So... There was an error in the last chapter! Good catch, those who noticed. If you know what it is, should I rework the chapter to fix it, or leave as is? Let me know!
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or the song "Come In With The Rain"
"So... tell me what happened," said Rachel, poking around her take out box with her chopsticks.
"Ugh, it was just so stupid," I told her, munching on my Mongolian beef with vengeance. I propped my feet up on Rachel's coffee, which was some bizarre, colorful, art-deco piece. "I mean, out of all the things for our first fight to be about-"
"Your first fight?" asked Rachel incredulously. "Hate to break it to you, sweetie, but this is certainly not your guys's first fight."
"First fight of our marriage," I amended.
"What was it about then?" asked Rachel, carefully fishing a chunk of broccoli out of her container.
"Towels," I said haughtily.
"Towels?" asked Rachel in disbelief.
"Towels," I confirmed flatly, not elaborating.
"Oh, I see..." she said pensively, watching me carefully. There was a moment of silence before she said, "Okay, I'm sorry, I don't see. Even you two, the most bickering couple in the world, couldn't possibly find a way to argue about towels."
"Can and did," I said gloomily. "We were just shopping for bath towels for our apartment, and I wanted one kind that was cheaper, but Percy wanted the fluffy ones that were really expensive, I told him that was frivolous, he told me that I could get the one I wanted and he'd get the one he wanted, I got mad because I wanted them to match..." My rant trailed off, and I looked at Rachel's astounded face.
"Pathetic," she said, shaking her head.
"Oh, hush," I said irritably. "We've been disagreeing all weekend, and finally this morning I finally snapped and went off at him, and it ended up in a shouting match and me storming out of the apartment to go to work."
"And you came straight here after work?"
"Yep," I said. "Haven't talked to him since."
"Seems serious," remarked Rachel. "Well, I'm not sure if you want to take relationship advice from a gal sworn off men, but I've heard that married couples should never go to bed angry at each other."
"Yeah, I've heard that one too," I grumbled. "I don't even care that much about the towels, but then he went and got a bunch of our friends to weigh in their opinion, and made me look like an uptight money-controlling bitch!"
"He got a focus group for your bath towels?"
"Yeah, ridiculous, right?"
"Why wasn't I included in the focus group?" she asked, completely baffled.
I rolled my eyes, and was hit by a gust of cold air from the open window.
"Burr!" I exclaimed, pulling a blanket up on my legs. "Looks like it could storm out there." Dark clouds were slowly creeping over the city, blotting out the sun.
"Yeah, it does," agreed Rachel, and got up to close the window. "Well, can't you just forget about the towels and focus on all the great stuff about your relationship?" she suggested, retuning to her spot in the armchair.
"Well I guess...I mean I could go back to every laugh and every cute thing he's ever done," I said wearily, "But I really don't even want to go there anymore."
"What about going home?" asked Rachel dryly.
"I don't want to go there anymore either," I grouched.
"Oh, Annabeth..." she sighed exasperatedly. "What do you expect, that Percy's just gonna show up and start apologizing?"
Just as I opened my mouth to retort, I was stopped by the distant sound of someone shouting.
"Annabeth!"
Looking around in bewilderment, Rachel and I exchanged a mutual look of confusion.
"Well," she said after a moment. "I stand corrected."
"Annabeth!"
My head snapped to the closed window. "Someone's outside..." I said, crossing the room.
"Well gee, I wonder who..." said Rachel sarcastically. Ignoring her, I pushed the window up and stuck my head out to see none other than Percy Jackson, standing three stories down on the sidewalk.
"Hi," he said stupidly, his neck craned up at me.
"Hello," I drawled, trying to emphasize the contempt in my voice.
"So..." he said nervously, not sure how to proceed. He clearly hasn't thought this far into his little plan. "What's up?"
"Percy," I sighed impatiently, "I'm not going to lean out a window and shout you about 'what's up'. What do you want?"
"I... I wanted to talk," he said hopefully.
"Talk to the wind," I said moodily.
"No, the winds not a very good listener."
"Talk to the sky," I suggested.
He shook his head. "Nope. The sky's too far away."
"Talk to yourself."
"No, I don't want to talk to myself!" he shouted up at me, earning a few odd looks from people on the street.
"Well, then talk to your tears," I snapped, "Because I'm not terribly interested in what you have to say."
"Annabeth, come on. You're being stupid."
"You're being stupid," I snapped back. "I could stand here and work it all out for us, but I don't want to got that far, okay? Because I'm always the one who solves problems!"
"You're good at solving problems!" he cried desperately.
"But it's our problem," I said sadly, looking down at him. "And we should both fix it."
"Well what should I do then?" he asked. "What can I do to fix this? You want the cheap towels? Fine! I don't care! I'll sacrifice velvety comfort if it makes you happy!"
"Percy, it's not about the towels anymore!" I shouted.
"Then what is it about?" he asked in frustration.
"Maybe you should do some soul searching for that one!" I called as I walked away from the window. "Let me know what you find!"
"Annabeth! Don't leave me out here, it's gonna rain!"
"Oh, it's too bad to you don't have some cool power to be able to will yourself dry at any given moment," I muttered darkly, settling back into the sofa, though I left the window open.
"Oh, Annabeth, you're being just as bad as he is."
"What!?" I spluttered, scowling at Rachel, who had her chop sticks poised above her box.
"You heard me," she said calmly, slurping a noodle.
"How... he...!"
"Yeah, Percy's at fault for being childish and embarrassing you, but you're being stubborn and won't talk to him-"
"Because I'll do all the problem solving like always-"
"You don't know that!" she said, jabbing her chop sticks at me.
"Yes I do!" I snapped.
"Don't."
"Do!"
"Don't!"
"Whose side are you on!?"
"Justice's side," declared Rachel, sitting up regally in her chair.
"Justice happens to be on my side, so by transitive property of-"
"Oh, don't confuse me with your fancy scientific terms!" said Rachel threateningly.
"It was a mathematic term-"
"Shhh..."
"Can we get back to the matter at hand?" I asked.
"Fine," Rachel sighed dramatically. "Relationships are so demanding."
"Yes, they are," I said, rolling my eyes as I snatched up my chop sticks again. "Imagine how tough it must be to actually be in one."
As she opened her mouth to retort, the distant rumbling of thunder could be heard.
"Percy should at least come inside," Rachel suggested quietly. "Zeus may very well seize this opportunity to electrocute him."
"Not funny," I told her, though I knew she had a valid point.
"Go talk to him," she implored.
"I don't know what else I can say!" I cried, started to feel bad for Percy.
"Start with an apology," she said saucily.
There was another roll of thunder, louder this time, accompanied by the crack of lightning.
"Annabeth..." taunted Rachel in a sing-song voice. "Do you really want to start your marriage off by leaving your husband out in the rain?"
I looked down in my lap, feeling rather like a school child being scolded.
"No," I said guiltily.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked Rachel, throwing her hands in the air as the first few drops began to fall. "Go!"
Leaping up, I scrambled to mentally organize a decent apology as I dashed to the front door of the apartment. By the time my hand was on the door knob, the rain had turned into a down pour. I yanked on the door, but it wouldn't budge.
"Rachel, what's wrong with your door?!" I cried desperately, tugging with all my might.
"Oh, it sticks sometimes!" she called airily. "Something with humidity, I'm not really sure..."
I groaned out loud and pulled furiously, trying to pry the door from its frame.
"Going somewhere, Wise Girl?"
I whirled around to see Percy behind me, a little damp but far from soaking.
"How-"
"I came in with the rain," he said simply. "I climbed up the fire escape and into the window- don't worry, I shut it," he said with a smile. "Listen, Annabeth, I'm really sorry and-"
"No, I'm sorry," I said, taking a step toward him. "I was being really ridiculous do not wanting to spend extra money on the towels. And I'm so sorry for how I just treated you," I told him, putting a hand to his cheek. "You came all the way over here to stand under a window and apologize, and I didn't even give you a chance."
"I deserved it!" he said, laughing. "I tried to shame you into getting what I wanted by pulling our friends into it, which was so immature..."
"Now that's we're married, we gotta work out our problems between us," I said softly. "No third party, no focus groups..."
"Agreed," said Percy. "And I think we should get the more affordable towels. We're young and on a budget. You were right."
"No," I said, frowning. "You were right. We'll use these towels for a long time, they may as well be comfortable!"
"Nope," said Percy. "Cheaper."
"No, fluffy!"
"No, seriously... I like the other ones better."
"Well, I like the soft ones better!"
"Ugh!" sighed Percy exasperatedly. "You're so annoying."
"Seaweed Brain, you are far more annoying then-"
"Oh my gods, you're both annoying as hell!" said Rachel, who had joined us in the entry way, unnoticed to Percy and myself. "Seriously, they're freaking towels. Figure it out. Drip dry, for all I care! But your incessant bickering and childish nonsense is ruining my Friday night!" she snapped, her eyes flashing. Percy and I stared at we in shock, not used to our friend having outbursts. "Now then," she said, much calmer. "I love you both dearly, but could you maybe go do something productive with the remainder of your evening?"
"Productive?" asked Percy, wiggling his eyebrows at me mischievously. "Oh, we'll go do something productive alright!" he declared, picking me up bridal style.
"Ugh, not what I meant," said Rachel distastefully.
"Bye Rachel," said Percy merrily, who somehow managed to open the door while carrying me. "We're off to be productive!"
"Disgusting," she said, wrinkling her nose, though I could tell she was fighting back a smile.
"Bye!" I called as the door shut, grinning up at Percy. "So... what are we going to do tonight?" I asked as he set me down in front of the elevator.
"Well..." he said, leaning toward me. "Maybe we could go take a shower and be productive," he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the elevator.
"Uh, Percy?"
"Yeah?" he asked, ducking down to kiss me.
"You know that little plan you just laid out a second ago, the one involving showering?"
"Mhmm..." he said, kissing my neck.
"We're gonna need some towels to do that."
Percy groaned.
Weeeee summer means more chapters! PLEASE REVIEW!