"Don't you want to know, baby? Oh, don't you wish you knew -"
Percy furrows his brow and leans in to speak into the little mike. "Try that again with a little more edge on the 'wish you knew', please."
Piper nods, eyes sharp with focus as the music rewinds.
It's late on a Friday evening and they're still in the sound recording booth trying out different tracks for Piper's debut EP.
Part of Percy's job was to choose songs for Piper from the slew of submissions sent to them by aspiring song writers. With Leo's help, Percy chose about twenty-five songs for them to try out, and they had already decided against ten of them and chosen two, and they still had two more to choose.
Everyone was anxious to get home after being stuck in the studio for over four hours. Piper was getting particularly frustrated, her voice getting a little pitchy after singing for so long.
Percy sighed. "Go ahead and come out," he said into the mike. "Let's continue again tomorrow morning. I have the studio booked for eight until noon."
Piper bobbed her head and set down her headphones. She was silent when she stepped out of the booth, looking sheepishly up at Percy. "Sorry," she muttered, pulling her sleeves over her hands.
He frowned – Piper didn't think he was frustrated at her, did she?
"Hey, don't worry about it," he assured her, stepping forward to put a hand on her shoulder. "We got a lot done today. You're doing seriously great; just make sure to get home and rest up your voice."
She ducked her head bashfully, but gave him a grateful smile. Leo walked her out and Percy began gathering his stuff together. He was just about to turn out the lights and head out when he heard Leo coming back, as well as a woman's voice.
"Hey boss man," Leo said, poking his head in. "There's an alien waiting for you."
"Alien?" Percy asked, furrowing his brow.
"Yeah, I mean she doesn't laugh at my jokes so she's obviously extraterrestrial -"
"Just send her in, Leo."
"Right. Gotcha."
Percy turned for a second to grab his shoulder bag from the tabletop and when he turned back around he saw Annabeth waiting hesitantly at the door. She reluctantly stepped inside, smiling tersely.
"Percy," she nodded.
" Annabeth! Hey! Uh, what's up?" he realized a little too late that he automatically started patting down his hair and straightening his clothes (a black t-shirt and skinny jeans because God forbid he ever look nice whenever Annabeth was around) until he saw the corner of her mouth tugging upwards, and her eyebrow arching.
"I was at the commissioners office down the block," she said slowly, as if she was chosing her words carefully. "I knew you worked here so I thought I would… stop by. I want to continue our discussion from the other night."
She looked very out of place there in the recording studio. Empty coffee cups littered every available surface, leaving skinny cresent moons on the hundred sheets of music lying around among stacks of brightly colored CD cases. In contrast, there she was with her shiny golden curls and clean-cut, red pencil skit, like someone had copied and pasted her in in Photoshop.
He shook himself out of it, realizing that he was staring. "Oh, yeah. Of course. There's a bar not too far from here. It's not quite used to types like you, but I think you can charm your way in," he teased gently, as if his heart wasn't racing beneath his v-neck. He could hardly help it - she was so pretty.
She followed him out, trailing slightly beside him as they emerged out onto the sidewalk. The recording studio was on the third floor of their headquarters, which was smack in the middle of Sydney's downtown. They walked a few blocks down in relative silence. Cars rumbled as they drove past, adding to the gentle roar of the city as they caught snippets of pleasantly accented conversation of other passerby.
"So where is June right now?" he asked as they rounded a corner. June. Her name was like sunshine on his tongue, all summery sweetness. His mind repeated it over like a mantra.
June, June, June…
"At her sitter's," Annabeth replied. "She's a student at the university."
"What's her name?"
"Hazel. I think we need to talk about your definition of 'not too far from here'," she said as they look another right. "You know we've passed by at least three other bars. What's so special about this one?"
"I get free drinks," he answered cheerfully, coming to a sudden stop as he pulled open the door of a bar on their left for her. It was a little bit larger than the rest, and the soft trilling of a singer's voice came floating out. Annabeth raised an eyebrow but walked in ahead of her with all the poise of a businesswoman entering a meeting about like, stocks or something. Percy lead her to the bar through the crowd, sitting in his usual seat. It had a great view of the stage.
Percy and the others often came to this bar to scout. The girl on the stage was talented enough, but rather average, he was sorry to say. The bartender sauntered over to them, a girl with long curly black hair and red lipstick, ignoring the waving hands of patrons who had been there before.
"Heya," she purred, winking. "Not here for work, I assume?" She threw Annabeth a look before grinning at Percy.
"Not quite, Darla," he said, as she slid his usual beer towards him.
"And for you?" she asked, eying Annabeth with a quirked eyebrow.
"Jameson on the rocks, please," Annabeth said, crossing her legs daintily and throwing back her golden curls. The girl smothered a grin before pouring her a glass of a drink much stronger than Percy's (because Annabeth held her alcohol like a pro and Percy could get a nice buzz on one beer), smirking at him behind Annabeth's back as she went to go serve the others.
"I assume you know her," she said, taking a sip of her drink and delicately setting it back down on her napkin. She raised an eyebrow at him. Under the dim bar lights, Annabeth's sharp and refined demeanor softened into something very… alluring. He shifted in his seat and averted his gaze, flushing red.
"Work stuff," he managed. "Olympus Records scouts here."
She nodded, and they settled into an uneasy silence in which Percy tried very hard not to think about how Annabeth looked like with her blouse unbuttoned at the top. Or how she would look without the blouse at all.
It was so not working.
"I want to be frank," she declared. "I can't stop thinking about the other day. It's been kind of driving me crazy."
Percy let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he had been holding in. He felt the exact same way. He didn't get to say this however, as Annabeth plowed ahead.
"I was hurt, and I couldn't think properly. But after thinking about it… I think you need to meet her. June, I mean." She took a heavy drag of her whiskey, perfect lips puckering for a split second. "I don't apologize for my decisions. I completely believe in my choices. However, I'm… I'm willing to do this."
She frowned and averted her eyes. "I won't keep your own daughter from you unless I believe it's in her best interests. So… I'm giving you these next six months that you're staying here. But I can and will change my mind at any time if I think your involvement in her life risks her in anyway."
He was gaping, fighting the urge to jump up and thrust his fist into the air. "I- yeah, absolutely! When can I see her?"
Annabeth smiled at his excitement, though he could see the wariness still in her eyes. She bit her lip reluctantly, tracing the edge of her glass. "On weekends, we go to the beach. June, her sitter, and I, I mean. You could come along."
"That sounds amazing!" he exclaimed, before blushing. "I mean… yeah, we can do that."
She laughed, shaking her head at him. "Well, give me your new number so I can text you when and where."
Percy, not quite wanting to divulge that he already knew where on the grounds that it would probably be kinda creepy, handed over his phone in exchange for hers. She had already unlocked it. The background picture was of the little girl from before – my daughter, oh God, my daughter – grinning over a bouquet of purple and pink flowers. He stared at it in awe, hardly aware of how hard he was gripping the phone. It was only when Annabeth cleared her throat that he snapped out of it.
"Your password?" she asked.
"My- oh. Right…" he blushed, and she raised an eyebrow. He muttered it under his breath and went ahead and began putting his number into her phone, tearing his eyes away from the picture of June.
"I'm sorry what was that?"
He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "It's um… still 'Annabeth'."
She stared at him for a second until she understood, and then her face got almost as red as her skirt. "O-oh," she managed, ducking her head. His face was probably the same color as hers. She finished quickly shoving the phone back at him, and quickly taking hers back after he finished. "Well, it was nice to see you." She stood, clutching her little red clutch with both hands. She lingered for an awkward second before giving a quick nod and turning quickly on her heels. He saw her petite profile as she wove through the crowd and disappeared out the door.
Well, that's embarrassing.
-x-
A/N: YOYOYO
I'm so tired, guys. I just got back from this districts tournament for journalism UIL where I managed to get into regionals by the skin of my teeth. I'm happy about that, but today has been a serious emotional rollercoaster. I'm okay now though, and in a writing mood. So yay!
I will likely start working on the sixth chapter right after this one is posted, so you will likely receive that around … Monday?
I hope you all have good weekends.
Anna x.
