𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒍𝒍

Chapter 17. Hug Me

Percy
"No! We're... we're just friends!" Annabeth exclaims. Most of the faeries shrugged and went back to eating, but some of them said, "As if we believe you!"

Annabeth lets out a ragged breath, I know that look, she's about to sprint. I look at her warily to make sure she knows I'm ready to run after her.

"I—I can't do this," Annabeth murmurs. She walks back to our bedroom, but before she makes it to the door she's frozen in place.

"Percy, dear, will you make sure she sits down?" Feya asks. I nod and jog up to her.

Picking her up is easy, probably because her parents lecture her about her weight a lot.

I bring her over to sit next to the Fae Queen and King. When I go to sit at the other side of the table Annabeth suddenly unfreezes, falling off her chair and right onto me.

I freeze but catch her, looking at her while she's terrified is a sad sight. "I don't feel so good..." She murmurs.

She gets out of my arms and walks away, holding her forehead. I walk after her, hoping she won't get sick.

"Are you sick?" I ask. She shakes her head, but her swaying as if she's drunk tells a different story.

I wrap my arms around her waist to keep her from falling, everyone around us looks at her warily. "You are sick, love, you've gotta get to bed," I say softly.

She looks up at me with shock and confusion, what did I say?

She nods anyway, allowing me to lead her back to the room.

"I'll check on her in the morning," Feya shouts. I nod and continue helping Annabeth back to the room.

She doesn't make it an easy task, seeing as she keeps stumbling over her shoes. "Where am I—I—I-"

"In my arms, darling," I say sweetly. "Darling? Darling?" She murmurs. "Yes, darling,"

We make it back to the room and Annabeth flops onto the bed. "Get out, I need to change," She murmurs. "Okay... but if I hear any crashing I'm rushing in," I warn.

She nods and gets out of bed, I walk out of the room to give her privacy. About two minutes later she says, "You can come in no-no-now!" She sneezes at the last part.

I walk in and see her lying in the bed, under the covers with her hair up in a messy bun. Her nose is red around the edges and her eyes are red too.

She's adorable.

What?!

No, she isn't... I mustn't fall for her...

Annabeth does look really cute right now...

"Thanks, I guess," Annabeth sniffles. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did,"

Oh... oops.

"Anyways, I'm gonna get changed in the closet quickly," I mutter and walk over to the closet. I look at my options and decide to wear the sea-green pajama pants with stripes.

When I walk out of the closet Annabeth is lying in bed with her eyes closed and hands bunched up next to her face. There's a book lying on the pillow above her face, as if she was going to read it but decided against it.

I softly laugh, walking up to the bed. Annabeth's eyes open a crack, then she shuts them tighter than before. "Why don't you have a shirt on?"

"Oh... they didn't have a pajama shirt in there," I mutter, embarrassed. "Ugh... fine, I'll live."