Road Trip, Chapters 17-21
written by SkylarCraze, a Warrior of Writing
CHAPTER 17: Barbie Time
Inspired by Taylor Swift songs, because she's great, no matter what anyone says. Her songs are cheesy, but hell. Who cares? They're relatable.
Percy's POV:
Annabeth wandered into McDonald's about an hour later. She was looking lost and messy, her hair looking like a haystack and her shirt rumpled, hitching up a bit. I gulped.
"Hey, sleepy head," I said, grinning at her. She turned her half-lidded eyes at me and gave me a look that said shut-the-hell-up-I'm-so-not-in-the-mood. I laughed.
She yawned, stretching her arms over her head and groaning. Her shirt hitched up even more giving me a plain view of her flat stomach. I start leaning forward, my hand twitching, wishing for me to just reach out, just lightly skim my finger over her skin there, right by the waistbands of the jeans she wore. I could see myself leaning over and taking her face in my hands and kissing her like I did in the car. But this time, rougher. I had liked that part. That part when Annabeth had fisted her hands into my hair, making me moan and get so overly turned on…
I flushed. I looked up. Just a second had passed with me and those thoughts. And Annabeth still, still, noticed nothing.
Damn it.
She walked over and slumped into a chair throwing open her legs and sitting in a very un-ladylike way. I grinned at her, amused. "Why so tired?" I asked, slurping the last bits of my coke.
She shrugged and rubbed her eyes, trying to shake her head to wake up. "Ugh," she finally said, throwing her head back and leaving her neck totally exposed. "I'm so tired. Why the heck am I so tired?"
I shrugged now. "We've been doing nothing for a few days. I was gonna ask you…what do you want to do now?"
She perked up a bit. I held back a smile. Anything that needed thought, Annabeth was up for it. I was the exact opposite.
"How about we go to Utah? I hear there are some awesome skiing slopes there…or we could go to Florida! Disney land! I've always wanted to see how they built that big castle."
I raised my eyebrows. "You want to go to Disneyland?"
She blushed cutely. Her intelligent eyes threw a couple of daggers at me. I grinned wider. She, then, leaned over and punched my shoulder, harder than usual.
I groaned, then whined; "Why'd ya do that?"
"You know why."
I chuckled. "Remind me."
She rolled her eyes. "Because you are a total dork. Remember?"
I grinned again, from ear to ear. She smiled back at me, finally. Her face was starting to grow to be alive again, lighting up with her smartness and just damn good looks.
"But, anyway, do you really want to go there? Disneyland, I mean?" Please say no. Please say no. Please don't take me through that again.
I had gone to Disneyland a few weeks ago with Rachel. We had no fun. She claimed that there were no rides there (lie) and that we should just go straight to the big palace thing. I agreed. It looked like that was gonna happen again.
"No need to worry, little cousin," said a light, girly voice from behind me. "I'm here to save you!"
I turned around, just glancing at Annabeth: her eyes were wide with shock, annoyance and something else. I couldn't put my finger on it. So, I kept on turning and behind me, stood the Goddess of Love.
And, then, I knew what the look in Annabeth's eye had been. Fear.
We both knew why she was here. She only ever came to me once before for any other reason.
And, hell, it was a bad reason to come. (I was gonna end it here…but I treated you guys to more! So enjoy it. This is gonna be one helluva long chappie.)
Annabeth's POV:
I was so tired. My eyes felt like they weighed a hundred pounds and the idiot in front of me was trying to be funny.
Honestly, yes, I loved, Percy. But if you asked me, Annabeth, what do you think of Percy right at this second?
I would say he's a dork. Because, truthfully, he was. My Perce was a dork through and through.
The thought made my lips twitch.
Right now, I heard a voice interrupt my conversation with Percy about Disneyland, and immediately found the source.
Aphrodite.
Ah, shit, I thought. The goddess of love only came around for one reason.
To play Barbie with myself and Percy over there.
Of course, she would make us look good (okay. Understatement. I remember at the last event Hades' birthday, Percy was in a dark button down shirt with dark trousers and black shoes. I wanted to take him right there, he looked so delicious) and take us to some god/goddess event or party. I wondered what it what it was this time.
Percy and I got out of our chairs quickly and bowed. She waved us away. "Not here!" she giggled. "People might get suspicious."
Ugh, I thought. She probably thinks that's a big word. I almost groaned. I had really low tolerance for Aphrodite. I glanced at Percy and he gave me a small smile, knowing.
She saw the exchange between us and I could the smile, even some tears, in her eyes. She said, "I just came to invite you two to my very exclusive beauty party."
I was taken off guard. Did we just become part of some…clique of the goddess of Love? "Exclusive?"
She winked at me with a still slightly tear filled eye. "Only for my favorite couple. You two made me cry with that whole you're-more-beautiful-than-a-twilight-beach."
I stared at her my mouth hanging open. My eyes were popping out, and at the back of my mind, I guess I looked like a fish. "What?"
She smiled. "No time to waste. I need to make both of you look gorgeous."
I smiled a bit still confused, but then heard Percy say, "Oh..kay?"
He was staring at Aphrodite, his brows furrowed. He looked so cute. If only I could just lean over and…
I heard Aphrodite giggle. I looked up a blushed brightly. She can sense your thoughts, Annabeth. Can't you just shut it about Percy for two minutes?
She giggled again, giving me a knowing glint in her eyes. I felt my stomach drop. Damn it. I didn't need Aphrodite knowing about this stupid ordeal I was going through.
"Well…"I finally sighed. "I guess we had better get going. When is this beauty thing? And who is going to be there?"
She began ranting, bubbling, happily. "Well, I keep it small. Just some of the available gods. And a few of my children who are especially important these days. It's today. And it is celebrated to cherish my beauty," she glowed at the last sentence, gloating a bit.
"Oh. Um, we should better going."
She nodded, perked up and ready. I only slumped some more.
(About ½ a minute later)
After the sucking darkness went away, I breathed deeply, cleansing my lungs with oxygen. I stumbled my first few steps on god knows what, god knows where, until Percy, someone used to traveling in weird ways, grabbed my elbow to steady me. I stopped stumbling and looked up slowly. Our eyes locked. I shivered deep, deep inside of me. Aphrodite let out a small sniffle.
"So…beautiful…must…beauty…," she whimpered, wiping away her tears with this small pink handkerchief.
I raised my eyes and looked back to Percy. He grinned at me like a fool. I rolled my eyes. Aphrodite howled again.
I didn't get it. Why was she so touched by us? Percy and I acted normal, witty as usual. Somehow, Aphrodite took small things like the brush of my skin with Percy's causing me to go up in very self-aware flames and our eyes locking, straight to heart. I felt my heart stutter. I think her feelings might've started affecting me. Or just the still-in-my-bones chill Percy's eyes in mine always gave me.
Once we were better, Aphrodite fanning herself off and beginning to walk, she split me and Percy up. "Annabeth," she had said, "Go to the down the hall and take the door on the right. Percy, do the same, but door on the left, okay?"
We nodded and headed down the hall. Aphrodite vaporized, probably going to find dresses or something. We walked in soft silence. Only one thought was touching me. I have to say bye to Percy for at least 5 hours (Yes, that is how ridiculously long Aphrodite took. Right now, it was only 2. The beauty thing started at eight).
Ever since the beginning of our little…journey, Percy and I had spent, basically, every minute of the day together. The longest time we were apart was an hour. But that was only when I took extra long in one of those hotels we'd stopped at.
But, right then, the thought of saying bye-bye to him for a few hours hurt me. It was stupid and overly feminine in ways that I hated but was true. I suddenly craved to be in his mouth-watering embrace, his light touch, to replay to the time I'd woken up on his long, hard body.
Right now, I gazed at him. We'd reached the door and were now staring at each other like idiots. I could feel his gaze deep inside, a knowing thing, like he knew how I felt. And he felt the same.
It was strange, so to lighten the mood, I said; "I'll see you if I come out alive, Seaweed Brain."
His solemn expression broke, his face breaking out into a big, beautiful smile. His voice was oddly soft when he said, "Bye, Annabeth."
I didn't go in, even when he was out of sight, behind the door. I just stood there, my eyes filling with those idiotic tears. There was no reason to be sad! I was being ridiculous! I had gotten way too accustomed to having Percy all to myself.
Wait. That thought came out wrong.
So, I turned around and stomped thorough the damned right door. Once inside, I saw that it was a little beauty studio, with a huge door that probably lead to a little thing I call hell in my house. Other girls, normal girls, call it a closet. Full of clothes. Unbelievably pretty, skimpy, fancy, uncomfortable clothes.
Behind me, I saw three girls, minions of Aphrodite. Probably her assistants. The one with red hair smiled at me, "Annabeth Chase?"
I nodded glumly, still not over being away from Percy. "Welcome! We're here to finish up the first little thing," she said, her voice becoming a squeal after, "Mani-Pedi!"
I groaned, but trudged over to the chair and closed my eyes.
These were going to be long few hours.
Percy's POV:
Why was leaving her so difficult?
After walking through the left door, I leaned against it and tried to breathe through my flared nostrils. Didn't work. So, I just slumped against the door and mourned.
It was sad, being together for so long, only to be ripped apart by some damn makeover session. I wanted to hold her, to kiss her so badly outside this door, it was unbelievable. My eyes had melted and my heart was gone, gone deep, deep inside the gorgeous girl in front of me's pocket.
Right now, I was getting up. My chest ached, like it had been torn but I ignored it. I got across the hall and sat on the spinning chair in the center of the blue studio filled with little knick-nacks that looked pretty lethal to me.
"Percy," I heard a voice behind me. "I'm going to fix you up first."
I turned and saw the Goddess of Love, smiling widely at me, a pair of scissors in one hand and shampoo in the other.
I cringed. These were going to be a long few hours.
CHAPTER 18: Holding My Breath
I loved writing this chappie. SO much fun.
PS: The super-quick update was for a certain someone. Though they did make my day TODAY, You all make my days every other day. (?)
Anywho; Enjoy!
Percy's POV:
She pushed me into one of the chairs with the washing-hair things attached. I squeezed my eyes shut. I hated get ready with Aphrodite. My father, however, told me once that all the gods go through it. Aphrodite is a Daddy's girl, and with Zeus as her father she gets just about anything.
Spoiled woman.
"Percy," she said, shooting me a look.
I looked up, but kinda knew what she was gonna say.
"I heard you."
I smiled a bit, my face breaking out into one of those exhilarated smiles. I leaned my head back as Aphrodite made her way back and used her long, fingers to wash the black mess on my head.
She conditioned and rinsed and whatever, and I lay there, wondering what Annabeth was doing, not listening to the rant Aphrodite was going off on. Something about cuteness. And me.
"Just the way you look at her is soooo cute!" she bubbled, squealing a bit. "I feel like a brand new person, so lovey-dovey with you guys! Its so classical! Remember how I said you guys match up to…"
And so it continued. I just listened, nodding and smiling at times. I had a feeling she knew I had no clue what she was talking about. I don't think she cared, though.
After drying my hair, Aphrodite let it go and said something about dealing with it later. Then she went through these big black doors on the other side of the room. She came out a few minutes later, holding a big white bag, a long one. I guessed that it was a suit.
"So," I finally said, wondering about something. "When does the event start?"
She smiled. She looked pretty excited. I knew that Aphrodite could be a bitch, but she was a generally good person (god?) at heart. "In about three hours. But I have to put this here. At around six, change. Then I'll come back and you and I will go. Ares is going to escort Annabeth. And, thank you." She winked, knowingly.
I blushed a bit from the thank you, cursing that I could keep the yapper in my head shut. But soon after I cooled down, from the blush, I really heard what she said.
Ares? Annabeth? Escort? I almost growled. I think the "neutral" phase was over. I felt like I was going to scream. Instead, I turned to Aphrodite, looked her hard in the eyes, flaming internally. This was not going to fucking happen.
"No," I said. I felt like I was gonna blow up. Annabeth? With ARES?
Hell-fucking-no.
She giggled a bit. "Ah, jealousy. So cute. But, no. My decision is final."
I clenched my jaw. Fuck no, I thought, staring hard into her eyes. She had her bitchy-don't-screw-with-me look now.
"Don't mess with me, little boy. I'm treating you. Now, stop being a pussy and go play those video games while I go get Annabeth ready." Then the goddess of love vanished.
I let out a growl. I stomped my way to the couch. I hated this. I wanted to scream and shout and cry all at the same time. I was torn between a billion things.
But guess what I felt most?
Jealousy.
I felt green with envy. To see her, Annabeth; gorgeous, smart, beautiful Annabeth, on the arm of a dick like Ares. Not that I was any better…but still.
I threw myself on to the couch and shoved my head into my hands. My head was pounding, my movements were furious and I couldn't help but feel like I was going to start crying in a second.
My nostril flared and I let out another snarl when I thought of her, beautified, touching Ares, holding his arms. I wanted to throw myself in front of her, to protect her from him. He didn't deserve to touch her! Not at all. She was too good for him. She was too fucking good for anyone. Even me.
My head still pounded. I felt myself break inside. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to rip that bloody coward into little godly bits.
I wanted blood.
Annabeth's POV:
After the manicures and pedicure, I felt kind of clean.
Okay. Secret: I didn't really hate this. It was kind of relaxing.
I moved towards the table with the facial-y looking stuff and sat down. A woman with long black hair sat in front of me, her face beautiful, fierce like a hawk.
"Hello," she said, smiling only slightly. "I'm Arya. What would you like? The full cleansing or the chocolate treatment?"
A voice I recognized way too much said from behind me, "Give her both."
I looked back. It was Aphrodite. Of course.
Arya smiled at me, then made me lie back on the long table. She did this amazing thing where her hands pressed circles into my face, in all the right spots. Then she dribbled the liquid, lukewarm chocolate all over my face and let it sit for a while. It felt so soothing, so sweet, so warm. I bubbled internally.
Ugh, I thought. I'm turning into an Aphrodite Girl.
I heard a giggle and opened an eye to see the Goddess of Love staring at me, smile on her face. I ignored it.
After I had my face cleansed and felt fresh and so, so…clean, I turned to Aphrodite. As far as I knew, the relaxing stuff was over. She heard my thoughts and mirrored them by saying, "Time to get to work."
I trotted behind her to the big white doors, cowering a bit. The closet. It probably held all this stuff…all this skimpy, girl stuff.
I wanted to run, screaming.
Aphrodite giggled at me one last time before turning around and flinging open the door. She flung a bit too much, and the door hit me smack in the middle of my face.
She screamed. I groaned. "I didn't ruin the facial did I?" asked Aphrodite.
I shrugged and turned to her. She let out a sigh of relief. "Barely a scratch," she said, smiling again. "Your pretty and durable."
And now I feel like a toy.
We walked into the closet and I saw rows and rows of dresses all shapes and sized. But most of my attention was on a few special racks that had been moved front. There were about a hundred dresses, and I could guess that this rack had been picked for me.
Aphrodite squealed. She grabbed a strapless light pink dress and threw it at me, jumping around excitedly. "Put it on! Put it on!"
I went into the little changing cubbie and stripped off my clothes. I pulled on the dress and immediately realized it was wrong. The shape was too square at the bust and it was too…girly for my taste. There was even a little bow about the waist. (Picture on Profile)
I went outside, dress still on, padding towards the goddess barefoot. She turned to me and looked at me up and down.
"No," she said, her eyes concentrated and her mouth pursed in displease. "Here," she grabbed a random, huge red thing from the rack and threw it at me. I almost fell over, it weigh so much. "Try that one."
And so I did. I tried it on and glanced in the mirror. It was huge, blood red, with a frame under the skirt. And the cleavage was far, far too deep. It looked weirdly like one of those pilgrim dresses, because of the white ruffles in the front. (Picture on Profile)
I walked out, grouchy, and dryly said, "I look like a slutty pilgrim."
She smiled widely at that and nodded, grabbing another dress. "You're a difficult one, Annie. Now go and try this. It'll look nice because of your legs."
I shrugged not knowing what to say. She had handed me a tiny, flimsy little piece of light yellow cloth. I walked back to my changing cubbie and slipped out of the pilgrim dress and into the puke-y yellow thing.
I walked out, angry now. "No," I said.
The dress was freaking miniscule. It barely covered my ass and it was baby doll-style. (Picture on Profile) It was way too tight and made me look like an absolute slut.
No way in hell was I wearing it.
I barely looked at the dress Aphrodite gave me this time; I trudged back to the damn changing cubbie and changed. But when I saw myself in the mirror, I knew it was perfect.
I walked out slowly, and watched as Aphrodite's eyes bulged out a bit, and then she smiled. "Perfect," she said, smirking. "I am so good."
I laughed with her, feeling so happy. The dress made me happy. It fell to the floor and was midnight blue. It covered my back but there was a single slit, making it elegant. The front was halter, but in a loose, classy way. It made me look…like a goddess. It wasn't too tight, but wasn't too loose. (Picture on Profile)
I loved it.
I twirled in front of the mirror, being very unlike myself. It was just the way the dress made me look. It ascended my long legs, made my skin glow inside out. I looked a bit fairer than usual, but my skin was glowing. The blue color was perfection with my skin tone. And the neckline made my bust look right, and made my torso look delicate, fragile.
I smiled. This night would be perfect. I would promise myself it would be.
But then Aphrodite told me. She threw it at me, like an extra accessory.
Percy was walking with her. Percy was her escort.
I, suddenly, didn't feel so happy.
Percy's POV:
I had finished putting on the damn monkey suit that had been prepared for me. One of the hand maidens had fixed up my hair, so that it was gelled back and neat. I looked okay.
The suit was all black and no tie since I would probably strangle myself trying to put it on. I had left the top button free, and I guessed I, generally, looked good.
As I walked past the studio where all the beautifying had been done, I chuckled a bit. Just before I had changed one of the maidens had tried to put make up on me. Everyone does it, she'd said.
What had I said?
Hell freaking no.
I walked out of the door, finally, and walked back down the hall, alone. I was wallowing in the emptiness, the…boringness of being without Annabeth. I wished I could see her. It felt like years.
When I reached the end of the hall, I saw a spiraling staircase. When I saw what lay below I was shocked.
Olympus had become…beautiful. There were decorations of mostly black and white. There was an expensive looking silver dance floor. Little tables were scattered. There were huge drapes, slung from wall to wall, in all colors of the rainbows. It was beautiful.
Little things here and there had color. A purple fabric weaving the railing. A different color bunch of flowers on each table, only none yellow, because the dinning sets were all that color.
Overall, I had to say, it was very…modern. And yet pretty.
I heard a voice from the hallways to my left, "Percy Jackson."
The Goddess of Love was walking my way. I was suddenly feeling really, very honored that I would be walking her down. But that didn't mean I liked that fact that I wasn't with Annabeth.
She chuckled at my thoughts. I looked her up and down. She was wearing a dress that was strapled, hugging her waist in a simple broad line before falling into ruffles toward her feet. It was baby blue and made her already flawless skin look creamy. (Picture on Profile) Her hair which was really all colors, yet no colors, was back into a chignon. She looked gorgeous.
She giggled when she saw my slightly awe-struck expression. "Enough, enough," she said shooing away my gawking. "You're to walk me down soon."
I nodded, gulping. I hated walking down stairs while being stared at. I'd probably trip.
Aphrodite sensed my thoughts again. "You will not trip, Percy Jackson. This party is annual and for me. I will not look like a fool."
I had to grin a bit. She tried not to smile back, but the Goddess of Love wasn't very good at that.
After a tortuous wait of 94 minutes on the top step of those stairs, we set ourselves up to go down. Everyone was downstairs, everyone but Annabeth. I knew this because of Aphrodite. I hadn't seen Annabeth. In my head, ugly, UGLY, mental pictures of her kissing Ares popped into my head. I wished I could go die somewhere when the jealousy, the sad type of jealousy, toke me in again.
Anyway, I knew Annabeth was supposedly coming down the stairs last, after, even, Aphrodite. This was because Aphrodite claimed that love was more important. She said she'd put extra time into Annabeth and wanted to show her off to everyone. I smiled slyly, only a tiny bit, at that.
Annabeth will hate that.
I took a deep breath and the goddess of love slipped her arm into mine. I breathed in. I was so damn nervous suddenly. What if Annabeth doesn't like the way I look? What if I just look…like a kid in a tux?
My head was frantic and Aphrodite noticed. She silenced me with one comforting sentence. "I think you look good."
So, I shut up. I wasn't utterly stupid. I knew that getting a compliment from the Goddess of Love and Beauty wasn't nothing. It was a helluva a lot, actually.
So, we started going down. People gawked at Aphrodite's beauty, stunned. Clapping broke out and a beautific smile broke across Aphrodite's face.
She had a good heart. I could tell that much from here.
She turned me. Damn it. She'd heard my thoughts. Her eyes were filled with tears and once we reached the bottom of the stairway, she hugged me softly. I wrapped my arms around only squeezing her lightly and then she turned and left.
I walked, gloomy still, to a table by the stairway. I threw myself at a chair and my legs spread out. I gazed at the stairway, waiting.
That was until my goat-boy best friend jumped into view.
"Percy!" He said, pulling me into a manly hug. "Where've you been?"
"No where," I said, smiling. "Just on a road trip. How are you, man?"
"I'm great," he said smiling as Juniper came into view. She looked pretty in a fluffy little silver gown. "Everything's great. How about you?"
I opened my mouth to reply but nothing came out.
I saw Annabeth on the stairway, standing at the top step.
I stopped breathing.
Ahahhahahahh! Cliffy!
Go on! Tell me how much you love/hate me! You know you want to.
And, hey, you guys asked why this is rated M. LOL.
Don't worry, loves. A lot is going to unfold in these next few chapters. Well. Maybe not THAT soon, but hey. I've got loads of surprises for ya!
I love you all! Forever. ;-)
- S.
** END NOTE: I just checkout my profile...the thing might not show up (links for the dress). If that is the case with you please go here:
http://www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/~skylarcraze
CHAPTER 19: I'd Do Anything
Hi again! I know! Quick update. I felt bad for leaving you on SUCH a cliffy. I bet you wanna know how he felt…
Well! Read on and find out!
Meet you at the bottom. ;-)
Percy's POV:
She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
Her hair was a blonde, shimmering, curly, gorgeous mess; cascading down her back in a loose braid of voluminous curls; a few strands left free, framing her face.
Her skin glowed. I mean, literally glowed. She looked like she had this fire burning deep, deep inside of her, lighting her, burning most through those grey cat-like eyes.
And the dress…the dress was perfection. It hugged her curves, but left some places loose, falling down her body like some sort of fabric-y waterfall. And her cleavage was…her cleavage made me feel like someone had just punched me in the gut. It turned me on. But, more importantly, it filled me with this…feeling. A…devotion. I was, at this moment, to fall to my knees and worship her. To take her, right there on the stairway, in a way so made for her, it would make her scream with pleasure. I felt weak in the knees.
I felt like I was going ooze love; out of my eyes, my ears. My body might just go up in flames. It might have already. What did I know? I was too busy staring at Annabeth.
And as I stared at the beautiful, sexy, gorgeous vision of the girl I was in love with, I thought: what would it take for her to love me back?
Because, at that second, I would've done anything. Anything for her to kiss me. Anything for her to touch me. Anything for her to hold me.
Anything for her to love me.
Annabeth's POV:
I was walking down the hall. Alone this time, Percy being off with the stunning, beautiful, lovely Aphrodite. I was just walking here. Towards the damn ball where I'd have to watch the idiot I was in love with dance with the most stunning woman in the entire galaxy.
How was I supposed to compete with this?
I tried to breathe. But my body was clenched. I would "unclench" only when I would let go of all the tears inside, but I couldn't. It would ruin my makeup. And then the Goddess of Love would kill me.
So, instead, I walked, trying to breath in and out. In and out. In and o-
"Annie, annie, annie."
The voice, a man's voice, came from behind me. I could almost immediately tell who it was.
I turned to see the God of War checking me out. My face was to mold into a sneer. But I didn't let it. I just held the poker face.
"Ares," I said, giving him a small smile.
He walked up to me slowly, and once he reached me, fingered the part of my dress very, very, very close to my breast. I slapped his hand away, "Don't touch me."
"Ahh, but Annabeth, how can I not touch you?" he chuckled, a cowardice, sick grin coming over his face. "You look like sex on a stick."
I clenched my jaw at the last phrase. I did know I looked nice, I was in the midnight blue dress made of satin and my hair was a curly braided mess. It fell down my back, some on my shoulder. Lastly, and worst of all, I had on a pair of death traps: round-toe black pumps. They matched the simple black two-string hair band in my hair. (I don't know what they're called…so I put a picture of them on my profile, too, LOL. PS: Its the "easy" profile, the one whose link I gave you at the end of the last chappie...)
"Stay quiet Ares," I growled at him, my eyes flashing now. "I don't want to be here."
"Oh, please," he said, smirking now. "What? You want to be with that hero, one that doesn't even love you?"
I felt my throat close, a lump forming. Tears starting welling. I shoved them away once, hard.
"Shut up," I said, turning away from him.
He didn't say anything after that. I could tell he was controlling his short temper. I didn't say anything, but continued walking forward.
Once we reached the top of the stairs, I waited for Ares, who moved forward. I looped my arm throw his (grudgingly) and took a deep breath. I looked up.
I saw the foyer decorated in blacks and white. It was accented with bright, some even neon, colors. The drapes of rainbow colors were a big affect, comparing the neutral base color.
I smiled a bit. The room was quite beautiful.
So, I stepped forward, slowly, exaggerating my steps, just like Aphrodite said. I scanned the crowd looking for Percy. I couldn't see him. There was too much black, too many pale people. He blended.
Therefore, I took a deep breath and began my descent down these Stairs of Doom, concentrating on not falling in these ridiculous heels.
As I walked down, the entire hall fell silent. I could feel billion eyes on me, crawling all over my skin, raking me. I couldn't tell if they were good, or if they were bad, so I just stared at the steps in front of me.
A blush had already taken over my cheeks. I felt like they were burning of my overly made up face. I prayed it looked good.
Once I was on the bottom step, I looked up, my head held high. I tried to look confident. And ironically, when I looked up I felt a lot better.
People were staring at me, looks of awe, shock and more on their faces. Some boys' mouths were ajar, others had drool on their face. It was stupid and selfish, but it made a small smirk, a tiny smile, peek out.
But that smirk was wiped off my face when a single boy pushed past everyone, occasionally getting cursed at to do so, stood in front of me.
Percy.
His eyes were different. His gaze was different.
Percy was staring at me with such incredible intensity it was mind-blowing. More heat seeped into me, making me want to drool at the sight of him. He was gorgeous, standing there in an all black outfit, his hair slicked back a bit, a single bit escaping to touch his forehead. His skin was clear and white, clashing with his jet black hair. His light, so light, green eyes bored into mine with more of that intensity. He looked like a fucking god. Strong, sexy and, yet, graceful like a mountain lion. An Adonis in the flesh (no offense to the real one standing across the room with drool dribbling down his chin).
I had let go of Ares by now. I couldn't bother less about him. My eyes, my thoughts were locked on one person and one person only: Percy.
I stepped down the last few steps, forgetting that a hundred people were watching us. I walked own slowly and, without having any idea what I was doing, brushed the single strand of hair away from his forehead, my hand lingering there just for a second.
I felt this burn when I touched him, this jolt of something much more…tingly than lightning. It made goose bumps erupt all over my skin and, hell, it turned me on. I wanted to rip his clothes off. I wanted to fuck him, right there, not caring my mom was there.
But instead, he took lead. Before I could understand what was happening I was feeling ten billion different things. Percy had taken my face gently in his big hands and barely brushed his lips over mine. After one teasing, tingling kiss, he let his forehead rest against mine. I felt my mouth open a bit, feeling his hot breath in my mouth. I felt like I was going to lift off the ground and fly, fly, fly…
But then he pulled away. I think we realized a hundred different people, and gods, had just seen us kiss. What else would explain the cute blush coloring his cheeks?
He settled for holding my hand and I held it back. His big hand was warm and reassuring against mine, making my heart flutter.
But, honestly, you want to know what I think happened?
I think I just died and went to heaven.
CHAPTER 20: Speak of the Annabeth
Percy's POV:
I don't know what made me do it.
I mean, one moment, I was standing there, not breathing, wishing so hard that I could just click the pause button on time…and then, suddenly, I had this urge. An insanely powerful craving.
I pushed past some (other) horny men who were gawking at my Annabeth, and stopped once I was front and center, in front of her. She stopped for a split second, her eyes raving me. I felt myself break out into intense waves of...god knows what.
But I know this much: it made me do what happened next. It just turned me on that much.
So, couldn't control what happened next.
She just came down, stopped in front of me and I kissed her.
And, fuck, it was the most…beautiful kiss I've ever felt, or seen, or…just, the most best thing that's ever happened to me.
My lips brushed her, molding to them for just a second. She kissed back, but barely. I think she was still a bit shocked I'd reached out to touch her, kiss her. I broke the fragile moment, by moving back so my forehead was leaning against hers and I was breathing a bit harder than usual. Though not from the lust…as much as it was from the intensity, the raging electricity that jumped at me, that made me shiver and shake, from that kiss.
Still standing in the same position, I held her face for a few more moments, and finally looked into those gray eyes. She was smiling, just a little, but smiling all the same. I felt my breath hitch.
She was everything. Beautiful, fierce, sexy, soft, delicious…
It was weird. I felt like I was about to blow from the insane lust, the need to fuck her in a rough, sexy way; and, yet, at the same time, I could feel so full of love, sparkles and all things pink.
I finally, and grudgingly, broke the moment simply proceed to hold her hand as, now I, took her across the hall. Ares was just standing there on the stairway, staring at us with a hard on, one visible even through his pants.
Sick pig. He was taking pleasure by watching our moment.
As I lead Annabeth through the crowd that was now making a long, wide runaway for us to walk through, I couldn't help but smile. We walked straight past everyone and they clapped. We walked to a table far, far away from everyone else and sat down.
I sighed when she sat. She looked so fragile, so beautiful, yet so strong. It was confusing as hell, but worth it. She was the best thing I'd ever seen. Or talked to. Or fell in love with.
Her hair had fallen into halves, one half still cascading down her lightly, oh so cruelly lightly, tan back. The other half was hanging by her face, giving her eyes a darker, more seductive look.
I gulped, trying to muster up any courage in my lusty state. I was pink in the face right now, for the gods' sake. "Are we going to talk about this, Annabeth?"
She gave me that little, sexy smirk I loved. "Now? No. Ever? Sure."
I smiled at that. Then I laugh at it. Hell, who cared? This trip we were on wasn't about caring. It was about having fun. And that kiss? That was fun. Look at what was going on inside my pants, and more so, my head, and you have proof.
She almost immediately jumped into a conversation about the decorations and how they accent the architecture or whatever; but honestly? I wasn't really listening to what she was saying. Instead, I listened to the way her voice got shaky when I stared at her too long, or the way when my knee brushed hers she'd stutter. I just watched her speak, her grey eyes lighting up, her carved face expressing expression. I wanted to lean over, to shut her up by kissing her plush, red hot lips. I wanted to touch her cheeks with my thumbs.
But, let's try and preserve my manliness here; I did want to do her. I wanted to see her crawl on top of me and ride me. I wanted to see her under me, to make her scream. I wanted to do such ungodly things to her, it was no wonder just about every god came our way.
Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Aphrodite, Hera, Apollo and Athena stood in front of me. Some of them gave me death glare (*cough*Athena*cough*), whilst other winked at me. Zeus spoke up first.
"That was very inappropriate."
The thoughts or the kiss?
He shot me a glance that would probably kill me if I wasn't invulnerable. "Both."
I looked at the floor, guilt and some embarrassment filling me. This was Aphrodite event. I had hogged most of her spotlight when I'd jumped on Annabeth like that.
Athena growled, sensing my thoughts probably. What with these gods anyway? KEEP OUT OF MY HEAD, I yelled at them through my head. They all cringed a bit, but ignored me studiously.
After a few moments of guilt-filled, awkward silence. I looked up. I was standing now, staring Aphrodite full on; "I'm sorry," I said sincerely.
She smiled a bit, arching an eyebrow a bit. "Just don't do it again."
I smiled a bit, and the turned to the rest of the gods. I felt so sick with myself. I hadn't have done that…it was wrong. This event was even for us. It was for the gods.
"I'm sorry I did that. Seriously, I am. I'll probably leave now…," I glanced at Annabeth, who was staring at me. I couldn't help but shiver at her gaze. Athena growled.
Annabeth moved her gaze from me to her mother, and it turned hard as stone, cold as New York's wind in November. She turned to me after a few seconds, she raised a single eyebrow as she did when she was being arrogant; and said; "I'll be waiting at the front."
I wanted to kiss her again.
But instead, I nodded at my father, uncles, etc. and then went off in the other direction going to get the few bits of stuff, like my cell phone and car keys, from the dressing room.
Once I'd collected my clothes, keys, and other things, I turned to the doorway where I saw Aphrodite staring at me. She smiled a bit, a (supposedly) stunning grin. I smiled back a bit, my eyebrows coming together like they always did when I was confused. "Hi?" I said, waving a bit.
She laugh a high, tinkling sound. I noticed she was batting her eyelashes at me. I gulped.
Weird, I thought. I started walking forward, and she moved out of my way. As I walked, she walked beside me, saying nothing. Until she said this; "You're a good guy, Perseus."
"Percy," I automatically corrected her. She let out another laugh.
"Cute, too," she winked. I pulled at the corners of my mouth, but I was still confused.
"Is there, um, something you need to say?" I asked, raising my eyes and burrowing them at the same time.
She smiled. And nodded. She started to lean forward when the gears in my head clicked.
The eyelashes. The laugh. The leaning.
I jumped back, hitting the wall. My eyes were wild, wide. "Aph-phrodite," I gulped, squeezing my eyes shut. I opened them and saw her staring at me, shocked.
"Did you just reject me?"
I shook my head. "Think of it as…backing off? I'm sorry. But I love Annabeth."
Ever hear of speak of the devil and the devil shall appear?
Apply that here please.
CHAPTER 21: Trash the TV
Percy's POV:
She walked in.
Right at that moment, Annabeth Chase decided it'd be a nice time to walk through that damn left door (Reminder: Annabeth walked through the RIGHT door in Ch. 17; Percy walked through the LEFT).
I wondered why I was so unlucky. I wondered if this had been planned.
She walked in and stared at us. It was probably a weird sight; me scrunched against the wall, Aphrodite looming over me like an angry pigeon. And plus, my slicked back hair was back to it mess-of-curls state.
She stared at me, and weirdly my hair, for a few moments, then stared at Aphrodite. Something about the way she was watching us, I felt like she hadn't heard me. The sweat that had broken out when I thought she had slowed. I breathed before stepping away from the Goddess of Love.
I ran a hand through my hair nervously, saying, "Um, I'll see you around, okay, Aphrodite?"
She stared at me, gaped at me, for a few moment. Her eyes were clouding over with something…something that looked way too much like pure, straight out, I'm-gonna-kill-you-with-a-toothbrush anger.
I gulped.
"See me?" she yelled, finally recovering. Her hair was billowing and her eyes were torches. She looked strangely a lot like Medusa.
Oh, shit. I can see in her eyes that she heard that.
I ran then. I ran like there was no tomorrow. I jumped over the couch, grabbing the keys and stuff off the coffee table and ran. I grabbed Annabeth's hand and pulled her along with me.
While I was running, I heard Aphrodite's strangled screech. But that only made me run faster. She was going to kill me.
She was going to KILL me.
I ran down those stairs, probably creating a scene. Aphrodite. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, saw that the room had fallen silent, I turned and looked to the top of the staircase. I knew what I was going to see.
Aphrodite stood there, tall and scary as hell. Her eyes were burning harder, brighter, with that fire. She looked like she was going to rip me limb from limb and then eat every piece.
The sight made my knees shake with fear.
She then let out a ragged, wild, inhumane scream as she ran down the stairs after me.
I cursed and grabbed a very pissed, very hot Annabeth's hand and ran again. We pushed past some of the idiots who were still dancing. Most of the hall was focused on the sight of the Love Goddess playing kill-the-Percy.
I let out a frustrated growl when we became stuck on the dance floor. I decided some serious action needed to be taken. Aphrodite was going to fry me for;
a) Rejecting her.
b) Making it sound like I was dumping her.
c) Ditching her.
And, now, d) Officially ruining her party.
I was so screwed.
Annabeth's POV:
I had no fucking clue what was going on.
I had just walked through the left door, where Percy was supposed to be, to tell him to hurry the hell up, when I see him pressed up against a wall by a very pissed, very confused looking Aphrodite. I had heard him say "Annabeth" and, so, I was pretty confused.
Soon enough though, it turned out that the only thing that mattered was the Aphrodite was just angry.
Percy had said some blubbering, cute thing and ran out, like literally ran out. He must have some something seriously bad, since the Goddess was hot on our trail. She chased us down the staircase. She had let out this shrill, Siren-like scream that was the most chilling thing I had ever heard.
I was now on the dance floor, standing next to a very frustrating, very sexy Percy. His hair wasn't slicked anymore, but I had stared at it before and found I liked it better as a messy bunch of curls. He growled a growl that made my panties a bit wet and breathed deeply. His light, pale green eyes flashed with something that looked like anger (and, really, despite the situation, turned me on), as he searched around. He spotted something far away and muttered, "Yes."
Before I could even get angrier, he squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated. His mouth was in a slight smirk. Before what happened, happened, I kind of knew that it would happen. Percy only had that smirk on at one time; when he was going piss someone off.
And then it happened.
Water exploded from behind me, but I was dry because of Percy, and we stood in our own personal hurricane. And Percy; apparently satisfied that he'd creating this…thing, that had knocked out half the people on the dance floor and destroyed the buffet table; starting running again.
And I could do nothing but follow.
This boy was going to get his ass kicked by me later.
But I couldn't do anything but be pulled by him. He had my hand in a firm grasp.
We spent minutes running down the huge hall. We passed an open-mouthed Grover, a very angry Zeus, and an amused Poseidon. Percy's dad winked at him and pointed at a big red-wood door. I couldn't help but laugh at that. It was funny; one god was hunting us down like prey, while the other was helping us out.
Percy glanced back with an "are-you-out-of-your-mind?" look on his face. When my eyes gleamed with humor, he laughed a bit back.
Soon enough, we were a giggling and laughing our way out, that, too, so hard, it made my stomach hurt. I let out more laughter, stumbling as Percy and I pulled us along.
It was just the fact that this whole situation was so ridiculous. But, heck, it was fun!
Once we'd finally gotten past the doors, I looked around the new room we were in.
It was the gods' lounge. It was huge and airy, with a few thrones, a few couches (of all kinds, leather, velvet, suede, etc) and a huge TV in the center.
Almost immediately, it hit me.
Note to self: go to Olympus and trash the stalking-the-kids TV.
"THE STALKING-THE-KIDS TV!" I gasped, pointing a finger dramatically at the four-sided plasma(s) in the middle of the room. Basically, it was a box that had four, extra thin plasma TV screen on each of the four sides.
Percy's eyes brows flew up as he gave me the "what-the-fuck?" look. I just widened my eyes and pointed.
But, as soon as I recovered from my little shock, I jumped into action.
It was time to destroy this life-ruining piece of crap.
Percy's POV:
She was going insane.
I knew it! I knew the moment I'd overreact; it'd trigger something in her overly-used, too-smart brain and make her going crazy.
We were standing in the middle of what looked like the gods' lounge, and I was moving towards the elevator on the other side of the room, but she held me back. She had on her sexy, let-get-violent smirk.
That smirk was one that turned me on and scared to death. Reason? It usually meant Annabeth was going to do something not so nice.
And I was right. After gasping, "THE STALKING-THE-KIDS TV!" and pointing at the box made of televisions she proceed to touch it.
Guess what she did next?
She punched it.
Annabeth's knuckles broke through the glass easily, creating a loud pop, crack, shatter. I yelped and to her.
"Annabeth!" I gasped, "Fuck! Annabeth! What are you doing? Don't the gods have reason enough to kill us?"
But she didn't listen, Annabeth just moved forward, or tried to anyway. She tripped on the train of her gorgeous blue dress. So, she ripped it.
Yes, she ripped the thing that made her look like an angel. Just proves how un-materialistic she is.
Once she'd ripped the bottom off, freeing her bare, tan legs (giving me some serious wood), she proceed forward, grabbing one of the ornaments off a coffee table nearby; smashing each TV, one by one. Once she finished, she put the ornament back and turned to a slack-jawed me.
I stared at her. When she just arched an eyebrow at me, I knew I'd never seen anyone so hot. I gulped, trying not to show just how much she affected me. Especially in my pants.
So, instead I said, "We have to go."
She smiled back, grabbed my hand and raced toward the elevator. I was being pulled by her, realizing karma was a bitch. I was half stunned by the gorgeous girl in front of me, the one tapping her foot impatiently, accenting her sexy legs even more.
What could I do but steal another quick kiss?
I just grabbed her, rougher this time, and pressed my lips to hers, hard, and licked her bottom lip a bit.
This fazed her. She gasped/moaned, and I took lead. I pulled her into the elevator the same moment Aphrodite burst through the red-wood doors.
I pressed the last button frantically and pressed the shut door button. Aphrodite was stuck in her spot for just enough time to give us a head start. She then wasted more time by let out a yell.
"YOU MORONIC DEMIGODS! YOU DESTROYED OUR TELEVISION! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU BOTH!"
And by the time she said "both", the elevator doors had already been shut.
DUM, DUM, DAAAH!
So, what did you think? Give me your opinions? I kind of swear a lot more than I expected in this chapter. I didn't mean to but I thought that was what I would do if I were them. LOL.
Anywho…give me feedback! Please? I'll update faster! And, plus, I make good on promises. I TOLD you Annabeth was kickass.
Anyway, I've always wanted to trash that damn TV ever since I heard it existed. Now I did.
*grin*
- S.
PS: I was saying I was being evil because Annabeth didn't heard Percy say he loved him. But worry not! I've saved an extra special moment for that. I'd been inspired by a song and all.
PPS: The reason Aphrodite fell for Percy is nothing more than the fact that she is childish. She just got distracted, liked him and then got hurt by him. Hence the insanely normal girl-like anger she showed.
CHAPTER 17: Barbie Time
Inspired by Taylor Swift songs, because she's great, no matter what anyone says. Her songs are cheesy, but hell. Who cares? They're relatable.
Percy's POV:
Annabeth wandered into McDonald's about an hour later. She was looking lost and messy, her hair looking like a haystack and her shirt rumpled, hitching up a bit. I gulped.
"Hey, sleepy head," I said, grinning at her. She turned her half-lidded eyes at me and gave me a look that said shut-the-hell-up-I'm-so-not-in-the-mood. I laughed.
She yawned, stretching her arms over her head and groaning. Her shirt hitched up even more giving me a plain view of her flat stomach. I start leaning forward, my hand twitching, wishing for me to just reach out, just lightly skim my finger over her skin there, right by the waistbands of the jeans she wore. I could see myself leaning over and taking her face in my hands and kissing her like I did in the car. But this time, rougher. I had liked that part. That part when Annabeth had fisted her hands into my hair, making me moan and get so overly turned on…
I flushed. I looked up. Just a second had passed with me and those thoughts. And Annabeth still, still, noticed nothing.
Damn it.
She walked over and slumped into a chair throwing open her legs and sitting in a very un-ladylike way. I grinned at her, amused. "Why so tired?" I asked, slurping the last bits of my coke.
She shrugged and rubbed her eyes, trying to shake her head to wake up. "Ugh," she finally said, throwing her head back and leaving her neck totally exposed. "I'm so tired. Why the heck am I so tired?"
I shrugged now. "We've been doing nothing for a few days. I was gonna ask you…what do you want to do now?"
She perked up a bit. I held back a smile. Anything that needed thought, Annabeth was up for it. I was the exact opposite.
"How about we go to Utah? I hear there are some awesome skiing slopes there…or we could go to Florida! Disney land! I've always wanted to see how they built that big castle."
I raised my eyebrows. "You want to go to Disneyland?"
She blushed cutely. Her intelligent eyes threw a couple of daggers at me. I grinned wider. She, then, leaned over and punched my shoulder, harder than usual.
I groaned, then whined; "Why'd ya do that?"
"You know why."
I chuckled. "Remind me."
She rolled her eyes. "Because you are a total dork. Remember?"
I grinned again, from ear to ear. She smiled back at me, finally. Her face was starting to grow to be alive again, lighting up with her smartness and just damn good looks.
"But, anyway, do you really want to go there? Disneyland, I mean?" Please say no. Please say no. Please don't take me through that again.
I had gone to Disneyland a few weeks ago with Rachel. We had no fun. She claimed that there were no rides there (lie) and that we should just go straight to the big palace thing. I agreed. It looked like that was gonna happen again.
"No need to worry, little cousin," said a light, girly voice from behind me. "I'm here to save you!"
I turned around, just glancing at Annabeth: her eyes were wide with shock, annoyance and something else. I couldn't put my finger on it. So, I kept on turning and behind me, stood the Goddess of Love.
And, then, I knew what the look in Annabeth's eye had been. Fear.
We both knew why she was here. She only ever came to me once before for any other reason.
And, hell, it was a bad reason to come. (I was gonna end it here…but I treated you guys to more! So enjoy it. This is gonna be one helluva long chappie.)
Annabeth's POV:
I was so tired. My eyes felt like they weighed a hundred pounds and the idiot in front of me was trying to be funny.
Honestly, yes, I loved, Percy. But if you asked me, Annabeth, what do you think of Percy right at this second?
I would say he's a dork. Because, truthfully, he was. My Perce was a dork through and through.
The thought made my lips twitch.
Right now, I heard a voice interrupt my conversation with Percy about Disneyland, and immediately found the source.
Aphrodite.
Ah, shit, I thought. The goddess of love only came around for one reason.
To play Barbie with myself and Percy over there.
Of course, she would make us look good (okay. Understatement. I remember at the last event Hades' birthday, Percy was in a dark button down shirt with dark trousers and black shoes. I wanted to take him right there, he looked so delicious) and take us to some god/goddess event or party. I wondered what it what it was this time.
Percy and I got out of our chairs quickly and bowed. She waved us away. "Not here!" she giggled. "People might get suspicious."
Ugh, I thought. She probably thinks that's a big word. I almost groaned. I had really low tolerance for Aphrodite. I glanced at Percy and he gave me a small smile, knowing.
She saw the exchange between us and I could the smile, even some tears, in her eyes. She said, "I just came to invite you two to my very exclusive beauty party."
I was taken off guard. Did we just become part of some…clique of the goddess of Love? "Exclusive?"
She winked at me with a still slightly tear filled eye. "Only for my favorite couple. You two made me cry with that whole you're-more-beautiful-than-a-twilight-beach."
I stared at her my mouth hanging open. My eyes were popping out, and at the back of my mind, I guess I looked like a fish. "What?"
She smiled. "No time to waste. I need to make both of you look gorgeous."
I smiled a bit still confused, but then heard Percy say, "Oh..kay?"
He was staring at Aphrodite, his brows furrowed. He looked so cute. If only I could just lean over and…
I heard Aphrodite giggle. I looked up a blushed brightly. She can sense your thoughts, Annabeth. Can't you just shut it about Percy for two minutes?
She giggled again, giving me a knowing glint in her eyes. I felt my stomach drop. Damn it. I didn't need Aphrodite knowing about this stupid ordeal I was going through.
"Well…"I finally sighed. "I guess we had better get going. When is this beauty thing? And who is going to be there?"
She began ranting, bubbling, happily. "Well, I keep it small. Just some of the available gods. And a few of my children who are especially important these days. It's today. And it is celebrated to cherish my beauty," she glowed at the last sentence, gloating a bit.
"Oh. Um, we should better going."
She nodded, perked up and ready. I only slumped some more.
(About ½ a minute later)
After the sucking darkness went away, I breathed deeply, cleansing my lungs with oxygen. I stumbled my first few steps on god knows what, god knows where, until Percy, someone used to traveling in weird ways, grabbed my elbow to steady me. I stopped stumbling and looked up slowly. Our eyes locked. I shivered deep, deep inside of me. Aphrodite let out a small sniffle.
"So…beautiful…must…beauty…," she whimpered, wiping away her tears with this small pink handkerchief.
I raised my eyes and looked back to Percy. He grinned at me like a fool. I rolled my eyes. Aphrodite howled again.
I didn't get it. Why was she so touched by us? Percy and I acted normal, witty as usual. Somehow, Aphrodite took small things like the brush of my skin with Percy's causing me to go up in very self-aware flames and our eyes locking, straight to heart. I felt my heart stutter. I think her feelings might've started affecting me. Or just the still-in-my-bones chill Percy's eyes in mine always gave me.
Once we were better, Aphrodite fanning herself off and beginning to walk, she split me and Percy up. "Annabeth," she had said, "Go to the down the hall and take the door on the right. Percy, do the same, but door on the left, okay?"
We nodded and headed down the hall. Aphrodite vaporized, probably going to find dresses or something. We walked in soft silence. Only one thought was touching me. I have to say bye to Percy for at least 5 hours (Yes, that is how ridiculously long Aphrodite took. Right now, it was only 2. The beauty thing started at eight).
Ever since the beginning of our little…journey, Percy and I had spent, basically, every minute of the day together. The longest time we were apart was an hour. But that was only when I took extra long in one of those hotels we'd stopped at.
But, right then, the thought of saying bye-bye to him for a few hours hurt me. It was stupid and overly feminine in ways that I hated but was true. I suddenly craved to be in his mouth-watering embrace, his light touch, to replay to the time I'd woken up on his long, hard body.
Right now, I gazed at him. We'd reached the door and were now staring at each other like idiots. I could feel his gaze deep inside, a knowing thing, like he knew how I felt. And he felt the same.
It was strange, so to lighten the mood, I said; "I'll see you if I come out alive, Seaweed Brain."
His solemn expression broke, his face breaking out into a big, beautiful smile. His voice was oddly soft when he said, "Bye, Annabeth."
I didn't go in, even when he was out of sight, behind the door. I just stood there, my eyes filling with those idiotic tears. There was no reason to be sad! I was being ridiculous! I had gotten way too accustomed to having Percy all to myself.
Wait. That thought came out wrong.
So, I turned around and stomped thorough the damned right door. Once inside, I saw that it was a little beauty studio, with a huge door that probably lead to a little thing I call hell in my house. Other girls, normal girls, call it a closet. Full of clothes. Unbelievably pretty, skimpy, fancy, uncomfortable clothes.
Behind me, I saw three girls, minions of Aphrodite. Probably her assistants. The one with red hair smiled at me, "Annabeth Chase?"
I nodded glumly, still not over being away from Percy. "Welcome! We're here to finish up the first little thing," she said, her voice becoming a squeal after, "Mani-Pedi!"
I groaned, but trudged over to the chair and closed my eyes.
These were going to be long few hours.
Percy's POV:
Why was leaving her so difficult?
After walking through the left door, I leaned against it and tried to breathe through my flared nostrils. Didn't work. So, I just slumped against the door and mourned.
It was sad, being together for so long, only to be ripped apart by some damn makeover session. I wanted to hold her, to kiss her so badly outside this door, it was unbelievable. My eyes had melted and my heart was gone, gone deep, deep inside the gorgeous girl in front of me's pocket.
Right now, I was getting up. My chest ached, like it had been torn but I ignored it. I got across the hall and sat on the spinning chair in the center of the blue studio filled with little knick-nacks that looked pretty lethal to me.
"Percy," I heard a voice behind me. "I'm going to fix you up first."
I turned and saw the Goddess of Love, smiling widely at me, a pair of scissors in one hand and shampoo in the other.
I cringed. These were going to be a long few hours.
CHAPTER 18: Holding My Breath
I loved writing this chappie. SO much fun.
PS: The super-quick update was for a certain someone. Though they did make my day TODAY, You all make my days every other day. (?)
Anywho; Enjoy!
Percy's POV:
She pushed me into one of the chairs with the washing-hair things attached. I squeezed my eyes shut. I hated get ready with Aphrodite. My father, however, told me once that all the gods go through it. Aphrodite is a Daddy's girl, and with Zeus as her father she gets just about anything.
Spoiled woman.
"Percy," she said, shooting me a look.
I looked up, but kinda knew what she was gonna say.
"I heard you."
I smiled a bit, my face breaking out into one of those exhilarated smiles. I leaned my head back as Aphrodite made her way back and used her long, fingers to wash the black mess on my head.
She conditioned and rinsed and whatever, and I lay there, wondering what Annabeth was doing, not listening to the rant Aphrodite was going off on. Something about cuteness. And me.
"Just the way you look at her is soooo cute!" she bubbled, squealing a bit. "I feel like a brand new person, so lovey-dovey with you guys! Its so classical! Remember how I said you guys match up to…"
And so it continued. I just listened, nodding and smiling at times. I had a feeling she knew I had no clue what she was talking about. I don't think she cared, though.
After drying my hair, Aphrodite let it go and said something about dealing with it later. Then she went through these big black doors on the other side of the room. She came out a few minutes later, holding a big white bag, a long one. I guessed that it was a suit.
"So," I finally said, wondering about something. "When does the event start?"
She smiled. She looked pretty excited. I knew that Aphrodite could be a bitch, but she was a generally good person (god?) at heart. "In about three hours. But I have to put this here. At around six, change. Then I'll come back and you and I will go. Ares is going to escort Annabeth. And, thank you." She winked, knowingly.
I blushed a bit from the thank you, cursing that I could keep the yapper in my head shut. But soon after I cooled down, from the blush, I really heard what she said.
Ares? Annabeth? Escort? I almost growled. I think the "neutral" phase was over. I felt like I was going to scream. Instead, I turned to Aphrodite, looked her hard in the eyes, flaming internally. This was not going to fucking happen.
"No," I said. I felt like I was gonna blow up. Annabeth? With ARES?
Hell-fucking-no.
She giggled a bit. "Ah, jealousy. So cute. But, no. My decision is final."
I clenched my jaw. Fuck no, I thought, staring hard into her eyes. She had her bitchy-don't-screw-with-me look now.
"Don't mess with me, little boy. I'm treating you. Now, stop being a pussy and go play those video games while I go get Annabeth ready." Then the goddess of love vanished.
I let out a growl. I stomped my way to the couch. I hated this. I wanted to scream and shout and cry all at the same time. I was torn between a billion things.
But guess what I felt most?
Jealousy.
I felt green with envy. To see her, Annabeth; gorgeous, smart, beautiful Annabeth, on the arm of a dick like Ares. Not that I was any better…but still.
I threw myself on to the couch and shoved my head into my hands. My head was pounding, my movements were furious and I couldn't help but feel like I was going to start crying in a second.
My nostril flared and I let out another snarl when I thought of her, beautified, touching Ares, holding his arms. I wanted to throw myself in front of her, to protect her from him. He didn't deserve to touch her! Not at all. She was too good for him. She was too fucking good for anyone. Even me.
My head still pounded. I felt myself break inside. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to rip that bloody coward into little godly bits.
I wanted blood.
Annabeth's POV:
After the manicures and pedicure, I felt kind of clean.
Okay. Secret: I didn't really hate this. It was kind of relaxing.
I moved towards the table with the facial-y looking stuff and sat down. A woman with long black hair sat in front of me, her face beautiful, fierce like a hawk.
"Hello," she said, smiling only slightly. "I'm Arya. What would you like? The full cleansing or the chocolate treatment?"
A voice I recognized way too much said from behind me, "Give her both."
I looked back. It was Aphrodite. Of course.
Arya smiled at me, then made me lie back on the long table. She did this amazing thing where her hands pressed circles into my face, in all the right spots. Then she dribbled the liquid, lukewarm chocolate all over my face and let it sit for a while. It felt so soothing, so sweet, so warm. I bubbled internally.
Ugh, I thought. I'm turning into an Aphrodite Girl.
I heard a giggle and opened an eye to see the Goddess of Love staring at me, smile on her face. I ignored it.
After I had my face cleansed and felt fresh and so, so…clean, I turned to Aphrodite. As far as I knew, the relaxing stuff was over. She heard my thoughts and mirrored them by saying, "Time to get to work."
I trotted behind her to the big white doors, cowering a bit. The closet. It probably held all this stuff…all this skimpy, girl stuff.
I wanted to run, screaming.
Aphrodite giggled at me one last time before turning around and flinging open the door. She flung a bit too much, and the door hit me smack in the middle of my face.
She screamed. I groaned. "I didn't ruin the facial did I?" asked Aphrodite.
I shrugged and turned to her. She let out a sigh of relief. "Barely a scratch," she said, smiling again. "Your pretty and durable."
And now I feel like a toy.
We walked into the closet and I saw rows and rows of dresses all shapes and sized. But most of my attention was on a few special racks that had been moved front. There were about a hundred dresses, and I could guess that this rack had been picked for me.
Aphrodite squealed. She grabbed a strapless light pink dress and threw it at me, jumping around excitedly. "Put it on! Put it on!"
I went into the little changing cubbie and stripped off my clothes. I pulled on the dress and immediately realized it was wrong. The shape was too square at the bust and it was too…girly for my taste. There was even a little bow about the waist. (Picture on Profile)
I went outside, dress still on, padding towards the goddess barefoot. She turned to me and looked at me up and down.
"No," she said, her eyes concentrated and her mouth pursed in displease. "Here," she grabbed a random, huge red thing from the rack and threw it at me. I almost fell over, it weigh so much. "Try that one."
And so I did. I tried it on and glanced in the mirror. It was huge, blood red, with a frame under the skirt. And the cleavage was far, far too deep. It looked weirdly like one of those pilgrim dresses, because of the white ruffles in the front. (Picture on Profile)
I walked out, grouchy, and dryly said, "I look like a slutty pilgrim."
She smiled widely at that and nodded, grabbing another dress. "You're a difficult one, Annie. Now go and try this. It'll look nice because of your legs."
I shrugged not knowing what to say. She had handed me a tiny, flimsy little piece of light yellow cloth. I walked back to my changing cubbie and slipped out of the pilgrim dress and into the puke-y yellow thing.
I walked out, angry now. "No," I said.
The dress was freaking miniscule. It barely covered my ass and it was baby doll-style. (Picture on Profile) It was way too tight and made me look like an absolute slut.
No way in hell was I wearing it.
I barely looked at the dress Aphrodite gave me this time; I trudged back to the damn changing cubbie and changed. But when I saw myself in the mirror, I knew it was perfect.
I walked out slowly, and watched as Aphrodite's eyes bulged out a bit, and then she smiled. "Perfect," she said, smirking. "I am so good."
I laughed with her, feeling so happy. The dress made me happy. It fell to the floor and was midnight blue. It covered my back but there was a single slit, making it elegant. The front was halter, but in a loose, classy way. It made me look…like a goddess. It wasn't too tight, but wasn't too loose. (Picture on Profile)
I loved it.
I twirled in front of the mirror, being very unlike myself. It was just the way the dress made me look. It ascended my long legs, made my skin glow inside out. I looked a bit fairer than usual, but my skin was glowing. The blue color was perfection with my skin tone. And the neckline made my bust look right, and made my torso look delicate, fragile.
I smiled. This night would be perfect. I would promise myself it would be.
But then Aphrodite told me. She threw it at me, like an extra accessory.
Percy was walking with her. Percy was her escort.
I, suddenly, didn't feel so happy.
Percy's POV:
I had finished putting on the damn monkey suit that had been prepared for me. One of the hand maidens had fixed up my hair, so that it was gelled back and neat. I looked okay.
The suit was all black and no tie since I would probably strangle myself trying to put it on. I had left the top button free, and I guessed I, generally, looked good.
As I walked past the studio where all the beautifying had been done, I chuckled a bit. Just before I had changed one of the maidens had tried to put make up on me. Everyone does it, she'd said.
What had I said?
Hell freaking no.
I walked out of the door, finally, and walked back down the hall, alone. I was wallowing in the emptiness, the…boringness of being without Annabeth. I wished I could see her. It felt like years.
When I reached the end of the hall, I saw a spiraling staircase. When I saw what lay below I was shocked.
Olympus had become…beautiful. There were decorations of mostly black and white. There was an expensive looking silver dance floor. Little tables were scattered. There were huge drapes, slung from wall to wall, in all colors of the rainbows. It was beautiful.
Little things here and there had color. A purple fabric weaving the railing. A different color bunch of flowers on each table, only none yellow, because the dinning sets were all that color.
Overall, I had to say, it was very…modern. And yet pretty.
I heard a voice from the hallways to my left, "Percy Jackson."
The Goddess of Love was walking my way. I was suddenly feeling really, very honored that I would be walking her down. But that didn't mean I liked that fact that I wasn't with Annabeth.
She chuckled at my thoughts. I looked her up and down. She was wearing a dress that was strapled, hugging her waist in a simple broad line before falling into ruffles toward her feet. It was baby blue and made her already flawless skin look creamy. (Picture on Profile) Her hair which was really all colors, yet no colors, was back into a chignon. She looked gorgeous.
She giggled when she saw my slightly awe-struck expression. "Enough, enough," she said shooing away my gawking. "You're to walk me down soon."
I nodded, gulping. I hated walking down stairs while being stared at. I'd probably trip.
Aphrodite sensed my thoughts again. "You will not trip, Percy Jackson. This party is annual and for me. I will not look like a fool."
I had to grin a bit. She tried not to smile back, but the Goddess of Love wasn't very good at that.
After a tortuous wait of 94 minutes on the top step of those stairs, we set ourselves up to go down. Everyone was downstairs, everyone but Annabeth. I knew this because of Aphrodite. I hadn't seen Annabeth. In my head, ugly, UGLY, mental pictures of her kissing Ares popped into my head. I wished I could go die somewhere when the jealousy, the sad type of jealousy, toke me in again.
Anyway, I knew Annabeth was supposedly coming down the stairs last, after, even, Aphrodite. This was because Aphrodite claimed that love was more important. She said she'd put extra time into Annabeth and wanted to show her off to everyone. I smiled slyly, only a tiny bit, at that.
Annabeth will hate that.
I took a deep breath and the goddess of love slipped her arm into mine. I breathed in. I was so damn nervous suddenly. What if Annabeth doesn't like the way I look? What if I just look…like a kid in a tux?
My head was frantic and Aphrodite noticed. She silenced me with one comforting sentence. "I think you look good."
So, I shut up. I wasn't utterly stupid. I knew that getting a compliment from the Goddess of Love and Beauty wasn't nothing. It was a helluva a lot, actually.
So, we started going down. People gawked at Aphrodite's beauty, stunned. Clapping broke out and a beautific smile broke across Aphrodite's face.
She had a good heart. I could tell that much from here.
She turned me. Damn it. She'd heard my thoughts. Her eyes were filled with tears and once we reached the bottom of the stairway, she hugged me softly. I wrapped my arms around only squeezing her lightly and then she turned and left.
I walked, gloomy still, to a table by the stairway. I threw myself at a chair and my legs spread out. I gazed at the stairway, waiting.
That was until my goat-boy best friend jumped into view.
"Percy!" He said, pulling me into a manly hug. "Where've you been?"
"No where," I said, smiling. "Just on a road trip. How are you, man?"
"I'm great," he said smiling as Juniper came into view. She looked pretty in a fluffy little silver gown. "Everything's great. How about you?"
I opened my mouth to reply but nothing came out.
I saw Annabeth on the stairway, standing at the top step.
I stopped breathing.
Ahahhahahahh! Cliffy!
Go on! Tell me how much you love/hate me! You know you want to.
And, hey, you guys asked why this is rated M. LOL.
Don't worry, loves. A lot is going to unfold in these next few chapters. Well. Maybe not THAT soon, but hey. I've got loads of surprises for ya!
I love you all! Forever. ;-)
- S.
** END NOTE: I just checkout my profile...the thing might not show up (links for the dress). If that is the case with you please go here:
http://www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/~skylarcraze
CHAPTER 19: I'd Do Anything
Hi again! I know! Quick update. I felt bad for leaving you on SUCH a cliffy. I bet you wanna know how he felt…
Well! Read on and find out!
Meet you at the bottom. ;-)
Percy's POV:
She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
Her hair was a blonde, shimmering, curly, gorgeous mess; cascading down her back in a loose braid of voluminous curls; a few strands left free, framing her face.
Her skin glowed. I mean, literally glowed. She looked like she had this fire burning deep, deep inside of her, lighting her, burning most through those grey cat-like eyes.
And the dress…the dress was perfection. It hugged her curves, but left some places loose, falling down her body like some sort of fabric-y waterfall. And her cleavage was…her cleavage made me feel like someone had just punched me in the gut. It turned me on. But, more importantly, it filled me with this…feeling. A…devotion. I was, at this moment, to fall to my knees and worship her. To take her, right there on the stairway, in a way so made for her, it would make her scream with pleasure. I felt weak in the knees.
I felt like I was going ooze love; out of my eyes, my ears. My body might just go up in flames. It might have already. What did I know? I was too busy staring at Annabeth.
And as I stared at the beautiful, sexy, gorgeous vision of the girl I was in love with, I thought: what would it take for her to love me back?
Because, at that second, I would've done anything. Anything for her to kiss me. Anything for her to touch me. Anything for her to hold me.
Anything for her to love me.
Annabeth's POV:
I was walking down the hall. Alone this time, Percy being off with the stunning, beautiful, lovely Aphrodite. I was just walking here. Towards the damn ball where I'd have to watch the idiot I was in love with dance with the most stunning woman in the entire galaxy.
How was I supposed to compete with this?
I tried to breathe. But my body was clenched. I would "unclench" only when I would let go of all the tears inside, but I couldn't. It would ruin my makeup. And then the Goddess of Love would kill me.
So, instead, I walked, trying to breath in and out. In and out. In and o-
"Annie, annie, annie."
The voice, a man's voice, came from behind me. I could almost immediately tell who it was.
I turned to see the God of War checking me out. My face was to mold into a sneer. But I didn't let it. I just held the poker face.
"Ares," I said, giving him a small smile.
He walked up to me slowly, and once he reached me, fingered the part of my dress very, very, very close to my breast. I slapped his hand away, "Don't touch me."
"Ahh, but Annabeth, how can I not touch you?" he chuckled, a cowardice, sick grin coming over his face. "You look like sex on a stick."
I clenched my jaw at the last phrase. I did know I looked nice, I was in the midnight blue dress made of satin and my hair was a curly braided mess. It fell down my back, some on my shoulder. Lastly, and worst of all, I had on a pair of death traps: round-toe black pumps. They matched the simple black two-string hair band in my hair. (I don't know what they're called…so I put a picture of them on my profile, too, LOL. PS: Its the "easy" profile, the one whose link I gave you at the end of the last chappie...)
"Stay quiet Ares," I growled at him, my eyes flashing now. "I don't want to be here."
"Oh, please," he said, smirking now. "What? You want to be with that hero, one that doesn't even love you?"
I felt my throat close, a lump forming. Tears starting welling. I shoved them away once, hard.
"Shut up," I said, turning away from him.
He didn't say anything after that. I could tell he was controlling his short temper. I didn't say anything, but continued walking forward.
Once we reached the top of the stairs, I waited for Ares, who moved forward. I looped my arm throw his (grudgingly) and took a deep breath. I looked up.
I saw the foyer decorated in blacks and white. It was accented with bright, some even neon, colors. The drapes of rainbow colors were a big affect, comparing the neutral base color.
I smiled a bit. The room was quite beautiful.
So, I stepped forward, slowly, exaggerating my steps, just like Aphrodite said. I scanned the crowd looking for Percy. I couldn't see him. There was too much black, too many pale people. He blended.
Therefore, I took a deep breath and began my descent down these Stairs of Doom, concentrating on not falling in these ridiculous heels.
As I walked down, the entire hall fell silent. I could feel billion eyes on me, crawling all over my skin, raking me. I couldn't tell if they were good, or if they were bad, so I just stared at the steps in front of me.
A blush had already taken over my cheeks. I felt like they were burning of my overly made up face. I prayed it looked good.
Once I was on the bottom step, I looked up, my head held high. I tried to look confident. And ironically, when I looked up I felt a lot better.
People were staring at me, looks of awe, shock and more on their faces. Some boys' mouths were ajar, others had drool on their face. It was stupid and selfish, but it made a small smirk, a tiny smile, peek out.
But that smirk was wiped off my face when a single boy pushed past everyone, occasionally getting cursed at to do so, stood in front of me.
Percy.
His eyes were different. His gaze was different.
Percy was staring at me with such incredible intensity it was mind-blowing. More heat seeped into me, making me want to drool at the sight of him. He was gorgeous, standing there in an all black outfit, his hair slicked back a bit, a single bit escaping to touch his forehead. His skin was clear and white, clashing with his jet black hair. His light, so light, green eyes bored into mine with more of that intensity. He looked like a fucking god. Strong, sexy and, yet, graceful like a mountain lion. An Adonis in the flesh (no offense to the real one standing across the room with drool dribbling down his chin).
I had let go of Ares by now. I couldn't bother less about him. My eyes, my thoughts were locked on one person and one person only: Percy.
I stepped down the last few steps, forgetting that a hundred people were watching us. I walked own slowly and, without having any idea what I was doing, brushed the single strand of hair away from his forehead, my hand lingering there just for a second.
I felt this burn when I touched him, this jolt of something much more…tingly than lightning. It made goose bumps erupt all over my skin and, hell, it turned me on. I wanted to rip his clothes off. I wanted to fuck him, right there, not caring my mom was there.
But instead, he took lead. Before I could understand what was happening I was feeling ten billion different things. Percy had taken my face gently in his big hands and barely brushed his lips over mine. After one teasing, tingling kiss, he let his forehead rest against mine. I felt my mouth open a bit, feeling his hot breath in my mouth. I felt like I was going to lift off the ground and fly, fly, fly…
But then he pulled away. I think we realized a hundred different people, and gods, had just seen us kiss. What else would explain the cute blush coloring his cheeks?
He settled for holding my hand and I held it back. His big hand was warm and reassuring against mine, making my heart flutter.
But, honestly, you want to know what I think happened?
I think I just died and went to heaven.
CHAPTER 20: Speak of the Annabeth
Percy's POV:
I don't know what made me do it.
I mean, one moment, I was standing there, not breathing, wishing so hard that I could just click the pause button on time…and then, suddenly, I had this urge. An insanely powerful craving.
I pushed past some (other) horny men who were gawking at my Annabeth, and stopped once I was front and center, in front of her. She stopped for a split second, her eyes raving me. I felt myself break out into intense waves of...god knows what.
But I know this much: it made me do what happened next. It just turned me on that much.
So, couldn't control what happened next.
She just came down, stopped in front of me and I kissed her.
And, fuck, it was the most…beautiful kiss I've ever felt, or seen, or…just, the most best thing that's ever happened to me.
My lips brushed her, molding to them for just a second. She kissed back, but barely. I think she was still a bit shocked I'd reached out to touch her, kiss her. I broke the fragile moment, by moving back so my forehead was leaning against hers and I was breathing a bit harder than usual. Though not from the lust…as much as it was from the intensity, the raging electricity that jumped at me, that made me shiver and shake, from that kiss.
Still standing in the same position, I held her face for a few more moments, and finally looked into those gray eyes. She was smiling, just a little, but smiling all the same. I felt my breath hitch.
She was everything. Beautiful, fierce, sexy, soft, delicious…
It was weird. I felt like I was about to blow from the insane lust, the need to fuck her in a rough, sexy way; and, yet, at the same time, I could feel so full of love, sparkles and all things pink.
I finally, and grudgingly, broke the moment simply proceed to hold her hand as, now I, took her across the hall. Ares was just standing there on the stairway, staring at us with a hard on, one visible even through his pants.
Sick pig. He was taking pleasure by watching our moment.
As I lead Annabeth through the crowd that was now making a long, wide runaway for us to walk through, I couldn't help but smile. We walked straight past everyone and they clapped. We walked to a table far, far away from everyone else and sat down.
I sighed when she sat. She looked so fragile, so beautiful, yet so strong. It was confusing as hell, but worth it. She was the best thing I'd ever seen. Or talked to. Or fell in love with.
Her hair had fallen into halves, one half still cascading down her lightly, oh so cruelly lightly, tan back. The other half was hanging by her face, giving her eyes a darker, more seductive look.
I gulped, trying to muster up any courage in my lusty state. I was pink in the face right now, for the gods' sake. "Are we going to talk about this, Annabeth?"
She gave me that little, sexy smirk I loved. "Now? No. Ever? Sure."
I smiled at that. Then I laugh at it. Hell, who cared? This trip we were on wasn't about caring. It was about having fun. And that kiss? That was fun. Look at what was going on inside my pants, and more so, my head, and you have proof.
She almost immediately jumped into a conversation about the decorations and how they accent the architecture or whatever; but honestly? I wasn't really listening to what she was saying. Instead, I listened to the way her voice got shaky when I stared at her too long, or the way when my knee brushed hers she'd stutter. I just watched her speak, her grey eyes lighting up, her carved face expressing expression. I wanted to lean over, to shut her up by kissing her plush, red hot lips. I wanted to touch her cheeks with my thumbs.
But, let's try and preserve my manliness here; I did want to do her. I wanted to see her crawl on top of me and ride me. I wanted to see her under me, to make her scream. I wanted to do such ungodly things to her, it was no wonder just about every god came our way.
Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Aphrodite, Hera, Apollo and Athena stood in front of me. Some of them gave me death glare (*cough*Athena*cough*), whilst other winked at me. Zeus spoke up first.
"That was very inappropriate."
The thoughts or the kiss?
He shot me a glance that would probably kill me if I wasn't invulnerable. "Both."
I looked at the floor, guilt and some embarrassment filling me. This was Aphrodite event. I had hogged most of her spotlight when I'd jumped on Annabeth like that.
Athena growled, sensing my thoughts probably. What with these gods anyway? KEEP OUT OF MY HEAD, I yelled at them through my head. They all cringed a bit, but ignored me studiously.
After a few moments of guilt-filled, awkward silence. I looked up. I was standing now, staring Aphrodite full on; "I'm sorry," I said sincerely.
She smiled a bit, arching an eyebrow a bit. "Just don't do it again."
I smiled a bit, and the turned to the rest of the gods. I felt so sick with myself. I hadn't have done that…it was wrong. This event was even for us. It was for the gods.
"I'm sorry I did that. Seriously, I am. I'll probably leave now…," I glanced at Annabeth, who was staring at me. I couldn't help but shiver at her gaze. Athena growled.
Annabeth moved her gaze from me to her mother, and it turned hard as stone, cold as New York's wind in November. She turned to me after a few seconds, she raised a single eyebrow as she did when she was being arrogant; and said; "I'll be waiting at the front."
I wanted to kiss her again.
But instead, I nodded at my father, uncles, etc. and then went off in the other direction going to get the few bits of stuff, like my cell phone and car keys, from the dressing room.
Once I'd collected my clothes, keys, and other things, I turned to the doorway where I saw Aphrodite staring at me. She smiled a bit, a (supposedly) stunning grin. I smiled back a bit, my eyebrows coming together like they always did when I was confused. "Hi?" I said, waving a bit.
She laugh a high, tinkling sound. I noticed she was batting her eyelashes at me. I gulped.
Weird, I thought. I started walking forward, and she moved out of my way. As I walked, she walked beside me, saying nothing. Until she said this; "You're a good guy, Perseus."
"Percy," I automatically corrected her. She let out another laugh.
"Cute, too," she winked. I pulled at the corners of my mouth, but I was still confused.
"Is there, um, something you need to say?" I asked, raising my eyes and burrowing them at the same time.
She smiled. And nodded. She started to lean forward when the gears in my head clicked.
The eyelashes. The laugh. The leaning.
I jumped back, hitting the wall. My eyes were wild, wide. "Aph-phrodite," I gulped, squeezing my eyes shut. I opened them and saw her staring at me, shocked.
"Did you just reject me?"
I shook my head. "Think of it as…backing off? I'm sorry. But I love Annabeth."
Ever hear of speak of the devil and the devil shall appear?
Apply that here please.
CHAPTER 21: Trash the TV
Percy's POV:
She walked in.
Right at that moment, Annabeth Chase decided it'd be a nice time to walk through that damn left door (Reminder: Annabeth walked through the RIGHT door in Ch. 17; Percy walked through the LEFT).
I wondered why I was so unlucky. I wondered if this had been planned.
She walked in and stared at us. It was probably a weird sight; me scrunched against the wall, Aphrodite looming over me like an angry pigeon. And plus, my slicked back hair was back to it mess-of-curls state.
She stared at me, and weirdly my hair, for a few moments, then stared at Aphrodite. Something about the way she was watching us, I felt like she hadn't heard me. The sweat that had broken out when I thought she had slowed. I breathed before stepping away from the Goddess of Love.
I ran a hand through my hair nervously, saying, "Um, I'll see you around, okay, Aphrodite?"
She stared at me, gaped at me, for a few moment. Her eyes were clouding over with something…something that looked way too much like pure, straight out, I'm-gonna-kill-you-with-a-toothbrush anger.
I gulped.
"See me?" she yelled, finally recovering. Her hair was billowing and her eyes were torches. She looked strangely a lot like Medusa.
Oh, shit. I can see in her eyes that she heard that.
I ran then. I ran like there was no tomorrow. I jumped over the couch, grabbing the keys and stuff off the coffee table and ran. I grabbed Annabeth's hand and pulled her along with me.
While I was running, I heard Aphrodite's strangled screech. But that only made me run faster. She was going to kill me.
She was going to KILL me.
I ran down those stairs, probably creating a scene. Aphrodite. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, saw that the room had fallen silent, I turned and looked to the top of the staircase. I knew what I was going to see.
Aphrodite stood there, tall and scary as hell. Her eyes were burning harder, brighter, with that fire. She looked like she was going to rip me limb from limb and then eat every piece.
The sight made my knees shake with fear.
She then let out a ragged, wild, inhumane scream as she ran down the stairs after me.
I cursed and grabbed a very pissed, very hot Annabeth's hand and ran again. We pushed past some of the idiots who were still dancing. Most of the hall was focused on the sight of the Love Goddess playing kill-the-Percy.
I let out a frustrated growl when we became stuck on the dance floor. I decided some serious action needed to be taken. Aphrodite was going to fry me for;
a) Rejecting her.
b) Making it sound like I was dumping her.
c) Ditching her.
And, now, d) Officially ruining her party.
I was so screwed.
Annabeth's POV:
I had no fucking clue what was going on.
I had just walked through the left door, where Percy was supposed to be, to tell him to hurry the hell up, when I see him pressed up against a wall by a very pissed, very confused looking Aphrodite. I had heard him say "Annabeth" and, so, I was pretty confused.
Soon enough though, it turned out that the only thing that mattered was the Aphrodite was just angry.
Percy had said some blubbering, cute thing and ran out, like literally ran out. He must have some something seriously bad, since the Goddess was hot on our trail. She chased us down the staircase. She had let out this shrill, Siren-like scream that was the most chilling thing I had ever heard.
I was now on the dance floor, standing next to a very frustrating, very sexy Percy. His hair wasn't slicked anymore, but I had stared at it before and found I liked it better as a messy bunch of curls. He growled a growl that made my panties a bit wet and breathed deeply. His light, pale green eyes flashed with something that looked like anger (and, really, despite the situation, turned me on), as he searched around. He spotted something far away and muttered, "Yes."
Before I could even get angrier, he squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated. His mouth was in a slight smirk. Before what happened, happened, I kind of knew that it would happen. Percy only had that smirk on at one time; when he was going piss someone off.
And then it happened.
Water exploded from behind me, but I was dry because of Percy, and we stood in our own personal hurricane. And Percy; apparently satisfied that he'd creating this…thing, that had knocked out half the people on the dance floor and destroyed the buffet table; starting running again.
And I could do nothing but follow.
This boy was going to get his ass kicked by me later.
But I couldn't do anything but be pulled by him. He had my hand in a firm grasp.
We spent minutes running down the huge hall. We passed an open-mouthed Grover, a very angry Zeus, and an amused Poseidon. Percy's dad winked at him and pointed at a big red-wood door. I couldn't help but laugh at that. It was funny; one god was hunting us down like prey, while the other was helping us out.
Percy glanced back with an "are-you-out-of-your-mind?" look on his face. When my eyes gleamed with humor, he laughed a bit back.
Soon enough, we were a giggling and laughing our way out, that, too, so hard, it made my stomach hurt. I let out more laughter, stumbling as Percy and I pulled us along.
It was just the fact that this whole situation was so ridiculous. But, heck, it was fun!
Once we'd finally gotten past the doors, I looked around the new room we were in.
It was the gods' lounge. It was huge and airy, with a few thrones, a few couches (of all kinds, leather, velvet, suede, etc) and a huge TV in the center.
Almost immediately, it hit me.
Note to self: go to Olympus and trash the stalking-the-kids TV.
"THE STALKING-THE-KIDS TV!" I gasped, pointing a finger dramatically at the four-sided plasma(s) in the middle of the room. Basically, it was a box that had four, extra thin plasma TV screen on each of the four sides.
Percy's eyes brows flew up as he gave me the "what-the-fuck?" look. I just widened my eyes and pointed.
But, as soon as I recovered from my little shock, I jumped into action.
It was time to destroy this life-ruining piece of crap.
Percy's POV:
She was going insane.
I knew it! I knew the moment I'd overreact; it'd trigger something in her overly-used, too-smart brain and make her going crazy.
We were standing in the middle of what looked like the gods' lounge, and I was moving towards the elevator on the other side of the room, but she held me back. She had on her sexy, let-get-violent smirk.
That smirk was one that turned me on and scared to death. Reason? It usually meant Annabeth was going to do something not so nice.
And I was right. After gasping, "THE STALKING-THE-KIDS TV!" and pointing at the box made of televisions she proceed to touch it.
Guess what she did next?
She punched it.
Annabeth's knuckles broke through the glass easily, creating a loud pop, crack, shatter. I yelped and to her.
"Annabeth!" I gasped, "Fuck! Annabeth! What are you doing? Don't the gods have reason enough to kill us?"
But she didn't listen, Annabeth just moved forward, or tried to anyway. She tripped on the train of her gorgeous blue dress. So, she ripped it.
Yes, she ripped the thing that made her look like an angel. Just proves how un-materialistic she is.
Once she'd ripped the bottom off, freeing her bare, tan legs (giving me some serious wood), she proceed forward, grabbing one of the ornaments off a coffee table nearby; smashing each TV, one by one. Once she finished, she put the ornament back and turned to a slack-jawed me.
I stared at her. When she just arched an eyebrow at me, I knew I'd never seen anyone so hot. I gulped, trying not to show just how much she affected me. Especially in my pants.
So, instead I said, "We have to go."
She smiled back, grabbed my hand and raced toward the elevator. I was being pulled by her, realizing karma was a bitch. I was half stunned by the gorgeous girl in front of me, the one tapping her foot impatiently, accenting her sexy legs even more.
What could I do but steal another quick kiss?
I just grabbed her, rougher this time, and pressed my lips to hers, hard, and licked her bottom lip a bit.
This fazed her. She gasped/moaned, and I took lead. I pulled her into the elevator the same moment Aphrodite burst through the red-wood doors.
I pressed the last button frantically and pressed the shut door button. Aphrodite was stuck in her spot for just enough time to give us a head start. She then wasted more time by let out a yell.
"YOU MORONIC DEMIGODS! YOU DESTROYED OUR TELEVISION! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU BOTH!"
And by the time she said "both", the elevator doors had already been shut.
DUM, DUM, DAAAH!
So, what did you think? Give me your opinions? I kind of swear a lot more than I expected in this chapter. I didn't mean to but I thought that was what I would do if I were them. LOL.
Anywho…give me feedback! Please? I'll update faster! And, plus, I make good on promises. I TOLD you Annabeth was kickass.
Anyway, I've always wanted to trash that damn TV ever since I heard it existed. Now I did.
*grin*
- S.
PS: I was saying I was being evil because Annabeth didn't heard Percy say he loved him. But worry not! I've saved an extra special moment for that. I'd been inspired by a song and all.
PPS: The reason Aphrodite fell for Percy is nothing more than the fact that she is childish. She just got distracted, liked him and then got hurt by him. Hence the insanely normal girl-like anger she showed.