Chapter 13

A/N: I HAD A TERRIBLE WRITER'S BLOCK FOR THE LONGEST TIME.

Actually, I was trying to write a fluffy oneshot and I already have the idea. The problem was, I couldn't start on writing it the way I want to. And I felt really bad so I just thought I'll write another chapter for this.

But, enrollment came and I got so busy, add to the fact that I went over to my cousin for her birthday and I'm having advance readings for my lessons.

I have to apologize if this was a really crappy chapter, but I think I enjoyed writing the last part. It was so emotional (I think, in my opinion) and I got to practice writing angst. YEAH.

Anyway, THANK YOU AWESOME PEOPLE FOR REVIEWING. Your reviews made me so happy.

P.S. Don't go hating me after this. Let me know what you felt.

"So. . ." Thalia began, looking over to Annabeth with a concerned expression. The blonde was still a hiccuping mess, and by any normal encounter, she wouldn't want anyone to see her like that. But she was so emotionally stressed to care right now. "What are you going to do now?"

Annabeth glanced up to keep the tears from her eyes, her palms rubbing furiously across her cheeks to remove the tear tracks. Her nose was red and stuffy, and she bet even Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer wouldn't like that.

"This is effing hard to do."

Thalia chuckled bitterly. She handed Annabeth more tissue papers that she had stolen from the blonde's bathroom. There's no use to tell her that. "Well, that's bad."

"This is worse."

"Thank God it's not the worst."

"You're right." Annabeth smiled up at her. Then, frowned. "But I still don't know what to do."

Annabeth still couldn't believe what had just happened. She had just confessed to Thalia that she loves Percy. And to think she hadn't even acknowledged the fact until now. It was there, the whole point of her feelings for him was always there. It was in the corner of her mind, lingering there for too long when they were arguing; creeping forward when they were exchanging playful banters and completely clouding her mind when they were too close for comfort.

She'd always denied that fact, thinking to herself that it wasn't possible. That falling in love with Percy Jackson was deemed impossible, inappropriate, out of context. But the more she ignored it, the more it bugged her and the more it got stronger. Up to point that she couldn't deny it anymore. Annabeth had to accept that to herself.

And now that she just did, what now?

It's not like she could just break it off to Jason so sudden and then, go elope with Percy. That was way too dramatic. And she's not up for some teenage drama.

"Are you going to break up with Jason right now?" Thalia asked.

She shook her head. "I am. But not right now. This isn't the perfect time."

"Perfect time?" Thalia crossed her arms over her chest. "There's no perfect time than sooner, Annabeth."

"It will come, Thals. I just have to wait."

"What if the perfect time never arrives until you realized it's already too late?" Thalia argued. A scowl was trying to etch itself on her face, probably displeased by Annabeth's reasoning and beliefs.

"Trust me. I know it," the blonde replied.

"I sure hope you do. You can't pass every opportunity, Annabeth, by trying to wait for that 'perfect time'. You can never bring those back."

"I know."

Thalia glanced at her seriously. "Are you going to tell Percy?"

Annabeth stared at her intertwined fingers, her eyes lost in their thoughts. Would she be unfair to him? She was just trying to protect his emotions. After everything that had happened with Calypso, Percy deserved something better. He deserved even the best one could ever offer. And Annabeth thought what he needed best was freedom. She could give him that.

"I don't think he should know. It's the best for him."

"It sounds stupid," Thalia remarked. With Annabeth's inquisitive stare, she just shrugged. "Maybe what he wants isn't the best."

"It is what he needs."

"What about you then? Are you just going to ignore your feelings for him again?" Thalia questioned.

The blonde nodded tersely. "The experience of being his Best Duo Buddy is enough."

The punk groaned loudly. "You're a life-sucker. No. . .a love-sucker."

Annabeth laughed dryly. Her heart clenched at the thought.

"Whatever. I hope you wouldn't pass on him, Annie," Thalia warned one last time before standing up. She fixed Annabeth a piercing gaze, one that read though her eyes. Thalia's eyes twinkled with something like pity, and that had never passed her eyes even once except now. It made Annabeth's stomach dropped.

"When circumstances change, you might just never win him back."

The second to the last practice was a torture. And by all means, Annabeth was trying to avoid Percy regarding the incident between them. She wanted to limit their interaction as much as possible, but being his partner for the practice, it was seriously hard. No kidding.

Even a simple eye contact was bad enough, considering the intensity of the gazes they bore into each other. Each glance was an expression of the limitless words one needed to convey, and Annabeth wouldn't want to read any of those. It would just completely shatter the thin piece of glass she barreled between her and Percy.

So after perfectly executing the Seoi Nage throw, Annabeth stepped away from the mat and towards the bench. She grabbed her water bottle and drank the half of it, barely noticing Percy who had now sat beside her.

She went on ignoring him, hopefully conveying the 'I need to be alone' vibe. But he remained there nonetheless. Sorting out on the contents of her sports bag, Annabeth tried to remain busy while Percy sat quietly.

It was her tenth time checking her small notebook when she heard him clear his throat. Annabeth glanced back at him curiously.

"Uh, Annabeth, can we talk? Like, uh, for five minutes, I guess. I promise it'll be short," Percy muttered, looking at her.

Annabeth diverted her gaze on her phone, trying to remain indifferent. She didn't want to look at his eyes, for she might blurt out things she wasn't supposed to say. Like 'I love you, you dork' perhaps.

"Sorry. But, I need to go shower right at this moment," she excused.

He pressed on. "It's okay. I'll just wait for you outside."

She fumbled to come up with some excuse. "I take long showers."

"I expected that."

"I have a girl meeting," she lied.

"I'll wait."

Fudge. Why'd you have to be so good, Percy?

"Alright. I'll shower now."

Annabeth made sure to take her time on that shower. In fact, she already had four long showers and if she takes another one, her skin would've been wrinkled. The girls outside were probably wondering what took her so long to be in that stall and when Annabeth stepped out, she was practically the only one left in the shower room.

So much for trying to avoid Percy.

And when she pushed through the doors of the building, Annabeth was definitely sure Percy had grown tired and stopped waiting for her. The cold winds blew harshly, whipping Annabeth's curls onto her face, and surely no one would've lasted that long outside.

She was shivering and smiling a bit until she reached the parking lot. Her whole body froze (not because of the wind) when her gaze landed on that same black maserati parked next to her car. And leaning on the side of the car was Percy.

He seriously waited for her that long outside in this fucking weather? No shit.

All the blood that was keeping her warm drained out of her body. He was shaking, his arms wrapped around him protectively to share some warmth. His sea green eyes darted every where, looking for a sign of her. And when he finally did, Percy straightened up and smiled at her.

Annabeth Chase was frustratingly the most terrible person in the planet.

She felt so bad for doing those things to him. No, she felt worse. After promising to herself that she wouldn't make Percy suffer again, here she was, leading him onto that. She was no better than Calypso.

"Hi," she croaked out. She couldn't even muster the effort to say anything more. The guilt was blocking her throat.

"Annabeth," he began, and she was lying if told you that it didn't spark the fire in her stomach. "We need to talk."

At the mention of the word 'talk', Annabeth instantly tensed. Why was she doing this actually? Why did she have to restrain herself from loving him, from telling him what she truly feels? The whole point of it was weighing her down. Didn't she deserved to feel loved without actually feeling guilty?

Annabeth took a deep breath. The cold air burned through her nostrils down to her lungs. "Alright. Talk."

Percy took her hands in his. His fingers pressed to her palms coldly, but an undeniable warmth had spread from his touch down to her blood.

He stared at her; his sea green eyes swirling with so much emotion that it's trying to drown her in. He breathed her name like a lifeline, like she was his last supply of oxygen available. Annabeth felt the same way too; except that she's choosing to suffocate than completely breathe him in.

"Annabeth. I don't know how to explain this, uh, and I know I'm probably rambling right now, but this," he gestured to them, "this makes me feel wonderful. That whole Best Duo Ever thing was probably the best idea I had ever formed. It got me to spend more time with you. To get you know better."

"At first I tried to evade the fact that I have a crush on you for the longest time. That there's this possibility of liking you, loving you even. I ignored all of that because I'm afraid that you might be like Calypso. But you're not. And it physically hurts me everytime I'm around you because you're like, this super great person that I want yet I can't have. I tried to distance myself from you but I couldn't bear that. And I'm totally lying if I say that you weren't in my mind 24/7."

"Percy-" Annabeth started but he cut her off.

"Wait. I'm not yet finished. And when that kiss a happened, I know it was really stupid to deny it to myself anymore. That kiss meant so much than it should've, to me at least. Then we started to be awkward around each other and I-I know I can't hold this back for much longer."

He took a deep, shaky breath. "I love you, Annabeth. I really think I do."

Her breath hitched. Everything around her stopped moving. Annabeth felt like drowning.

His words clawed and thawed at her heart, at her conscience. They drifted in her blood, circulating all over her body until she could feel the fragments of his words seeped through her system. After spending hours creating this boundary between them, it all shattered and left her standing around the shards of broken glass. Shards of the should have been barrier.

He loves her. He loves her. He loves her.

This was what Annabeth had wanted to hear, longed to hear. She spent hours and days thinking, dreaming, hoping he'll feel the same, that he'll responds those words back to her. At first, it was a futile effort. After all, she's planning on staying out of his life, but she couldn't help feeding on her guilty pleasure of thinking that Percy wanted her back. She'd never crave for someone's affection this desperately and it's making her crazy and wild. Annabeth so badly wanted to say those words back, to make him feel the things he's doing to her.

But she never did.

Instead, she gripped his shirt hard, feeling that this was probably the last thing of him that she could ever touch. Annabeth felt the tears burned at the corner of her eyes but she held them back. Percy's hands cupped her face gently, forcing her eyes to stare back at him. He's so close and she would've probably blushed at their close proximity, but this was much more than that. His eyes bore into hers desperately, saying a thousand of things all at once. Annabeth weakly shook her head at him, not having the enough courage to look at him in the eye.

And even though it was a weak one, she felt as though that motion consumed all of her energy, all of the strength she had in her. Percy pressed his forehead against her, his fingers shaking terribly on her cheeks. Annabeth felt something wet on her skin, and she didn't know if it was Percy's or hers. Everything about her was cold, perhaps even colder than the wind biting at her skin.

Her vision was now clouded with tears but even so, she could still see clearly the liquid pouring slowly from his eyes. She could not look at him. She could not even look at him.

"Please, Annabeth. Tell me that you feel the same," he pleaded, his voice cracking and low. His nose touched hers gently and the gesture was so small yet it hurt far greater than the nastiest bruise she ever had.

Her voice was barely above a whisper yet he heard it all the same. "Percy. . .no."

The rejection burned on him; on his skin, on his flesh, on his heart. He felt like he was being burned alive, although metaphorically, the searing pain hurt him physically. He flinched from the agony. He didn't want to believe what he had heard. He kept the thought that it was, perhaps a fragment of his over-active emotion. Percy locked himself on that belief; but the reality kept knocking and coming, and he never felt so vulnerable at the moment.

"Annabeth. . ." He whispered, but she just ruffled his hair and shook her head.

She tried so hard to keep her gaze on his face, watching as her fingers fluttered over his features purposely. She touched him like she's trying to memorize every single thing about him. Annabeth traced his eyebrows, the shape of his eyes, the slope of his nose, his cheekbones, the outline of his jaw and the curve of his lips; each movement a precise measure of his characteristics in her memory, and the light feather touch of her fingertips leaving a trail burning electricity in its wake. His skin fizzed with her every touch and it left him hot and charred all the same.

She squeezed him one last time before she pulled away. It was like her lifeline was pulled away from her too.

Annabeth walked away slowly, her steps wobbly and disoriented.

Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back.

Percy Jackson stood there, his very being a hollow vessel, watching as Annabeth Chase walked away, never even once looking back.

Aw. I really liked the part where she was touching his face. It felt so. . .intimate. I wonder what'll happen next. . .