Hey guys!

So I wanted to let you know, I am Co-Writing a story with Blondie B. Happy.

The story is up! You can check out CodeName-Athena (our profile).

Enjoy!

~TAXI STORY PART TWO~

Percy's POV

It's been a week since I meant the most beautiful girl in the world in a taxi, and I still can't get her out of mind. Her smile, her laugh, her eyes, her beautiful face…I checked my phone again, the 1,000,000,000 time this week and there was still no text message from her. No calls, no IM's, nothing. Had I been the only one interested in her? Did she not like me? Did I do something wrong? Was she too nervous?

Grover snapped his fingers in my face once again, bringing me back to reality. I blinked and stared into my best friends eyes. Grover looked at me weird, but then realization came onto his face.

"You're thinking about the Annabeth girl, aren't you?" He said as he ate an apple.

If there is something you didn't know about Grover was that he loved nature. Right now, he was wearing a royal blue shirt that said; Recycle! If you love the planet, the planet will love you back! And on the back, there was a big recycling symbol. His curly brown hair and brown eyes matched his environmental look. He bit into his apple and chewed on it as he waited for me to respond.

"I'm not going to deny it. Why hasn't she texted me yet? The appropriate amount of time to wait to text someone back is three days…it has been over three days, G-man!" I told him as I ran a hand through my black hair.

I took a deep breath and waited for Grover to swallow his apple, so he could give me some supporting comment or best friend advice.

"Maybe she isn't interested?" He suggested.

No…that didn't help at all. Thanks, G-man.

"Grover!" I told him.

"What? It can be true! Look, we're here in Central Park! How about we go to the castle and you can stare at the turtle pond again." Grover tried to reason.

I stared at him; part of me wanting to tell him that, that was ridiculous…but part of me actually wanted to go to the turtle pond. I stood up from the picnic table and walked over to the castle without saying another word. I knew Grover was following me, by the sound of his footsteps.

I admired the trees, smiled kindly to friendly people and glared at those who glared at me. I put my headphones in and listened to a random radio station. They happened to be playing; Give your heart a break by Demi Lovato. I think she's talented.

Now here we are

So close, yet so far

Haven't I passed the test?

That's exactly what I was thinking about. Had I done something to push Annabeth away? Was it paying for her taxi drive? Or was it something I said or something I did? I felt like we were so close…yet so far. Wow, Demi, you're good. Suddenly, a flash of blonde caught my eye.

There was a blonde jogger, wearing a track suit. She had her iPod strapped to her arm and she was taking a break, drinking out of her water bottle. Her familiar long, blonde, princess curled hair was placed into a neat high ponytail. I recognized her almost instantly…that was Annabeth Chase.

Now, meeting someone twice in New York was luck. There were so many people, that the chances of seeing them again were close to none. But when you did see someone again, it had to mean something right? I grabbed on to Grover's shirt and pointed at Annabeth.

"That's her, man. That's Annabeth."

Grover's eyes widen.

"T-t-that's Annabeth? W-wow. You described her as gorgeous but…no wonder you went so crazy this past week." He said.

I grinned as I saw her turning the cap back on her bottle.

"I'm going over to say, hi. Want to come?" I asked.

"No thanks, Perce. I'll be at the castle, see you." He said as he walked away.

"Alright, see you later, G-man!"

I walked towards the blonde beauty but I was interrupted by a guy with black hair. He was tall, his skin was olive colored and he was wearing a brown aviator jacket. He looked like my cousin, Nico...oh wait, he was Nico. What was Di'Angelo doing here? With Annabeth?

They exchanged a few words then Nico was off. I watched him leave before I walked towards Annabeth. She was changing the song on her iPod when she noticed me walking over. Her grey eyes brightened up and she smiled as I got closer to her. That doesn't seem like she's not interested, if she didn't like me, she would have glared or frowned.

"Hi, Percy." She said.

My heart skipped a beat. She remembered my name.

"Hi, Annabeth. I didn't expect to see you here." I told her as I put my hands in my pockets.

I smiled at her as she looked into my eyes. This girl was perfect. And she looked extremely beautiful in her grey and dark blue track suit.

"I always jog around Central Park when I have the time. Want to walk around?" she asked as she pointed to a path way that was adorned with green leaved trees.

"I'd love to."

We walked around, talking laughing at my stupid jokes, talking about our likes and dislikes. But as we talked, that thought was still in my head. Why was she talking to Nico? I mean, it only bothered me because Nico worked as a private detective. I barely see him unless it's something important. Was she okay?

"Um…Annabeth, I know this is none of my business but, I saw you talking to Detective Di'Angelo a while ago. Is everything okay?" I asked.

She looked up at me but then she turned so that she wasn't making any eye contact with me. I immediately felt worry built up in my chest and I stopped walking. I put my hand on her shoulder and once she stopped, I moved her over to a bench. We both sat down.

"Annabeth, look at me. Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's just…when I was little, I, um, I lost both of my parents. They left me this huge amount of money, but that can't replace their love. Some people tell me I didn't lose them, that they left me and that they are both alive."

I felt bad for asking her. She could have just said yes, but the fact that she opened up to me made me feel all giddy inside. She trusted me, even if she barely knew me. But in reality, I could relate to her. My father left me when I was little. I never knew him and my mother keeps telling me he got lost at sea. But for some reason didn't believe her. Nico's father did the same, as well as Thalia's dad. I swore when I was little never to be like them.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's okay. It's good to get that off your chest, you know?" She said.

"Yeah…If it makes you feel any better, my dad left me when I was little. My mother had to work really hard to give me everything I needed."

Annabeth smiled softly.

"She sounds like an amazing woman."

"She is." I said as I nodded.

We stayed in silence for a while, listening to the sound of a busy day in Manhattan. Suddenly Annabeth stood up and grabbed my hand. I kept myself from blushing as she dragged me off somewhere.

"Where are we going?" I asked her.

"They say ice cream always cheers people up. I want to go test that theory." She told me as she smiled at me.

I grinned as we stopped at an old ice cream truck that was parked on 81st street. It was one of those old trucks with that same theme song all ice cream trucks have. A man, in his late fifties was serving ice cream and his eyes lit up when he saw Annabeth.

"Miss. Chase! It is so good to see you!" he said as he leaned on the little window.

He looked like a kind man, with brown hair starting to turn grey. His brown eyes looked at the children kindly and he made all the kids scream in joy as he always gave them an extra scoop of ice cream.

"It's good to see you too Mr. Clay. Percy, this is Ben Clay. My favorite ice cream guy." She said.

"Nice to meet you." I told him.

"Same here, kiddo. Now, what can I get you two?" he said.

"The same thing I've been getting for the last…15 years." Annabeth said.

(Key: Annabeth and Percy are 21. I am sorry if I didn't mention it before.)

Ben chuckled as he nodded knowingly.

"Uh…I'll have…A vanilla cone with blue sprinkles." I ordered.

Ben handed Annabeth a chocolate cone filled with different colored sprinkles and he handed me mine. I was taking out my wallet when Annabeth handed Ben a 20 dollar bill.

"Keep the change, Mr. Clay." Annabeth said as she licked her cone.

"Annabeth, you have to stop doing that. I have never been able to give you your change." The man said.

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Clay. I'm just trying to help."

He smiled at her and waved goodbye as we walked away and he attended the other children. Annabeth and I walked over to a park and sat on the wings, slowly swinging back and forth as we ate our ice cream.

"15 years, huh?" I asked as I ate the blue sprinkles.

She turned to me and nodded.

"Yeah, I've been coming here ever since I was 6. Mr. Clay is a really good listener."

"He seems like it."

"Yeah."

Grover suddenly jumped over a bush and came running at us a full speed. My eyes widened as my best friend ran right between us and all the way towards Ben's ice cream truck. Annabeth cringed as she thought she would be impacted by Grover.

"I am so sorry. That's my best friend, Grover. He loves ice cream." I explained to her as I saw him wait impatiently behind all the kids.

Annabeth laughed and swung herself higher than me. I noticed she had already finished her ice cream.

"It's okay, he looks like a nice person." She said as she hung onto the swing and leaned all the way back.

She was looking a Grover, probably seeing him upside down. I looked at her in amazement. Some of the other girls I've dated would have never eaten an ice cream then gotten on a swing. All the other girls I've dated from school were all snooty and they pretended to be rich. Yet, an actual rich girl enjoyed life more than that.

As we enjoyed ourselves her phone rang. She took out her blackberry and pressed the call button.

"Hello?...Yes, this is she…Another one? But we had a meeting at the office yesterday…Alright, alright. Give me an hour…okay…see you there, Silena." The she hung up.

She turned to me with an apologetic expression.

"Percy, I'm so sorry. There is a meeting at the office again and it seems really important. I would have rather stayed here with you but-"

"No, its okay, Annabeth." I reassured her. "Go ahead."

She looked into my eyes and smiled a bit. She got off her swing and came over to me and kissed me on the cheek.

"Thanks." She whispered in my ear before turning away.

Again, I tried my hardest not to blush but this time I failed. She chuckled and promised she would see me again.

I watched her run away as Grover came and sat down next to me, talking the swing on my left. I looked at him and he was eating an ice cream with so much color, I wonder how long it took Ben to make it.

"Perce, you should have gone to the castle! They were giving free; I love trees shirts for this new environmental club! I joined." Grover said as he licked his ice cream.

"Yeah…" I said as I sighed.

I was too busy thinking about the blonde beauty.

"Oh no…I lost him to Annabeth world again."

How was that? I had to write it a bit too fast for my liking, but at least it isn't short!

:)

I didn't have time to read this over, so pardon all my mistakes.

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