You Belong to my Heart: A Percabeth FF

14. Annabeth

Chapter 14: Annabeth

Jeffrey had convinced me to go to the community party celebrating the end of the summer. Both him and Rachel had insisted for me to come along, but I was a little hesitant because I didn't want to be a third wheel. They had both argued that it was going to help the community college where I volunteered. What he hadn't told me was that it was originally a swim meet. Which meant swimmers. And guys without shirts. Lots of them.

I was walking inside the pool complex, which was filled with booths and games for people of all ages. I looked around. If this was a swim meet, then Percy Jackson was definitely here. I felt like I owed him a thank-you, for helping me deal with Rachel and Jeffrey without knowing it.

"Annabeth!" yelled a blonde guy, who was wearing a white button down shirt.

I looked up. "Doc!" I smiled. I had lost both Rachel and Jeffrey a couple of minutes ago, and I was glad I didn't have to tag along. As much as I encouraged and supported them, my brain wasn't really associating them as together. I wanted to keep that innocence, even though I had walked in on them kissing each other passionately.

Will walked up to me. "Hey Annabeth," he smiled.

"You've gone into full outfit, huh?" I teased. With his white shirt and earbuds hanging around his neck, he looked like a professional doctor.

"Oh come on," he whined, and hooked his arm through mine.

I poked his shoulder and smiled teasingly. "Is Nico coming?" I asked in a high-pitched voice and waggled my eyebrows.

He burst out laughing and copied me. "Is Percy coming?"

My cheeks turned red and I quickly bit the inside of them. I burst out laughing until I met a pair of sea-green eyes who looked betrayed. "Will!" I growled and nudged him towards Percy's direction.

His eyes widened. "Dude is that..."

"Yes," I hissed.

"Omg he's checking you out! Don't look!" he smiled cheekily and pushed me in his direction. As soon as Will was sure Percy couldn't see him he whispered, "Annabeth! He has abs!"

I bit my lip. "I know."

"So? Go talk to him," he smiled. He turned. "Wait nevermind." He let out an uncontrolled giggle. "Brace yourself, he's coming towards us," he whispered in my ear.

I giggled. "Annabeth?" asked a familiar voice. I sucked in a breath and prayed to the gods that my cheeks weren't too red.

"Hi Percy!"

"Hey! Did you watch the meet?"

My suspicion rose but I let it slide. "Umm no, they just let us in," I smiled and elbowed Will to say something.

His green eyes seemed to sink when they latched onto Will and I's arms hooked together. "You didn't introduce me to your boyfriend?" he asked, unsure. He scratched his head and pulled out his hand.

"Friend who's a boy," smiled Will, a little too widely.

Percy's expression relaxed. "Well, I'm going to walk around. Maybe we'll see each other before the end?" he asked.

"Uh yeah, maybe."

"If not, maybe one day, we can go get ice-cream again. Tyson really liked that," he grinned.

Another boy came up behind him. It was Jason. Jason Grace, the guy from his Instagram picture. Piper's "obsession". "Bro!" His tone dropped when he saw me. "Oh!"

"Anyways, bye Annabeth! See you around," Percy saluted and left Will and I alone.

I already knew the question before it came. As soon as Percy was out of sight, Will started to screech. "You WHAT? You went on a friggin' date with this dude and you didn't even tell me? ANNABETH CHASE!" he yelled. I wanted to argue but he didn't leave me space to breath. He suddenly gasped and started to jump up and down. "OMG! You went on a date with this dude! Annabeth!" he squealed. His tone had completely changed, and was a more high-pitched one. He was fangirling. Over me.

I interrupted him before he got out of hand. "I didn't go on a date with him," I argued. "We went to get ice-cream. And his younger brother tagged along."

"Please tell me it was a PG date, or poor kid... scarred for life," Will laughed maniacally.

I punched his arm. "Of course it was PG! Did you not pay attention back there?"

"To the sexual tension? Hell, yeah." His eyes latched on to something over my shoulder. "Speaking of hell," he grinned and ran his fingers through his blonde, surfer hair.

I turned and rolled my eyes. It was no other than Nico di Angelo, wearing black and sitting alone in a corner, of course.

"Bye Will! Have fun," I smiled at him and pushed him towards his crush.

"Oh don't worry. I am not going to let sexual tension get the best of our relationship. We're going to have fun," he grinned and rubbed his hands together.

"Will!" I squealed. But he was already off, leaving me alone for exactly 1.4 seconds before trouble found me.

It all happened in slow motion: I felt an invisible force from behind me push me forward. My gaze latched on to the cupcake booth and that's when I started screaming. The table came forward to hug my face, or maybe that was me. Gravity was weird. When I finally recovered from the hard impact, I looked down and saw that my light blue shirt was completely covered in blue frosting.

"Hey it matches!" someone snickered behind me.

I rolled my eyes and held up my frosted hands in frustration. "Ugghh!"

"Sorry," said a mischievous voice from behind me, "need any help with that?" he smirked. He had dirty blonde hair and a scar meeting with his brow. I forgot to breathe when he looked me in the eyes and smirked.

"Oh Luke! You're so bad!" giggled a couple of cheerleaders, who were no more than a couple inches behind him. He smirked again and opened his arms to hug them.

"Go ahead, ladies, I'll be right with you," he said, and nudged them towards the gates of the pool complex.

He looked at me. "Are you okay...?"

I looked down at my scraped hands until I realized he was asking for my name. "Annabeth. The name's Annabeth. And you are?"

"Luke Castellan, captain of the varsity swim team at your service."

"Hmmm," I tried to look mildly interested, but I really wasn't in the mood for listening to some highschooler brag about themselves.

"Are you okay Annabeth?" he asked me softly. He cocked his head ever so slightly, his scar glistening in the sunlight. I was lost in his eyes, and his voice brought me back to reality. "Annabeth?"

I blinked. "Hmm? Yeah? I'm fine," I quickly told him. I looked down at the scrapes. Yeah I was definitely not fine.

He pursued his lips, offering me his hand. I accepted the offer and he lifted me up from the mess of frosting and cake on the floor. I stumbled slightly and he caught me in his arms.

"Easy there," he whispered in my ear. It tingled with his breath. My heart started beating harder against my rib cage.

Behind Luke, I saw Percy's brother, Tyson running and playing with his friends. His dark hair bounced up and down and his smile reminded me of Percy's... That brought me back to reality. I looked back at Luke, and realized he was staring at me. My cheeks burned. "Sorry, I have to go. Thanks," I said quickly and left him.

I ran until I found a good hiding spot in the shade and sat there, thinking of what had just happened to me. Looking up, I spotted my brother and Rachel tangled in a hug. I scowled and looked away, the floor shimmering with the memory of Luke's eyes.