Into the Clouds | Percabeth| Mortal AU

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Annabeth." Percy walked up to Annabeth and Thalia as school ended. 

Annabeth turned around to face him. "What's up?" she asked, purposefully ignoring what happened this morning as she refused to talk about it.

"Can I give you a ride home?" 

Thalia grinned. "She'd love that. I have to run a couple of... errands anyway." She walked backwards a couple of steps and gave Annabeth a dorky thumbs up.

Annabeth glanced at her. "I thought you said that--"

"Okayyyy! Byeee," she said as walked to her car, not allowing Annabeth to say no to Percy.

Annabeth chuckled. "Sure, I'd love a ride."

They walked to his car and Percy opened the passenger door for Annabeth as she climbed in. He shut it and went around to the front. "I'm really sorry about today," Percy said as started the engine and began backing out of the school's parking lot. 

"It wasn't your fault," Annabeth said, redoing her ponytail. "It's not like you sent the picture around."

"No... but I know who did," Percy said. 

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't even want to know. I just want to enjoy my weekend before the competition practices next week."

Percy glanced over at her, momentarily taking his eyes off the road. "Competition?"

"Yeah. Leo is doing it with me, it's a comp against the other high school. It's like mathletes but it's only trigonometry,"  she explained. 

"That sounds absolutely terrible," Percy said, laughing. "Hey, do you want to stop for some ice-cream?" he asked. 

Annabeth nodded. "That would be lovely." She paused for a minute before asking, "What are we?"

Percy turned into the parking lot. "Um... humans? I--"

"No, I mean, us. I don't know what's going on between us. Are we dating? Are we not dating?" she asked. "I'm just confused."

He pulled the car into a parking spot and turned to look at Annabeth. "If you don't want to this, I completely understand and we can still be friends, but if you do, and you're comfortable, I'm in," he said. "I've liked you since freshman year."

"Wait, what?" Annabeth asked, to which Percy just shrugged. "You've liked me since freshman year? If you liked me so much, then why on Earth did you order all those drinks?"

A huge smile spread across Percy's cheeks. "Annabeth," he said, trying not to laugh. "I did it because I liked you."

"Huh?" Annabeth asked brilliantly. 

"I was trying to get your attention," he said, leaning a little bit closer, "and it worked."

"There were a million better ways to go about that," Annabeth whispered. 

She wanted to kiss him. She almost did. But before she got the chance, her phone started singing it's annoying ringtone. She leaned back and pulled it out of her back pocket. Pidge's name flashed across the screen. 

She swiped and answered. "Hey Pidge, what's up?" she asked. 

"Boss wants you to know that if you don't come in for work today, you're fired. You've missed a lot of days," she explained. 

"Sorry, I've been having some family stuff going on. I'm on my way," she hurried, then hung up. She looked at Percy. "I'm really sorry, but is there any way you can give me a ride to work? I'm about to be fired and I need this job."

Percy gave her a quick kiss, but it was just long enough that it counted. "Sure, I'd love to," he said. 

"Thank you."