Chapter 26: Mixed Feelings
Envelope123: Well I don't really want to go with the blindly defending Luke thing, but in my way of thinking, she just acted like that because she saw Percy punching Luke. So of course assuming! (not my favorite but ehh…) But aside from that I'll try to not make it look like Annabeth is blindly defending Luke, because I totally understand what you mean, it does get annoying at times.
Hunter: WOAH that's that's… THREE FREAKING DAYS?! I don't know whether to laugh at his tortured face, or be sorry for him now! Great! Now Luke is stuck in a corner too scared to do anything! Give me a minute while I try to get him away from Hades (he's begging Hades to get him back to the Underworld) I wonder.. what exactly did you do to make him so scared…?
JASPER: sadly they will not be seeing each other, but I'm getting there… kinda!
Dude702: Haha mafia should come by so Percy could knock out Luke, but I'm such a bastard that I want Luke to be alive for my plans for him. But hmm.. ice cream, I actually haven't thought of that! Love how you always sign with worlds greats and awesome dude XD
Treeluva: haha I'm glad you like it! Damn! THREE HOURS? Honestly! THANKS! I'm glad you love this story!
Disclaimer: Why do I always have to say the disclaimer…? I don't own anything now get out.
Percy's POV:
I haven't seen Annabeth for almost weeks. I don't know whether or not she was pissed at me or anything, but she made it pretty clear she doesn't want to see me. For the most part, she's not even bothering to contact me at all or even acknowledging me at work. Talking about work, even though we work in the same building I haven't seen her face at all. Not even a single glance, she was busying working with Leo Valdez while I'm worrying about other constructions that we've been approved of. So in all, I have not seen Annabeth Chase since she ran away to Thalia's house.
But like person I am, I can't just keep her off my mind, even when I'm on a date with my girlfriend.
"You don't seem to enjoy this as much as you would," Rachel noticed as we walked over to get a couple ICEEs.
I raised an eyebrow and quickly laughed it off, "Of course not! I wanted to get the Coca-Cola flavor, but you decide to get me Cherry."
"Percy, I'm being serious."
"So am I." I said with a straight face. "Now can we please exchange it to Coca-Cola?"
Rachel sighed, probably knowing that I'm not going to drop the Coca-Cola case. She turned to the cashier, "Can you change the Cherry to Coca-Cola?" The cashier nodded and gave Rachel a large ICEE with two straws. She handed me the drink as she took out a sip. "There, now tell me what's bothering you."
"Nothing's bothering me," I smiled.
"Percy…"
"Can't I just enjoy a date with my girlfriend?"
"It's no longer going to be a date if you keep on shying away from me like that." Rachel stared me down, which is funny, considering that she's shorter. Then again, no one can give you attitude like Rachel can.
"I'm not shying away from you." I said not looking at Rachel in the eyes.
"Percy-"
"Rachel, it's nothing."
"Just like how this date is going to be if you don't tell me what's wrong." Rachel shot back as she sat down towards the nearest table.
"It's-" Rachel shot me a look and I sighed. "Was it really that obvious?"
"Yes, so do you want to tell me or not?" Rachel crossed her arms and looked at me, tempting me to spill.
Finally I gave in. "Annabeth found out, that I found out, that we're not siblings." I managed.
Rachel nearly choked on her drink, "What did you say?"
"I might've probably lost it, then yelled at her and words just started coming out. Somehow the argument got to lying and all that. Then I just went crazy and told her that she's the liar." I look down at the table. "Then she looked like she might've been crying and she just ran out. She simply just said sorry and left."
True it's been weeks since I've last seen Annabeth, unless you're counting a few glances at work sometimes, but for some reason I felt a need to just joke with her again rather than work myself to death.
"In simple terms, you lost your temper and spilled that she's not your sister. Then she feels guilty and left." Rachel summed it up, looking as if she expected that much.
"That's one way of putting it?"
"And why are you so sad then? You're not at fault and she has no relation to you." Rachel pointed out. "If anything, you should be angry or rather happy that you don't have to live with anyone."
"What?"
"Let's face it Percy, you are not really the sharing type. As much as you like being around people and feeling as if you belong to something, you're not exactly the kind of guy that would enjoy sharing his own personal space and stuff with another person."
I didn't know whether to feel offended by Rachel's words or rather amazed at how well she knows me. "I kind of like having an annoying sister around." I quickly made up an excuse.
Rachel raised an eyebrow as if she knew something I didn't, "For one, it's probably for the best that she's not lying with you because I'm sure that no one wants to live with a complete stranger, two moping around isn't going to help with anything and three now that both of you have no more secrets so what is there to be all sad about? I may start feeling jealous of the attention you are giving her." Rachel joked half-heartedly.
I laughed at the stupid thought of both Annabeth and I dating, "You've got to be kidding me. The only reason why I'm feeling this way is probably because it's fun having her around. That's just way to bizarre to even think of. Me and her? And plus the only girl I like is you."
"Well that's just a bit too corny, but since you are not really feeling like yourself, I'll accept it." Rachel leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.
I figured Rachel was probably right about me being depressed for no reason. "So how would you like to enjoy a little game of air hockey?" I offered standing up.
"That was probably the smartest thing you've said all day." Rachel smiled finishing off the ICEE and throwing it in a nearby trashcan before following me towards the arcade.
I reached into my coat pocket to take out the ring I've bought at the jewelry store just a couple days ago. I had planned on proposing to Rachel. After I had seen how much Rachel had yearn for us to have a life like Grover and Juniper I couldn't help but think of my future, how I would want to start a family. It's been weeks, even months since Grover's wedding and I still haven't popped the big question yet. Even if she did say she agreed, it still takes courage to say those four words. I stuffed the ring back down my pocket.
'I'll ask her, I'll ask her.' I kept telling myself.
"Percy?" Rachel's voice rang from in front of me. "Are you coming?"
I smiled down at the ring hidden in my pocket and quickly rushed to her.
~PAGEBREAK~
"As you can see… if we just direct the pressure of the water to be spread all around it wouldn't ruin the structure of the aquarium." Leo walked over to his computer to change the screen.
"But wouldn't that get in the way of the area of the tank?" I asked studying the designs.
Leo laughed, "Si, of course."
"Then how-"
'Cálmate,you're a bit eager there my friend. su hermana, Annabeth actually contributed to this, she explained it was actually not that hard."
"Annabeth?" I asked.
"Si,she's scary but she does one hell of a job." Leo cracked a smile.
I couldn't help but smile along with the guy. "So what is the solution?" I asked.
"Just simply arrange it like this," He pointed towards a couple drawing that showed on the computer. Tracing his cursor across the screen, "This would be the total length of the tank, just wide enough for sharks to be swimming around without constant limitation. I will warn you… this is going to be one big tank."
I nodded and motioned for him to continue.
"In addition there will be a walkway that you could just imagine you are actually inside the ocean. Water all around you. Of course it'll be a bit more expensive considering the stability of the glass and such."
He went on showing me various sketches of different aspect of the aquarium. I kept my mind focus trying not to waver at the slightest distraction because to be honest I haven't been this focused in a long time. I blame a certain blond that pretended to be my sister…
After the meeting I stood up as Leo started to clean up his designs, "So I'll be seeing you to help supervise the constructions soon?" I asked him.
"Well, not particularly, just need to go about a few more of these offices, talk to a few of them suited men, and all is well!" Leo exclaimed. He picked up his bag of tools and took out some small container. "Ice Breakers?" He offered opening up one of the tabs.
"I'm good," I told him. "Well I look forward to meeting you again soon," I said holding out my hand for a handshake.
"Man stop with the formalities," Leo grinned as he walked out the door, waving his hand as he left.
"Where's Annabeth?" Michelle asked as she saw Leo walked out. "She's usually always with you in these meetings."
"Uhh- you know, school stuff." I managed. Honestly I wasn't sure how the hell I was going to face Annabeth. Wait… why should I be afraid of her? She's the one in the wrong, technically.
Michelle looked like she wanted to say something more but instead she changed the subject, "Well there's going to be an event in which your father has been invited too."
"Let me guess, he's telling me to go instead." I grumbled.
Michelle smiled, "I already gave the details to Rachel, but he also wants to talk to you. He's on line one."
I nodded and Michelle made her way towards the door leaving me with a private conversation with my dad. "Hi dad," I murmured.
"Why so gloomy my boy?" Poseidon's overly excited voice blared through the phone. "I heard you got back together with the Dare princess!" Poseidon said rather excited.
"How'd you know?" I asked rather surprised.
"I got my sources son. Plus it does help that I was just discussing your wedding plans with Mr. Dare. He was rather excited to meet me." Poseidon claimed.
I was baffled, a bit shocked as I reached into my coat pocket to make sure my ring was still there. "We're not getting married dad."
"Well Mr. Dare seems pretty eager to rush it. He said that he really like you as his son-in-law."
For a moment I was too surprise to answer, 'Rachel's dad actually like me? The guy hated me and I mean a lot!'
"No, both Rachel and I agreed not to rush anything yet." I lied to him. I don't want him to try anything that could practically ruin my life. I couldn't help but stare at the ring that I had just placed on my desk.
"Well Jonathan Dare is rather eager to see you little kids get marry!" My dad said delightfully. "I'll bet you the first thing he'll do when Rachel gets that ring on her finger is rush that wedding!"
I decided to not get so off topic and ask him about what Michelle just told me. "That aside, where exactly are you right now that you can't come to your so called event?" I asked him with a slight irritated tone. Every time there's some kind of business dinner, he always over at some random country and I'm stuck dealing with a bunch of stuck-up rich people.
"Canada, but I can survive the cold weather here. It's not that bad. Well… maybe it is that cold but you don't need to worry about your old man, he's pretty healthy."
"I never asked about your health," I retorted rudely, but I was actually glad he's doing okay. "But since you're so close, why don't you just head over to that dinner event you're suppose to go to?" I told him helpfully.
"Not that close anymore, I'm heading over to Egypt soon, there's some problem with one of our comrades."
"I never knew you worked." I mumbled as I put down my pen and headed over to the shelves to take out some files.
"I work day and night my boy. So how's my little girl doing?"
For a moment there was silence on my line, as I was not really sure what to say. Should I tell my dad that Annabeth is not my sister? For some unknown reason, I decided against it, "Uh… she's fine," I managed.
"Can I talk to her? I haven't talked to her in a while."
"Don't you mean you haven't talked to her at all?" I offered, considering he doesn't even know that his real daughter is currently studying in California and- well that pretty much said it all.
My dad laughed joyfully (more like shamelessly), "I'm making it up now right? Plus, she must be pretty excited when I offered her a chance to come live in such a big house like yours and paid for all her fees!"
'She sneakily rejected your offer and sent her friend over to pretend.' I wanted to say. Honestly, I'll probably never understand his logic. "Well, fate must not be on your side, cause she's at school at the moment," I managed to dodge out of the situation.
"That's unfortunate," My dad said sounding rather disappointed. "Oh yeah, Percy, I want you to take your sister to the event. It'll do her good knowing a few famous faces among my world."
"My world, isn't that a bit too much dad?" I asked flipping through the pages of the files.
"There's no other world now is there? I stand on top of the food chain in here." I could almost imagine my dad grinning on the other line.
"So remember, I gave the detail to your co-workers already, just ask her. Remember take your sister and strike some good deals for the company. I suppose it wouldn't hurt if she gets friendly with some of the guys there." My dad added suggestively.
I felt a great rush of anger, "She's your daughter! Are you seriously going to sell your daughter like that?" I flared.
"Perseus relax, I'm just kidding." Poseidon managed through my rants. "I see you've gotten pretty close to your sister to be angry like that." He laughed.
I didn't laugh along with him. I felt too… weird-out that he called Annabeth my sister or the fact that we're getting so damn close. "Sure we are…" I mumbled.
"No need to sound so sad, just don't stress yourself with the work too much. Go on the date with Rachel! Then maybe we can get on with the wedding plans!" My dad concluded happily.
"I told you once, I told you twice, there's no wedding!" I grumbled.
"I'm waiting to attend my son wedding," My dad continued.
"I never said that you were invited." I shot back.
"I'm your father, I'm always invited."
I decided to ignore him as I look at the pile of work on my desk. "Well, unlike you old man, I actually have work to do." I put down the pencil to relax my wrist a bit before turning on the computer screen. "I'll talk to you in-" I stopped to think for a moment. "A few years."
"Don't think that bad of your old man," My dad grumbled. "Remember, dinner event in a week. Grab your sister, put on some pretty clothes and go greet people." He reminded me before hanging up.
I lifted the pile of papers on my desk then abruptly stopped when I suddenly thought of something…
Wait… did he say I have to take Annabeth with me to the dinner?
Annabeth's POV:
Days passed and soon days became weeks, until my first year of school at Columbia started to come to an end. It wasn't long before the news of Percy and I not being siblings spread to our friends, but luckily it never reached public news so I was still considered as Percy's sister in Poseidon's eye. Keeping in contact with Emily was becoming rather harder since she had her finals coming up and was actually getting off her butt to study all of the medical terms for her finals. As for me, I only had a few more assessment until I can finally enjoy the full fun of summer.
My talk with Emily pretty much went like this. "Your brother found out and now I don't even know what to do."
"Well, you could say that you're holding me ransom and that he'd better pay for your school fees until you finish your education so I could spend the rest of my school years to get my medical degree."
"Holding you random?" I asked very much unsure. "Emily, your plan before didn't work, what makes you think holding you ransom would? Plus, I'm pretty sure he somehow discovered that you are studying at Stanford." I mumbled.
"Just rest assure, everything will work out. Also since you said that he's been trying to hide the fact that he knows proves that he wants you to stay in New York. So I suggest you stay there until you finish with your major." She advised me. "But I'm still thinking the plan of making him think you're holding me captive is not a bad idea." She mused.
"No is no, from what I think you should just confess and go to New York and I'll go back to California where I belong."
"Same as you, no is no! I am not going to some city I don't even know! I grew up in California so I will be staying here thank you very much." Emily retorted with sarcasm. "Remember you're holding me captive, and if he doesn't pay for your fees, I'll be dead."
"Em…"
"Just say this- There's an electric chair-"
"I don't think electric chairs are even legal anymore," I quickly interrupted her.
"Fine, you put me into an ocean of electric eels or something." She offered.
"Electric eels? Are we going into villain mode now- wait no! I already said no to that plan!" I told her
"Just trust me on this, it will be the best plan yet."
"Your best plan already failed." I mumbled.
"Look, I'll visit you in the summer and explain everything to my half- brother since you said he's not much of a jackass that I thought he was." Emily decided. "Now first I need to past all my finals and wrap up the school year with a good score."
With that said, my friend over in California hanged up leaving me to decide on the decision that has been clouding all my thinking for a while.
It's rather easy to just run away from everything, which is exactly what I've been doing for the past few weeks exactly running away. Usually whenever confronted by something, I always have a plan for everything. For this matter with Percy confronting me… it's so sudden that I wasn't ready… there's no plan in my head that say "What to do when confronted by a fake brother that you pretended to be his sister". My wonderful planned life has turned into this. Something that makes no logical sense at all.
"That is all for today, tomorrow I will expect a two page essay on the topic of modernize architecture." The professor announced as he closed his book. "I will expecting everyone to do exceeding well on this essay because the topic covered here will most likely be covering a majority of your grades." He reminded us. "That is all class, you are dismissed."
I quickly grabbed my bags and folded up my textbook, making my way towards the door because I do not want to be rushing towards my next class behind hundreds of students that can't get the fact that there are some people with classes at this time of day. "Excuse me," I said trying to squeeze through the crowds of student.
"Pardon me-" I quickly rushed pass another crowd.
"Now, who says 'pardon me' anymore?" A voice said from in front of me.
I turned around to yell at the other person to be surprised and see Luke. "Luke, what are you doing here?"
"A simple 'hi' would've been sufficient." He grinned. "I'm here for school, same as you. Thanks for asking."
I laughed as I slowed down to a rather leisurely pace, "No, I meant what are you doing here, as in here." I said emphasizing in front of my class.
"I haven't seen you since your friend's wedding, so I decided to pay you a visit. I thought you were avoiding me-" Luke began. "If it's about what happened between Percy, we were just having a friendly brawl."
I raised an eyebrow, from what just happened between Percy and I, it was obviously that it was not just a 'friendly brawl'. I didn't know how to answer. It's not like Percy and I are on good terms or anything. Did I forgot to mention that I left his house because I'm such a coward being scared of how he'll react knowing that we're not siblings. "He's- we're okay," I managed.
"That's good, I wouldn't want him to get so mad," Luke said with a slight assurance. "I don't want someone so close to someone I like to hate me that much."
With that said I let my face go red as soon as I understood the meaning behind his words. 'How can a guy just say that straight out?' I wondered looking at Luke's still smiling face. "I have to get to my next class." I said hurriedly looking at the clock in the hall not really wanting to stay around like a blushing girl.
Luke just smiled, "I don't have any classes left for today, I'll walk you?" He offered.
"I-"
"Come on," Luke said grabbing my arm. "Now what do you have next?"
"It's okay, I can get there myself," I managed without stuttering. I'm normally not the kind of girl to be stuttering over a stupid thing like this. I blame Piper and all her love talk. I ran pass him and towards the classroom hurrying quickly in before the professor lifted his head to wonder why a girl was rushing in.
After class I took my time stuffing my notes into my bag as I decided to head over to Piper's dorm for a while. As I was about to walk down towards the door, a person blocked my path.
"So you're done now right?" Luke's voice rang from in front of me.
I nearly jumped back in surprised, "L-Luke, you're still here?"
"Of course, I wanted to talk to you," He grinned.
"Well we're talking," I let out a light laugh as I struggled to hold up my books.
Luke looked at the pile of books in my hand, "Do you want me to help you with that?" Without waiting for an answer, Luke reached over and held my books in his hands. "This was your last class right?"
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"You don't seem to be in a rush." He observed. "Considering that you were in kind of a rush before, unless you were trying to put me off." He said with a sly grin.
"That's not it at all," I said feeling a bit guilty.
"Good, I was hoping for that answer." He flashed me a grin. "How about we go somewhere for a little bit?" He asked.
I smiled, "Sure, that'll be nice, I just need to-"
Suddenly my phone went off, I took it out and motioned for Luke to wait. "Hello?"
"It's Rachel."A girl's voice called into he phone.
"You're Percy's girlfriend right?" I asked remembering my past conversation with her.
"Oh good you remembered, then I probably won't have to start explaining myself." Rachel laughed weakly.
"If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you get my number?"
"That's not important at the moment, can we meet somewhere in about half an hour?" Rachel asked.
I hesitated, glancing over at Luke for a moment.
"It's about Percy." Rachel added.
"If it's about how he's mad at me-"
"He's not mad at you, quite the opposite actually." Rachel said with a rather amused voice. "So can you meet me?" I hesitated for a moment, but that was just enough for Rachel to come to her own conclusion. "I'll take that as a 'yes'. I have an art exhibition soon, it's in the art museum in town, you can't miss it." With that she quickly hung up leaving me with no choice but drive to the damn art museum.
"So are you ready to go?" Luke's voice came from behind me.
I jumped a bit startled before regaining my posture, "I'm going have to cancel for today," I said, feeling a bit guilty. "Something came up."
"You're not putting me off because of your brother again are you?" Luke said teasingly, but for some reason I heard the slight resentment in his voice.
"No that's not it," I quickly said not wanting any bad blood to boil between Luke and Percy. "It's actually just a friend's art exhibition opening and she sent me an invite." I said smoothly. "I haven't seen her in a while, and she had something to discuss with me."
Not technically a lie, but not the whole truth either.
Luke smiled with ease, "Well, fine, I'll let your friend kidnap you away from me for today, but you better not bail on me again." He grinned mischievously. "Do you need a ride there or anything?" He asked.
"I actually borrowed my friend's car, so I'm good."
"Then can I walk you there? I'm pretty sure you still need help carrying these books." He grinned as he reached his free arm out to grab my bag as I placed my phone in there.
I smiled back, "That would be nice."
So how'd you like this? Good? Bad? Awesome? OR LEGENDARY! Yeah, I've been watching How I Met Your Mother blame me…But yeah no Percabeth (kill me now!) this is sort of a filler chapter to get their feelings sorted out. Next chapter, I shall bring in Sally (COME ON WHO DOESN'T LOVE SALLY AND HER COOKIES?!) and they shall meet and you guys will want to kill me! WOO HOO- oh wait… I shouldn't be cheering…
I have to thank you for all the answers from before, I actually enjoy reading other people's perspective on things. It's actually interesting, you guys brought up things I've actually never thought of, but it all seems so logical (as Annabeth would say). A kids life is the best!
Song: Why Don't You Love Me- Hot Chelle Rae ft. Demi Lovato I'm listening to it right now actually :D
Agent Astro Zombie