Hey everyone! I hope you're liking the story so far. Don't worry the drama will come later *wink wink* I hope everyone is safe and that you are taking care of each other.

I do not own Percy Jackson.

HoO Storys: I know! It sounds so weird but it's funny XD. Thank you for supporting me.

Chapter 4

The smell of freshly grounded coffee invaded Annabeth's nostrils. She sighed pleasurably as she watched all the people chatting and laughing at the small wooden tables though out the small cafeteria. The blond girl resisted the urge to look at her watch and enjoyed doing an essay for one of her architecture classes.

Percy was running late…again. Sadly, after weeks of meeting with him, she had already gotten used to it and decided to spend the extra minutes to study. After finishing the essay, she used one of her favorite tools on her laptop to modify some blueprints she had been designing for fun. She brought the ceramic cup to her lips only to find it was empty.

Suddenly, the little bell on top of the coffee's shop door ringed and an agitated Percy came in. He was wearing a dark purple Goode sweatshirt with his usual blue jeans. He didn't even have to look at the shop to know where Annabeth was sitting. She had chosen the spot in front of the window the first day they met there and hadn't move their sitting spot since.

"Hey" he greeted once he sat in front of her, placing his stuff on the table with a loud thud. Annabeth was too focused on shifting some walls on the small house she was designing, so she responded with a soft hi.

"Have you ever noticed you kind of ignore everyone whenever you work on your computer. It's like a superpower…like hyper-focusing or something" Annabeth felt him going through his bag and probably getting his laptop out.

"Uh, huh" she replied, trying out different kinds of roofs. She almost smiled as he imagined him rolling his eyes. After saving her work, Annabeth finally lifted her eyes from the screen and looked at Percy. "That's what happens when you make me wait. I get distracted doing stuff". After working with him for a while, her heart still did a double-take every time they met. She couldn't deny how handsome he was, and, for some reason, their meetings happened right after Percy's swimming classes. He always arrived freshly showered and with his hair extra messy.

He smiled apologetically. "Our college really needs to invest in more showers for sports teams. It always gets crowded in the men's locker rooms. And, on top of that, competitions are next month. Coach Hedge is really pushing us to our limits, mostly me". Annabeth was still awed at everything Percy did. He didn't only have swimming practices almost every day (twice), but he was the team's captain. Annabeth could only imagine the body he must have after all that training…

"I've never seen those." Percy's voice got her out of her thoughts. His elbow was resting on the table and he had his index finger pointing at Annabeth's face.

"Oh," she said readjusting her glasses. "My eyes were kind of tired today. I don't wear them often"

"Well, you should. You look pretty with them". Perseus Blofis was a lot of things, but he wasn't a coward. Every time he gave her a compliment he was always looking directly into her eyes, and he always managed to make her blush and he knew it. That time was not the exception. As her cheeks grew redder, Annabeth decided to play with him a little. She arched an eyebrow.

"Pretty? As if only when I wear them, I have value to you? Otherwise, I'm just…ugly" She said, pretending to be offended.

Percy blinked a couple of times, surely repeating the sentence in his head until it made sense to him. "N-no. What I meant is that you look prettier…wait, uh, because you're already pretty without them. You don't need them, and I just think…" Now he was the one going red of embarrassment.

Annabeth genuinely laughed. Percy looked at her with frustration. "It's okay," she said between laughs before winking at him "I'm just messing around with you"

The guy sighed "Next time just take the compliment Annabeth, and don´t make a guy suffer like that"

She shrugged "It's just too much fun"

He gave her his signature smile "You are never gonna make things easier for me, are you?"

She couldn't help it and smiled back. "Never. Get used to it" They locked eyes, green meeting grey before Annabeth came back to her senses and cleared her throat. "Now, back to work. Malcolm already has the designs approved by Poseidon He thinks he can start construction at the end of this month, but he requires your boss' approval of the construction company in San Francisco and, do you have the permits I asked you with Poseidon's signature".

"Uh yes, just let me…" Percy, confused by Annabeth's speed, started looking through a bunch of papers scattered through his bag. Sometimes she wondered how the guy got the job when he clearly had trouble in being organized. Suddenly his phone ringed and Annabeth glanced discreetly at the caller ID. Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Percy turned pale.

"Sorry, Annabeth. I really need to take this call" he said taking his phone from the table. Annabeth got the hint that maybe he wanted a little bit of privacy and took the opportunity for buying for coffee.

The blond girl knew it was impolite of her to eavesdrop on someone's calls. However, from her spot on the line, she kept trying to read Percy's reactions and tried a little bit of lip reading. She could tell he was arguing by the pissed look on his eyes and how he kept running his hand through his messy hair.

By the time she returned to their, Percy had already hung up and had an unreadable expression on his face. She put her expresso next to her computer and a latte with a blueberry muffin in front of him. He looked at the muffin, confused.

"I thought you might want something sweet," she added quickly. "It didn't seem like a nice conversation"

"Thanks, but why blueberry though?"

"You like blue things…right?" She said, proud of her memory. He smiled weakly and devoured the poor muffin in less than 30 seconds. Annabeth wanted to ask him, but she didn't want to be nosy. Also, Percy seemed to be deep in thought, barely aware of Annabeth's eyes on him. She managed to finish her expresso in silence before her workaholic-self got the best of her.

"About those signed documents…

"I'm sorry, Annabeth" He started packing his things and quickly finished his latte, before standing up and grabbing his bag. "But something came up…"

"Seriously, Percy?" He grimaced at her tone of voice. "You can't be ditching me right now. We are way behind and I really need for us to settle some stuff for tomorrow" She closed her laptop, put her elbows on the table and her head on her hands. "You're impossible to work with" she muttered.

Percy stood frozen in place with his mouth opened, possibly looking at what else to say to the exasperated girl. But Annabeth was just astonished at his lack of commitment. How has he kept his job if he is such a bad assistant? She felt him sitting on his chair again.

"Come with me," he said.

Annabeth incorporated herself on her chair, crossing her arms. She sighed before saying "Where?"

He started playing with the now empty muffin plate. "My girlfriend was the one who called me. She's an artist and tonight she has this pretty important gallery exhibition. With all the things I've been doing lately, I forgot about it and she wants me to be there" Percy seemed he was feeling pretty guilty but there was also some kind of annoyance in his eyes. "Anyway, I need to go and be with her, but you can come with me. You'll see some art and we'll finish everything we need to catch up to"

Annabeth took a long breath.

"I don't know Percy, it feels like something personal between you and your girlfriend" she admitted, awkwardly.

"It will be fine. She'll be busy doing other things anyway" He took the liberty of closing Annabeth's laptop and started gathering her stuff. She really wanted to get home and take her high heels off, order some pizza with extra cheese and just watch a movie. But she really needed to conclude some details with Percy…

"Fine," she said. Percy beamed with relief. "But you're gonna carry me through the subway stairs because my blisters have blisters on them"

Percy smirked at her. "Who says we're going to take the subway"

HeythereimalinebreakenjoyyourdayHeythereimalinebreakenjoyyourdayHeythereimalinebreake

Annabeth stepped down from Percy's Prius and stared at the gallery with an uneasy feeling. She had never been to an art exhibition before, so she didn't how she was supposed to behave like. During the car ride, Annabeth was able to retrieve the documents she needed from Percy's black-hole like backpack.

"Percy, I don't know much about art," she said following him through the automatic glassed doors. He half-smiled at her.

"Me neither" he admitted scanning the room.

The gallery was full of people laughing, chatting, and admiring the different pieces of art hanging on the wall. Various artists were giving small presentations about their pieces and others were mingling with the crowd, thanking people who had bought their work.

Once again, Annabeth felt underdressed. It looked like a pretty formal event, women with long dresses and guys dressed in fancy suits. She cursed mentally for deciding to wear jeans to the office that day, and her basic red turtleneck sweater. Although Percy was wearing a sweatshirt and his worn-out New Balance, and he seemed like he couldn't care less about the appropriateness of his attire.

Percy took a long breath with his eyes closed and then pointed to a crowd of people a few meters away from them "Hey, I'm just go say hi to Rachel. Feel free to wander around and just…admire art, I guess". He left before Annabeth could say anything in return. She stood there for a few seconds, watching Percy as he made his way into the crowd and finally reached a redhead with stunning emerald green eyes. Annabeth felt a tiny rush of jealousy when he pecked the red-head cheek. So, she decided to just walk the other way.

Without anything else to do, Annabeth camouflaged herself between a group of people listening to a blond man with bony features. His pieces were all full of violence and tragedy and…was that a ripped teddy bear on every one one of them?

She wrinkled her nose at his art. It wasn't bad, but those paintings didn't fit with Annabeth's taste at all. But again, she wasn't exactly a connoisseur of art, so…

"Like what you see?" Annabeth was startled by a voice on her left. The blond artist was done giving his speech and must have seen her looking at his pieces. "They are ones of my favorites. Sadly, for you, I already sold the first one over there" he pointed to the scenery of what looked like the city of Rome in flames. He looked at her will dull eyes. "You better hurry up and buy the other ones"

Wow, that guy has a real narcissistic complex. Annabeth resisted the urge to laugh at the guy's boldness and limited herself to just smile like a dumb blond. That may push him away. Instead, he looked exasperated with her lack of answer and seemed prepared to give her the same speech he had given to the crowd.

"Leave her alone Octavian" The blond guy turned to face the voice who had spoken, and Annabeth let a sighed of relief upon hearing Percy's voice.

"Perseus. I didn't think you have the class to be allowed in one of our expositions" Octavian replied irritably. Percy's usually care-free eyes were dangerously dark, and both guys were trying to destroy the other with just staring. A little bit dramatic, but you could cut through the tension in the air. Annabeth decided to break the ice, "How's Rachel doing?" she asked Percy.

"Yes, how's my colleague doing?" added Octavian, suddenly aware of Annabeth's presence.

Percy's eyes sparkled with pride and he smirked at Octavian "She has already sold all of her paintings" The blond guy's face grew red with anger, his lips pressed trying not to explode with the comment. They resumed their staring contest, and, after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Annabeth took Percy's arm, said a cold goodbye to Octavian, and guided his friend away from the drama.

"You really don't like that guy, do you?" she said, once they settled on a far corner of the gallery. They were in some kind of abstract painting area.

"He's not a nice guy. He treated badly some of my friends and has always been a dick to Rachel" He simply said eyeing the room around them. A nice waitress carrying champagne on fancy glasses passed near them and Annabeth didn't hesitate in grabbing two of them. She offered one to Percy, who politely declined it. "I'm driving, besides I really don't like to drink" Annabeth shrugged and took a sip from the heavenly bubbly drink.

They stood in silence. Percy seemed heavily irritated and the champagne gave Annabeth the courage to finally ask him about it.

"Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend?"

"She's busy" he replied under his breath.

"And?" Annabeth pressed him and it worked. He let his full annoyance finally show in his features.

"She always does this Annabeth" she decided to sit on a small bench, hearing his thoughts while he paced. "She makes me feel like a bad boyfriend. Sometimes she doesn't come to my swimming competitions and I understand it because she's really dedicated to her art. But whenever I must work and she has these kinds of events, she always expects me to be here, no matter how busy I am. And then, it makes me come all the way down here, this time dragging you, just to tell me she's busy showing her art and leaving me alone to wander around" By the time he finished his rumbling, he was sitting next to Annabeth with his head on his hands. The blond girl felt it was not her business to give her opinion to the matter, but it made her heart ache to see Percy so confused.

"It doesn't mean she doesn't care about you. She just wants you to be there for support in important moments like these…just your presence is enough for her" she said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. Percy's stare was fixed on the white wall in front of them.

"Then why doesn't feel like it" he muttered.

Annabeth didn't know what to say. She wasn't exactly a guru on relationships. She had only had one boyfriend and things hadn't exactly ended on good terms, so she decided to lighten the mood a little bit.

"Is that a beaver playing the banjo?" she asked out of the blue.

Finally, Percy looked at her with a really confused expression. Annabeth signaled him the abstract painting behind them. Percy humored her and started at the painting. He was trying to focus so hard, Annabeth had to suppress her smile.

"Uh…" he clearly didn't see the shape, but he was too kind to call her a lunatic.

"Yeah, you just have to squint your eyes and tilt your head a little bit to the right, and just look at the yellow spot over there" Annabeth followed her own instructions and felt the curious eyes of people walking around, thinking what a weirdo she was. But Percy mimicked her actions anyway. A few seconds passed before he broke in a full grin.

"I see it"

Annabeth smiled with accomplishment.

"But now that I really look at it, it looks more like a gorilla seating on a dolphin" he continued. Now Annabeth was the confused one. She squinted, even more, her eyes. "How?" she asked

Gently, Percy grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him. She prayed to whoever so he wouldn't notice the blush on her cheeks, but he was really focused on the painting. "You just have to look at the red spot there and lift your chin a little bit" he guided her. Annabeth didn't see anything, but she really didn't want to ruin the mood.

"Oh, yeah. I see it" she lied. Percy burst out laughing and everyone around them gave them nasty looks.

"You liar Annabeth, there's nothing there" He caught her, giving her a big sincere smile. She was relieved to see him back to his usual self…but she was now pissed.

The rest of the evening consisted of them talking about the weirdness of the paintings and Percy mocking Annabeth with any chance he got. Whenever she got really mad at him, he would give her his puppy eyes and somehow always managed to disarm her. Annabeth laughed and talked like she never did for years. And, for once, she allowed herself not to think about work.

Around ten o'clock Annabeth had had several champagne glasses and she tried not to wince with every step she gave. Damn High Heels. Percy gave her a small smile when he caught her trying to keep her eyes open. "Sorry, "she said trying not to yawn "Champagne makes me drowsy" She sighed and looked at her watch for the first time in several hours.

"I should get going," she said giving one of the waitresses her fifth empty glass. She got her phone out of her pocket and realized it had run out of batteries. "I'll have to get a cab" she whispered to herself.

"Nonsense. I'll take you home" Percy said, fetching his Prius keys from his pocket. She was about to refuse but he was already walking to the exit and Annabeth had to almost run to catch up to him outside the door. She got goosebumps when a cold wind greeted them on the sidewalk. Percy was about to open the door to his car when Annabeth grabbed his hand. She felt a few butterflies on her stomach when his eyes found hers. They were full of life and they reminded her of the sea on the picture by his desk.

"Percy you should stay with Rachel" Somewhere inside her a little voice was practically begging her of letting him come with him. But it wasn't the right thing. Percy looked at the gallery, frozen on the spot. "The least you can do is talk to her. Just to sort your doubts" she bit her lip. Come with me, please. She waited with a little bit of hope on her chest, but it disappeared when Percy put away his keys and took out his phone.

"Let me at least call a cab for you"

Before getting in her taxi, Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand and he looked kind of sad. "Hey, I'm sorry if I'm difficult to work with" She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. "I promise I will take this more seriously. Just…have a little patience with me" He seemed desperate for her to believe in him.

"Ok" was the only thing she managed to say.

"Text me when you get home" He added. Annabeth just nodded.

He let go of her hand and they waved goodbye. After the gallery had disappeared from view, Annabeth started wondering if she was developing a little crush on Poseidon's assistant. Whatever it is, I better keep it under control.

I need to keep my priorities in order.