Chapter Three:
July 12th
Percy couldn't believe it. He had just had a conversation with Annabeth. And she invited him to come to her party. He thinks he might have passed out for a split second when she tapped him on the shoulder. And she was standing in front of him in that black dress that contrasted against her skin beautifully and her makeup done to perfection to highlight the perfection that lay underneath.
And then she smiled at him and Percy's pretty sure all the stars aligned and everything in the world righted itself when she did.
When he finally regained his bearings after their conversation, Percy wandered around the party until he realized that his tray was void of cupcakes, so he reached the door to the kitchen before pushing it open to see his mom stacking more desserts on a tray while Rachel waited for her to be finished.
Hey mom!" Percy greeted cheerfully.
Both his mom and Rachel looked at him suspiciously. "What's going on?" Rachel questioned.
His smile faltered for a second before righting itself and said, "What do you mean?"
"You're just really cheerful, especially while you're working at a party like this." His friend replied.
Percy blushed and looked down at his shoes.
His mom gasped, "Percy! You're blushing! What happened?"
He looked up quickly, "N-nothing! I swear. Seriously, it's nothing."
Rachel narrowed her eyes, "Percy you are probably the worst liar on Earth. Will you just tell us what's going on?"
Percy sat quietly for a minute before realizing they weren't going to drop this. With a sigh, he replied, "I just talked to Annabeth and she invited me to her party."
Percy's mom smiled widely while Rachel's soft smile vanished from her face the second the words came out of his mouth.
"That's amazing! Wait, isn't this her party?" Percy's mom questioned.
"Oh yeah well apparently she's throwing one with all of her friends. She said it was one that she really wanted." He answered.
"Well, I guess I can understand that. This doesn't seem like a party that a 17-year-old would want." His mom said as she finished setting the tray up with desserts and Rachel grabbed it, hoisting it up to rest on her shoulder.
"Yeah, she already sent me the address and said I could just come by once we're done here." He told them.
Rachel finally spoke, "Oh so are you looking to go ahead and leave us here to clean up?"
Percy shook his head in disbelief, "No, of course not. I'll stay and help, just like I always do. I mean it's not a big deal if I go or not."
"Oh no don't be ridiculous, you're definitely going. We shouldn't be too much longer anyway, this is the last tray to serve, so we can go ahead and start cleaning up." His mom interjected.
Rachel scoffed and started to head back into the dining room to continue to serve the party guests. "Oh, wait, Rach," Percy stopped her. "Annabeth said you and Grover are welcome to come if you wanted to. I already asked Grover and he said he could go, you wanna join?"
Rachel paused, considering the offer before nodding and strolling out the door
Percy turned back to his mom with a huge grin on his face, "I have never been so happy to clean up in my life."
Barely an hour later, Percy and his two friends arrived at the Grace's house and knocked on the front door. A few seconds later, Thalia Grace swung the door open and broke out into the most mischievous grin Percy's ever seen in his life and proceeded to grab his arm and drag him into the living room, where Annabeth and all of her friends sat with drinks in their hands and smiles on their faces.
"Well, well, well would you look who showed up?" Thalia sang, her blue eyes glinting and electrifying against her black eyeliner.
Everyone else's faces lit up with smirks as they all glanced at Annabeth, who now was dressed in a t-shirt and pajama shorts, where she sat with her lips slightly parted, and a faint tint of pink painted on her cheeks. Surprise was etched across her features before she awkwardly stood up and said, "Hey."
Instantly Percy's heart stuttered and so did his voice, "H-hi," he cleared his throat, "I hope it's alright that we came."
She nodded vigorously, "Of course! That's why I invited you." Her attention turned towards his two friends standing beside him, "Hi Grover and Rachel, I've seen you guys around school so it's nice to finally meet you."
Grover smiled, "It's great to meet you too."
Rachel just nodded with a half-smile.
"Well don't just stand there, grab a drink from the kitchen and join us," Piper McLean said from her seat next to Jason Grace, her boyfriend and Thalia's brother.
"Oh yeah, let me show you guys what we have," Annabeth started walking towards the kitchen gesturing for them to follow her. She opened the fridge, "So we have beer, vodka, and wine or if you prefer something nonalcoholic, we have Pepsi or water."
She turned to them waiting for an answer.
Grover smiled, "I'll just have a beer." Annabeth nodded and handed one to him.
"I'll take the same," Percy answered and he was given a bottle.
"Well, it seems I'm the designated driver," Rachel shrugged, "so I'll just have a water."
Annabeth put a water bottle in Rachel's hand and led them back to the living room.
Percy's mind couldn't wrap around the fact that he was here, with Annabeth, literally sitting right next to him, like her thigh touching his, their knees knocking together. Their faces were so close when they turned towards each other to smile, just to awkwardly look away while blushing he could feel her breath against his cheek.
After spending an hour or two talking and getting to know each other and their friends, Thalia suddenly spoke to Percy.
"So, we just were about to watch a movie when you guys got here, but since you are here there is something Annabeth has to do," Thalia explained as she grinned at her friend, "and since Annabeth hasn't manned up and done it herself, looks like we need to help her out."
Protests immediately rose out of Annabeth's mouth, while Percy and his two friends watched in confusion as all of Annabeth's friends stood up and suddenly grabbed him and her, pulling them to the doors that led outside.
Annabeth struggled the whole way, screaming, cursing, begging them not to do this.
Do what? He wondered, racking his brain trying to figure out where they were going until his eyes landed on the pool. Oh dear god, please let this be a nightmare.
Percy didn't believe it was actually happening until he felt the cold water engulf his body. When his head popped up for air, he heard Annabeth screaming at her friends beside him.
They all laughed as they ran back inside, just before the door shut, Thalia yelled, "You know what you have to do Annie! You're not going anywhere until you do. Have fun!" And then she shut the door and Percy heard the lock click even from the pool.
The two of them sat in silence for a minute before Percy's ADHD refused to let him be silent. "So, is this normal for you guys?" He questioned, turning to look to Annabeth while she swam towards the shallow end.
Once she reached the stairs leading into the pool, she turned and sat on them before responding, "No," she sighed, "it's just- before you got here we were playing truth or dare and they dared me to get you in the pool and- uh- um," she trailed off. "You know what? It doesn't matter cause I'm not gonna do it."
"Well, you heard Thalia, we're apparently not getting out of here until you do whatever you have to do. So why don't you just do it?" Percy asked.
Annabeth threw her head back and sighed, "Because I'm scared to do it." She whispered it quietly like she was saying it to the sky and not to him.
The thought of Annabeth being scared was unfathomable, she always seemed so fearless and confident. "What could you be scared to do?"
She smiled humorlessly at him, "Well the thing I have to do doesn't just affect me, it might affect you and I don't want you to question certain things or think that it means anything."
Percy's eyebrows furrowed, "What doesn't mean anything?
Annabeth groaned before turning towards him, making the water slosh along the sides of the pool, "Okay, so the dare was to get you in the pool and then- um to, uh, kiss you."
The whole time she talking she was looking everywhere but him, blushing.
Percy sat in awed silence, trying to process this information. Swallowing roughly, "Uh, s-so, in order to get out of this mess, you have to- uhh, kiss me. We-we have to kiss."
She simply nodded, still refusing to look at him.
Normally, Percy felt right at home in the pool, but now he was all too aware of everything else, of his wet jeans rubbing against his legs (and other things), of his shoes having a pool of their own, of his face being beat red, and, most importantly, the girl sitting next to him equally soaking in a very thin t-shirt.
Percy so desperately wanted to remain calm and collected in front of Annabeth especially since it sounded like she didn't expect him to, so he attempted to appear unaffected by stuttering out, "O-okay, umm, l-let's do it."
Her head snapped up to look at him, gray eyes blown wide, "What? Percy, you really don't have to- I completely understand, we can probably just sneak around to the front doo-"
Ever since the image of Annabeth and him kissing entered his mind, more realistically than ever, he couldn't stop himself from staring at her lips, and the minute she said his name, he couldn't resist anymore. So he acted on his first impulse, to kiss her.
Her lips were soft and warm and so far beyond his wildest fantasies. He felt like he could keep kissing her for the rest of his life and never grow tired of it. He felt everything and nothing at once, only feeling the pressure of her lips on his, responding with intensity to match his own. It was a fire, starting at the small of his back, burning through his entire body, igniting feelings Percy had never experienced before.
Kissing Annabeth was euphoric.
It could have been minutes or hours before they pulled away from each other. Redder than they were before with swollen lips to match. They watched each other for a little while before Percy awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "We should probably go ahead and get out of the pool."
Annabeth chuckled without quite looking at him and rising to climb the steps. She grabbed him a towel from a bin underneath the gazebo next to the pool. They both sat on lounge chairs next to each other, quietly drying off their skin and hair.
Percy's mind was running at a mile a minute, wondering if Annabeth felt the things he did during that kiss, wondering what would happen next, and, most of all, wondering what the hell he should say to her.
Lucky for him, Annabeth took the initiative to speak first, "Um, so that was… uhh, something."
Percy nodded, "It was interesting."
Annabeth let out a groan before laying back on the chair with her hands hiding her face, "See! This is why I didn't want to do that! Now we feel awkward around each other and we haven't even had the chance to get to know each other."
"Y-you want to get to know me?" Percy questioned.
Annabeth looked at him in shock, "Of course I do. That's why I invited you tonight, but then my idiotic friends came up with this stupid dare and probably ruined it."
Percy's lips immediately lit up with a wide, lopsided grin, "Well, maybe not, I mean at least anything else that happens won't ever feel as awkward as this, right?"
Her eyebrows rose in disbelief while a slight smile quirked at the end of her lips, "Are you serious?"
He nodded, enthusiastically, "Yeah, now I can get to know you while never having to worry about embarrassing myself as much as I did tonight."
Annabeth let out a loud laugh, "Well, trust me you're not the only one who embarrassed themselves tonight."
Percy chuckled while laying back to rest his shoulder next to hers and turning to smile gently at her, "So, what do you wanna know about me?"
She smiled sweetly and whispered a quiet, "Everything."
A/N: Hey guys, sorry about the wait, I've been working a lot, but now I'm on vacation! So expect another chapter by the end of next week! Please leave a review! :)