Sorry about taking so long to update, I had it all typed out and was doing my final proof read when I decided I didn't like it and deleted the whole thing. Instead I knocked out this little 7000 word gem for you guys. I don't own anything. Let me know what you all think about this chapter. Hope you enjoy.
Percy's POV
I walked back to my car after Annabeth's strange dismissal, and after deciding that I would never understand girls, I pulled out my phone and called Nico up.
It rang a couple times before his voice came on kind of staticy, "Hey what's up Perce?"
"You know the usual, the girls are acting strange. They said they were having a girls' night so I thought we could do a guys' night. Any interest?"
"Uh yeah sure I guess." I could barely understand him cause the bad reception.
"Where are you? These cell phones the Hephaestus cabin made are supposed to be untraceable and have great signal anywhere on the earth."
"Yeah well I'm not on the earth, I'm in the earth. Cerberus thought that one of the security ghoul's legs was his chew bone, so dad needed my help to get it back from him. Unfortunately now he thinks it's a game and is running all over the Underworld and he is fast." He answered and for the first time I could tell how out of breath he was.
I laughed a little before answering, "Just call Mrs. O'Leary she loves to play with Cerberus and he'll forget all about the leg."
"Ah why didn't I think of that? You're a genius Percy."
"Annabeth must be rubbing off on me a little." I answered and we both laughed.
"Alright, I'll wrap this up and meet you at Robins in ten minutes."
"Sounds like a plan see you there." As I hung up the phone, another call came in this time from a number I didn't recognize, "Hello." I answered skeptically.
"Jackson its Coach Hedge, how are you doing with your week off school? Are you staying in swim shape for the meet on Monday?"
"Yeah coach I'm always in swim shape, and don't worry I'm staying out of trouble. How did you get this number anyway?"
"I got it from Kristen. I tried to get her to tell you the news but she said she'd rather not."
"What are you talking about coach? What news?" I asked completely lost, I did have a guess on why Kristen wouldn't want to talk to me right now.
"I can't believe it myself actually, both of my captains, who'd of guessed?" he rambled not answering my question. I had just pulled into Robins, and turned my car off waiting for him to tell me what the news is. "You know how the Olympics are coming up this summer in Athens right? Of course you do," he said without letting me answer, "Well the coach of the USA national swim team called me up and said that he was sending scouts up to New York for the meet on Monday, and he wanted you and Kristen to go back down to Miami with them for a tryout." I was too stunned to do or say anything I just sat there with the phone to my ear staring out my car window. Annabeth had just been asking me the other day what I thought I would do with my life after high school, which I had never really given much thought too as my future used to be me turning 16 and dying to either save or destroy the world. "Jackson, did you hang up on me?"
"No coach I'm still here, just a little shocked is all." I answered coming out of my thoughts. "It sounds like a great opportunity coach I can't wait."
"Good, now I need you to rest up for Monday, we need you in your top form. Don't do anything too crazy or draining this weekend."
"Don't worry I won't, I'll see you on Monday coach." With that I hung up. Nothing too crazy, unless you consider trying to take on the challenges of probably the fiercest and most intelligent goddess on the planet to be crazy and draining.
Chiron was always telling us to use our strengths in battle; maybe I could use my strengths in the real world too. Michael Phelps made millions from the Olympics and from swimming, and I'm 100x the swimmer he is. If I make the team he will be my teammate, and I'm gonna be trying to break all of his records. He's gonna hate me. What's Annabeth gonna think when she finds out I'm going to Miami, that's right next to the sea of monsters, and it's with Kristen, OH GODS I'M DEAD.
I was still thinking about how to tell Annabeth and not get killed when I walked into the diner. The place was pretty deserted; I guess not a lot goes on; on Thursday nights, so I wandered over to the counter and took a seat next to Nico who was already there. He jolted me out of my reverie when he talked, "Jeez man what happened to you? You look like death, and I would know."
I laughed a little at his joke, "You have no idea the kind of day I've had. I went to have a talk with Kristen, who apparently is in love me, about how she needed to back off and we could only be friends and she kissed me." At that Nico just started laughing.
"Oh Gods Annabeth is gonna kill both of you."
"Then Annabeth asked me to move in with her." I continued as if I hadn't heard him. "Got thrown out of my new apartment on the first night I'm there, for and I quote 'girls night, you just wouldn't understand'" I said in a higher pitched voice that was a terrible impression of Annabeth while making air quotes with my hands. "The worst part is I just got a call from my coach saying that the USA Olympic swim coach wants to fly me and Kristen down to Miami on Monday to try out for the team."
He was laughing even harder now and it caused the few people in the diner to look at us, I just waved at Robin letting her know it was alright, and she nodded at me and motioned that she would be over to help us in a moment. "She really is going to kill you Percy. No way Annabeth lets you go to play on the beach in another state with a girl who just said she loves you and kissed you. This is priceless."
"This is not priceless Nico, this is terrible. Do you know how much is wrong with them me flying to Miami? No, well let me tell you." I started without letting him answer; it felt good to have somebody to vent my problems to. "First off, they want to fly me there. Zeus, the all-powerful king of the gods, lord of the sky, that Zeus, told me to my face if I ever fly again he would personally destroy that airplane with a lightning bolt and send me crashing to my grave. Secondly," I said taking a breath, "Miami is located at the mouth of the Sea of Monsters, and I've got a lot of enemies in there. Third and probably the worst part, is that it will be with Kristen, and I don't want to be murdered by my fiancé, because I'm in a beautiful city, on the beach with another girl. A girl who professed her love to me today, and Annabeth told me she didn't trust."
Nico sensing my angst stopped laughing finally and started acting like a good friend, "It seems pretty clear that you can't go. The circumstances are stacked against you."
I gave a sigh, "It's not that simple though, I have to go. This could be my one chance to do something with my life that will let me take care of myself and Annabeth and give her the life she deserves." I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, before starting again "Look, we both know I'm not the smartest guy in the world. I'm not going to be a doctor, or a lawyer, my only real gift is water. There isn't a person in the world that is a better swimmer than me, this is my big chance, and the Olympics are in Athens which is a double whammy because I would get to take Annabeth and I know she has always wanted to go there."
"Yeah that's quite the predicament you got there." He stopped and seemed to be in deep thought for a minute, "Yep sucks to be you, so what are we doing for guys night." Thank you for your great advise Nico I thought as I gave a huff and shook my head.
Robin walked over to our spot at the counter and got us both blue cokes without us even asking. "So what is so funny over here tonight boys, is Percy here a new aspiring comedian, or is Nico just easy to please."
We both laughed at her joke, "No Robin, this guy here just thinks it's funny how my life is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hey wait, maybe you can give me some advice, you were a girl once right?"
She just shook her head and laughed a little, "I still am a girl Percy, but yes I was once a younger girl." Nico laughed at my stupidity and I threw a bow at him. "What do you need help with?"
"Okay, first off the USA Olympic swim team wants me to try out to be on the team this summer." I started.
"Oh, congratulations Percy, that's quite the accomplishment. I bet Annabeth was happy about that." She said genuinely happy for me.
"Thank you, but she's not exactly happy about it." I said and continued when she gave me a confused look. "She doesn't actually know yet. I just found out as I was walking in here. The problem is that there is this girl on my swim team who also got invited down, and Annabeth doesn't really trust her. I mean she did kind of kiss me today."
"Oh, that is a bit of a problem. I'm sure Annabeth will understand, she seems like a reasonable and smart enough person that she will think it through. If you explain how much it means to you, and why you want to do it I'm sure she will understand and support you."
"Thanks Robin, you really think so?"
"Of course she will, I've seen the way she looks at you Percy, and let me tell you. That girl loves you with all her heart. Now enough of all this heavy stuff, did you come here to talk or to eat some of my delicious cooking." She said with an easy smile.
"What do you think Nico, does 2 everything burgers sound like the right way to start off guys night?" I asked happy for the change to a lighter subject. He just nodded his head.
"So a boys' night is it? What's on the agenda for a couple of wild guys like you? Go to a game, go bowling, or go to an arcade?"
"NO!" Nico shouted at the last one causing me and Robin both to jump.
"Sorry about him," I said realizing what was up, "he is terrified of arcades. He got lost in one when he was younger and thought he would never get out."
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know. So what is the plan then? If you don't mind me asking."
We just smiled sheepishly, "We don't really have a plan, it was kind of last minute. The girls were eating out of buckets of ice cream and watching a chick flick so they told us it was a girls' night and we had to leave." Nico told her.
She face palmed and rubbed her face, "You boys really are clueless aren't you? Haven't you ever seen a movie? That is a telltale sign that one or both of them are upset about something." Nico and I just looked at her with confused faces, "Trust me on this one guys, I was a girl once, right Percy." We all laughed at that. "I'm going to get you guys some boyfriend points right here, and you can thank me later. Here is what you are going to do, I'm going to make a onetime exception to my dine in only policy and get you guys some take out of their favorite things. You're going to pick them up and take them to a surprise picnic somewhere, then you're going to do something fun with them."
"That's brilliant Robin, you got a real knack for this advice stuff. Where should we take them?" I asked.
"That's for you to decide, I can't do all the heavy lifting here boys. Just take them somewhere you know will cheer them up and they will have a good time and forget their problems."
"Alright, I'm sure two geniuses like us can come up with something." We all laughed at that. After that we ordered our food and headed out to go pick up the girls after thanking Robin about a million times for all her help.
Annabeth's POV
I watched Percy walk away and walked back into my apartment. I walked over to the couch and sat down with my legs crossed facing Thalia. I decided that the tough love approach was my best bet to start. "Really Thals, a tub of ice cream and a chick flick, I didn't know you were turning into such a whiny, girly girl."
She growled at my comment "I could still whoop you Annie even as a girly girl, besides we've got lots to talk about. Don't hate on the ice cream either, the Gods are crazy, I would take double chocolate ice cream over ambrosia and nectar any day." She said with a smirk, pulling a second spoon off the side table and handing it to me. I smiled and got a spoonful of the ice cream and had to agree with her it was pretty unbeatable.
We ate a few bites in silence while the movie played in the background but we weren't really watching it, I don't even know what it was. I finally had had enough and turned it off and started talking to her. "Alright Thalia what's really going on? What did you want to talk about?"
She gave a loud sigh before she began to speak. "Look Annabeth, we both know I'm not good at this whole sharing my emotions thing. I ran away from my mom's when I was 12 years old, and apart from Jason and finding him last year, I haven't had any real family. You are the closest thing I've ever had to a family. You have always been like my sister, ever since Luke and I found you. The three of us roamed around and were a little family. Then I got turned into a tree and came back and everything was different, Luke turned evil and you were grown up and were getting closer to Percy, and I was left out. Then I joined the hunt and they were great and it was like a new family. I started getting feelings for Nico and the family pretty much dissolved and I was a bit of an outcast before I quit. I had you again though, we were living together so it made it all right because I had my family back." She stopped and sniffed hard a couple of times, making sure she didn't cry. "Now you're engaged and Percy is moving in, and don't get me wrong I know that that is life and you are moving on like you are supposed to, and I am happy for you. Really I am, but I'm just scared of turning into a third wheel and eventually being left out without my family anymore. You are the only constant I've had basically my whole life, and I don't want to lose you like everyone else."
She started crying and I had a few tears in my eyes as well as I pulled her into a hug and let her ruin my shirt with tears. I started rubbing her back soothingly, "Thals, I think of you as a sister too, and don't worry, you aren't going to lose me that easily. I have to move on with my life and Percy is the greatest thing in my life and I need to marry him and be happy. That doesn't mean I won't still see you almost every day. You won't be a third wheel either, you have Nico now so he'll be taking up plenty of your time." She laughed a little at that, "Besides, we will have to spend a lot of time together to get through this wedding; after all you are my maid of honor."
She pulled away and looked me in the eye with a huge smile on her face, "You really mean it? You want me as your maid of honor?"
I just laughed, "Of course I do, you are my sister after all. The only thing I was worried about was you giving a speech, but after that little number you just gave I'm sure you'll do fine."
We both were laughing at that, "Thank you so much Annie, I won't let you down." She said as she came in for another hug.
There was a loud cough behind us and we jumped apart really quick to see Percy's smirking face in an IM from Sally's kitchen, "Am I interrupting something?" he asked.
"Yes you are Kelp Head, she told you girls' night you weren't allowed now get out of here." Thalia snapped at him.
"No can do Pine Cone Face, girls' night is over. It's date night now, you have 5 minutes to clean up and change. I recommend jeans, t-shirt, comfy shoes, and a jacket."
"Percy is this a big enough basket?" Nico's voice was heard in the background.
"Be quite Nico they can hear you. Just grab the 2 blankets I told you to get that's fine." Percy turned and yelled at him.
"Why do you need blankets and a basket Seaweed Brain?" I asked confused. "What if we don't want to go?"
He just gave his crooked grin "You wouldn't want to miss this, and you'll just have to wait and see what we are doing." He gave me a wink, "Love you Wise Girl, see you in 5." With that he wiped his hand through the mist and killed the connection, leaving us staring at the spot he had been.
"Well I guess we better get ready then." I said as I stood up, "It didn't sound like he was kidding when he said that we didn't have a choice about going."
I walked into my room and cleaned the tear streaks from my face before changing into the clothes he said to. When I walked out of my room Thalia was back on the couch with her face clear of signs of crying as well and was in black jeans, a black t-shirt, and her black leather jacket. A minute or two later there was a knock on the door and the boys came walking in.
Nico walked over and gave Thalia a kiss on the cheek and sat down next to her on the couch as they started talking, but I couldn't focus on what they were saying because Percy walked up to me and demanded my full attention. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a grey V-neck that was tight around his torso showing off all of his muscles, I'll admit I was thoroughly distracted with the sight of him. He leaned forward and captured my lips in a passionate kiss that I would've been more than happy to continue for a while longer but he pulled back slightly so our foreheads were still touching, "You look absolutely stunning Wise Girl."
"I'm wearing jeans and a camp t-shirt Percy." I said blushing at the complement.
"That's my favorite outfit you have." He said leaning in for a quick kiss, "It's perfect because it's what you would wear not dressing up like some snobby runway model. It's all you, and that is why it's so breathtaking." I immediately closed the distance again with a fierce, almost hungry kiss, tangling my hands in his hair to deepen it.
Unfortunately before it could go any further Thalia cleared her throat from the couch. "Are we going on some top secret date, or are you guys gonna get it on right here in the living room. Cause either way I don't want to be in this room." I was blushing like crazy as we separated, but Percy held me close to his side smiling down at me.
"Alright are you ready for phase 1 of Awesome Boyfriend Surprise Date Night Extravaganza?" Percy said letting go of me and bouncing excitedly.
"That is way too long of a name Percy, but yeah let's go." I said a little excited. Percy surprised me by reaching around me and covering my eyes. My years of training kicked in and I judo flipped him. Fortunately for him Percy is invulnerable and it didn't hurt him, unfortunately my end table, it was not and now lay in pieces on the ground. Judging by Nico's similar position to Percy flat on his back, he must've tried the same thing on Thalia. "I'm so sorry Percy it was an accident I swear, it was just a reflex." I said as I heard them grown on the floor.
"Are you alright Nico, I didn't mean to. I blame Chiron and his training." Thalia said trying not to laugh.
They stood up grumbling and said they were fine. Percy walked up to me and pulled a tie out of his pocket, "Alright Wise Girl, I know you don't want to lose anymore furniture, so I want you to know I'm going to blind fold you now. Please don't flip me again." He said making me smile sheepishly.
He tied the tie around my eyes, and I couldn't see anything. I hated the feeling that I wasn't able to protect myself. Percy will keep you safe, don't worry. "Why do we even have to be blind folded for a picnic anyway Percy?" I asked.
I could tell by his voice that he was shocked without even seeing him, "Dude Nico did you tell them it was a picnic?"
"No Seaweed Brain he didn't say anything. Why else would you need blankets and a basket for a date? I'm a daughter of Athena of course I figured it out." I told him matter of factly.
"Yeah," he whispered right in my ear causing me to jump at the sudden closeness and a set of good chills to run down my back as I could feel his breath lightly brush my neck. "I guess I should've known you'd figure that out, but you still have no idea where it's at." He then proceeded to kiss from my ear down my jaw line to my lips. The sensation was increased by my sight deprivation, and it was amazing. I was on fire, but oh too soon he pulled away and scooped me up bridal style, earning a startled squeak from me as I grabbed his neck. He began to carry me and I was almost hoping he would take me to our room, but I soon felt the breeze of the cool night air which helped clear my head so I could think again.
Calm down Annabeth you haven't even talked about taking the next step with Percy yet. Do I want to? Logically my mind says I don't know, but physically my body is saying hell yes. Does he want to? Of course he does he's a guy. Am I ready to? Maybe, I mean it is Percy, and I'm sure I don't want to be with anyone else other than him. Why wait? I mean we're engaged and we love each other. Stop it, we will just enjoy this date and see where the night takes us I won't force anything. I finally snapped out of my own thoughts when I felt Percy lift me up and onto something that was not a car like I expected.
I could feel the muscles on whatever it was we were on move as Percy slid up behind me. Again I was hit with a wave of sensations at his closeness. This blindfold is killing my self-control and rational thinking. I heard the rustle of wings unfolding so I assume we were on Blackjack. "No car Percy, you know Thals hates flying." I said startling myself a little from the noise breaking the silence.
He just hugged me closer and whispered into my ear again, does he even know what he is doing to me, "Don't worry about Thals, she is taking the car. We will be seeing them again for Phase 2 of the night, but I wanted to show you a special place I found when riding Blackjack one day that only I know about." He gave a little huff, "I told you to stop calling me boss, and fine Blackjack would like to say that only we know about."
I laughed at his relationship with the horse, and leaned back relaxing into his strong chest. I started to smell salt water, "We would be going to the ocean." I said laughing a little.
"Oh you mock now Wise Girl, but you just wait and see. I'm telling you it is amazing and you will love it." He kissed my cheek, such a little thing yet I craved more, what has gotten into me.
We slowly began to descend before coming to a nice smooth landing with a little bump as Blackjack's hooves made contact with the ground. I felt Percy slide off behind me and was glad I had a jacket as the sudden rush of cool air filled the spot his warmth had been. I felt his arms under mine as he gently lifted me down, and was shocked when I felt solid ground under my feet instead of sand. I could still clearly smell the ocean so we were close, but I was on grass. Percy thanked Blackjack and I heard his wings rustle as he took off again.
"Ok, now give me 3 more steps to the right, perfect. Now turn facing a little to the left." He ordered while adjusting me where he wanted me. He got behind me and hugged me whispering in my ear, "Alright are you ready to see it?"
"Yes" I breathed out dying of anticipation. I could feel his hand unwrap from around my stomach, as he slowly made his way up to the back of my head, gently grazing my skin on the way up. He removed the blindfold and I took in my entire surroundings. "Oh, my…" I let the statement hang, because before me was one of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen.
We were in a clearing, surrounded by giant rocks and beach grass, that was raised up about 15 feet above the normal beach. The ground was covered in grass but it had sand as well from all the years of the beach being blown around. In front of us Percy had set up a blanket in the center of the clearing with a picnic basket and a couple candles lit. The view was of the ocean and the sun was setting beautifully in shades of red, purple, and orange. I leaned back into him and couldn't find words to describe the place, "Thank you for sharing this with me Percy, this is unbelievable."
I turned in his arms and kissed him, and just when it started to get heated again, my traitor stomach made a very ladylike grumbling sound causing us both to laugh. "Hungry Annie?" he teased as he led me over to the blanket and we sat down to eat.
Thalia's POV
Nico was being super sweet, and he had already apologized about a hundred times for not saying anything to me today. He said he got caught up helping his dad and lost all track of time in the underworld. He took me to a park and set up a nice picnic that we enjoyed and just talked about everything while we ate it. It was peaceful and just great to help me relax.
We were now in the car on our way to what he called phase 2 of the night. We were going to be meeting up with Annabeth and Percy somewhere, but Nico wouldn't tell me where yet. I did however convince him not to blindfold me again upon threat of having him flipped through something more solid than our living room table, like a tree.
He drove us to Montauk and we drove up next to the pier. "Of course Kelp Head would have us go to the beach." I said.
Nico just laughed and pointed up on top of the pier at the boardwalk, "Not the beach, we are going to the fair." He sounded super excited.
I followed where he was pointing and sure enough there was a little festival on the boardwalk with rides and games all set up. I couldn't help but smile, "I love festivals."
He just smiled kind of sheepishly, "I haven't ever been to one actually."
I just stared at him a little shocked, "Your telling me that you have never been to a festival?" I couldn't believe it, I was a runaway at 12 and even I had been to a couple of these.
"Nope," he answered longingly, "they closed most of them down when I was growing up because of the war, and I never really had time or somebody to go with after I got out of the Lotus because of the war."
I grabbed his hand and started running up to the entrance, "Come on, Skeletor let's show you how to really have fun. You for sure have somebody to come with now."
"Shouldn't we wait for Percy and Annabeth?" he asked.
"Nope, knowing them they're probably off sucking face somewhere. We could be waiting all night if we sat around for them. If we see them here great, otherwise it's you and me."
When we walked in his eyes lit up at everything going on around him. "What do we do first?" he asked, sounding like the energetic little kid he was when we first met and not the war hardened reserved demigod he normally was. I kind of liked seeing all the different sides of him.
"Well we just had a picnic so the food stands are out," I said gesturing to all the food venders, there were people with burgers and fries, ice cream, funnel cakes, pizza, hot dogs, and cotton candy, "but I do expect a cotton candy before we leave if you want a good night kiss." I added to tease him and to my satisfaction he blushed a little. "So with food out of the question we could play some games, but then you'd have to carry around the teddy bear you win me all night." I laughed as he nodded his head intent on everything I was saying, "That really leaves one thing, and there really wasn't even an option on it anyway." I say pointing to the rollercoaster "RIDES."
We went on the rollercoaster first and it was so fun, it didn't go up very high so I didn't have to worry about heights, but it had a couple loops so it was still exciting. We went on the scrambler, and the bumper cars, before coming to the next ride. We walked up to it and I did a quick look around for Percy or Annabeth, because neither of them would ever let me live this down. "What are you doing?" Nico asked as I continued to search.
"You haven't seen Percy and Annabeth have you?" I asked.
"No, but you were right I'm still having fun aren't you?" he asked seeming a little saddened by my question.
"Yeah I'm having a blast, it's just when I would come as a kid with my mom I would always ride the carousel on the purple horse, and I know they would make fun of me for it." I told him.
He just laughed a little and started pulling me towards the carousel, "Who cares what those two think? We are here to have fun and you are riding that purple horse." I smiled and kissed him on the cheek as he helped me get up onto the horse before getting on the white horse next to mine.
When the ride started we were both laughing and I was just enjoying myself watching all the people around us as the horse went up and down in its circle. I heard a click and turned to see Nico had his phone out and had taken a picture of me. "What the hades Nico, what are you doing with that picture?"
"Don't worry; I'm not going to send it to anybody. That's just the first time I've ever seen you that care free and happy so I wanted a picture of it." I smiled at his answer and gave him another kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you, for helping me have so much fun today, I really needed this. Now how about you win me that cotton candy?"
We wandered around for a couple more hours and Nico after about 10 failed attempts at knocking the 6 cans over with a baseball finally let me throw and I won a teddy bear. Hey at least he tried though.
I was pretty tired after that, "Are you about ready to head home I think we can assume Percy and Annabeth are no shows?"
"There is just one more thing I wanted to do, but if you don't want to I completely understand. It's just every time you hear about or see a fair it is the main focus." I knew what he was talking about even before I looked where he was pointing. After everything he had done for me how could I deny him this one thing, I was going to have to face my fears and ride the Ferris wheel.
We waited in line and climbed into a car together when it was our turn. This thing was huge, it was at least 3 times as big as the rollercoaster and I was terrified. I clung onto his arm for the whole ride, and even though I was scared I had to admit that the moon and the stars over the ocean were pretty beautiful. Just when I had loosened my death grip on his arm and switched to just holding his hand the ride lurched to a stop, and wouldn't you know it was while we were at the very top. I closed my eyes and started cussing in ancient Greek.
"Hey calm down its going to be fine, I'm right here with you." Nico tried to calm me.
I tried to calm down and listen to his words but the car was swaying a little and I kept seeing how high up it was. "Nope too high."
He grabbed both sides of my face and made me look him in the eyes, "Listen to me it is fine." He spoke very slowly, "You just need to think about something else. Here is what we are going to do, I want you to start listing every god and goddess in order and tell me there symbol of power and there domain.
Alright I can do this, "Zeus, lord of the sky and king of the gods, the thunderbolt. Poseidon…" but the car tipped a little and I looked down, "It's too high up I can't do this it won't distract me."
"You want a distraction fine" he said and grabbed me and kissed me full on the lips. I completely forgot where I was and kissed him back. The next thing I know the ride operator is standing next to our car telling us we need to get off. I didn't even realize that the ride had started working again. We were both blushing but smiling as we muttered an apology and hurried away towards the car.
When he dropped me off at the apartment, I stood in front of the door with me holding my purple teddy bear that "he" had won for me. "Look Nico I had a really nice time tonight, thank you for everything."
He just gave me a little grin, "I believe that cotton candy I bought you was supposed to come with a goodnight kiss if I remember correctly."
We both laughed and I gave him a kiss on the lips, not deep and crazy like the one on the ride, but soft and sweet. "Goodnight Skeletor." I said as I turned to go back inside.
"Goodnight Thals." He answered as he walked away.
Annabeth's POV
After eating I moved over and sat in-between his legs as we watched the waves on the ocean with the moon hanging over it. With the sunset, the bright moon and the calm ocean it's as if Percy had asked the gods for a favor in making this picnic perfect, which he might have.
"Percy tonight was perfect, thank you." I said giving him a soft kiss. He lay back down on the blanket and the kiss deepened. There was nothing to slow us down this time and before I knew it I had Percy's shirt cast off to the side and I was rubbing my hands up the contours of his defined chest earning a throaty moan. I smirked a little at his response, and he returned the favor by nibbling on my sweet spot just above my collar bone making me gasp. He laughed lightly into my skin as he slowly kissed his way up to my lips capturing them again.
He started to lift up my shirt and I raised my arms up to help him. It wasn't the first time that we had fooled around a little, but this was as far as we had gotten. My mind was going a million miles a minute, am I going to stop it if it goes any further, should I bring up the subject. My body answered for me as a new flash of heat over took me when Percy bit my sweet spot again, and I could feel his excitement pressed against my thigh. I reached my nervous hands down and fumbled in unbuttoning his jeans but finally managed. Percy pulled back from kissing my neck and looked me in the eye "Are you sure?" he questioned sweetly, yet in a husky voice dripping with desire.
I couldn't find my voice so I just nodded my head. That wasn't good enough for him apparently because he grabbed my hands gently and stopped me from unbuttoning my own pants. "Annabeth" he said gently his eyes full of love.
That was all I needed, that love that he had for me, I mustered up my courage. "Please, Percy. I need this, I need you." I took a deep breath and stared right into his eyes and said very firmly my voice losing all the shakiness from before, "I want to do this Percy, I want this."
"Me too" he answered. With that he crashed his lips to mine and flipped me over so I was on my back and his body was pressed on top of mine.
Sorry if the last part was a little more risqué then you wanted, I thought about putting a warning in there but deleted it. It is a T rated story and I felt that a warning would ruin the flow and the suspense of the chapter. I do apologize if I offended any of you, but I tried not to go into any details that would put it over the top into M. Still I know some people have strong feelings about premarital sex and sex in general, so I tried to make it as tame as possible.
Anyway I hoped that you enjoyed the chapter, and felt that it was worth the wait. It was one of my favorite chapters I've written and I like the way this turned out way better than what I had originally. I had done it as two separate things a guys' night and a girls' night but upon rereading the chapter it seemed a little stale and just filler. So now I gave you this with the mother load of plot possibilities. 4 POV changes was kind of different but i felt like it needed it.
Coming up next, Annabeth finds out about Miami, Annabeth and Thalia go back to school the next morning; Annabeth confronts Kristen about the kiss. Bet you can't guess whose POV the next chapter is in based on those clues. Again hope you enjoyed and I'll get you an update as soon as I can.