Hello! I hope that you all enjoy this chapter! Also: sometime in the next couple of days, I'm going to post the next segment to the outrunning hope one-shot collection, so look out for that!
Disclaimer: Do you think there's a way to officially use up all the disclaimer ideas in the world. Because I sincerely think I did. But I guess I could be straightforward for the first time in my life: I don't own anything from PJO.
~headline: is that your hat?~
…
Annabeth needs to publish this post, at least before she literally goes to meet Percy. She needs to tap the damn publish button, send it out to the world, and have it be over with. She's edited it to the brim, ensuring that there are no inaccuracies or mistakes, and has added several embellishments and images just for context. Once she sends it off, it'll be done, and the world will know how her opinions on Percy Jackson have changed.
She thinks that she may have a bit of main character syndrome, because nobody cares what she says, in the long run. She just thinks it matters— builds it up to matter, when all in all, it doesn't matter what she thinks. Except for Annabeth herself, and maybe Pylos. And is this really going to make a difference? She won't go about her life differently, her perspective will just be widened, and that's a good thing. It's something easy to admit, and by posting this, perhaps, Annabeth is normalizing, changing your perspective once new information is presented. That's exactly what happened. Piper showed her the big, "why," to everything, and now, she understands, at least a little bit.
So she hits the publish button, and waits for it to load fully. And then, it's sent out to the world, in all its glory. Well, there's really no glory to it, because guess what? None of it matters. Sometimes, well, a lot of the time, Annabeth really wishes she didn't have that mindset, because it's depressing, and doesn't do her any good.
…
The day feels gloomy at first, when she wakes up, and for a moment, she forgets that today is the day— the day of the meet and greet. She and Pylos have talked a little bit more about it, and they discussed her blog post for a while, but ultimately, they decided not to meet up in a specific location. Pylos promised that he'd find her, so she's trusting him.
Annabeth doesn't know what she'll say when she sees him. She doesn't know what she'll do. Will she finally confront him about the lyrics, tell him that she wants the full story, or in the moment, will she not say anything about it, and they'll just… exist. Maybe not talk, maybe just stare at each other, take the other in. Annabeth knows she'll have to process a lot today, and she also knows that by the end of the day, she'll have to confront all the things she's been studiously avoiding for the past couple of years. There's no way she can know now how she'll feel when she sees him, but there are hopes she has. Hopes that both of them will just understand, and process everything in an instant. It's not entirely possible, but Annabeth believes that it's at least probable. It's funny, she may be more excited to meet Pylos than Percy.
She gets out of bed, and grabs some clothing, the clothing she told Pylos she'd be wearing. Just like she promised Pylos, she puts on her green, "Athens Acropolis," t-shirt and black leggings. It's simple, and Annabeth knows that a lot of people are going to be dressed to impress, but this is the only way Pylos will know it's her, so she's going to wear it.
Annabeth has around an hour and a half to fully mentally prepare herself, because Piper's going to pick her up at around eight. The line is inevitably going to be very long, so they're trying to arrive late enough so that they're not the first, but early enough that they're not the last. Piper seems to have got this down, which Annabeth recognizes because she's probably met dozens of celebrities— hell, her parents are both famous, so that adds a lot to the realm of possibility. But for Annabeth, this is new. She's never met anyone famous, she's never even been in the presence of anyone famous. Okay, so there was that one time when she thought she saw Lana Del Ray in a car parking lot, but that was probably just a look alike, because what would an A-lister be doing there?
So yes, this is her first time, which means she's a bit of a rookie. Hopefully, Piper will give her some guidance, because Annabeth's not sure what she'll do. Maybe awkwardly shake his hand, or give him a hug. Calypso Atlas is supposed to be there, and Annabeth's watched a couple movies that she's in, so maybe they'll strike up a conversation. Annabeth's written a review of one of her preferences, and she's a solid actor. Calypso's originally a model, so Annabeth didn't know if she'd do a good job, but she did, and an excellent movie came out of it.
Okay, so she's really excited, because it's happening today and that's crazy. Annabeth is legitimately a fan of Percy Jackson, and the fact that Calypso Atlas is there too makes this even cooler. She's not sure how to process all of this, it just feels so weird.
She goes to the bathroom, and washes her face with a bar of soap, before going to brush her teeth. Since it's the weekend, the boys are sleeping in, but when she leaves, she'll leave a note for Frederick or something. Once her face is clean, and she's gone through her morning routine, she goes back to her room, and decides to text Thalia, because this is something she'd want to brag about, a little bit at least.
"Guess who's meeting Percy Jackson?" Annabeth writes, adding a winky emoji at the end.
Thalia replies, "oh, I wonder, you?"
"That's right! I'm so excited!"
"It's good that you're happy Annie." Thalia writes back, and in a little bit of a shock, Annabeth realizes she is. Happy. Like, genuinely. Of course, she's not over her mother's loss, it's always there, lingering in her head, but she's happy. Adjusted. Of course, she has a lot of issues to confront, but she feels genuinely good, like she has everything under control for the first time in a while.
"Yeah. I think I am." Annabeth writes back. "Are you good?"
"I think so." Thalia says. "I'm dealing with a mixture of weird shit, but you know, eventually, I think everything will be okay."
"Do you want to talk about this 'weird shit'?" Annabeth questions, concerned. She doesn't want to be anxious at all today, but if Thalia's not feeling great, then she wants to be a good friend and help her. She looks down at her phone, which tells her she has about an hour more to wait. "I can call you."
Thalia takes a while to respond. "Yeah, that'd be nice."
Annabeth taps the call button, and seconds later, Thalia picks up the phone. She sounds tired. "What's going on?" Annabeth asks, worriedly.
"Things have just been weird since you left." Thalia sighs. "You asked me about Luke a while back, and I didn't talk about it because— because I guess, I didn't want to have to burden you. I know that you have a lot on your plate right now, but the rest of us do too. When you left, it just felt weird. He's been spending a lot of time with some other people, and I've been hanging out more with Reyna, the girl you found."
Reyna accepted her follow request a while back, and since then, Annabeth's been low-key stalking her. "Do you like her?"
Thalia sighs. "I think I do. I don't know, it's complicated. I just miss Luke, he was a great friend, and it sucks, because we were like, tight, and then you left. Not saying that it's your fault at all, but you know, it's hard."
"I get it." Annabeth replies. "I'm having a hard time too, I miss you both a lot. But like, Luke isn't really making any efforts to reach out. I think he's moved on, from me at least. Or he's forgotten me."
Thalia swallows. "He hasn't— yeah. I miss him, but like, at least I have Reyna. And you have— Pylos and what was it… Piper?"
"Yeah. Pylos and Piper. It's nice to have someone in real life, other than you guys to talk to." Annabeth realizes how that sounds. "I mean, you guys are great, but you can't always be on the phone for me."
Thalia chuckles. "I understand."
"Do you think Luke will come back to us?" Annabeth then asks, feeling small.
Thaila sighs again, and Annabeth pushes her cell-phone closer to her ear, just listening to her breathing. "I think he has to sort himself out. He needs to figure out what he wants before he tries to come back. And depending on what he decides, we'll welcome him back with open arms. I think you leaving sort of… caused a rift between the two of us. As much as I hate to say it, you were the glue that held us all together Annie."
They're both quiet on the phone, and the only reason Annabeth knows Thalia hasn't hung up, is that she hears her breathing. "What do you know about Pylos?" Annabeth asks, because it's the unsaid thing between the two of them. They've skimmed over it, and at first, when Annabeth called, she hadn't even remembered what had happened, but now she's being reminded of it.
"I have a weird feeling about it Annie. I think you'll find out today what that is. But I'm not going to tell you, it's something you need to figure out yourself. The puzzle pieces are all there."
Annabeth sighs. "It would be so much easier if you just told me."
"What fun would that be?"
"Goddamnit Thalia! This is serious!" Annabeth clenches her fist. "This is supposed to be my day! Just give me this one thing, tell me!"
Thalia laughs. "Annabeth, chill."
"No! I'm not going to chill! You need to tell me whatever the hell you're suspecting, so I can be prepared for it!"
"Yeah, because you're the center of the universe Annabeth Chase," Thalia says sarcastically, probably rolling her eyes. And then she hangs up.
She. Hangs. Up.
Okay, and to be honest, Annabeth's a little too pissed to care about that one detail. And now she's doubting herself, because Thalia's obviously doubting her. And she's not acting self-centered! This is a big day for her, and she just wants all the information she can get. So it's not fair. It really isn't.
Whatever. She'll deal with Thalia later. For now, she needs to enjoy her day, because it's a huge one. It's an important one. Annabeth's been looking forward to it for a while, and she won't let Thalia's suspicions get in the way of that.
…
Before leaving, she quickly writes a note to her father, which simply tells him where she is, and when she'll be back. She told him before that she was going to a meet and greet with Piper, and he quickly brushed it off, saying that it was fine, and that he was glad she was making friends. Bleh. Even though she knew Frederick was trying, it always felt so forced. That was another bullet point on the long list of things she needed to get closure on, which is becoming so insanely massive she isn't sure where it ends. Or if it ends, matter a fact. It could just be constantly expanding, because Annabeth just keeps screwing up.
A car, which is probably worth more than everything Annabeth owns combined times three, sits in front of Frederick's home, and Annabeth skips over to it. Piper's in the shot-gun seat, and there's a literal hired driver that's sitting with their hands on the wheel. Annabeth has a feeling this is going to be one of those high points in her life, so she opens one of the car doors, and slides into the car. It smells like perfume and money, which is kind of exactly how Annabeth would imagine rich people cars to smell like. And yes, she knows she's been in Frederick's car, but he's not rich, per say, just wealthy, well off. His car is extremely fancy, but it's nowhere near as fancy as this car is. And Annabeth suspects that Tristian Mclean owns even more cars than just this one.
"Wow." She breaths, feeling the fabric of the seat with her hands. It's soft and comfortable, and as she relaxes into it— is that memory foam?
Piper turns to look at her from the passenger's seat, and smiles. "Are you excited?"
"Unbelievably." Annabeth tells her, still looking around in the car in awe. "Is that a soda cooler?" She says, motioning towards a smooth black box with cans sitting in it.
Piper shrugs. "Take whatever you want."
"Do you live like this everyday?"
Piper grins at her, a little bit, but then the grin falls, as if she's getting self-conscious. "Yeah. I mean, it's a lot, I know that. Sorry if you're—"
"No, no, this is awesome!" Annabeth shakes her head, "don't feel bad about it, it's just… really cool." Annabeth wouldn't say she wishes exactly that her life could be like this, but she doesn't wish that it's not. This is super cool, and it's just adding the experience of going to meet Percy Jackson. She may be a little giddy, but as they drive, she almost forgets her troubles, which is an excellent feeling. Obviously, not completely, but just enough to relax, and take in everything that's happening right now. Annabeth feels almost invincible as they pass by house after house. When they get onto one of the main streets, getting closer to the convention center, Annabeth physically feels her heart beating faster and faster. Something inside her shifts, and she grins gleefully as they get closer and closer to their destination.
And then, they arrive. By now, Annabeth feels euphoric, like she's high on something— probably adrenaline. Or well, excitement. Those are two different things. The car parks a couple blocks away from the convention center, and Piper tells the driver she'll text him to pick them up. They begin to walk towards the convention center, and Annabeth knows that they've arrived when she sees a long line of fan-girls outside, excitedly chatting amongst themselves. Annabeth hears a variation of voices and comments, but most of them are doing the same thing— the thing Annabeth is doing internally. She's a little bit embarrassed to admit it, but when they pass a big banner with Percy and Calypso's smiling faces on it, her heart clenches a bit, and a little squeal comes out of her throat. Piper looks at her weirdly, but she shrugs it off, and they continue on walking, finally getting to the end of the seemingly endless line.
"So, on a scale of one to ten, how long do you think this'll take?" Annabeth asks, because Piper's the expert.
They move a little bit forward into the line, and Annabeth sighs a bit, because you know, at least it's moving. "Six. Depends on how long people take in security. Could be an hour or so, could be longer. I think we'll be waiting for a while." Piper peers around the group in front of them. They can see the entrance, but it's far enough away that even if the line was moving smoothly, they'd get there in about five minutes. So adding that all up, this could take anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours. She trusts Piper to give her accurate information.
"Should we get settled in?" Annabeth asks.
Piper chuckles. "There's no need to camp out."
"On the news, whenever stuff like this happens, people have like, tents out." Annabeth offers, shrugging. She's not the expert here.
"Okay, well, this seems a lot better managed than that. I'm actually surprised by how short this line is."
Another group piles behind them, adding to the line. They chat, oblivious to the conversation going on in front of them, until one of them— a guy with dyed purple hair, taps Piper on the shoulder, just as she's in the middle of explaining to Annabeth what she should and shouldn't do when they meet. Annabeth's a little irritated at first, and rolls her eyes.
"Are you Piper Mclean?" Purple hair guy asks, motioning to his friends. "My friends and I just watched King of Sparta, we were wondering if we could get an autograph from your father."
Piper— who is Piper Mclean, indeed— shakes her head. "Sorry, you've got the wrong girl. I've been told I look similar to her a lot, though." She lies.
The group nod, but the purple hair guy looks a bit suspicious. Even so, when he sees Annabeth glaring daggers directly at him, he shrugs it off, and goes back to talking to his friend. Annabeth sees Piper visibly relax, and she turns back to the conversation. "Anyway, don't like, hug him if he doesn't hug you first. Also, please talk, I've said this before, and I'm sure you understand this, but he's a human being too, and you're meeting and greeting them so you should be able to hold the conversation, you know?"
They move forward even more in line, and by then, they're getting super close to security, and Annabeth's heart is beating really really fast. So fast, she thinks it might burst. "Okay," she says, shook, "okay, okay, I got this."
"You do. Just be yourself, you know?" Piper tells her. "But also be natural, because these are celebrities we're talking about."
Annabeth nods again quickly. She folds her hands into each other, in an effort to stop them from shaking, but they just won't stop, so now her hands are folded into a fist together, just shaking in front of her. Piper puts a comforting hand onto them, and her hands slowly stop moving.
And soon, after about thirty minutes of conversation, they're inside the building. There's still a bit more of a line to go, but now it's moving much faster, and they can actually see security ahead of them. It looks like they just have to go through a metal dictator and have security guards search through their bags, nothing more. Amidst it all, she's looking all around the area for a blue hat with the word "Pylos" on it. Everywhere. But she doesn't see one. Maybe she'll spot it as she's leaving, that's fine. At least, Annabeth kind of suspects that it'll be then, because a lot of people must be outside, after meeting Percy. That makes perfect sense.
The line starts going by a little slower than before, probably because they are reaching the front, and Annabeth opens the little purse she brought, so she can show it to the security guards. Ten minutes later, when they're finally at the very front, bags are checked and returned, and they walk through the metal detector.
And then, off they go.
A couple more guards lead them to a closed door. And behind that door, is a room, with a couple other groups of people in it. They're told to sit in the room, and show their tickets when called up. Both wait patiently, Annabeth tapping her foot against the ground, which probably pisses off the other people around her. Her heart is beating fast, and her mind is only focused on two people. Both people, who have had a huge impact on her life— Percy and Pylos— who she is going to meet today. This is hugely crazy, and Annabeth's heart won't stop pounding against her chest— luckily, she knows that there's no way for it to escape, because that just… doesn't work, but she knows that once she meets them both, she'll feel somewhat validated about everything. Plus, it's just an exciting thing to do.
Then, Annabeth just about shits her pants when they're finally called out and Piper pulls out the tickets. She hands them to the guard, and Annabeth feels herself getting more and more impatience, because why the hell is everything so slow? Time is moving against her.
Finally, the door opens, and Annabeth's life changes forever.
…
~understanding your flaws is how you fix your mistakes~
Got you… I'm not really sorry, lmao… tysm for reading tho! You all are awesome! Leave a review, lmk what you think! Stay safe and healthy! Until the next chapter!
TheLil'Lion