Letters of Love: A Percabeth story

Chapter 18

A/N: Thank you guys so much for being patient!! I had a super crazy week and this weekend was equally crazy because it was my little sister's batmitzvah, so I barely even had time to breathe. I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in like a week. Trust me, I feel like a huge jerk. You guys are the best readers ever for putting up with me. 

Anyway, here we are. Chapter 18. It's been a good journey, don't you think? I'm so thankful for every person that has followed, voted, commented, and of course READ this story. I'm glad you stuck with it the whole way through and I'm sorry that I had to make you wait so long for the last chapter. It's unfair, I know, but I finally got it done. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you recommend this story to other readers! 

Here's to Percy and Annabeth. I REALLY hope they get a happy ending in Blood of Olympus (winkwinkRICK RIORDAN TAKE THE HINTwinkwink). 

And now, Chapter 18! :) -Lauren

Things were finally going right for me. The summer sped by, and with Percy by my side it was twice as amazing. Being around him was a feeling like no other. He calmed me down when I was upset or about to stab someone with my dagger; he lifted my spirits when I was missing my dad or Thalia or even Luke. He told the dumbest jokes that always got me to laugh, and he could bring a smile to my face no matter what.

Did I mention that boy can kiss? I mean, I don’t really want to get into too many details here but… holy Hades. I made pretty good use of his amazing kissing skills (you just don’t want to waste talent like that).

However, we tried to keep our relationship relatively secret, although I’m 99.99% sure the Aphrodite cabin was in on the whole thing. I mean, how else could you explain the magical re-appearance of Riptide and my Yankees Cap? But I found it in my heart to forgive the smirks and giggles sent our way every time Percy and I passed them by. I even iris-messaged Thalia and forgave her for spilling the beans about Operation Love Letter to Percy. You can imagine that she was absolutely thrilled to hear that we were finally going out. Let’s just say, there was a lot of uncharacteristic squealing involved (on her end, at least).

I told Percy that we would tell people when the right moment presented itself. Several times I had almost said something, only to decide against it and withdraw. I was enjoying our secret relationship, especially because it made everyone else unsure as to whether we were together or not. And because of that, they mostly left us alone, which was totally fine with me.

When I say mostly, I don’t mean the Stolls. If anything, their crude mealtime jokes only got worse and worse.  But I have to thank them, in a way, because they were the reason that Percy and I finally decided to declare our relationship to the public (wow, I sound like a celebrity talking about the paparazzi).

It was dinner a week or two before the end of camp, and after 5 non-stop choruses of “Percy and Annabeth Kissing in a Tree” (a camp classic by then) I had had enough.

“Hey Percy,” I said, turning to him and giving him a smirk. He looked up from his food and smiled at me. My heart melted.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you think it’s about time that we gave them what they’re asking for?” My devious smile was all that was needed for him to catch on, and he returned it.

“Percy and Annabeth, sitting in a tree,” Travis called; Connor joined in on the “K-I-S-S-I-N-G”.

“I think,” Percy said, cupping my face softly in his hands and grinning that grin that had for so long made my heart skip a beat, “We should definitely give them what they want.” I closed the short distance between us and kissed him.

The pavilion went silent. Even Travis and Connor quieted.

‘Thank the Gods,’ a small part of me thought. The rest of me was busy kissing Percy.

Then a cheer went up from all around, loudest of all from the Aphrodite table. Percy and I broke apart, our faces slightly flushed and our hearts beating double time, to stick our tongues out at the Stolls. They were sitting there speechless amid the clapping campers.

“It’s ABOUT TIME,” Jade shouted from the Aphrodite table, where the rest of her siblings were high-fiving each other. I sent her a wink.

“Well well well,” Malcolm said from across the table where the rest of my Athena siblings were staring. I flushed scarlet, because I had kind of forgotten that they were all sitting right there. Oops.

“I’ll take good care of her,” Percy promised, lacing his fingers through mine. Malcolm let out “hmmph” but he allowed a small smile.

The rest of the day was normal. People came up to us to say “congrats” or “finally” or something along those lines, and while it was definitely amusing I couldn’t really figure out why it was such a big deal. I mean, it wasn’t like Percy had proposed marriage or anything. Still, I let everyone have their fun, and it became apparent that they had all been rooting for us for a long time. Even Grover and Juniper found us during the day to say their piece.

“We can double date now!” Juniper squealed as she pulled Percy and me in for a hug. I laughed.

“Definitely.”

“So, Grover, what do you think?” Percy asked as I laid my head on his shoulder and smiled at the satyr and dryad standing across from us. Juniper giggled happily.

“Uh, I think I’ll leave the details up to you guys,” Grover deadpanned, clearly not too thrilled at the idea of having to coordinate a double date. Juniper frowned at him and nudged his shoulder.

“Don’t be such a kid,” she chided. Then she smiled at me. “Don’t worry Annabeth, we’ll do something fun soon. Come on, Grover,” she said, leading him away by the arm. “I think they want some alone time. Bye guys!” she said. Grover turned and waved goodbye to us as well before he walked away with Juniper. Percy and I watched them go.

“I would definitely give them Cutest Couple of the Year award, wouldn’t you?” I said, turning to him.

“I don’t agree. I think they’re about to get upstaged,” Percy grinned slyly.

“Oh really? By who?” I said softly, already knowing the answer. He leaned towards me, his green eyes shining.

“Just this really attractive, charming, brave, charismatic guy and his super beautiful girlfriend named-“

“Shut up, Seaweed Brain,” I said, pulling him in by the shirt and kissing him firmly on the mouth.

And you know what? He did.