Hold Me Close

Ch. 23

Annabeth

I had to say, Percy felt great.

Most of the boys I had dated were flabby and awkward, they had had pride over the smallest outline of muscle on their arms. But Percy... This was a whole new level that I hadn't seen.

He was built extremely well, first of all. He was slender, making him agile for swimming, but he had some muscle. He was, in no way, buff or extremely muscular, but he wasn't as lanky as he looked.

I had never felt that way for a guy. Liked the way their arms or chest felt under my hands. He wasn't noticeably athletic or anything, you couldn't really tell that he had muscle until you really felt it. Like how I felt his arms tense around me as we were kissing as he pulled me closer. But he was gentle.

After we had pulled away I still wanted to reach over and wrap my arms around him and kiss him.

I probably sounded like a cliche girl but you'd be surprised at how I wasn't. I wasn't tripping over myself for him because I needed a man, I was thrilled with this new form of affection he had shown me.

My blood was pumping through my veins so fast I could feel my heartbeat in my fingertips as he kissed me. I ran my hands up and down his chest, not drifting too low, and I poured every ounce of emotion I had felt for this boy in front of me into my kiss. I felt him gasp against my lips and I wondered what was going through his mind. I knew he was enjoying kissing me and that he had probably bottled up emotions for me like I had for him but what did I feel like to him? What did my lips taste like? What did he notice about my body that he wouldn't have noticed just by looking at me?

I wanted to know these things but at the same time I didn't. I was worried that I was below-average. I was worried that he'd think I was what my adoptive father always told me I was.

"Annabeth." Percy pulled back slightly as if in response to my thoughts. He kept his eyes closed and his lip movements to a minimum as he said, "You're so... Beautiful."

Percy probably didn't realize what an affect it had on me. That was the first time anyone had called me beautiful. Pretty, sure. Hot, a couple of times. But beautiful?

I pondered it as I leaned against the backseat, sitting right next to Percy. My arm throbbed from a growing bruise that the doctor had given me but I ignored it. I wondered how someone could think of me as beautiful when... When I had left my little sister behind. Abandoned her.

Tears stung my eyes and I leaned into Percy, his arm wrapping around me. I didn't want to think about her but somehow my mind always drifted.

She looked up to me. And I abandoned her.

But this wasn't the time to think about that. At the moment I was too happy for any real grief to grip my heart like it usually did when I thought about her.

I looked up at Percy who was leaning against the window and watching as the scenery flew by and wondered where I was dragging him now. I wondered what would happen next.

Then he looked over at me and smiled, softly tracing my lips with his fingertip. "Go to sleep..." He muttered.

"I don't need to sleep." I whispered back.

"Yes, you do." He shook his head, "You're so adorable when you smart-talk."

"I don't smart-talk."

"Yeah, you do... Wise Girl."

"Wise Girl?"

"Yup." He grinned.

"Then you... Then you're Seaweed Brain if I'm Wise Girl."

"I like it." He tested out the name, "You can refer me as Seaweed Brain now if you want."

"I will."

"Can I refer to you as Wise Girl?"

I glared at him, "No."

He pouted. I rolled my eyes. I actually kind of did like Wise Girl as a nickname. But I wasn't going to tell him that. I did know, however, that if I told him I didn't like the name that he'd keep calling me it.

I pressed back into his side and he laid his head on mine.

"You're so stubborn." He sighed. He held me closer.

"You're warm." I explained when he smiled down at me, "Here. Closer. Hold me closer." He wrapped his other arm around me. Hey, he was warm after all and I was freezing.

Percy rubbed his thumb across my shoulder blade as I fell asleep. And even in my dreams I could feel his warmth.