Piper
"Annabeth, hey, it's Piper, as you probably know. If you could call me back that would be great, I have some news. Thanks." I hung up, the third message that day.
"It's fine, Pipes, she's probably at work." Jason commented.
"Yeah, I hope that's all…"
Two Hours Later
Annabeth
"Piper, I just got off work, what is it?"
"Annabeth! Hi! Could you stop by my place, I have some news that needs to be delivered in person!"
Beep, beep, beep!
"Hang on Piper, just a sec- Percy's calling."
"Hey, Anna-bae!"
"Percy, just don't. What is it?"
"When will you be home?"
"I dunno, Piper asked me if I could stop by for a moment or two, you know that means a couple hours. I'll text you when I leave, okay?"
"Okay, see you at home Annabeth."
Piper forgot that I still had a key to her apartment.
"Piper! I'm here!"
"She's at the cafe, she had to go into work for some reason," Jason said.
"Oh, okay. Thanks, Jason."
"Yep."
I drove downtown to the cafe to find Piper in a yelling match with her boss. Oh dear. Deciding it was safer to stay in the car until she came out, I texted Percy.
Percy, it might be awhile
Oh no, what happened this time?
Not sure yet
Just don't be too long, okay?
Okay
She came out, mascara running down her cheeks. Piper immediately recognized the car and got in.
"Hey Annabeth," she sighed.
"What's wrong?" I asked, rebraiding her hair that was falling out of the simple french braid.
"Well, I am currently unemployed. But that's okay! I'm in the third round of auditions for this movie, so I think I have a shot at getting the part!"
"That's great Piper! Not the unemployed part, you know what I mean."
"Yeah, is there any chance I could go to your place to get fixed up? I can't stand Jason seeing me like this. Maybe after the wedding it'll be different but as of now, I can't face him like this."
"Yeah- did you say wedding?"
"Yes."
"When?!"
"He proposed last night, I forgot to tell you. The wedding is soon. Very soon. We're thinking about just going down to the courthouse and signing a couple documents and being done with it."
"What happened to you? What happened to the fairytale wedding that you've always dreamed of? What happened to the gorgeous dresses? What happened to all of what you've planned?"
"Dunno," she shrugged.
"Piper-"
"The book was burned."
"What?"
"The book with all of the wedding plans in it- including your wedding plans with Percy- was burned. We're not sure what happened but I found it charred under my bed when we went to start planning the wedding."
"Oh… I had no idea!"
"It's fine."
We decided to just restore the book, using the pages that weren't totally blackened.
I dropped my bag inside the door and fell onto the floor.
"Oh dear- Annabeth, what's wrong?" Percy asked, picking me up.
"Nothing, I'm fine," I lied.
"Mmhm, yeah- no. What's up Annabeth?"
"Life."
"Okay?"
So we talked about life and solved our problems.
"Nico hasn't been around for awhile."
"Oh, yeah- I gave up hacking," I lied. I just hadn't told him about the last job I had from Nico. At least Percy wasn't terribly nosy about it.
Percy
She was totally lying.