𝙸 𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜

𝚂𝟷𝙴𝟼: (𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝) 𝙳𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙺𝚘𝚘𝚕-𝙰𝚒𝚍!

Inspired by Community S1E16: "Communication Studies"

Percy POV

"Hey, so I know we said we weren't going to go all out for Valentine's Day or anything, but I was hoping, maybe, that you would go-to-the-dance-with-me?" He can barely get the words out without stuttering.

"Oh, wow, this is so sweet of you, Percy!" Rachel takes the flowers he brought her—carnations. Annabeth likes carnations, so Rachel might like red carnations too, right?

Rachel laces her arms around Percy's shoulders and wraps him in a hug. "I'd love to go to the dance with you!"

"Great! I'll pick you up at eight," he says. "I've, uh, gotta go meet my study group now."

"Okay!"

Percy opens the door to find some of the group already seated. Jason's at his usual spot at the head of the table, and Frank and Hazel are sitting next to each other. Percy doesn't mind that Hazel gave his seat away to Frank. He just moves to sit next to Annabeth. He's been wanting to get closer to her lately, even if he's totally lost his chances of dating her.

And that's fine! Everything happens for a reason! He has Rachel now. She's an art major, and she's from New York too, so they'll be able to hang out in the summer. She's great.

"So who was that?" Frank asks.

"Who?" Percy forgot that he might have to answer to his friends about Rachel. Not that he doesn't want to, it's just... he doesn't want to.

"Well, you're like the dad of our group," says Frank. "So, in a way, that redhead girl is like our new mom."

"No! Guys, do you really think of me as your dad?"

Hazel nods.

"Spit it out, Perce," says Jason. "Who's my mommy?"

"Gross, man. That's just Rachel. I'm taking her to the Valentine's Day dance. We aren't even official yet," Percy explains.

He takes out his phone and answers a couple of texts. He tells his mom that Rachel said yes to the dance and that he had pancakes for breakfast.

For some reason, he checks his voicemail. He doesn't usually do that, but a voicemail from a friend like Annabeth must be important, right?

She doesn't strike Percy as the type to use voicemail, especially at three in the morning, but he holds his phone up to his ear anyway, just in case she needs something.

"Percy..." Her speech is slurred. Oh no, is she drunk? "I was just up... drinking... and I have this stupid dolphin in my bed, and I realized it doesn't really—what's the word... oh—smell... like you."

"Why so red, Percy?" Leo enters the room, a package of Gushers in one hand and a screwdriver in the other.

Percy holds up a finger, telling him to wait.

"So like, you know, if you wanna come over here or whatever, we could like-"

He stops the message before he hears something particularly profane.

"Well folks, the ball is in my court," Percy says.

"And why is that?" Jason asks.

"Annabeth called me last night."

"Oh, that's nice!" says Hazel.

Percy waves his phone in the air. "At three in the morning. To invite me over."