Chapter 1: The one where she's famous and he works at a convenience store. Mortals.
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It's 3 am.
So why is she at the store?
To be honest, she doesn't know. Well, okay, she does. It's because she's Annabeth Chase. Uh-huh. She's the Annabeth Chase. All-time world-wide famous model Annabeth Chase.
She goes to the 24 hour CVS a few blocks from her apartment to buy the necessities. It's because she liked to avoid meeting people. More specifically fans. The people who squeal and demand for her to give them a picture and sign their phone cases. Don't get her wrong, Annabeth loves her fans. She wouldn't be who she was without them. But when she's just trying to buy some tampons, she doesn't love them so much anymore.
So when she walks in to find the entire store completely empty, except for Shannon, the regular grave yard shift worker, Annabeth smiles.
Tonight, though, all she wanted to get was some chocolate and a really old cheesy romance movie because her roommate/best-friend/photographer Thalia Grace just got out of a messy relationship and has sworn off men forever and demanded Annabeth to get her some break up supplies. And as the best friend, Annabeth obliged.
She weaves her way through the aisles, trying desperately to find the chocolate and the movie then get out. She had a meeting the next morning, very early, might she add. She didn't want to be late and she already knew that she wasn't going to get the regular eight hours of sleep anyway.
After deciding on four Hershey kiss bars, three dark chocolate for Thalia and one dark chocolate for Annabeth, she nearly made it to the movie section before stopping for a tub of ice cream. Shannon won't judge me, Annabeth shrugged and grabbed the biggest jug of mint chocolate chip ice cream that she could find.
Getting ice cream second was a bad idea. It froze the poor girls fingers off when she was deciding between The Notebook or The Titanic. She ended up getting The Neighbors instead. Who cares about sappy romances when you can have Zac Efron, huh?
Picking up the ice cream from the floor and stacking the chocolates on top of the tub, Annabeth checked the time. 3:30 am. She rolled her eyes. Great, she thought, I'm even more late than usual. See, Annabeth, here, never comes to CVS so late at night. Normally, it's 11:00-1:00.
She cringed and remembered how Shannon said that her shift ended at 2:30 and that this other kid took over by then. Great, probably some squeaky girl who won't stop fucking clapping her hands. Or a guy who winks fourteen times and try's for her number eight. She made her was to the checkout counter and laid the stuff down, not meeting the guys, she could tell it was a guy, eyes. To be honest, she wasn't even looking in his general direction. No, no, she was staring at her wallet, counting her money over and over and over and over-
"Um excuse me?" She heard him talk and she cringed.
"Yes." She said, still not meeting his eyes. Actually she was hiding behind her golden locks.
She heard him shift in his stool, "You know," Oh god, here we go. "It's very rude not to make eye contact when talking to someone."
She rolled her eyes and held back a scoff. So he was annoying, persistent, and cocky. Fantastic. She looked up and stared dead ass into his magnificently sea green eyes, "I apologize for my manners. How much will it turn to be?"
The guy coughed and looked back to the computer, "11.78."
She handed him the money and talked as he bagged her things, "It isn't mine. The break up package. It's for my friend. We're actually mourning, now that I think about it. But it's more of a celebratory funeral. The death of her love life." She said, talking quite fast, "She's sworn off men forever."
He handed Annabeth her stuff and put his hands on the counter, leaning slightly forward over the surface, only a foot away from her. She realized that if she moved only a tiny bit further, she'd kiss him. Of course she'd never do that. Yet, still, she found herself waiting for his response. Saying how ridiculous it is for Thalia to throw off men forever. But what he did say was shocking enough. "You should buy some bubble gum."
She blinked. Once. Twice. "What?"
"You should buy some bubble gum." He stated as if it was the most obvious thing ever. He rolled his eyes when she didn't respond, "We, as a matter of fact, have the widest variety of gum flavors. But just this specific CVS. None of the others. Just us. Seriously, some of the flavors are weird. So you should buy some." He pointed towards the front of the register and Annabeth bent down, crouching and placed her melting ice cream, chocolate, and the Neighbors beside her.
He wasn't kidding. There was almost every flavor imaginable. But she chose the worst looking one. "Lemon." She jumped up from beside the counter, making the poor kid jump and almost topple over in his stool.
He fixed himself and stared at her, "Lemon?"
She nodded, "Lemons are wonderful."
He shook his head and took the pack from her, "Whatever you say, lady."
She smiled as he scanned the gum. She gave him the dollar that it cost and took the gum back, putting it in her other bag, then looking at the guy.
"Do I have to keep this?" She gestured to the receipt.
"Uh, no. I don't think so."
"Cause I'm pretty sure you don't have to do tax for bubble gum, and that's what receipts are for, right? Taxes. So why keep the receipt if I'm not doing taxes for the item bought." She turned her gaze to the floor, sheepishly, "Sorry, I get weird the later I stay up."
He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, "It's alright."
She shifted her weight on her feet, "So you don't mind if I throw this away?" She said, mentioning the receipt.
He smiled, "Not at all."
She crumpled the paper in her hands and waved a goodbye, heading out she realized something, "I never got your name." She yelled back to the guy.
He grinned, "Percy Jackson. Yours?"
She smiled back, knowing that she shouldn't, "Annabeth Chase."
Then she left. Laughing when she saw the look on his face.
She never did regret telling him her name.
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She came back the next day, too. At 3 am. He was shocked, to say the least. She was super duper famous model hot lady, and she came back, later than normal.
To buy more gum.
"I finished it." He looked at the empty pack of lemon flavored gum sitting on top of the homework he had yet to finish. Then he looked up and grey met green. Yes, cliche, he knows. Whatever, he really likes her eyes.
He furrowed his eyebrows and her eyes sparkled, "You finished the entire packet?"
She rolled her eyes, "My friends and coworkers helped." She kneeled down to look at the gum rack, "They all hated it, by the way. All of them spit it out right after they shoved it in their mouths. It was kinda funny."
He scratched the back of his head with a pen, "So now you're back for more really bad weird flavored gum."
She stood from her position holding another pack of bubble gum, "Yep."
"What flavor?" He pointed to the cardboard rectangle.
Her eyes twinkled with delight and wonder, "Chocolate."
Percy wrinkled his nose and grabbed the pack hesitantly, as if it might explode, "Alright, but I'm warning you." He said. "This stuff sucks."
She laughed and, god, he thought it was beautiful. She paid the dollar, crushed the receipt and threw it away. "What's that?" She had asked.
Percy blinked, "Oh. This is homework."
She picked up the paper to look at it, "What do you major in?"
"Marine Biology."
Annabeth hummed and nodded, "Must be the reason for the cartoon fish in the corner."
He laughed, "Guess so, huh?"
She grabbed the pen that he was using and placed the paper on the counter, she began writing. "Um, what are you doing," Percy asked, genuinely confused. He knew that he could figure out the homework himself, oceanography came to him naturally, he didn't exactly need help.
She smiled and handed him the paper, then walked off, letting her ponytail fly behind her. He didn't look at the paper until he heard the jingle of the doors bell, indicating that she was gone.
It was numbers.
Seven, to be exact.
Her phone number.
Percy Jackson got Annabeth Chases phone number.
He grinned and jumped up from his stool, knocking it back and causing it to hit the copier. He didn't care. He got her phone number, "Yes! Yes! Yes, yes! Luke's gonna be pissed!"
Ah, Luke Castellan. Number one fan of Annabeth Chase. He claims that she told him he loved her, but Percy will never believe a word that comes out of blondies head. He's a known fantasy cheater. How he cheats, Percy doesn't know, he doesn't even like football.
Immediately, he plugged the number in, not daring to text her back yet.
But the prominent grin didn't leave his face until he fell asleep that night.
You'll never guess who he dreamed of.
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Okay, so giving the cashier her number wasn't the best thing Annabeth could of done. Did she care?
Not a smidge.
Because guess what? He texted her. And she texted back. And then Thalia had to yell at her to actually do something productive instead of text all day, everyday. So, she told him she would see him later that night, and went on a run.
Running always helped clear her mind.
She thought back to earlier that day. Sure, talking to Percy was amazing. Having his notifications light up her phone lit up her face. But having eight thousand, not kidding, emails from some guy named Luke Castellan wasn't what she wanted to spend her time deleting. The iPhone needs a setting where she can delete all her emails at once. Not
Just
One
At
A
Time.
Cause that's awful and cramps Annabeths fingers.
She shook her head and kept running. She took the back way around her apartment complex. Yes, it was shady as hell, but she didn't want to be spotted. Plus, she can handle herself, she assures you. She'll be fine.
Until she wasn't.
It's times like these where you regret being a supermodel.
"Ey, Candy. Looket we got 'er." A deep voice, with awful grammar and pronunciation problems echoed throughout the alleyways.
This is much worse than being spotted, Annabeth thought as she ignored the men and kept running. She tightened her grip on her cell phone. She slowed momentarily to dial 911, not daring to actually press the call button yet. She picked up her pace and started running faster.
Only to find a dead end.
"My, my Curley, isn't this ona nice one, eh?" A second voice, probably Candy, said. They were closer than Annabeth wanted them to be. She ran back to the entrance of the alley way, trying to get the hell out of there. That's when arms gripped her shoulders and took her back, away from the sunlight.
"Wonderful." A deeper voice, neither the other ones, a different one. "Lennie, geh'me the supplies." The voice was right next to her ear now. "The names George, sweet heart, and Ima treat you jus' nicely." His voice was gruff and uninviting.
She wanted, so desperately, to not be in the situation she was in so that she could laugh her heart out because they all shared names with Of Mice and Men characters and it was kinda funny. All the needed now was Slim and the whore-y wife of Curleys.
Though, Annabeth didn't know why she was joking. Maybe it was because no one was touching her. And that she was feet away from freedom, and that she knew no one was watching her. She knew this because, the voices from behind her were in violent harsh whispers, obviously angry with each other.
Annabeth quickly and quietly skirted out of the alley way and booked it when she was on the side walk. She ran all the way to Central Park when she stopped.
Really, she didn't stop, she ran into a wall. And by wall she meant a person. They guy toppled back and Annabeth fell completely to the floor. She quickly stood and brushed herself off then looked up to the man.
She laughed, loudly. It was Percy. Of course it was Percy. "Hi." He said.
She wanted to pinch his cheeks, he was so cute. She didn't. "Hey."
He poked her stomach, "I guess you really fell for me, huh?"
"I did that a long time ago."
His eyes widened, "Wha-"
"I gotta go, Percy. Thalia's gonna be pissed if I don't leave soon. See ya later?"
He nodded and she ran off, a grin plastered to her face.
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She bought gum everyday for two months before he did anything.
She came in at 3 am, gave him the empty pack to throw away, bought a new one, threw the receipt away, then made an excuse to talk to him for two more house until his shift was over.
Okay, so maybe that was only once, but to his defense, she could've left anytime.
She never missed a day, he was grateful for that. No one else comes to CVS at three in the morning.
The two texted, call, FaceTimed. They were best friends in a matter of no time. But he wanted more and she knew it.
And it ached him.
So he just decided one day, two months after she first met him, to fuck it.
"Butter milk is barely butter, so why should it be a gum flavor?" She asked one day, buying the butter milk flavored bubble gum.
Percy didn't even know they sold that flavor.
He shrugged, "I think that it defies the laws of physics."
She looked at him, contemplating what he said, "Yep, Thalia was right. You're it."
He was taken aback, "'It'? What does that mean? Did I pass the test or something?"
She nodded, "Yeah, you got the 'Best Friend Seal Of Approval'!" She used jazz hands as a special effect, he didn't think it was very special.
"Gee, thanks, I guess." He replied, quite sarcastically.
She leaned forward on the counter, "Calm down, you loser, you'll find out what it means, someday. I'm sure of it."
Percy stepped off his stool, placing his hands on the counter as well, "Really, now? And when might that day be?"
She grinned, "You know, by visiting you every day, I lose a lot of sleep. Did you know that? That you're the reason I don't have a sleeping schedule anymore? I blame you for my new found nocturnal lifestyle."
He chuckled and might've moved in a half and inch closer, now only a hop, skip, and a few packs of gum away from her lovely face. "You're dodging the question, Chase."
"Whoever said I was gonna answer it?"
"When I am gonna find out?"
She shrugged, but other than that, didn't move, "Not too sure, could be today, or yesterday, or in three years. But God knows I'm not gonna let you stay on the edge of your seat for so long. Or should I say stool."
Their noses were touching. This isn't what normal friends do, he thought, I wouldn't do this to Grover. "Really? That impatient, I see."
She rolled her eyes, "Shut up, do you really think you'd wait three years?"
"Technically, I cant answer that because I don't truly know what we're talking about." She glanced to his lips and took a breath, he continued, "But if we're talking about what I think we're talking about then I'd have to tell you, Annabeth Chase, that I'd wait forever just to do what I've wanted to do since the day I met you."
She stared into his eyes.
Then kissed him
It took him a second, but then he closed his eyes and leaned in further, she stumbled back which caused her to make a small noise and break the kiss. Annabeth stared into his eyes before smashing her lips his once again.
And eventually, she changed her routine up a bit.
Because after that night, there was less talking.
And when they first moved into their new apartment together, a few short months later, they shared a pack of super nasty cinnamon flavored gum.
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A/N/ I admit, it's different than other Percabeth meets, but who really likes one shots that are like, one thousand words at most? I don't. Plus most mortals or Percabeth meets stories don't have much substance to make it a good story, so i gave it a shot. I hope you enjoy, lovelies. Make sure to REVIEW. Please!! Also. SEND ME REQUESTS OR IDEAS AND I WILL BRING THEM TO LIFE IN PERCABETH FANFICTION!!!
-Leigh.
Ps- next update may not be soon, I have two other stories that I'm in the middle of. Hint hint, you should read those too.
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