Hold Me Close

Ch. 14

Leo

It was weird after that incident.

Percy, who had to stay with us since the gang members had seen his face, was always kind of quiet now. Like he was too busy thinking to come back to the real world. He trained his eyes on his bouncing knees and would just nod at us every now and again, making sure to not look at Annabeth.

She was different too. She seemed almost angry all of the time. She ignored Percy, which was something I wasn't surprised to see as she usually ignored boys that weren't me, and always had walls around her. She didn't let her emotions show anymore, not even to her best friend.

After I had showered the gasoline off of me and we had treated Annabeth's leg, we were off again in Percy's Prius. We didn't know exactly where we were going, but we knew it was far away from New York.

Now, we were at a gas station. It was lit up with fluorescent lights and smelled, well, like gasoline. Annabeth and I sat at a table near the corner, picking at an order of fries that sat between us. Percy was outside, calling someone on the pay phone and leaving many voice messages.

She took a fry silently and dipped it in ketchup, staring at it for a second, then dropped it back in the little paper bowl.

"Hey, is everything okay?" I asked quietly, genuine concern sparking in me for my friend. Annabeth shrugged, grabbing my bottle of Pepsi from my hand and taking a drink. She shoved her hands in her pockets after she screwed the top back on the soda and pulled her knees up to her chest. Then, after a wince, she let her injured leg drop back to the ground.

I chewed on a fry thoughtfully, tapping my fingers on the table. Then, I felt nauseous as a sudden realization rushed through me.

"God," I grimaced, "He didn't try to... He didn't try to do something to you while I was gone, did he?"

Annabeth flushed, "No,"

I let out a sigh of relief and swallowed the fry, glancing out the window to see Percy digging through his wallet for another quarter. I don't know why he kept calling the person, one voice mail should have been more than enough.

"That's good." I said, grabbing another fry. Annabeth pushed the entire carton of fries towards me and swallowed. I raised an eyebrow, but she just shook her head.

"I'm not hungry anymore." She mumbled.

Trying to bring the mood up, I grinned and said, "Percy fill--?"

She kicked me from under the table before I could even finish my sentence and almost made me choke on a fry.

Just then Percy walked through the door, hands stuck in his pockets, and a livid glare on his face.

He paused by our table, but Annabeth didn't move to let him sit next to her in the booth so I scooted over and he plopped down beside me. I grabbed the Pepsi bottle before it could fall over from Percy slamming his head onto the table.

"You okay?" I asked. Percy huffed.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, "Just some family issues." He shook his head.

"Oh," I definitely knew about family issues, and so did Annabeth, so it was easy to understand why he was so distressed.

"What's up?" Annabeth was trying to be friendly, but her tone was emotionless as she crossed her arms. I narrowed my eyes at her slightly and she shot me a glare.