Never Thought That We Would End Up Here

Chapter 62

I rattled through my bag to find my keys. I unlocked my door and walked in. I set my things down and sighed. The house seemed empty even though my parent's cars were in the driveway.

"I'm home." I walked to the kitchen, "Dad?"

"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled.

My family and friends were standing in front of me,  "What? What are you guys doing here?"

"Well, we thought that we would celebrate you going on your first tour and making it back home safe. It was all Piper's and Percy's idea." Hazel explained.

"You two didn't have to do that, thank you." I hugged them both.

"Actually we did. First tours are a big deal. I still remember mine." Percy was reminiscing.

"Right, remember when Leo and Frank got attacked by pigeons." Jason laughed. 

"At least you didn't fall off a horse and land face-first in the mud, Jason," Leo smirked.

"What? When was this? Jason, you should tell the story." Piper pleaded. 

Everybody laughed at the guys' stories. As the night went on we laughed, we talked, and we messed around. I need a quick breather so I went up to my room and just sat down for a minute. It was good to be home and relax. I was even ready to get back to my school. There was a knock in my room.

"Annabeth?"

"Come in Percy." I looked up at him.

"How's it feel to be back home?" He sat next to me.

"It's great. I think that is good to get back the school to just somewhat get back to normal, so I can relax at least for now."

"I know what you mean. Remember when I first met you?"

"Yes, I didn't like you. I wished you would've stayed away from me." I smiled.

"I remember. It took a lot of convincing and bumps in the road to be where we are. I think that meeting you made me a better person." He reached for my hand.

I gazed into his eyes and then into his lips. I leaned in and kissed him. I felt him smile. I put my head on his shoulder.

"I think so too."

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The next morning I woke up early and got ready for school.  Percy had offered me a ride to school that morning but I decided to walk. I needed to feel normal and I had a lot to think about. When I got to school Luke came up to me.

"Annabeth, your back. Hi." Luke greeted me.

"Hi, Luke. I'm back, yeah."

"Calypso said that you went to go visit your cousin in Boston again."

"Yes, I do I was supposed to stay there one day, but he insisted I stay the more time so..."

"I tried texting you a little break to hang out and I didn't hear anything back from you." He stated.

"Sorry, I was really busy with studying and you know we graduate in a couple of months so I was really just starting to plan for later, sorry."

"No, it's cool and get that. Since you're here now I don't know if you want to go check out this new pizza place with me later?"

I didn't know what to do. At one point I needed to make sure that no one knew that I was dating Percy as another persona, but I also didn't want to give Luke false hope. I was stuck, plus I had planned on meeting with Grover and Apollo later. Lying was definitely not the best part of this.