The Choosing (Percabeth AU)

22. No better option

"And that's how I ate a tin can!" Grover finished.
Annabeth and Luke were laughing, abandoning their half eaten cheese sandwiches.

This was nice, Thalia thought.
It has been a few weeks since Malcom died, and Annabeth had been doing much better.
The royals even got a bit of peace and quiet since the Screening was temporarily cancelled due to the public outcry of how they treated Annie.

They were currently having a picnic, Luke,Annabeth, Grover and her.
It was fun, catching up with Grover.
They had been childhood friends, all 4 of them, but Grover had to move out of the kingdom.

" Gods Grover! How could you be so stupid ?" Thalia laughed as Grover blushed.

They all lied down in the grass for a while, just talking about their childhood together.

"Annabeth!" Thalia heard someone say.
She shot up immediately and saw none other than....
Drumroll please
Percy Jackson.

"Oh I'm sorry," he said, stopping in front of them. "I just wanted to see if Annabeth was alright, I didn't want to disturb you guys."

"You're not disturbing us Seaweed brain," Annabeth smiled.

Thalia was shocked, they were looking at each other in awe, Percy and Annabeth.

It was clear how much they cared about each other, the admiration in their eyes was very very visible.

"Can he stay please ?" Annabeth asked, looking at them.

They all shrugged and Annabeth smiled, patting the grass next to her for Percy to come and sit down.

"You two are so lovey dovey, it's disgusting," Thalia laughed, watching her two friends blush.

"Oh yeah? Have you ever seen yourself around Luke? You both are in looooooveeeee," Annabeth sang out.

Thalia froze.

"Well I always did want Thalia and Luke together, they're like perfect for each other,'' Grover agreed.

"See Thalia didnt say anything! That means she loves Luke, right Thals?" Annabeth smirked.

"Not your buisness Annie."

"Oh come on! I know you do!"

"I don't know much about these two, but I ship them too," Percy added

Thalia watched Percy, Annabeth and Grover highfigh and quickly shot a glance at Luke. He looked absolutely shocked.

"Seriously Annie, Luke and I are friends."

"Friends who are in love"

"I'm warning you Annie belle"

"Yeah but you didn't answer the ques....AHH PUT ME DOWN I'M SORRY OK MY MAID WILL KILL ME IF I GET THIS DRESS WET THALIA STOP !!!!"

Thalia had simply picked Annabeth up over her shoulder and walked towards the lake, grinning.

"This is what you get for that Annie, no teasing.," she said, just loud enough for everyone to hear, and then added in a whisper, "Especially in front of him."

She dumped the poor girl right into the lake, no hesitation whatsoever.

Annabeth surfaced in time to see Thalia turn on Percy and Grover.

"Anyone else wanna join her?", she said sassily while picking her nails.

"Yes, actually. Wouldn't ever turn down a swim," Percy announced and ran into the water,shrugging his suit off on the way.

Grover laughed , "Well I'm coming too then. How could I leave you two alone after last time."

He stressed the ' you two alone ' while looking at Thalia, and of course, he earned a push into the lake.

She stalked off, leaving the kids to play in the water, but somehow she knew that Luke was right behind her.

"Our little Annie's grown up so much, we don't need to take care of her anymore," Luke whispered to her.

"I always knew you were a bad influence on her," Thalia smiled.

She suddenly felt shy, and the butterflies in her stomach had decided to have a dance party once he said Our Annie.

Luke laughed. "How did all of us lose touch in the first place....."

Thalia felt a sting of shame. The butterflies went back to their cocoons. She looked at her feet, not daring to meet Luke's eyes.

It was her fault.

When she found out had Luke smoked, they argued all the time, Annabeth was caught up in the middle.

Especially after Luke had gotten his scar, from fighting a group of rebels in his kingdom, called the Kronos gang,he was praised so much that he acted like a pompous little stuck up prince, which she didn't like at all.

Eventually she just stopped seeing him, and made sure Annie didn't either.

"Hey Thals look at me," Luke said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "It's not your fault,if anything you made me realise my mistakes, you made me a better person Thalia."

"How do you not hate me ? How do both of you not hate me ?" Thalia asked, watching Annabeth splash Percy and Grover with water.

"I could never hate you Thals.....Annie was right."

"Right about what?" She asked as she turned to face him.

Instead of a reply, she felt his lips crashing into hers.

Thalia gasped and kissed him back, both not wanting to stop. His lips were slightly rough against her soft ones, and she could feel his scar perfectly
As much as she'd hated it before, she'd grown to love how it looked on him.
Her toes curled, her eyes zeroed in on his, his smell even more hypnotic. The taste of him... it silenced her thoughts. She leaned in, trying to make sure there was no space between them, and he seemed to be doing the same.

She heard a cheer from the lake in front of them and broke apart, half laughing half smiling.

A smirk played on Luke's lips as he leaned in to kiss her one more time. "Guess I've chosen, what about you?"

"I dont know...my choice is really annoying..I don't know if I can stand him for long periods of time," Thalia replied, never once breaking eye contact "But..I guess I'll choose you, no better option," she stated with a smirk before leaning in again

Stay tuned!!!
-- S & D

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