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Piper walked behind Annabeth as she followed her back to Annabeth’s apartment. As they entered the elevator of the apartment building, they stood in an awkward silence. The atmosphere between was so tense that Piper could practically feel it.
In truth, Piper wasn’t even sure why Annabeth had even invited her to hang out in her apartment. They were estranged friends from high school who hadn’t spoken to each other for ten years. And then they had bumped into each other in the middle of New York City and suddenly Annabeth said that she wanted to hang out, proceeding to all but drag Piper back to her apartment building.
In Piper’s less charitable moments, she thinks she was only ever Annabeth’s friend because no one could really stand Annabeth and her insufferable pride, and she needed someone inferior to her to worship her and follow her around like a lost puppy.
Back when they were both in high school, they were casual friends and mostly only hung out due to the fact that their then boyfriends, Percy and Jason were best friends. The four of them had been close. But everything fell apart after Piper broke up with Jason, which led him to realize that his feelings for Percy were not that all platonic. Which had then led to Jason confessing and Percy breaking up with Annabeth for Jason.
Annabeth had been, understandably, distraught. But anybody could see how happy the boys made each other, and not even Annabeth could bring herself to be mad at them. Instead, she had pegged all the blame on Piper, claiming that if she hadn’t broken up with Jason, she would still have her boyfriend. Which was absurd but Piper had forgiven her, understanding that she was just grieving.
But then even after a year after the breakup, Annabeth hadn’t apologised or admitted that she was wrong, instead she kept giving Piper the cold shoulder and that had been the last straw. Piper had cut ties with Annabeth immediately after graduation.
But just because she had cut ties with her, didn’t mean she didn’t hear about Annabeth’s achievements. The darling of the architectural design industry, one the most renowned woman architects in the world, designer of multiple stunning buildings in famous cities. New York, London, Sydney, Hong Kong, the list goes on.
To say that Piper was jealous was an understatement. She was a designer herself, albeit in fashion. It was really fair that Annabeth had gotten so much fame and she had been struggling to make ends meet for the last ten years or so. It really wasn’t.
Annabeth was seemingly untouchable, ethereal and Piper hated it. Even back at high school, she was the definition of prefect and everywhere they had gone, Annabeth was the one who got all the attention, from both men and women. And Piper couldn’t blame them, Annabeth had the looks, the brains and the charms. Everyone else was nothing compared to her.
The ding of the elevator snapped Piper out of her thoughts as the door opened. Annabeth grabbed her wrist and dragged her down the corridor and to the door of her apartment.
Annabeth’s apartment door had of course the most advanced keypad lock that unlocked with
both a passcode and her fingerprint.
“ Fancy,” Piper commented casually.
Annabeth shrugged, “Designed everything myself.”
Annabeth pushed the door open and went inside, beckoning for Piper to follow her.
The apartment wasn’t at all that big, but it was fancy and aesthetically beautiful. With a grand Victorian interior design that somehow fitted well with the modern technology in the house. Trust the architect to make it work.
Annabeth dumped her purse on the couch, “Make yourself at home.”
Piper nodded and sat down on the arm chair, admiring the decor.
“Fancy some champagne?” Annabeth asked as she walked to the open kitchen and took out a bottle.
Piper nodded, knowing that she needed alcohol if she was going to survive a conversation with Annabeth Chase.
……………………
Fifteen minutes later, Piper found herself staring at Annabeth’s blueprint of her latest design, third glass of champagne in hand.
“So what do you think, Piper?” Annabeth asked, sipping from her glass.
Piper giggled, tipsy. Her alcohol tolerance had never been high and her brain was starting to feel fuzzy.
“You asking me? I don’t know shit about architecture.”
“Well, I have no one else to share my designs to.” Annabeth replied
“What about the boys?” Piper took another sip.
“ Well, they are so wrapped up in their little bubble that they don’t notice anyone else.” Annabeth’s voice tightened and her face momentarily darkened as she looked at Piper.
Somber Piper would have known that bringing up their exes on their first reencounter was a bad idea. Unfortunately drunk Piper didn’t have the same common sense.
She shrugged and gave another giggle, “You got pancakes?”
“What, you want some?” Annabeth asked, “I have the ingredients if you want to make some.”
Piper nodded, “Sure!”
Somehow, an intoxicated Piper decided it was a good idea to throw flour at her blonde friend while they were making pancakes, dusting Annabeth’s silver dress with white flour. To her utter astonishment, Annabeth didn’t get angry. Instead she laughed and tossed a handful of flour in return.
Soon they were running around in the kitchen, chasing each other and tossing handfuls of flour, staining each other’s dresses and laughing. It was a miracle that they managed to make the pancakes at all.
Afterwards, they sat opposite to each other on the wooden table in the living room, their plates of pancakes and glasses of champagne in front of them.
“Why didn't we do this more often, Pipes?” Annabeth asked as she sliced into her pancakes.
Piper was surprised to hear the old nickname coming from Annabeth’s mouth and was slightly annoyed by the question. Annabeth was the one who ruined their friendship with her unreasonable claims and she dared to ask why Piper didn’t want to hang out with her the last ten years.
Instead of saying that and ruining this fragile moment though, Piper shrugged and sipped her champagne again.
Annabeth stared at her intensely like Piper was an equation that she was trying to solve. It made Piper slightly nervous.
“What?” she asked, putting down the glass.
“You got some of the syrup on your face,” Annabeth replied and to Piper’s utter astonishment, she leaned over the table and wiped the syrup from her cheeks with her fingers.
Piper was surprised by how gentle her touch felt, Annabeth’s fingers were soft and warm. Her heart involuntarily skipped a beat at the unexpected contact .
But Annabeth didn’t seem to be leaning back, instead she leaned closer, until their foreheads were touching.
Before Piper knew what was going on, she felt Annabeth’s lips on hers. And instinctively she kissed back.
Annabeth’s lips tasted like the syrup from the pancakes but also the lipstick she was wearing. They were warm but slightly chapped.
Wait, why was Annabeth kissing her? More importantly, why was she kissing back? The rational part of her brain asked herself.
But the drunk and unreasonable part of her won over and soon the only thing she could think of was how soft Annabeth’s skin felt, how smooth her blonde hair was and how her perfume smelled like lavender.
Their position was slightly awkward, with the table between them and all. So at the same time they stepped out of their seats, their lips never parting for a single second. They knocked over a glass of champagne, but neither of them cared.
Instead, they threw themselves onto the couch, with Annabeth on top. Piper moaned into Annabeth’s lips. The kiss was sloppy, passionate and almost competitive. And Piper couldn’t get enough. She hadn’t kissed anyone in a long time, not since she had broken up with her last girlfriend, Shel.
Annabeth was a great kisser, probably the best person Piper had ever kissed. With Jason, their kisses had always felt slightly wrong. Even with Shel, it hadn’t been this electrifying.
When Annabeth finally pulled back from the kiss, reality came back and Piper suddenly remembered who she was kissing. She and Annabeth weren’t friends. Hell, they practically hated each other. They were both drunk and were going to regret this in the morning. Then things were going to be extremely awkward between them, well more awkward than they already were.
She pushed Annabeth off, “Why are you doing this?”
Annabeth looked at her in surprise and Piper wondered if she had imagined the slight pout on her face and why she found it adorable.
“Because I want to. And you kissed back so….” Annabeth replied, crossing her arms with the most adorable frown on her face and Piper couldn’t help it, she threw herself at the blonde and crashed their lips together. This time with Piper on top as they fell onto the carpet on the living room floor.
…………….
After a long, heated make out session, they laid on the couch, with Piper in Annabeth’s lap.
“Well, that was fun,” Annabeth remarked, playing with Piper’s hair.
“You’re drunk and you’re going to regret this tomorrow.” Piper said, looking up at her.
Annabeth shrugged, “Maybe, but do we really care?”
Piper didn’t know what to say, instead playing with Annabeth’s still flour-stained dress.
“Piper?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really sorry.”
“For what?”
Piper sat up slightly and looked at Annabeth, sensing this was a serious conversation.
Annabeth visibly swallowed and she played with her fingers, “For the things I said, back in high school.”
Piper looked at her, not quite believing her ears.
“I was wrong to blame you.” Annabeth said softly, “I was hurting and was too proud to admit it. I needed someone to blame and you were…”
Piper nodded,“I know, but you could’ve talked to me. Instead of… you know….”
Annabeth nodded, “I am too proud for my own good sometimes.” She looked down at her hands.
Piper thought that was an understatement but didn’t say anything, instead taking Annabeth’s hand into her own.
Annabeth looked at her again with a sad smile. “Has anyone ever told you that you are a beautiful woman, Piper McLean?” she blurted out as though she couldn’t help herself.
“Oh,” Piper could feel herself blushing at how corny the situation was.
“Would you like to, um, stay the night?” Annabeth asked, awkwardly playing with her fingers.
“Sure,” Piper replied tentatively.
She had no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow or what they were now but for that night, she was content laying on Annabeth’s bed with her arms around Piper’s waist.