Chapter Text
Annabeth stared at the notification that had popped up on her lock screen. When the screen went dark, she tapped it to see if the message was really still there. It wouldn’t be the first time she had imagined Percy reaching out to her. But for the first time in six months, there was actually a text from him.
Standing in the entry space of her tiny studio apartment, she blinked at her phone a few times. Finally, the gears in her brain beginning to turn again, she set her bag down, toed off her shoes, and hung up her jacket. She walked into the room slowly, unlocking her phone and opening the messages app.
Anxiety swirled in the pit of her stomach at the little blue dot next to his contact name, but she opened the text.
sorry to bother you. we need to talk about piper’s wedding coming up. i checked, there are no other rooms available at the resort. call me whenever if that’s easiest.
Annabeth leaned against the small counter in her kitchen. With all of the wedding planning going on, as well as the start of her new job, she had managed to somehow forget about sharing a room with him for Piper’s destination wedding in a month.
Her finger hovered over the call button below Percy’s contact information. She hadn’t heard his voice in just over six months, since she walked out of their—his—apartment. They had exchanged a handful of texts in the following weeks, to work out when she would get her belongings and such, but that had been it.
She took a breath. It was only a phone call, she could do that. If she could survive the heartbreak she’d put upon herself by ending their relationship, she could do anything.
Annabeth hit the call button.
It rang twice, and for a split second, she hoped he wouldn’t pick up. Maybe she was wrong, maybe she couldn’t do this.
“Hi.” His voice was the same. Deep, soft, affection somehow wrapped around the single word, even though she didn’t deserve an ounce of it.
“Hi,” she replied. Her knuckles curled around the edge of the counter. Did her voice sound different? Would he have noticed if it did? Did hearing it after so long have any effect on him the way hearing his had on her? She cleared her throat. “I just got home from work. I can talk now if that’s fine with you.”
“Really? It’s only five o'clock,” he asked, clearly confused. She understood why. At her old job, the earliest she would ever get home was 6:30, sometimes later. She had felt the need to put in extra hours at that place considering it had felt like she was fighting for the chance to even work there.
“New job,” is all she said. “Is now a good time for you?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. She could practically see the way he nodded, his hand pushing through his hair and resting on the back of his neck. “I asked Thalia and Jason if they might be able to switch since they’re the only people in the wedding party that have a double room. Assuming they can stand to share a bed for four nights. They haven’t gotten back to me yet, though.”
Thalia and Jason were siblings, so while sharing a bed probably wasn’t preferable for them, it also wouldn’t be the first time. Surely, less uncomfortable than a six-month-post-breakup couple of four years.
“And the resort has nothing else available?”
Percy hesitated. “Technically, they do. However, being only a month out, the rooms are double what we paid. And I mean… if you want to book that for yourself for half a week, by all means, but I can’t really afford to drop an extra thousand, especially when we’ve paid so much already.”
Annabeth winced.
“Yeah,” she murmured, looking around her shoebox apartment that she’d spent the first four months after the breakup dipping into her savings to afford. With her job now, she wasn’t struggling to make ends meet, but she certainly wasn’t living lavishly either. “Not feasible for me either.”
“And the flights are non-refundable, otherwise I just… wouldn’t go.”
Nothing about that statement felt fair. If anyone should choose to opt out, it should be Annabeth because she was the reason they were in this predicament. But she was in the wedding and while Piper loved Percy, she had been Annabeth’s friend for much longer. Annabeth not going simply wasn’t an option.
She sighed softly and a heavy moment of silence passed between them. She could feel it physically pushing on her chest. If Jason and Thalia weren’t comfortable switching rooms, Percy and Annabeth would have to share a bed for four nights. In theory, that shouldn’t be so hard. She’d slept next to him for 3 years straight, plus all the times they’d spent the night at each others’ places before living together. He had become the only person in the world she had ever felt like she could fully relax around.
But now, he was almost a stranger. If it was possible to consider someone a stranger while simultaneously knowing everything about them.
“Let me-”
“How are-”
They cut each other off, and before Percy could almost certainly ask how she was doing, Annabeth said, “Let me know what Jason and Thalia say, yeah?”
Percy was quiet for a few seconds. She imagined him shutting his eyes tight, cracking his knuckles with one hand. The way he looked when he was frustrated.
“Okay,” he said finally. “I’ll text you when I know.”
“Okay,” she echoed. Not giving him a chance to say anything more, she ended the call with a soft, “Talk to you later.”
She turned towards the counter, setting her phone down and then leaning over to put her head in her hands. Her palms pressed against her eyes so hard, she saw stars but that was preferable to seeing whatever images of Percy would’ve flashed through her mind.
Guilt rocked her body, not for the first time. Did she truly deserve to feel so devastated when this was her decision and hers alone? She had hardly given Percy a chance to fight for them with the way she ended it.
After everything, Annabeth was surprised he wasn’t fighting harder now to find any other option that didn’t result in being near her. If the roles were reversed, she certainly wouldn’t be able to handle staying in the same room as him, let alone sharing a bed. But she supposed when it came down to it, this weekend wasn’t about them. It was about Piper and her fiancée, Reyna.
Annabeth dragged her hands down her face and stood. She left her phone right there on the counter as she moved to take a shower. Under the hot water, she pretended as though none of this mattered. As though none of it was happening at all. It hardly worked, as her stomach was still in knots over something she had almost no control over—unless, of course, she wanted to spend an extra thousand on top of what she’d already spent on this wedding.
She took her time going through her nightly routine and then making herself dinner, a can of tomato soup and half a grilled cheese. By the time she picked up her phone again, it had been almost two hours since she’d gotten off the phone with Percy.
There was a new message from him.
Like she’d been transported back to the moment she’d received a text from earlier today, she stared at the notification. Her nerves won out quicker this time, though, and she clicked on it before the screen could go dark.
jason said he and thalia don't mind switching but we owe them both a drink
Annabeth could’ve kissed both Thalia and Jason on the mouth, relief flowing through her. She would still have to share a room with Percy, but at least they wouldn’t share a bed. And with all the wedding activities she’d be forced to participate in that Percy didn’t need to, she probably wouldn’t see him half the time anyway.
I’ll buy them both 5. Tell them I said thank u
She realized after she sent it that she probably sounded overly grateful, like sharing a bed with Percy would’ve killed her. Though, knowing him and how he couldn’t keep to his side of the bed if his life depended on it, it probably would have.