Chapter 4

Annabeth POV

Right when I get back to my room, I immediately peel off my bathing suit and return to the shower to try and attempt to rid my hair of chlorine before it turns green. I probably use up half my shampoo in the process, but it's free so I really don't care. When I'm done, I am about to change into my pajamas and watch netflix when I see a text from my mom that puts an end to my plans of having a relaxing night.

Hey Annabeth! We're having dinner at Ambrosia tonight at 6:00 with the rest of the resort board. I had my tailor leave a dress and shoes for you in your closet. Don't you even think about wearing anything else!

I sigh and head over to my closet to check out the dress. I really hope it isn't too bad.

When I open my closet door though, I am surprised to find that I actually really like the dress I see hanging there. It's this elegant, grey, flowy gown with a long V dip in the chest area, and when I look to the ground, I see that there is a pair of strappy grey heels to match.

I change into the dress and actually really like how it looks on me. It hugs my curves in a really nice way, and when I couple the dress with an elegant necklace and a pair of earrings, the accessories really accent my eyes. I'm not too fond of the shoes though. High heels have never really been my thing.

The last time I had decided to wear heels was my school's annual 'spring fling' my sophomore year when I made the mistake of trying to climb the bleachers during the pre-dance basketball game. The heels totally screwed me over and I ended up falling through the steps only to get my leg stuck. It was a pretty embarrassing night and I think it's safe to say that heels and I don't exactly have a great track record.

I quickly blow-dry my hair and decide to leave it hanging down for the night. Grabbing my purse and my skateboard, I open the front door to find one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. From where I stand just outside my room, there is this incredibly gorgeous sunset. The sky is a beautiful mess of vibrant colors all melting into the horizon of the ocean. It completely takes my breath away and I just have to stand there for a moment to soak it all in before I am able to collect myself. People who live in LA are incredibly lucky if they get to see sunsets like this every single night.

I reluctantly turn away from the view and lock the door to my room. It took longer than I thought it would to blowdry my hair, so I am already running late and really need to get a move on if I don't want to embarrass my mother in front of the resort board by being late.

However, I have just put my skateboard on the ground when I realize that I've got a small problem. There is no way in hell I'll ever be able to ride in these heels. I quickly run through my options in my head. I could always walk, but if I do that, I'll for sure be late to dinner, and that is not an option. I could call the front desk at the Colosseum and have them send over someone to pick me up in a golf cart, but I'm afraid that will take too long as well. I finally just decide to put my shoes in my purse and ride barefoot. I'll just throw the heels on when I get there.

It's a little bit difficult stuffing the shoes into my already overfilled handbag, but as soon as I manage it, I'm off, whizzing past guests and tennis courts and golf carts until I finally arrive at the front steps of the Colosseum.

It is now dark out and I quickly check the time on my phone to see that I am ten minutes late. Shit. My mom is going to kill me. I throw by board onto the bike rack and take off running up the front steps and through the lobby to the elevator as fast as I can. People are looking at me like I am crazy but I honestly don't care. I press the call button on the elevator repeatedly. "Come on, come on, come on."

Finally I hear a ding and the doors click open. Oh thank gods.

I get in the elevator and hastily press the button for floor fifteen. My mom told me that she had decided to put the restaurant Ambrosia on one of the highest floors of the Colosseum because she felt that the nicest restaurant in the resort should have a great view overlooking the pool area, but right about now I'm getting mad at her for that decision. This elevator ride is taking way too long.

As soon as the doors open though, I have to stop to catch my breath for the second time tonight. The view is absolutely amazing. Ambrosia is a beautiful balcony restaurant that is covered in brightly lit candles and couples looking incredibly elegant, dining in their fanciest attire. Down below, the pool is lit up brilliantly, and the whole place looks just as I always imagined a real building in ancient Greece or ancient Rome would have looked all those centuries ago.

I rush out of the elevator and begin speed walking over to where I see my mom sitting down at a special table with a group of other people in suits and gowns. I duck and dodge waiters and waitresses carrying platters of food and glasses of champagne and am trying to quickly scootch my way through a narrow opening between two chairs when I see something that completely throws me off my guard. I have just noticed that one of the people at my mom's table is none other than Percy.

As soon as I see his face I gasp and stop so abruptly that a waiter who had been walking behind me rams right into my back and drops the large platter of drinks that he had been holding. The glasses shatter loudly against the ground and the restaurant goes silent as every head immediately turns in my direction. I cringe.

"Annabeth Chase!" my mother hisses between her teeth from her seat at the resort board's table. "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

I whisper a quick sorry to the waiter who is now crouched over picking up pieces of glass and scurry over to the empty seat next to my mom, trying to avoid looking at Percy as the people in the restaurant begin resuming their meals. Just as I am about to sit down though, I notice a sharp pain in the ball of my right foot. I must've stepped on a piece of broken glass. I look down and notice that, to my horror, in all the haste, I had completely forgotten to put my shoes back on before I entered the building.

My mom follows my gaze and her eyes widen at the sight of my bare feet.

"Annabeth why in the world are you not wearing shoes!"

I quickly sit down in my seat and begin taking my shoes out of my bag and sliding them back onto my feet.

"I am so sorry mom, I just took them off because I couldn't ride with them on and if I hadn't taken them off, a golf cart would've taken too long and I didn't mean to bump into-"

"For the love of gods," my mom cuts me off, shaking her head. "Annabeth I would like you to meet Zeus, the owner of Olympus Resort, and his wife Hera," she says motioning to a man with greying hair and an expensive looking suit and a woman with dark hair and a sleeveless white dress who sit just across from us.

"Nice to meet you," I say to each of them as I shake their hands across the table, careful to avoid making eye contact with Percy who sits one man over from Zeus.

Once we are done making introductions, my mom immediately resumes her conversation with Zeus, Hera, and a couple of the other board members sitting nearby, discussing some expansion to the kitchen as I desperately try to ignore the growing pain in my right foot where the piece of glass had pierced my skin. Meanwhile, it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid Percy, as we are sitting directly across from each other and happen to be at the end of the table, so there's really no one else to talk to besides each other.

"That was quite an entrance you made back there." From across the table, Percy breaks the ice and snickers.

I turn towards him rolling my eyes. "Gee thanks, I hadn't noticed."

"No I'm serious," Percy starts again. "I don't know which part I liked better, you running into the restaurant like a crazy person, you running into the waiter, or just the fact that you ran into one of the fanciest restaurants in LA with no shoes on."

I feel my cheeks go red with an embarrassed smile and put my hand up to my face. "Was it really that bad?"

Percy chuckles. "Nah, I'm just messing with you." But I can tell by the tone of his voice that he's totally lying just to make me feel better.

I quickly decide to set aside any embarrassment I still feel about my all too mortifying encounter with Percy earlier today and make up my mind to start a conversation in order to get my mind off of the growing pain in my foot.

"So, I'm assuming you're not a board member," I say to Percy, desperately trying to ignore how cute he looks in his suit and tie. "So I'm wondering, why exactly are you at a resort board meeting?" Percy laughs and combs his hand through his hair in a way that makes me want to just die inside.

"My dad and I were actually coming up here to celebrate a new job he just landed, but as soon as we got here, it turns out my Uncle Zeus was having dinner just a couple tables away with the board and insisted we join him."

My jaw drops. "Zeus is your uncle?"

"I know right, it's kind of weird," Percy says and takes a sip of his drink. "We get to stay here for free though, which is nice."

I laugh. "Yeah, I'd say. You only have unlimited access to one of the nicest resorts in the world." Percy smiles at that.

"And what about you, what does your mom do here at the resort,"' Percy asks me, a look of genuine interest on his face.

"Oh, she's the architect."

"The architect?" His eyes widen. "You mean she really designed all this?" Percy asks motioning around the restaurant.

I grin. "Down to the very floor you stand on." Percy shakes his head in amazement.

"Man, that's so cool."

I'm really glad he thinks so. Since before I can remember, I have always wanted to be an architect. Something about the idea of creating things that are made to last has always appealed to me and it makes me happy to see that there are other people who recognize architecture as something of value as well.

"So Annabeth," Percy starts. "Where are you from?"

I begin running my fingers along the rim of my water glass. "Well, I live in San Francisco with my Dad and my step-family throughout the year and then spend most summers with my mom. And I mean, I like it in San Fran, but I definitely don't think I'm going to be living there my whole life." I draw a line into the precipitation of my water glass. "What about you?"

Percy gets a warm look on his face. "I live up in New York with my mom and her husband, and I honestly love it there more than anything. I mean, I've never lived anywhere else before, but there's no doubt in my mind that New York's the place for me."

I smile at that. "Yeah, New York's pretty special. I'm up there with my mom a lot for her work, and I have this feeling that I'm probably going to live there when I'm older."

Percy smiles at that, and I look to my left over towards the balcony rail. The moon is shining bright over the other side of the Colosseum and it gives the whole place a kind of glow that sets a calm sort of mood over the restaurant. I'm really at peace right now and I make a silent wish that every night for the rest of the summer is as nice as tonight.

Percy and I continue talking for a while until it's time to order out meals. We both end up getting the Rigatoni, so at least I know he has good taste, and I completely lose track of time until all of a sudden, all the people at our table start getting up and putting their coats on. I quickly scramble to my feet and immediately regret it as a spark of pain shoots up my foot from where the glass is stuck.

Percy sees the look on my face and looks concerned. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I say, forcing a smile and start following the rest of the group towards the door, making sure to keep close to my mom, but every step is like, well, like walking on shards of glass.

Percy walks behind me as we weave our way through the tables, and I know he can tell something is wrong because he keeps glancing over at me with a worried expression, all the way up until we branch off from each other, he with his dad, and me with my mom.

Finally, we all reach the elevators and our group stands there, politely wrapping up conversations for a while before each person either heads into one of the offices on the floor or gets into one of the elevators.

About half of the group has already left when my mom finishes up discussing something with one of her colleagues and finally turns to where I've been waiting behind her. I assumed that we'd get into the elevator together, maybe even spend a little more time with each other in the lobby before going our separate ways, but apparently, once again, I overestimated my mom's desire to be around me.

"Bye hon." she says with a pat to my shoulder and promptly heads down one of the hallways to my left before I can even respond.

"Bye mom," I whisper to myself, rolling my eyes as I turn from where she left me with the rest of the group and head to one of the numerous elevators, pressing the call button. After a moment, I hear the familiar ding signifying the elevator's arrival and step inside, pressing the button to go down to the lobby and running my hands down the growing goosebumps on my arms. I lean back against the side of the elevator, and am about to close my eyes, when, just as the doors are about to close, a certain someone quickly catches them and slides into the elevator, pressing the 'close doors' button behind him as he leans next to me against the wall.

"Percy what are you doing?" I ask him, surprise plain on my face.

"Getting in the elevator?" he asks, a look of fake innocence blanketing the smirk I have grown so used to over the evening.

"Percy I'm serious, your dad and your uncle are both still up there, won't they be mad if you go down without them?"

He shakes his head. "They won't even notice I've left. They were just about to head down to the bar anyway."

I narrow my eyes at him, and am about to open my mouth to say something, but before I can, the elevator comes to a stop and the doors open up into the lobby.

Percy motions to let me go first, and I flash him a quick smile as I step out into the warmth of the lobby, and immediately feel out of place in my cocktail dress when everyone else down here is wearing bathing suit cover ups and sandals. At least I am not alone in my fancy attire though. I look over at Percy, who is taking off his tie and hanging it around his neck. I let out a little laugh and he looks up, catching my eye with an embarrassed smirk.

"What!" He says with chuckle. "I hate these things. They make me feel like I'm choking."

I throw my head back with a grin. "Ha! If you think those are bad, try wearing heels," I say, making my way through the open front doors of the lobby and sitting down on the side of one of the planters just outside the entrance, before reaching down to start unclasping my shoes.

"Okay, point taken," Percy says, grinning down at me from where he stands just across from me, running his hands through his hair. Gods he is gorgeous. Shit, I chide myself. I really need to get these mushy thoughts in check, this is so unlike me.

I place the first shoe on the ledge next to me, and have just started taking off the second one when a tug of pain shoots up my foot, and I can't help but cringe. I immediately try to cover it up, and proceed to casually place the second shoe next to the first one, but Percy has already noticed the source of my pain, and carefully kneels down on the floor in front of me, gently taking my leg in his hand.

"Annabeth, what happened?" He asks in an uneasy tone, a look of concern taking over his face as he looks over the ball of my foot.

I am very aware of every move of his hands, every stroke of his fingers as he carefully rotates my ankle to get a better look at the cut. I quickly force myself to swallow down my own anxiousness at being this close to him.

"I may have stepped on a piece of glass when I entered the restaurant," I say shrugging, it's really not a big deal Percy, it just hurts a little bit."

He looks up at me, eyebrows raised. "Annabeth, you literally have glass coming out of your foot."

I shrug again, slightly embarrassed, and gently pull my foot out of his lap before grabbing my shoes from beside me and standing up. He stands up with me, but still looks extremely concerned.

"Percy I'm fine," I say and let out a little laugh to lighten the mood. He still looks uneasy, but at that, he grins ever so slightly.

"Alright, alright, just promise me you'll make sure to get the glass out properly when you get back to your room, okay?"

"I promise," I say with grin as I lean down to pick up my skateboard from the bike rack. Percy's eyes widen when he sees my board.

"Oh my gods Annabeth are you serious? No way. You literally cringe every time you so much as take a step, there is no way you'll be able to ride back on that thing." He takes a long breath, obviously trying to figure out how word what he wants to say next. "Let me drive you home. Please? If not for your own sake, then at least to just ease my conscious."

I am about to protest, but stop myself, realizing he has a point. There is no way I will be able to ride my board until I get back to my room and get the glass out of my foot.

"Ugh, fine," I say feigning annoyance, when really I am actually really flattered that he offered. "I'll give you it to you just this once, but if you even think about offering me your jacket or some chivalrous shit, I swear to gods I will smack you."

Percy erupts into laughter, and we make our way to the valet stand, the pair of us probably looking like a hot mess with my missing shoes and his undone tie.

Percy hands the valet guy the ticket along with a tip, and within moments, Percy's car pulls up. I am thankful to see that his car isn't something pretentious, but rather, a simple Volvo SUV. Percy walks toward the car and is about to open the door for me when I quickly cut him a glare.

He shakes his head with a laugh. "Geez, fine, no chivalry. Got it." He grins over at over at me. "I was only testing you."

I snort. "Sure," I say, and make my way to the passenger door while Percy walks around the car. We get in at the same time, slamming the doors behind us.

As Percy pulls the car out from the front of the Colosseum and we begin to make our way down the main road, he looks over at me.

"So, back to your room?" He asks.

Startled, I look up at him and blush in horror. "What!"

"Annabeth, where's your room?" Percy asks with a smirk. "I can't just keep driving around the resort forever."

I put my hand to my face to hide my embarrassment. "Yes! Right. My room. Number 1042. Over near the Tennis Courts."

"Oh that's pretty close to me," Percy says, and then pauses, smirking. "I mean, I guess it would have to be for us to have run into each other like that earlier today."

I immediately blush in horror at the memory of our earlier encounter as Percy makes a right onto the narrow road that leads to the tennis courts. While he drives, I steal a quick glance at him out of the corner of my eye. He looks absolutely gorgeous with his tousled hair hanging messily in front of his face, and the green of his eyes highlighted in the moonlight. And for just a moment, I am so overcome with haziness, that I do something I would almost never do in any other circumstance.

"Percy?" I hear myself asking.

He looks over at me. "Yeah?"

I take a deep breath and look back over at him. "I was just wondering what you're doing tomorrow night?"

I regret the words as soon as they're out of my mouth, but there's no going back now. I have a moment of panic in which I quickly worry that he just won't say anything, but he responds almost immediately.

"I'm just going to some dumb thing with my cousins." He quickly glances over at my then. "Why?"

"Oh no reason," I say and turn my head to look in the opposite direction, cringing. "No reason at all." I bite my lip. Ugh, I cannot believe that I was just about to do that.

The car pulls to a stop, and I am happy to see that we have arrived at my room. I pick up my purse and board, grab my shoes, and get out of the car. Percy gets out as well, and we walk up to the door together. Thank gods he has plans to hang out with his cousins tomorrow. I can't believe that I almost just asked out a guy I only just met. And to a dance nonetheless! I leave my board on the front porch and take out my room key.

"Thanks for driving me home Percy," I say, looking up at him, a slight flush in my cheeks. "I really appreciate it."

He gives me a slight smile. "Yeah no problem. Just make sure you get that glass out the second you get in." I laugh at his bossy tone. "And also that you put peroxide on the cut. Who knows how many germs you got in it from walking around all night."

I shake my head, trying to hide my grin. "Goodnight Percy."

Percy pauses, looking at me, and for a moment, it feels as though we are the only two people for miles. He takes a strand of my hair and tucks it behind my ear just before we pull apart.

"Goodnight Annabeth," he says.