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Piper was still reading the letter, which made sense considering the fact that a six year old wrote it and it was hard to understand what it said. But she had been reading it for what it felt like forever to Percy, and he really needed her to talk to him.
“On the bright side, you do know her.” Piper finally said. “Or well, used to.”
Mia, Percy’s little sister, had asked Santa for Annabeth Chase, from the group Stardust, to have tea time with her on Christmas Eve. And it nearly gave Percy a heart attack. Stardust was the most popular girl group in the world, and Annabeth Chase wasn’t only the main vocalist of the group, but she was also his ex-best friend. The same ex-friend he hadn’t seen in almost 6 years, not since she stole his first kiss.
“She probably doesn’t care about me anymore.” Percy said. “And it’s not like I can call her and be like ‘Hey Annabeth! It’s me, Percy! I know we haven’t talked in years but I have a baby sister now and her dream is to met you! I know it’s Christmas Eve but I hope you can swing by. My mom lives in the same apartment, okay bye!’”
Piper shrugged. “You kind of can do that.”
He threw his pillow at her. “I don’t have her number anymore.”
“No, but your mom might have her old address saved in her address book.” Piper patted his shoulder. “You said she used to live in California, right? It would make sense for your mom to have her address, or well I guess by now it’s her dad’s address only, if you guys used to exchange letter.”
“It doesn’t matter, he probably moved out.”
“Or maybe he hasn’t. Perce you have the opportunity to make your sister’s dream come true. And not only that, you have the opportunity to reconnect with someone who means the world to you.”
Percy sighed and sat indian style on his bed.
Piper didn’t know much about his relationship with Annabeth— Percy didn’t want people knowing he used to be best friends with a celebrity —but during college Piper had become his best friend. She had found his pictures with Annabeth, the ones he used to have at his mom’s place, so he told her the basics: they met at a summer camp when they were seven years old, and were best friends by the end of the summer. They only saw each other during the summer but during the rest of the year they wrote letters to each other all the time. When they were ten years old, her family moved to Boston and sometimes they got to visit each other for the weekend, but the letters didn’t stop until they were fifteen when her family moved to California. At that point, cellphones and emails started to become a thing, they didn’t feel they needed to exchange letters anymore. Annabeth went to camp for one more year before winning the most famous singing competition America had, and then he never saw her again.
“I shouldn’t be surprised my mom has her dad’s address.” Percy said, making Piper snort. She sat next to him and put a hand on his knee. “I’m not going to contact her, Pipes, that bridge is already burned.”
“How do you know? From all the things you’ve told me, I can tell you were a very important person in her life.” Her voice was soft, but Percy didn’t want to hear it, he didn’t want to have his heart break all over again. He wasn’t fully sure it had healed the first time.
“Important enough to never contact me again, even if my phone is the same and I live, well lived, in the same apartment for years and my family still lives there.” Percy stood up and walked to the kitchen and dropped a bag of popcorns in the microwave. “Now, can you please drop it? I’m gonna convince Mia to ask Santa for another present, nothing to do with Annabeth.”
He heard Piper sigh and walk to his living room, or what could be considered as a living room in his tiny flat. “So, are we gonna watch Star Trek or Star Wars?”
Percy smiled at her, he knew her best friend was trying her best to stop herself from talking about the topic. If there was something Piper McLean was, it was stubborn, but she was trying for him. “Civil War.”
Days passed by and Percy found himself at his parents’ house on Christmas Eve, watching cheesy Hallmark holiday movies and eating his mom’s famous blue cookies.
“Leave cookies for Santa!” Mia said trying to steal the plate from his hands, but her tiny hands were no competition for his. “He won’t leave me the present if there are no cookies!”
“Santa will definitely leave a present with or without cookies.” He raised his arm making Mia jump trying to reach for the cookies.
“No, he won’t!”
Percy snickered. “Okay, what if you and I eat these cookies and then bake more cookies for Santa?” Mia stopped jumping and started to look at him with curiosity. “You can even try the mix from the bowl.” Mia’s face of happiness told him his answer.
Just like their mother, Mia loved cooking. Which was why Santa was getting Mia an Easy Bake Oven. Telling Mia that Annabeth wouldn’t be able to have tea with her was heartbreaking, it had included a phone call from Santa (aka the very nice old man who lives two floors down) and taking her to watch Moana three days in a row and lot of tears, for Mia to finally agree to change her Christmas wish.
“Do you think Santa would like it if we make him peanut butter cookies?” Mia asked Percy, as she sat down next to him on the couch.
“I think Santa likes chocolate chips cookies better.”
Mia took a cookie from Percy’s plate. “But he gets those cookies all the time!”
“But do other people leaves him blue chocolate chip cookies? I think he would be very happy to get something original.” Neither his parents or him liked peanut butter cookies, and Percy didn’t want to bake a whole batch of cookies only for them to be wasted.
Mia pouted. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“I’m always right, Mia you should know that by now.” He tickled her and she burst out laughing. He was about to say they needed to start the cookies now but the doorbell rang.
“Percy! Can you get it?” His mom yelled from the kitchen.
He grumbled and walked to the door, only to freeze on the spot after seeing who was at the door. Annabeth Chase was standing on his doorstep, looking at him with a mixture of emotions he couldn’t decipher. The first thought that crossed his mind was that she looked even more beautiful in person, her blond hair styled in perfect curls, she was wearing soft-natural makeup, nothing like the heavy version she used on stage. She was wearing a santa hat and carrying a large box in her arms.
“Ann-Annabeth?” His voice was barely a whisper but she smiled at him.
“Hi Percy.” Her voice had also changed, but he already knew that from concerts and interviews. Yet it was different hearing her in person, her voice was softer and warmer, giving no indication of the powerful notes she could hit. “Long time no see.”
His voice was failing him, he couldn’t remember how to speak, he couldn’t remember anything except that day at camp, her lips on his, her laugh, having her in his arms.
“Can I come in?” She asked. She looked nervous, Percy realized, her smile wasn’t as confident anymore and her eyes were clouded with emotions.
“Yeah, of course.” He moved so she could get it and closed the door behind her. “Can I take your coat?” She nodded, but didn’t move, the box was still in her arms and she was still looking at him. She opened her mouth but no words came out.
“Annabeth, what are—” He was interrupted by his little sister’s scream.
“YOU’RE HERE!”
“Thank you so much.” Percy said while tucking a very sleepy Mia into bed. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this for her.”
Annabeth smiled at him while she touched Mia’s hair. “My pleasure, she’s a wonderful girl. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about her.”
Percy tried not to, but her comment made him a little bit angry. Of course he didn’t tell her about Amelia. Annabeth had already won the competition by then and her phone had been disconnected, he had have no way of communicating with her, but she had every way to communicate with him, she just choose not to.
He walked to the door and Annabeth followed him. Once they were back in the living room, he finally looked at her. “Why now?”
Annabeth looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“It’s been six years Annabeth, why now?” His voice was harsh, he didn’t realize how hurt he was until she made the comment, making it sound like it had been his fault that they lost contact. “You made it very clear that you didn’t want to be my friend a long time ago. What changed? How did you even know about Mia’s letter to Santa?”
It might have been six years since he last saw her, but he could still read her, or well at least he could tell she was getting pissed. “What changed? Your letter happened! That’s why I’m here!”
It was his turn to be confused. “Letter? What letter?”
“The one you sent me!”
“Annabeth, I didn’t send you any letter, haven’t since we were in camp.”
“No! You did! You wrote me, you sent this letter to my dad’s place.” She searched her bag frantically, until she found the letter and raised it to show it to him. “You wrote me.”
Percy took the letter from her hand, Annabeth sounded desperate which he didn’t get. He quickly read the letter, which told her about his life and added a copy of Mia’s letter asking her to visit for Christmas. The person who wrote it copied his handwriting and he only knew one person who could pull this off.
“Piper” he whispered.
“What?”
“I’m gonna kill her!” Percy sighed and looked at Annabeth. She looked like a child who had been told Santa wasn’t real. “She wrote this letter. I’m so sorry Annabeth, it wasn’t me. I told her to drop this and then she did this, and I’m gonna murder her.”
“Piper? Is she your girlfriend?” Annabeth’s voice was small. “I mean, of course you have a girlfriend.”
He laughed. “Her!? My girlfriend!? Please, that’s a huge no-no, she’s my best friend, well, was because I’m going to murder her.”
Annabeth was looking at the letter that was now in his hands with sad eyes and Percy could feel his heart ache.
“I guess we need to talk, don’t we?” he said.
Annabeth nodded.
Percy rubbed the back of his neck. “I have to pick up Mia’s present at my apartment, wanna come some we can talk on they way there and back?”
“You don’t live here?”
He shook his head. “Haven’t since college.”
“Of course, that make sense. Where did you go?”
“Ithaca, swimming scholarship.”
Annabeth’s face lit up. “Percy! Oh my god! That’s amazing!”
She moved towards him like she wanted to hug him but at the last second she took a step back. They were standing awkwardly in his parents living room, not being able to look each other in the eyes.
“So, do you wanna talk? I have to also make cookies since I ate the batch mom made today and Santa always leaves a half bitten cookie for Mia.” Annabeth nodded but didn’t reply, she just took her phone and started using it. “Oh, right, you probably have other commitments, I’m sorry I didn’t think.”
“No, no!” Annabeth said putting the phone back on her pocket. “I was texting dad letting him know I was with you. I made sure I didn’t have any commitments, I wanted to be all yours tonight.”
It took a few seconds for her words to sink in, making them both blush.
“Not like that!” Annabeth yelled, face absolutely red. “Like, I didn’t want to leave early because I wanted to meet Mia, and I wanted to hang out with you and Sally and I hoped you and I could catch up and what I want to say is yes, I want to help you bring her presents and help you bake.”
“Are you sure you’re free, don’t you have to be back to your, er, where are you staying?”
“Hotel, and I’m sure, I don’t have any commitments tonight, or tomorrow.”
He nodded. “Let’s go then.”
They said they needed to talk, but there was no talking done on the drive to his apartment. He wasn’t sure what to say and Annabeth made no indication that she wanted to talk. It had been a small drive, no more than fifteen minutes, yet it felt like hours.
“We’re here.” Percy said while parking his car. “5th floor, fair warning we don’t have an elevator.”
Annabeth just nodded and followed him in silence, which was driving him crazy, there was so much he wanted to know, so much he wanted to ask but he couldn’t find the words, he only was able to say simple things like. “I think it’s better if the first thing we do are the cookies, is that okay?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
They didn’t talk anymore until they reached his apartment, before unlocking his door he turned to look at her. “My place is a shoebox and it’s probably messy and by probably I mean it’s absolutely messy.”
Annabeth smiled at him. “I live with Lilian and Katherine, believe me you can’t be more messy than three girls who the last thing they want to do at home is clean.”
Percy nodded and unlocked his door. “Welcome to my humble home.”
Percy wasn’t lying about his apartment being small, the first thing you saw entering the place was his small living room that only could fit one couch and one table and one little table next to the couch, next to the living room was his kitchen an ? island between the the living room and the kitchen worked as a dinner table too.
“Told you it was a shoebox.” Percy said while Annabeth looked around.
“It’s cozy.”
He couldn’t help but snort. “It’s not, but thank you.” Percy walked to the kitchen and started grabbing ingredients to make the cookies. “If I’m not wrong, you’re shit at cooking.”
“And I’ll always be.” Annabeth said while taking her coat off and leaving it on the couch. “I can still help you mix.”
“Okay then.”
They worked in silence, except for when Percy needed to tell Annabeth what to do next, weirdly enough, unlike the drive there, it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, he could even hear Annabeth hum under her breath.
“I can’t believe I never knew you could sing.” Percy said while putting the cookies on the baking sheet. “Nine years of friendship and I never knew.”
Annabeth stopped humming, she was washing the bowl they used to mix the ingredients. “I was too shy to sing in public.”
“You won a live singing competition.”
“I auditioned with Kat and Lils, they were my comfort blanket, not even they really knew the range of my vocals, I don’t think even I knew it.”
“The first time I ever heard you burst a high note…I still get chills from the memory.”
Annabeth laughed. “I was absolutely sure I was gonna faint, I don’t know how I did it, I was so nervous.”
“And now you had sang in front of a sold out Madison Square Garden.” Percy put the cookies on the oven. “You were amazing, by the way.”
“You—you went?”
Percy turned to look at Annabeth, she was standing next to sink, the shock she was feeling clear on her face, Percy chuckled. “How could I miss it?”
Annabeth opened her mouth but no words came out, Percy wasn’t sure if he was right, but he could swore that was longing on her eyes.
“This is a very nice apartment, though.” Annabeth walked towards the living room. “The letter told me you are working at the Aquarium? Must be a nice work to afford this place.”
He notice the change of topic, but he didn’t press on the topic, instead he looked around his apartment. “Annabeth, this is a shoebox, a nice shoebox but there is no way I could afford it with my paycheck.” He could see the confusion of her face, but she didn’t dare to ask, in the most serious tone he could manage he told her. “I have a Sugar Momma.”
The look on her face was absolutely priceless, he bursted out laughing. “Oh my god, you believed it!? Of course I don’t! And if I had, this place would be bigger.”
“You jerk!” She threw a cushion pillow at him but he managed to avoid it.
“Your remember Grover, my best friend from school?” He picked up the cushion and put it back on the couch. Annabeth nodded. “This is actually his place, he inherit it, but since he is too busy traveling the world trying to save the world, he is renting me the place, at a very nice price my broke ass can afford.”
Annabeth laughed. “Can you tell me about your life, like a little bit?”
He nodded and motioned her to sit on the couch, once they both were comfortable he started to tell her about college, his work, Piper and his friends but specially about Mia, since they stopped talking before Mia was born. They talked until the oven beeped letting them know the cookies were done. They had made an extra batch just for them and Percy decided to made them hot chocolate so they could drink and eat while catching up.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you said you have no commitments tomorrow, you’re not spending Christmas with your family?” He put the plate full of cookies on the table and went back to the kitchen for their mugs.
Annabeth shook her head, taking a cookie from the plate. “They’re back in California. I’m meeting them in Boston in a few days for the whole Chase family New Years extravaganza. I’m excited, I haven’t been able to celebrate with my whole family since a few years ago.”
“Why you didn’t go to San Francisco?” He sat down on the couch next to her and passed her a mug.
Annabeth took a small sip before talking. “I got your letter, Piper’s letter, and I just knew I needed to be here. I want to believe I was doing this because I wanted to give Mia an amazing Christmas, but the real reason is selfish. I just— I missed you so much and your letter, Piper’s letter, gave me hope that you missed me too and I just…I didn’t think, I just booked my flight and hotel and hoped for the best.”
“I missed you, miss you.” Percy said, putting his mug on the table. “I might not have written the letter but Piper didn’t lie, Annabeth. I miss you, so much.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t keep in touch. I know I’m a horrible friend and you have every right to hate me, but I was so afraid Percy. Fame is scary and it takes so much, it takes and takes and it breaks people and I didn’t want to risk losing you because of it.” Annabeth said, voice shaking. Percy opened his mouth but Annabeth put her fingers on his lips, successfully shushing him. “Please, please let me explain, I’ve wanted to tell you this for years.”
Percy nodded and Annabeth told him everything: She hadn’t been allowed to use her phone during the competition, they only were allowed to call family and even then the calls were monitored. Then her group won and they became so famous overnight, and she couldn’t even enjoy it. The next morning after winning she found out a classmate sold her out to the press, giving information about her and her phone number and next thing she knew she had a new phone and number. The agency took hold of her old one, and she didn’t recover most of the numbers, his included. She wanted to talk to him, she needed to talk to him but then one of her bandmates’ boyfriends was revealed to the public and the paparazzi was following him all the time, and their fans were sending him death threats. It had been too much for him and he broke with her. Even after breaking up with Lilian, the paparazzi didn’t leave him alone for a while and that’s when Annabeth realized she could never contact Percy again. Nobody could know about him, she couldn’t risk it. And if never talking to Percy again meant he would be safe from the crazy world of fame…she would do it.
Annabeth’s voice broke at the end of her tale. “I wanted to tell you Percy. I wanted to talk to you about this so badly. I always thought of you, every time I was in the city I would look for you, always hoping I would get a glimpse of you.”
“You know why Mia is such a fan of yours?” He asked and she shook her head. “I was always listening to your music while I babysat her and I guess, kids notice things, you know? I guess she realized how important you are to me and got fond of you.”
Annabeth smiled at him. “Am I Important to you? Even after all these years?”
“You’re not easy to forget.” His hands were resting on his legs, Annabeth took one of his hands in hers and gave it a squeeze. “Besides it’s not like you weren’t everywhere I looked.”
“It wasn’t easy for you, was it?”
“It wasn’t. I was so proud of you, don’t get me wrong, we watched all the shows and we rooted for you when you were in the competition.” She gave his hand another squeeze. “But you didn’t tell me you were competing. I had to learn you were in the competition because my mom loves that show.”
“We auditioned as a joke. Can you believe that? Lils, Kat and I auditioned because we lost a bet, we weren’t allowed to tell that though, it wouldn’t look good that the winners weren’t serious about it. We never thought we would get past the first elimination much less win.” She looked at their intertwined hands. “I was already planning to tell you the story next time I saw you at camp, joking about how I lost a bet and had to audition, but next time didn’t come.”
“You’re wrong, Annabeth. Next time did come.” He squeezed her hand. “It’s right now.”
She scooted closer to him on the couch, their knees were touching. “I was so sure we were going to become a thing that next summer.”
“I was definitely going to ask you out, eventually.”
Annabeth snorted at his comment. “I’m sure I would have made a move first.”
“You did make a first move.”
They both smiled at the memory. Annabeth did in fact do something about it, she kissed him on their last night at camp, when they were supposed to be sleeping but had snuck out of their cabins to watch the stars one last time before going back to their cities.
“We were supposed to be together.” He could hear the sadness on her voice.
“I guess we missed our chance”
“Did we?” Annabeth moved even closer to him. “Do you think we really did? Because I don’t. I’ve dated a few people, and Percy they never made me feel anything close to what I felt when we kissed.”
“You just told me you wanted to be away from me to protect me.” He moved closer to her, their lips just inches apart.
“Easier to do when you weren’t in front of me, but you’re here and I’m here and Piper did send me that card.” She cupped his face. “Give us another chance, Percy. I’ve spent six years wondering what we could have been, hell, I even wrote a song that won a Grammy.”
Percy moved back in surprise . “Wait, wh— a Grammy!?”
Annabeth sighed, probably disappointed that she broke their moment. “Have you ever heard our song called Soulmates?”
“Who hasn’t?” They had released that song two years ago, a ballad about a lost love that was never fully yours and missing something you never really had; It had been their biggest hit so far. “Wait, are you implying that the song is…?
“About you, for you.”
“You wrote me a song?” Percy exclaimed in shock. “And it won a Grammy!?”
“Yes, but can we not focus on that please can we focus on us?” Annabeth touched his face. “I don’t want us to be a what if anymore.”
“I never managed to get over you.” He rested his forehead against hers. “I don’t think I ever will.”
“I don’t want you to get over me.”
“It’s not going to be easy, right?” He could feel her breath against his lips.
“No, but it’s actually going to be a little bit easier.” Annabeth said, Percy tried to pull his head back to ask her a question, but she pulled him even closer. “I promise I’ll explain everything to you, but please, please it’s been six years, just kiss me already.”
And he did and it was even better than he remembered. Her lips moved against his and Percy felt his body shriver. He didn’t know how long they kissed, all he knew was that he didn’t want to stop. He had dreamed of kissing her for six years and now that she was in his arms, he couldn’t get enough. But unfortunately his lungs didn’t agree with him; when they finally broke apart both of them were gasping for air, during their make out session they had moved and now he was laying on top of her on his couch. He traced her lips with his thumb, her eyes were still closed.
“You’re so beautiful.”
Annabeth opened her eyes and smiled at him. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
He chuckled. “I think you have something to explain, miss Chase.”
“Can’t we keep kissing?”
“Not until you explain.”
Annabeth sighed. “Fine, but after that you’re all mine.”
Percy smiled at her and nodded, they both sat on the couch facing each other.
“Stardust is going on an indefinite hiatus starting next year.” Percy raised his eyes but didn’t say anything. “It’s something we had discussed before, it’s been over five years of working non-stop and we need a break, it could be a year or it could be more, but we are so tired. Kat wants to get married soon and she wants to enjoy the married life for a while, Lils wants to travel and actually see the cities not just the airports and hotels.”
“And you?” Percy asked her after she went quiet for a few minutes.
“I just wanted to stay in one place for a long period of time.” Annabeth took his hand. “And I have always liked New York.”
Percy couldn’t stop his smile. “You’re moving to New York?”
“Yeah,” Annabeth smiled back at him. “And um, one of the main reasons was that I actually hoped that I could see you again. I thought that if I wasn’t doing tours and interviews anymore, things would calm down for a while and maybe we could…”
“We can.” He said quickly. “I mean, if you still want.”
“I would very much like that.” Annabeth took his hand again, Percy didn’t complain, he always loved the feeling of her hand against his. “And the other main reason for moving here was because I might try to see if I can be in a broadway show, my agent already got me a few auditions and we’re feeling very optimist.”
“I know you can.” He stroked her hand with his thumb. “Your voice is incredible and you’re so talented.”
“And I wanna try songwriting too, I’m gonna see how that goes for me, but enough of that. My promise is complete.” Annabeth leaned closer to him. “Now it’s your turn.”
“Well, it’s only fair.” He closed the distance between them and pulled her closer to him, making Annabeth accidentally kick the table and for the plate full of cookies to drop to the floor. “Fuck! The cookies!”
“It’s okay, there are more in the kitchen.”
“No, no, the Santa cookies.” Percy grabbed his phone to check the time. “I have to drop the cookies and the presents off before Mia wakes up and it’s almost two in the morning. Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
“Fuck indeed. We still have time, don’t we? What time does she wakes up?”
“It depends, sometimes she wakes up early to see if she can catch a glimpse of Santa, I need to leave now.” He stood up and went to the kitchen to grab the rest of the cookies, when he came back to the living room Annabeth was awkwardly standing next to the couch. “Do you want to stay?”
“I don’t know.” Annabeth said. “I don’t want to go back to the hotel, but I’m not sure if I’m ready for…” She looked in the direction of his room, face red and full of nerves and hesitation.
Percy could feel his cheeks burning from the implication he didn’t mean. “Oh, no, no! I didn’t mean it like that! I’m actually going to spend the night at my parents place, it’s tradition.” he cleared his throat. “I meant if you wanted to stay here and I can come tomorrow to pick you up, but I can drive you to your hotel if you want!”
“Oh.” Annabeth cheeks were tinted red. “Do you think that maybe…I don’t know, I could crash on your parent’s couch?”
“Only if you stay for lunch.”
Annabeth walked towards him and kissed him. “Only if after that we can come back and talk. There is some much I want to tell you and want to know, six years to catch up.”
“Maybe kiss a little?”
“Maybe kiss a lot.”
“Then you got a deal.” Percy smiled at her and gave her a quick peck. “I think I’m not gonna murder Piper for the whole letter thingy, after all.”
“I’m very thankful she wrote the letter.”
“I think I’m too.” He took her hand in his. “Hey, can I tell you something?”
“Of course.”
“It’s officially the 25th, Merry Christmas, Annabeth.”
Annabeth smiled at him. “Merry Christmas, Percy.”