When Granger meets Jackson

Percy - II

Annabeth had to practically drag me out of my warm, comfy bed the next morning. I hated getting up early, and even more so when I had to go shopping, especially when it was for gifts. I never seemed to be able to decide what I wanted to buy, and usually ended up second-guessing myself a million times after choosing something. Thankfully, Annabeth was much better at this than me, and she was able to help me find something for everyone before I started getting antsy with my ADHD.

We split up at the end so that she could buy my present, and I, hers. I knew that everyone would give her books, so I decided to buy her something else. A jewelry store caught my eye, and I went inside, hoping to buy Annabeth something she'd like. Despite her hatred of dresses and makeup, Annabeth loved jewelry, especially when it meant something. She still wore the owl earrings her dad had got her years ago, as well as her camp necklace and the coral pendant I had given her back when we first started dating.

Having no ideas on what I wanted, I was wandering around the shop, just looking at stuff till a shop assistant came up to me. "You look quite lost, can I help you find something?" She asked.

"Uh-yeah. I'm looking for something for my girlfriend as a Christmas gift."

"Does she have any specific taste?"

"Um... She doesn't like flashy or over the top stuff."

"Any favourite colours?" The woman was now leading me to a display of earrings.

"Not that I know of, but I think something silver or grey to match her eyes."

She gave me a smile, "It's really nice to see young men such as yourself putting thought into buying gifts for your significant others. She seems quite special, how long have you two been dating?"

"About a year and a half, but we've been best friends since we were twelve."

She showed me quite a number of earrings and bracelets, but none of them seemed quite right. I was slowly getting frustrated, but I had no plans of leaving till I bought Annabeth something. Suddenly, the woman seemed to have an idea. "What about a necklace, or maybe a custom locket that opens up to show a picture?"

It was a really nice idea, and I paid for a silver owl-shaped one before giving them the picture I wanted them to put in it. The nice woman suggested engraving Annabeth's name on the back of it, and I agreed to that before walking out of the shop and heaving a sigh of relief. I was finally finished! Quickly going back to the food court where we were supposed to meet, I was happy to see that Annabeth wasn't there yet.

Grabbing a table, I set down the bags I was lugging around, and ordered hot chocolate for both of us. Annabeth came in a couple of minutes later, and we were able to enjoy our drinks together before trudging back home through the freezing snow.

I was really excited for this Christmas, because it would be the first one I would get to spend with Estelle and my mom's family. My first proper Christmas.

The next two days flew by, Annabeth keeping me busy with Christmas stuff and by the time we had collapsed onto the couch on the night of the 22nd, we were finally done decorating the house. There was a medium sized Christmas tree in the living room which Mom had made me drag into the house. Let me tell you, Christmas trees might look like twigs with stick leaves, but their weight is far from it.

Annabeth helped decorate the tree and all of us hung up a bunch of ornaments before realising that the big star that was supposed to be at the top was missing. Loud giggles told us who the culprit was, and the four of spent a full hour trying to catch Estelle as she crawled away from us at top speed. I was finally able to distract her with a floating ball of water and she dropped the ornament while trying to grab the ball of water.