You Belong to my Heart: A Percabeth FF

18. Annabeth

Chapter 18: Annabeth

The ninth stop was the worst decision of my life. We were in a pretty isolated part of the neighborhood, with little to do.

"Well then," I laughed.

"Wait where are we again?" asked Percy for the umpteenth time. He was looking down at his phone, checking to see what was nearby.

"At the intersection between Goode Boulevard and Maxer Street," I said again.

"I got it! There is a super retro skating rink about five minutes from here. Wanna go?"

"I can't skate," I laugh.

"Then we'll learn."

"You don't know how to either?" I shrieked.

He raised his eyebrows. "I've been skating since I was 5."

"But you just said —"

"I don't like to brag," he drawled, "and I didn't want to make you feel bad."

I punched his arm. "Never, ever think I'm not strong enough. But fine. Let's go fall on our butts. Lead the way."

We walked side by side and he explained to me about the other day with the whole thing about Gale. Apparently, it was Sally's old boss at the restaurant she worked at, and they were married for some time, until he started abusing Percy too, and his mother decided to get out of that toxic relationship.

"Omigosh!" I cried.

"Yeah. I know. And he was super smelly all the time," his eyebrows quirked up and the edges of his lips turned up into a half smile, "that's why I called him Smelly Gabe."

I burst out laughing. He was kind of cute when he did that. "No way!"

"Yup! He hated me for that but I did it anyway."

"Mmhmm," I nodded. I looked up and realized that we had arrived at our destination.

The skating rink was called Roll the Sky. Percy told me that it was here from the 80's and it was obvious the managers hadn't updated much of the building. The architecture was interesting, in the sense that it was shaped like a curled up piece of cardboard. Red paint was falling off, revealing the layer of wood underneath. The light was multi-colored, switching from a phosphorescent set of colors including green, red and blue.

As we entered the building, a boy our age greeted us. "Welcome! How can I help you?" I looked around. The inside was a horrid orangey color, but I guessed that was the style of the 80s. Bright yellow lights penetrated and burned my eyes and I had to blink out the excess light.

"Well, um, I think we wanted to skate for a bit?" Percy asked.

The boy nodded enthusiastically. He was standing behind a black counter, with a door behind him which probably led to the skates. "Of course, of course. I need to get your skates, though. What are your shoe sizes?"

"I think I will be an 11," mumbled Percy.

"I'm a 7," I told him.

"Okay, then wait here and I'll be right back."

We sat down on a couch, this one was also orange, near the entrance. It was made of leather, but it was clearly worn out over the long period of use.

"You got small feet, Beth," he giggled.

"Doesn't mean I can't kick."

"Dang, this is the second time you've threatened me in a single night," he raised his eyebrows.