Surviving

Rebound

As we are approaching the school (where Luke is playing softball) we think of ways to make him especially jealous. I give her my  hoodie, which looks massive on her, and she loops her arm through mine.

At first I feel a little petty about all of this, but then I see Luke yell at the softball coach. The softball coach is a 70 year old man. He is probably the nicest person you'll ever meet and I'm 100% he didn't do anything wrong.

We sit down on a bench and after Luke sees us he strikes out multiple times (I know nothing about softball). All I know is that he falls directly on his ass.

Annabeth puts her head on my shoulder and laughs way too hard at everything I say.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Annabeth asks. "Are you gonna fill me in on your life? Finally." I shake my head.

"I don't want to talk about me. And in return you don't have to talk about you either." She sighs. I can tell she wants to protest, but she doesn't because I'm pretty sure she remembers how it went down last time.

"I can talk about me." She says and takes her head off of my shoulder. "What do you want to know?" I scooch away from her and sit crisscross on the bench, so that I'm facing her.

"I want to know anything you're willing to tell me."

She sits up a little straighter. "I'm only doing this so that you'll trust me enough to tell me about you one day," I want to tell her it's not about trust, but it may be easier if she thinks that's what it is.

"So my mom left when I was nine and moved to Greece for work. I want to think I'm better off without her, but I'd be kidding myself. She's everything I aspire to be. I just would have moved to Greece and not started a family. But do you want to know the worst part?" Annabeth asks.

"I look at her work now and I can't help but think that maybe it was worth it. She's making millions of dollars, her designs are beautiful, and I'm pretty sure she's engaged to a fellow architect who won't stand in the way of her career. I know for a fact that she doesn't regret a single thing. Everything she ever did in life she succeeded in. At the time I thought she was the best mom and the best architect. I'm sure she never looked back because she knew that she was making the right choice."

I'm shocked about how open Annabeth is.

''My dad married my stepmom when I was 11. She's a great mom to her kids and a good stepmom, but when I first met her I hated her so much. I couldn't help but think that my dad moved on too quickly with someone way younger than him. They met when I was 10 and were engaged 5 months later. Then she got pregnant, so that pushed the wedding back a bit. I don't think I truly hated her. I think I hated my dad. He and my mom were highschool sweethearts and after she left he barely spoke to me and then one day he came home with a new girlfriend. He acted as if what had happened didn't affect him at all. He became a major workaholic and he didn't even try to talk to me about what happened."

She looks more angry than sad at this point.

"Do you still hate him?" I ask.

She looks me in the eye again and her eyes are watering.

"I think so." She doesn't elaborate and I don't push for more information on that subject.

"Did you like it in San Francisco?" She looks surprised that I remembered where she moved from for some reason.

"I had my routine, but after Thalia left and Piper I felt lonely."

We're silent for a while, but then curiosity costumes me and I can't help but ask.

"So, what happened with Luke?"

She chuckles.

"I'm surprised it took you this long to ask." She pauses. Trying to find the right words, I guess.