Throughway

Throughways

Saturated orange light flickered as it filtered through the dirty window above the booth. The fluorescents overhead buzzed and filled the air with electricity, as if anticipating the coming storm. In the booth, sat a young woman, maybe 20 or 21, head in her hands, trying to find a way to control the sobs that racked her body. Her phone screen lit up and quietly dinged every few seconds, but she attempted to ignore all that.

She found herself, in a phone booth, at a rest stop outside of her city for one reason only: the betrayal of a loved one. Not 3 hours earlier, she had walked in on her boyfriend Nico and her best friend Will, shirts off and lips locked on her couch. All she could do at the time was stand in the doorway, mouth agape as they both scrambled to get off each other and stuttered out worthless excuses and apologies.

As she relieved that moment in her head, she let out a sad and frustrated groan, the buzzing and ringing and flickering driving her to a moment of insanity where she picked up the cell and through it out of the curtain that separated her from the rest of the world.

"OW! What the hell?"

Shit. She didn't expect anyone to be out there, especially not at this hour. The woman peeked around the curtain to find a man with messy black hair in a blue hoodie rubbing his neck and reaching down for the now slightly cracked phone. He paused momentarily as the screen lit up again, giving it a scrunched look of confusion. Grabbing the phone, he stood straight and looked over in the direction of the booth.

The woman's heart stopped as she quickly went to hide behind the curtain again. Those eyes. Large and green and almost glowing. She recognized those eyes instantly; of course, it was him. Quickly, she grabbed a crumpled tissue from her pocket and tried to wipe away some of her tears, taking small calming breaths as she did so. She barely had time to do so before she heard quiet knocks on the side of the booth,

"Um, do you want to explain why I was the target of this flying iPhone?"

The blonde woman took a second to compose herself and pull her curls into a haphazard bun before pulling open the curtain to face the man,

"I'm so sorry, I really shouldn't have thrown that."

It took him a moment to register who he was talking to, he could feel a slight blush creeping into his cheeks and he cleared his throat with a chuckle, holding the phone out for her to grab,

"Uh, you're probably right but it's all good. I may have read a few of those texts on accident, and considering the circumstances, I think I can forgive you."

The girl gave a week smile and grabbed the phone, quickly turning it off as she threw it in her purse,

"Oh...you read some of that?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and gave a cheeky smile,

"I wouldn't have needed to. I think getting hit in the head by a phone is enough to know someone is upset. I'm -ah- I'm Percy by the way."

She blinked in surprise and frowned a little, so he didn't remember her. Why would he? Every time we've met it's been half drunk and not a lot of talk. Guess I should just do this like we don't know each other.

"Annabeth,"

she responded flatly, not really looking him in the eyes.

"So, what brings you to my domain?"

Percy smiled a little, a feeble attempt at lightening the mood while also trying to find out why this girl, one he had a complicated history with, found herself outside of town and at a shitty rest stop.

Annabeth could tell he was trying to be polite and just shrugged,

"I just needed to get away from the city. I just kinda drove until I couldn't anymore, so I stopped here,"