Chapter Text
God to my Goddess
Chapter 18
Annabeth’s POV
Somehow everyone seemed to know what had happened with Percy and his step dad by the time he came back to school. I had been spending almost every night at Percy’s house, so he drives us to school on the Monday he comes back. After putting the car in park, I notice him take a deep and calming breath before climbing out.
“Everything okay?” I ask him.
He nods. “Yes. I’m ready to go back.”
I grab his hand and we walk towards the school together. Thalia and Jason catch up with us by the front doors.
“What’s up, my dude?” Jason asks, giving Percy a side hug, as Thalia pulls me into a hug.
The rest of the day goes off without a hitch. Percy and I are still in most of the same classes and I go wait for him in the natatorium while he finishes swim practice. After a few minutes, someone sits down next to me. I look up from my book to see Piper, of all people.
“Hi, Piper,” I say cautiously. She has not been actively hating me but, we have not had any sort of friendship since the night of the prom.
“Hi, Annabeth. I just wanted to check up on you.”
I give her a side look. “Check up on me?” I repeat.
“Umm, yeah.” She brushes a few stray strands of hair out of her face. “Well, see how you were doing since our sleepover after prom. I see you and Percy are back together.”
“Together, for the first time,” I correct gently. “We were never actually a couple before now.”
A familiar look comes over her face, like it always does whenever boys are brought up. “That’s good. I’m glad things are working out.”
“Me too.”
“But like, how are you doing, Annabeth? I know you and Percy, well, just Percy really, went through some hard stuff recently, and well, I just wanted to make sure that, that you were handling it okay.”
I let her stutter through that almost painful sentence because she is not usually like this. Piper is not one to usually care about anything other than surface level relationships and it almost feels nice to hear it from her.
I look across the pool to where Percy is standing in his swim suit with a towel around his neck, coaching some of the other kids. “I’m doing better, staying strong and all that. Percy, he’s surviving, and believe it or not, what he’s going through made it easier for us to get together.”
She scoots a little closer to me on the bench. “Are you not at all worried that Percy is just using you to get over this tragedy in his life?”
I close my book and look at her. “Deal with it, Piper. I managed to win over the heart of Percy Jackson, not you.” A light smile comes over my lips. Oh, it feels so good to be back bantering with Piper like this again.
She matches my smile. “Well, darn, that’s too bad. There go my plans for the evening.”
I throw my arm around her and she leans her head on my shoulder. I never realized how much I missed my friendship with Piper.
“Did I tell you that Jason and I made up?”
I look down at her in surprise. “No, you didn’t”
“We did, at prom. I went and danced with him and we kinda talked things out. Well, he tried too, I was slightly tipsy.”
We both laugh. Classic Piper, drinking at prom. “What happened.”
“He apologized for cheating and all that. He told me he still loved me but didn’t want to get back together, not due to my pushing.”
“Hold up!” I place my hands on Piper’s shoulders so I can see her face. “You told him you wanted to get back together? Piper… why?” I groan with exasperation.
She giggles slightly and tries to cover her face with her hands. “I was slightly tipsy, I told you. Also, I may or may not have told him I’d be willing to have sex with him if we got back together.”
I can not believe the sight in front of me. Piper, blushing furiously and embarrassed, sitting in front of me nearly laughing herself to tears because of a boy.
“What did he say?”
“He said ‘no’ like any gentleman would.”
“That’s good. We wouldn’t want our Precious Piper here losing her virginity to a cheating gentleman.”
She sticks her tongue out at me, but she still holds her face in her hands.
“What about you?”
“What about me?” I ask.
“Have you and Percy…done it yet?”
“Piper!” I exclaim loudly and lightly hit her shoulder. “Why would you ask such a thing?”
“Hey, just asking,” She giggles. She then looks at me expectantly, as though she actually wants me to answer.
I look back at Percy. “No, we haven’t. We haven’t even come close, it… it’s just kinda not like that with us, you know?”
She just nods. Her braids bob on her shoulder. I notice how just much shorter her hair is now that she’s cut it. “I wish Jason and I had been like that,” She says wishfully.
“You got a haircut,” I comment, unable to find anything else to say on the subject of sex.
She flips her hair around. “Yup. Did it myself and everything.” We both dissolve into a puddle of giggles. Her phone buzzes and she looks at it. “Ye-ouch. I’ve got to go.” She stands.
I give her a hug. “Thanks, Piper. We should hang out again soon.”
She winks at me. “Duh. Bye sweetheart!”
She leaves and I turn back to my book but I am unable to focus very well because I keep wandering back to what Piper said. Percy and I have not even come close to actually having sex, is that a normal thing? It seems like abstaining is a good thing, but everyone else seems to be doing it all the time. Besides, Percy and I just got together, it might still be too soon to be thinking about this type of thing.
Right?
Before I come to any sort of conclusion, I am interrupted. “Hey.”
I look up to see Percy leaning over the railing separating the bleachers and the pool floor. I smile and walk over to him. He leans up to kiss me on the cheek. “So, you got plans for the evening?”
I look up and pretend to think about it. “Yeah, actually. I’m busy.”
“Busy? Doing what?”
“I have a hot date”
He smiles. “Who is the lucky guy?”
“Well, he is tall and handsome and has the most gorgeous green eyes.”
Percy leans up to kiss me one the cheek again. “He sounds perfect”
“He is.”
He grabs his stuff and leads me out to the car. It’s a Friday night and he told me he was taking me out, but he has kept it a surprise as to where we are going.
It turns out he takes me mini golfing. He is as bad as I am and we had so much fun together. We stop for ice cream on the way home, and then he drives me back to my place.
Malcolm is waiting up for me, but everyone else is asleep. “How was your night out?” He asks, standing to give me a hug.
“Awesome!” I say, “it was so much fun, but I am dead on my feet”
He laughs. “Well, you’d better go right to bed. You can’t be tired for the party tomorrow.”
It takes me a moment to remember what he is talking about, but Piper is throwing a party at her place. Everyone will be there, but it’s really a sort of reconciliation party for the crazy year between most of us. I know Drew is going to be there with Selena and Hazel. Even Jason is showing up. Nico finally grew some guts and will be there with his date, Will. Percy and I are going together and I know Luke will be there as well. I’m really excited.
“You’re right. I really should get to bed. I don’t want to miss anything tomorrow night.”
He smiles at me and turns off the tv. “To bed then.”
I get myself ready for bed, but between my talk with Piper, all the feels from my date with Percy and my excitement for the party tomorrow, I find it really hard to fall asleep. Eventually I pull out my phone and text Percy late into the night.
The End