I don't understand any of this.

Annabeth shook her head fiercely, making droplets of water spray everywhere. She tucked the fuzzy blue towel tighter around her, and peeked out the door. She could hear the TV from the living room, a talk show was on, she concluded, because the laugh track came on.

She silently made her way into Percy's bedroom where he'd told her she could change. Some old clothes of his were left on his bed.

The door closed lightly behind her, and she let out a sigh. How had this happened? And why was she always asking herself this lately?

She tried to push away the little whispers that threatened to open a whole new wound, but they pulled through, ignoring her determination.

What if Percy isn't the one?

No. Annabeth shook her head again, knocking it against the door accidentally. Percy was the one. There was no doubt about that. They were meant for each other. She'd known that since that time in Mount Saint Helens. Maybe even before that.

There was always problems in relationships. This happened a lot, to everyone!…right?

The doubt grew bigger in her head, making her literally tremble.

How ironic. A daughter of Athena going insane.

She pushed herself off the door and went over to the bed where Percy had left old clothes of his for her to wear. Old black sweat pants, and a basketball shirt. Annabeth slid the towel down and pulled on the shirt when something dawned on her.

She'd never really been in Percy's room before. Well she'd gone in to get him for their dates, but she'd always gone right back out with Percy. And she'd never been in here…alone. She pulled on the sweatpants and her eyes swept the room. He had a lot of posters. Most were of bands, a few of movies. He had a stack of CD's in the corner of his room, and a small collection of books on a shelf right next to them.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at the lack of books, and went over to see what ones he did have, when something caught her eye.

On the top of the bookshelf, sat a plain, black picture frame. But what interested her was the picture inside it. It was their trio. Grover on the left, his huge grin spread across his tanned skin. Herself on the right, her hair tied up in a ponytail, her Yankees cap in her hand. And in the middle, the one and only Percy. Annabeth herself had this picture on her headboard of her bed, and Percy's expression always got to her. His lazy smile, and his intense green eyes contradicted each other, making him into the handsome boy she knew so well.

Maybe I don't know him so well…

Annabeth had come so close to slapping herself in the forehead when that thought popped in, but she restrained herself.

She glanced out the window, up at the polluted sky of Manhattan, clouding the stars, and sighed for the umpteenth time that night.

-x-

That's me. Just rash-decision-making-idiotic-stupid Percy Jackson.

Percy felt like punching himself. Hard. Or maybe running Riptide through him. . .

He shook that thought away and tried to focus on Jay Leno. He was interviewing Jake Gyllenhaal on that new movie Prince of Persia. Percy thought the movie actually looked really good. It was apparently action packed…but that reminded him of seeing Clash of the Titans earlier today…

And welcome back little green monster. Percy was ready to kick this guy out of the window, but he kept coming back, and every time…it was just a little bit harder to flick him off his shoulder.

She'd been talking to that guy on the phone, in front of you. There's no other explanation than cheating!

Percy knew that that thought was irrational, and just plain stupid, but being captive by Jealousy made him sort of believe it.

Percy started to wonder what he'd done wrong, when he noticed it was already 12:36 AM.

Where are Mom and Paul?

He picked himself up off of the couch and made his way into the kitchen. He shuffled his way over to the pantry and looked slowly through every morsel they had. Finally deciding on Cheese Nips, he grabbed the box and started back to the living room, but froze in the kitchen doorway.

A blonde head was now in the place he'd just been sitting. He didn't know how to react to it, whether he should just sit down beside her, or say something first or… when did this all become awkward?

He coughed as he strode over to the couch and plopped himself down. Annabeth didn't even flinch.

Seven hours seemed to go by, them just sitting there, watching the Tonight Show, and the occasional rustle of plastic when Percy stuck his hand in for more Cheese Nips. It turned out to have been only five minutes, when there was another rustle of plastic, though Percy's hands were in his lap.

He turned his head sharply to face Annabeth and she froze, her hand hovering above the box, overflowing with Cheese Nips. Her gray eyes were wide and looking expectantly at him.

Percy just stayed frozen, not knowing what to say.

Annabeth thought quickly, and decided on a rash decision. She picked up a Cheese Nip from her fistful of them, and chucked one straight at Percy. She had good aim, the Nip hitting him perfectly on the nose.

Percy winced when it made contact, and stared at the Cheese Nip now in his lap.

He sucked in a breath, giving the Cheese Nip a quizzical look. "What was that for?"

"Don't ask me. I don't even know where that came from."

"Then why'd you throw it?"

"I dunno."

Percy stared at his girlfriend for a while. Looking at her beautiful gray eyes, that for once in the Daughter of Athena's life, were filled in confusion and frustration. And he burst out laughing.

Annabeth seemed surprised at first, then glared at him.

"It's really not that funny. I just threw a Cheese Nip at you. So what. I'm mad at you."

Percy started laughing harder, barely noticing Annabeth's protests.

"Seriously. Boys have deranged senses of humor. You're so stupid."

But Annabeth had started giggling now, trying to keep it down. How could she not laugh, when Percy was now red in the face and trying to suck in deep breaths from laughing so hard.

He picked up the Cheese Nip Annabeth had thrown at her, looked at it, and started laughing all over again.

Annabeth rolled her eyes at him, letting a grin slip. And Percy popped the Cheese Nip in his mouth.

Right after that, he started coughing. It had gone too far down his throat, and the laughing wasn't helping. Annabeth stopped mid-giggle fit, and stared at him for awhile. Percy made the choking sound, while coughing.

"Percy, you're not choking. You're still coughing. You can breath!"

Percy gave her the best look he could while choking that pretty much said, "I don't care, just get the damn Cheese Nip out of my throat!"

Annabeth looked hesitant at first, but hopped up off the couch, and around to the other side.

"Forgive me Percy, I'm not the best at the Heimlich Maneuver!" she shouted, placing her arms around his waist, and heaving. Percy jolted, still coughing. She did it again, praying to the gods that she wasn't breaking his ribs.

She did it another time. Percy started pulling at her arms, trying to get them off, but she pulled one last time, and Percy coughed again. This time, his breath was coming easier as he gasped for air. Annabeth's arms were still around his waist, and he tried to pull them off so he could sit down, but she was still so shocked, she didn't respond.

"A-Annabeth. I'm…fine. Just-" he yanked one arm, and Annabeth fell forward, onto Percy.

It was almost like that time in the photo booth. Their eyes couldn't pull away from each other, and they couldn't move.

Annabeth's hands were cramped between her and Percy, and Percy's arms were beside him, on the couch. All the thoughts before fled from their minds, straight out of their ears, which weren't hearing anything.

Annabeth slowly slid her arms up and around Percy's neck.

The moment had gone right from awkward silences, to scared maneuvers, to sudden passion.

Lady Aphrodite was right. Relationships are kind of strange. Percy thought, letting his own arms slide around Annabeth's waist. Or maybe it's just because we're Halfbloods, and we already have such a strange life.

She bent her head down towards him, and he moved up. The moment their lips touched, fire almost exploded between them. Every emotion they'd felt today was humming in their veins. The jealousy, frustration, fear, anger, and so on. Percy moved his lips against Annabeth's, trying to coax her into retaliating. She was a bit hesitant at first, not sure how they had gotten to this point, but glad her thoughts were erased for the moment. She allowed his entry to explore her mouth, letting out sighs of contentment. Their lips moved perfectly together, like they were two puzzle pieces that had found each other after so long.

This is what it was supposed to be like, Annabeth thought. Well, not making out all the time, though that is quite nice too. But no fighting, just being together.

The kisses got less urgent, and only occasional. Percy now had his head buried in Annabeth's blonde hair, which was now sort of sticking every which way from their little make out session, and Annabeth just sat in his lap, playing with his fingers.

She started giggling again after a few minutes of blissful silence.

"What now?" Percy asked, the smile obvious in his muffled voice.

"I'm still trying to figure out how that happened." Annabeth replied, all out laughing now.

Percy laughed a little too, pulling her even closer, trying to keep the little green monster away for just a little bit longer.

"Yeah, that was kind of epic."

Annabeth let out a snort. "Um, yeah." She leaned her head on Percy's shoulder, snuggling a tiny bit closer.

Percy glanced at the clock again, to see it was 1:47.

He let out after yawning, and asked, "You tired yet?"

Annabeth sent a sly look his way, and said, "Not quite."

A/N: I. AM. SO. SORRY! I've had finals again, and and….I'm not even going to tell you everything that's been happening in my oh so eventful life at the moment. But believe me, I've been busy.

And I really do apologize for not updating. Cause I have some in my favorites that haven't updated for a year. A FREAKING YEAR! And every once in awhile I'd go online to find there was a review that said "UPDATE NOW!" and I'd feel really bad!

So I guess you guys can kind of see I was in a writers block, but I'm back and kicking baby!…ok that was weird. But here's chapter 8! (finally…::goes to hide in corner of shame:: ) I know it's not the best, but I hope you like it.

R&R! No flames please, I haven't written this for a long time, I'm just getting back into the zone, (as you see by that cliffy!)

Love you all, thank you for bearing with me! 8)

Hptwilightfanatic ( I should really add Percy Jackson to my name…)

a.k.a. Harlyn