TASTE OF YOU . . . percabeth

eight

EMMY WAS RESTLESS as she followed Percy through his apartment building and to the elevator.

After he pressed the button, he turned to her, concern flickering in his eyes. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said immediately.

"You said that way too quickly to be true," he noticed.

She took a breath, ignoring how shuddery it was. "I'm fine. Seriously."

The elevator doors opened in front of them, and a few people filed out. Percy was still looking at her, suspicious. "Alright," he said, walking into the elevator. She followed, watching as he pressed the button to go up.

Emmy wrung her fingers together, fiddling with her rings nervously.

"Uh . . . I never asked," he said, his voice going up as if he'd had an idea. "Did you have homecoming yet?"

That distracted her from her sudden anxiety. "No, I haven't, it's this weekend," she said. "Hopefully it'll be more fun than last year's, because it was kinda boring. I forced my best friend Kylie to convince her parents to let us have a little party at her estate, because mine was unavailable and the club I own was being closed down for repairs. This year I have to throw one, apparently, if it all goes bad. But I guess that's my job as reigning Homecoming Queen."

Percy stared at her. "Seriously?"

She smirked at him. "I am the queen bee," she told him.

The elevator doors opened in front of them, and he led her out of the elevator and down a hallway to a door. He fished out a key, knocked once, then unlocked the door.

"Mom, I'm home!" Percy called. "And Emmy's here, too."

A man that was decidedly not Percy's mom was in the living room, looking over some papers. He stood up and walked over to them.

"I'm Paul, Percy's stepdad." He held out a hand, which Emmy shook. "You were the one who lent him the suit?"

"I did," she replied, her polite businesswoman smile on.

"That's a nice suit," he told her. "You can take it with you when you leave."

"Oh, don't worry about it," she waved him off. "We don't have any use for it at home, I don't think. My cousin isn't tall enough."

She wisely didn't say that there weren't any other men in the house that would use that suit. It would be fine with Percy. Hopefully.

"Percy," another voice said, and they all turned to look at a woman, standing in a doorway. "Are you going to introduce her?"

He frowned. "I thought I already said her name. And that she was coming over."

"Oh, dear God," Emmy muttered under her breath, before straightening and smiling. "I'm Emerson Sinclair. It's a pleasure to meet you both."

"Sinclair?" who she assumed to be Percy's stepdad repeated. "Like, Adeline Sinclair?"

Internally, she winced. Externally, nothing changed. "Yes. She's, um, she's my mother. Was," she corrected quickly. "Was my mother."

"Oh, honey . . ." Percy's mom — at least, she assumed so — walked up to her and hugged her. She seized up, but after an extremely long moment she tentatively hugged back.

"It's alright," Emmy reassured, getting out of that hug. She dusted herself off, but the feeling still lingered. "It's been two months, I think? And I'm doing fine. I have my resources."

"Well, I have something that will make you feel better, dear," Percy's mom put a hand on her shoulder, leading her to the kitchen. Emmy let her; not that she really had a choice, but still.