Soulmates

Chapter 33

thank you riptide2406 for the "willow" song prompt for the first bit of the chapter!

Percy finds his new tattoo that morning at the swim meet.

He'd met up with Juniper for the rally, and Grover was there for the rally. They weren't needed until the school almost opened, but they needed to get into uniform.

"I don't get why people are so whiny about the weather here," Juniper said. "In Leh Ladakh, it'll get down to -28 degrees. Celcius," she quickly added.

"Where's Leh Ladakh?" Percy asked.

"It's near the Himilaya," Juniper answered as she slicked back her dark hair to fit it in a half-updo before pinning the bow in place. She pulled down the short skirt of her uniform. "They have a fucking dress code, but they want me to cheer in a skirt the size of fucking track pants."

Grover snorted, then continued to tune his flute, adjusting the headjoint. "America is a wonderous place, babe," his voice was laced with sarcasm. His girlfriend rolled her eyes in return.

"Okay. This is fine," Juniper gestured wildly to the mirrors surrounding the pool before placing a marching band shako atop Grover's head. "We'll see you at practice."

When he got out of the pool, Grover noticed the red mark on the small of Percy's back.

"Oh, Percy, you're soulmate has excellent music taste," Juniper said when she saw the tattoo.

Percy turned to them and raised a brow. "What?"

Grover took a picture of the tattoo. "He or she is a swiftie. I'm so sorry--" Juniper playfully smacked his shoulder as Grover laughed.

Percy felt his heart stop. That tattoo wasn't there before, and no one has talked to him about Taylor Swift since Annabeth.

That's a development, for sure.

He supposed that was an interesting way for fate to say, hey, you know that girl you've been high-key crushing on? Lmao, yeah, no, she's your soulmate, and she's not remotely interested in you! So fun, right?

It was not fun.

-

Percy was acting weird. He was actually paying attention during physics. Annabeth knew he never paid attention to physics. Especially if Annabeth herself didn't pay attention to Hoffman's monotonous math bullshit that no one cared about.

Something was bothering him.

She'd catch him glancing at her, and when she'd meet his eyes, he'd look away.

That unnecessary swoop in her stomach decided to turn into a fucking rollercoaster every time she looked into his eyes. The deep-sea green made Annabeth seem like the ship that rolled in that night.

God, she needed to stop applying Taylor Swift songs to every potentially romantic situation.

Annabeth wanted to laugh at the thought. It would never happen.

She didn't look at him directly, but Annabeth could feel Percy's gaze on her.

She wished he would talk to her. After all, the less he said, the less she knew.

In the back of her mind, she saw the yearning in his gaze. But she shouldn't assume. He doesn't need to have feelings for her.

Annabeth just really fucking wanted it.