This is mostly filler. Set up. Y'know.
I'm still open for suggestions if you guys feel like sharing.
Chapter 6
Thalia was hardcore glaring at him from across the bakery. She had her scuffed army boots up on his nice circular tables and had her arms crossed in a clearly pissed manner.
The heat from her hostile glare was itching under his skin and was starting to make him sweat. Bagging treats seemed harder, his hands felt unstable, and he felt as if a marble were lodged in his throat.
"Could you cut that out?" he asked out of irritation while avoiding eye contact artfully. He busied himself behind the counter, shuffling paper bags, straightening jars of powdered sugar and sprinkles, wishing to death that the cling from the bell would announce a new customer.
The empty sun filled bakery made it impossible for him to ignore her.
"No," she said. "I'm gonna stay exactly as I am."
His shoulder twitched involuntarily. Frustrated, he grabbed a pair of tongs and started messing with the pastries in the display. Part of him wondered if he could sink backwards into the kitchen, but he knew Alison would force him right back out.
Thalia gave a hefty cough before she drew her leg back to the edge of the table and kicked back the chair, balancing it.
"You're going to fall." Percy said without looking up.
"Boohoo."
"You'll dent my chair."
"Cry me a river about it."
His jaw tightened. With a thud, the danish he was holding in the pinchers fell back into the platter.
"What's your problem?" he finally snapped.
"What's my problem?" Thalia repeated heatedly. She stood up and Percy suddenly regretted every decision he ever made that led up to this situation.
"Look at me, I'm Percy Jackson. I'm going to make a move on the girl I've been pathetically pining over for centuries," she mocked. Her eyes set on him intensely and Percy felt his back bump the wall. "But wait, he didn't. He ran out again. Like a coward."
"It's not the right-"
"Ya ya." Thalia waved him off with a snort. "You will always find an excuse to not do it."
A flare of heat expanded in Percy's gut as he stared back at her.
Anger. But it was unpinnable and loose like a helium balloon cruising in the skies. Suspicion told him he was more angry at himself than at Thalia but pride was convincing him otherwise. A boiling flush filled his cheeks and all he could do was stare at the ground. What could he say in defense?
"Look ding dong, I get that you're scared but you need to face this head on. I'm so sick of watching you be miserable for no freakin reason. Just get it over with man."
Despite the sincerity she still sounded like she was going to mess up his face. A bruise to the cheek is bad for business, especially when your demographic of customers are sweet elderly ladies. Percy sighed quietly and sunk back into the wall more.
"Okay," he relented. He really didn't want to. "I'll try."
"Good." Thalia said. "You can try today, when they get here."
Panic flittered through his gaze once but Thalia wasn't having any of it.
"Ah ah ah." She waved a finger at him. "A fair is totally romantic enough to confess your undying love. Especially a flower fair."
"Amen!" Alison's croaky voice sang from the kitchen.
A chill gripped Percy's blood and he cringed his eyes shut. Cautiously, he creaked back the swinging door just enough to see his one employee rolling croissants like she was trying to wrap up the devil in each little bundle.
"Were… were you listening the whole time?" he asked with a weak heart.
The thought of his one sweet employee knowing about his crush made his knees jelly. Her teasing nature would be the death of him.
"What's that dearie?" She pulled a headphone out her ear hidden beneath a bulge of netted grey curls. Percy let go of his breath, but cocked an eyebrow at her all the same.
"What are you doing?" he asked tentatively.
Alison blushed. "Oh my, just listenin to my radio program. Am I bothering you dear? I can turn it off-"
"No no. Alison. It's okay."
Percy let the door slip shut.
"You should really be tougher on me." Alison croaked from beyond the door. "You'll turn me into a vandal with this much leniency dear."
"Sure I will." Percy chuckled fondly back.
"Aw, that's sweet." Thalia leaned against the glass counter. The early sunlight spilling onto her back made her seem much less threatening. "Now buckle up, they're here. I wanna see you flirt and I wanna see you flirt hard."
"Wait what?!"
She was right, there they were. Piling out of a very large minivan. Percy wracked his brains out but he had no recollection of anyone owning a minivan. His question was soon answered when Frank Zhang popped out of the drivers seat and rubbed his sleeve against an invisible smudge. Smiling at the hunk of steel and glass like it was a world class race car. What a dork.
Cling.
"It's a shoebox with an engine." Leo came in throwing his hands about animatedly. "How did he convince you to get such a thing!"
Hazel crossed her arms indignantly. "Well I like it. I think it's sweet Frank wanted to get a car that can hold us all."
"No no, Hazel whyyyyyy." Calypso whined. "You used to be cool. What happened to you?"
"Pffft. Marriage." Piper rolled her eyes as if she was the most knowledgeable of the group. "It'll turn you gooey. Right babe?"
"Uhh yeah. Totally." Jason nearly smashed into the door as he staggered in the bakery. His glasses were on the edge of his nose and his attention was consumed with a very pink and flowery brochure. "Hey, did you know that this flower fair is the fourteenth largest in the world?"
"Uhhh, neeeeerd?" Thalia said before frisking up a loose muffin on a plate and chucking it at her brothers head. It bounced off and rolled to the floor.
"Hey." he said pointedly.
"Welcome back. Now give me that thing. You look ridiculous holding pink." Thalia held out her hand towards Jason.
"You better pay for that muffin." Percy said while watching the dejected thing get kicked around the floor. He didn't care much. It was bran. Alison was the only one who liked bran in the milky way because Alison was a freak of nature.
"Wait, are you implying that Jason can't hold anything pink just because he's a guy?" Annabeth walked in the door looking perplexed. "I'm pretty sure that's sexist Thals."
"Never mind all that." Leo huffed. "Look at that thing outside! It's like a transformer spat up a tonsil stone!"
"But Jason does look good in pink." Piper chimed in.
"Hazel, work with me. At least go down to a Prius." Calypso was hanging off Hazels arm in desperation. Hazel shook her head resolutely with a secretive smile.
"That muffin was four dollars Thalia." Percy restated but was ignored all the same. Typical.
"I'm not sexist." Thalia said in defense. "I'm just an avid hater of pink. Sue me."
"I will." Percy deadpanned. "For the price of that muffin. Now gimme."
Outside, Frank was still rubbing invisible spots off his new precious minivan. His red minivan. Red.
Percy wrinkled his nose. He thought Frank was a blue man like himself.
Just when you think you know someone...
"All I'm saying is that a minivan is too far out of your lifestyle." Calypso was haggling Hazel.
"It's not even a cool colour." Leo said.
"I know." Percy gave him a knowing nod.
"It should be green!" Leo sighed dramatically.
Percy wrinkled his nose again. "What? No!"
"A few rides, a few food stands, and tons of flowers. This should be fun." Jason seemed to be talking to himself. Convincing himself even, that going there was the right choice.
"Pink is just so in your face. It says 'I'm vapid, and I'm too stupid to know what that means' y'know?" Thalia was sitting on a table now while picking at her nails.
"But that opinion is only built on a bunch of biases with your experience with pink. The actual colour is not at fault." Annabeth pointed out.
"Yes. What the smart one said." Piper agreed. "Also Jason looks hot in pink so it has my vote."
"Thalia, I'm out four dollars because of you. Do I need to break into your apartment?"
"Calm your tooters man-"
Cling.
A tall stranger stepped into the bakery and everyone fell into an unearthly silence. Their eyes settled on him as he made his way to the cash register while warily glancing at the lot behind him.
"Blueberry muffin please." he asked meekly.
He knew he just walked in on something. He just didn't know exactly what.
"Here you go." Percy passed him the little bag. "Here's your change. Enjoy your day."
The man scuttled out of there as fast as he could.
"See Thalia, that's how you pay for a muffin!" Percy said while holding his hand out to her.
"Why are flowers mostly pink and yellow? Why not green?" Jason mumbled while flipping over the brochure.
"Greeeeeen, see? Get a green car the next time you oaf!" Leo confronted Frank who just then stepped into the bakery.
"Hey don't talk to my husband like that Leo or I'll never come to you for mechanic help again." Hazel crossed her arms.
"Although pink wouldn't make you less manly because it's not a gender specific colour." Piper added helpfully.
"Or just take the bus!" Calypso said. "That's cooler than a minivan."
"Alright, alright. Everyone pipe down!" Hazel yelled over the multitude of conversations while walking over to stand beside Frank. "Yes, we bought a minivan."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Percy rolled his eyes. Annabeth reached over to slap him upside the head.
"But it's not like we didn't think it through." Hazel said while knotting and unknotting her fingers. A smile plastered to her face that was so wide it contended with the fields of Saskatchewan. "You see… well…" She looked up to Frank. A look of pure warmth Percy had never seen in her starry eyes.
"We're going to have a baby!" He beamed.
It was as if another stranger had just entered their midsts. A filling silence had swallowed everyone. Percy could feel the pulse in his head as he tried to take in the new information. It was like someone was trying to fit a bowling ball into his skull.
A human child, a new person was going to be in this world with the help of Frank and Hazel. It was too large of an idea to swallow. An involuntary shiver ran up his back and he took a moment to steady himself.
Hazels hands fell to her stomach lovingly and she absorbed the shocked expressions with utter glee.
"A… a real live baby?" Leo sputtered.
"No, an animatronic baby- Yes a real baby you clunk head." Thalia gave the mechanic a playful kick.
"Yeah, I'm pregnant." Hazel grinned impossibly wider.
Mayhem broke loose. Jason just stared, fish mouthed, at his brochure like maybe it had a few answers he was lacking. Leo started turning in circles like a wind up toy. Frank was laughing (in a very fatherly fashion). Piper was just making pterodactyl noises as she shook Hazels arm for all it was worth. Calypso was naming things she could make the baby while trying to keep Hazels focus enough to hear her ideas. Thalia was still picking her nails. While Annabeth was quiet.
Thoughtful quiet.
That distant look in her eyes as if she were trying to solve mathematical equations he could never hope to see. Maybe she was trying to figure out a way to become Aunty #1 (which he knew was one of her goals). Maybe she was as shocked as Percy felt.
"You guys are going to be the most amazing parents," she finally said and rushed forward to give Hazel a hug. Clutching her so tight that she nearly lifted her clean off the floor.
"I have so many questions," Leo added. "Mostly two things. One, can you name it after me? And two, a minivan Frank? A minivan for a baby? Do you know how big a baby is? Not minivan size, that's what!"
"Amen!" Alison croaked from the kitchen.
"Ignore her," Percy said, waving off the few confused looks made at the kitchen.
"How about we talk about this in the minivan. On the way to the flower fair?" Frank suggested.
Nods of agreement passed between them. The cling of the door echoed around the sunlit shop again before Calypso hollered them to stop.
"That's a seven seater van Frank," she pointed out. "There are nine of us."
Thalia smacked her hand down on the table so fast Percy flinched. "So Percy and Annabeth take his car, the rest of us go in the van."
"Perfect." Someone seemed to agree.
Percy couldn't tell who. His world had just drowned in a pile of 'nos'. No he did not want to drive alone with Annabeth for two hours. No he did not want to confess on that car ride. No no no no no. Thalia NO!
But it was too late, half the gang was already outside while Annabeth stood next to him quietly. Staring at her phone and typing away diligently as if on a mission.
From the door, Thalia gestured to Annabeth and made a kissy face before winking. Percy made a cut throat motion at her but all she did was put two thumbs up and smiled that 'You got this' look.
"Alright, ready to go?" Annabeth slid her phone in her jean pockets.
Toneless, he observed. Her voice was even and unrevealing. The usual glint was less present in her eyes. Percy was at a loss as to why.
"Yeah." he mumbled. "Let's go."
His eyes trailed her as she ambled to his car. Picking up on her aimless gait, her limp shoulders, her sometimes troubled expression. She was glowing in the sunshine but wasn't her usual self that revelled in every aspect of life. She was distracted.
His stomach knotted when he had to remind her to put on her seatbelt. Then again when she didn't start up her normal conversation about work, about life, about thoughts and concepts and the world. She seemed to be stuck in her own brain.
"Are you okay?" Percy asked when they finally hit the highway.
The thrum of the car, and whoosh of air through the cracked windows almost drowned out his words. Annabeth realigned her seatbelt with knitted brows before seemingly looking straight through him.
"Mm fine," she uttered.
"Anything you want to talk about?" He asked.
"Not in particular," she shrugged. "You?"
His heart raced instantly as the memory of Thalia came up. Turning towards the road Percy shook his head.
It's too nice of a day to ruin a friendship.
Which wasn't false.
The world was in the full blush of spring. Earthy smells from farmers turning their land spilled through the windows, the warm caress of the wind was just barely tickling their hairlines, and everything was a new fresh green that sang of life.
"Why are you so… preoccupied?" Percy put it delicately.
Annabeth's brow deepened, and her lips pulled tightly together into a purse. She hit him with a glance of her distant thunderstorm grey eyes and Percy felt his stomach skitter.
"I just forgot that my own friends are leading their own lives," she said, crossing her tan arms as if to comfort herself. "I've just been so engulfed with my own drama… well it goes to show how self oriented I really am."
"Ugh yeah. SO self oriented." Percy rolled his eyes in playful dramatics at her. "SO completely self oriented that last week when I was in the dumps you didn't even notice. It's not like you ordered us chinese food and spent the night cheering me up. It's not like you cornered me in a storage unit and got me out of my funk."
Annabeth chuckled and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Shut up, you're my best friend. Of course I did. Of course I would."
"You're not self oriented." Percy readministered the message a little more seriously. Taking his eyes off the road for two seconds to shoot her an earnest look.
"Yes I am." She argued. The smile faded. "When Hazel and Frank announced their pregnancy, do you wanna know what my first thought was? It was that I was falling behind. I didn't think about how great it was for them, or how happy they were going to be, or how happy I was going to be for them. All I could think about, all I could feel like was that I was falling behind in life. What kind of selfish-"
"This is my car, and we don't use negative words like that on ourselves here." Percy lectured authoritatively.
"Okay fine," Annabeth rolled her eyes at him. "What kind of person focuses on themselves like that after hearing about such good news for a friend?"
He could feel her eyes on him. He knew exactly what she looked like sitting there next to him without throwing her as much as a glance. Rolling landscape backing her, her golden curls catching the sunlight and swimming in the breeze, her eyes burning with a question she probably already knew the answer to. Gorgeous really.
"A person who for once in their life is being forced to think of themselves first." Percy answered honestly.
Annabeth tilted her head at him as if to say really?
"Look, you've spent the last five years of your life thinking about Daniel. What he needs, what he wants, how to fix things. Then suddenly you need to make huge decisions for yourself with no warning. Where to live, how much alimony to fight for, new car or barter for old?" Percy glanced at her and felt his heart jump madly into his throat.
He loved it when she looked at him that way.
Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, he focused ahead and cleared his suddenly hoarse voice.
"It's only natural to continue thinking that way, especially when you're still in the thick of it. It's called self preservation. When my mom died, I really had to focus on myself to just keep living. It's probably the same for you."
Annabeth let loose an airy sigh and slumped down in her seat. Thoughts were swirling through her eyes again as she rolled down the sticky knob for the window a little more. The spring heavy breeze threaded knots into her curls.
Percy turned back to the road when a sudden image of Thalia making kissy faces made him cringe.
"Do you ever feel like you're falling behind?" Annabeth asked without looking at him.
"Falling behind in life?"
"Yeah… I mean look at where we stand versus where are friends are. Piper and Jason are just about to buy a new house, Callie and Leo are getting married, and Hazel and Frank are having a baby now. Even Thalia is advancing by expanding her tattoo parlour. So many life milestones I haven't reached, or at least lost..."
Percy pursed his lips in a moment of thought before shaking his head.
"I don't feel like I'm falling behind," he said in a low tone. "Because I don't think there's such a thing. Everyone is different. You can't measure yourself to other people, and you can't fall behind because life isn't a race. Your pace, is your pace."
Annabeth had stuck her hand out the window and was letting it sail in the flow of air. She turned to smile at him and hummed in a pleasant way. With the light, with the wind, with his damn Annabeth vision it made it look like she was glowing.
"There's that Percy wisdom. I forgot how much I liked talking to you Seaweed Brain."
"You forgot?" Percy raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. "Also wouldn't 'Percy wisdom' mean I'm not' a Seaweed Brain?"
Annabeth chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Not a chance Seaweed Brain."
Tingles gathered in his stomach. Glancing at her by the side of his eye he remembered Thalia one more time, but didn't cringe.
Okay, he thought with an ache in his lungs. Just try.
Thanks for reading.