Chapter 3

A/N: Yay! Over 1000 views! Not as many reviews I'd like, but oh well, what did I expect? I love you guys, seriously. I hope you guys like this chapter as well. If you don't, then, I'm sorry. Here's one with Percy's point of view. Last chapter was a bit short, and there wasn't any dialog, but that's kind of what Annabeth is like right now. I just really needed to get her changing thought process out there. Here's a freer and more relaxed chapter, for you guys who got bored on my last one.

This is officially the last chappie before I leave. Don't expect more from me. Also, my other story is on some sort of hiatus, and I'm wondering if I should take it down or not. Thanks for the help ahead of time!

So, without further ado, Percy's point of view, the official chapter 3 but technically chapter 4… whatever.

"Hey Pipes." Percy greeted his girlfriend, breathing hard.

"You're late." She scolded lightly.

"Sorry," Percy muttered. "Just bumped into someone I knew, and it kind of got complicated."

Actually, more mortifying and embarrassing than anything else. Percy thought darkly.

Piper narrowed her eyes, "About that, could you tell me what happened? You sound a bit shaken up."

The hairs on the back off my neck stood straight up. I mentally cursed. Piper had this uncanny ability to tell when I'm distressed or unnerved, so it was hard to slip anything past her. Plus it was really hard to lie to her without that, since she has charmspeak and all to convince you of everything.

"It's nothing important, you'll just have to trust me on this." He said in his steadiest voice possible.

Piper eyed him for a moment with her irises always changing from brown to hazel to green to blue. Percy ran a hand through his hair, noting how good she looked today. Her dark brown hair was in a braid to the side. She was wearing a cute red halter top shirt and ripped jeans. To most who didn't know her, Piper probably seemed like one of those popular girls at the mall who fail school and party every night till early morning, but she was probably as sharp has her knife, katropis, which by the way, had been barely used in combat since ancient times.

"Okay." Piper said suspiciously.

Percy's mind turned back to what Poseidon had told him. Sure, he appreciated Piper's beauty, she was glad that she was always there to support him, he felt that he could depend on her for just about anything, and her trusted Piper with his life… but then why couldn't he tell her about Annabeth?

"I know you don't like coffee, so I got you a soda and a cookie." Piper continued, seeming to have forgotten about his being late for now.

"Thanks," Percy said, both relieved and very hungry.

"Do you have any tours going on soon?" Piper asked.

"Not that I can think of," Percy replied with his mouth full.

"That's not reassuring, and don't speak with your mouth full." Piper chided.

"This is the only way to fully savor the taste." Percy argued.

"Oh please," Piper said, rolling her eyes. "Your mom's blue cookies are way better."

Percy's face lit up, "I know right!"

He grinned, the good feeling of hanging out with Piper returning.

"Uh, so I was thinking…" Piper started, looking a little nervous.

Whoa, whoa. Piper was never nervous. Or as far as Percy could tell, since she hid her nervousness quite well. It came with being a demigod and not trying not to be killed by monsters. Annabeth always told him that keeping a calm façade would help you in the long run, since it gave you time to think and talk your way through the problem…

Percy gritted his teeth and pushed Annabeth out of his mind. She was a stranger to him now. A stranger who slapped him an hour ago.

"That if you're off your tour, we could go on vacation together." Piper finished.

Percy barely heard her, through all of his crazy thoughts.

"What?" Percy asked.

"I said go on vacation, seaweed brain."

Seaweed brain. Percy's old dreaded nickname. Only Annabeth called him that.

"Please don't call me that." Percy croaked out, his the taste of his cookie in his mouth turned stale. His mouth would have probably gone dry, if he weren't a son of Poseidon.

"Excuse me?" Piper gave him an affronted look.

"It brings back bad memories." Percy explained.

That was only partially true. To be honest, the dangerous quest days he'd spend with Annabeth seemed to be the best memories he'd had of all.

But ever since he and Annabeth had parted ways, it was like the goodness of the memories had left too.

He didn't know why the nickname actually bothered him so much. If he was over Annabeth, why did it matter what Piper called him?

"I won't ask, then." Piper said softly, putting her hand over his on the table.

Percy appreciated that Piper didn't push him, especially since she could always tell when something bothered him. But at the same time, he felt guilty. Piper trusted him. She trusted that he would tell her if something serious was wrong. But Percy couldn't bring himself to tell her.

Later, he decided.

"Uh, yeah, so, about the vacation thing, where do you want to go?" Percy inquired.

"Well, some exotic place like the Bahamas would be nice." Piper admitted, blushing slightly.

Percy laughed, "Come on Piper, you can go there with me when I'm on tour if you want. Summer's almost over anyways. There's only like two weeks left."

Piper blushed a deeper red, "Please shut up."

Percy just smiled, "Whatever you say, beauty queen."

"What do you say then?" Piper asked, clearly anxious to get off of that subject.

Percy thought for a bit.

"How about Camp Half Blood?" Percy asked. "We haven't been there in a while, and I just want to go there once before summer is over and I start with my touring and swim schedule all over again."

Piper pondered this for a moment, "I suppose." She finally said. "I kind of miss Lacy and my chums in the Aphrodite cabin anyways. I hope Drew hasn't influenced them in any negative way."

"Come on." Percy grinned, remembering all of the fun times he'd had at Camp Half Blood. Although this whole touring and swimming competitively thing was fun, Camp Half Blood was the first place he'd felt like he'd belonged. It seemed to be the one thing in his life that stayed constant; the one thing he could always depend on to be there for him. "It'll be fun. We met at Camp Half Blood, remember?"

It's also where he and Annabeth had met… Percy couldn't help but think. What if this only brought back sad memories? Was this a bad idea after all? Too late to turn back now.

"Okay then," Piper said. "When do we leave?"

"How do you feel about tomorrow?"

(A/N: I actually felt like ending the chapter here, but that was way too short, so I decided against it. But it does sound like a good stopping place, doesn't it?)

"Perfect." Piper replied, as her phone beeped.

"Who's texting you?" Percy asked.

"Oh, just this guy I met last night at this party." Piper said nonchalantly.

"And you gave him your phone number?" Percy frowned at his girlfriend. Piper was generally pretty careful about this kind of stuff.

"He seemed like a nice guy, okay." Piper stuck her tongue out at him. "His name is Jason, by the way, and I think he's a demigod."

"He has a demigodish name, but that doesn't mean anything." Percy muttered.

"No, no…" Piper said, suddenly nervous once again. "I could like feel his power, he like radiated power… I don't know how to explain it, it just kind of… attracted me."

"Attracted you?"

"Not that way!" Piper said quickly. "It was like his power was pulling me towards him. It was kind of odd actually."

"You haven't felt that way before?" Percy inquired, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Well, sort of. Not really."

Percy snorted. "That makes no sense at all."

"Can we talk about something else?" Piper pleaded.

"Was he cute?" Percy asked.

Piper blushed deep red, "I guess so, I mean, not as cute as you of course!"

She looked like she was going to die of mortification, so Percy let it go. He definitely wasn't the jealous type.

At least he didn't think so. If he didn't love, love Piper, than he wouldn't feel jealousy for her anyhow, right?

Argh! He was definitely overthinking it. And although Percy didn't know if he was the jealous type or not, he did know that he liked to keep things simple.

"Whatever," Percy finally relented. "It doesn't matter. We should probably get going anyways; it's starting to rain."

It was true, but that didn't really matter that much to Percy since he could be waterproof at will. Things were kind of getting awkward, and Percy had a feeling that he wasn't the only one feeling that way.

"Of course." Piper said. "Where do you want to meet up tomorrow?"

"I'll go to your house and I can drive you." Percy answered.

"Great," Piper said, getting up from her seat. Percy stood up as well, and Piper came up to him, stood on her tippy toes and pecked him on the lips.

Percy watched her go, just standing there for a few moments, wondering if she had noticed that he hadn't kissed her back.

What the hell was going on?

So, as you can see, I extended this chapter quite a bit. I actually am getting quite into this story now, thanks to your reviews, unlike my other one, which seems to be going on hiatus.

I think I'll start answering reviews if you have any questions.

And I really don't want to hear another Percy and Piper comment, because things will play out as they do, and this is a Percabeth story if you read the thing on top of the fanfic. Thanks guys, and until next time, which won't be for another 2 or 3 weeks or so. I'll really miss on updating for you guys though, since the reviews are so nice to get (mostly J). R&R!