Chp 8

Five years later...

I flew to New York, on business, from Miami. We were going to be building a new building for our company, and moving to New York. Although I had only been working at this company for five years, I got a promotion after my first year and am now one of the senior marine biologist at our company.

"Percy!" My work colleague, Martin, said as he greeted me as I arrived at the building the architect was meeting us at. There were five us here, me, Martin, Randy, Cindy and Liam. We kept joking with Cindy as she was the only girl here with us.

"So when does the architect get here?" Liam asked, sipping his coffee. "Um, she gets here-" Cindy said, checking her papers. "In a few minutes. Her name is Annabeth Chase." She said, and smiled at us.

I blinked a couple times, then smiled. "So you won't be the only girl." Randy said, chuckling. The elevator dinged open and in came my first real love, Annabeth Chase.

She was wearing a fancy dress with platform heels and her hair in a messy bun. I stood up and went over to greet her. "Hello. You must be the architect, Ms. Chase?" I said, smirking at her.

She lifted her head up and said, "Yes. And you are Mr Percy Jackson." She said, shaking my hand. "And how have you heard of me?" I asked. She raised an eyebrow and said, "In the San Francisco economics, your fathers name is pretty familiar."

I nodded and introduced her to the team. She had a young girl standing to her left, who looked kind if nervous. "Hi, and you are?" I asked stretching out my hand to her. She looked at Annabeth her chuckled. "Sorry, she's an intern, very quiet. She came with me to learn how to deal with clients." She explained.

I shook her hand and we all went into the conference room. She explained how it would look, where it would be stationed and what not. I couldn't stop staring at her. She would glance at me every now and then.

We all closed the deal and went off to where ever. I caught up with Annabeth as she left the building. "Can we talk?" I asked her. She smirked at me and said, "If you can follow." I was confused until she got in her car.

I jumped in my car and followed her. I soon recognized the road. It takes you to Montauk.

When we got there she got out her car and leaned against it. "What are you waiting for?" She asked, her eyebrow raised. "Get your keys out for your cabin." She said. I chuckled and got my bag out, getting my keys.

She took off her heels and walked with me down the beach. She just reached my shoulder now. I smirked, which she noticed. "What?" She asked, looking at me as we walked. "I forgot how much taller I was to you." I said, smiling.

She rolled her eyes and carried on walking. When we got there, I unlocked the cabin and went in. I left the door open, allowing the sea breeze to cool out the place. I put my bags down and she sat on the edge of my bed, letting her hair loose and running her hands through it.

I took my shoes off and my tie. I walked back to her as I unbuttoned my shirt, getting out the hot clothes. It was mid afternoon, the sun nearing the horizon. "Well you invited me and you haven't said a word yet." She teased.

I went and stood in front of her. "Nice to meet you? Are you serious?" I asked. She shrugged smiling. "I'm here on business, not to get into a relationship." I raised an eyebrow but didn't question it. "Oh, okay." I said, walking back to my closet.

"What did you expect?" She asked, getting up and walking to wear I was hanging my shirt up in my closet. "For me to welcome you with open arms?" I didn't say anything, just pulled Ina casual top. I took off my hot jeans and changed into board shorts.

I walked to the front door, and turned to look at her. She was still leaning against the closet. "Honestly, I don't know. Just not this." I then walked onto the beach, towards the sea. "Percy." She said, catching up to me.

"I was just joking." She said. I ignored it, but I was still annoyed that she was treating me like I was a stranger. I sat down and looked out at the sea. She sat next to me. "But still, you couldn't have expected that I would-" she started, but I interrupted. "No, I couldn't of. But I've been waiting five freaking years to see you again and I'm just a stranger to you."

She looked at me. "I asked you to go out and enjoy life before deciding wether you wanted to still be with me." I looked at her. "I tried Annabeth, I dated three different girls p, but the problems was they weren't you."

She looked at me and I just said, "And I'm sure by the way you were so eager to get rid of me, you got a couple boyfriends and what not." She looked back to the sea. "Two. One turned out to be a wimp and the other moved to London, offered for me to come with but I said no."

I took a deep breath, smelling the sea salt. "You know how hard it is to come back here? To keep distance for your sake?" I asked. She looked at me and I looked at her. "You were definitely the first girl to break my heart."

She didn't say anything, she wouldn't meet my eyes. I stood up and walked to the cabin. "I'm gonna get a drink." I said. As I got out two beers and poured them into glasses, I sighed. I was itching to have her at my side, in my arms and happy.

She came in, tying her hair into another messy bun. I handed her the beer and she chuckled. "You offered me a drink the first time we came here." She said, smiling at me. I smiled and took a sip of the beer.

I went over to my bags and closet and started packing away my clothes. "Not staying on the ranch?" She asked. I shook my head. "Grand dad went to go visit an old friend of his in Tennessee and mom said she would go with Paul to some wedding. I'll go there in a week when they're back."

She nodded and put her drink down. She leaned against my cupboard and watched as I packed the things away. As I was hanging up a shirt, I looked at her. "What?" I asked. "Just interesting, you haven't changed much. Besides getting a bit taller." She said, smiling.

"And you've obviously changed a lot." I said. She but her lip and sighed. "Not really." She said. "Your confidence?" I asked her, but she shrugged. "I wanted to see if you actually remembered the girl who worked in the decor shop that you met when you were twenty. Otherwise, still my self conscious and guarded girl in front of strangers."

I hung my shirt up and looked at her for a moment. I found myself stepping forward and cupping her face, then my lips on hers. I rested my other hand on her waist. She kissed me back, her hand on my cheek. She had her back against the cupboard.

I pulled away and looked at her. "I'm still waiting, are you?" I asked. She opened her mouth then closed it, not being able to say anything. I smirked and stepped away, going to the kitchen counter where I had my drink.

"Um, I-" she started saying as she slowly made her way back to the kitchen. "I left you speechless because you forgot how great it was when we kissed? Thought so, due to your need to want me to suffer as you pretended I was a stranger." I said.

She rubbed her temple then leaned against the counter on the other side of the island I was standing at. "We actually shouldn't even be-" she said, but I interrupted. "Wow, want to get rid of me again?" I said, raising an eyebrow and sipping my drink.

"Percy! Will you listen?" She asked, looking slightly angry now. I sighed and waited for her to continue. "I shouldn't even be with you outside of business as that's not how it works. You are here for work related stuff and I am just supposed to be doing my job, not making out with my client."

I looked at her, and she sighed. "You don't get it, do you?" I asked, my voice soft. She looked right back, and sighed. "You know, you made me wait five years to see you again and now that you are with me, you are trying to find reasons to get away."

She but her lip and rested a hand on her forehead. "And this isn't work related." I said, judging by the way she was acting. She looked up when I said that, slightly nervous. "What happened?" I asked her.

She shook her head and paced the area behind my island. "Annabeth, you had a bad experience with relationships and that's why you didn't want to go out with me as you knew I really liked you."

She shook her head. "Annabeth." I said, getting up and stopping her from lacing. I had my hands on her forearms, stopping her from continuing to pace. "Please, I need to know." I said. She hesitated then took a couple steps forwards.

"My first boyfriend." She said, looking at where the sun was streaming through the windows onto the floor. "I was thirteen, but I met him when I was eight. I had always liked him, but he was three years older than me."

I leaned against the counter, listening to her. "His name was Luke, he was always happy and was never un kind to people, unless they were jocks trying to hurt one of his friends."

"When I was fifteen I caught him behind the school building with some people I didn't know. Turned out he was a junkie." She said. She let out a breath of hair and shook her head. "We parted, he graduated, and he died the following year." I bit my lip, trying to think of something to say.

"That's when I learnt that there weren't such nice people out there, and the. I bad ame guarded. That's why when I started to like you I tried pushing you away because I couldn't stand getting hurt again." She said, looking me in the eye.

I sighed than pulled her into my arms. She shook her head, her face in my chest. After a while she pulled away and wiped her eyes. "I better go, I've got dinner with a friend." She said. She grabbed her phone and shoes and walked out the door. I rubbed my eyes, trying to think all this through.