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The first time I saw Annabeth again after summer break, I tripped over my shoelace and got to know the sand a lot better than I had known it before. She had sank to down to her knees with the force of her laughter, thumping down in front of my face and crossing her arms over her middle as if protecting herself from my stupidity. Not that I could blame her for that.
The second time I saw Annabeth again after summer break, I slipped off the dock and into the water with an ungraceful crash. Which also happened to be directly afterward. But, hey, I had to rinse away the sand somehow.
The third time I saw Annabeth again after summer break, she had turned into a rippling mirage sitting on the edge of the dock, kicking her feet in the water above me as I propelled myself back to the surface. I pulled myself onto the wood beside her, shaking off like a wet dog.
"Did you forget your left foot at home?" She asked. There was tears of laughter in the corner of her eyes.
"None of that."
"Come on. You deserve it." She shoved my shoulder. "Twice, Percy. You should be embarrassed. That's embarrassing."
"Just because I deserve it doesn't mean I'm allowing it."
"Who said it was up to you to allow anything?" she said playfully.
It had been an unusually hot August, and today was no different. The grass around Camp was toasted into a straw-like brown in a way that reminded me of when Grover had wanted frosted tips four summers ago (I'd told him he would've had to commit and dye all his fur too, which would've been very expensive. He dropped the idea soon after). With so few clouds in the sky, the sand bordering the Sound had been swarmed with campers. Aphrodite kids were sprawled out like cats on beach towels, obsessed over UV and ice water. Apollo kids threw around a half-deflated ball as part of a made-up game nobody actually understood. Demeter kids rubbed aloe vera into each other's shoulders and watered the dyrads. You name it.
I'd only just arrived at Camp for the year for summer vacation, since my mom wanted to drop me off and her car had only just come back from the auto shop. It was generally a good idea to make sure your car's in good shape, with some pretty strong insurance before making the drive to Camp Half-Blood. We'd learned that the hard way.
I'd found Annabeth sat on the dock sketching in an oversized notebook, with her grey socks bundled up in her Converse beside her so she could dip her legs in the water. After my ever-so-graceful double tumble - we don't have to go over that again - I was sat beside her soaking in the sun, leaning back on my hands.
"It's never up to me," I half-heartedly complained, "It's always you."
"Exactly. You've got it." She closed over her sketchbook and put it to the side, out of the way of my dripping clothes. There was a definite smirk on her face. "Dry yourself off."
The water instantly snaked out of my hair and clothes, returning to the lapping Sound like melting ice.
Annabeth watched and waited, before hugging me tightly around my chest as soon as I she judged me dry enough. I leaned to the side to meet her, admiring the way the blonde in her hair turned shimmering gold in the sunlight, like one of those expensive dolls you're not meant to take out the box. As she moved away, she pecked my cheek.
"It's been a long summer."
I knew this was her way of admitting to missing me. I couldn't help but feel a warm tickle in my stomach and at the back of my throat, as I always did when she said something like that. Or maybe it was sand.
"Been up to much?"
"Nothing special." Her eyes took on a striking transparent quality in the light. "Lots of new campers this summer. Mostly just getting them settled in, and stuff like that. Nothing particularly interesting. Nothing interesting ever happens unless you're here to mess stuff up." My shoulder collected a second shove.
"What can I say? I guess I just attract danger. I'm a bad boy. Danger magnet."
She blinked at me.
I winked at her.
I pulled myself out of the water for a second time.
***
The evening came fast. Maybe it was spending time with Annabeth that made time fly, or maybe I'd just gotten used to July's extra long days, but by the time we were all herded into our cabins and ushered to bed, I wasn't ready to sleep.
Of course, I was glad to be back at Camp, and more than glad to be back with Annabeth and my other friends, but I'd forgotten just how dark the Poseidon Cabin got at night. The bed had that unfamiliar, stale feeling after not being touched for months, like shoes I hadn't yet broken in. I never really shut over the windows, so milky moonlight rinsed the stone floor, seeming to take on a liquid quality that clung like soapy suds.
I lay awake, staring at the ghosts of posters on the wall beside me. The left-over heat was still stifling, and before long I stood up and went over to the nearest window, which I pushed swiftly open as far as it would go.
I squinted into the dark.
It wasn't that late, so several campers still milled around, pushing curfew as much as they could get away with. Which, to be fair, usually wasn't much unless Dionysus had taken an early night. I spotted the primary colour feathers of early harpies who had begun to gather any left over debris from the daytime, occasionally hissing at the stragglers like stray cats.
I breathed the humid night air. I usually liked humidity - the moisture seemed to put a spring in my step - but I also liked not feeling like I was breathing pasta steam while I was trying to wind down. The breeze parted my hair on my forehead in a way which I'm sure was extremely flattering, so I raked my hand upwards through my bangs, pretending they were going to listen.
"Hey." The door shut with a gentle swish just as I turned around. "Can I sleep in here?"
Annabeth stood by the doorway, in a pair of pyjama shorts which disappeared beneath the scuffed hem of an oversized cotton t-shirt which looked a bit too familiar. She walked towards me as her hands worked at her hair, fighting with the hair tie as she tried to pull down her pony tail.
"Of course. You always can." I met her halfway and untangled the hair tie for her. She slipped it over my wrist.
"The first few nights in my cabin are always a nightmare. Everyone's so excited to see everyone again after summer, and I look like such a buzz-kill telling them to shut up every five minutes." She rolled her eyes and sat down on the edge of my bed.
Reaching behind her head, she parted her hair at the back and swept it over her shoulders, loosely combing it through roughly with her fingers, too tired to care about the frizz. The moonlight landed across her face. She reminded me even more of a beautiful doll, or maybe a white marble statue. I sat beside her, flicking a stray strand of her hair back over to the right side, just to prove to myself she was real, and she was not boxed up or out of reach.
She dragged her hair into a loose plait, retrieved the hair tie from my wrist, and brushed the plait back over her shoulder so it settled down her back. Frizzy strands escaped and framed her face, catching the moonlight again when she looked at me.
"What?" She tilted her head.
"I missed you." She might have not wanted to say it, but I didn't mind.
Looking at her now, with the casualness of the situation, I had no idea how I'd made it through summer vacation without her.
"Come here," she said.
She gave me a glimpse of her smile before she leaned in and met my lips, holding my cheek firmly with one hand. This was the first time we'd been properly alone since I'd returned, and Gods had I missed it. Her hand was cold and refreshing against the air's heat, breaking me out in goose bumps and making me lean into her without even meaning to. I found my own hands made their way onto her back, tracing up her spine through the thin cotton. Even when she moved away, her nose was inches from my own, her eyes exploring mine. We seemed to exchange a single breath.
Outside, the chatter of two campers laughing with each other travelled past the cabin, fading into the night.
"You have nice toothpaste," she muttered, lowering her eyes from mine.
"It's light blue. Peppermint."
This made her laugh, which in turn made me laugh, which in turn, gave her another excuse to shut me up with her lips.
When she broke the kiss this time, she moved away from me enough to wriggle herself beneath the covers of my bed. I did the same. This was never something we discussed, whenever she slept in my cabin. It was a silent agreement. And not something I'd guess either of us were exactly planning to complain about.
The warmth of her body beside mine, coupled with the already sweltering temperature of the night air, meant I was far too hot, but I found that I'd have rather melted into the mattress beside her than move further away. I pressed another kiss to her forehead before wrapping my arms tightly around her middle, savouring her closeness.
"I missed you too, Percy. But you already know that," she whispered into the dark.