Fun Fact:
Before Star, I actually wrote and published
a different story called Goddess of Theft.
The story was removed and deleted
due to the insecurity I faced at the time.
I hope to write something like it again in the
future, but it's completely gone and there's
no way for me to edit from the original.
~~~
"Annabeth?" he asked again.
"Percy?" I smiled as he nodded. Before I even had a chance to process the information, I found myself throwing my arms around him in a bear hug. With the force I used, I was sure I had crushed some vital organs. But any worry I had for them had vanished when he made the confirmation. "Oh my gods, it's so great to nice you again."
He chuckled as he returned the hug with equal force, but I didn't mind. For about five seconds, it served as a nice reunion between us. Then, with slight hesitation, I stepped back and punched him square in the shoulder with enough power to be playful and come off as menacing at the same time. "Why didn't you tell me you were back?"
"I had no way of contacting you. It's not like I can magically send you a message via rainbow. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?" Percy said, absentmindedly rubbing the shoulder I hit.
I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help the smile that spread across my cheeks. "I am the smart one, Percy. You could have sent blue cookies as like a bat signal or something."
"A bat signal or something," he repeated in disbelief as if it were the most ridiculous idea he'd ever heard. "What does that make you? Robin? You sure you wanna be my sidekick? Probably not the best idea considering I got myself three weeks worth of in-school suspension on the first day."
"First off, I am most definitely not your sidekick," I said, fighting the urge to gag. "If anything you would be my sidekick. Second, how the actual fuck did you manage to get suspended on the first day?"
"I started a fight," Percy said, before making a face. "Well, maybe not a fight considering he was on the ground before—"
"Percy!"
"What?! The fucker was picking on my little cousin. I couldn't not hit him." Percy said, shrugging. "Even the principal agreed the guy was being an ass. The only reason I'm in trouble is because they can't condone violence."
"Fair enough," I said before remembering that my friends were waiting on me to get my books. "God fucking damn it," Percy looked over at me with a confused look. "I completely forgot about my friends. They've probably either already left me or have been waiting for a while."
"Oh, is your friend the one whose calls you've been ignoring?" Percy asked, gesturing to my phone.
Sure enough, there were two missed phone calls from Piper and Hazel each and a single text message from Piper.
"We're leaving now cuz I'm bored. Hope you don't get murdered!" I read Piper's text aloud to Percy, who hid his amusement behind his hand. I tried to ignore the fact that his hands looked very much like Corpse Husband's, with veins stretching out like cobwebs and a small ring around his index finger.
(A/N: yes, i do simp for Corpse and yes, I have developed an appreciation for hands. No, it's not weird, and no, there will not be smut in this story. No judgement towards people who do, I just do not feel comfortable writing it.)
I quickly replied to her with a picture of a gesture no one needed sign language to understand.
"If you need a ride, I can drive you." Percy volunteered, pulling out his car keys.
I truly don't know why it shocks me so much to find out that Percy could drive. Perhaps it was because the last time I saw him, he was just learning to ride a bike without training wheels.
I was about to accept his offer when I realized Percy would have to drive me home. He would have to go out of his way to drive me and then go home. Imagine if we lived in opposite directions from the school, the drive for him would be far too long and he was too kind to take back his offer.
And that's why I instead found myself declining his offer. "No, don't worry about it. I can just walk home. I don't want you to go out of your way to drive me home."
He gave me an odd look. "We live right next door, y'know? It's not out of my way in the slightest."
"Right next door?" I repeated, mostly to myself.
"Yeah!" He said. "Mom found out that our old house was open, and figured, why not?"
As he went on, a bubble of excitement begun to rise in my chest. My smile so wide I was sure I was going to permanently rip my cheeks. "No way."
"Yes, way. Did you not see the movers outside of our house?"
"Yes, but I didn't think it would be you and Sally."
"Of course it was me, it was always my intention to come back to you," Percy said with an honesty that completely shocked me, and from his reaction, I'm guessing it shocked him too.
I wanted to reply with something just as sickeningly sweet to both one-up him and express how much I had missed my best friend.
Instead, I found myself saying; "Oh absolutely, I'm amazing. You couldn't not come back. What on Earth would you do without me."
"I mean it, Annabeth, " he said seriously and softly, causing butterflies in my stomach. "Me and my mom both... we missed the hell outta you Chases."
Percy : 2
Annabeth : 0
"Y'know what my childhood intention was after you moved?" I said, changing the subject before my face could get any warmer.
"Hm?"
"To take you back to Jeffery's."
"No way," Percy said, a lopsided smile overtaking his face. "That place is still open?"
"It is," I said, matching his enthusiasm and pulling him outside to the school's parking lot. Finding his car was relatively easy considering only a few cars remained in the student parking.
The time it took to get from the school to Jeffery's was practically non-existent as we drove there. Laughing and reminiscing about old times.
"Gods, this place hasn't changed one bit," Percy said, holding the door open as we walked into the place.
A smile crept across my face and my legs went on autopilot walking to my favorite booth. "Yeah, the only thing that's different now is that Jeffery's son owns the place now."
"No way, I thought he was in college."
"Nope," I shook my head. "He graduated five years ago. Now that I think about it, I think he's getting married in the spring."
"You're fucking with me," Percy said, smiling with a look of disbelief. "There's no way he's getting married. If there's one thing you could always count on, it would be him being a complete asshat."
"No kidding." I laughed before remembering something to laugh harder. "Oh my gods, do you remember when he purposely ran over my bike for fun?"
"I do! What-" Percy erupted in a fit of wheezes before managing to get his sentence out. "Didn't he say that-that Rudolph the Red-Nosed-Reindeer did it because he hated silver glitter and it had to be golden?"
"Stop," I whined holding out the 'p'. "I can't believe I bought that, it was such a stupid lie."
The evening continued with jokes and laughter, only stopping to order and express our appreciation to the waiter. Only after my fifth refill did I ask Percy to check the time.
"Thank you," I said to the waiter, before returning to my conversation with Percy. When I looked back, he was frantically typing on his phone, mumbling 'shit' under his breath repeatedly. "What's wrong."
"My mom," he said turning his phone to face me. On his screen was multiple missed calls and texts sent in a panic from Sally.
I couldn't help but let out a chuckle, "Oh, you're so fucked."
"Shut up, Annie," Percy said, dialing her number.
"Make me."
He opened his mouth to reply but stopped when a yelling came from his phone. Percy pulled the phone away from his ear as if it were hot coal. "Hello to you too, Mom."
"Hi, Sally!" I said.
"Annabeth says hi too." he relayed to her, the phone going silent for a while. "Yes, Annabeth's here too."
I sat there for a while listening to only his side of the conversation. My mind drifting off to random topics without consistent conversation with Percy.
"Okay," I heard. "Love you too. Bye."
Percy hung up the phone, putting it away as he looked at me. "So, you're still somehow my mom's favorite child and she wanted me to tell you that she misses you."
"Aww," I smiled. "I love your mom."
Percy rolled his eyes jokingly. "Easy for you to say when you're not the one being told off."
"You probably deserved it, to be fair though."
"I did actually, it's seven-thirty."
"No way," I quickly pulled out my phone and saw that he was right. "Oh shit."
"Yeah."
We paid the bill and walked towards the car.
"I call aux."
"Absolutely not."
***
AN: Hey guys! I hope you've enjoyed the chapter, be sure to vote and comment! :)
I also wanna say thank you all for all of the support from this story and my other two stories. Omega has about 400k views, Star is getting closer to 200k, and this story is well over 2k despite how I've been updating it. I average more notifications for comments on this app in a day than I do for all my apps in a week. Your support honestly means the world. :)
Thank You!!!
Word Count: 1672 words