What Happened After Happily Ever After

#3 - No Such Thing As Coincidence

Chapter 3 - No Such Thing As Coincidence
published: Wednesday, 30 December 2020

Annabeth's keys jingled in the lock when she got home. The house was silent.

She kicked her shoes off and peered round the first floor. No one in sight.

Then she heard him. Percy was leaning against the kitchen door, hand grasping his phone and held up to his ear, his brow was creased with evident worry and he was violently gnawing on his lip.

"Percy?" Annabeth said before she could catch herself.

In a flash, Percy's gaze flickered to her and he hung up the phone, setting it down on the dining table.

She walked over to the living room, setting her bag down. "What's going on?"

"Work stuff," he said dismissively, walking towards the oven. It was casserole tonight. "Nothing to worry about."

Annabeth arched an eyebrow. If Percy was going to lie to her, he should at least put in some effort. This way it was just insulting.

Percy disappeared into the kitchen, and Annabeth's gaze sidled over to his phone.

What was going on? This was the second time in two days she'd walked in on an anxious phone call.

A jarring thought lodged itself in Annabeth's mind. What if he was cheating on her? Her gaze snapped to the kitchen.

Honestly, as much as she tried to generate some anger at the thought, Annabeth didn't really care. She couldn't even be bothered to fight with him or to confront him about lying.

Annabeth shoved that idea out of her head. Despite everything, Percy was still Percy. Inherently, he was loyal and he would probably die before he even thought about cheating on her. Even if it was more for the contract than the vows.

Percy brought the food out in the next few minutes, dishing out servings to either of them.

"So," Percy paused. "How was your day?"

Annabeth blinked. Did he really-was he-

"Um, okay," Annabeth said, giving him a suspicious look. Something was definitely going on, and she hated being kept in the dark. "Really good case at work. Went out for drinks after."

Another moment of silence.

Annabeth turned her hands over in her lap awkwardly, wracking her brain for just about anything to say. "Will and Nico still won't admit their feelings. Thalia's putting a pause on flings. Um, I think on the way home someone was probably following me-"

"What?"

Annabeth paused. "Nothing serious. I mean, it's happened before. Manhattan isn't exactly the safest place on earth, you know. Plus, I was passing through Harlem."

"No, you have to tell me things like this," Percy snapped.

Annabeth glared. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded. "We barely look at each other half the time! Once, I said 'green eggs and ham' to see if you were paying attention and you didn't even blink an eye! And then you have to be insufferable on a day when I'm already exhausted-"

"No, stop, please stop," Percy groaned, slumping into his seat. He looked paler than usual. "You're tired, I'm tired. We've had long days. Let's just eat."

Annabeth bit back a retort. We don't even have the energy to fight, she wanted to scream. But instead she nodded and looked down at her own food.

Annabeth rattled off the List again; respectful, opens car doors, cooks well, kind. Yes, that was it.

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