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Out of everyone she’d ever hugged, Annabeth would be lying if she said anyone came close to how nice Percy’s were.
And thankfully, for the past year now, she’s been getting them all night long. As it turned out, moving in with Percy had a lot more benefits than just being close to camp and seeing her best friend every day. It meant she could get his hugs for a lot longer than she had before.
And the best part of it all was waking up right next to him every day. While there were some days when she’d wake up after him, most of the time, she was the first to wake, which meant she had all the time in the world to just enjoy the warmth of Percy’s embrace.
That and him drooling all over her, which could be anywhere from her shirt, her neck, or her hair, but this was Percy. A little bit of drool wasn’t an issue coming from him.
Right now, she woke up with her face in his chest. This wasn’t the most common way they ended up cuddling, admittedly, but last night had been particularly rough on her. While the Titan War had ended, her memories of it hadn’t gotten any easier to relive, especially not the last few bits.
While she’d long since given up on Luke coming back, especially after he saw how he treated Percy whenever they saw each other, with that bit in the arena in the Labyrinth being especially anger-inducing, it didn’t mean seeing him die by her dagger, the same dagger he’d given her all those years ago, was easy to watch. It had been months since that happened, and she could still see the blood dripping, the life fading from her brother’s eyes, and the fact that it had been her who led to his death was still weighing heavily on her.
Thank the Gods for Percy, with that big goof being one of the main reasons she’d managed to start coming to terms with it all. That wasn’t to say all he did was talk her through it, but his constant presence and love helped ground her a lot. There was a lot that he’d done for her that she was beyond grateful for.
This morning, she’d woken up before him, as usual, and he was drooling in her hair. The fact that even after three years, he still drooled in his sleep made her smile, and that smile was pressed right to his chest. Moving a little, she pressed her lips right above his heart, quite possibly her favorite part about him, before she buried her face back into his chest. While she wanted to pull back and look at his peaceful face as he slept, she didn’t want to wake him up just now.
Besides, just lying here and cuddling with Percy was a perfect way to start her day.
After a bit, she could feel him starting to stir, and she pulled back slightly at that point to see him wake up. His face was just the cutest whenever he was trying to figure out where he was in the few moments after waking up, and she loved seeing him blink slowly as he worked his way to figuring out where he was.
But of course, whenever he’d see her, his brain would catch up, and then that familiar smile would light up his face. “Morning, Beth.”
“Morning,” she leaned in and pressed her lips to his, a soft good morning kiss that was tradition at this point. There was just something amazing about how she could feel all her stress melting out of her whenever they did that, and from what he’d said, he felt the same.
He was the absolute best friend she had in the world.
This kiss was admittedly longer than the ones they tended to share at camp, but these days, that came down to the fact that they didn’t like being this affectionate with each other in front of the others. For whatever reason, they kept looking at them funny whenever they kissed.
Why they did that, she couldn’t say, but it didn’t matter. What did was how Percy had his arms around her right now, pulling her closer to him as they kissed.
They didn’t break apart for a bit, at least not for long, with each break lasting about a second before they went back in, with Annabeth needing as much comfort as she could get. Someone back at camp had brought up Luke, saying how he was nothing more than scum and how they were glad he was dead.
While Annabeth had made peace with the fact that her brother had been long gone before he died, it didn’t mean it was easy to hear people talk about him like that. When she tried to ignore it, they doubled down, including calling her out and talking about how she kept defending him and some other things. She’d torn them apart, of course, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.
And yet, despite how much it had to hurt him knowing she was still mourning Luke, Percy had been there for her. Without even asking, the moment he saw her, he’d gathered her in his arms and taken her out of camp back home, and he’d done everything he could to make her smile again.
This boy was the best friend she could ever ask for.
When they finally broke apart, she smiled at him, rubbing her nose with his. “Thanks, Percy.”
“Any time,” he squeezed her once before pulling back. “We should shower.”
“Good idea,” after all, while she didn’t mind it, there was still drool in her hair, and they should probably get rid of it.
Seeing as they did have things they wanted to do, and they were running a little short on time, they hopped into the shower together. This wasn’t something they did very often, but whenever they wanted to save on time, they found it simpler to just shower together. Not like it was too weird, this was her best friend after all. If she couldn’t shower with him, who could she shower with?
As usual, when they started cleaning up, they helped each other out with it. Maybe it could be seen as a little weird if people didn’t know them, but it was nice having their hands on each other. A little comforting in a way, knowing that they were still together.
Right now, Percy had his hands in her hair, lathering it with more gentleness and skill than a lot of people expected from him, but she knew better. Her best friend refused to do things by halves, and when he learned that hair needed to be cared for in a specific way, especially long hair, he refused to wash her hair without knowing exactly how to.
“Hey, Beth?” he cut the silence, moving his hands to her shoulders. “Can I ask you something?”
“You just did,” she kept a straight face, her hands lathering his back right now. Even though it would be easier for her to do that with his back turned to her, she preferred doing it with them facing each other. Like this, not only could she see his face, but they’d be even closer to each other than they would otherwise.
“Jackass,” he huffed, moving to work on her back now, which pretty much pressed them against each other. This was pretty common for them, but it was no less relaxing having him pressed up against her like this. “You know what I meant.”
“Oh, alright,” she smiled, leaning forward to nuzzle his nose with hers. “What’s up?”
“You ever think of dating anyone?” he tilted his head.
“Hmm,” she frowned as she considered it. She’d be lying if she said the thought never crossed her mind, especially as Percy and Rachel were dancing around the subject for a bit before they decided it wasn’t for them, but there was no one she could ever think of like that. “A little. Why?”
“I dunno,” he shrugged, moving his hand down to her lower back now. “Was thinking about it. I mean, you’re pretty and you’re really nice to hang out with, so I figured you’d have a pretty easy time if you wanted to date anyone.”
“You think I’m pretty?” she raised her eyebrow, smiling a bit.
“Beth,” he chuckled. “I know you’re pretty.”
“Thanks,” Percy was a really sweet friend. “As for your question, I mean, I’ve thought about it a bit, especially when you were around Rachel for a while, but I dunno. Haven’t met anyone I feel would be a good match for me.”
“Oh,” he frowned for a moment before smiling. “Well, I’m sure you’ll meet someone who’ll be good for you at some point.”
Shaking her head, she threw her arms around Percy, and he hugged her back just as tightly. “You’re the best friend I could ask for, Percy.”
“Only the best for you, Beth. And who knows? Maybe you’ve met them already,” he nuzzled her shoulder, and she kissed his cheek, feeling a lot of her worries fall off her shoulders as they hugged each other flush. There was just something about this that made them both feel a lot better.
“And hey,” she whispered, not letting go of him. “Even if I do date anyone, you’ll still be my best friend, ok?”
“I’d hope so,” he whispered back. “Don’t wanna let go of you.”
“Me neither,” she kissed his cheek again before they pulled away, wrapping up their shower and getting out.
The moment they got dressed, Percy grabbed her and pulled her in for a long, sweet kiss, one that she returned without hesitation, and it just confirmed what they’d been talking about.
It didn’t matter who either of them ended up with. The two of them would be best friends forever.
School was annoying as usual, but Annabeth figured it could be worse.
At least here, she knew she had Percy by her side, which meant that she had her best friend with her. That did mean that everyone also looked at them funny whenever they kissed or cuddled, even weirder than some of the looks back at camp were, but the students here didn’t give them as hard a time over it, so she supposed it was a fine tradeoff.
Whatever free time they had in common, they spent it together, even if they were also with other friends. As it turned out, each friend group they ended up in liked both of them, so that made things a lot easier.
Right now, they were hanging out with her friend group, with Percy sitting right by her side. The two of them were pressed up against each other, as they tended to be, and that was when Madison spoke up.
“So, Annabeth,” she gave her a quick smile. “You ever think about dating anyone?”
“I mean, I’m not against it,” she shrugged, leaning a bit against Percy. “Just haven’t found anyone I’d want to date, you know?”
Her friends all shared a look that she didn’t really understand, but it passed pretty quickly. “Yeah, I think I get that. But like, if you met someone, would you be up for it?”
“I mean, sure,” she nodded, her arm going around Percy’s waist. The whole time, he just focused on his food, but he did smile when she squeezed his waist. “Why?”
“Well,” that was Brandon, a pretty sweet guy all things considered. “There’s been some talk about you in a few circles I’m in. Something about maybe someone asking you out soon.”
“Oh?” she shared a look with Percy. “You heard of this?”
“No,” Percy shook his head. “If I had, I’d have told you already.”
“Someone from AP math, Tyler,” Brandon smiled slightly. “I doubt you’d know him, Perce.”
“Ah,” Percy nodded, and he squeezed Annabeth’s waist protectively. He was protective like that, and Annabeth couldn’t say she minded too much. “Cool. So, this guy, he good?”
“I mean, I don’t know him very well personally,” Brandon shrugged. “All his friends talk about how he’s a nice guy, though, so he shouldn’t be too bad.”
“I guess we’ll find out.” The rest of lunch went by without anything too weird, though Annabeth couldn’t stop thinking about how Tyler apparently wanted to ask her out. A part of her felt a little giddy about it, knowing that someone wanted to date her, especially since she recognized Tyler.
While he wasn’t exactly popular or too athletic, he didn’t look too bad, and she’d heard some decent things about him so far. And yet, she hadn’t spoken to him too much up until now, though they did buddy up for some study sessions before, so maybe that’s what got him to want to ask her out.
The rest of the day went by without anything too interesting happening. Classes went by, she tried not to lose her mind, and the teachers were generally annoying, but other than that, nothing of note happened.
That was, at least, until the end of the day, just as Annabeth was packing up after AP math. That was when Tyler walked up to her. “Hey, Annabeth?”
“Yeah?” she looked at him for a moment, hoping her smile was comforting.
“Wanna go out?” he cringed for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m so sorry. I meant to say something else, but I-”
“Tyler,” she chuckled slightly, cutting him off.
“Yeah?” he looked like he wanted to disappear through the floor, but he did have a bit of hope in his eyes.
“I’d like that,” she stepped forward and squeezed his hand. “You’ve got my number, right?”
“Uh, yeah!” he smiled widely. “Haven’t lost it. See you on Friday?”
“Sounds good to me.” When she got back home, she told Percy all about it, and he whooped pretty loud before kissing her, saying that was for luck before Friday. Of course, they’d have another one before the date, but she wasn’t going to say no to more kisses.
After all, Percy was still her best friend in the whole world.
The next few months went by pretty smoothly, and Annabeth was proud to say she was in a relationship now.
When Tyler had asked her out, she’d been a bit nervous, but their first date went by amazingly, and she’d even gotten a kiss out of it. Other than Percy, she couldn’t say she’d really kissed anyone else, so it was a pretty fun experience, all things considered.
After that first date, she’d gone on two more with Tyler before he asked her to be his girlfriend. Of course, she’d said yes, and they’d talked about the ground rules of their relationship.
Annabeth mentioned how she wanted to make sure she had enough time for school, which Tyler was perfectly alright with, and how she wanted to have some barriers left in their relationship, at least for now. As nice as Tyler was, she doubted she could tell him that she was a daughter of Athena any time soon.
In return, he set some rules of his own. For one, he set that he wanted to go on at least one date per week, but preferably more, which was fine with her. The second point was that he wanted her to be alright with needing to reassure him that she was happy with him a decent amount of times, with apparently an old relationship of his not going too great.
But the one she had the most trouble with was when he asked her to stop kissing Percy.
“I know you two are close,” he’d said, holding her hand gently. “It’s just… whenever you two kiss, I don’t know, I don’t like it too much.”
“It’s just a thing we do,” Annabeth frowned. “We’re not into each other, you know.”
“I know that,” Tyler smiled at her, and she couldn’t deny it was a nice smile. “Maybe it’s something for now, and maybe I’ll be fine with it later, just… maybe for a bit? If you could stop?”
“Alright,” she nodded, figuring it wouldn’t be too bad. “I’ll talk to Percy.”
“You’re the best,” he’d kissed her then, and Annabeth had to admit, it was a very nice kiss.
Percy had taken the news better than she’d worried, with him just smiling and hugging her without any kisses. It was a little weird after the past year, but she supposed it wasn’t too bad.
That had been two months ago, back in November, and now she and Tyler were the talk of the school. He’d carry her books to class, they’d hang out after school, and he’d kiss her whenever he could.
That was how she found herself back at his place, with them supposed to be watching a movie, but instead, they were just making out as the thing played in the background.
She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t enjoying this, and it didn’t take her long before Tyler had pulled her onto his lap.
This wasn’t a new position for her in general, but this was the first time she’d been like this with Tyler, and it was pretty fun. Whenever she’d hear from her friends about how they’d be making out with their boyfriends, she’d always wondered just how fun it would be, with her only real frame of reference having been Percy, but that was different.
Now, she was straddling her own boyfriend, her tongue down his throat as her hair was tangled in his curly brown hair. The whole time, his hands were on her hips, but when she moved to his lap, they started moving to more dangerous places.
“Oh!” she gasped as he grabbed her ass, squeezing it once. “Tyler!”
“This okay?” he asked, his other hand moving to the hem of her shirt.
“Yeah,” she nodded quickly, raising her arms as he pulled her shirt off, his own following it quickly. So far, this was fine, but Annabeth wasn’t exactly ready to move much past this.
Thankfully, it didn’t look like Tyler was going to do much other than some light touching, grabbing at her waist, and cupping her chest above her bra a little. Everything was going great until he went to unhook her bra, which made her tense up a bit. From the way he tensed up, too, she had a feeling he noticed, and she was worried she’d ruined something.
Thankfully, all he did was pull back a bit with an apologetic look on his face that hid what little annoyance he might be feeling. “Guessing you’re not ready?”
“No,” she shook her head. “Sorry.”
“Hey, it’s alright,” he smiled, though it didn’t look wholly real. “I can wait. Besides, it’ll be worth it.”
“Yeah?” she smiled shyly, and she couldn’t stop the giggle that came out of her mouth when he flipped them over, pinning her to the couch.
“I know so,” with that, he pressed his lips back to hers, and any thoughts of taking this further were thrown out the window.
It was hard to tell when Annabeth noticed something was off about everyone around her, but when she did, she couldn’t unnotice it.
Everyone was looking at her funny whenever she showed up, including her friends. Whenever she’d ask about it, all she’d get was vague muttering and side-eyes she didn’t appreciate in the slightest. Would it really kill them to just tell her what was wrong? While they didn’t exactly stop hanging out with her, she just wished they’d stop being this weird around her.
When she brought it up to Tyler, he just shrugged. “High school can be like that. Kind of surprised you’re surprised.”
“Oh, I was homeschooled for a while,” she shrugged, hoping he’d buy that and not ask any more questions.
“Oh,” Tyler frowned, and she didn’t really know what he was thinking right then, but he ended up smiling. “Well, that explains it at least.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Annabeth frowned, feeling a little self-conscious about that.
“Not at all,” Tyler smiled, leaning in to kiss her, which was nice of him. “Just caught me by surprise, is all.”
“Alright,” she smiled back before heading to her class, glad she had such a caring boyfriend.
And yet, that didn’t stop the looks. It didn’t stop the whispers. I didn’t stop the fact that Annabeth felt like everyone was sharing a secret that they refused to tell.
Thankfully, her boyfriend was there for her the whole time, standing by her side, offering his shoulder to lean on, and making her feel better. Whenever she’d get annoyed with her friends, he’d tell her it wasn’t her fault and that it was all on them. If anything, they should be telling her what’s bothering them if they were staring at her so much. After all, she didn’t owe them anything.
Of course, she knew that, but it still sucked that she needed to think like that. And it sucked even more that she was sitting at a table that was mostly empty now. Tyler was there, and he made it all worth it, of course, but that didn’t change the fact that she didn’t have that many friends around her now.
It didn’t change the fact that Percy was all the way on the other table and not with her.
“Everything alright, Annie?” Tyler broke her out of her thoughts, nudging her shoulder.
“Uh, yeah,” she smiled at him, not wanting to mention Percy. She didn’t really know why, but she had a feeling he wouldn’t like Percy being mentioned. “Just thinking about the test coming up.”
“You’ll be fine,” he smiled, shaking his head. “You always are.”
“And if I want to keep being fine, I’ll need time to focus, mister,” she poked his chest. “That means no more distracting me during study sessions.”
“Whatever you say,” he raised his hands in mock surrender, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
Maybe her friends were being a little distant, but it didn’t matter. She still had her boyfriend, and she’d still see Percy back home. Everything would be fine.
It was at the beginning of February when things started getting really weird.
For one, Tyler seemed to grow distant whenever Percy was brought up. While the two of them were never exactly friends, she didn’t think they had any issues with each other before now, but apparently, Tyler didn’t like him.
This happened after the last time he’d tried to make a move to unhook her bra, which was also weird, but he did take her request to wait well enough. At least, he didn’t seem to hate her, though he was starting to act a little weird.
The weirdest part of all of it, though, was Percy. For the past few weeks, he’d been acting weird around her. A little distant, looking at her like he was confused, but not saying a thing about it. When she brought it up with Tyler, he’d just shrugged and said it was a normal guy thing to be a little distant sometimes, and that she should just let it play out.
So she did, watching Percy grow more and more confused, with a bit of hurt popping into his eyes too. They still shared their bed when they slept, so she got to see and feel the change happen in real time, and she noticed a few things changed with Percy as the weeks went by.
For one, while he still hugged her close, he did it almost robotically, with none of the warmth he had before. The hugs were still very warm; this was still Percy after all, but it was a noticeable shift in how he was doing it. And yet, she could still feel there was no malice in that, and that he still loved her, which made things even weirder.
Another thing was how he was talking. Before, he’d be animated whenever he spoke with her, and that was something she loved to see, with how his eyes lit up. Now, he looked more reserved, like he was surprised she was even talking to him.
Since when had they ever been surprised that they were willing to talk to each other?
But the worst part was how he looked at her. These days, instead of the shining love his eyes always held, he was looking at her with a bit of hesitation and reservation, almost like he did back at the zoo truck. The way he’d put it back then, he’d been worried she wanted to stab him, and he was looking at her like that again.
Just what had happened for him to be acting like this? Even if Tyler said it was just a normal guy thing, she knew Percy very well; he wasn’t just a normal guy. Percy was starting to grow tense around her, and she was going to figure out why.
It was the end of the first week of February when she decided to figure it out. While Tyler hadn’t exactly taken the news that she wanted to spend her weekend at home this time very well, he hadn’t started a fight about it. Besides, they’d already gone on their date earlier this week, so it wasn’t like she was breaking that agreement they had.
At first, she’d wanted to wait and see if she could find a good time to bring it up, but she found it pretty quickly when he sat on the opposite side of the couch from her. “What’s going on, Percy?”
“What do you mean?” he frowned, but she could tell he knew exactly what she meant, and she could tell he knew that she knew. At least they could still read each other’s thoughts.
“You know what I mean,” she got up and closed the distance, but she didn't press herself up against him, wanting to save that for after they talked. Even though there was barely any space between them, it still felt like there was an entire ocean separating the two.
“Yeah,” he sighed, dropping his head back. “Yeah, I do,” for a moment, he didn’t say anything, just staring at the ceiling. When he spoke, she felt her heart drop to her stomach. “This is the first time in months we actually hang out for longer than a few minutes.”
It took her a moment to process that. For some reason, it didn’t make any sense to her that they weren’t hanging out. This was Percy, this was her best friend, of course, they spent time together recently. The only problem was, try as she might, she couldn’t think of the last time they’d actually hung out together for too long. “Oh.”
“And like, I get it,” he said, speeding up a little through his words. “You’ve got Tyler now, and the two of you are hanging out, I just… I just miss you.”
“Percy…” She didn’t know what to say. Had she really been ignoring Percy, her best friend, for this long without even noticing it? Sure, she’d noticed that she tended to sit away from Percy at lunch these days, but she didn’t notice they hadn’t been hanging out.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked, and her heart broke. “Whatever it was, I’m sorry. Just- I don’t know what else to say, I-”
Without even thinking, she cut him off by throwing her arms around him. Within a second, his arms were around her, and it felt like everything was right again. Somehow, she hadn’t noticed how long she’d gone without Percy’s hugs, but now that she had one again, she could tell it had been way too long.
“You haven’t done anything wrong, Percy,” she said, her voice wobbling a bit as she tried not to cry. It wasn’t like she hadn’t done this herself, but the thought of Percy hurting so much broke her heart even further. “This one’s on me. I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you. I… I hadn’t noticed it’d been this long.”
“It’s just…” he squeezed her once, and she climbed onto his lap, finding it was just as comfortable as it always was. “You’ve got Tyler now, and you’ve been spending so much time with him. Felt like I was losing you.”
“You’ll never lose me,” she promised both him and herself that right then. “I’m never leaving you, Percy. Not unless you want me to.”
“Never,” he seemed to relax at that, though his hold on her grew tighter. That was fine by her. “It’s you and me forever, Beth.”
“Till death and beyond,” she sealed that promise with the longest kiss to his cheek yet, and when she pulled back, she kissed him there a moment later. “I’ll talk to Tyler. Just because I’m dating him doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have time for my best friend.”
“Okay,” the fact that he didn’t even say she didn’t have to made her wonder just how hurt he’d been over the past few months. She got her answer when she pulled back slightly and saw the look on his face.
“I’m sorry,” she dropped her forehead to his, not kissing him since Tyler did ask they not do that, but trying to give as much comfort as she could. “You’re still my best friend, Perce. I promise.”
“And you’re mine,” he finally started smiling, and she felt that things might just work out for them now.
All she needed to do was talk to her boyfriend.
As it turned out, her talk with Tyler didn’t go as well as she’d hoped.
“You’re saying you want to spend more time with Percy?” he frowned, looking angry at her request.
“I’m just asking for some boundaries in the relationship,” she crossed her arms. “I really like you, Tyler, but we’re spending all our time together. I haven’t seen any of my friends since we got together, at least not that much, and I’m spending all my time with you. You’re great, but I want just a bit of space.”
“If you didn’t want to be with me, you could’ve just said so,” Tyler huffed, glaring at her. “You didn’t have to lead me on this long.”
“Lead you on?” Annabeth tilted her head. “What are you talking about?”
“You wouldn’t put out for me,” Tyler glared. “I’m sure you’re still whoring yourself out for that dick Jackson, but you wouldn’t put out for me!”
“Tyler!” Her eyes went wide at that. “What the-”
“You think I don’t know?!” he took a step forward, and she tensed, ready for a fight. “You’re here telling me you want to spend more time with Jackson. You won’t sleep with me, and you’re acting like it’s my fault! It’s like they say, nice guys finish last!”
“If you think you’re being nice,” Annabeth glared at him, taking her own step forward. “You’re a bigger idiot than I thought.”
“You’re just a whore!” he cried out, but he took a step back. “I’m sure you’re spreading your legs for Jackson every night!”
“Well, we do cuddle up, but I wouldn’t sleep with him while dating you,” she huffed. Then again, Percy was just her best friend; it wasn’t like she’d sleep with him anyway, but he wouldn’t with her either, and that was fine. “And before you say anything, I don’t care about it. Leave and never talk to me again. We’re done.”
Without waiting to see what he had to say, she turned and left for home, desperately needing to see Percy. While she liked to think that she handled that well, and she didn’t really care about what Tyler had to say about her, it still hurt that this was the end. The way he was talking made it sound like he just wanted her for her body, and the fact that she hadn’t slept with him was something he’d brought up. Was that all she was good for? She didn’t know.
The moment she got home, Percy opened the door for her, his face going from excited to worried in less than a second. “What’s wrong?”
“Tyler and I broke up,” she said quietly, still not really sure how she felt about it.
Within a second, she was in Percy’s arms, and he’d even picked her up and was carrying her to their bedroom. Normally, she wouldn’t be too keen on being carried when she could walk, but this time, she didn’t mind it, especially not as he held her so securely like she was the most important thing in the world. The fact that he held her to his front, with her legs wrapped around his waist, her face buried in his neck.
When he sat on the bed, she didn’t let go, needing him close. “It went bad, didn’t it?”
“Very,” she whispered, nuzzling into his embrace. “He didn’t like that I wanted to spend more time with you.”
“Oh,” Percy kissed the side of her head. “Anything else?”
“A lot,” she sniffled, hating that she was getting emotional over this. “He made it sound like he was only with me because of sex. He said I wouldn’t ‘put out’, he put it, and that I was a whore, sleeping with you.”
The growl that came out of Percy probably shouldn’t have made her feel this happy, but it was good to know he still loved her. “I’m gonna kill him.”
“You can’t,” she sighed, pulling back slightly to look at him. “He’s still a mortal.”
“Don’t care,” Percy’s eyes were glowing green, and she couldn’t deny they were pretty. “Gonna kill him.”
Chuckling, she leaned in to kiss him, their first one since she and Tyler had started dating. It was a good one, better than anything she shared with Tyler, but that was to be expected. After all, Percy was her best friend.
When she pulled back, he looked a lot better, but he still looked a little angry. “No killing, Percy Jackson.”
Sighing, he nodded. “Fine, no killing. But I think we’ve got something else we should do.”
“Yeah?” She knew her eyes were shining just like his, and she knew where he was going with this. “What’s that?”
“I think we’ve got a lot to make up for,” was all he said before he pulled her back with him, wrapping his arms around her, and kissing her with all he had.
If Tyler saw them now, he’d probably think he was right, but he was the furthest thing from it. She and Percy were just friends after all.
And right now, she had a lot of time she wanted to make up with her best friend.
School went back to normal pretty quickly after that whole mess.
Thankfully, her friends didn’t hate her for what happened, and instead, all said they’d been worried about her, which was pretty sweet. It didn’t take them long to all hate Tyler, and while she asked that they not attack him, with her not wanting any drama, that didn’t stop them from spreading rumors, or maybe she should call it the truth, about him.
The best part, though, was that she was hanging out with Percy again. Without Tyler taking up all of her time, which she now wondered if he’d been doing it on purpose, she had all the time in the world to spend with her best friend.
Something else she’d noticed was that Percy didn’t try to monopolize her time, and she still got to see her other friends, which made her wonder just how she’d missed it with Tyler. She supposed it didn’t matter anymore, but it was still something to keep in mind. At least he hadn’t done anything else to her.
And today, things were already looking up as she was making her way to class alongside Percy. Things did get weird when they passed the bathrooms, though, as Tyler was launched out with what looked like a pressure wave of water.
That didn’t matter to her too much, and she kept on going forward a bit until they were a little past the bathrooms. When they were, she turned to Percy with a raised eyebrow. “Well?”
All she got was a small shrug. “Wasn’t gonna kill him, but he doesn’t get to talk to you like that.”
It took her a moment, but she managed to let the warmth inside her show on her face with a wide smile. “I love you, you big goof.”
“I love you, too,” he managed to say before she pushed him up against the lockers and gave him the biggest thank-you kiss she ever had.
And this time, there was nothing that could stop her.