I felt like I hadn't posted something in awhile, so here this is. Been in my docs for awhile.
Plus I missed the activity posting a new chapter brings he he.
Also, to anyone who follows me, keep your eyes out for a new big one shot I'm about to post. Started it last month and its now 30,000 words. Literally fingers on fire with this one. Calling it 'Lavender Oceans'. :)
Chapter 3
"Ah Mademoiselle," Percy's lips split into a large smile as Annabeth came leisurely into the bakery. A bubble of surprise skittering around his gut at her presence because she'd already been there that very morning.
It was near closing time too, and the sky had faded to a romantic shade of purple with deep orange streaks. Outside, the wrought iron victorian lamp posts were flickering to life and basking the streets in an artificial yellow glow.
She was not in her usual work attire either.
Instead, she was sporting a pair of tight jeans, a pale pink top that exposed her shoulders and a pair of tall stilettos. With her makeup done up like a goddess and a bit of bling coming from her silver bracelets and earrings, Percy was getting Annabeth vision all over again.
"I'm going to need four coffees, one with cream, and three decafs with milk. Plus a box of your finest assorted pastries if you don't mind good sir," Annabeth shot him a dazzling smile.
"As you wish," Percy bowed jokingly low. His eyes bright as he started assembling her order.
"Going out tonight?" he asked lightly while gently placing the sweets into a flimsy cardboard box.
"Ugh, the girls insisted we hit a bar tonight. You know how persuasive they are," she groaned dramatically while leaning against the counter. Her eyes wandering around the homey shop as if she had never seen it before.
"I also know how much you adore them, and how you would do anything for them. Including going to a bar," Percy rolled his eyes. A ghost smile on his lips as he started filling the foam cups with steaming liquid. He could feel Annabeth's eyes on his back.
Annabeth scoffed. "You know me too well. Honestly it's creepy sometimes."
"Likewise," Percy shot an amused look over his shoulder at her.
"You know you have flour all over your back," there was a smirk embedded in her voice.
Percy half heartedly shook his shirt in attempt to get it off. A light blush on his cheeks as he scoffed softly.
"Alison thinks she's soooo funny," he rolled his eyes while passing over the goods to Annabeth. A passive hand still swiping at his shoulders trying to get the white powder off the black fabric.
"Aw, leave the old bird be," Annabeth chortled. "Sprinkling you with flour is probably the only fun she gets."
"Not Alison. I swear that dame parties harder at the bingo rave than any other human."
"Is there even such thing as a 'bingo rave'?" Annabeth cracked another smile and Percy couldn't breath.
"For Alison, there's bingo raves," he deadpanned.
"Huh, so I've been hanging around the wrong people all this time," she crossed her arms with a mischievous glint shining in her eyes. "Clearly Alison is where it's at."
"Clearly."
Annabeth slid the large box and drinks over to her side of the counter and flipped out her wallet. Her hand thumbing through the contents until she was passing him over her bank card.
"Here, you know my code,"
Percy suppressed another smile. Adoring yet another one of her quirks.
Hates touching registers. The buttons feel weird.
Quickly he tapped the plastic card against the little device and chirped out a little 'Beep' in his best robot voice before offering the card back. A sly smirk curved on his face when he said; "Thank you for your service."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Just let me pay, you dimbo."
"No way. Its past closing time, I can't make a sale now."
"Percy-"
"It's on the house. You're supposed to have fun tonight, not stand there gloomily and demand to pay for pastries that will probably be stale by tomorrow."
"Percy-"
"I refuse, I refuse any sort of payment. You can't make me let you pay!"
"Percy!"
"Yeah?"
"Maybe if you gave me my card back then I wouldn't have to stand here uselessly."
"Oh," he mumbled while standing there for an awkward second more. His eyes lingering on her playful ones before he passed over the small card between his fingers. A smirk stretching across his face as she retracted the card and tucked it away.
It was a small victory, but against Annabeth he might as well of won a war.
"Well have a good night," she smirked at him. "Let's see if I can survive mine."
"You have coffee, you'll be fine," Percy chuckled in reply. "Night."
The bell dinged as she managed to open it with her free pinkie. She shot him a broad smile as through the glass of the door before it shut and her full curls bounced as she bopped down the steps. The running car in the front held the three figures of the eager party.
Percy couldn't wipe the grin from his face. Happy that the girls were taking her out, and that the bags under her eyes had diminished. Happy that she was happier.
He watched them pull out, revving the engine and beeping as they past the store front. A fleet of hands reaching out the windows to wave at him. Percy waved back as his beam broadened.
Two seconds later they were gone, leaving nothing but a ghost smile on Percy's lips and an almost helium feeling in his chest.
Just as he was about to swing over the loose chalkboard sign to 'closed' he noticed a slightly crumpled twenty curled up in the middle of the counter Annabeth must of slipped to him. The simple piece of crumpled paper was such a statement to her personality that he scoffed, but with a smile and humble shake of his head nonetheless.
Always has to win.
O
"Damn," Piper breathed from the passenger side. Holding her cup of coffee with both hands as if she were cradling something important. "Percy's far too nice to be the single guy. You need to find a nice girl for him Beth."
Annabeth snorted. A flurry of irritation rising in her chest as a few failed plots came to mind. The taste of her coffee suddenly seeming bitter.
"What do you think I was doing throughout my entire college life?"
"Studying?" Came the unamused response from the back.
"No." Annabeth scoffed while shooting Calypso a look through the rear view mirror. "Trying to set that stubborn boy up. I tried every single kind of girl on him. I even tried to set him up with a vegan goth who used crystals as a form of 'healing'."
Calypso chortled. "You really think Percy would date a girl like that?"
"Give me a break, I was getting desperate."
"How many girls did you try?" Hazel's full head of corkscrew curls came into view. Her soft golden eyes peering at Annabeth with a pure kind of curiosity.
"I lost count after a hundred," Annabeth snuffed. Gently easing the brake on as they hit a red light. The warm night drifting in lazy breezes through the open window. The smell of a greasy fry truck invading their area. It almost enough to give Annabeth a craving for the deep fried potato slices.
"A hundred?!" They chimed in unison. Sending each other looks as the light switched to green and they took off again. Their surprise and somewhat awe giving Annabeth a spark of satisfaction. It almost validated her untiring efforts which she thought as fruitless after every failed attempt.
"Yep. More than a hundred eligible, pretty, nice girls have passed Percy by," Annabeth sighed as they peeled onto a country road with far spread streetlights. Catching faint sniffs of turned over fields and stale water.
"Has Percy ever dated anyone?" Hazel asked loosely. Her eyes far away as if she were trying to picture a college aged Percy.
"In highschool I think he had a total of two girl friends." Annabeth reached back into the far depths of her mind. Remembering with a sour taste the vivacious redhead, and the slender brunette who once upon a time called Percy their own. "But they only lasted a couple of months and he stopped dating completely by Junior year."
"Junior?" Piper looked aghast. "Percy hasn't had a girlfriend since Junior year?"
Annabeth nodded. Feeling the same pinch of sympathy for her best friend as Piper was.
"Will he ever get married?" Calypso spoke the unsaid. The one question everyone was thinking but no one dared to asked out of general fear for the answer.
It was a good thing Calypso was fearless. I mean, she had to be. She was going to marry Leo Valdez for crying out loud.
"He better!" Annabeth gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. Trying to keep her focus on the road even though she was deeper into this conversation then any other.
"He's my only chance at kids who will call me 'Auntie Annabeth' and who I can spoil the dickens out of."
After a few lighthearted protests, Annabeth put a hand up to calm the crowd and smirked at them.
"Guys, be real here. Would you let me spoil your kids if you had any?"
"Well you spoiling kids would probably be getting them geometry sets, and architecture books," Piper teased.
"Oh stop," Annabeth snorted at her. Rolling her eyes as she heard the wave of giggles cascade from the backseat. "I know all the best junk food and candy stores, and you guys can't deny that. I'd be the coolest Aunt on the block. Do you really want me to spoil your future children?"
A somber silence filled the cabin of the car and Annabeth had to hide her smirk.
"Exactly."
"Alrighty Miss Candy Queen, how exactly are you going to get Percy married off?" Piper raised a skeptical eyebrow at her while swishing the remaining parts of her coffee around her cup. The darkness mixed with the mellow street lights making her look slightly eerie.
"I've given up on that dream." Annabeth confessed. "For now I've just been trying to prod him out of the closet."
"The what?"
"Oh my Tater, you think he's gay too?" Calypso squealed.
"Gay?"
"Do you girls not see it?" Annabeth shot Piper a discerning look. "There's no way a guy that nice, and compassionate and let's be honest; hot, would be single for over ten years unless he's got a little secret."
"Gay?" Hazel repeated. "Like, he likes guys gay?"
"Exactly."
"I totally see it." Piper looked shocked yet thoughtful. Her eyes wide and unblinking as she seemed to be connecting dots all over the place.
"After a certain point in college, I just came to this revelation that Percy wasn't taking to my matchmaker skills because I was using the wrong bait. And I didn't have any of those types up my sleeve so I gave up."
"Gave up?!"
"Yeah," Annabeth huffed. "You guys have never tried setting Percy up. It's hard. I had to become friends with all those girls to convince them to go out with my idiot best friend."
"But Beth, this is Percy's happiness we're talking about." Piper urged. "You have to know at least a few gay guys that would be eligible."
Annabeth paused. A string of excitement racing through her system as she realized a few key points. Her stomach all bubbly as she turned to Piper with a happy eagerness.
"I haven't thought about it in so long that I didn't even put two and two together!" Annabeth beamed at Piper. The brunettes smile broadening as the wind ruffled and pulled at her hair. "Oh my gosh! I finally know a guy that might make things change! Honestly, he could be perfect for Percy."
"Well let's give him a call!" Piper declared.
"I have a better idea! Detour girls!" Annabeth called over her shoulder. Wildly flipping the steering wheel so they dangerously veered through the lane of traffic.
Even though there wasn't actually any traffic.
Regardless, Piper Calypso and Hazel gripped whatever they could with wide eyes. Curses lying under their breaths as they came screeching onto another street.
"You're crazy."
"Obviously." Annabeth owned up to it with a wink.
O
Percy was confused when he heard the doorbell. It was almost nine p.m. so it couldn't be a sales person, nor a girl guide towing boxes of cookies. He wasn't expecting anyone, and nobody he knew would drop in unexpected either.
He waited with his breath held to see if they would persist. Honestly speaking, he didn't exactly want to deal with anybody tonight. He was on his couch halfway through planet earth's marine edition with a bowl of still warm popcorn.
All the lights were out, save for the ghostly glow coming from his small laptop screen, and he left his car parked in the bakery lot that was just next door, so it appeared as if no one was home.
Ding Dong.
The tone chimed again, squeezing a sigh out of Percy as he paused the well watched DVD and clambered out of his comfy spot from the couch.
In a few strides over the creaky floor, he was at the front door facing the very menacing shadow of a well built man cascading against the curtain in his window. The warm yellow glow coming from the porch light made if feel like a scene out of one of those horror movies Annabeth loved. Percy paused and wondered if he could get away with just not answering the door.
Diiiinng Dong
Percy scoffed and tugged up his sagging sweatpants. Grumbling mentally to himself before clicking the lock back and opening the door. Putting on his best I just woke up face to try and make this encounter as brief as possible.
"Pizza for Perseus Jackson?" A chirpy, solid voice asked. The delivery guy had a sly smile as if he knew some secret Percy didn't. Frankly it made him somewhat uncomfortable.
"Uhh…" Percy glanced dubiously at the large box gripped in both hands of the guy and blanked. Running a hand through his hair before he looked back up to the person confused. Wondering if this were perhaps was a prank.
The delivery guy, in truth, did look somewhat like a prankster.
He had a head full of blonde bouncy curls, and piercing blue playful eyes. With his deep set tan and athletic build he looked as if he should be out on the beach spitting out surfer lingo and riding mad waves till the sun met the horizon.
Not standing on Percy's doorstep with a random pizza and overconfident attitude.
"I didn't order a pizza." Percy pointed out awkwardly. Half of him feeling the urge to just grab his wallet and pay for the damn thing anyways. All he wanted was to get back to his documentary.
"Maybe the universe sent it as a sign." The delivery man shrugged.
"A sign for what?" Percy was on the edge of shutting the door.
This guy is kooky.
"I don't know, you tell me."
"Alright, listen… Will." Percy squinted at the small black name tag clipped against the guys obnoxiously orange shirt. "I did not order a Pizza. The universe didn't send me one either sooo…"
Will laughed in a hearty way. His eyes still sparkling as he gently pushed the Pizza towards Percy. Out of instinct, Percy took it from him then immediately regretted it.
"Buh… I didn't order this!"
"I know man. It was paid by someone else. Perhaps you have a secret admirer." Will winked with a crazy bright smile on his lips.
The he turned on his heels and walked in a way that said he knew Percy was still looking at him. Confidence in every step as he tossed a wave over his shoulder. "Seeya around Percy!"
See me where? Percy blinked in confusion.
This story is still SUPER new and SUPER flexible. So if you want to see some awkward situation, or weird set up moment; just review it, and I'll probably use it. Totally open to suggestions. Dark, light, fluffy, extreme, you say it, I'll probably just do it. Honestly, I have no plans for this.
Just remember the rating while making a suggestion.