Perfect Little Blue Boy (Percy Jackson)

Chapter Seventy Two

Nico

Can I shoot myself? The goal when I stopped talking to him was to keep it that way.

Now don't get me wrong, Ajax was nice and he was a sweetheart while we were together. But after we broke up, he got annoying. More clingy than when we were together and he constantly used the 'i mean if we hadn't broken up...' line and I just couldn't deal with it. When I started talking to Percy, I said I was done with him.

The only reason we started going out was a dare. It was my first relationship and sure, that aspect of that meant a lot to me. But we did a lot of stupid things. Not that Percy and I don't. But we know when we're being stupid now. I don't know. Ajax is just a guy you can only have so much of before feeling like you're suffocating because you just don't get time to yourself.

If that makes sense.

But no. He's here. With Paige. And the potential to be my sort of brother in law if they work out. Which means I'd get to see him all the time.

I don't want that.

Don't mean to sound like a hardass. But I don't.

So, keeping my word that I'd do what I could to keep him out of my life, I stayed away from them for the rest of the night. Hung out more with the other siblings of Percy's. Percy did, too. He got... He got a vibe that I didn't like Ajax. Wasn't going to go against that quite yet.

Ajax

Did he avoid me for the rest of the night?

Yes he did. I can't tell you why he did, but he seemed to go back and forth between everyone else.

I called Amelia, though. She was my best in high school. She always asks about Nico. And I tell her the same thing. I don't know.

"Hey, dude!" Amelia answered the call after I took a step outside. I lost Paige to the party a long time go. When I realized Nico was avoiding me... And then I would remember that he's engaged now... That he didn't take our break up that hard... That he really doesn't care about us like I still do... I felt like shit. I missed him. And he could care less about me. "What's up? How's New York?"

"It's pretty cool." I told my friend. She goes to a dance school now. Juilliard School of the Arts. "But um, you know how you always ask about Nico?"

"Yeah," she replied, probably nodding her head. "And you always tell me you haven't talked to him in years. What about it?"

"I ran into him."

It was dead silent for a solid three seconds.

"Well how is he?" I could tell that Amelia was afraid to ask me. "I mean, it's been a while but it shouldn't be too big a deal. You've moved on, right? You've dated other people since then. Aren't you dating a girl right now?"

"I don't know, Amelia." I started to derail, knowing this was going to end badly. "I mean, Paige is sweet and nice and all but I saw him and I miss him and now I don't know what to do. He seemed pretty fucking happy to me. Been avoiding me all night, though. Probably because it'd be awkward and shit."

I left out a little detail.

"Then go tell him that." My best friend instructed like it was that easy. "If he's not in a bad mood nothing can go terribly wrong. Especially with people around. If you miss him that badly that you're going to be in tears about the entire thing, go talk to him and ask him out."

"I can't."

She let out a sigh, and probably rolled her eyes. Or something to that sort of affect, at least.

"Why not?" Amelia questioned. "Your nerves have never gotten in your way before. You've always shoved it down and went through with it no matter what."

"Because he's happy, Amelia." I tried to clarify this for her. "Because he's with somebody else, he's engaged, and he could care less about us or me. He didn't even recognize me tonight. He's changed, Amelia. He's not this awkward, quirky teenager anymore. He's confident. He's happy. He knows what he wants with his life. Nico... He... Something happened to him. And it was something good, apparently. I don't..."

When somebody came out, I hung up the call and tried to stay silent.

And then I realized it was Percy.

"No, it's fine." Percy assured whoever was on the phone. "Don't worry about it, dude. I'll probably only be here for a little while longer. You know me. I'm not a party person. Just let me know when you need me there and I'll head over. Birth is stressful. You don't want to leave Clarisse there if you pass out or something. I'll let you know when I leave here if you don't text first though."

Somebody said goodbye on the other line, probably Patrick. The one I already knew. His girlfriend was Clarisse and she was pregnant. Due soon. I haven't seen them for quite a few hours now.

Percy turned around and I wasn't silent enough. Which, he had the big brother aspect to him. The one that would make him an amazing father.

"Hey, Ajax," Nico's... His fiancé remarked, earning my attention. "You good? Did a fight go down between you and Paige?"

"What?" I asked and processed his questions. "Oh, no. It's... Stupid. You're probably the last person that would want to hear about it."

This guy wasn't stupid, at least.

"Nico told me what happened between you guys." He was a persistent guy. "He feels bad about losing contact, he didn't want to make things awkward. Not trying to come off as an asshole. He just wasn't expecting or ready to suddenly see you after so long. Shit... How do I say this simply..."

Percy thought for a moment.

"Shit happened after Nico left California." Percy tried to explained. "To Nico. To everyone. And I know he didn't tell you about any of it. When he was dating Will, it just didn't end well and Will kind of smashed his phone after finding out that Nico wanted to break up with him. So he lost his phone and your number. He felt bad. He still does. He's tried calling you guys before and he once called a dude in China on accident and that was... I'm sorry, I'm probably making you feel worse about this. I'm really bad when it comes to this sort of stuff. I'm sorry."

"No, you're not." I argued, punching his arm and I noticed his forearm was... It was covered... In... In scars. Like cutting and self harm sort of scars. I had a friend who did that a lot. I know what they look like. "You're cutting yourself short. Are you okay?"

"Of course, yeah." Percy told me. "I mean, the party's going great and—"

"Because your arms say otherwise."

Percy glanced down at his forearms before pulling at his sleeves.

"Oh, um, they're old." Percy assured me, suddenly not as confident as he was earlier with things. "Mostly. It's... A process that it's just a bad habit I have to get over. You don't have to worry. I'm not nearly as bad as I used to be. I don't plan on killing myself any time soon. Thanks to... Thanks to Nico I don't want to kill myself anymore. So I mean..."

Percy stopped for a moment, thinking about something. And then he did something I didn't expect out of him.

"Thanks for letting him leave." Percy thanked me for something that happened like three years ago. "It means a lot in the long run. I have a lot of problems and it's hard for me to open up to people. But had Nico not been there, nobody would've been around to stop me from trying to kill myself. I would have been dead a long time ago, but I'm not. I'm still here and I got to see my siblings again and I got to meet you and life's okay now."