Sometimes
the only way
to catch
your breath
is to
lose it
completely.
~ Tyler Knott Gregson
2.
Piper unlocked her front door and pushed it open with her hip.
"I'm home!" she called out into the giant house, but the only reply she got was her own voice echoing across the marble floors. Piper sighed… typical dad, probably out on another work trip for his new show. Her roughed up converse clunked against the polished floor as she made her way to the stairway leading upstairs, and eventually to her room. Once she reached her room, she kicked off her shoes and dropped her bag onto the plush carpet.
The teen then heaved a huge sigh and fell backward onto her bed, choppy hair falling around her head: a halo of caramel locks. Her eyes slipped shut for only a moment before they snapped right back open.
The book.
Piper pushed herself up, and flopped over to the side of the bed, stretching her whole body to reach her bag that was almost in her grasp until-
THUMP.
The girl peeled herself off of her carpet and dug the small book out of her bag. Without the distraction of a certain blonde eyed beauty, Piper was able to concentrate on the actual book: Chasers of the Light. She thumbed quickly through the pages, and it appeared to be pictures of receipts and other scraps of paper covered in typewriter ink. Poetry, more specifically, romantic poetry. Heat rose to Piper's face.
'This means nothing, don't read into it' she told herself, but Piper's heart didn't listen to her and seemed to skip every other beat. All of the butterflies in the world had migrated into her stomach. But what if Annabeth was hinting at something…
A door slamming in the house shook her from her reverie. In a millisecond, Piper was on her socked feet and running out of her room and to the balcony looking down on the "greeting hall". A woman was removing a gauzy shawl from her head, and there was no mistaking her chocolate curls, or signature red lip.
"Mom?" Piper said, shocked, "I thought you weren't going to be back for another couple months."
"Piper dear, come give me a hug." Aphrodite smiled, arms raised to embrace her daughter, "I've missed you, darling."
Piper rushed downstairs and was folded into her mother's embrace, and for a moment, she pretended like her crazy, messed up life was completely normal. But…
"Mom, why are you home so early?"
"What is wrong with wanting to see my daughter? It's been so lonely in France."
Piper sincerely doubted it, Aphrodite had a terrible habit of lying right through her perfect, white teeth. Besides, it was no secret in Hollywood that her mother was not faithful to her dad. Aphrodite would be content for a while, playing family with superstar Tristan McLean and their rebellious teenage daughter, but soon family life would start to wear on her and she would miss the days of being carefree. Aphrodite would then land a modeling job somewhere overseas, and party for months without a thought of her husband and daughter back at home. Sometimes it is unclear what sends her back to California. Sometimes it's not, of course, and it is a scandal with another famous actor, or singer, or model; but sometimes Aphrodite comes back from her little paradise with arms full of designer bags and her lips painted blood red, and moves back into the house like nothing happened (usually with a gift of some kind for Piper, as if she was trying to buy her way into Piper's heart). Piper likes to tell herself that Aphrodite actually missed her and Tristan, but would never ever say it out loud. Hope is a delicate thing, and Piper clings onto the shred of her mother's love that is extended out to her every couple months.
This cycle is a common cycle, but the first time it happened, People's Magazine had a field day. MODEL VENUS APHRODITE CAUGHT WITH MALE MODEL ARES MERCURY! APHRODITE CHEATS? PERSEPHONE SPILLS ALL WITH TALK SHOW HOST AEOLUS! TRISTAN MCLEAN LEFT ALONE WITH MOTHERLESS CHILD PIPER MCLEAN!
Piper was only four when it happened, but all it took was one quick search on google and she hit gold. Now, the cycle Aphrodite lives in is a normal occurrence… something Piper can count on. The sun will rise, Percy will forget to do his homework, and Piper's mom will be unfaithful. Somethings just won't ever change.
Aphrodite dug through her pile of suitcases and bags with a manicured hand, before pulling out a large, flat box.
"This is for you, love," She said with her slight French accent, words tipping ever so delicately up at the ends, "I found this in a cute little shop in Cannes."
"Thank you, Mom." Piper replied, a forced smile on her lips, "I actually have a lot of homework tonight, so I will just take this up to my room."
"Study hard, my Piper," Aphrodite laughed as if Piper had said something amusing, before clicking off to the kitchen. Looking for a glass of wine, no doubt.
Piper brought her gift upstairs, and set it gingerly upon her dresser. She would open it later when she had the courage to face her complicated mother-daughter relationship again.
The girl stripped out of her ripped jeans and slipped on a pair of Batman pajama bottoms. She owned dozens of designer pajamas from her mom, but closing cheap Walmart pajamas felt like a sort of rebellion against her wild rollercoaster of a life.
Piper was fully prepared to throw herself a world record pity party, but on the way to her bed, she stepped on something hard: the book! With all of the bittersweet emotions of the past minutes, Annabeth had slipped her mind (and with a body like that, Piper didn't exactly know how).
Eager for a distraction, Piper threw herself into the book, and before she knew it she was absorbed into the poetry. The girl didn't really like poetry, or so she told herself, but there was something about the words. The way the poems were structured and how they rang out in her head made Piper feel all sorts of ways. One poem made her feel like she lost something very precious and dear, while the next was like being caught in a warm embrace. And with every word, she could feel Annabeth. She wondered how many times the other girl had read these very words, felt these very emotions. How she had survived something so powerful yet gentle. Something that tears you apart, yet stitches parts of you back together that you didn't even know was falling apart. Piper was once again left without words, because of the words Annabeth so generously gave her.
Piper had met the blonde just once, but falling for her was so easy.
Late into the night Piper finished the small book and drifted off into sleep, said book pressed to her chest.
A/N: Thank you to my two reviewers, you guys are amazing! Also thank you to my 82 readers, I am so happy that you all have checked out my story.
LaxandBooks: THANK YOU! I am so happy that you enjoyed this just as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope you like this next chapter :D
CrescentMoonShadowhunter: Thank you so much! I know the feeling… percabeth is great and all, but I've read so many percabeth fics that they all started to sound the same, so I got bored and wanted something new and couldn't find it (but I'm not saying I'll say no to a good percabeth fic, but a girl needs some options, you feel?). Anyway, thank you so much for the support, love. 3
