Finding You || Percabeth College AU ✔️

Chapter 3: Annabeth

After morning classes were over, I gathered my belongings and walked to the Astrophysics building to meet my boyfriend, Luke Castellan. He was waiting outside for me, sitting on the steps.

"Hi, Annie," he said, kissing me on the lips. "How was class?"

"It was fine," I replied.

We started walking toward Luke's car, while my boyfriend told me about his latest project.

"We're building a telescope to observe this new asteroid," he explained. "It's pretty big."

"That's cool," I said. "We're doing something similar; Malcolm and I are designing a car engine and then building it."

"That's nice," Luke said stiffly.

I didn't respond after that. It was a waste of my effort to attempt to explain to him for the umpteenth time that Malcolm was only a friend and that I didn't experience any romantic attraction toward him. We arrived at Luke's car, a 2017 Red Jeep and climbed in.

"Where you want to go for lunch?" Luke asked.

"How about Cafe De Mama?" I suggested.

"Okay," Luke said. "I'm craving a latte anyway."

We drove 25 minutes to the cafe, then walked inside. It was a small enough restaurant that we could just go up to the counter and order. I ordered a vanilla bean latte, my usual, and Luke requested a honey ginger latte. We both wanted something to eat, so we decided to split a Strawberry Injeolmi Cream Croffle (croissant-waffle) and went to sit down at table until our food and drinks were ready.

"Is it true Thalia and Reyna are dating?" Luke said.

"Yes," I responded with slight smile. "They were exhibiting many signs of liking each other over the summer. Who told you?"

"I heard Jason, Thalia's younger brother talking about it."

"Ah. He's doing Astrophysics, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's my partner for our project, in fact."

Our beverages came just then, so we ceased our conversation. I took a sip of my latte and savored the flavor.

"I'm going to use the restroom," Luke said.

"Okay," I replied, blowing him a kiss as he walked away.

The door to the men's bathroom had just banged shut when the entrance door opened. I glanced up to see four teenage males. One of them, a blonde-haired dude, looked in my direction and nudged a guy with black hair swept back as though he had gone for a walk on the beach.

The blonde dude pointed at me with a grin on his face, and the black-haired guy blushed and shook his head vigorously. Another dude, who had curly brown hair, pushed the black-haired guy forward toward me. I watched as he strode in my direction and stopped in front of me.

"Can I help you?" I said.

"Uh...." The guy appeared to be very uncomfortable, but he still smiled awkwardly. "Uh...I think I might know you..."

His smile was sarcastic and called out to me from my childhood. Suddenly, I remembered the last day of camp at Pine Haven and the boy who had fought so hard against his stepfather to get to me.

"Percy?" I whispered.

"Annabeth?" Percy said, stunned.

I stood up, and my old friend opened his arms for a hug. Instead of obligating however, I tackled and pinned him to the ground.

"What are you doing?" he gasped.

I placed my knee on his chest, and I wasn't gentle about it either. Rage was filling my being.

"How could you?" I demanded in fury. "You promised you would come back to me!"

"I know I did," Percy said hoarsely. "And I'm so sorry I didn't get to you sooner."

His apology sounded so genuine, and his tone so guilty that my anger faded away. I rose to my feet and extended a hand to help him up. Percy accepted, laughing.

"You haven't changed, have you, Wise Girl?" he asked.

"No, I haven't, Seaweed Brain," I responded. "I can still kick your ass."

"I would expect no less. I missed you."

"I missed you more. It's good to see you again."

We hugged. Percy's three friends whistled and applauded.

"Hey, what are you doing? Get away from my girlfriend!"

Luke stormed over and roughly wrenched Percy away from me using his hood. Percy's entire demeanor changed; he went from thrilled to terrified; his upper eyelids raised and his mouth stretched wide in a silent scream. I understood in an instant that his trauma from his abusive stepfather was coming out.

"Luke!" I dashed forward and pulled my boyfriend away from Percy. "Stop!"

Luke looked very surprised. "Annabeth, I'm just protecting you! This guy was obviously-"

"Percy wasn't doing anything!" I interjected furiously.

"Percy? You know this guy?"

"Of course I do. He was my best friend."