Lasting Moment

five

Annabeth was five minutes late.

It wasn't that it was a huge problem, she wasn't even that late, but my dad had always taught me the punctuality was key. Besides, this was LA and LA had a lot of traffic, it was probably just that.

If I was even the tiniest bit late I always texted. Due to this I expect other people to be the same, and if they weren't I worried they wouldn't come at all. Maybe that had to do with my dad being a movie star: he was always expected to be places perfectly punctually. Of course, that had been my mind set too, still was.

I waited another two minutes and was about to text her when Annabeth rushed in.

"Hi, Piper. I'm so sorry that I'm late. I couldn't find my keys and there was some traffic. Anyway," she tucked a curl being her ear, "hi."

She was windblown and a bit out of breath like she had run from her car to the boba place. It made me smile because there was something so grounding yet otherworldly about Annabeth.

"It's okay." I pulled out a chair for her.

"Thanks," she breathed out and sat down. "So."

"So." I'm bad at small talk, and felt squirmy under Annabeth's gaze.

"Boba?"

Oh thank god. "Boba."

We ordered our drinks and made a sort of awkward small talk while we waited for them. She was just telling me how Percy and his cousin, Thalia, had gotten into a fight about how water tasted back in high school, when our bobas came.

"So," she said, fiddling with her drink in a way that kind of reminded me of Leo, "why'd you run off on me last night?" She hadn't taken a sip of her boba yet.

"It's just I—" I debated taking a sip of my boba, but I felt it would be some how rude. "I just really like you and I mess things up with people I like."

Annabeth smiled. It was a quiet, reserved smile. "Well you have friends don't you?"

"I messed things up with them too. See, I used to date Jason but I didn't love him like that so I broke up with him." I was rambling. This would probably not help my case. "And then I felt really bad for breaking his heart and then I started drinking a bit too much. And then— and, and then—"

Annabeth took my hands. "Breath, Piper, okay? Breath." Her hands were really soft.

I nodded and tried to take a breath. "Right, so Leo—that's my best friend—he got mad at me because of that and I didn't actually talk to him until last night when I got to Jason's and they were watching a movie."

Annabeth's thumb was drawing small circles on my hands. "Okay, well you still do have friends, even if they were mad at you for a while. I've had those too. Once my friend didn't speak to me for two weeks because I said burritos were better than enchiladas and he's petty."

I laughed a little. It was Annabeth made me feel like that. Right, I had to tell her. "So... I ran away because I, um, I wanted to kiss you and I was scared that you wouldn't feel the same way. I freaked myself out and ran. I'm sorry."

Annabeth stared at me and blinked slowly. I had a sinking feeling that this was going horribly wrong and she was going to be the one to run this time. But then she cracked a smile and soon she was full on grinning. And then Annabeth laughed and I was inexplicably charmed and terrified.

She must have seen the look on my face because she stoped laughing but kept smiling. "If you would have kissed me you'd have been kissed back."

"I—oh!"

Annabeth was drinking her boba now. She was looking at me intently, smirking just a little. I couldn't really breath properly. She was just too beautiful.

"So um, would you like to go on a date with me?" I finally ask.

Annabeth smirked. "I thought I'd have to wait here forever."

"Where do you want to go?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I think we can figure that out later and live right here right now."

"Okay."

We spent the next hour sitting and talking, even after we had finished our boba. It felt nice. Especially when Annabeth would accidentally flirt and start blushing. I actually tried to flirt and I think most of them actually got through to her. I think that most of the time Annabeth's face was bright red.

We set the date for our date the next Friday at a restaurant that wasn't extremely fancy nor completely casual. I couldn't stop smiling.

When I got home I FaceTimed Leo and Jason. Leo was almost screaming with excitement as though it had been him who got the date. Jason said congrats, and while he wasn't completely there yet, I think he was doing much better. Maybe one day we could go on a double date.

Later, while I was looking through my Instagram, I saw Annabeth's story. It was the picture she had posted, the one of me laughing at Percy, with a heart emoji. It wasn't much but it made my heart warm and my cheeks blush.

Annabeth was going to be the death of me in all the good ways. Every moment (from dates to kisses to FaceTime calls) I spent with her was like heaven and when I fell asleep at night I felt like my life had never been better. Sure we had our disagreements but we always talked them out.

It was hard for me to believe that only a small while ago I was feeling horrible. Dad really was right, talking the best way through a situation.

On the other hand, Leo and I were woking our way back to our previous level of friendship. Jason and I had built ourselves a friendship again, and I think his heart had almost finished mending. The days that I had showed up at his door were probably some setbacks, something I felt bad about.

The truth was, Jason was a good thing, just not the type that I had thought he was. Leo was a great thing too, the best friend I could have ever asked for. Percy was a good thing as well, a new thing, but a good one.

And Annabeth.

Oh god, Annabeth.

She might be my perfect thing. Just might be. There was no certainty but a part of me loved that.

My dad had always been in movies with predictable plots, but real life wasn't like that at all. Real life was crazy and wild. And more than that, no movie could have Annabeth.

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Thank you for reading this penultimate chapter.

Please comment and VOTE!!! Let me know if you want more strifes as well!

~Speedy