WOOO! A new chapter, without the eight month wait! Could this be? What is this madness?

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Chapter 13: Thanks For Clarifying

Percy stumbled off the plane, slightly sleep deprived and very annoyed. Why, in Zeus' name, did ties exist? He didn't like flights- he felt like he was way too deep into Zeus's realm. He had to sit next to a really cranky old man, who, despite Percy being literally five metres away from him (perks of getting a business class seat), he could hear loud and clear- the whole flight. Adding those factors together- he was generally not feeling too great about life in general.

Then, of course, there was the fact that he had to go see Annabeth.

When Percy said 'call me', he had really meant it. She had basically emotionally tortured him for years but he still said those words sincerely. Silly him- Annabeth would have never called him- she would have been too proud. Or maybe she had gotten over him. It wouldn't have been the first time he had gotten rejected.

Percy couldn't care too much about this girl. He was planning on leaving the meeting with his dignity intact. He was going to be calm. Composed. Professional.

He was still afraid of going in there and losing his calm anyway.

He rode the car to the office building in silence, shuffling through some documents absentmindedly. He pulled up at an insanely fancy building- Annabeth was obviously doing well for herself. Then again, he already knew that- she was Annabeth.

He started to realize the magnitude of the situation as soon as he stepped into the lobby. He was called out by magazines for months, demanding that he take Annabeth back. He had been sent hate mail, given death threats- all over this girl. This girl who hurt him time and time again- more than he would ever hurt her.

He had spent months doing interviews with her face appearing on a T.V screen, months of staring at her face on the covers of magazines, on the news, but according to his request, he never had to do an interview with her. It would hurt too much. He'd started to almost believe her face was two-dimensional. Right until she stepped into the elevator at the last second, obviously in a rush.

She stared at him blankly as the elevator climbed upwards.

"Mr. Jackson." She said curtly, finally.

"Ms. Chase." He replied.

Percy began to stare at the numbers slowly climb. Could this elevator go any slower? He had nowhere to look except at her. She was wearing a simple white blouse and a grey pencil skirt, with her hair pulled back tightly in a ponytail. Percy hadn't ever seen her in anything like that before. All of his memories were of her in orange Camp Half Blood shirts, or in elaborate Bachelorette dresses.

"You're doing well." He said, unable to just keep silent for much longer.

"What do you mean?" she said. "Not that I'm not doing well, it's just… what makes you say that?"

"Nothing, you just… look… well, I guess."

Why did he say that? Percy already wished he was on the plane back to New York. They finally stepped out of the elevator and walked into the conference room.

"Since we're both here, I don't see why we shouldn't start. Are you fine with that?" Annabeth asked politely, to which Percy nodded. "Great."

The rest of the session was fine, albeit slightly awkward. Annabeth answered every question he had with confidence and compromised- it was the easiest meeting he'd ever had. They were just winding up when he spotted a couple of people outside the door.

"Ann- Ms. Chase, do you know those people?" Percy said, gesturing outside the glass doors.

"Yeah, they're part of our intern program." Annabeth frowned at the group of people trying to conceal themselves with their phones out. She walked up to them and Percy could hear her say "What exactly do you want?"

Percy watched them reply with grins on their faces. She then walked back to the conference room, visibly fuming.

"What did they want?" He asked.

"They're selling those pictures to the paparazzi." She said.

Percy took a double take. "They what? They said that?" He said incredulously.

"No, they made up some bullshit about some editorial they were taking the pictures for- as if. You need to get out of the building in under half an hour or they'll be here- the paparazzi have basically been following me since we got back."

Percy took a few seconds to register what she was saying. The paparazzi followed her everywhere she went? Apart from interviews and hordes of hate mail, he was basically left alone.

"In that case, I'll call you and finalise everything." He said.

She tensed up. "Okay." She said. "Now go- they'll be here and won't leave you alone."

He got to the lobby and found the outside swarming with people with cameras. He stopped and went right up to the conference room.

"Uh, Ms. Chase, they're already here."

She groaned. "Then we'll have to use the back exit. Come with me."

She led him down a small fire escape and around the back of the building, walking so fast Percy basically had to jog to keep up. "Where are we going?"

"I can't stay there, no one will get any work done, I'll just tell my boss I'm working from home the rest of the day, so we're going to my-" Then she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Shit. They found out where I lived two months ago, I can't go there."

"We can go to my hotel room, if you want." Percy said, before realising how that sounded. "I mean, until this dies down." He said hesitantly.

She thought about it for a couple of seconds. "Okay," she said resignedly "it'll only be a while."

After a quick taxi ride and checking into the hotel (with both of them constantly looking over their shoulders), they were sitting in Percy's hotel room, panting.

"So I guess we can't keep pretending that didn't happen, after all." Annabeth said.

"What didn't happen?" Percy asked.

"You. Me. The stupid T.V show. The whole shebang."

"Yeah, I know." There was a long pause.

"You need to know that I'm-" Annabeth said.

"I'm not going to-" Percy said at the same time. "Sorry, you first."

"Thank you for what you did the last time we saw each other." Annabeth said quietly. Percy stared at her, bewildered.

"That was exactly the thing I was going to apologise for. I embarrassed you on T.V… kind of a dick move."

"Yeah, it was." Annabeth admitted. "But I needed to hear what you had to say, T.V or otherwise, you know? And it was nothing compared to what I did to you… twice."

"Yeah, that hurt a lot. I used to spend days wondering why you would do that to me when we practically grew up together. I even asked my mom if, for some reason, I had pissed Aphrodite off."

Annabeth laughed lightly. "What did she say?"

"She said everything happens for a reason." Percy said.

After a few seconds of silence, Annabeth said "What do you think that reason was?"

"I think it was the way of the Gods, Aphrodite, the universe, whoever telling me that we're not good for each other. Someone always ends up getting hurt, and most of the time, it's me."

Annabeth nodded gently. "I'm sorry about that."

They spent the rest of the day in silence, watching reruns of old sitcoms and ordering room service. Percy felt like there was nothing left that he had to say. He just sat there, staring at the back of Annabeth's head, trying to think about all the time that he'd known her and the many adjectives he'd used over time to describe her. Amazing, smart, funny, beautiful, kickass… but then there was also vindictive, cruel, thoughtless… after she'd broken his heart.

She spoke for the first time in hours. "Thank you for letting me stay here, by the way." She locked eyes with him. "I really mean it. And by the way, I've never heard you call me Ms. Chase before. It was nice. Keep doing that."

"Never. Hardest thing I've ever had to do." He said.

"By the way, I'm moving to New York. I didn't want to tell you because I thought it would be awkward, but all our projects are happening in New York and my boss thought it would be best to just plonk me there. So, yeah, if you run into me there, I just want you to know why."

She had let her hair loose and had gotten as comfortable on the sofa as it was possible to get in a pencil skirt. Her makeup was long gone but she still looked the same as she did all those years ago. And all those years ago, she was his weakness. Her long blonde hair that still looked amazing when it was greasy and in a bun, the way her nose scrunched up when she was thinking about something (most probably capture the flag battle strategies), right down the way she walked and talked and she was moving to New York, where he lived and before he knew it, she was pressed up against a wall and his face was inches away from hers.

She stared at him, breathless, and when he started to kiss her neck, she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him. There were a couple of seconds where Percy finally felt happy again, even though he told himself he was done chasing her, even though he believed that he was done chasing her.

"Percy, stop." Annabeth said and pulled away.

"Oh my god, Annabeth, I didn't mean to-Jesus Christ-"

"But you wanted to, didn't you?" She asked him, her eyes boring into him.

"Of course I wanted to." He spat. "I don't want to, though."

"Percy, I'm not good for you. What makes you think this time will be any different?" She said, her voice steely.

"Because I wasn't thinking, okay? I know that you're not good for me, I've told myself a thousand times that you're not good for me, but I just keep coming back, and I don't know if I'm just stupid and I think if we just both really try-"

"If we try, one of us is going to screw up, just like always, Percy, don't you understand? You think I don't remember that you told me to call you when I was done sorting out my problems? We're not good for each other, Percy, and I thought that if I stayed away, I wouldn't hurt you again. And I've hurt you again, and we were supposed to meet for a business meeting. We can't even do that right!"

Breathing heavily, Percy sat on the couch next to her. He knew she was right, just like always, and it was really annoying.

"You're right" He voiced this out loud.

"I know."

"I'm not ready to say goodbye to you, Annabeth."

"I know." She said.

"We might suck as a couple, but I think we might be good as friends."

"I don't know if I'm ready to be friends yet. I broke your heart, you broke mine, and I'm still bitter." She said

"I know." He said.

"But I'm going to try." She said. "I'm going to try being friends with you, and that means no kissing and absolutely no drama."

"Yeah, Annabeth, friends don't kiss, thanks for clarifying." He said.

"The paparazzi are probably gone now." Annabeth said.

"This was nice, and… see you in New York, I guess?" she said.

Percy nodded, not knowing if what he just did was going to be the best thing that had ever happened to him or the bane of his existence.

Friends.

PLEASE REVIEW. GREAT PLOT TWISTS COME YOUR WAY IN THE FUTURE.