Percy looked up, his face obsruced by a frown. His suit ruffled and untuck, his hair a mess on his head.
"Huh? What?" he asked, just noticing Annabeth.
She was standing in the doorway, loosely wrapped in a dripping towel. Her long blonde curled hair tumbled over shoulder. Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed toghter, her face skricken with worry. She had been late getting ready, and now Percy was clearly upset with her.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I stared looking at your books and I got lost in them and the next thing I knew it was almost time to go and..." she sputtered out, completely flustered.
Percy raised a brow, peering over at his bookself, now completely torn apart. Books were stacked left and right on the floor and some of them were open, their spines face up.
"Do you think I'm upset with you?" he asked.
"Aren't you? I mean, you went out of your way to set up an appointment and I completely forgot about it."
"So?" he replied.
"So...," she hesitated. "You aren't mad at me? Then...what's wrong?"
Percy tapped a pile of folders and papers next to him. "My meeting was, as fully expected, absolutely horrible. My fucking partners run businesses like I make pizza."
Annabeth shuddered. If it was really as bad as his pizza then it couldn't have been good.
"They think they know the ins and outs of modern marketing," he continued. "Yet here I am wondering why I ever hired those dumb-asses in the first place. They're going to single handedly destory everything I've ever built up in a matter of days."
"Can you fix it?" she asked.
He ignored her question and walked over to the window, looking out over the city. It was still early in the day, and the sun beamed down on the glass window creating a blinding glow.
Annabeth wachted him stare out the window. His sea-green eyes were mixed with expressions of anger, sadness, but most of all loneliness. He had talked being lonely to a large extent when she first net him, and that was essentially why he had asked her to live with him. Yet there he was as lonely as ever, full of pain and depression, despite her presence.
I need to start doing my job, she realized. He gave me a life, and I've done nothing in return.
Despite still being wrapped in only a towel, her dripping hair a mess over a shoulder, she walked over to Percy and stood next to him, watching the world go by. Annabeth stifled a yawn as she rolled her shoulders.
"Do you want to go to the park after we vist the doctor's?" she asked Percy.
he turned his head to look at her, his sea-green eyes piercing in the afternoon light. His gaze was steady as he replied.
"The park? Which part?"
She shrugged, holding her towel up with two arms. Although still wet, Annabeth felt a little warmth in the room, and she wasn't as cold as she should have been.
"I thought maybe we could go around the reservoir; it's beautiful there and I like to look at the city across the water."
Percy walked over to his closet, pulling out some clothes to change into, then went into the bathroom.
"We can go but it can't be for long," he called throught the door. "I have work to do tonight."
That one small opportunity was good enough for her. If she could make him forget his worries just one night, then she might be able to start paying him off.
"That's fine," she said back to him. "It dosen't have long, just for an hour or so.
"An hour?" he asked "I was thinking more along the lines of 30 minutes."
She pouted from the room, "Aww, but you can't do a lot in 30 minutes."
Percy sighed through the door. "Fine...but hurry up and get dressed so we can go before someone else takes our spot."
The ride to the doctor's wasn't long. In no time they were at the office and checked in, ready for Dr. Flectchers to a look at Annabeth. The office was clearly a high end place, as there weren't any patients in the waiting room. You could almost smell the money in the air.
The examintion took much longer than anticipated. Dr. Flethcher looked over every nook and cranny of Annabeth's sensitive skin. Finally after several hours of being told to do this and that, she was allowed to step back out in to the waiting room.
"Mr. Jackson," the doctor called. "Can you come in to discuss some things with me?"
"Of course," was his reply. He stood up and entered the room, closing the door behind him.
Annabeth waited outside for what seemed like an eternity, but was really only a couple of minutes. The door opened once again, revealing Percy nodding about something as the two wrapped up their conversation.
The doctor spoke up again. "Annabeth, you can come in now."
She nodded and stood up, taking long steady strides as to calm herself for the results.
"Now don't worry, all patient confidentiality has been kept. I was just telling Mr. Jackson that the bill would be a little bigger than expected, but he's apparently okay with any sort of bill, so I'll make this short."
Annabeth gulped and nodded.
"Before I start, can I discuss your results with him in the room?" he said motioning to Percy.
She nodded again.
Dr. Fletcher continued. "To be frank, nothing really seems to be wrong on the surface. "I've taken her blood pressure, examined her skin, listened to her heart and lungs, and everything cheaks out."
Annabeth let some of the tension loose from her shoulders. Well that's good, she thought.
"However, I still need to take some blood and depending on the results, she might have to be sent to a larger hospital where more complicated exams can take place."
"Why is the bill so high then?" she asked. "If everything is okay, then why is this vist going to cost so much more?"
"Well, thats the last little bit," he said. "Your vaccination record is practially empty. Now you've had most of the absolutely essentail ones like the polio shot, but you really need many others if you're to stay healthy. Honestly, it's a miracle you're even alive right now."
"Wait," Percy said. "You're not going to give her all the shots in one round are you?"
"Oh, no, of course not," the doctor replied. "We'll probably give her five now, five when you come in for your blood test results. Sound good?"
"Uh, no," Annabeth interjected. "That dosen't sound good. I'm getting blood draw and five shots? How am I supposed to do that?"
Dr. Fletcher simply waved his hand dismissively. "Trust me it won't be a problem. Now, Mr. Jackson, why don't you stay in while I finish up with Annabeth? I'll be right back."
Percy nodded and stepped aside to let the doctor leave the room. "Don't worry." he said, taking her hand and giving it a little squeeze. "I've had this done more times than I can count. It's over before you know it's even stared."
For about the seconds Annabeth believed him. Then came the doctor with a bucket load of needles and tubes, and she quickly realized that he had just said that to mke her feel better.
One pint of blood and five shots later Annabeth was shakily drinking a cup of orange juice and eating a cookie.
"Well that could gone better," she said blushing. "Sorry about your hand."
Percy held his hand, deep nail marks visible all over. "Whar this? It's fine, it'll be gone in an hour. Anyway," he said before ushering her out of the room. "I can't have you getting sick; I'd have no idea what to do with a body."
As promised, and after everything had been finished up at the doctor's office, Percy brought her all the way to the reservoir. They parked in front of the apartment building and walked to the park, as it was only a block or two way.
The sun reflected off the water, creating a dazzling effect that made the oppsite skyline shine with exuberance. The wind was light and warm as it swept off the reservoir, engulfing the two in a sort of momentary ecstasy. The loud noises of the city were gone, drowned out by the pure natural beauty of the park. It was like they had stepped into a completely different world.
Percy and Annabeth leaned on the black metal railing that enclosed the lake, their shoulders just barely touching. Every now and then a jogger would pass, a content expression plastered across their faces. It was truly bliss, and for the short hour that they spent there, they discussed everything from hobbies to architecture.
By the time they finally made it back to Percy's apartment it was already 5:00 in the afternoon. It was still fairly light out however, so the apartment glowed shades of blue and gray despite all the lights being off. The circular room still smelled fresh, the remnants of Annabeth's shower strewn across the floor and the bathroom a mess.
Immediately she began cleaning up the room, her lips in a state of drivel as ahe attempted to apologize for her clutter.
"Sorry, when you came in earlier I didn't have time to clean up. I'll pick up all this stuff right away though. I'm really sorry."
No response.
"Percy?" she asked quietly.
He was staring at the microwave with glazed over eyes. "Mmm."
"Uh... I was just saying sorry for the mess, that's all."
He turned around, confusion spread across his face. "Huh?"
"The mess, she repeated, motioning to the area by the bathroom.
Percy rasied an eyebrow. "There's a single towel and some water on the floor in the bathroom. What mess?"
She shrugged. "I guess because your place is so -"
"Our," he interrupted.
Annabeth sighed. "Our place," she said correcting herself. "Anyway, I guess because it's so clean I figured you might be mad about this.
Percy laughed, his tone warm and light hearted, "I have a cleaning service called The Harpies come once a week to tidy up the place. If they didn't I assure you this place would be wrecked. Honestly, don't worry about cleaning up anything. If you want to leave old pizza on the floor, be my guest. I couldn't care less."
"Really?" she asked, amazed.
"Really. Now, on to diner. I'm guessing to reaction to the pizza I made, we should probably just order something. Chinese work?"
"Oh, uh, yea of course," she reply.
Percy pulled out his phone.
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