You Always Have What Other's Don't ~a Percy Jackson AU~

XX Thalia

The plan was simple enough to understand, but it still made Thalia anxious.

She sipped on her champagne nervously. She already had a way to get into the gala, of course, but she didn't tell Jason how. Some of her sketchier friends had hooked her up with tickets, and she wasn't about to be pull Jason into that sort of mess. Her charm bracelet clinked against the glass, sending chills down her spine.

Only when she noticed some of the security guards scampering around frantically, did Thalia know that Leo had been successful in disarming the doors. A part of her relaxed, but also wondered how he did it. It certainly wasn't legal, but she was thankful that Leo had her brother's back.

She realized the tension in her shoulders, taking another big swig of her drink.
"Thalia?"
She looked up an nearly choked. She swallowed the rest of her champagne in one, painful, gulp. "Luke! ...and Zoë."
The two were linked at the arm. Zoë's hair was done in an elegant braid, one that made Thalia feel self-conscious about her own black and blue slips ends.
Luke turned to his date. "Give me a minute." Zoë huffed, but still complied, plopping into a chair at the other end of the room. Luke gave her a small smile. "So.. you're here."
Thalia nodded awkwardly. "Yep."
The two were silent. They didn't really have much to talk about except the stunt at the coffee shop. It's not like Thalia didn't want to talk about it. In fact, she wanted nothing more than to address it. She cleared her throat. "What did you mean, exactly?"
"What?"
"When you said you didn't cheat. I saw the photo, everyone did."
Luke inhaled sharply. "You're letting me explain?"
Thalia nodded slowly. She braced herself for him to yell, but his tone came out gentle and understanding.
"It was photoshopped. We never actually kissed. Blame Travis Stoll."
Thalia was too stunned to speak. She couldn't comprehend the fact that she threw away her relationship over a fake photo. Really, it didn't even register with her until seconds later.
"And you brought Zoë tonight, why?" She blurted.
Luke turned red. "Back at the coffee shop, I thought you moved on. So I guess I did to."
Thalia sat down, her stomach churning like a violent sea.
"Are you mad?" Luke asked, fearing the worst.
Thalia paused, her mind reeling. Analyzing everything for a final time, she realized was exhausted of feeling like this. It's gotten to the point where she was all cried-out, and it just seemed pathetic. It's not like she could just come running back to him either, she wasn't even sure she wanted to.

She had an epiphany. Over the course of their relationship, misunderstanding and distrust was pretty much the only thing keep them afloat. As paradoxical as that was, it was the truth. Thalia felt like her eyes were opening for the first time. In the thirty seconds of deafening silence, she had realized that she and Luke's relationship was the most toxic one she had ever been in. At the time, they were both so scared of losing each other that automatically assumed that the other had the worst intentions.

She sighed. "No, I'm not. I have no right to be."
Thalia turned to him, and genuine smile crossed her face. "Are you happy?"
"I-I think so."
Thalia gave him a small peck on the cheek. "Good. I think it's time we both start over. Agreed?"
Luke broke out into a grin. "Agreed."
And so, he trotted back to Zoë,

and for once, Thalia didn't seem to mind.

***

Thalia searched high and low for her brother, with no luck. She wondered if he had any success with Piper, even though she didn't 100% approve of his plan.

Funny enough, Thalia had never even met Reyna. No, really. Of course, when she and Jason first started dating, she had heard about it. But nothing much more after that. She didn't even know what color hair she had.

So when she met the girl in he bathroom, she had no way of recognizing her.

The girl sat on the sink, swinging her legs back and forth. She had a somewhat puzzled expression to point where it would be rude if Thalia didn't ask her what was wrong.
"Are you okay?" She asked, drying her hands with a paper towel.
The girl smiled meekly. "Yeah. I just broke up with my boyfriend."
Thalia chuckled. "In a way, me too." Thalia sat next to her. "Do you need anything?"
"No, I'm okay. I'm not sure he is though."
Thalia cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"
"Well it's not every day you come out to you boyfriend."
At first, Thalia didn't understand. "Oh."
The girl shook her head, laughing. "He had the same reaction."
"Well, that can't be a good way to end things."
She shrugged. "I've noticed him drifting for awhile, it wasn't that hard."
Thalia hopped off the counter. "Well, I have a brother and his freakishly short sidekick to find, wish me luck."
The girl snorted. "Good luck."

And the two never said a word to each other again.