A/N: I'M SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT! I had a really busy summer and wrote mostly by hand in an old notebook. But I've been writing a more detailed outline, so that might be good...
Disclaimer: I don't own any thing, Rick Riordan does
Before: Annabeth and Percy form a fake relationship to help Annabeth's writing and make Percy think about something else then his violent father. Now they are going to the movies with their friends.
Pretending to hold hands
They held hands. Fingers interlaced, hearts beating, feet moving forward. No one noticed this little connection binding Percy and Annabeth together. They all just walked, with Grover up front leading the way. Thalia turned around to demand Annabeth to sit down beside her, and her eyes widened.
"Annabeth?" her voice trailed off, as if muted by an annoyed listener. Annabeth felt herself blushing; she really needed to stop doing that.
"Wait what?" Grover said, a little too loud. Luke was the only one of them with no open mouth or blushing cheeks, it looked like he had been noticing all along.
"Why are you holding hands? Is Annabeth you girlfriend?" Grover looked suspiciously on his best friend. His best friend nodded. Thalia's arm shot forward and hit Annabeth a little too hard on her shoulder.
"He kissed you just to help you, what? No feelings involved?" Her eyes were glistening with anger Annabeth never before had felt directed towards herself. It felt like her heart might stop. But then Thalia's arms surrounded her, pressing her close and Annabeth felt like she might possible start crying.
"Congratulations, you idiots!"
"Why are you together?" Grover asked, confused.
"Because we like each other Grover," Percy looked down on the dirty floor where old popcorn was smudged into the carpet.
The movie was about fish. Only Grover and Percy seemed to find it amusing. Annabeth guessed Percy liked it because it at one point featured a clownfish. He had always loved "Finding Nemo". Her head rested on his shoulder. It was not comfortable and she didn't relax a bit the hour the movie lasted. It didn't feel natural; it just felt awkward and wrong. It was all fake, and for the first time it felt fake. They were just pretending, like children playing mom and dad minus baby. She could feel his arms and the smell of him. He smelled like sweat covered by some manly deodorant and a little like saltwater.
If Annabeth could have read minds she would have known that Percy didn't feel the same. Percy felt Annabeth's hair down his arm, and how she would move every now and then. The weight of her head on his shoulder felt good, and he smiled knowing it would be like that for a while. They had fought a billion times, but he really liked her. It felt so great to be close to her. She smelled clean, with a faint trace of citrus. But Annabeth could not read his mind, and didn't know.
It was still early when they sat down on a tired bench in Central Park. There were some late morning runners listening to hideous music passing by. Some dogs walking around with people shackled behind them. A young couple holding hands walked slowly over a bridge nearby. She was short, he was tall. Annabeth looked at the two, one so small and young, the other older, taller. It was a contrast between them, her curls, his short hair, the color of their skin. So Annabeth looked at the boy sitting next to her, grown so much since the first time she saw him. He'd once been a little scrawny boy with messy hair.
They sat pressed together so close that they could feel the others warmth and they were left wondering if they should stand up so they wouldn't be squeezed. The bench was not made for five.
"So how did you get together?" Luke wondered; he'd barely spoken a word the whole morning. Annabeth felt her cheeks redden again. They should have agreed on some sort of story, but it was too late. Percy took her hand and squeezed it. It was time to improvise.
"Well, first we kissed. It was for a good cause, and not supposed to mean anything. But then it did." Annabeth stopped speaking wondering if she should continue or not.
"Details!" insisted Thalia. Now Percy started talking.
"Yesterday we went out. We ate cheeseburgers and just talked. All normal friends stuff." He paused for a second, clearing his voice.
"This was past kiss. And after we ate we sat on a bench, similar to this one, just located elsewhere. We started talking about other stuff, it just happened."
"Did you like each other all along? Or just after you kissed?" They exchanged looks.
"I think for me it's been there for a while, just very well hidden." Annabeth responded, smiling at Percy.
"I honestly don't really know, but it's there now." He leaned if possible even closer to her. She felt it as if she might puke. It was so obviously fake and too romantic and not the way she had imagined. She had always been a big believer in love. Annabeth was suddenly not so sure anymore.
There were five people sitting woven together on a bench. Behind their backs names and hearts were engraved in the wood. Filled up with people with the need to leave a mark of their existence. As if your life means more if you don't only mark the people who know you, love you, but things too. As if an old bench in a park in New York will honor you memory. Those occupying this very bench will not read your name, let alone remember it. They have each other etched into their hearts. When they're eighty, if they live, they will remember each other, their names, faces, voices and souls. Tiny people locked inside their heart, to let live till the heart stops beating.
They parted after some hours of sitting too close together and talking. The subject most discussed was Thalia's and Luke's future. When they finally rose from the too small bench and parted, Percy and Annabeth walked away together, hand in hand. Thalia winked at her, but when they were out of their friend's sight, Annabeth let go of his hand. Percy stopped up and looked at her.
"What is it? Is it about Thalia?" She didn't answer but Percy gripped her and hugged her close.
"It's going to be okay. I promise! You'll have me, and you'll have Grover, you won't be left alone." The hug was real and friendly and warm.
"Thanks Percy," she murmured and he let go of her.
"But there is something else too. I think we should end it. Say it was a stupid joke, just be friends again, like normal." She stared down on Percy's hands, not wanting to see his eyes.
"Why? Why already now? Don't you need more for your writing, is that it? Do you even remember that this was never only about you?" He blurted, sounding betrayed.
"No, that's not it! It feels wrong! Can't you feel it?"
"No Annabeth, actually I can't." And he turned around, walking away from her. With each step he made the distance between them longer.
"Percy stop!" Annabeth wanted to follow him, get him to understand. Understand that they had made a mistake and needed to stop. To stop before it all fell apart, tore them apart into hurtful little pieces. And he did stop; he turned around and looked at her.
"You know I was going to ask you over for dinner tonight. But I guess you won't show, and that I'll have to tell my mum my girlfriend broke up with me after a few hours." His fists were clenched when he walked away and Annabeth's nails bore into the palms of her hands. A single name repeated in her head. Sally Jackson.
A/N: Yay first fight! I am sort of changing up the "trend" of the titles! I am also considering having shorter chapters and publish more of them, but I don't know. Please let me know what you think! And a blue cupcake goes to whoever guesses who the mysterious couple that walks across the bride is…
I would like to thank for all the very kind reviews!
As always I would love if you review!
