A/N: I'd like to thank some of the people who helped me out: AlEmily360, SapphireTrafficker, tigerlilycorinne, AshenMoon42, Lesbian101, Shiuanc2, and LadyHW.

"Annabeth!" Luke said, standing up to greet her. She walked forward and gave him a hug, to which he responded with a kiss on her cheek before sitting down again. She pulled out her chair and sat across from him.

Annabeth tried not to look too pissed. He'd said he would pick her up for their date, but when she ran downstairs to meet him, his car was no longer there. Instead, he texted her the address of the restaurant and she'd had to take a cab.

Annabeth looked around. The place they were eating at was fancy. Very fancy. She wished he'd said something beforehand because she felt underdressed and unprepared. The room was dimly lit and candles flickered on the tables. The tablecloths were clean white and the napkins were folded into swans. Swans.

Luke smiled at her. "The waiter has already been here three times, " he said, still smiling.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were picking me up at eight."

"I texted you."

Annabeth nodded. He had texted her—at 8:05. She knew that he was waiting for an apology, but she just grit her teeth. She was allowed to be mad.

"It's okay, Annabeth," he said, waving over a waiter. "We'll get started with a Bordeaux, for the table—" Annabeth wrinkled her nose. "—thank you." When the waiter left, he turned back to her. "You know I don't like to be kept waiting. And it's rude to the server."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "Sorry," she bit, then added mentally, to the server.

Luke looked like he wanted to say something else, but he dropped it. "How have you been doing? Anything new?"

"I'm doing pretty well. And there's nothing new," she lied.

"Nothing? What about your classes? You're taking that English elective, right?"

The waiter brought over their bottle of wine and Luke uncorked it, pouring some for both himself and Annabeth. He took a sip and gestured for her to do the same. She tried not to shudder at the taste. She hated red wine. She barely liked wine to begin with, and it wasn't like it was legal for her to be drinking, yet. Not that it ever would be.

"Yeah, it's actually pretty fun."

"That's nice. What are you working on now?" he asked. Annabeth could tell that the subject was wearing thin, but Luke was trying to take it as far as it would go. They never had much to talk about besides their daily lives. And Thalia, but they'd always tried to avoid that subject to the best of their abilities. At least Luke did.

"Well, I am working with a partner and we are supposed to write a fictional story about a person with a moral dilemma. We're crafting it around the timers," she said. Luke stiffened, the conversation was moving into dangerous territory. Luke didn't like talking about the timers, so he opted to take the safer route.

"Who are you working with?"

Annabeth felt herself smiling, despite herself. "I'm working with this guy. His name is Percy. Jackson. And he is actually not too bad. At first, I thought that he was gonna be an ass, but, um…" Annabeth looked at Luke's expression. "But, he's uh, he's not," she finished weakly.

"That's great. I'm glad you are getting along so well," Luke said. Annabeth looked for some form of coldness under his response, but he seemed genuine. She was surprised. Luke usually got jealous easily. She nodded.

"Yeah, he's—" she started, thinking for the right words. Immediately things like 'nice' and 'cool' and 'fun' came to mind, something that shouldn't have been as surprising as it was. She and Percy had been texting on and off since yesterday afternoon and, despite her reservations, she found herself liking him more and more. But she knew she couldn't say that. "—alright."

"Good, good," Luke said. "Do you think you're ready to order?"

Annabeth hadn't looked at the menu, but she knew she didn't need to. Luke usually picked out what they'd both have, and maybe that made him "autocratic" as Silena would say, but Annabeth didn't really mind this. He was usually right. That was the thing about Luke; he knew her better than anyone, sometimes even better than she knew herself. Except for the wine.

Annabeth waited as he ordered their meals. Once the waiter left, he turned back to her before pouring himself another glass of wine.

"I've been hired by a news channel," he said.

"Wow! That's great! What about your internship, though?"

He waved his hand in the air. "They'll understand. This is a real job, with a real network. They want me to get started as soon as I can. I'll be starting off here, but after I get more experience, they want me to go to the UK. Full time."

"Oh." Annabeth straightened and leaned back. "When would that be?"

"Yeah, they think that would be in one or two years, and you're, what? A senior?"

"Junior," she replied numbly.

"Well, when you graduate, you can come with me. I'll be living in London, or maybe Edinburgh, and I know there's lots of—"

"Luke, no," Annabeth said. Her mind was still spinning with his excited plans. Edinburgh, London, graduation, one year, two—she didn't even have ten months.

" What?"

She sighed. "Luke, look at this." She leaned forward, brandishing her wrist. Her numbers counted down merrily. "I have about nine and a half months to live." She gestured to his own arm and he jerked it back, as if she didn't already know what it said. "We both do."

"I don't want to talk about this." His mouth was a grim line.

"Luke, we have to some time. We can't just put it off."

"We don't." His voice was getting dangerous.

But Annabeth was insistent. " Yes, we do. You can't make plans, make promises to people that you can't keep. What about your job? Your contract?"

"I am not going to live my life like I'm on a countdown. I have just as much of a right as anybody else!" he yelled. Several of the people around them looked up.

Annabeth flinched. Luke could be scary sometimes, but she also heard the pain in his voice. She tried not to feel bad for him—to feel pity for him would be to feel pity for herself, and she didn't want to do that. "We all are. And I'm not asking you to… I'm just saying that there are certain things you need to take into account."

"It's not fair," he said.

Annabeth knew it wasn't fair, but she also knew where this kind of thinking could lead. "Luke… don't say that. You're starting to sound like Thalia."

"Don't mention her." He wasn't yelling anymore; instead, his voice was icy and hard. This was usually the point where Annabeth discontinued the subject, but for some reason, she felt the need to go on.

"Luke, she did that to herself. You didn't—we both did what we could to help her, but it was her choice to try to remove—"

"It was not her fault," he said, voice low and scathing. He looked—well, he didn't look like the Luke that Annabeth knew and loved. "Don't mention her again. Don't talk about the timers."

He stood up abruptly, opening his wallet and throwing some money at the table. He drained his wine glass and picked up his jacket from where it had fallen onto the floor. "I'm sorry for getting angry," he said. "Let's try this again next week."

Then he left without waiting for Annabeth to reply. She slumped down into her chair. God. What am I going to do now? She got her phone out.

Annabeth- Hey Piper, can you come here

She attached her address and then sent the same message to Silena, before realizing Silena had decided to go out on a date.

She got replies right away.

Piper- On my way

Silena- We're coming, be there soon

Annabeth was glad to have such dependable friends.

:::

Piper arrived five minutes before Silena. When she came up to the table, she sat down, folding her legs and leaning into her chair comfortably.

"I didn't know this was supposed to be black tie," she joked. "I would have worn my evening gown." When Annabeth didn't respond, her eyes narrowed in concern. "Hey, are you okay? What happened?"

Annabeth laid her head in her folded arms. "Luke was supposed to take me to dinner. He left once the conversation moved to Thalia."

"Awww, sweetie. I'm sorry," Piper said, trying to comfort Annabeth. She picked up her chair and moved over to Annabeth's side of the table. "I know you don't like me saying this, but he's such an asshole."

"Who's an asshole?" Silena came up to the table, dragging a tall man with buzzed black hair behind her. "I hope you don't mind, I brought Charlie."

Annabeth shook her head. "It's fine."

"And the asshole is Luke," Piper added.

The waiter from earlier came up to their table, eyes wide. He looked over their motley assortment of outfits—Annabeth in a slightly unexciting sundress, Piper wearing a pair of jeans and a faded t-shirt, and Silena and her date dressed to go out. He smiled at them politely. "Should I get some more chairs?"

"Yes, please," Silena said. "And could we get a bottle of Rosé? And a mule for this one." she pointed at Annabeth. Annabeth was grateful, Moscow mules were the least alcohol-tasting alcoholic beverage she could think of.

"Thanks," she said once the waiter had left. "Can you get that though? You're twenty."

"I have a very convincing fake. And Charlie's twenty-one," Silena said. She thanked the waiter when he brought over the extra chairs. "So, fill me in, what happened?"

"Luke ditched her in the middle of their date," Piper supplied. "Because he's an asshole."

"He's not an asshole," Annabeth interjected.

"Wait, why did he leave?" Silena ignored her.

Annabeth wilted, feeling slightly guilty from the memory. "He doesn't like it when I bring up Thalia."

Silena didn't know the specifics about what had happened, but she nodded anyway. "It's still a dick move." Her date, who Silena called Charlie, but Annabeth knew as Beckendorf, nodded.

"I upset him," Annabeth said. "There're just some things we don't talk about. I knew that, but… I don't know. I was just pushing his buttons."

"Annabeth, you know that his reaction isn't your fault. He's a grown-up, he should be able to control his emotions," Piper said, frowning at Annabeth. "And he isn't the only one who gets a say in what you can and can't talk about."

Annabeth just shrugged, feeling small. She looked at Silena, who shook her head, smiling kindly.

"You know what I think about him," she said. Annabeth glared at her when she mouthed the word ' dictator' at Piper. Piper giggled.

"Can we talk about something else?" Annabeth asked. "How was your date? Sorry for interrupting it, by the way."

Silena told them how her date went, letting Beckendorf tease her lightly and add details to their story. He looked at her with such reverence, it was adorable. When the food Luke ordered arrived, which Annabeth had forgotten about, they split it four ways, talking and laughing in a way that was definitely not appreciated by the rest of the snooty patrons. But Annabeth couldn't bring herself to care.

At the end of the dinner and dessert, they used what Luke had thrown on the table, along with some of their own money to pay for their meal. Despite what it had started as, Annabeth was feeling sated and happy, warm from the love of her friends. They all started heading out of the restaurant, Silena hand in hand with Beckendorf and Annabeth and Piper walking the opposite way.

Silena waved as they parted. "Thank you for the meal, Annabeth," she said. Beckendorf nodded in agreement, pulling her closer against the night chill.

Annabeth smiled. "Hey, thank Luke. It was his money," she said. "And thanks for coming. Really."

She held Silena's gaze and then Piper's as well.

Piper tugged on her pinkie. "Of course," she said.

The group split up in two different directions. Annabeth and Piper walked side by side, Piper's steady chatter about Jason, her classes, a TV show she'd been binging, filled the quiet of the night. Annabeth let herself relax, looking around the town as they walked home.

Her eyes swept over a couple, but then she did a double-take. There was something familiar about the girl. Annabeth recognized her short stature and her distinctly colored hair, which was twisted into two knots on the top of her head. It was Hazel, she realized.

She was walking with a guy (Annabeth remembered she'd said something about a boyfriend), who was nearly a head taller than her and twice as broad. He had his arm around her shoulders, placed there gently like he was afraid he would crush her. Hazel was smiling more sweetly than Annabeth had ever seen, so she supposed that whoever he was, he was a good match for Hazel.

Annabeth watched them as they crossed the street. Hazel reached up to mime something, stretching both her arms over her head. Annabeth's eyes immediately went to where she knew Hazel's timer was. It was a force of habit, almost everyone did it, but Annabeth still felt ashamed every time she did because she knew how much she hated it when others looked at hers.

But where Hazel's timer was supposed to be was a bandage wrapped around her arm. She had forgotten about that. Many people tried to cover their timers with tape, but a bandage was unusual. A bandage implied that the person had tried to take their timer out, and nobody could do that. Annabeth had only ever known one person who tried.

Hazel looked Annabeth's way and she snapped her eyes back to Piper. She pretended to be engaged in what Piper was saying, but she could feel Hazel's eyes on her, all the way until Hazel and her partner disappeared down another street.

"—and I just think that the way they tried to redeem him was really badly done. Three episodes are not enough." Piper said, turning toward her.

"What?"

"Aren't you listening?" Piper said. Annabeth nodded, but her mind was actually miles away. She thought about her timer, left uncovered—although that might change because of her confusing jumps. She thought about Piper's timer, also left uncovered. About Silena's, usually covered with a piece of pink tape and an assortment of tasteful bracelets. About Hazel's, wrapped with a tight bandage. People did what they wanted with their timers and Annabeth never questioned it. It was personal, and if someone didn't want to share, Annabeth wouldn't ask.

Even when Piper left her at her dorm to go to her own flat, Annabeth was still thinking about the timers. But mostly, she was thinking about something she had once heard Luke say.

"People only cover their timers if they have something to hide."