Percy and Annabeth snapped at her, "Stay out of this!"
"Ooooooookay then," Piper said as she backed away. She turned and looked at Percy's friend. He shrugged not knowing what to say. Piper hated being around Annabeth when she got like this so she decided to do something she never did, "Hey Blondie, I've been craving tacos for hours. Join me?"
His eyes darted to Percy and Annabeth who had started arguing again, "Yeah. I don't think I want to stick around and the name is Jason, not Blondie."
Piper grinned, said "Suit yourself", and the two of them left their friends floating in the ocean oblivious that to the fact that they were just ditched. Once Jason and Piper reached the beach, Jason offered to give Piper a ride back to her hotel so she could change before eating. They walked in silence to his car and Jason surprised Piper by holding the door open for her. Piper had been on dates before, but no boy had ever done that before. She was so surprised she couldn't help it when her jaw dropped a bit. Jason saw and a blush crept across his perfectly chiseled face. Speaking of his face, Piper's heart started racing the longer she stared at it. Stop that. Get yourself together you just met him. She finally managed a smile and sat down in the car. Jason walked to the driver's side, got in himself, started the car, and pulled out of the parking spot.
Now that Piper wasn't focusing on Annabeth anymore, she took a long look at her new companion. Jason had sandy blonde hair, whether it was actually that color or was coated with sand, she couldn't tell, and an even tan to match. Piper usually wasn't the girl to pine after guys, but one look at him and she finally understood why girls could get so love struck. She wasn't surprised that he agreed to go get dinner with her, Piper could almost always talk people into things. That is, everyone, but Annabeth. She was so stubborn and hardheaded, but that's why they were best friends, they evened each other out. Annabeth was the realist who couldn't handle being wrong, relied heavily on her intellect, and loved boring things like architecture and working hard. Piper was the idealist who had an uncanny ability to see people for who they really were and could talk her way out of any situation. They were lucky to be paired as roommates their first semester at Cornell University. It was odd that living together actually worked out for the two of them since they were so different. Four years later though and the two of them were still best friends.
Jason's voice brought her out of her thoughts, "What hotel are you staying at?"
"The Marriot. It's up this road for a while then take a left at the second stop light."
It wasn't long before they arrived at Piper's hotel. Jason threw on a t-shirt and told her he'd just wait in the car for her to change. She promised she wouldn't be long and rushed upstairs. As soon as she entered her room she went directly to the bathroom and surveyed the damage a day outside did to her hair. Normally Piper didn't care what she looked liked, but for some reason she cared what this boy she just met thought about her. Luckily Piper didn't burn easily so her skin was fine, but she still needed to salvage her hair somehow. A braid seemed the fastest option so Piper did a messy French braid and figured that was good enough. Her bathing suit was dry by now so she didn't bother changing out of it and just threw some clothes on top. One last look in the mirror and she was back out the door.
Jason took them to his favorite restaurant where he claimed there were the best fish tacos on the island. After getting her order, Piper admitted that they were indeed the best she's ever had. Jason's triumphant smile was smug, but not in a mean way, more in a teasing "I told you so" way. She didn't think she had ever met a guy as polite and courteous as Jason in her whole life. He was a complete gentleman, quick to smile at anything she said, and an interesting person to boot.
"So what are you doing in Hawaii?" Jason asked leaning forward onto the table.
"After graduating Annabeth and I wanted to go on an adventure. Originally it was just going to be a road trip to no place in particular, but my dad wanted to give me a big graduation present and he insisted to pay for a trip to Hawaii. He knew I've always wanted to come here."
"Your dad bought you a trip to Hawaii as a present?"
"Well yeah and he paid for Annabeth too." Piper looked down at her lap, she didn't like talking about her father. When she did, people thought she was rubbing his fame and money in their faces and she would never do that.
"Wow, what a guy." Jason smiled and took another bite. Piper smiled back, glad he didn't pursue the topic. "You said you just graduated, what did you get a degree in?"
"A Bachelor's Degree in Communication. Everyone tells me a have a way with words and I've wanted to be a motivational speaker since I was a little girl."
"Don't most little girls want to be ballerinas or vets or something like that?"
"Well," Piper raised her eyebrows, "I'm not like most girls."
Jason's smile was big this time. "Yeah," He said, "I can see that." Piper saw the beginning of wrinkles forming near the edges of his eyes. She liked that about a guy, it meant he smiled a lot.
"What did you want to be when you were a little boy?"
"Superman, but I'm not an alien from another plant so that was unrealistic. Instead, I just graduated with an Associates Degree in Aviation. If I can't be Superman, I can at least fly."
"Ooooh. You'll have to take me on a ride sometime."
"As soon as I get my own plane, you'll be the first I take up." Jason was sincere and Piper could tell. She was flattered that he would promise her such a thing.
"So you said you got your Associates Degree for Aviation here? Have you always lived in Hawaii or did you come here for college?" Piper asked.
"Came here for college. Percy was my best friend in high school and when he got a free ride on a swimming scholarship to the University of Hawaii I thought I should apply too. As a senior in high school, going to college here," Jason then gestured at everything around them, "with my best bud was living the dream. After we graduated, we decided to hang around a bit longer."
"Do the two of you usually try to run over young women with your surfboards to impress them?"
Jason laughed and Piper thought she would like to see him laugh more often. "No, that's just Percy. He doesn't always make the best first impressions. In fact when I first met him, I thought he was harassing my sister. He wasn't, he had just tripped while skateboarding and fell. I came across him laying on top of her."
It was Piper's turn to laugh now, "What did you do?"
"Nothing!" Jason smiled remembering the scene, "My sister Thalia can take care of herself. She pushed Percy off and punched him in the face."
Piper was still laughing when their waitress came by with the check. Jason gave the girl his debit card before Piper could even protest about him buying her meal. As the waitress walked away Piper thanked him and told him he didn't have to do that. Jason, of course, waved her off. "I suggested the place, I should pay for the meal."
"Alright well thanks again. I'm going to hit the restroom before we leave. Meet by the car?" Jason nodded and Piper headed to the bathroom.
Heading out to the parking lot, Piper came up behind Jason's car and noticed he was inspecting his reflection in the mirror. He squinted and fluffed his hair, picking at individual strands to put them in the right place. Piper smiled, so even the perfect handsome guys of the world got nervous some times. Walking up to the passenger side, Piper saw Jason jump and close his mirror. She pretended she didn't see it to spare him the explanation.
Another short car ride later and they were back at Piper's hotel. Piper turned to Jason, "I'd love to continue this. This hanging out with you, but I feel bad I ditched Annabeth back there and I should check up on her."
Jason nodded, "I understand although we'll have to do this again before your vacation is over."
"I'd like that." Piper smiled and suddenly got very self-conscious. This was the part where after most dates, the guy would make the decision whether or not he would try to kiss her. This didn't exactly start off like most of her dates so she wasn't sure what Jason was going to do.
"I'll give you a call at your hotel room. I had a really nice time with you Piper." Jason leaned closer. So he was going in for a kiss, not that Piper minded. In fact, Piper might have been hoping she would get to kiss Jason tonight. She closed her eyes, puckered her lips, leaned in slightly, and felt his lips brush her cheek. Her eyes opened as Jason pulled away. When she realized what she did, Piper felt the cheek Jason just kissed start to grow red. "See you next time." Jason smiled.
She stuttered as she said, "Ye-Yeah, uh Goodbye Jason." Piper got out of the car as calmly as possible. Hopefully Jason didn't notice what she had just done, if he did, he did a really good job hiding it. She figured he was the type of person to ignore an embarrassing situation to spare humiliating that person. Piper could get used to having a guy like that around. Maybe tonight she'd call up her dad and ask for another week of vacation, another week to get to know Jason.
Piper was still thinking about Jason when she stepped into the hotel room and became immediately worried. Where she had expected to see Annabeth sprawled out on her bed reading some boring book, the bed was empty. She had been gone with Jason for almost two hours, Annabeth should have been back by now. Piper practically ran out the door and down to the reception desk. After the receptionist said she hadn't seen Annabeth since they left that morning, Piper knew something had gone wrong. She was probably overreacting, but it wasn't like Annabeth to disappear, especially without telling her. Piper ran back up to the room and was in the middle of putting her jacket back on to go out and search for Annabeth when the phone rang.
"Hello?" Piper said, slightly out of breath from running.
"Piper? This is Jason. I went back to my apartment that I share with Percy and he isn't here. Could you ask Annabeth when she last saw him?"
"Annabeth isn't here either. I don't know where she could be and its not like her to not tell me where she is and I'm starting to get really worried and don't know what to do."
"Alright don't freak out. First things first, lets go to the beach and see if they're still there."
In a matter of minutes, Piper and Jason were back at the beach. Piper looked around, "I don't see them on the beach or in the water, they aren't here."
"Wait, I see Percy's dry clothes and towel still sitting where he left them. He wouldn't leave without his favorite t-shirt. Do you have a cell phone on you?" Jason asked her.
"Yeah," Piper responded, "Why do you ask?"
"I need you to call the Coast Guard and report that we think two people got dragged out to sea."