Soon You'll Get Better

56.

56.

Promises Never Kept

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Annabeth POV

Never in my life would I have open Percy's front door and see Luke Castellan standing on the front porch. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" 

Everything in his voice spoke heartbreak.

"Tell you what?" I asked. "That he was..." I couldn't say the word. I just couldn't. 

Luke nodded firmly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know how," I admitted. 

I didn't know what to say. How was I supposed to tell him?

"Move."

And so I did. I followed him inside but paused in the living room and let him go to Percy's room. 

"Who was that?" Sally asked. 

"Luke."

Sally let out a huge sigh and closed her eyes. 

"I'm going to go lie down," Sally said quietly before leaving the room. 

"Want to watch some TV?" Paul asked. 

He was upset, but he was trying to stay strong. Both for his wife and his son. 

He grabbed the remote before I had the chance to answer. 

Luke emerged from Percy's room almost an hour later, his eyes bloodshot.

"Come watch TV," Paul invited. 

Luke took a seat on the floor in front of me, his shoulders slumping. 

"I supposed he's awake now then," I guessed.

Luke let out a humorless laugh. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"What did you say to him?" I asked. 

Luke was quiet. "I told him I was sorry."

"Sorry?"

"Yeah, for being such a jerk to him when he was going through so much."

There was nothing to say. 

"Just watch the TV," Paul ordered. 

We finished watching the current episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S in silence. 

The TV show was too cheerful for the mood right now. But I guess we all needed it. 

"How could you not tell me?" Luke asked, his voice broken.

"Because I didn't want to see you like this."

Luke ran his hand across his face and rose to his feet. 

"Sorry, but we don't allow emotionally charged people to leave the house," Paul informed him. "So you're stuck here until I deem you okay to drive again."

He didn't say anything, pacing the floor and muttering under his breath. 

Paul shot me a concerned glance to which I could only shrug. 

I knew Luke at surface-level. I had been there for moral support after his mom's death, but our relationship didn't go any deeper than that. 

"This was such a terrible fricking idea," Luke said quietly. 

"Whoa, language," Paul said. "You're like what? 17? There are kids in the house. And I'm an English teacher. So chill out here, Castellan."

"I should've known that this was a bad idea," Luke continued.