Annabeth agreed to come home with me for Christmas. And if that didn't give me reason to celebrate, the fact that she was here, in the passenger seat next to me as I drove to Manhattan is enough to make me want to strip and dance on top of the Acropolis.
And I was honestly so nervous about a whole
trip with Annabeth and ruining our already delicate relationship, I downed two whole cups of black coffee.
Which would normally be fine, except for the fact that I haven't had coffee in over 10 months.
And....my body wasn't handling it well. I'm pretty sure it's high....on coffee, nothing else. Don't take drugs, kids.
Also, Annabeth was probably the best person you could ever hope to take a trip with.
She made sure we started earlier in the day, right after breakfast to ensure that we weren't late. And thank god's she did because traffic would've been a nightmare.
Not like it isn't now, but it would've been worse.
"Did you finish the maths paper yet?" she asked, finally filling the near hour of silence that only Taylor Swift had saved with her amazing vocals.
I turned the music down, "No. We have a maths paper??" I asked. Ah shit. Moms gonna kill me.
If dad doesn't first.
She smiled, "It's actually easy. I'll help you with it if you want," she offered.
"I'll take you up on that. When we get to mom's place, you can teach me. She'll be shocked."
"About Sally...she still doesn't know, does she?" Annabeth asked carefully, her head tilted towards the window so I couldn't see her face.
Right, of course she would want to know.
Annabeth wasn't the type of person who forgot things. No, she would think them through until she practically wore a hole in her brain.
"I was going to bring it up one family dinner years later after Rachel and I broke out of it," I answered her, drumming my hands along the steering wheel. Maybe I should just turn the music back on.
"I'd love to see Sally's reaction to it if you actually that," she grinned, leaning against the car seat.
"Well...after Rachel and I do get unengaged, you're the one who's gonna be coming home with me every year," my mouth said for me, before it had the time to correlate with my brain and come up with a game plan.
Oh shit shit shit
Percy you idiot!!!
"I....er....you know....ummm," I tried desperately to find a way to cover up the situation but it didn't work. So I kept my eyes glued to the window as I drived.
Regretting my whole entire existence
Annabeth moved to turn up the music at the same time as I did, our hands both touching as we did so.
We pulled back immediately, me almost swerving the car in shock.
"Umm....er....sorry?" I babbled, unsure of where this conversation was going.
"I like this song," Annabeth supplied, being the lone hand which turned up the radio. 'Twas playing Red (Taylor's Version)
"Yeah...me too," I said dumbly. Get it together Percy!
And the coffee I had a while earlier was not helping my situation. I found myself shaking my leg, trying not to run a marathon.
Never again am I going to drink coffee.
We drove for the next few hours just the radio to keep us sane. No conversation, no jokes, no exchanges at all.
It felt odd, not being able to talk to Annabeth. Or hold her hand. Or kiss her. Or just tell her how much I love her.
And....I really wanted to do the last one. Scratch that, all three seemed like good options.
I turned to the passenger seat to find Annabeth sound asleep.
I found myself smiling. She somehow managed to look beautiful, even alseep. Her hair was plastered all over her face, and she was definitely going to wake up with a kink in her neck.
At the next traffic stop, I snapped a picture of her, making it her contact picture. And I turned the radio off, leaving me and my thoughts all alone.
Great.
Like I mentioned before, the drive was long and very quite. I did have to stop at a gas station to...deal with the mess the coffee made of my insides.
But we made it! We arrived at mom's place around 7pm ish,sorta late but sorta early too.
We pulled up to the apartment, and I parked the car. My back heaved a sigh of relief, grateful that it no longer had to drive.
I turned to wake up Annabeth, still soundly asleep.
"Wise girl," I whispered, shaking her shoulder, "time to wake up. We're here."
" Piper leave me alone," she mumbled. Her eyes shot open then, and she got up with a start, "did I fall asleep?" she asked me, patting her head.
"You tell me, Jason. Did you dream about me?" I mimicked Piper's voice, already regretting it. When you don't have any human interaction in four hours, you tend to say weird things.
Annabeth turned red, much to my delight, "shut up," she said, turning her face downcast.
"Whatever you say, ma'am."
I left her to collect herself as I took our luggage out of the backseat. There were just two backpacks. Or technically, two backpacks plus Annabeth's school bag with all her educational stuff in there.
Oh this was going to be a fun trip.
Oh! And of course all the Christmas gifts I got my sister. And
Even Amphitrite went....overboard with baby shopping. She bought Estelle a whole baby store.
Baby E's going to be very spoiled.
Amphitrite was extremely excited when Tyson was born. She was also super nervous, being a first time mom. That's how both my mom's became very close, because my mom would constantly call her and give her advice.
And I know Amphitrite is still very grateful.
"Mom!" I cheered, dropping the bags near the door as I ran to hug her. Gods I've missed her so much.
"Percy! Have you not eaten? You've gotten so thin!" mom fretted, examining me at an arms length. I rolled my eyes.
She moved onto Annabeth before I could give response. The two began their chatting so I left to go find Paul cause I know this is going to take a while.
"Hey! Paul," I whispered, knocking on his door. It was open,so I let myself on.
My stepfather was rocking my baby sister in his arms, and she was fast asleep.
She was the cutest little thing.
Paul put a finger on his lips, placing Estelle in her crib before moving towards me, closing the door behind me.
"Percy! How are you?" He asked, giving me a quick embrace.
"Baby E's grown up so much," I said in response.
"I know," he smiled, "now you know how Sally feel's all the time."
"It seems you've brought Annabeth here, how lovely," Paul said, a mischievous grin on his face.
"You sound like mom, stop," I hid my face, to make sure he couldn't see the flush on my face.
"Well....you are my stepson, and I do believe I have to give you some advice," Paul said, lowering his voice. We could hear Annabeth and mom laughing in the main room.
"First off," he said so quitely that I could barely hear him, he looked me straight in the eye as he did so, "do you know about the birds and the bees?"
"Paul!"
"Just checking," he chuckled, shaking his head, "Now, let's be serious for once. When you find love, Percy, you should hold onto it. And everyone knows you like Annabeth, so....let her know before it's too late," he said, looking very wise indeed.
I opened my mouth to respond, but mother dearest summoned us to the dining room for dinner.
I did let her know
"Think about what I said, Percy," was the last thing Paul said before we left to fill our stomachs.
————————————————————————-
Aha! New chapter which is very shabbily written check!
Am I talking about Christmas two months too late? Well.....nevermind that.
Stay tuned!!
—S