Losing Games

18.

18.

'It's A Date'

~*~

Charles (Charlie) Beckendorf POV

I watched Percy closely as Terminus went on and on about why he should've gone to school with him and how was he supposed to do his job if he wasn't there.

But Percy wasn't paying any attention, he was leaning his head against the car window, staring at the people on the streets as they laughed and talked like they had no other care in the world. 

He was jealous of them, I realized. 

I noticed it from the sad looks he had when families were chatting in the café or the frowns he'd have when he saw a couple kissing.

The way he looked so desperate to have a family who loved him when he saw a huge family sitting together to eat or from the way a little girl was having fun with their siblings.

All the things he never had but I had nothing to say to make him feel better.

"Okay, can you shut up, sir?" Percy asked loudly, turning to Terminus as he drawled on. "You're actually giving me a headache."

"You have a headache?" I asked him.

"I always have a headache," he muttered.

"Well have you been sleeping or eating?"

Percy shot me a glare and I shrugged. "Well, I'm just saying that maybe you'd feel better if you actually ate or slept."

"Mr. Jackson, you haven't been eating or sleeping?" Terminus asked, glaring at him from the mirror.

Oops.

I gave Percy an innocent smile as he shot me a dirty look.

"I'm fine," he said.

"I know you're fine, but have you been eating or sleeping?" Terminus repeated.

"Yes," Percy muttered. "Yes, I have, okay?"

I think Terminus was going to ask something else but decided against it.

"I'm going to talk to Chiron about this," he said instead.

"Be my guest," Percy said, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure he's going to care so much."

"Mr. Jackson, everyone cares about you," Terminus told him. "People wouldn't ask if they didn't care."

Percy said nothing, storming out of the car as we reached his mansion. 

He slammed his bedroom door shut and I glanced at Terminus.

"Give him some time," he advised. "He hasn't had the best few weeks."

So I sat in his living room and turned his huge TV on, flipping through the channels to find something I liked.

I watched a few episodes of The Good Place before deciding to check on Percy.

I knocked twice, opening it when I heard him muffle, "Come in."

Percy's bedroom was everything like his house; classic and elegant.

His room was painting a midnight blue color and, on his ceiling, hung those star things that lit up when the light was turned off or when it was dark. 

His bed was shoved up in the middle of the room, a table on the right side filled with paperwork, homework, his music, songs and a ton of other stuff.

He had a shelf on the left side of the bed, scattered with photographs, books, and trophies that he won.