You've Got Mail

Broken

Piper's POV

I looked forlornly at the woman in front of me. Her blonde hair partially covered her face, in a feeble attempt to hide her eyes. Her eyes. They no longer shone with confidence and pride. Now, they were bloodshot red, as if she had been crying for over an hour. It hurt my heart to see my best friend like this.

Upon seeing me, she stumbled into my arms.  Her hair smelled faintly of lemon. She began to quietly sob on my shoulder, and I embraced her tighter. After a few minutes, and a few concerned glances our way, Annabeth stopped trembling and took heavy breaths to calm down. 

I smiled at her as she sat down across from me, her eyes still puffy. She took a few sips from my Iced Hazelnut Macchiato and steeled her nerves, in preparation of the truth she was about to unload onto me.

She explained her situation in between sobs. Her voice faltered every now and then, and the tears barely stopped flowing. The only other time I had seen her like this was since Percy had broken up with her. Jerk.

It took a while, but I finally understood her predicament. When she was out for dinner with William yesterday, they had an argument over her career path. She had always wanted to move back to New York City to become an architect, but William stubbornly refused. After things spiralled out of control, he left the restaurant. The next day, he gave a half-hearted apology and used a rather stupid excuse to get himself out of trouble. Upon hearing what she had to say next, I spat out some of my drink and quickly got a tissue to clean the mess.

"He-he what?!" I asked, infuriated with what I had heard. No fucking way. What an absolute idiot. I pulled her into a tight embrace again as I felt the steady flow of tears down my shoulder.

That bastard had multiple women sending him provocative images of themselves in seductive poses. Furthermore, Annabeth recalled that some of them seemed like underage fans. To say that I was angry would be an understatement. He also replied to some of the messages with his own pictures, without a second thought of his partner.

"Leave him. Come and stay with me for a little while. We'll get through this together, just like old times." I assured and comforted her. When she looked up, I continued, "Don't worry Annie, you'll bounce back. You don't deserve his lousy ass anyway."

She half smiled, her mascara ruined. Well, there was nothing a daughter of Aphrodite couldn't fix. I grabbed her hand and we left the cafe, completely oblivious to the judgmental stares of those around us.

Percy's POV

I walked back to my office and plumped myself onto the rolly chair. It was called a swivel chair, but I preferred the term "rolly chair". I spun around a few times before opening up my laptop. I wanted to share about my day with OH, but it seemed like she had already begun to do so herself. *Five new messages from Windows Live Messenger* Curiosity got the better of me and I opened the app. What I had read caused my jaw to drop lower after each message.

OwlHead127: I'm going to stay with my friend, Piper, for a while. Things are really bad with William, and I don't think that I'm going to keep in contact with him anymore.

OwlHead127: He was sending nudes to other girls...

OwlHead127: To girls under 18...

OwlHead127: I think I'm going to throw the ring away. Or sell it online. Or leave it on the table and leave without saying a word.

OwlHead127: Please talk to me as soon as possible, I really need someone else in my life to remind me that I'm not a worthless mess.

Upon seeing the name "Piper", a thought flashed before my mind. I dismissed it as I desperately thought of a way to comfort the broken person on the other side of the screen.