Eyes like the Ocean

six

Another week passed, and it seemed as though Annabeth wasn't really living with Thalia. She was never there, anyway. And her relationship with Percy was becoming more complicated by the day.

She was in the situation where she wanted to be with him all day, only wanted to talk and laugh and smile with him, but she knew it was wrong. They ended up talking about the Luke thing, which wasn't an easy conversation, but he comforted her through the whole thing. Percy was nothing like that fucking idiot, she realized.

One day, Annabeth was watching a movie in the living room when Percy showed up. He plopped himself down on the couch right beside her, stuffing his hand into her popcorn bowl.

"Bitch," Annabeth scoffed. He smiled cheekily at her.

"Love you, too." Even though it was clearly just a joke and his mouth was overflowing with popcorn, she felt butterflies swarming in her stomach at his words and a blush rise on her cheeks. She only hymned in response and stared at the TV screen so he wouldn't notice how much his words had affected her.

Half an hour into the movie, which was Frozen, by the way, Percy slipped his arm around Annabeth's shoulders. She unconsciously scooted closer to him and for the first time, didn't feel guilty. An image of Thalia and Luke together came into her mind, and she didn't even care. She looked up at Percy to see that he was already staring at her, his eyes big and beautiful with a tiny smile on his face that said more than any words he could've said in that moment.

"I don't know if you know this," Percy said, "but I'm moving to the house across the street after the summer with my mom. I'm finishing off high school at your school." Annabeth beamed.

"Really? That's great!"

"Yeah. I mean, after my dad died, it took my mom a while to get herself back together. But now she's engaged to someone new and we're all moving here."

"I'm sorry about your dad," she said. He looked down at his lap.

"It was a long time ago, I'll be fine." There was a short, meaningful silence. Annabeth gulped.

"My...um, my mom died when I was five. Car crash. My dad remarried two years after and I was kind of pushed out of the picture since I reminded him so much of her, not to mention my step-brothers and step-mom getting all the attention." Percy didn't speak for a few moments, then he grabbed the remote and shut off the movie. He took his arm off her shoulders and grabbed her hand instead. It seemed as though he liked to do that a lot, lately.

"Guess we're both fucked up then, huh?" Annabeth laughed a little, a warm feeling spreading across her chest, which she was starting to figure out had something to do with Percy Jackson.

"Everyone's fucked up," she said. "We're just...worse." That got them both laughing. But they weren't only laughing at the fact that they were both messed up, they were laughing because they understood each other, because the whole situation was so fucked up, because there was almost no chance in hell they would find someone else like the other, because they were getting to the point where it was almost impossible to ignore their feelings for one another.

"I'm taking you out," Percy declared. His sea-green eyes were shining with mischief and amusement. He stood up, holding onto Annabeth's hand and bringing her up with him.

"Where?" she asked, gesturing to her hoodie and jeans.

"Don't worry about it," he told her. "You look great, Princess." Perhaps she would've told him not to call her that if he hadn't been smiling at her so adorably.

***

Percy wouldn't tell Annabeth where they were going, which he could tell was making her really frustrated. He distracted her by telling her about his mom and how she always made him blue chocolate chip cookies when he accomplished something during the car ride. He talked about how she was the most important person in the world to him.

"That's refreshing to hear," Annabeth admitted. "Most people these days don't appreciate their parents." Percy gave her a sideways glance.

"I bet my mom would really like you."

"I'd love to meet her. She sounds really great."

"Yeah, you guys have that in common." Percy winced, shutting his eyes shut from the physical pain he had just caused himself. "Kill me," he muttered. Annabeth laughed.

"No, it was sweet," she said. "I just didn't expect it."

Although Percy was totally as red as a tomato and his dignity was long gone, he couldn't wipe the stupid grin off of his face for the rest of the car ride as Annabeth sang along to old hits.

They finally arrived at a road that overlooked a cliff, and Percy smiled as recognition overcame Annabeth's face.

"You brought me to the Hollywood sign?" she exclaimed, opening her car door. She was already out and running to it as Percy caught up with her. She ran to the H and touched it carefully. "Hey," she said, "isn't this place haunted?"

Percy was pretty sure he'd heard a story like that, but if he was going to live in L.A. for the next year, he would just have to get over it. Plus, seeing Annabeth this happy was worth being chased by a demon ghost. They sat down right under the H, and there was a new-found comfort between them. Percy wrapped his arm around Annabeth's shoulders easily now, and she leaned in without hesitation. He sat back and tried to convince himself that they were a couple, and Thalia approved, and everything was okay. He just wanted to have a moment where life was great. They looked over the city, seeing the buildings lit up by the sunset light. The ocean appeared to be a light, pinkish color. 

Percy looked down at her and noticed how the sun hit her perfectly enough so that she looked like an angel. Her hair was golden in the light and her eyes looked almost blue. He didn't really know where they stood at this point — somewhere between friends and something more, but he had the urge to call her his girlfriend all the time now. He wanted to let everyone know that he was with Annabeth Chase, but he didn't tell her because of Thalia. Percy kissed the top of her head and decided that this wasn't too bad, either.

They sat for awhile and watched the sunset in peace. Percy wondered if he should kiss Annabeth, but quickly decided against it. This was perfect just how it was. They left after the sun was below the horizon and drove back to the house.

They had a long talk before he walked with her to their bedrooms. He took her to her room and even went as far as to open the door for her. Annabeth rolled her eyes but pulled him close in a hug.

"Thanks for today," she told him. He rested his hand on the back of her head.

"Of course," he replied. Annabeth pulled away after a few minutes and kissed his cheek, giving his hand one last squeeze before going into her room. Percy hated his life, just a little. Why couldn't they just be together?

Then he got to his room and remembered how soft her lips had felt on his face, and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep. 

i'm actually enjoying this story. it's a fun time writing it.

thanks for reading:) i appreciate you.

-reyna