Percy POV
My eyes scanned the rows of seats in the plane, until they landed on 12 A and B, Annabeth's and mine. I reached up and placed my carry on in the overhead bin, and turned toward Annabeth to do the same to hers. Being 6' 3" definitely made certain tasks easier. She gave a slight smile and handed me her heavy backpack.
The area around her eyes was slightly red from the tears she shed earlier. The tears seemed to come out of nowhere, and I desperately wished she would vocalize her thoughts and worries to me, but I had a gut feeling she would eventually open up to me. It would just take time.
I stalled in the aisle, and gestured for her to enter in the row before me and take the window seat. I wasn't a huge fan of being so high in the air, and looking out of a window just affirmed the fact that we could die in .2 seconds if the plane stopped working.
We settled in to our seats, and buckled our seatbelts, waiting for the rest of the plane to fill up.
A beautiful woman, long legged, big breasted, and wearing perfectly applied makeup sat on my right, in the aisle seat. The scent of her perfume wafted over to me immediately, and when I took a deep breath, it felt as if I was swallowing it. Too strong, I grimaced.
She looked over at us and smiled. "I'm Aphrodite. Well aren't you two an adorable couple." And then turned back in her seat and faced forward, not looking for a response.
"See," I whispered to Annabeth. "She believes us, and we didn't 'finish each other's sentences.'"
She gave me a slight glare. "Shut up, Percy. A stranger is easier to convince than my dad and step-mom."
"Still, it's a start," I replied. Annabeth nodded her head to my statement. Her hair bounced up and down, and the slight movement caused her glasses to fall down her nose. She pushed them up with one finger. Adorable was the only word to describe the action.
Why was I so infatuated with this girl, I wondered as I subtly stared at her, while pretending to scroll through my phone.
Being a local celebrity, hookups came easily to me, but none had caught my eye quite like Annabeth.
None of them had caused me to stare for longer than socially acceptable.
None of them had been able to make me genuinely smile since the day of the accident.
None of them would have been able to convince me to fly across the country and play pretend boyfriend.
But Annabeth had. And she did it so effortlessly.
The pilot spoke over the intercom and told us to prepare for takeoff. I gripped the arm rest until my knuckles turned white as the plane started to gain speed.
Annabeth and I stayed silent until we reached the cruising altitude, then she broke the comfortable silence.
"So, I am going to give you a really detailed explanation of my family, and their interests, so it will be easy for you to join in conversation with them, and maybe it will dial down the awkwardness of it all."
She looked up at me and paused before speaking again. "Any questions," she asked, with one eyebrow quirked.
"Nope. Lay down the law Miss teacher Annabeth."
She rolled her eyes before continuing. "Okay, so my dad, Fredrick Chase, married my step-mother, Whitney, when I was in third grade. She changed her name, so she is now Whitney Chase, but I'm sure she will have you call her Whitney."
"Question," I interjected. "Should I be taking notes," I asked with a sarcastic edge to my voice.
Her grey eyes glared at me. "Not the time for your nonsense Percy. Aren't you nervous about entering into a situation you know absolutely nothing about? Don't you want to feel more prepared?"
I replied, "Listen, angel. I know that no matter what happens, you will be right next to me, and we will be okay."
Her posture softened, and I could tell she was pleased by the response, but continued teaching. "My two step-brothers aren't assholes, their heads are just so far up their own asses, that they don't know how to respect people they believe are lower than them on the social scale. Bobby is engaged to Fiona, who has done some modeling work. You will immediately realize why once you see her."
I raised my eyebrows and licked my lips, just to annoy Annabeth.
It worked when she rolled her eyes. "Control your hormones. Bobby is an engineer and makes bank. He invests in the stock market, so maybe we could Google some trends in the stocks that we could bring up." I could tell her brain was spinning in thought.
"Question," I interjected again. "What would happen if I brought up skiing? Or something that I am actually interested in?"
She sighed. "Percy I have tried so many times to tell them about my year spent traveling the world, or my time hiking in South America, or a funny story with my best friend from New York, and all I receive back are empty stares."
"Angel, I am going to be as charismatic and respectful as I possibly can, but changing my interests to please someone else is something that I refuse to do. And you should too. So what if they talk about the stock market and the weather? Talk about what makes you happy, and if they care about you, it will make them happy too."
After she fell silent, I had some remorse about my choice of words, but everything I said was true. If anything, I hoped Annabeth would see the value in the point I was trying to make.
After she didn't speak up, I did, "Sorry, I keep interrupting your lesson Miss Annabeth. Continue?" I flashed a pout in hopes to ease the tension from my earlier statement.
When she replied in a still voice, I knew I had pissed her off. "Well that's Bobby. Matthew finished Med School at John Hopkins ridiculously fast, and is now doing his residency close to home. His girlfriend, Sarah, is pregnant, and dad and Whitney are so excited to be grandparents."
Annabeth stopped talking, and I could tell she was tense in the way that she sat straight up, facing forward, eyes cold as stone.
She was probably thinking about what a bad idea it was to bring me, the goofy, stubborn, skier to play fake boyfriend with.
Maybe thinking about all of the things that could go wrong.
Maybe about how scared she must be.
I leaned closer to her and whispered, "Hey angel. I bet you are nervous and probably regretting taking me with you, but I promise I will charm the pants off of your family members."
And you… I added in my head, but didn't dare vocalize those thoughts.
"I am going to be the best fake boyfriend you've ever had, and your parents will love me."
I had no idea if my words had any value of truth, but Annabeth was visibly relaxing, and so I continued to blubber nonsense.
"And your parents and brothers are going to treat you with respect. All of the puzzle pieces are going to fall into place. And it is all going to be okay."
And I get to kiss you… Again my hormonal thoughts dared to come out of my lips, but I held them back. She might hit me.
She gently leaned her head onto my shoulder. I didn't dare move a muscle, in fear that I would scare her off of my body.
She sure smelled nice…
"My whole life, they have made me feel inadequate, and worthless, and insignificant."
She took a deep breath, but her head remained on my shoulder, and I took pride in the fact that she trusted me this much in such a short time period.
"They don't do it purposely, but it doesn't change the fact that I can't even mention my own life without the comparison to something in Bobby or Matthew's lives. And just when I start to gain confidence and happiness in the life I am building for myself, I go home and am stomped on by the constant disapproval."
I slowly lowered my head down to rest on top of hers, in hopes to convey comfort, without speaking any words.
She broke the silence. "I'm sorry I dragged you in to this Percy."
"Annabeth," I replied in a soft voice, so to keep the gentle atmosphere we had formed. "Quit saying sorry. I chose to be here. And I am going to make the most out of this impromptu vacation."
After another minute of thoughtful silence, I had come to the conclusion that something about Annabeth's angelic nature urged me to be the best possible boyfriend that she deserved.
"So girlfriend," I started. "How did we meet?"
She giggled at the absurdity of the question and lifted her head off of my shoulder. I missed her presence almost immediately, even though I would never admit that out loud.
"Hmmm, should we get creative? Or go with a basic 'ran into each other at a coffee shop?'" She asked.
"Wait, Annabeth. I currently live in Colorado, and you in New York. What is the story there?"
She quieted, and scrunched her face slightly in thought. I decided to let her take the reins in designing our perfect fake life.
"How about, we met at a bar when you were visiting your parents in New York, and we have been doing long distance?"
I slowly nodded my head. The story that was most closely related to the truth would be ideal, and easy to remember, so this believable story was perfect.
I added in, "But in this story, I am the one who buys YOU a drink."
She laughed. "No, you goof. I like it our real version."
"Fine fine," I scoffed. "So, what is your favorite color?"
She responded with a lengthy answer to a simple question, in classic Annabeth form. A smile made its way to my lips, and didn't leave for the entirety of the plane ride, as we continued the back and forth question asking game.
A/N: Here is the next chapter. I'm not 100% pleased with some parts of this, but I promise it will get better. Also, I apologize for any typos. I skim through chapters, but don't spend too much time combing the chapters for errors. Is anyone else having trouble uploading images? I made a cool story cover, but it won't upload.
Please leave a quick review with any comments or criticism. I would greatly appreciate anything!
