Chapter 11
Annabeth thought that the party didn't end very well, but Thalia thought it went perfectly. Annabeth shook her head, smiling at her friend's delight in crashing Percy's party.
Thalia was driving Annabeth over to her house so that they could hang out. And Annabeth wasn't protesting, since there wasn't much to do at her hotel room anyway.
Through the car ride, Annabeth was half listening to Thalia's excited talking about how funny Percy's expression was. Her mind was filled with thoughts on why Percy was marrying Rachel. She definitely seemed to be his type— appearance wise. She looked like a red headed doll but with a bitchy attitude. And Annabeth knew Percy would not ever marry someone for such a shallow reason as by appearance only. He was putting up a rich boy facade, which as was said before, wasn't fooling her. When he was around her, that facade was easily broken and she could see the warmth in his beautiful sea green eyes.
Annabeth knew there was some reason that he was pretending to be someone he wasn't.
She just couldn't figure out what it was.
Thalia pulled up in front of her house and parked in an underground garage. Her family was rich as well—probably not as much as the Jackson's, but still, very rich.
Thalia's father owned most of the hotels and casinos around New York. The hotel Annabeth was staying at was in fact part of his realm of business.
Annabeth followed Thalia up the elevator and into the house. It was a huge house for a single person, so Annabeth knew Thalia held a lot of house parties. Even in high school, Thalia would be the one to host all the best house parties that the whole school would go to.
"Welcome to my humble abode." Thalia said loudly.
"I doubt this place can be called 'humble', Thalia." Annabeth said amusedly.
"Welcome to my magnificent abode." She said, correcting herself.
Annabeth smiled as she walked in and took a seat at the island counter in the middle of the kitchen.
"wine?" Thalia asked.
"Sure."
Thalia poured out two wine glasses for both of them and sat down next to Annabeth.
"So, how's you and your boyfriend?"
"Who, do you mean Luke?" Thalia said with wide blue eyes.
"Yeah."
Thalia laughed, "I forgot how long you've been gone."
"Why? What happened?" Annabeth's eyes looked concerned.
"We broke up five years after high school. But don't worry, we're still the best of friends. So everything's cool now." She said smiling.
"Oh, well that's good"
Thalia looked over at her as if wondering what was going on behind those grey eyes.
"You know he still likes you, right?"
Annabeth looked at her, confused, "What. Who?" But she knew exactly who Thalia was talking about.
"Luke. He still loved you even while he was dating me. It was obvious. Whenever you would come over to my house with Percy, his eyes would never leave you and his whole face would brighten up whenever you smiled at him. Luke was heartbroken when you suddenly moved over to San Fran."
"What?" Annabeth thought about Luke then. The tall, handsome senior who was her first crush ever. Well, second crush to be exact since Percy was her first—until she learned that crushes were not supposed to be for brothers.
Anyways, she and Luke had dated for a short time in her freshman year before they broke up because of Luke's need to focus on college.
Thalia smiled, "He still loved you. And I knew it. Percy knew it. Everybody knew it, but you. That's why my break up with Luke was so easy."
"Wait… I was the reason you two broke up?"
" .no. Annabeth. I'm not blaming you at all. I broke up with him, because there was absolutely nothing between us. We were more of like best friends... Best friends with benefits."
"Aw.. Ew gross, Thalia! Why did you have to add that?"
Thalia was laughing wholeheartedly at Annabeth's disgust.
"Anyways," She said after calming down a bit, "now you have to tell me in detail every guy you dated the past ten years."
Annabeth's grey eyes sparkled with amusement, "You sure? This might take a while."
Thalia's eyes widened "How many?"
Annabeth shrugged, " Do you count- "
"No, don't say..goodness you reckless girl. What did California do to you?"
Annabeth laughed, "I didn't say all of them were great experiences."
Thalia then smiled, "All the more reason for you to tell me all of them."
She and Thalia then talked and talked into the night until both were too drunk and too tired to carry on a conversation anymore. Annabeth was grateful for Thalia's offer to take the guest room upstairs for the night and she slept to her heart's content, glad she had seen Percy that day.
Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of him. But she was too tired to even wonder if that had anything to do with neglected and hidden feelings— feelings that were more than what she was used to.
~o00o~
The next morning, Annabeth woke up to hushed talking downstairs. Groggily, she went into the bathroom and splashed water on her face to wake herself up, then tamed down her mess of hair with her fingers and brushed her teeth.
Satisfied that she looked presentable in her slight hangover from last night, she went downstairs. The talking sounds of Thalia and another male voice became louder and louder as she reached the last step and looked up.
The talking stopped and Annabeth looked over to the kitchen to see Thalia in a robe with a coffee mug in her hands. Sitting at the island with a coffee mug in front of him was a blonde haired handsome man with a handsome physique and a handsome jaw line ( What? That's what all girls notice first on a guy, right?).
A white scar was dragged down his left blue eye, making him look like he was some beautiful, yet rugged soldier— like Legolas except with way shorter hair.
His face brightened up seeing her standing there.
His smile was not terribly cold—just not warm and he watched her as she walked over to them in the kitchen.
The man was talking to her and Annabeth barely caught what he was saying through the hazy blur of the morning.
"Hey, Annie. Long time no see."
Author's note:
This chapter was surprisingly fun to write. Muahahahahahaha I love creating drama.
Two updates in a day! Yes!