A good girlfriend will sit and yell "KILL HIM" to her boyfriend when he plays XBOX. But the best girlfriend will take the controller and say: "Watch how it's done."

It was a beautiful day. There wasn't a cloud in the pretty blue sky. The temperature was in the high 70's with no humidity. Annabeth had passed her junior finals with flying colors and she was lounging on the couch in her boyfriend's apartment reading a book when he came in from his bedroom.

"Look what I found," he muttered. He sat on the floor next to the couch, holding up DVD boxes. "My old video games."

"They're not that old, Percy."

He squinted at her. "They're from a year ago," he said as if she had just told him that Clarisse was the prettiest girl Annabeth had ever known and was insanely jealous of her. "Do you have any idea how many new games I've gotten since—?"

"Okay, okay." She smirked, relenting. "Are you gonna play them?"

He grinned. "Definitely. I used to kick butt at this game." He opened up the box and wandered to his gaming console on his knees. Annabeth watched him grab his controller and set up the game before shaking her head and going back to her book.

Twenty minutes later, he was hollering in excitement at his victory on the 10th level.

She glanced over at him, smiling. His head was near her thighs and his hair—which desperately needed a cut—was brushing against her leg every time he moved. He frowned as he lost a life. Annabeth glanced at the screen.

"I was never very good at this level," he muttered, sensing that her eyes had moved from the book. "I remember that it took me forever to pass it."

Smirking, Annabeth sat up and slid down to the floor next to her boyfriend. He paused the game, looking at her curiously. She carefully removed the controller from his hands and winked. "Watch how it's done, Seaweed Brain."

She beat the level in one minute and two seconds. He counted.

A good girlfriend would be willing to let her boyfriend drive. But the best girlfriend would ride the bus with him when the car breaks down and not complain.

"You always drive, Annabeth!"

Annabeth sighed at her boyfriend's exaggeration and shrugged, slipping into the passenger's seat of his red sports car—a gift from Apollo. He grinned and cheerily buckled his seatbelt. He turned the key in the ignition, waiting for the signature purr that his dream car had when it rolled to life. It didn't come.

Percy glared at the ignition. "What the…?"

Annabeth tried not to laugh and got away with a smile. "Percy. I think something's wrong with the car."

He turned his gaze on her. "Thank you, smarty pants."

"Come on, genius."

They exited the car and Percy pouted at it. "Now what?"

"Let's just skip it."

"No way! You wanted to see the new exhibit at the Met, you're gonna see the new exhibit at the Met."

"Percy…"

"Come on, Annabeth." He pulled her close. "I know I'm the worst boyfriend ever, but…wanna take the subway?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck. Their foreheads touched. "First of all, you're not the worst boyfriend ever. I wouldn't still be here if you were. And secondly, I'd love to take the subway," she whispered before she kissed him softly.

A good girlfriend will bail out her boyfriend when he gets in trouble. But the best girlfriend will be waiting with the getaway car.

The most elaborate prank of Percy Jackson's life was about to be put into action. He was hiding out in the apartment he shared with Nico di Angelo, finalizing plans with him and Grover. After the dirty prank Travis and Connor Stoll had pulled on the three of them as a "goodbye"—Percy was going off to college, Grover on another quest, and Nico to Italy for a vacation before he had to return home for his last two years of high school that Percy had convinced him to take—they were eager for revenge.

They had schematics, walkie-talkies, synchronized watches, black clothes…everything. They had even run interference to make sure that Travis' girlfriend, Katie Gardner, wouldn't be at the brothers' place that night so they didn't use up their perfect prank on her.

"Alright men," Grover said, looking at each of his companions. "Move out."

Nico and Grover left in a hurry to prepare the car and Percy double checked that they had everything they needed from the apartment. As he was locking up, a voice interrupted his thoughts of revenge.

He spun quickly and frowned. "Annabeth."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I see you have other plans for tonight."

Smirking, he ran a hand through his hair. "Kind of."

Annabeth bit her lip in the way she knew Percy couldn't resist before saying, "Oh, that's a shame. I figured we'd stay in tonight. All night."

He swallowed tightly and glanced down the hallway. No way. Revenge was too important to be distracted by the undeniable hotness of his girlfriend. "Listen, Annabeth, I'd love to, but the guys and I are taking revenge on Travis and Connor—"

"Well why you didn't you say so?" She snatched the keys from his hand and winked. "I'll drive."

A good girlfriend doesn't mind when her boyfriend kisses her in public. But the best girlfriend is the one who initiates the kissing…and then keeps it going…and going…and going…

"So, my mom said I can invite you to our New Year's party."

Annabeth smirked at her boyfriend through the IM. "Oh, really?"

Percy rolled his eyes at her. "Yes, really, Wise Girl. You don't have to act so surprised every time my mom invites you over."

"It's just that…well, she caught us under the mistletoe barely a week ago."

Percy began to blush and looked down at the homework he had neglected for her call. He really did have a lot to do over the break and he should get to it, but he couldn't help it that his girlfriend had called just as he mustered up the bravado to face Chemistry. He figured it was the universe telling him to lay off the homework for another day. "Yeah, but I think she got over it. Now she doesn't so much think that we're hormonal teenagers. Now we're 'adorable.'" He made finger quotes for the last word.

"Hormonal teenagers?" she questioned.

"That might have had something to do with the fact that we were under the mistletoe in my bedroom."

Now it was Annabeth's turn to blush as she remembered it. Vividly. "Whatever. But, as for the New Year's party, I'd love to go. My dorm's curfew on New Year's is like four in the morning."

Percy grinned. "Great. I'll see you on December 31st."

Annabeth blew him a kiss through the IM before running her hand through it.

On December 31st, the crowd in Mr. and Mrs. Blofis' apartment was huddled around different rooms, chatting, drinking, and watching TV. Annabeth and Percy had managed to get into the relatively empty kitchen and sit on the counter next to each other for a chat.

And then Mrs. Blofis had begun passing out glasses of champagne—and glasses of sparkling cider for the only two minors in the entire apartment.

"It's almost midnight," Percy muttered.

She nodded, watching people leave the kitchen to go out the television.

Percy smirked at her. "Come on." He held her hand as they made their way towards the middle of the crowd.

"10, 9, 8…"

Percy was happily chanting along with the rest of the crowd. Annabeth was too busy watching him.

"7, 6, 5…"

And suddenly he glanced at her and noticed her watching him. His mouth stopped moving.

"4, 3, 2…"

Annabeth grabbed Percy's shirt with her free hand and pulled him closer—which wasn't saying a lot since they were already pretty forced together by the crowd—kissing him soundly. Percy grinned against her lips and wrapped his arm around her waist, deepening the kiss easily.

They were only vaguely aware of the sound of people shouting, "Happy New Year!" They were too caught up in each other.

Annabeth wrapped her arm around his neck and broke the kiss for only a second to grab another breath before diving right in again. And Percy was responding enthusiastically.

Eventually, Percy realized that the party was rather quiet and he pulled back from his girlfriend's utterly intoxicating kiss to see a bunch of his mom's and stepdad's friends staring at them with smiles. Even his history teacher, who happened to be Paul's best friend, was grinning at him. He raised his glass casually with a wink.

"Alright, alright, go back to the party," Paul said, breaking the tension. He clapped Percy on the back and smiled at Annabeth. "Happy New Year."

She blushed and looked at Percy. They still hadn't untwined their bodies and Percy kissed her softly once, muttering, "Happy New Year."

A good girlfriend will say she doesn't mind when her boyfriend goes out with his friends. But the best girlfriend won't mind because he knows he'll be thinking about her the whole time.

"Hey, I know I said we'd hang out tonight, but the guys want to go drinking and Maddie's here, so…"

Annabeth kissed him on the cheek. "It's fine. I'm not going anywhere, Seaweed Brain. Have fun."

And she plopped down on the couch next to Maddie, her old roommate from high school that she still kept in touch with, with the TV remote.

"See you later tonight," he called from the doorway.

Annabeth began flipping channels and Maddie scoffed. "How can you do that?"

"What?" she asked, settling on a rerun of Psych.

"Let him go off like that."

Annabeth glanced at her friend, furrowing her brow.

"I'm just saying… Well, he's not exactly a bad looking guy, Annabeth, and going out with the guys entails running into girls."

Smiling, Annabeth nodded. "I know. I have a secret weapon."

"Yeah, what's that?"

"The fact that Percy's totally and utterly whipped. And by past experience, I bet that in a couple hours, he will walk in that door, tell me that he had a terrible night because he couldn't stop thinking about me and whisk me into my bedroom…etc, etc." She reached for the popcorn bowl. "Until that happens however, I'm thinking Psych marathon."

Maddie turned her eyes towards the screen and smiled. "James Roday. Mmm mmm, yes, please."

0000000000

As Percy sat there, staring at the ring in the velvet box, his mind drifted to all of these occasions: getting his butt kicked in a video game, taking her to the Met on the smelly subway, pranking the Hades out of Connor and Travis and running as fast as he could towards his getaway driver, whose engine was already running, the kiss on New Year's that had left him blushing for days, and every single night he spent with Nico and Grover where his mind was on the pretty blonde he had waiting for him.

And there were a lot of reasons why Annabeth was the best girlfriend ever. But he knew the main reason that topped video games, lame rides on the subway, pranks, unforgettable kisses, and nights with the guys. He knew that there was something more important than listening, trusting him, being worthy of his trust, buying him the perfect birthday gifts, letting him crash at her place when he couldn't go back to the apartment he shared with Nico for a night, and yes, even more important than bringing him a sandwich when he was hungry.

Annabeth Chase was the best girlfriend—hopefully soon-to-be best fiancée—because she loved him. And that's all he could ever ask for.

A/N: Plot bunny attack! I bet some of you who subscribed to my Author Alert were all like, "Yay, it's another chapter of 'Just Another Romance Novel'" and were saddened when it wasn't. However, I hope this makes up for it.

Please review,

Love,

E. M. Zeray

PS: Disclaimer: (haven't done one of these in a while) I am obviously not associated with PJO, Psych, the scrumptious James Roday, or anything else mentioned because if I was, Percy and Annabeth would've started dating in the 2nd book of PJO and Juliet and Shawn would've kissed each other's faces off ages ago. Mkay?