Hello everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful start to your New Year. Mine has been rough but that hasn't stopped me from updating. Dude, a hundred reviews for three chapters, that's like insane dudes. Thank you everyone. I hope you are as excited about this chapter cause I am. Hope you all enjoy it. This is chapter is inspired by Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver, which totally follows the plot of this chapter. Sorry I took so long, things have been really hectic but I am alright now, hope you guys enjoy this chapter.
It Had Begun Again With A Simple Hello
"Well all of my bags are packed and I am just about to get ready to go, daddy." Annabeth spoke into her phone. She was currently on the phone with her father and sadly he wasn't available to help her load or pack her things into the cab the early hours of this fine morning because he was attending a conference in Washington D.C today.
"Make sure you travel safely my dear daughter." Frederick Chase said as Annabeth heard the rustling of papers through the phone line indicating that he must be assembling his speech for the conference. The loud honking of the taxi she had called to take her to the airport indicated that she had to get moving.
"I got to run, daddy. The taxi's waiting and he's started blowing his horn so I have to go." Annabeth said as she grabbed her handbag, checking and making sure that she had her passport, ticket and everything else she needed as she shouldered her grey laptop bag and her small suitcase for the flight and sighed as she bid her father a farewell as she ended the call and put her phone away.
She took a moment as she looked at her now empty apartment and sighed. It was a lovely apartment, perfect for her but she only had one place she belonged and that was back in her apartment, with Percy.
She sighed as she closed the door and locked it, removing the key from its place hold in the door before she walked away to the elevator and to her surprise, Edna was waiting inside with a familiar little fellow who was frowning sadly.
"Annabeth, why you leaving?" the little boy said in a sad tone.
His name was Peter Johnson, he was Edna's great-grandson. He had Edna's rich complex blue eyes that were filled with pure innocence and curiosity but today they were filled with sadness and he was lacking his usual toothy grin that showed one of his teeth missing which just made him look even cuter. Instead of the smile, he had a pouty lip and a sad dullness in his eyes.
His thumbs were hooked behind the bag straps of his satchel as he looked up at Annabeth with a saddened gaze as she smiled sadly and ran her hand through his scruffy raven black hair that reminded her of Percy and said, "I'm leaving on a jet plane and I don't know when I'll be back." She said softly as she squatted in front of the little boy, she was thankful she was wearing jeans and t-shirt.
"But why can't you stay." He said with a sniffle at the end as Annabeth wrapped her arms around the boy.
"I hate to go Peter but I have something I need to do away from here and I don't know how long it will take me but I promise I will phone you everyday and I will come and visit you." She said softly as she pulled back, cupping his face in her hands as she wiped away his tears. "You be a brave little boy for me, okay."
He nodded as he looked up at Annabeth, "I'll miss you so much Annabeth."
"So will I, Peter, so will I."
The elevator came to a halt and Annabeth stood up and smiled at Edna as they embraced, and as the three exited through the doors and Annabeth handed off her apartment to Edna before she climbed into her cab and said goodbye to the place that had been her safe haven for a long time.
She sighed as she settled into the seat of her cab and pulled her phone out of her bag and slide her finger across the screen, effectively unlocking it and scrolling through her photos to entertain herself and stumbled across a photo of her and Percy and his little brother, Tyson on his fourth birthday which was just before the break-up.
Tyson looked absolutely adorable in this photo with his giant toothy grin, one of his bunny teeth missing with blue icing all around his mouth. To his chest, he hugged a white bodied unicorn that had a rainbow tail and mane and a golden horn off the top of his head. Rainbow. Thats what Tyson called the unicorn Annabeth won him at Coney Island.
Annabeth looked at the image of herself with her arms wrapped around Tyson's little frame as she held him against her, her cheek resting against the blue party hat on Tyson's head, she had a bright smile on her face. Annabeth loved Tyson dearly, it made her realise how much she loved children, how much she wanted her own kids, how much she wanted to have kids with Percy.
He gaze flicked over to Percy and she felt her heart sigh in pure blissful happiness as she gazed at the man her heart had always belonged to but the guilt came and crushed her happiness bubble that she was cocooned in. She knew that she was the reason that they were apart, it was her own fault for letting her heart wonder, she knew what she did was wrong and she regretted it but she also in a way was thankful for it cause it made her realise how much she really did love him.
As contradictory as that may sound, she wasn't sure how she felt about Luke but after Percy left and Luke dumped her cause she refused him did she realise that Luke had never felt anything for her. She knew she made the biggest mistake running away, if she hadn't been a coward that day and just stayed and waited, she and Percy could have worked through things then and there instead of being in this situation they are in now.
She could have saved a lot of both of them a lot of misery, heartache and loneliness if she had just stayed but now she was giving a second chance to correct this mistake she had made. She had always felt like time was running out for her to fix things with Percy and she hoped that it wasn't too late to repair things with him.
"Miss, we're here." The cab driver said as Annabeth nodded and handed him the money and got ready to go on her journey back to the place where she had always know was home in her heart.
It was almost midday when Annabeth finally stepped out into the New York noon sun and she already felt the wonderful warmth she got in the sunlight. The flight had left her exhausted but she felt awake and alive again as the cab driver that had pulled up in front of her packed her bags into the cab.
"Welcome to New York, miss." He greeted with a cheerful smile, he was young, his blonde hair sticking out from a knitted green beanie with a vest underneath his unzipped hoodie that consisted of dirty intermediate colours of grey that seemed to match his eyes. His were like her own, a pale grey with blue highlights that seemed to match the patterns on his jeans with a pair of old black high tops.
"You don't have to call me miss." Annabeth said softly as she climbed into the back on the cab to which the young man kindly closed the door for her before climbing in the driver's side of the cab. "Call me Annabeth and thank you. This isn't my first time here, it's just been a long time since I was here." He nodded as he started on the road, "Mind telling me your name?"
"Malcolm, mi-I mean Annabeth." He corrected himself quickly when he noticed the look in Annabeth's eyes. "So where am I taking you too, Annabeth." He said in a whimsical tone.
Annabeth gave him the address of the apartment and she and Malcolm had a very whimsical conversation all the way there. Annabeth learned that Malcolm was nineteen years old actually at NYU studying architecture and Annabeth certainly had fun telling him about the firm she worked at and even offered to see if there were internships available for him cause the firm did offer that to current university students and the smile on his face was so blindingly white Annabeth had to cover her eyes.
Annabeth was grateful that Malcolm helped her carry her bags up the stairs and set them outside the apartment door. "Thank you so much Malcolm for helping me." Annabeth said as pulled out some money and gave a little extra to him for helping her.
"It's no problem, Annabeth. I hope your start in your office goes well and do call if you find out anything about those internships cause I would love to work there." He pleaded with a puppy dog face as Annabeth shook her head and smiled.
Annabeth pulled out the piece of paper that Malcolm had written his number on for her and smiled, "Don't worry, Malcolm. I have your number and I won't forget now scat, don't you have somewhere to be." Annabeth hinted as Malcolm smiled and headed down the stairs.
Annabeth tucked the phone number in her phone book and turned and faced the door of her old apartment. It took all of her strength to decide to finally knock because she suddenly got nervous and unsure if she should be doing this or not. She lived here once but the day she left, she left her key, she was so afraid that she left with the idea that she was never coming back which turned out to be a complete lie cause there was nothing but a door separating her and the first man who had stolen her heart.
With a sequence of five consecutive knocks, she waited anxiously as she heard voices behind the door. What was odd was she could hear a woman's voice and a man's voice as the door's lock clicked, the handle turned and the door opened and Annabeth froze when she saw who was standing in the doorway.
It was a woman, a woman with a head of curly, frizzy read hair with green eyes that were filled with confusion as she frowned and stared at Annabeth as she did a double take on the woman who stood there dressed in a baggy shirt that Annabeth presumed was Percy's cause it was far too big for her and nothing else.
"Um, who are you?" The woman asked with a confused tone as she cocked her head to the side and noticed Annabeth's bags.
"I'm Annabeth. I'm here to see Percy, well not see, its kinda complicated since we have history and that but who are you and what are you doing here?" Annabeth asked with widened eyes as she did a double take on the woman who was practically naked in the apartment with Percy who was supposed to be here alone.
The woman turned her head and called out, "Percy's there's someone here for you." She turned back and looked at Annabeth and smiled as she extended her hand, speaking words that had Annabeth's eyes widen, her heart drop, and her skin go pale as she stared in disbelief at the woman as she spoke the words like they were a curse on her soul.
"My name's Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I'm Percy's girlfriend."
Sorry I took so long with this chapter, my apologies, things have been really rough but anyway, I finally found the right song for this chapter and yep, I just did that and ended it just like that. He he he, I am evil and I hope you enjoyed it. See you all again soon, bye for now.