Chapter 5

Percy POV

The second I pull up in front of my room, I decide very quickly that there is no way I will be able to fall asleep when I am feeling this great and make my way over to Thalia and Jason's room instead of my own. After knocking on their door, I check my phone to see what time it is. It's only 10:00, so there's no way that either of them are asleep yet. A couple seconds after I put my phone back into my pocket, Jason opens the door. He looks tired and disheveled, but completely unsurprised to see me.

"What do you want?" He asks, just as I push my way past him and plop down on the couch, in front of the TV. There is a game of halo on pause in front of me, and I pick up the controller to continue where Jason just left off. I am honestly on such a high right now, I just need something to do with my hands. Stupid ADHD.

Jason stalks over to me, tiredly rubbing the back of his neck. "Perce you're gonna ruin my score." I shoot him a quick glare.

"Jase, we both know that I am a hundred times better than you at halo," I say shaking my head disapprovingly, and continue working the controller.

"That is so not true," Jason protests, rolling his eyes, but he doesn't make any move to take the controller back as he sits down next to me on the couch.

We stay like that for a couple minutes, taking turns getting through the single player levels and eating hot cheetos out of the family size bag on the coffee table. I have a giant grin plastered on my face the entire time though, and finally, Jason decides to break the ice.

"Percy, why are you glowing? You're smiling so hard, I'm worried that your happiness is contagious," he says without so much as looking up from the screen.

I scoff. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

At that, Jason rolls his eyes and pauses the game, making a show of putting down the controller and turning toward me, fixing me with a hard glare.

"Percy who is she?"

I blush and scratch the back of my neck, trying to look away from Jason and cover my expression, but it's no use. I can't help but get a massive smile at the mere thought of Annabeth's face.

"She's no one," I lie. "Just some girl I met around the resort."

"Uh huh," Jason nods his head with sarcasm. "And does this 'no one' have a name?" He asks, teasing plain in his voice. I jokingly smack him with one of the throw pillows and take a deep breath to try and contain my grin.

"Her name is Annabeth." I say, and can barely get the words out because of how much I like the sound of her name. "She just arrived today."

Jason takes another handful of chips and motions for me to go on. "And?"

"And nothing!" I say. "That's it. I met her earlier today, and then ran into her again tonight at dinner. Her mom and your dad work together on the board."

Jason chuckles and picks back up the controller, resuming the game.

"Well she must be something special, because I honestly don't think that I've ever seen you act this way about a girl," he says with a smirk, and I just put my head in my hands in embarrassment.

The memory of her flashes through my mind; Annabeth laughing across from me at dinner, her smile as she teased me in the elevator, the moonlight turning her blond hair silvery as she looked out the window of the car on the drive back.

"So, you gonna ask her out?" Jason asks, pulling me out of my reverie.

"Ask her out?" I reply, probably looking dumb with my blank expression.

"Yes, ask her out. You know that thing that people do when they like another person and want to go on a date with them…"

I roll my eyes at his smirk. "Yes, I know what asking someone out is."

"Okay then," Jason states matter of factly. "Just give her a call and ask her out."

I cringe. Jason then sees the look on my face and promptly turns toward me, discarding the game controller once and for all.

"Percy!" He says with wide eyes. "You didn't ask for her number!" I look off to the side to avoid his glare.

"I may have forgotten that one small detail..." I trail off, scratching the back of my neck.

"Percy how do did you forget to ask for her number, man? She was probably waiting all night for you to ask for it."

I look at him more seriously now. "Jason, I don't even know if she's single. She could already have a boyfriend for all I know-"

"Perce, you'll never know if you don't ask," he says, shaking his head. "Whatever, it's not that big of a deal because you'll probably see her at the dance tomorrow night anyway. You can just ask her then."

I sigh. "I don't think so Jason."

He tilts his head in question. "What? Why not?"

"Because when I was driving her back to her room, she asked me what I was doing tomorrow night, meaning that she probably doesn't know about the dance," I explain to him, reasonably.

Jason's jaw just drops and he face palms. Now I'm just confused.

"Okay," I say, shaking my head in annoyance. "What did I do wrong this time?"

Jason takes his head out of his hands. "Percy you can be so thick sometimes!" He moans. "Bro you're such a dumbass. She was trying to ask you out!"

I take a minute to process this, and it finally sinks in.

"Oh," I say, nodding slowly and cringing. "She was trying to ask me out." Jason just shakes his head in frustration.

But then, all of a sudden, the reality of it dawns on me and I repeat myself.

"Jason!" I almost shout. "She was trying to ask me out! That means she must like me back!"

"Honestly Percy, you sound like a little kid," Jason says, standing up and walking to the kitchen to throw the empty chip bag away. "She was probably trying to ask you to the dance you dumbass."

I look over at him. "You really think so?" I ask, the excitement plain in my voice. Jason just continues to shake his head and walks toward his bedroom.

"What did you tell her when she asked what you were doing tomorrow night?" Jason asks, glancing over his shoulder at me. I visibly cringe for thousandth time tonight.

"I told her that I was 'hanging out with my cousins'" I tell him.

Jason face palms. "I'm going to bed Perce. Make sure you leave the lights on for Thals so that she doesn't run into something when she gets back." But I barely hear him. I'm too busy smiling so wide that my cheeks are beginning to hurt.

After a little bit, I get up off the couch and make my way outside to head back to my own room, making sure I that I leave the lights on for Thalia.

And for the rest of the night, all through my long, hot shower and the twenty minutes I spend lying in my bed before I can finally fall asleep, that big ass smile never once leaves my face.

I wake up early the next morning, in a rush to get to the Colosseum early before my lifeguard shift starts so that I have time to grab breakfast. When I arrive, I decide to stop in the café and grab pastries and coffee for me and my dad before heading upstairs to swing by the conference room he is working in and drop them off.

When I reach his door, I make sure to knock first, not knowing if he is in a meeting or not, but when my dad yells for me to come in, I see that it is just him in the room, sitting behind the conference table with his laptop open and piles of papers spread out around him.

My dad looks up, and smiles when he sees that it's me.

"Hey Perce," he says and slides his laptop aside to show me that I have his full attention. "What's up?"

I hold up the pastry bag and coffee cups. "Just brought you breakfast," I say, walking in to set them on the table. "Figured you probably hadn't eaten yet."

My dad chuckles and reaches forward to grab the coffee. "Well you figured right," he says and takes a long sip of his drink. He looks especially tired this morning, the dark circles under his eyes drawing attention to the deepened lines of his face and his exhausted expression.

"You good dad?" I ask him as I take a bite out of my pastry.

He looks up at me with his tired eyes and forces a slight smile. "Yeah, everything's alright, I'm just feeling a little overworked is all."

I shoot him a grin and motion to the coffee. "Good thing I didn't get decaf then, eh?"

He laughs, throwing his head back. "Good thing…"

I walk around the table to stand behind him. "So what exactly are you working on?" I ask, motioning to the files he has open in front of him.

"Oh nothing much," my dad says, taking a sip of his coffee. "I'm just trying to get the proper permits for the marine research I want to do here." He shakes his head. "But for some reason, it's proving to be a lot more difficult than it should be. Usually I get these kinds of permits pretty easily because the environmental research I do is minimally invasive, but there are a lot of blocks in the way for this case, and I have no idea why. Looks like someone really doesn't want people prying into their area."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "You'll figure it out dad. You always do."

He smiles and gives my hand a squeeze. "Thanks Perce."

"I should probably be getting to work," I say, picking up my food from off his desk and heading to the door. "Oh, and remember that I can't have dinner with you tonight because I'm going to the resort dance," I quickly remind him.

My dad chuckles. "Thanks for reminding me Perce, I would've totally forgotten otherwise." He then looks up at me, a smirk growing on his face. "You wouldn't happen to be going with that pretty, blond girl you left dinner with last night would you?"

I flush red with embarrassment. "Daaaad…" I moan, but can't help smiling as I shut the door to his office behind me with a little last wave.

The truth is, I can't wait to see Annabeth tonight. I mean, if she's going that is... I really hope she is. Jason was right, I really want to ask her out, and the sooner the better.