Annabeth POV

Why did Percy have to smell so God damn good?

Why did he have to be such a perfect gentleman?

Why did he have to make me feel so comfortable in his arms after just a day of knowing each other?

The questions were spinning in my head over and over as I stared at myself in the reflection of my bathroom mirror. I was braced over the sink, searching into my own eyes for answers, and coming up empty.

I thought back to my last serious boyfriend (not a fling): Luke. Strong, blonde, and comfortable. A childhood friend turned into a lover, out of pure familiarity. When he left to go to college, I was left feeling lonely and heartbroken.

I created a mental Venn diagram in my head, comparing and contrasting the two boys. Even though Percy wasn't my boyfriend, it felt only natural to contrast the opposite men.

Percy was tall, dark, fresh, and exciting. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind, and call me out when I was wrong, even though we were just testing out the waters with one another. He had a vibe around him that drew me towards him; that made me eager to peel back the so many layers that he hid behind.

My own thoughts alarmed me.

It's just a fake partnership Annabeth, I scolded myself, as it seemed I had to keep doing. Don't overthink it. But I couldn't help the one part of my brain that was fixated on Percy's ridiculously handsome face, complete with a smirk that revealed that one dimple.

My thoughts were so loud; I'm surprised Percy couldn't hear them through the bathroom door.

A knock on the bathroom door made me jump back from the mirror.

"Angle," his muffled voice seemed as if he was speaking through the crack that the door hinge made. I smiled to myself. Such a child. "Not to rush you or anything, but I'm too scared to go down and meet your family without you. And I can only browse through your impressive library of books for so long. Fifty Shades of Grey, eh?"

I watched my reaction in the mirror, as my face immediately turned red.

With a huff, I threw the door back, to reveal Percy's face, dangerously close to the door, holding a copy of said book. I snatched it out of his hand as he laughed.

"I didn't take you for a literature porn type of girl. You into kinky stuff?"

At this point I was ready to crawl into a hole and die from embarrassment, but instead of showing him how affected from his words I was, I just gave him a coy smile, took the book, and said, "Don't you want to know."

He raised both eyebrows at me, scoffed, and replied, "You amaze me more and more every minute Annabeth."

Once again, my face turned beet red, but I pushed passed him in the doorframe and went to place the book back on its spot on my bookshelf. I silently moved about the room, grabbing my contact lenses, and placing my glasses down on the bedside table. I slipped them into my eyes, slightly irritated by them, but grateful that I was able to see.

I moved over to my closet, and debated on whether or not I should take off Percy's jacket and put on one of my own.

Speaking of the devil, I glanced over at him, and found him laying on my bed, looking comfortable as ever as he watched me move about the room. I decided to be a mature adult, instead of a teenage girl infatuated with the smell of a boy, and took off his wind breaker. I formed in into a small ball and threw it at him.

Percy caught the ball of jacket with one hand and smirked at me. I watched his eyes briefly wander down my exposed top, and I pretended not to notice.

"Shut your eyes," I commanded.

"What?" He replied, confused with my sudden request.

"I am going to strip down. Close your eyes."

He made a dramatic gesture of squeezing his eyes shut, and I let out a small giggle at his antics. I turned my body so I was facing the closet, with my back to Percy.

I stripped off my tank top, leaving me in my sports' bra for a brief second, before I grabbed a tight quarter zip jacket, that I usually ran on cool mornings in, and slipped it over my head.

I adjusted the new top, and then turned to walk out of my bedroom door. When I reached the doorframe, I looked back at Percy, who had that same goofy smile on his face.

He hopped off of the bed, and walked through the door. As he passed me in the doorframe, he slowed down and whispered close to my ear, "Your back is sexy, Annabeth." He barely slowed down before continuing his trek down the stairs to my awaiting family.

I stood there, with my mouth open, gaping like a frog trying to catch flies.

Percy tossed a quick, "You coming Angel?" over his shoulder, before landing on the bottom step of the winding staircase.

After I came to my senses, I rushed down the stairs, with my head down, careful not to miss a step and trip. Instead I did the second most embarrassing thing, and ran straight into Percy's hard back, who for some unknown reason had stopped at the bottom of the staircase and blocked the exit.

I let out a small, unflattering grunt, and stumbled back, almost falling down.

Percy reached an arm out, and grabbed my own, and steadied me on my feet. "Be careful there," he mumbled before letting me go.

I shook my head at him, and looked up to see my entire family watching my almost disaster.

I cleared my throat before speaking, "Hey guys. So, Percy, this is my brother Bobby and his fiancé Fiona. Guys, this is my boyfriend Percy."

I expected the word boyfriend to sound foreign on my tongue, but instead it sounded strangely natural, especially with Percy's name following.

Percy stepped away from me, and shook Bobby's hand first, then Fiona's. Bobby was dressed in a crisp collared shirt, and his tan skin was taut back with a small smile. He was tall, but still a tad bit shorter than Percy, and I watched as he struggled to refrain from needed to tilt his chin up in order to keep eye contact. To him, that would be a sign of submissiveness, and Bobby was the furthest thing from a submissive man. They shared a brief but firm hand shake, with the exchange of the usual, "nice to meet you."

Fiona looked as intimidating as I remembered. She was tall, and the heeled knee high boots that she wore with her leggings and tight dress only added to her towering height. Her black hair was styled with large, loopy curls, the product from a curling iron, as opposed to my natural mane. Her makeup was perfectly applied, as I was greeted with a wave of envy at how flawless she looked. I watched as Percy then moved on to shake Fiona's hand, instead she surprised both Percy and I when she pulled him into a hug.

Just as my step-mom had done a few hours earlier, Fiona made eye contact with my over Percy's shoulder while embracing him, and mouthed the letters, "O M G."

I held back my laugh as I glanced over to Bobby to see if he noticed anything, but he was already engrossed with my father and Whitney in a conversation about the most recent election.

I looked back to Fiona, who let Percy go from the hug, and had a new-found respect for the model. I had never seen her be playful as she just was, and I was anxious to learn more about the woman who I refused to give a second glance at previous meetings, thinking she was a superficial model.

Percy wandered over to the fish tank that we had in our kitchen, and I whipped back around, pleasantly surprised to find her still standing by me, and not by her fiancé who was talking about his disappointment in the results of our presidential election.

"Hands off girlfriend. He's mine," I joked, hoping to find more character traits about Fiona that I would like.

She laughed, and even her laugh was beautiful. "Oh trust me, we all know that. His eyes haven't left your body from the second you both walked into the room. I'm just appreciating a fine-looking man when I see one," her eyes held a glint of amusement, and now it was my turn to laugh.

I subtly looked over to Percy, and we briefly made eye contact, before he turned back to the small talk that he must have been having with Whitney about the fish.

"Plus," Fiona added. I looked back at her. "Unlike your step-brother, I follow the celebrity gossip. I know that he was Percy Jackson, future Olympic skier, before you made any introductions."

At this my ears perked up. Fiona knew who Percy was? How big of a deal is he?

I had to mask my confusion, because any real girlfriend of Percy's would know that he was this famous, so that a model in San Francisco would know his name, but I made a mental note to google his name the second I was alone.

My father and Bobby walked back over to where Whitney and I were talking by the base of the staircase, near the lit Christmas tree.

"Hey honey," Bobby kissed Fiona on the cheek.

"Annabeth, dear, you mentioned how you still needed to finish your Christmas shopping. Since Matthew isn't here yet, maybe you could show Percy the city tonight, and finish your shopping, and then tomorrow we can start really getting acquainted with Percy," my dad suggested.

I nodded my head furiously. I hadn't bought any gifts at all yet, and the idea of saving Percy from the suffocating small talk sounded like a promising idea. Plus, putting off the family dinner and questioning could wait until tomorrow.

I was having one of the best days of my life, and ending it by showing Percy around San Francisco at night sounded like the perfect ending to my day.

Percy finally escaped Whitney's conversation and came back to my side. He wrapped an arm around my waist, must have been for the show to my parents, and spoke up, "That sounds like a fantastic plan, Mr. Chase."

My dad laughed a jolly laugh, slapped Percy on the back, and said, "Please, call me Fredrick, son."

I excused us both, we grabbed my dad's keys from the counter, and rushed out of the house.

A/N: Please leave a review with any comments you may have. It takes less than a minute, and will leave me smiling for an hour. Also, any type of review will lead me into writing faster, meaning more chapters for you! Are you excited for this week and a half at the Chase house?