Troubled

28

chapter twenty-eight
annabeth

I'm being stood up.

Percy was late for everything. That was obvious to me from the first time I'd met him, but he was never this late. Never half an hour late, especially when we'd made plans.

It'd been half an hour. He was usually ten minutes, twenty at most. And he would always text me first, warning me of his lateness.

But today there was no such text.

"Annabeth, stop mopping around," Thalia said as I checked my phone for the millionth time while hunched over on my bed. She rolled her eyes as she snatched my phone out of my hands.

"Hey!" I protest as I tried to grab back my phone with no success.

"Awww, look, you even put a little heart by his name!" Thalia teased as she scrolled through my phone.

I finally grabbed the phone back and held it tightly against my chest. "Leave me alone, Thalia."

Thalia sighed as she shoved me over and sat next to me on the bed, wrapping an arm around me. "I'm sorry for mocking your pathetic little heart. Now, won't you come out with me instead? Reyna and I were gonna egg Mr.D's car."

I shook my head as I tried to squirm out of her arm with no avail. "Thalia, it's fine. I'll just bum you out. I'm gonna stay here and just enjoy the night by myself."

"Fine, but don't say that I didn't warn you," Thalia said in a sing-song voice as she swung out of my bed and started lacing her combat boots. "It's like my mother always said, men are dogs. That's the only wise thing she's ever said to me, to be honest."

Thalia waved at me and winked before leaving our dorm and leaving me entirely alone.

Another ten minutes went by with nothing. No calls, texts, completely nothing. Then I heard a knock.

I instantly jumped out of my bed, quicker than I'd care to admit, and opened the door wide to see Percy standing before me, wearing his signature grin.

"I'm sorry!" he said as I wordlessly allowed him to enter my dorm. He looked anxious as I turned to see him. "I should've texted you. Hell, I should've showed up here on time."

I laughed, unable to stay mad at this anxious Percy and his adorable facial expressions. "I guess that I forgive you. What do we have in plan for tonight, hmm?"

He sighed as he awkwardly itched the back of his head. "Yeah, about that...you see, I made these plans at the fanciest restaurant near town and I thought we could confuse some old people. Because, you know, us dressed like this, and at a fancy restaurant."

"Wait, seriously?!" I asked with a laugh. "That would've been great. Can we still go?"

"Well, the reservation is for about right now, but I suppose if we hurried..." Percy said, his voice trialing off.

I grinned as I grabbed his hand and led him to the door. "Alright then, let's hurry! I'll drive if you give directions."

Soon we were off. I was at the wheel, Percy by my side. He navigated me the best he could through Google Maps, often leading us the wrong direction.

"I don't know what's off with me today, I'm usually great at navigation," he said. "Well, with boats. I'm great at navigating boats, but cars aren't much different, right?"

I allowed myself a confused glance at Percy before focusing back on the road. "I don't think so. And you own a boat? I didn't know you were so rich."

He groaned as he rolled his eyes. "I'm the furthest from it. But, every year on my birthday, my mom rents this boat up at Montauk. It's a gross little thing, but I've been navigating it since I was nine."

I nodded. "I'll have to take you out on my family's boat sometime. We have an actual person to steer it, and a private dock. And it's super nice. It even has a kitchen. I always get sea sick the times I'm invited on it, so..."

After discussing boats and other things and taking a few more wrong turns, we finally arrived at some bougie restaurant where all rich people went to.

"M'lady?" Percy asked as he extended his arm out to me sarcastically as we left the car.

I accepted his arm as one, it was a sweet gesture and, two, I was afraid of slipping on the ice that coated the parking lot.

"Reservation for Jackson," Percy said in a snooty voice to the matradee, who didn't look very impressed.

He peered down at us and straightened his glasses so he could see us better. "Uh, I'm certain that you have the wrong restaurant. Are you two even eighteen?"

"Almost, yes. And I'm sure this is the right place. Just look for a reservation under Jackson," he said. "Or Chase. I can't remember."

He frowned at us as he typed in our names. "I have one for Jackson and one for Chase. Are you...Percy?"

Percy nodded. "Yup, that's me. Hmm, the Chase reservation is weird, though. Can you just show us to our table please?"

As we were escorted to our table I looked around. As I had expected, the restaurant was packed with the snooty elderly, who glared at me as I walked by.

The table was in a small part of the restaurant near the bathrooms, but it was nice nonetheless. I still couldn't believe that Percy had gotten us a reservation here.

"How are you paying for all this?" I hissed in his ear as the waiter went off to get our drinks.

He shrugged. "I dunno, I'll think of something. Order something inexpensive, okay? I've got some Christmas money left, though. I think...."

I laughed as the waiter came back with our drinks and took our orders.

"So, do you think we've confused any elderly yet?" Percy asked as he took a slurp from his water, getting a glare from the matradee.

I nodded. "Oh, yes, I'm sure. And if not, you are pissing off the matradee quite a lot. Just look at his face, he's all red..."

Percy laughed. "Well, then I count this night a success. What kind of word is matradee anyways?"

"It means non-dining room attendant who is head of the waiters," I explained matter of factly to Percy, who just shrugged.

"It's a weird word," he replied as he started playing with the little butter packages on the table. "Think about it!"

I frowned. "I think it's French."

He started stacking the little butters to make a tower. "All weird words are French. Just like chateau and bon appétit."

His butter tower then fell down, resulting him to frown.

"Here, let me help you," I said as I started strategically stacking the butter packages. "You're not doing it right."

"I forgot I was with an aspiring architect," Percy responded as he helped me stack the butter packages correctly. "Here, that can do there. Oh, no, we're almost out of butter..."

As we worked on the tower the matradee returned with our food, purposely knocking down our tower as he placed the food down.

"Anything else you may need?" he asked annoyedly as he tapped his foot.

"Yes, more butter packets," Percy replied. The matradee rolled his eyes as he stepped away. When he was gone Percy and I burst into laughter.

"Do you think he'll actually go get them?" I asked.

Percy shrugged. "I don't know, but I do know that if he doesn't, I'm leaving a bad review of this place on Yelp. I'm a paying customer!"

Before we could smite the matradee anymore, he returned, this time wearing a triumphant smile.

Something was definitely wrong.