"You know, Jackson, you aren't too shabby."

Percy tries to do his typical smirk, but he's in the middle of shoving a handful of chips into his mouth. It comes out looking a bit constipated, and Piper laughs.

He takes a moment to finish chewing. "I'm honored, queenie."

Laughing incredulously, she raises an eyebrow. "Queenie?"

"Hey, it's not like it doesn't fit."

Annabeth left about an hour ago (After another hour of painfully awkward moments. Why did it have to be so awkward? Was it his fault?), but Percy had to wait for his friends to come pick him up for work.

"I'm not, like, Satan," Piper had said. "It's cold. I won't make you wait outside until they show."

Percy was more than a bit worried that Piper would attack him or something—maybe a bit dramatic, but she's best friends with Annabeth, after all. He had reason to be worried.

Then the unexpected happened: they actually got along.

It doesn't even take much, actually. An awkward "So…you like video games?" leads to a passionate argument about Paulina versus Peach, and everything's smooth sailing from there.

"You got me there." Piper gives a half-laugh, brushing the choppy hair out of her eyes. "But seriously, I don't know why Annie's been putting up such a hissy fit about you lately. She freaks out whenever your name comes up."

This is something Percy's been unsure about. Would Annabeth have told her about that night? He really doesn't know her well enough to tell—doesn't know if she's the type to tell her friends everything. Clearly, she isn't.

Percy's not sure if this is a good thing. He's not sure what she would say if she told Piper, either. (It would probably be along the lines of, oh, I made out with this idiot to keep him from talking anymore, he wasn't even a good kisser.)

So, Piper's cool. Percy's an idiot. Annabeth's doing a really good job of making him want to crawl into a hole and die—not that he holds it against her. Why wouldn't a girl that beautiful already have a boyfriend? Why would a girl that intelligent ever like him?

"Earth to Jackson," Piper says, snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Shit, sorry." He's been zoning out, probably for a while. "I was just thinking about…stuff."

"You can think?"

"It's news to me, too." A horn—one that sounds more than a bit like a dying duck—honks from outside, and Percy stands up suddenly. "That's them."

Piper stands up, too, and walks him to the door. "So, Annabeth said she'll be in touch with you about the next meet-up. I still need to talk to Rachel, but it should be pretty soon."

Percy nods as he walks towards the truck in front of the house. "See you then, queenie!"

He always did have a thing for nicknames.

"Remind me again why you were at Piper McLean's house?" Leo asks from behind the wheel as Percy slides into the passenger seat.

"It was about that whole project thing I had to do for mythology," He explains, keeping his voice neutral, like it isn't a big deal. (It isn't a big deal.)

"Ooh, that story you wrote with Annabeth?" Hazel pipes up from the backseat. Frank's back there, too; the pair is sitting as far away from each other as possible, but Percy can see the way their hands just barely touch on the middle seat. "I still really wanna read that."

He shrugs, turning to watch all of the familiar landmarks pass on their way to the diner. "It was mostly just Annabeth. I just made stupid suggestions while she did all of the work."

"Well, I wanna read your stupid suggestions."

"You're too kind, Hazie." Percy rolls his eyes, but he smiles, too.

Leo, as per usual, isn't in the mood for the sentimentalities. "So you get to do a video with two of the hottest, scariest girls at school. How long is this going on for, exactly, and is there a part available for a scrawny Latino god? 'Cause Valdez is a god even when he's not acting."

"The hottest girls in school? What, do you have a list?" Frank says, teasing with a laugh that's only slightly uncomfortable.

"It's common sense! Listen, I know they aren't, like, Silena Beauregard or Drew Tanaka staus, but they're up there. Definitely prettier than you, Percy. Out of your league."

Hazel shoots him a look, but Percy only laughs.

"If they're out of my league, then what hope is there for you?"

They all split up once they get to Auntie Em's, the diner they've been working at for years. Leo and Frank head to the kitchen. Percy and Hazel get ready to start waiting, tying aprons and pulling up hair.

Ten minutes later, the latter par is sitting at one of the tables, chatting. It's a very slow day; the pair isn't going to get in much trouble for taking an unofficial five-minute break. Plus, Leo and Frank are still busy in the kitchen, so they're actually alone.

"So I'm guessing it didn't go too well?" Hazel asks, the sympathetic look already growing on her face.

This situation isn't exactly something Percy wants to talk about. "It turns out that Piper McLean is actually pretty chill."

"And Annabeth?" She presses, skipping right over his attempt at deflection.

"Less chill," He sighs. "She barely even looked at me, Hazel. And she left so fast, I'm surprised she didn't burn rubber driving away."

The pity on her face is in full force now, and Percy can't help but look away. She's basically his little sister, and he tells her everything, but sometimes he wishes Hazel could be a bit less understanding.

"I'm sorry, Percy."

"It's fine. I told her I'd act like nothing happened, and I'm gonna keep it up. It's my fault that this whole thing is such a mess, anyways."

"That's not true." Her golden eyes burn through him, and he feels guilty. "She kissed you back. If she had a boyfriend, she should've said something. You even asked if you could kiss her, for heaven's sake."

Percy shrugs like he'd rather just drop the topic. "But I don't blame her. I just want to be able to be in the same room as her without feeling like an ass."

"It'd probably be better for you to forget about her, not just the night. What good is going to come from you pining over a taken girl, especially one who's ignoring you?"

"It isn't…" Percy sighs, weaving a hand into his hair. "That's not what it's like. I like being around her. Even if means just being friends, or acquaintances, or whatever."

"That's really sweet," Hazel beams for a moment before she remembers what he's talking about. The way her face falls makes everything feel a little bit worse.

"I'm screwed."

"Yeah," She admits, a dim smile still on her face and a sad look in her eyes. "You kind of are."

.

Hazel's giving him the same look as he gets out of Leo's truck and walks towards the door of his apartment building. It's been cold for March, though, and he doesn't have a heavy jacket, so he only gives a quick wave to the car before rushing inside.

"I'm home, mom!" He hollers once he gets through the door.

"Hi, honey!" Sally Jackson calls back from the kitchen. The smell of sauce wafts over with his voice and Percy feels his stomach grumble. He hasn't eaten since lunch, which was maybe nine hours ago.

The boy was starving.

He walks into the kitchen and grins when he sees two of his favorite things in one room: his mother and lasagna.

"How was your day?" She smiles at him, serving them both plates. Percy came home pretty late, sometimes, but Sally always did her best to stay up to eat dinner with him. If he wasn't going to be home until very late, or not at all, he always called by ten.

(Except for last weekend, he thinks. Then he does his best not to kick himself for thinking of it.)

"Good," Percy answers as they sit down on the couch. "I'm kind of doing this video project thing, now."

"Another project?" Her lips purse slightly. "But you just spent so long working on that one for Mythology."

He can't help but give a little laugh. "It's not for school. And it's because of the Mythology project, actually."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. My partner…her friend really liked our story, and she wants to make it into a YouTube video."

"A YouTube video? Isn't that the website?" Sally asks, smirking, like she's proud to act as the 'technologically clueless parent'. Percy gives a teasing smile back, but it's not like he's much better. He doesn't even have a phone.

"Yeah. It seems like it's going to be cool."

"Sounds like it, honey."

They sit in a comfortable silence for a while, eating and watching a Disney movie they caught on TV. Once they've both finished, Percy yawns and puts his head on her lap, and he can feel her stomach move as she chuckles.

"Aren't you getting a bit too old for this?" She asks, starting to stroke his messy hair.

"I hope not. How was your day?"

He can hear the smile in her voice as she speaks. "It was a good day. Work was alright, and my writing class was…fun."

"Fun?"

"Fun." Sally shifts on the couch, and Percy sits back up. "Can I ask you something, honey?"

"What is it?" He can't help the concern that's already leaking into his voice. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She smiles again. "I was just wondering…how you would feel if I went on a date."

"A date?"

"A man in my class asked me, he's lovely and his name is Paul, but it's been a while, and I know neither of us have completely forgotten about Gabe, but-"

Before Sally can get too worked up, her son wraps her in a hug. "That's great, mom. I'm happy for you."

After the movie's finished, Percy insists on cleaning up, and she eventually gives up and goes to bed.

He's his room around midnight. If Percy had any homework, he surely wouldn't do it, but that's maybe the best part of senior year: there's almost no homework. Being terrified to reach adulthood and go into the real world is a bit less fun, but at least he has the time to worry now.

Unfortunately, in the past month or so, 'worry-about-adulthood' time has become 'try-not-to-think-about-Annabeth-while-totally-thinking-about-Annabeth" time.

There's a lot to 'not-think' about.

How her curls bounce every time she moves her head, shaking her head at something stupid he's said.

How gray her eyes are; no blue, or green, or anything else in them. Just pure slate.

How pretty it is to see her skin tint red, almost impossible to see beyond her tan skin. (How did she stay tan all year like that? In New York City?)

He could still kind of taste the mint from her breath, still kind of smell her coconut shampoo, still kind of feel her barely wet skin.

How much does she hate him now? Or does she even care? What does her boyfriend look like? Does he know?

Maybe they laugh about it together. This guy thought he had a chance with me, it was so funny, until he kissed me. Then it was sad funny.

How long has he liked Annabeth?

Much longer than he's willing to admit. At the beginning of the year he remembers disliking her; the way she answered every question, the know-it-all tone to her voice. He has no idea when that changed. Sometime before she threw a book at his head, definitely. He'd started saying stupid things just to see her furious expressions bloom. (The red flush to her face looked good, no matter the cause.)

Hazel's right. He needs to get over her.

Can he?

I've had a lot of time to write lately, which is super swell. Figured it was a good time to give some of the other side of the story.