Chapter Fourteen
Annabeth
After breakfast, Percy and I left Thalia to go back to sleep. She needed it; I wasn't sure what time she got in last night, but she hasn't had her nine hours. Without them, she's a bitch. I'm the same way, but I have stages. Eight hours minimum, though it doesn't matter how many I get- I still hate mornings.
"So, what time do you want to go?" I'm holding hands with Percy on the bench in the garden, and I figure it's time we chisel in details of our date.
"Whatever time is good with you. I've got an empty day." He rubs his thumb over my hand.
"Me, too. How does four o'clock sound?"
"That sounds good, but only if you'll sing to me." He smiles. I smile back.
"In your dreams, Seaweed Brain!"
"So, what are we going to do? Anything in particular?"
I considers this a moment. "I want to go to the city." Percy considers this for a moment, and then nods.
"And go to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building?"
I scoff. "No. Any New Yorker knows that the Empire State Building only has 103 floors. And you can only go to the 86th." I use a 'duh' tone. Percy rolls his eyes.
"Anything else, miss know-it-all?"
"Yeah- don't call me 'miss know-it-all'!"
At one, Thalia pounds on my door. "What?" I yell from the bathroom. The damn curling iron/mousse combo isn't working...
"Good mor- oh, Annabeth! What died in your hair? Honey, stop, don't touch anything." She unplugs the iron and cringes. "I was going to ask hat you were doing, but now I'm going to tell what you're doing- wash that out."
So I take another shower while Thalia searches through the closet and talks to me.
"So, you and ocean boy have a date?" She calls. I hear the shuffling of hangers.
"Yeah!" I rinse my hair for the second time- three should do the trick.
"Formal, causal, or semi?"
"I don't know!" Another rinse, another squirt of conditioner.
Thalia mumbles something I can't decipher. I rinse the conditioner from my hair and turn off the water. I walk out of the bathroom and Thalia thrusts a pile of clothes at me. "Here, put these on." I walk back to the bathroom and glance at what she's given me to wear: a black and white polka-dot dress, a pair of red tights, and a gray tank top. I promptly turn around and exit the bathroom.
"What are you doing?"
I dig through my drawers. "You forgot underwear." Where are they... Aha! I return to the bathroom and pull on the clothes, forgoing the tights. "Thalia, it's too hot to wear tights!"
Thalia squeals. "You look so cute! Now, go put the tights on."
"But I don't-"
"Annabeth." Her voice is like ice. "Put the tights on."
I sigh but don't argue. She's already threatened to murder today. I don't need to add to the growing pile of potential corpses. She hands me a pair of owl earrings. "So, how was your date?"
Thalia's fiddling with makeup, and her answer is absentminded. "It was good. I like him. But he wants to leave the city soon, so I don't think it'll last." She's not telling me something, but I don't push it.
"That's nice. How do I look?" I hold out the skirt of the dress and curtsy.
"Beautiful, now sit down." Over the next two hours, Thalia does my hair and makeup at least a dozen different ways. Eventually, it just ends up being simple- black eyeliner and lip gloss; curly hair in a ponytail.
Thalia looks over her work."Maybe the silver tights..." she muses. There's a knock on the door. It must be Percy.
"Thalia!"
"If you're going into town, could you grab some shampoo?"
"Yeah. I've got to go!"
"Right. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." I throw her a look over my shoulder and stick my tongue out. Time to get to know the Captor of the Fairy Princess.
I don't know where we're going, though Percy seems to. He's driving, and we sit with my iPod plugged into the radio. We've gone through an entire album and started another, quietly humming along with the songs. Percy pulls into the parking space of a restaurant. It's a little Italian place, not too formal, but it's classy.
The waiter leads us to a table, and we order drinks- sprite and a water.
The waiter leaves us with menus and goes to get our drinks. "What, no blue drink?" I tease. Percy reaches into the pocket of his khakis and pulls out a tiny tube of food coloring.
"Wha- oh. Okay?"
Our drinks arrive. Percy adds a few drops of coloring to his water, and we look at the menus. "See anything in particular?" Percy asks. I shake me head. Hmm... There's spaghetti, fettuccine Alfredo, bruschetta, risotto, ziti...
The fettuccine sounds pretty good.
The waiter comes back and we order; Percy, spaghetti, me, fettuccine Alfredo.
After the waiter leaves again, I start a conversation.
"So, what do you want to do with your life?"
Percy takes a sip of his water. "I want to make music. I've wanted it since I was a kid. My dad... He has other ideas, though. What about you?"
"Um, when I was a kid I wanted to be a chemical engineer or a ringmaster in a circus. When. I was about ten, I decided I wanted to build something permanent."
"You still can." Percy leans onto his elbows.
I don't understand... "What?"
"Why stop? Why not build something that lasts? Just because I can't have my dreams doesn't mean you shouldn't get a shot at yours."
Oh my gods... Is he saying what think he's saying? "I can't, Percy. I can't."
"Why not?" That damn smile...
What does he mean 'why not'? "I just can't, okay?" He'd never understand... No one could.
"Annabeth."
"Percy."
"You're stalling." He accuses. He's right, I am.
"Am not."
"Are so."
"Am not."
"Annabeth!" Percy sighs.
"Fine. I can't build something permanent because I need to attend an architect program this summer. I was signed up for one at an elite school in California, but after... things... happened, I had to drop out. Besides, it's too late for registration. I could never get in." And oh, how I'd dreamed of the day I was old enough to attend the program. I had to wait, and now I'd never get the chance to go. It was probably my biggest loss in all of this.
"Oh, Annabeth, I had no idea. Are there any programs in New York?"
"One at NYU, but the spots have all been filled for months. It's not a big deal, Percy." I'm lying, of course- that program was going to be the highlight of my young adult life.
"You may not be able to design something that lasts forever, but how about an aquarium?"
Percy
What was it dad had said on the phone? "We need a new design." If Annabeth could design the building, maybe it would make up for the summer. Sort of an "I'm sorry I crushed your life's dreams by making you move to New York to marry me, but you can design an aquarium"-type deal.
Who am I kidding, it'll never make up for that. But maybe it could be a step in the right direction. "You may not be able to design something that lasts forever, but how about an aquarium?"
"An aquarium." Not a question, just a fact. She's letting it sink in. "You want me to design an aquarium? Get out! You're not serious!"
So she thinks it's a joke. How fitting. "Completely 100% serious. So you'll do it?"
"Of course I will!"
She sounds so excited. Almost like a kid set loose in a candy store with unlimited credit. Like Leo in the hardware store. Like me at the beach.
Except she's cuter than that.
Her dress is pretty and makes her eyes look lighter. Her hair is in a ponytail and curly. The red tights accentuate the length of her legs. Her very nice... No, Percy. You will not check out Annabeth when she can see you. At least wait until the date is over.
The annoying waiter comes with our food, ending the conversation.
Thalia
When Annabeth asks me how my date went, I don't give her all the details. "He's nice." A truth. "I like him." Truth. "But he wants to leave the city soon." Truth. "I don't think it will last." Truth. I don't mention how we talked, and decided we'd be better off as friends. I don't mention how he asked about my back story.
I don't mention how he said he knew how to find my dad.
After the movie, we went to the library and looked up genealogy records. I didn't see how it could help, but Luke found something. I felt like Annabeth, digging around in old books to look for something that interests me. "Here," Luke had said. "Look." It was a magazine article of the abrupt split between society's hottest couple- Zeus Grace and-
The paper abruptly drops from my hand.
"Oh my gods. That's..." My mother's name.