her classmates dash around her, eager to get out of the classroom. Once the room clears out, a girl sitting a few rows behind her calls out, "Annabeth! Your boyfriend is waiting outside."

True to her word, she immediately sees him slouching on the wall of the corridor. Percy sends a sheepish smile towards her. "Hey. Thought I'd pick you up."

"Nice of you to think that."

"Did that earned me some boyfriend points?"

"Hmm. You have to do better than that," she says with a smirk.

"Eh, I think I did a nice job."

They walk quickly towards a brightly lit diner down by the road. The blinking red lights and the light jazz music playing in the background makes the place more inviting. They easily spot Piper and Jason on one of the booths beside the window.

Annabeth's hand darts toward Percy's, and surprisingly, he doesn't flinch.

He squeezes her hand. "Let's do this."

As they enter the diner, warmth immediately floods her senses. It's even more inviting inside, and she thinks that it might not be the worst date after all.

"Hey, guys! Over here!" Piper exclaims as she waves her arm in the air.

A wide smile quickly breaks onto Percy's face as he throws an arm to both Piper and Jason. "Hey. Who'd thought you two would be dating, huh?" he says teasingly, and he winks at Annabeth. What a kid, she thinks as she almost rolls her eyes, but decides to play along.

"Yeah. It was really a surprise. When did that happen?" Annabeth asks.

Piper shrugs and smiles slyly. "About the same time you guys suddenly got together. What a coincidence, huh?"

"A coincidence," Annabeth repeats and lifts an eyebrow. "Right."

"Maybe there's just a weird virus spreading inside the school sending love vibes everywhere. That's why everyone is suddenly getting together," Jason adds. "Who knows? Just a thought."

"You're probably right," Percy says. Jason high-fives him. "But I really think we should order now. My stomach is already complaining."

"Your stomach is always complaining," Annabeth adds, playfully, and she tilts her head in a way that signals, 'you should get along'. Thankfully, Percy takes the hint.

"You know me too well," he replies. He holds her hand above the table. Piper visibly frowns at this.

A waitress quickly takes their orders, and after that, Piper leans towards their booth with a new gleam in her multi-colored eyes. Like she's up to something really interesting. Or creepy, depends on how you look at it.

Annabeth doesn't like that gleam one bit.

"So," Piper starts, and she smiles at Annabeth a bit ruefully. "You and Percy are certainly an odd couple. Previously sworn enemies and now, lovers? That's a bit like a romance book story."

Jason nods his head like Piper made a good point. "I agree."

"We didn't really looked at it that way. But I suppose it shouldn't be too bad. We certainly got our happy ending," she smiles at Percy, and shrugs her shoulders at Piper.

"But it is an overused plot! It's really sketchy," Piper argues.

"Aren't you and Jason also a typical friends to lovers story?"

"Right," Percy agrees. "That's also sketchy. Also, you still haven't told me how you guys got together. I wanna know the story. Spill the beans."

Jason's eyes widen, like he doesn't expect the question. He turns to Piper with a desperate look in his eyes.

"Well, you see," Piper begins, "it's not that hard to believe at all. Considering we were friends first before we started dating, we've had a lot of time to know each other better. And I think because of that, that we were able to see each other differently, that we began to think if we could have something more. And we did just that."

Jason clears his throat.

"As for the story, uh, it may come off as a surprise, but I've already liked Piper for a long time. Whether it's just admiring her effortless beauty or her very engaging and charming personality, I've always liked her. But spending more time with her as friends did certainly help these feelings grow bigger," Jason says.

He turns to Piper with red cheeks and a nervous smile. "Also, I've been planning to ask you for some time now, but hearing that Percy and Annabeth got together gave me some courage to do it sooner. And here we are."

Piper, for all her smirks and sly looks, blushes a deep shade of cherry, like she didn't expect to hear the words from Jason. "Yeah, here we are."

For two people who are supposedly faking it, Piper's and Jason's reactions are surely nothing short of genuine. Annabeth briefly wonders if they weren't faking it at all, and whether they are just honestly concerned for Percy's well-being.

Piper briefly shakes her head as if to get rid of the emotions, and turns to her with a bright smile. "Anyway, enough about us. I want to know the reason why you like Percy. Other than he saves you like a knight in shining speedos."

"I was not wearing speedos that time!" Percy protests.

At that, Annabeth struggles to form a response. Piper and Jason sounded honest with their answers, and she wants to convince them too. She quickly scans her mind for reasons why she had been best friends with Percy in the first place.

"He's, uh," Annabeth starts as she fiddles with her fingers. She avoids looking at Percy and his friends, instead, she keeps her eyes down. "He's a very loyal person. He's also fiercely protective of his friends, especially those people who matter to him. Sally, especially. But more than that, what I admire about him is that he's willing to sacrifice a part of himself if that will make someone happy. I think that speaks so much about how he is in general. Of course, there are still a lot of his admirable qualities, but that's what I can think at the top of my head."

She glances up to Piper and Jason's stunned looks. A deep shade of red colors her cheeks. "I'm sorry, did I say too much?"

She still doesn't look at Percy, but she can feel the heat of his gaze piercing right through her. She knew she had said too much.

Piper looks at her in amazement. "I didn't think you knew each other for that long. I thought you were just—I don't know—enemies."

"But that's because we were friends first before all of these," Annabeth says without thinking.

"Even before you two were clawing at each other's throats?"

"Yes."

If possible, their eyes widen further. Jason looks confused as he looks at Percy. "But you never told us any of these."

"I didn't think it was that important," Percy says. Now that she looks at him, she notices that he doesn't try to meet her eyes.

"Yeah, but you could've just mentioned it, and that would've helped," Jason continues.

"I didn't see it as important then, I don't see any reason why it should matter now," Percy snaps.

Before Piper can comprehend what she's asking, she's already opened her mouth. "But if you two were friends before, why did you stop?"

At this, Percy turns to Annabeth with an almost smug glare. She doesn't like this turn of events. "I don't know. Why don't you ask her?"

Annabeth matches his glare. "Excuse me?"

Piper, Jason, and the people inside the diner fade into the background as her anger singles out Percy; whose green, green eyes are so kind she never knew he was capable of such anger and resentment. A part of her subconscious knows that she had a hand on what he feels now, but the bigger and more selfish part of her wants to keep denying it.

"After all, if you thought so highly of me as you say now, you wouldn't have left me, right?" Percy says, venomously.

"If this was still about what happened four years ago—"

"You know everything was about that!"

Annabeth inhales sharply, knowing too well what he was referring about. "That was a hard year for me, Percy. I never planned to leave. My mother—"

"And here she goes again. Yeah, your mother as always. Stop making excuses like—"

Annabeth didn't hear the rest of what he's going to say after her palm had connected with his cheek.

He looks stunned, like he never really expected her to slap him; to be honest, she wasn't expecting it either. But now that she did, she just wants nothing but to drown in shame.

"I need to go," she whispers, before dashing out of the restaurant into the hard pouring rain.

A/N: I know this is short. And I'm sorry this is super late, but I just really needed to finish that one heck of a term. I'm just now waiting for my grades to be released, and so far, I think I'm doing well. Anyway, sorry for this really crappy chapter. I know it sucks. This might not be the ideal double date you've been waiting for, but this scene had to happen for the next chapter to progress.

Also, I'd like to thank everyone who are still reading this despite the long months of inactivity. Thank you for being patient enough to wait for me. Now that I'm on a break, chapters will be posted more frequently as compared to the last three months of no new chapters. As to how frequent, I still don't know. But definitely better than last time.

Thanks again and bye!