the winemaker's daughter [ percy jackson & the olympians ]

chapter twenty-two

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙴𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴𝚁'𝚂 𝙳𝙰𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝙴𝚁༉‧₊˚.[𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙲𝚈 𝙹𝙰𝙲𝙺𝚂𝙾𝙽 & 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙾𝙻𝚈𝙼𝙿𝙸𝙰𝙽𝚂]

chapter twenty-two: i may or may not have spent the night in the poseidon cabin & got prank called by a ghost

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NOTHING CAPS off the morning like a long, awkward taxi ride with two irritated teenagers.

ashanti was upset because percy had been acting like their kiss never happened, and had been keeping her at arm's length. percy was upset because ashanti was sun-bathing in all the attention she was receiving from rachel, and it was like she didn't even like him anymore.

they sat in the back of the taxi in silence.

ashanti refused to be the one to cave, and speak first, which left percy. at first, the poseidon boy was thinking 'no way, i'm not talking first.' then, he remembered that he only had her until the summer since she quite literally lived across the country as of recently. they'd go back to i-messaging whenever they wanted to talk and sending letters. that meant he should be taking advantage of her right in front of him, right?

safe to say, percy had a change of heart.

"so," he started out slowly. his eyes watched ashanti's face carefully, wordlessly begging for her to peel her eyes away from the scenery outside of their taxi window, and pay him some sort of attention. "how was your orientation?"

it was an easy enough question, but ashanti couldn't help but over-think and over-analyze his words. she went for the safe route. "fine," she said with a bit of hesitance. "signed up for a couple clubs, met my teachers, made a couple friends."

the last bit was a half-truth. in actuality, she'd been out shopping the weekend before coming out to new york, and made friends with the boy she met. he outrageously tall for thirteen, almost fourteen, was very, very honey blonde. he smart in every way but clothing-wise. she had to pry a windbreaker from his hands that she was convinced he'd have buried with him.

anyway, percy nodded, taking in the hesitance of her answer. he scooched over a bit so he wasn't too far away from her anymore, high thigh taking up some of the middle-seat space. "that's cool," he said, noting the vague way she'd described her orientation. he had expected her to hit him some joke about how he was a danger magnet, and hers went perfectly fine because she wasn't targeted by the spirit of delphi personally.

that was the old ashanti. the nice ashanti who wasn't flirting with rachel. maybe that was a strong word, but she definitely wasn't discouraging rachel's flirtiness especially in front of percy. and that made him feel icky, and gross. he didn't like that rachel seen ashanti as a girl she could flirt with. she was not.

the girl in question gave a sigh, guessing it would only be right to carry on the conversation. it was clear that he was extending an olive branch, trying to be mature. ashanti figured she may as well do the same in return. "there weren't any empousai if that's what you're asking." she gave it a bit of thought before she continued. "what did it feel like to be under their influence?"

the poseidon boy thought for a moment before answering, "what i would imagine being high is like." that made ashanti laugh, but percy didn't seem to like that. he studied her closely, as in his book, the only reason she'd find such a thing funny is if she knew what being high actually felt like. "you're doing drugs, aren't you? does castor know? did pollux sell them to you –"