Woohoo! Lights off in the cafe scene.
Starting next week, my co-author (MANation) and I are going to try and keep a regular update schedule - two p.m. EST (hopefully… no guarantees, though) every six days.
Enjoy!
OoOoOoOoO
"Oh, man!"
They both heard a man's voice cry out, but seemingly more out of annoyance than alarm. Annabeth, however, was far too worried about her own problems to care too much.
She hadn't looked up when the doors first opened; this was a business after all, and she had noticed it was starting to rain outside. When she heard his voice however, that startled her out of her sketchbook. Sure enough, when she peeked up at the counter there he was, awkward and adorable.
She frowned to herself. She didn't like to think of him as adorable. He worked for her. That could make their working relationship weird. Well, whatever working relationship there was between them.
As she watched him order, she realized he didn't have an umbrella, or even a decent jacket. He was still wet from the rain, his messy black hair still dripping, hanging down messily in a way that naturally framed his sea green eyes.
He was wearing a light blue tee shirt and a thin, dark blue hoodie. His shirt was darkened from the rain, and it clung tightly to his chest. He wasn't really muscular, she thought, but he was lean. She wondered if he worked out.
Perseus, huh? Maybe Hero-boy was inspired by his namesake.
Just as she was thinking to herself, no, he definitely isn't adorable, his face scrunched together in response to something she hadn't heard. His expression was oddly childlike: somewhere between are you kidding me, and, okay maybe I deserved that. In spite of herself, she couldn't help but let out a small laugh.
He turned to glare at her in response, but she ducked her head down, her ears turning red. She'd rather not talk to him here. She hoped maybe the rain would let up before his order came through, but once he was focused on the girl at the counter again, Annabeth took one glance out the window before giving up any hope she had of that happening.
Just then she noticed his voice got quieter, more earnest. She decided to listen in to try and pick up on what she'd missed.
He was talking about the barista's eyes. And how cool he thought her name was. She wrote something down and put it around his drink as she handed it to him. Annabeth couldn't hear what she said in response, but it sounded like she was smiling. She tightened her grip on her sketchbook.
Just then there was a crash in the back, and the barista excused herself to go see what had happened. Annabeth idly wondered what she would've said next if she could've stayed and talked with him. She figured she had already given him her number. Would she have asked him out, given the chance? Would he have asked her?
Annabeth told herself she didn't care, but she found herself gritting her teeth all the same.
She looked up to see his expression, but he turned to look at her at the same moment. She ducked her head down again. No way she was going to talk to him now.
Thunder shook the small shop, briefly startling her. She sighed. She was being ridiculous. It shouldn't matter if her employee went on a date with some girl in a coffee shop, it wasn't her business. And that girl was, Annabeth could reluctantly admit, decent. She could see the appeal.
She shook her head. Regardless, it's not really my busi-
The chair across from her moved and she looked up, shocked to see him hesitantly sliding into it. She registered the surprise on his face, and imagined she didn't look much more composed.
"Annabeth?! I mean, uh, Ms. Chase?" he squeaked out.
Her face flushed. What was his name? It didn't even take her a full moment to remember.
"Um, Percy, right? Listen, you don't have to call me Ms. Chase outside of work, but I'm… sort of busy right now so if you don't mind-"
Unfortunately, her voice was drowned out by a loud wave of thunder. Even more unfortunately, that latest blast seemed to have taken the power out.
Annabeth could hardly believe her lack of luck. What a mess, she thought. It was like the universe was deliberately trying to make her life difficult the last few days.
Percy sat in awkward silence across from her, just staring as if he didn't know where else to look. She wanted to say something, she just wasn't sure what. Some more fumbling in the back room however, accompanied by a little gosh darn it, managed to break the tension between them.
Percy coughed. "Um, sorry to bother you Ms. Cha- Annabeth. I just, uh, thought maybe you were shy and wanted to talk. I didn't mean to disturb you. I can, um, leave if you'd like."
She tightened her lips. He was just trying to be polite, and she was shutting him out. She sighed.
"No, it's alright. Not like I can keep working on this anyway," she said, tucking her sketchbook back into her bag. "We might as well talk, considering the circumstances."
Despite saying this, awkward silence fell over them again. Just then, however, the door to the back room opened and the girl from before came out holding a lit candle.
"I'm sorry," she said, coming over to place it between them, "we only have two of these in the back. Honestly, we were lucky to find them. I can't believe the power went out!"
"It's not your fault," Percy said. He frowned. "Is everything okay back there? It sounded like someone was hurt earlier."
The girl looked embarrassed. "Yeah, that was my boyfriend. He's kind of clumsy. He's okay, though."
Percy visibly relaxed. "Okay, good. Why don't you both come out here? We can all talk for a while, since none of us are going anywhere."
The girl looked sheepish. "I think we would, but he's sort of embarrassed. Maybe I can talk him into coming out before you leave though, I think you both would like each other."
As Annabeth's eyes adjusted to the dark, she could more easily make out Percy's responding grin. "I'm sure we would, and tell him I'd love to meet him."
The barista- Hazel, Annabeth made out, squinting to read the girls' name tag in the darkness- smiled and nodded, and after another few apologies, she left them both alone again.
Percy turned toward her again, not looking quite as awkward as before. He ran a hand through his still damp hair.
"Well, I suppose it's just us, for the time being. If you'd like to get back to your drawing though, I under-"
Annabeth held up her hand, indicating he should stop. "Alright, first off, you need to stop being so formal. At the firm, I'm your boss, outside of it, I'm just another person, okay?"
Percy nodded, and the tension seemed to fall away from his shoulders. Annabeth bit back a smile.
She nodded. "Good. Second, even with the candle it's way too dim to sketch, and I was already about to stop anyway, so you aren't holding me up at all."
Percy let out a deep breath. "Okay, good. I just wasn't sure, since you had said you were busy."
Annabeth stiffened slightly, but in the dark Percy didn't seem to notice. "Well, I had been thinking about starting the next sketch, but honestly I was probably done anyway, and even if I had wanted to I can't now, so… let's just talk for a while."
Percy nodded, like this made perfect sense to him. Annabeth exhaled slightly in relief.
Only then did they both realize they weren't sure what to talk about. So, Percy asked the obvious question.
"What were you working on?"
Annabeth bit her lip. "Just something I was inspired to do from an upcoming project. A little doodle of sorts, nothing really work related."
Percy grinned again, and in the warm, flickering candle light, Annabeth couldn't help but be reminded of a troublemaking kid- innocent and full of mischief all at once.
"In that case, do you mind if I see it?" he asked.
She was a little hesitant; she didn't often show her little doodles to people. She mulled it over briefly.
"Only if you tell me what you're thinking about right now," she decided.
He stiffened slightly. "Um, why do you want to know?"
She raised her brow. "I saw that look on your face. When I mentioned I was doodling something went through your head, and I think if I show it to you I have the right to know what."
It was hard to tell, but it looked like he might be blushing. "Uh, okay. But only after you show it to me."
"Hmmm. And what guarantee do I have you'll tell me, once you've gotten what you want?"
He put his hand over his chest in mock disbelief. "Well, I wasn't expecting you to question my integrity! The nerve! But hey, if it makes you feel any better, we can pinky promise, alright?" He held out his hand, pinky outstretched.
She scoffed at him, but his eyes were almost glowing with amusement, the soft lighting giving them an almost hypnotic appeal. It affected her more than she was willing to admit.
"Pinky promise? What are we, children?" In spite of herself, her hand lightly reached out to meet his. As they interlocked fingers, she couldn't help but notice how warm he was.
"Hey, they say never let your inner child die, ya know? And I'm nothing if not childish," he said proudly, puffing out his chest and resting his fists against his hips in a sort of superhero pose.
Annabeth cracked up at that, as she pulled her sketch pad back out. "On that, we can agree." As she opened to the page she was working on and turned it around for him to see, she found herself oddly nervous. What will he think?
He leaned forward and squinted, trying to make out the details. He saw what looked to be a young boy, with clouds and rain, and a dark landscape out in front of him. Hills? Mountains? Percy wasn't sure; it was too dark to tell.
"Well?" Annabeth asked nervously, chewing her lip. "What do you think?"
"I think it looks good. Sad, kind of daunting maybe, but that's not a bad thing and might just be because it's so dark in here," he said.
Annabeth shook her head. "No, that's what I was going for."
Percy nodded, still examining it. "So what was the inspiration for it? Also your line work and shading both look excellent."
Annabeth straightened up slightly, and when she spoke her voice was a just a bit smug. "Well, I am an architect, being able to draw clean lines is part of the job."
Percy shook his head, handing it back to her. "Buildings are all about straight lines, drawing a person is totally different, and you seem to be pretty good at it."
Annabeth blushed slightly, putting the book away again. "Well, thank you, I appreciate it. But I can't really take credit for this one. I'm not tracing it, but I saw this somewhere and it's been stuck in my head ever since. I thought maybe drawing it myself would help."
Percy leaned back in his chair. "Well, you're certainly doing a good job."
Annabeth waved her hand back and forth. She felt a bit flustered under all this praise, and was anxious to change the subject. "Okay, that's my part of the deal, now spill. What were you thinking about earlier?"
Percy bit his lip anxiously, his hand instinctively going to rub the back of his neck. Annabeth wondered why he looked so uncomfortable. It couldn't be that bad… could it?
Percy hesitantly began to speak. "Well… I was just thinking about how we first met in a coffee shop. And, how one of the days you were there, you left a little doodle behind on a napkin… of me."
He spoke very quietly, but Annabeth had no trouble hearing him in the empty cafe. What she did have trouble with, however, was not burying her face in her hands out of embarrassment. As he spoke she could feel her whole face getting hot, and she thought, I could just die right now.
She had forgotten all about that. So much had happened since then that it seemed like months ago, rather than weeks.
She wasn't really sure why she had drawn him. Usually if she isn't sketching buildings she just does landscapes; very rarely does she draw people, and she hadn't felt like drawing anything for fun in a while.
It was just something about his eyes, she thought. It isn't just the color that reminds me of the sea, she realized, there's a depth there… a sadness. I guess that must have inspired me.
She didn't voice any of this, however. She didn't want him to think she hired him because she thought he was cute. Especially when he still thought she had a boyfriend.
It was quiet again, a tense energy having settled between the two, and neither of them knew what to say. They sat in painful silence, until another loud clang, followed by some very creative replacements for swear words, from the back room caused them both to jump.
They both looked at each other for a second, then busted out laughing. Neither of them liked laughing at another persons' misfortune, but they couldn't help it. All the tension left the room, and as soon as Percy could catch his breath, he stood up, walked over the counter and called out, "Are you alright back there?"
A sheepish, "Yes…" came back in reply, and Percy chuckled.
As he made his way back to his seat, he called over his shoulder, "Be careful, alright? And there's no need to be embarrassed; I guarantee I make myself look like an idiot more often than you do!"
Annabeth couldn't make out the response from behind the door, but the guys' voice sounded embarrassed. She felt bad for him, but she was grateful for the distraction he caused to break the tension between her and Percy. She made a mental note to leave a nice tip for him and his girlfriend.
Percy settled into the chair opposite her and when she looked at him, he seemed amused.
"Anyway, now you know what I was thinking about earlier." He started to say something else, but then he hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but wasn't sure if he should.
Annabeth gave him a curious look. "Yes?" she prompted.
Percy shrugged, but he still seemed anxious. "I was just… wondering why you hired me. I remember that day at your house I was- well, I was pretty weird, I guess, so, I was just curious-"
Annabeth was saved from having to give an answer to a question she didn't have an answer for when the door to the back room opened and out came the girl from before- Hazel, Annabeth remembered- holding a candle, and a large, Asian man with a close shaven crew cut.
Annabeth watched them closely as they came around the counter. The differences between them were almost comical; she was small, he was large, he had light, pale skin versus her dark ebony skin, his hair was straight and short compared to hers which was long and curly. Still, they just looked… right together. He had something of a baby face, and she looked very tender and nurturing. With just one look Annabeth could tell they were very close.
"Hey," said Hazel shyly. "We thought maybe we would come out and join you. Maybe then my boyfriend, Frank, might not get himself hurt bumping into stuff anymore."
The big guy ducked his head, embarrassed. Percy laughed.
"Hey man, nothing to be ashamed of there. I wasn't kidding when I said I'm sure I make more of a fool of myself than you do. You should wait until you hear the story of how I got pantsed at Times Square! That one was a doozy."
Everyone laughed at that, and Frank seemed to relax some. However, Annabeth noticed Percy blushed when he saw her laughing, and he quickly looked away.
Frank and Hazel pulled up two chairs to the little table and sat down, as the rain outside continued to pour and lightning streaked across the sky.
Annabeth leaned across the table towards Percy, a big smirk on her face. "Well then? Let's hear it, hero."
