Chapter Text
Today was the day Connor Stoll was going to be a man and finally do what he had been pushing aside because he was too afraid:
Ask Annabeth Chase on a date.
They've been friends since freshman year. He still remembers the first time he saw her, with her big brown eyes and glossy smile. It was as if an angel had descended to Earth, and he was one of those who were destined to follow her and do as she wishes.
To say that Connor was head over heels for Annabeth would be an understatement.
They became friends after being assigned as project partners later that year. Ever since he first talked to her, Connor knew he was a sap.
Although they had been friends for four years and he had had a crush on her the whole time, he never mustered the courage to ask her out, even though some of his football teammates had encouraged him to do so. Not many people knew about Connor's crush on Annabeth Chase, especially the person of interest. As far as he knew, he had kept it on the down-low.
He thought Travis had some suspicions, but he never told his brother because he was afraid that Connor’s heart would be broken. As if Annabeth were capable of something as vile as that! And their other mutual friends were already teasing them enough. But secretly, Connor was delighted that their friends thought they could be a couple. That means they give off couple energy, and that Annabeth has a thing for him, right?
But anyway, today was the day he was finally going to ask her out, and they would go on a date where Annabeth would see how charming he is, and she would confess her undeniable love for him, and they would happily live together and marry, and—
"Okay, not too fast, Connor," he reminded himself, talking out loud. He was in front of his dresser, trying to choose the perfect outfit that would make Annabeth crumble and be speechless, but not so speechless that she couldn't say yes when he asked her out.
It had to be perfect, but unfortunately, Connor was a teenage boy who would throw on a pair of jeans and a random shirt from his wardrobe and call it a day. Today was special, though. He had to find something that showed he made an effort, but not too much. He had to maintain a nonchalant attitude. Ugh, that’s so complicated!
He could ask Silena, but then she would ask him who he was dressing up for and there was no way. Silena interfered with everyone's love life too much; he didn't need that. At the same time, Silena never revealed what she knew. Trust Connor tried to pry information about Annabeth's love life from her, while trying to be low-key, of course, but she would never say a thing.
A hopeful side of him concluded it was because, maybe, just maybe, it concerned him. As far as he knows, she has never dated anyone, nor has she ever shown interest in any of the boys or girls at their school, which only made his hopes grow.
Knowing that she was single reassured him and made him think he had a chance with her. And that he actually can (try) to flirt with her because you need a foundation for asking a girl out on a date, right? A friendship isn't enough; you need to show her that it's not totally platonic. At least that's what Connor thinks is the right thing to do.
It's not like he hasn't tried to ask her out! Okay, it was subtle, but the thought matters, right? Like, he asked her what she was doing on Friday night or if she wanted to do their homework together. Okay, their friends were with them, but again, it’s the thought that counts.
After some thought, he decided to wear jeans with a brown button-up shirt (the same color as her eyes). He already bought chocolate, and on the way to Annabeth's house, there was a cute flower shop where he would buy flowers, though he hadn't decided which one yet; then, he would walk to Annabeth's house (he had already prepared a whole speech) and ask her out, and she would be so surprised, but she would jump into his arms and—
He needs to stop daydreaming and take action. Or Annabeth would find a tall, etalon-like man and he would be left heartbroken.
Connor looked at his brown hair and decided not to do anything. He was already running out of time. The flower shop would close soon, and he didn't want to knock on Annabeth's door too late, afraid that Mr. Chase would answer instead of his perfect daughter.
He grabbed the heart shaped chocolate box, his wallet and his house key and headed outside after telling his mom that he wouldn’t be late.
While walking to the flower shop, Connor started to feel stressed after leaving the comfort of his room. He began to question whether it was a good idea to show up at his crush's door and ask her out when he had no confirmation that she had romantic feelings for him. But before he could chicken out, he arrived at the flower shop. He didn't even realize that he had been lost in his thoughts for so long.
Connor entered the shop and realized that he had no idea what he was doing. Thankfully, there was a young woman at the counter.
"Um, hello," he said.
The woman, who had been scrolling on her phone, lifted her head and smiled at him as she put her phone down.
“Oh, hello, dear. I didn’t hear you enter. I’m sorry. My name is Bronte. How can I help you?” she asked him in that service-client voice.
Connor didn't think she was that much older than him to call him "dear," but he ignored that. He thought of what he had to say so that he wouldn't appear dumb.
"I'm going to ask a girl I like out, but I honestly know shit about flowers."
Well done Connor.
“Oh, that’s so sweet! She’s a lucky girl if you went out of your way to buy flowers. To help you, can you tell me more about her? So I can help you pick the perfect arrangement for her!”
Connor panicked. Assortments? He didn't want that to be so expensive. It's not like the flowers were a big part of his plan; they were just to show Annabeth that he made an effort and that he cared. And he didn't want to say too much about Annabeth. After all, the flower shop wasn't that far from her house. There was a chance that this girl knew Annabeth. His distress should have been evident on his face because Bronte started reassuring him.
“Don’t worry. If it’s a money issue, we’ll make a bouquet based on your budget. How much do you have?”
“... 20 bucks”
“Oh, okay. Well, it's going to be a very very small bouquet, so tell me more about this girl.” Bronte smiled at him, trying to be reassuring, and Connor wondered how he looked for her to act this way.
But he also started to suspect that she didn't really want to help him, but rather wanted to feed herself with some gossip. Maybe her shift had been boring, and she needed some juice. He decided on an approach: to not say too much but enough to get her to help him, because he was running out of time—it was already dark outside.
"Um, well, she's really pretty. She's shorter than me and actually pretty girly. She doesn't wear that much makeup because she's already pretty and doesn't need it anyway. She's also really smart and into mathematics stuff like architecture-”
"Oh my God, are you going to ask Annabeth out?" Bronte interrupted him. Instead of looking super excited, she looked shocked, but at the same time, she looked like she was holding back a laugh.
To say that Connor panicked and overreacted would be an understatement. He made a fool of himself by grabbing the $10 bouquet he had seen earlier, slamming the $20 bill he had before running out of the shop. He did all of that in less than 20 seconds and didn't even stop when Bronte screamed at him :
“WAIT—DON’T! She has—”
He didn’t even hear what she had to say before sprinting away with his bouquet and chocolate box. He ran for a while before stopping two blocks away from Annabeth’s house. What the hell just happened? He didn’t even say that much about her. How could she know that it was Annabeth? Was this girl a mentalist or sum shit like that? And Connor aggravated the situation by running away. He could have said: "Ahahaha, noooooooo, noooooo, that's for another pretty girl in town. Annabeth? My friend? Neverrrrr.”
But anyway, he just had to hope that the girl and Annabeth weren’t close enough for her to spill the tea to Annabeth. It would be a cute story if he and Annabeth worked out, but if she rejected him, it would be the most humiliating moment of Connor Stoll’s life. If he avoided this shop forever, everything would be okay.
He leaned on his knees to catch his breath before continuing towards Annabeth's house. He looked at the bouquet he had grabbed and saw that the flowers were a little droopy. Puff, that's what they sell for ten dollars? Yeah, he's never going back.
His nerves got the better of him when he arrived in front of Annabeth's door. He was on the verge of running out, but there was no turning back now. He knocked on the door and waited apprehensively before it opened. Instead of Annabeth's pretty face, he was greeted by a tall, dark-haired, SHIRTLESS, ripped man.
"Annabeth, I think the pizza is—Oh, can I help you?" the shirtless, ripped man said.
Connor was dumbstruck. Who was this guy, and why was he answering Annabeth's door? Maybe he was a cousin? He hoped that he was a cousin.
"Uh, no, I'm Connor. I—I—I’m a friend of Annabeth's and-”
He couldn't finish his sentence. The man in front of him was taller and was looking down at him with raised eyebrows. Connor saw the man's eyes look down at the chocolate box and the bouquet before looking back up at him with a stern expression.
“Oh! It’s nice to finally meet you! Annabeth speaks very highly of you and..”
Before Connor could retort that Annabeth never mentioned him, the person in question appeared in a robe. OMG, did they fuck?
"Percy?" What's taking you so long?" Annabeth said, before finally seeing Connor on the doorstep. He was sure that he looked stupid.
"Oh! Hi, Connor. What are you doing here?"
Before he could stop himself, Connor retorted:
"Were you two fucking?" he asked before clasping his hand over his mouth.
What the fuck is happening to him?
The Percy dude looked at him with disgust while Annabeth blushed.
Damn, he was right. That hurt.
"It's none of your business. Answer her. What are you doing here?"
The shirtless man looked angrier with each passing second. Connor finally looked at him properly and tried to seize his competitor. He had green eyes that looked like the sea, tanned skin, thick eyebrows, a sharp jaw, an aquiline nose, and full lips. Damn, this man was hot. He couldn't even call him ugly. He radiated sex energy but he also looked familiar.
But how the hell was he supposed to tell Annabeth that he was going to ask her out when it was obvious that these two were involved? He didn't know the extent of their relationship. Maybe they weren't dating… he had to find out.
“I’m sorry, but who are you?”
Then realization washed over Connor. This dude looked familiar because he had seen him before! "Wait, you're from Goode? You're on the swim team! Oh man, Annabeth, you're sleeping with the enemy!"
Their two high schools were rivals in sports, especially swimming.
"Connor, for God's sake, what are you doing here?" Annabeth, who was blushing even harder, screamed at him. “And since when do you care about this silly rivalry? You’re on the football team, for God’s sake!”
"But why didn't you ever tell us that you were seeing him? Were you guilty of betraying our school sports spirit?" he screamed back. He was in too deep anyway. What was a little more embarrassment in front of his crush and her i-don’t-even-know-what, anyway?
"My relationship with Percy is nobody's business. I didn't tell anyone because you know I'm a discreet person, and I was going to introduce him to y'all when I was ready. But seeing your reaction, I should have tried a soft launch to see if y'all were ready to accept that I was dating a Goode student. But, as I can see, you're not. Well, Silena knew, but I made her swear not to tell anyone.”
"Relationship?" Oh man, he was screwed. To add to his misfortune, Annabeth finally seemed to see what he had in his hands. Her eyes widened, and realization washed over her.
"Oh my—don't tell me you came here to ask me on a date?"
Before he could answer and come out with an excuse. Percy, who was still shirtless (does this guy have no decency?), laughed.
"Well, it's a little late, sorry dude. The place is already taken."
“Percy! Don’t be an asshole!” Annabeth said, hitting him with her fist. But Connor saw that her eyes were glistening. “I’m so sorry, Connor. I didn’t know. I hope I didn’t lead you on.”
She looked really worried that Connor didn't find it in himself to be angry, only embarrassed. He was going to lie and say that he came here for advice because he was going to ask another girl out, but he decided that was enough for tonight. He didn't need another lie, but he felt like she had led him on, if only a little.
"I don't understand. You always flirted back when I tried to flirt with you. You didn't seem to have a boyfriend back at home!"
Percy raised his eyebrows, clearly amused, and looked at Annabeth, who frowned.
"What the fuck are you talking about? I was always nice to you. I didn't even feel like you were flirting with me! Otherwise, I would have turned you down. I don't feel that way about you, Connor!"
“I hope so.” Percy retorted.
“But-but-I don’t understand! Our friends always made jokes about us being a good couple, and you never said-”
“Oh, stop that. I always looked uncomfortable, and they do that to every opposed gender friendship. Do you see Travis and Clarisse together? I don’t, but people joked about them being a couple. That's what they do; they joke.”
That made Connor shut up. Thinking about it, he realized it was right. He deflated. It was getting late, and his bouquet was really wilting. He should go home. Connor sighed and was about to say goodbye when an irritating voice spoke up.
"Listen, dude, I get it. That's Annabeth. Who wouldn't try something if they thought they could? But it’s getting late, and our pizza still hasn’t arrived, so if you don’t mind, we have to make some calls because I’m starving, and this discussion is embarrassing, so…”
Connor knew Percy was right, but his face looked so tempting to punch. Before he could act on that impulse, though, Annabeth spoke up.
"Yeah, he's right. It's getting late. You should go, Connor. I'll see you in class tomorrow. Goodnight!” She gave him an awkward smile, closed the door, and didn't wait for him to respond.
He started to walk away from her house when her door opened again. Connor returned with hope written all over his face. Hope for what? He didn't know. Annabeth appeared in the doorway.
“And please don’t tell anyone what you saw, okay? Bye!”
She slammed the door shut.
Connor was left stunned. What the hell just happened? How did Annabeth meet that Percy guy? He had a lot to think about on his walk home, but one thing was sure: school tomorrow was going to be awkward.
Well, that's what he gets for thinking he had a chance with Annabeth Chase.