Beyond All Expectation (Percabeth)

Chapter 11: There's Something About Thalia

Annabeth POV:

"So what are you doing now, Thalia mentioned something about UPS?"

"Yeah it's only a temporary thing - my dad's a manager there so he got me the job. I'm just staying there until I work out what I actually want to do with my life," he responded with a side-ways smile. I nodded thoughtfully. 

"You don't want to carry on the family business, then?"

"Not in the slightest," Luke laughed. "Me and my Dad don't really get on. I only live with him at the moment 'coz it beats living with my Mom."

"What's wrong with living with your Mom?"

Luke hesitated slightly.

"Um, it's hard to explain. After my parents' divorce she hasn't quite been... all right in the head. She's a bit of a nut case."

I sighed and nodded again. "I get what you mean. My dad's never been the same since he left my Mom."

"So you're a child of divorce as well, huh?"

I took a bite of my pizza, trying to work out what to say. Truth was, I could say anything from my Mom being an alcoholic, my step-mom being abusive and my Dad hating me... but I didn't want to open up to Luke just yet. He was nice and very easy to talk to, especially with the small things - but talking about my messed up life was a step too far.

"Yep, it's wonderful isn't it?" I said sarcastically. Luke chuckled slightly. "My Mom also wants me to carry on with the family tradition - in her case it's going to Stanford. The amount of arguments we have about it is just about driving me through the roof."

Luke laughed again but didn't respond - instead he took a bite of his pizza and wore a thoughtful expression on his face. I took this moment to look at him - really look at him; his sandy-blonde hair that sat neatly on his tanned face, the glint in his eyes that made him impossible to read, the curve of his lips that made it so he was always smiling, that mysterious scar that ran along one side of his face. Something about the scar made him look handsomely rugged.

"You're wondering about my scar, huh?" Luke grinned. "I got it from a fight in school... you should see the other guy."

I masked my annoyance with a light giggle. "How did that happen?"

"Oh, um, this guy was insulting my Mom so I took a swing at him. Thing is, he was a big guy and didn't have many brain cells, so he pushed me once and I went flying into the lockers. Scraped my face down the side of a locker, got a nasty cut that never fully healed. So naturally I had to really beat that guy up. Both of us ended up in hospital," he laughed as if it was a fond memory. "Not a single regret."

"You sound perfect for Thalia," I said suddenly. "She's got in one too many scraps herself."

Luke looked thrown-off and confused. 

"I'm not your type, then?" He smirked, regaining his confident charm. "Hey, let's just not talk about Thals tonight. Don't get me wrong - she's a great girl. But I want this evening to be about me and you."

I blushed slightly, hiding my face behind my slice of pizza. I tried to think about why he didn't want to talk about Thalia - I tried to remind myself that I was currently talking to a guy that my best friend had a crush on... but I couldn't help be more than a little attracted to Luke, and I had never in my life been on the receiving end of flirting. I wanted to enjoy my moment. 

So we spent the rest of the evening talking about school and work. I did my best to steer the conversation clear of my family, and I definitely noticed him changing the topic of the sentence every time he felt like I might mention Thalia. It didn't bother me too much. I was enjoying the evening. I was laughing with a guy, having a genuine conversation with someone for the first time in months, I was being rebellious for the first time in my life (yet part of me feared what my Mom would say to me when I returned home well past midnight) and the pizza was good. For a moment, however brief, I felt truly happy.