Percy POV
"Ouch," I exclaimed as Annabeth slapped at my hand that had been fiddling with the radio controls in her dad's car. I pulled it back, and held it against my chest, in mock pain. She slightly swerved the car, and I yelped again. "Two hands on the wheel!"
"Percy, you don't know any of the radio stations here. I don't want to keep listening to static fuzz, with the occasional discovery of some music in Spanish. Let me do it," Annabeth said, and she reached forward, and successfully changed the music into a coherent song, that I had never heard before, but sounded nice.
I watched the scenery pass out of my window as Annabeth took us out of the suburbs and into the city, before saying, "Where are you taking me Angel?" I turned to face her and await a response. Her eyes remained on the road, and I took this chance to stare.
"Everywhere is going to be crowded, the before Christmas buzz, but we are going to the mall, and then dinner…" Her sentence trailed off and she turned to look at me.
"Don't be so nervous to ask me on a date Annabeth. I leaned in closer to her. We are dating if I remember correctly," I joked.
She laughed at me, before returning her eyes to the road in front of her. "Fine," she said. "Dinner, and then we can go back to my parent's house, and go to bed, because in New York, it is already…" she looked at the clock on the car dash board, that said 4:47. "Almost 8, my bedtime."
I looked out my window once again, the sun was slowing starting to set already, and the reflection of the bar was bright and led me to turning my eyes away.
In hopes that Annabeth would tell me more about her life in New York, not just her one her in San Francisco, I asked, "Tell me about New York." I had been there multiple times to visit my mother, but I was interested in her take on her life there.
Her shoulders slumped down and she sighed. "Well, the city is great. Full of opportunity and so many people. I love Central Park, and I have a best friend, Piper, and her boyfriend, Jason, who take care of me."
Annabeth stopped talking, and I waited for her to follow up. "I take it there is a 'but' to this."
"But," she said, and looked at me with her grey angel eyes and a pointed look. "I just haven't seemed to be able to seize any of the opportunities that the city offers. I got this internship at a big architectural firm, but all I have been doing is getting coffee, despite the countless designs that I have tried to submit."
She merged on to the freeway, and kept talking. "And so I make no money, so I am stuck living in a place where I never feel really safe, and therefore go to bed at 8 most nights, to avoid my roommates." She tried to laugh this off, but I felt a slight twinge of alarm. She didn't feel safe in her own home?
"Why don't you quit the internship, and find a different job? With people who appreciate how brilliant you are. Or just get a job doing something else?" I hesitantly suggested. Annabeth didn't seem like the type of girl to stay in a shitty situation, so I'm sure she had valid reasoning to keep the internship for so long.
Her whole body immediately stiffened, and I realized I said something that upset her.
"I have to be an architect," she said, her voice defiant.
I had enough common sense to realize that our conversation was officially over. Instead of prying for more information, I turned my focus back to my window. I realized that we were nearing the big city aspect of San Francisco. Annabeth hag exited the freeway and pulled into a parking garage.
"I am going to drill you with questions later about your life, Percy," Annabeth surprised me. She put her car in park and faced me. "Don't think you can just get off the hook like that."
I let out a laugh, and she smiled in return, before turning and opening her car door. She gracefully hopped out and slammed the door. I stared at the spot she just was, with a wide, goofy smile etched on my face. My cheeks began to hurt, and I realized they would be sore soon from all of the smiling I would be doing on this trip.
I knock on my window startled me, and I turned to Annabeth, her hair now in a high pony tail giving me a look that seemed to say, 'hurry the fuck up.'
…
The second that we walked into the shopping mall, I was hit in the face with a slap that seemed to say 'CHRISTMAS IS HERE.' An intricately decorated tree reached the ceiling of the two story. A man was dressed as Santa, with a crying child placed on his lap, as the mother tried to snap a quick photo. Ladies dressed as elves tried to beckon us to take a photo, for only ten dollars, but we politely shook our heads.
The song, 'Santa Clause is coming to town' echoed through the room, and bustling shoppers were bumping into one another as they rushed from store to store.
I was a tad bit overwhelmed, and mumbled that as my excuse as I took Annabeth's hand, and entwined our fingers. "You don't want to lose me in here," I said as I gave her a cheeky grin.
She shook her head with a small laugh, but tightened her hand in mine nonetheless. Annabeth dragged me into a store, and immediately got to work.
"Okay, so I have a grand total of zero gifts, and I am going to need," she trailed off as she added the total number of people in her head. "Seven gifts."
"Annabeth, I'm no mathematician, but you're going to need six gifts, and I bet you could shorten it to three, and shop by immediate family," I said.
"Percy, you went across the country for me. I think you deserve a Christmas present," she replied.
An alarm went off in my head.
"No way in hell am I letting you get me a gift. How about we tell your parents we exchanged gifts in private, and we just give endless love to each other," I made my voice as high pitched as possible as my sentence went on. Hopefully Annabeth would find the humor, and also agree to my request.
She laughed, and nodded her head at the same time. Two points for Percy.
Even though we had come to this agreement, it didn't stop me from keeping my eye open for gifts that screamed 'Annabeth' to me as we went from store to store, and Annabeth picked out various items.
…
Three hours and five bags full of presents later, Annabeth was finally satisfied with the gifts that she found for her pretentious family members.
"If we don't get food soon, my stomach is going is going to start eating away at itself. And a dead boyfriend is not one that you want to take home," I repeated my hunger to Annabeth for the fifth time. I carried three of the bags for her.
"Percy," she swung her free arm and hit me on the chest.
"Ouch!" I exclaimed.
"I have told you a million times. We are going to eat right now," Annabeth let out a huff. I could tell she was just as tired as I was, so I made the effort to halt my comments.
I made a dramatic gesture of zipping my mouth shut, and followed her to set the bags in the car, that was parked in the parking garage.
"How does pizza sound?" She asked.
I almost moaned at the idea of a greasy pizza.
We silently hopped in the car, and Annabeth took us to the nearest pizza place. It was a small, local joint, complete with dim lights, arcade games, and a pool table.
I opened the door for Annabeth, who ducked under my arm and into the restaurant. The aroma drifted through the restaurant, as Annabeth slid into the seat of one of the open booths.
I slid in across from her, and opened up the menu. I peeked over at her from the top of my menu. She looked up, and I quickly averted my eyes back to my menu, pretending like I was reading it the whole time. Slowly, I raised my eyes to look at Annabeth once again.
The dim lighting cast shadows on her face, that seemed to make her have an even more enticing look. Her hand kept rising up and tugging on the end of her pony tail. As her tongue slowly licked her bottom lip, I had to force my eyes to return to my menu.
Annabeth had the looks of a siren, tempting me in, but too dangerous to get close to.
"I want a lot of pepperoni pizza. Is that okay with you?" She asked.
I gave her a smirk. "That sounds absolutely perfect Angel."
We ordered a large pepperoni, and two beers.
The pizza came, and so did our laughs, and conversation flow. I found myself telling Annabeth small tidbits of my family (she was very interested in my younger half siblings), of my childhood, and even of my past days skiing, which was still a hard subject to talk about.
When the topic of my ribs came up, I raised my shirt, and stared at the black brace around my torso, desperately wishing to be free of its tight grasp. I had been wearing it for three weeks straight, and although the doctor said two months, I decided it was coming off tonight.
The talk of my deceased father, or her real mother never came to be spoken about. Instead, only matters that were followed my laughs and more jokes.
Time seemed to fly by, and before I even realized it, it was nearing nine o'clock, and Annabeth's eyes were fluttering shut in between each sentence.
"Let's go home Angel," I said, after I placed down 40 dollars for the meal and drinks.
"Oh no Percy. You're on a trip with me, I am paying."
"Nope," I quickly replied. I wrapped an arm around her waist, and nearly dragged her from the restaurant back to our car that we had been using. This time though, I hopped in the driver's side, after securing Annabeth's spot in the passenger seat.
"I'm going to need directions home Angel," I said as I buckled my seatbelt.
After a near silent car ride back to Annabeth's parents' house, complete with faint Christmas music and Annabeth nearly dozing off in between giving me directions.
After pulling into the garage, and trudging up the stairs, with Annabeth's hand in mine, we opened her bedroom door, and I came to a realization.
One bed. Two strangers, with a complicated relationship.
Annabeth grabbed what must have been her pajamas, as I debated in my head as to what I should do. Ask for blankets to make a bed on the floor? Sleep on the couch and worry about her family seeing me? Dare to sleep in the same bed as her?
Annabeth opened the bathroom door, and came out, wearing her glasses once again, and a pair of black sweatpants and a tank top.
God damn. She was sexy even in sleeping attire.
"Oh shit Percy," she said. "Let me get some blankets and I will sleep on the floor. Make yourself comfortable on the bed." She turned on her heel, presumably to get blankets.
"Angel!" I yelled out to get her attention, and flinched at how loud my voice was. The next statement came out in a much quieter tone. "No way in hell you are sleeping on the floor." I paused and carefully thought out my next question.
"How about we just share the bed? Put a pillow between us and everything."
A/N: Leave a review with your thoughts on this chapter! Again, I barely reread my chapters after writing them, much less conduct any editing. If there are typos or grammatical errors, I'm sorry!