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Annabeth was having a great day. The sun was shining, her first few classes of the day went well, and she was meeting up with Percy for lunch to hear him complain about how he totally didn’t have feelings for Apollo despite willingly spending time with a God who wasn’t his dad for the first time in his life.
She still wasn’t sure how to feel about it, if she were being honest with herself, but nothing had come of it yet, so that was a problem for later her.
Right now, she had more important problems, like the sheer rage filling her when she caught sight of Piper holding hands with her new girlfriend.
Maybe rage was too strong a word, but it wasn’t a good feeling. She missed Piper, okay, but ever since she started dating this new girl it was like Annabeth didn’t get to see her ever.
Piper and her girlfriend, Annabeth thought her name was Maddie, were laughing and disgustingly happy as they swung their hands between them. Annabeth grinded her teeth together. If it was just Piper, she’d go and say hi, but she didn’t like the way Maddie looked at her. It was wary, like she was a threat instead of a person.
She pulled herself together, pulling her bag higher onto her shoulder, and turned on her heel in the direction of the cafe she was meeting Percy in. He was determined to eat there frequently enough until they started letting him pay for his meals. As far as Annabeth was concerned, the cafe was going to win this battle.
Percy was already sitting down, glaring down at his notebook like it had personally wronged him.
She pulled out the empty seat at his table and sat down, setting her bag on the floor. He lifted his head and his glare instantly faded and was replaced with a smile. “Hey!”
“Hey,” she said. She immediately winced at her tone.
Percy frowned. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Did something happen?”
“No,” she said. “Nothing happened. Why do you think something happened?”
“I don’t believe you,” Percy said, frowning harder. “Tell me.”
She leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. “It’s stupid.”
“No it’s not,” he said. “It’s bothering you.”
Annabeth huffed.
“Tell me,” Percy repeated.
“Fine.” She looked to the side. “I saw Piper today.”
“Oh!” Percy said, sounding surprised. “Is she okay? That’s…not what I expected, if I’m being honest.”
“She was fine,” she answered. “Looked happy. She was with that new girlfriend of hers. Maddie?”
“Melissa,” Percy corrected, amusement evident. “Did you talk to them? We should plan something with them soon, I haven’t gotten the chance to meet her yet.”
“I got coffee with them once, about a month ago,” Annabeth said. “She’s fine. I think she’s scared of us, like Piper wasn’t also a part of the seven.”
Percy snorted. “I don’t think she’s scared of us.”
She turned back to look at him. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” he said, smirking. “Nothing at all.”
“Percy!” she said. “Tell me!”
“No. I don’t think I will.”
She glared.
Percy just laughed. “But seriously,” he said. “You should hang out with Piper soon. And after you do and figure it out with that big brain of yours, we’ll move onto phase two of our plan to take over the world.”
“Figure what out?” she asked.
“That’s for me to know,” he said, smiling.
She frowned.
A waitress came and took their order, and the waitress laughed off Percy’s infamous baby-seal eyes as he tried to make her promise to let him pay. She decided she liked the waitress.
“I don’t think I’ve paid for a single thing in months,” he said, as soon as the waitress was gone. “Between this shit and Apollo. And don’t get me wrong, free food is free food, but my wallet is getting dusty.”
“Apollo?” she asked, raising a brow.
His cheeks darkened. “Forget I said that.”
“Nope,” she said. “Not gonna happen.”
Annabeth was winding down for the night, bra off and skincare applied, when she heard a frantic knock on her door.
She pulled it open to find Piper, staring up at her with wide, tearful eyes and her entire face a mess. “Annabeth,” she cried out. “Oh my gods, I’m so happy to see you.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, opening the door wider to let Piper in. “What happened? Who do I need to kill?”
It’d be a bitch to get her knife from Terminus, but she’d make quick work of whatever she needed to do.
“No one,” Piper sobbed, running forward and wrapping her arms around Annabeth impossibly tight. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
She ran her hand up and down Piper’s back. “You’re obviously not,” she whispered. “Come on, go sit down. I’ll get you some water.”
It took a moment, but eventually Piper let go and headed toward the sofa. She shut the door, double checking the lock, before grabbing a couple glasses of water.
She made her way to the sofa and set the glasses down on the coffee table. Almost instantly, she had a Piper shaped limpet attached to her side. Piper’s tears burned against the side of her neck, and she shifted so she could pull Piper onto her lap so they could be more comfortable.
“What happened?” she asked. She knew Piper had said she didn’t need to kill anyone, but she wasn’t so sure about that…
“Melissa broke up with me,” Piper cried, squeezing even tighter.
“Your girlfriend?” she asked. “Well, ex? Now?”
Piper nodded, sobbing harder.
“What happened?”
“She said it wasn’t me,” Piper said, calming down enough to talk but not pulling her face away from Annabeth’s neck. “But that she didn’t think I was invested in the relationship and that I had to figure some things out on my own. She still wants to be friends though.”
Annabeth winced. She’d never been good at comforting people through break-ups, and something about it being Piper had an unidentifiable mass of emotion swirling in her chest. But there was a formula to this sorta thing, right?
For the record, Melissa was definitely on her list of people to kill.
She squeezed Piper back. “Hey,” she said. “I know it sucks, but maybe it’s for the best? Sometimes things don’t work out, even when you think they should. You’re Piper McLean. Everyone in New Rome is waiting for the opportunity to fall at your feet, and that’s not even getting into Camp.”
Piper pulled away to look up at her with wide eyes. “Really?”
“Yes,” Annabeth said, nodding sharply. “Maddie doesn’t know what she’s missing out on.”
“Melissa,” Piper corrected absent-mindedly. “But you really think so?”
“I do.”
There was a look on Piper’s face that had words Annabeth wasn’t ready to acknowledge threatening to spill. She needed to think about this. Now was not the time to tell one of her best friends that she’d just realized she was among the hundreds who would throw themselves at Piper’s feet. Maybe Percy had been right…
She shook her head to clear the thought. “Now,” she said. “Ice cream and a movie? Get your mind off things?”
Piper nodded. “Sounds great.”
“Good,” she said, untangling herself from Piper’s arms. She didn’t want to. “Find something to watch. I think I have some ice cream in the freezer.”
With a little bit of distance, she was able to put a name to these feelings that were hitting her like a truck. She liked Piper, like. Actually liked Piper.
The moment she heard the sound of Netflix previews start, thank you whatever made New Rome safe from monsters, she pulled out her phone and clicked Percy’s name.
He answered after the second ring. “What?” he hissed. “I’m busy.”
Annabeth blinked and then narrowed her eyes. Piper wasn’t going anywhere, and she had urgent things to take care of, but that was a new edge to Percy’s voice.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
She thought she heard the beginnings of a muffled voice, but it stopped before she could try to recognize it. “Nothing,” Percy rushed out. “Why are you calling? It’s late for you.”
“Piper and Melissa broke up,” she whispered. “And Piper is currently crying on my couch.”
A moment of silence passed.
“I feel like I saw this coming,” Percy eventually said. “Why are you calling me?”
“Because,” she said. “You’ll never guess who just realized she might like Piper. In a wanna kiss her kinda way.”
“It really took you this long?” Percy asked, incredulous. “I figured you were in denial, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.”
“Says you!” she says, struggling to keep her volume down. “Percy! What do I do?”
Instead of a response, she heard what sounded like an argument on the other end.
“Percy?”
“Annabeth Chase!” a musical voice that could only belong to Apollo greeted. “My second favorite terrifying blonde, after myself of course. You are blessed today because I have decided to help and offer my most valuable advice in this most important endeavor.”
She didn’t have time to deal with this right now.
“I’m hanging up,” she said. “You’re useless. Both of you. Good bye.”
“No!” Apollo said. “Don’t do that! Just kiss her! Tell her how you feel! It’ll work out in the end!”
“Good bye.”
Annabeth hung up and set her phone down, barely resisting the urge to scream.
Wine would fix this.
She opened her fridge and bent down to grab one of the bottles of cheap white she kept stocked. She grabbed the ice cream she kept for Percy from the freezer and a couple of spoons and glasses. Wine and chocolate could solve half of the world’s problems, she was sure.
Piper was exactly where Annabeth left her, flipping through horror movies.
Annabeth sat down on the sofa, warming at the way Piper immediately pressed back up against her side. “You know,” she said. “I don’t think these are the movies I pictured.”
Piper shrugged. “My dad hasn’t done any horror,” she said. “So I don't have to worry about accidentally finding an old movie of his, and what’s better to distract me than being scared out of my mind?”
“Works for me,” Annabeth said, leaning forward to pour the wine for them. “I like making fun of the first people who die.”
“Learn from their mistakes?” Piper asked, laughing. “I feel like a few of your quests could qualify.”
She laughed. “Well, I certainly wouldn’t be the first to die in a horror movie, so who’s the real winner?”
Piper clicked on some random one and reached for her own glass before settling back. The volume on the TV was low enough to talk without worry.
“I’m sorry about Melissa,” she said once they got past the credits. “I know you really liked her.”
“You don’t mean that,” Piper said, leaning her head against Annabeth’s shoulder. “Not really.”
Annabeth tensed. “What?”
“We didn’t date long,” Piper said. “I liked her, and I am upset, but seeing you made me realize it doesn’t matter. Not really.”
Annabeth set her wine down, scared she’d spill it with how much her hands were shaking. “I don’t understand.”
Piper looked up at her. “Maybe I’m making it up,” she said. “But I don’t think I am.”
“Making what up?”
The tears were gone from Piper’s face, and maybe Annabeth was in the kitchen longer than she realized.
“Annabeth,” Piper said. “I kinda want to kiss you.”
She swallowed, feeling her cheeks heat. “But you just—”
“I know,” Piper interrupted. “But I don’t care.”
And honestly? Neither did she.
Piper hadn’t had any of the wine yet, but she tasted all the sweeter for it. Maybe they’d regret this in the morning, but as Piper crawled into her lap and licked into her mouth, the only thing she wanted to do was grab Piper’s hips and pull her in closer.
So she did.