Chp 13

I walked back from the stables to where my parent and grandfather were on the porch. "I think I'm gonna go to Montauk for a bit." I said, grabbing my keys and phone from the table.

My mom smiled at me and nudged my side. "You seeing Annabeth?" She asked. It was the first time she had brought up Annabeth since I had come here. I gave her a smile and said, "No."

"But you quite liked her? And she likes you?" She asked. I leaned against the rail and thought what to say. "I don't know, it's been five years. And she seems happy with us being friends so leave it." I said, shrugging.

I gave them a wave and left. I drove to Montauk and walked along the beach. I opened up my cabin and opened a beer. This was probably one of he only nice days let till Winter took over.

I walked onto the beach again, looking out at the beautiful water that was gently rolling onto the shore. I looked up, seeing something in the corner of my eye. I saw Annabeth walking towards me, a couple meters away.

"Hey, what you-" I started, but she put her lips to mine. My face was in her hands, and in out my free hand on the small of her back. I felt adrenalin go through me, the thrill of her kissing me. I kissed back, still unsure of why she kissed me but loving it anyways.

She pulled away and looked me in the eyes. "Yes, yes, yes. I'll date you Percy, i want to. I realized how much I do. I love you." She said. I blinked a couple times then kissed her again.

I smiled at her and said, "I love you too." She kissed my cheek and I put my arm around her waist, leading her to my cabin. I got her a drink and asked, "What made you decide?" She sighed. "I was denying it, for such a long time, but I realized that it doesn't get better than this. No one is better than you." She said. I was leaning against the island, her two steps away.

I pulled her hand so she came towards me, and laced our fingers. She put her drink down and smiled at me. I kissed her again, so happy to have her so close. She cupped my cheek and smiled up at me. "Just sorry I took so long."

We walked back onto the beach, the sun going down. I pulled her to my chest, her back on my chest, put my arms over hers and laced our fingers. I kissed her neck and rested my chin on her head. It felt so fit, holding her close like this. It felt like life couldn't get better.

I felt my phone buzz as a message came through. I pulled it out and read it. It was from my mom, asking when I would be getting back or if I had plans. "You wanna go have dinner on the ranch?" I asked her.

"Do they know what happened?" She asked, turning to face me. I shook my head. "No, not really." She thought for a bit then shrugged. "What the hell, we can go have dinner, you can tell your mom or whatever." She said. She put her forehead against mine and closed her eyes, smiling. "I forgot how great this was." She said, making me smile.

I sent my mom a message to do another placing at the table. We closed my cabin and went to my car. I drove us there, and parked in my usual spot. I walked to the porch, Annabeth at my side, and went inside. "Percy, your back. Who was the extra-" she stopped talking when she looked up at saw Annabeth with me.

"Annabeth!" She said, coming over and giving Annabeth a hug. Annabeth laughed and gave her a smile. "It's great to see you, Sally. I missed having you around." She said, smiling.

They talked while I went to go put my keys upstairs. I picked up one of the shirts that I had here that had fallen out the cupboard. I picked it up, folding it neatly. I always kept extra clothes here for when I wanted to spend sometime here.

I went back downstairs and was in time for my mom dishing up for us. Paul and Mark came in, and were happy to see Annabeth. We all had dinner together, enjoying it a lot. We talked, joked, laughed.

When that was over, Paul settled on the porch with a book, mom got her basket to pick some lemons and grand dad sat with his chess board. Annabeth and I walked onto the porch from the house, and grand dad looked up.

"I could never get Percy to play. Do you play, Annabeth?" He asked. She smiled at him. "Matter of fact, I do." She said, walking over and pulling out a chair in front of him. I chuckled and saw my mom walking off on the field to go pick lemons.

I ran after her, and soon caught up just as she had gotten there. "Hello Percy." She said, smiling at me then picking the first one. I walked around the old lemon trees we had, about eight of them. Grand dad had gone through a lemonade phase.

"Mom, I need to tell you something before you ask it." I said, walking around the tree she was working on and picking a lemon. I put it in the basket and she smiled at me. "I know you and Annabeth are together." She said.

I stopped and said, "That was easier than I thought." She chuckled and said, "I always suspected it. Yet you still denied it when we spoke earlier. Why?" She asked. I sighed, knowing I would have to tell her what happened.

"Okay, so when I brought her here and had to leave at the end of vacation, she said she didn't want to get into a long distance relationship but if we ever met up again we could give it a shot." I picked a few more and put them in the basket.

"So when I saw her again I was hoping she would stay true to her word. Anyway, she made me suffer a month and a bit. I even found out she grew up with a guy a know and he and his wife helped set up a date she didn't know of. So basically I looked really desperate, which I was." She laughed and said, "Carry on."

"Every time we spent sometime with each other her answer would go more to a yes. First she said no, then no, than maybe, than she would think about it. So she thought about it, met me on the beach today and said she was sure she wanted to do this." I said, finishing my story. My mom shook her head and smiled at me. "This is the first I'm hearing of this."

I smiled at her and helped picking. "Well, I wasn't sure how to tell you but when I had brought her here, I had thought of what I said before I left for university. That-" I said, "When you met the girl you were sure would be the one for the rest of your life, you would bring her to the ranch. And she would be the first and only one you would ever bring." She said, finishing my sentence.

I nodded and said, "How did you know?" She chuckled and said, "Percy, you are my only child and I'm your mother. I remember these things that my son commits to when he's still young," I laughed and she finished plucking the lemons.

We took a slow walk back. "So you want to marry her some day." Mom said. I nodded. "She's just everything I could ever want. You don't get better than her." I said. She smiled and said, "I'm happy that you've picked a girl like her. She's the only type of person I could imagine you with." I kissed her cheek and we soon got to the porch.

"Check mate." Annabeth said, finishing her game with grand dad. "She's a flipping genius." Grand dad said, having lost his first game ever. We all laughed and relaxed on the beautiful evening.