Chapter 4

Just one look (I forget everything)

Percy was sure that his brain had frozen but his heart was doing jumping jacks in his chest. He probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights as he gaped at the person in front of him. His first thought was that maybe this was a dream because there was no way that she was here. But as soon as he heard his name and saw the familiar smirk, no doubt at witnessing his almost embarrassing faceplant, he realized that this was in fact reality. Secondly, he cursed at whatever higher power there was for making his encounters with her always so humiliating. Thirdly, when the shock of her appearance started fading, his eyes drifted over her frame, drinking her in.

She had the same honey blonde locks, the same amused expression at his expense, and the same startling eyes. Their eyes met and he felt his throat close up; he observed that those eyes held way more pain than he had ever seen before. He glanced at her face again and all he wanted was to grab her and -o kay, nope, don't go down that rabbit hole .

Percy would be lying if he said he had never imagined this moment; whenever he took out his guitar, all he could think about was whether he would get to see her again. He used to imagine that one day they would cross paths on accident and just exchange a few greetings like old friends, maybe they would meet up for coffee, she would rant about all the buildings she had designed, Percy would make a joke, her eyes would light up, they would chat for hours. In the end, she would give him a hug and they would part, with the promise of keeping in touch. But as the years passed, he got over his childlike fantasies, and with the greatest of reluctance and disregard to the hurt he felt with the waning hope, he had accepted that sometimes people drifted apart from each other, just as a river diverged into smaller streams, each of which was destined for a different path, but the essence of its origin still flowed with it.

And Percy realized that maybe some people wanted to move on from their past, maybe they deliberately wanted to cut the strings that tied them to those people who were a part of the world they had left behind, explore new horizons and there was nothing he could do about it, except keep close the memories he made with her and come back to cherish them, like a worn sweater, still soft, still comforting.

"Uh, Percy? You-you alright?" He saw her fidgeting with her fingers, a nervous tick of hers, he recalled. God, he had almost forgotten how beautiful her voice was. Get a hold of yourself, Jackson!

Thankfully, he found his voice again. "An-Annabeth?"

"Hey," she said in a small voice.

"What? What are you doing here?" A proper, coherent sentence, he mentally patted himself.

"I-uh-I came back, a couple of days ago."

"Why?" that came out harsher than he wanted. She flinched and he instantly felt guilty. But she wasn't allowed to do this, she couldn't just barge in and out of his life whenever she desired, he wanted to be mad at her, he wanted her to disappear, but at the same time, he wanted to hold her and reassure himself that she really was here, check whether she felt the same in his arms as she used to all those years ago.

"Grover didn't tell you?" She asked, getting more anxious by the second.

"Tell me what?"

"Oh fuck!, I-he said he would, I'm sorry, you can ask him, if you want, I'll just go-" his eyes widened and he scrambled to move forward.

"No, wait, I-I didn't mean to say it like that, you just-you just took me by surprise."

"Oh, okay... "

"Yeah…."

An awkward silence fell upon them and Percy wanted to crawl in a hole and die. This was not how he imagined their meeting would go. He saw that Annabeth was still standing by the door and beckoned her inside, "Would you like to come in? Grover will be here in a few minutes."

"Yeah, sure." She shyly ventured in and tucked a curl behind her e ar. Cute, he thought. What the fuck? No, that is not cute.

"So, uh, you came to visit Grover?"

"No, actually, I am moving back, permanently."

Percy was again dumbfounded.

"Why? I mean, not that it's not great or anything, I'm just curious." Curious as to why you never called? Why didn't you come back?

She hesitated before replying, "Well, I guess I missed this place and most importantly I missed the people here." She looked him directly in the eye and gave him a tiny smile. Percy didn't know what to make of that so he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Well, it's - it's really good to see you, Beth." At the use of her old nickname, both of them froze a bit. Percy hadn't meant to call her that, it just slipped.

"It's good to see you too." She took a deep breath as if preparing herself, "Listen, Percy, I-"

Before she could finish, the door jingled again and his mom and Thalia walked in. Sally's eyes widened at the sight in front of her but she was much better at concealing her shock than Percy, "Annabeth, dear is that you?"

Annabeth's expression was no better than his mom's and Percy almost felt sorry for her, she had probably been getting the same reactions from everybody ever since she got here.

"Oh my god Sally, hi!"

"Oh dear, come here.'' Sally opened her arms and Annabeth hesitantly gave in. He could see her body relaxing into his mother's embrace. He looked past them to see Thalia grinning, she gave him a wink when he met her eyes. Percy scowled at her.

"Wow, you've grown so much! How have you been?" Sally inquired.

As she pulled back, Percy studied her demeanor, she was blinking rapidly and her eyes were downcast. As she replied to Sally, he could tell she was trying to hold in a lot of emotion. Her voice was thick and she paused several times in her speech. Something had happened to her and she was hiding it. Whatever it was must have been pretty big, as it made her come back, and apart from Percy feeling sorry that she had to go through it alone, he also felt guilty as he was sort of thankful because she came back here, she came back to him.

He didn't realize he was zoning out until Thalia poked him in the ribs. He gave her a look and she gestured to Sally.

"Yes, mom?"

"What do you think Percy?"

"Huh?"

Annabeth looked at him and her eyes fell, "Sally, I don't want to be a bother, it's fine."

"Oh nonsense, we would love to have you over for dinner, right Percy?" He then realized Annabeth took his lack of response for a refusal.

"Of course, sure, yeah, why not, you should definitely come," he hastily rambled.

"Are you sure? Do you want me to?" She asked softly, her eyes filled with hope.

"Yes, I do Annabeth." He replied in an earnest voice.

Her eyes lit up and Percy felt a sense of accomplishment. When they were younger, it used to be Percy's goal to cause those startling eyes to brighten. He realized that he still wanted to do that every day.

"Okay then, I'll see you guys tonight." As she made her way to the door, something in him tugged and he wanted to stop her. Though Sally interrupted him, "Won't you stay a bit longer?" Damn, he loved his mom.

"I would love to but I really gotta go, thanks for the offer Sally, I'll you soon."

She turned towards him, "See you tonight Percy."

His eyes followed her frame as she left the cafe. When she was out of sight, he turned to Thalia and glared. "Alright, explain."

Percy was panicking. He had made such a fool of himself. After Thalia filled him in on Annabeth's reason to move back, he wanted to rush to the motel she was staying in and pull her into his arms and whisk her away from all the pain she was feeling. Though Percy was also a little bit mad at her, she had suffered alone for so long and hadn't made any move to reach out to him. Percy never understood why she cut all ties with the town when she returned to New York but it was partially his fault too, he never tried to approach her either.

He regretted not making the first move as she had always been too stubborn to take the first step. They had promised to be there for each other through thick and thin But both of them had spectacularly failed. All these years he had wanted her to be by his side, giving him strength and being his anchor, and now that she was finally here, his heart had become a hurricane of emotions and he had no idea how to react.

Tiredly, he rubbed his eyes and decided first things first. Annabeth was coming over for dinner tonight and an idea came into his mind and he immediately got to work.

As he was mixing the batter, his mom entered the kitchen and stood beside him. She gave him a teasing glance, "So that was a nice surprise."

"What surprise?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Percy, you know what I am talking about."

"If you are talking about Annabeth, then yeah, it was a bit unexpected"

"Aren't you happy though I mean she was one of your oldest friends and now she is back, Isn't that great?"

"It really doesn't matter mum, we drifted apart, seeing her felt like seeing any other old friend."

"Baby, I thought she meant more to you than any other old friend of yours."

"Mom, don't start please." He did not want to have this conversation.

"So you aren't excited?"

"Nope, I'm very breezy about all this."

"Is that why you are making her favorite cookies?" She gave him a smug look, gesturing to the bowl in his hands. Percy felt his ears turn red. He didn't grace her with a response and continued to focus on the task at hand.

"She certainly looked very pretty, didn't she?" Okay, that was it.

"Mom, I think you should go rest, I'll prepare the dinner myself."

As soon as the doorbell rang Percy all but rushed to the front door and almost slammed it open.

Instead of the person who had played his mind all day he was met with the smirking Thalia.

"In a rush, are we?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Did you really think that I was going to miss this train wreck of a dinner?" This earned her a glare from him.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence Thals, But as I told mum I am very breezy about this whole situation."

"Sure whatever you say, now move, I want to say hi to Sally." Thalia pushed him aside and let herself in.

Another 10 minutes later when the doorbell rang again Percy found himself rushing to open the door, ignoring the pointed chuckles of his mum and Thalia, only to be disappointed again.

"Well, that was pretty breezy." He heard thalia mutter.

"Percy, my man What's up?"

"Grover, Juniper come on in."

After greeting them both Percy turned to his mom and asked whether she had invited any other people too. She told him that Thalia had invited herself and Annabeth had wanted to meet Juniper. As Thalia informed the others that Annabeth was on her way here, Percy forced himself to calm down as he did not want to repeat what had happened at the cafe. That had been horribly awkward and Percy was determined to make things normal. Well, as normal as they could be with his treacherous heart.

When Annabeth finally arrived, it was Thalia who opened the door to greet her, and Percy had never hated her more. Annabeth stepped towards him and offered a blinding smile and a rush of warmth surged through his body.

"Hey, I am glad you're here."

"Me too." She replied and then proceeded to go around the room, greeting the rest of the people.

Percy observed her as she conversed freely with Grover and Juniper and he desperately wished to get rid of all the awkwardness that had come between them.

When they were all seated for dinner, Thaliya deliberately nudged him to take the seat next to Annabeth. He gave a small annoyed sigh but he was secretly glad for the push.

"So". his mother spoke up, glancing at him, "What do you think of the dinner Annabeth?"

"It's delicious Sally, I almost forgot how you can cook magic with those hands," Annabeth mumbled, after swallowing down her bite, and Percy felt a wave of satisfaction overcoming him.

" I am glad you love it but I can't take credit for today's meal, it was all Percy, you see."

Annabeth turned to him with wide eyes and he ducked his head in embarrassment, praying that the color on his cheeks was not visible.

"No way Percy, you finally stopped burning edible stuff?"

"Hey, I never burned them okay?"

"Yeah, my bad, you almost burned down the cafe and your house, not the food." She teased, nudging him with her elbow.

"I see you are still as creative with your insults," he grumbled, sticking his tongue out.

"I see you are still as mature as ever, Seaweed brain." She laughed and Percy almost choked on his water at the mention of his old nickname. He stared at her and he could see the realization of what she had said dawn on her and her grin instantly melted. No, you can tease me all you like, we can be Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl again.

"Um, well the dinner was really great, Percy."

"Thank you." He busied himself with his meal as Annabeth picked up a conversation with Sally. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Grover giving him a sympathetic look but he just shrugged and moved to ask Juniper about future baby names. As both Grover and Juniper indulged him, he could hear the snippets of the conversation between his mom and Annabeth, she was telling Sally how she had tried to get a job at the bookstore but unfortunately, all the positions were filled.

"Why don't you come work at the cafe?" His mom offered.

"Oh, no it's fine, you don't have to worry about that, I'll find something else."

Thalia chirped in excitement," Oh that is such a wonderful idea Sally, she could start from tomorrow itself."

"I don't want you guys to do this, I will work something out, you have welcomed me back and that's enough, really."

Before Thalia could retort, Sally spoke up again, in a much gentler voice, "Annabeth, sweetheart, we won't be doing you a favor, it's a job, you will have to work like any other employee and the cafe can use an extra pair of hands, also, you are always welcomed here, this is your home too."

Annabeth's eyes were glossy as she nodded before thanking Sally. Sometimes Percy wondered how he got so lucky, his mom was the most amazing and kind-hearted person he had ever met but then the thought of her illness left a bitter taste in his mouth. Why were the fates so cruel to her? Why did a woman like Sally Jackson have to suffer?

Shaking his head, he deviated his thoughts to his ex-best friend and focused on keeping his calm around Annabeth and not do something stupid like reach out and twist those curls around his fingers like he used to. Be breezy.

As the dinner ended, he offered to walk her back to the motel, just because he was a chivalrous person, not because he had any ulterior motive, thank you very much. He grabbed the tupperware and coat and bid goodbye to Grover and Juniper.

"How long do you plan on staying there by the way?" Thalia questioned as they made their way out.

"I honestly have no idea, haven't worked out the logistics at all." She frowned and Percy wanted to pinch her scrunched-up nose. Dude, no!.

"Well, you can move in with Jason and me if you want, we won't mind."

"Not at all Thalia, I will not take any more favors from any of you." Annabeth said in a stern voice and Percy smirked.

An idea suddenly crossed his mind, "Why would she move in with you when she has her own house here?"

Percy didn't think he had said anything wrong but judging by the way both those girls were staring at him, he wanted to reconsider.

"What?" he demanded, scratching his neck.

Annabeth broke the silence, "Why-Why didn't I think of that?"

"Damn Jackson seems like Annabeth here brought your single brain cell back with her."

"Shut it, Thalia."

"Whatever, well, our paths diverge here, so I'll see you both tomorrow." She said as she reached her street, giving Annabeth and him goodbye hugs. However, when she leaned up to hug him, she whispered, "Be breezy Jackson." and with a wink and a final wave took off.

He looked towards Annabeth, and she was grinning in the direction Thalia had disappeared into. He cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to him, "Shall we?" and gestured to her to move forward.

They exchanged bits and pieces of information about their lives, nothing significant, as they made their way to the hotel. Annabeth told him about her old job, about her dick of a boss and Percy informed her about how he had dropped out of teaching. He didn't want to share the reason so soon, considering she already had so much on her plate, and he was thankful that she didn't prod. The conversation then shifted to their friends. He informed her more about Thalia's stay at the rehab and her journey to sobriety, Grover and his baby, and Leo and his fiance, Calypso.

As he recounted all of this, he couldn't help but wonder that all of his friends had accomplished something in their lives but he was still rooted in the same place. He suddenly understood why Annabeth had chosen to stay in New York, maybe she had wanted to achieve something too. But had she? Had he?

He gazed over to her as she told him about the design structure of the Empire State Building. She didn't want to divulge much detail about her life and he wasn't sure how to talk to her anymore. They were both still the same people, at the same place, walking side by side as they always used to, but at the same time, he felt as if they were still a thousand miles apart. He had no idea how to take the steps to cover that distance. Percy's heart suddenly felt like lead.

Before he could depress himself more, Annabeth exhaled softly, "Thank you for the suggestion about Nana's house Percy, it had completely slipped my mind."

He gave her a tiny grin, "I'm glad I could help and the knowledge that I smarted Miss Annabeth Chase makes it even better."

She pushed him lightly, "It won't happen again, Jackson." There was it again, that deafening silence, why was this happening? One moment they would poke fun at each other just like the good old days and the next moment, they averted their eyes, too awkward to say anything else.

When they finally reached the BnB, Annabeth turned to him and gave him an expectant look.

"What?"

"So are you gonna tell me what you've been hiding under your coat?"

"Uh-" well moment of truth, why was he so nervous though?

He reached inside the coat pocket and pulled out the box. "I made these for you as a welcome present, wanted to keep up with tradition." he explained sheepishly.

Annabeth didn't make any move to grab the box from him and his brain went into panic mode, however, he was pretty sure it short-circuited when she lunged forward and wound her hands tightly around his neck. "Thank you so much, Percy, and not just for this."

He swallowed heavily and grasped her tighter. This felt so familiar yet so foreign, he was sure his emotions were all over the place.

"Anytime Beth, anytime."

She pulled away and took the box from his hands. "Good night Percy, I'll see you tomorrow."

Before she could completely disappear from sight, he called out her name.

"I-I really missed you Annabeth and I'm so glad you are back."

"I missed you too Percy, so much, and I'm happy to be here, this place, its people, that's my home." Percy's heart almost leaped out at that and he knew he was probably grinning like a maniac but he didn't give a damn. As he made his journey back he couldn't help but wonder that maybe there was something he could finally accomplish after all.

A/N : This was so hard for me to write just because of how awkward everything was between P/A. But don't worry, the next chapter is one of my favs, so good things coming up really soon.