Chapter 15

"Thalia, are you ready yet?" Annabeth called from downstairs.

Annabeth had already put on a nice formal dark dress with a stylish slouchy navy blazer over it. Her hair was in a mid- low pony tail and she had put just a tad bit of makeup on. Her purse was hanging from her arm as she waited for the black haired girl to get ready.

Ready for what?

Percy's wedding, of course.

Annabeth had to admit she wasn't jumping with joy at the fact that her brother was getting married. Understandably so, since he was getting married to a rude bitch based of only business matters. Something was always off to her about the whole marriage deal.

When she had talked with Percy that day eating frozen yogurt, he seemed troubled—very troubled. Like he didn't know what to do with his life anymore.

She had told him honestly what she thought about his whole marriage dilemma, but he hadn't said a word. He had simply stared silently at her with an expression which she couldn't figure out at all.

Thalia finally came down the stairs.

"Alright, ready to leave?" She said happily.

Annabeth looked at her friend's clothing.

"Uh, Thalia? You know it's a wedding, right?"

Thalia was wearing a black hoodie over— well— sweats, really.

"Yeah, I do. It's a wedding which I don't approve of, so I don't need to wear anything special."

Annabeth shook her head, smiling, "Thalia, go change into a skirt, at least."

"Ugh, fine. Only a skirt though." She said walking back up the stairs like a grouchy teenager.

Annabeth smiled.

I guess we'll have to be a little late for the ceremony, she thought to herself.

~o00o~

The bow tie around his neck suddenly became even more choking on him. And his breathes were getting hard and heavy. Percy had probably drunk seven glasses of water to calm his nerves.

He was walking around in his dressing room, panicking. And not panicking about what usual grooms panic about.

He was panicking about his feelings—not for the bride— but for his… sister.

Yes, for his sister. And not his biological sister, but his switched sister—his ex-sister, who he could totally have feelings for now, right?

Gods, he was going crazy. He had been thinking about this over and over again for the past two days from the moment he had talked with her in that frozen yogurt shop.

Her grey eyes had looked so loving and sweet, when she told him that he shouldn't blame himself for mom's death and block out everybody out who cared for him.

Of course, he was going to ruin his life through this contract marriage. That was a fact that he knew from the start, but he had always thought that it was worth it and that he deserved it. But now? With Annabeth's words stuck in his head, it just made things a lot more cloudier and confusing for him.

Annabeth had always been a sister to him, but when she had reached out and held his hand in hers— he knew a guy shouldn't get lightheaded from his sister's touch… and he had definitely felt lightheaded. His mind had gone blank as if her touch could erase all his troubles in a second and bring him into a peaceful realm of ... happiness.

And that gut feeling—the feeling of want and longing that had not gone away since, well, since she had been here—in New York.

Percy shook his head and sunk in a chair that was there for him in front of a mirror.

It was weird though, she had been his sister for fourteen years. You don't just suddenly have feelings for someone who has always been a sister to you.

He looked at his reflection and slipped his fingers down the collar of his shirt. There on his neck was the evidence that Annabeth's mouth was had been there two days ago. It was subtle, but still there, and he had unconsciously been lifting his hand to touch it throughout his day, as if he could bring the burning sensation of the moment back to life. It was a feeling he shouldn't be wanting to have again-but he did, desperately.

Before he could pick up his resolve, a knock came at the door and Nico's head popped in.

"How's the handsome groom doing?" he asked with a smile.

"I'm alright. When is the ceremony starting?"

Nico looked down at his watch, "In about five minutes. I actually came to get you on the stage right now."

Percy hesitated for a second, still confused about his damn feelings for Annabeth. There wasn't anything to do at the moment but go on with everything that he had planned for his life. He couldn't step out now.

"Alright, let's go." he said, following Nico out the door.

~o00o~

Rachel was very very excited for her wedding day. She had to have everything perfect— and everything was perfect. She was getting married to the man of her dreams— Percy Jackson— the guy who she had a crush on since the moment she saw him in college. And boy was he quite the looker with his perfectly messy raven black hair, mesmerizing aquamarine eyes and a hell of a godly physique. Not to mention his extraordinary family background.

He was— to put it simply— everybody's ideal dream guy. And he was hers. All her girlfriends told her how jealous they were of her— ha! Of course they were.

Sure, it might be because of a business contract, but that didn't mean the marriage didn't mean anything. It was the wife's job to make the husband's life easier and she was confident that she would be able to do that for Percy— at least she thought she could.

It would first mean getting rid of that blonde haired sister of his. Rachel didn't want to admit it, but she felt threatened by the blonde who could easily get Percy's undivided attention with a simple smile.

Seriously, the girl was hell of a lot prettier than she herself could ever imagine to beat. That's why seeing her for the first time, Rachel had been a bitch to her. A real big bitch… and she had almost felt sorry the moment she let it out on the poor blondie.

And seeing how Percy reacted when the girl was carrying out the dare that Rachel herself gave her, it was obvious he had feelings for the girl that was more than just familial.

He was just too thickheaded to see it— and she definitely didn't want to wait around until he finally did.

That's why Rachel hurried down the aisle a little too desperate than she wanted to seem.

Percy was standing there in his tux. The expression on his face was unreadable to Rachel as she continued down the aisle. The church organ filled the whole church and everybody's eyes were on her. But hers were on Percy.

His face was glistening and as she walked closer to him, she realized it was sweat.

Oh gods, what was he thinking right now?, Rachel thought as she stood in front of the priest right next to Percy.

The priest went on and on about unconditional love and shit and soon the doors opened silently as the priest kept talking. Rachel didn't look back, but Percy did. And to her greatest fear, she knew right away who had come late through those church doors late.

Rachel stole a glance behind her and saw two figures standing in the back, since all the seats were filled.

It was undeniably the blonde beauty and the black haired girl she knew was Thalia.

She then looked to Percy and saw that his eyes weren't leaving the far end of the room where two grey eyes stared back.

Rachel wasn't stupid. There was definitely something magnetic between them. It was almost tangible, what they had. And she would never be able to have something like that with Percy.

The look in Percy's eyes.

He would never look at her like that— she knew that.

And in that second before she said "I do", Rachel saw their future in a nutshell. He would never love her. She might pleasure him in bed, but he would never look at her like she was the only girl in the world.

Did she want that for herself? Seriously?— she wasn't that dumb… she had enough sense to know where she stood.

Rachel, to everyone's shock, held up her hand to the priest to signal him to stop his asking of the vows.

"I'm sorry. This was a mistake. This ceremony is over." she said as she left the altar, leaving a wide eyed Percy and everyone else shocked with gaping faces.

She left the doors of the ceremony room and down the hall to her dressing room, letting out a breathe of relief she didn't know she was holding.

As she was about to try unzip her dress, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." she said.

The door opened then closed as the person stepped inside.

Rachel turned to see Annabeth standing there in all her effortless beauty. The blonde had on a nice sleek dark grey dress that hugged her slender figure along with a nice navy blazer which Rachel fell in love with the minute she saw it.

Gods, why was she thinking about clothes right now, when the girl she thought of as her archenemy was in front of her, she thought angrily.

"Hey." she said, lifting up her hand to push back the golden strands of hair that had escaped to caress her face.

"What are you doing here?" she said a little too bitterly than she had intended.

The girl didn't seem to be bothered by her tone,

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Okay? I'm far from okay. I'm super."

Annabeth stepped closer to her, making her look at her weirdly and step away, "Why did you do that?" she asked.

"What? Call off the ceremony?— I did it, because I wanted Percy's company to go bankrupt from the broken contract. There— happy?"

Annabeth stared at her with intense grey eyes which seemed to know exactly all her secrets and ulterior motives.

"Tell me honestly, Rachel. I know that's not true, Rachel, you love Percy, cuz if you didn't care about him— you wouldn't have offered a marriage contract deal. It would have been perfectly fine for everybody if you just made a contract deal as business partners. Am I right?"

Rachel looked incredulously at the girl.

Beautiful and smart. Great, she thought, begrudgingly.

Rachel sighed, "Fine, gods, I admit it. I set him up into agreeing with a marriage contract that was unnecessary, but would still get his stocks up … but, how did you know that?"

Annabeth smiled slightly, "I did the math."

"Smart aleck." Rachel said under her breathe.

The blonde seemed to have heard and laughed a bit.

"You still didn't answer me." Smart blondie said.

"About what?"

"The reason why you left the altar."

Rachel looked at the girl and let out a sigh, "You're as thick-headed as he is. You sure, your not related?"

Smart blondie looked confused.

Rachel regarded her exasperatedly, "One look at the way he was looking at you and I knew there was no love or anything in my future with him if we got married, so I left the altar."

"What— ? Because of the way he was looking at me?"

"Goodness! You can do math and business stocks, but you can't figure this out?"

Smart blondie pursed her lips at her.

Rachel gave her an exaggerated frown, "He loves you, you idiot!"

"Huh? I already knew that."

"Ugh. Not in a brotherly way."

Annabeth looked at her weirdly, then her expression became confused.

Rachel looked at the girl with narrowed eyes.

Did she really not know this? Surely she had felt something about the guy, right?

Oh what the heck. Suddenly she's acting like their matchmaker.

"Oh, whatever, Annabeth. Just come over here and help me get out of this dress."

Author's note:

Hope you liked the chapter! Now with Rachel out of the way, the real fun is going to start. hehe

More updates coming your way, people. C: