Alternatively

Little Dates

"I'm going to the library!"

Her mom shuffled in the other room. "Now?"

"Yeah, mom," Annabeth rolled her eyes, hiking up her backpack. "I'll be back for dinner."

Something crashed into the building next to theirs and she ducked out of habit, the chandelier shivering slightly. "I might not be back for that, could you start something if so?"

"Sure," she called, skipping to the front door.

"Oh, Annabeth!"

She sighed, slouching as she turned. "Yeah?"

Athena poked her head out of the bathroom, her mask already on. "Go up 2nd, I feel they'll shut down 1st soon."

"Got it, love you, bye."

She closed the door before anything else could be said, pulling out her phone as she walked down the stairs. It was a little hard to navigate the halls when they kept shaking, but she managed to dart into the street in a reasonable amount of time. There weren't many people to weave through once out, just a couple chunks of building to avoid.  She supposed that was better than last time when she fell into a sink hole that opened up outside of her school during a fight. It was almost like spring time when the ice would shoot straight off the skyscrapers, only it was stone and only slightly more predictable.

Despite the falling projectiles, she rather enjoyed her walk up the few blocks to the coffeeshop.

Her phone buzzed and she sidestepped some shattered glass as she checked.

abt to kill my dad, s2g

Shaking her head, Annabeth tapped out a quick, almots there, chill a little.

almots? XD

you knew what i meant, she scowled, shoving the offending device in her pocket.

Honestly, that boy. Who even used that emoticon anymore?

The further up she went, the more people started to clog the walkways again. New Yorkers really baffled her, as they had when she first moved there. Any day is a normal day and they will absolutely change nothing about their daily routine for anything. Blizzard of drastic proportions? Ah, take the long way to work and complain a little. Earthquake decimating half of lower Manhattan? A minor inconvenience but god forbid you stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Two super powers fighting on the sides of good and evil (respectively) and causing massive damage to several blocks of town each battle? Someone better record it, there's a train to catch.

She swerved a UPS guy wheeling in product for the restaurant she passed and ignored the next text that buzzed in her pocket. The shop was literally down the street, he could wait a few minutes more.

Not for the first time in the past two months, the thought occurred to her that her mom would be furious with her decisions as of late.

A news van nearly ran her over as she crossed the street, most likely on it's way to the battle raging downtown, and she figured it was valid karma. Brushing her hair back, Annabeth glanced around to make sure no one saw her almost die. As usual, laughing green eyes caught her gaze and invoked an involuntary smile. Percy mimicked her surprised face from the window, features comically expressive.

She wanted to strangle the idiot.

Annabeth hurried into the coffeeshop, quickly maneuvering to his table with forced exasperation. "You're the worst."

"Maybe," he grinned. "Glad you made it safely."

"Ha," she dryly replied, slinging her bag over the chair's back before sitting down.