Chapter Text
The door slammed shut behind her, and Annabeth moved in silence until she got home. The car ride was silent, and she didn’t even open her mouth until she drank from a glass of water. It was room temperature, left out earlier before driving to Percy’s.
Percy.
That dull buzz in her chest stirred. She hadn’t been markedly meaner than usual, but it didn’t matter. Even before the words had left her, Annabeth knew they were going to be sharper than they would normally. Maybe the fact she had been holding it back for so long, forcing herself to play nice and act like she enjoyed herself. Sure, she’d blame that, instead of the sloshing in her stomach at the thoughts she’d been pushing down all day; it wasn’t that bad to play nice when it came to Percy.
Instead, she could focus on the wedding invitation based stomach-sloshing. The envelope was still on her fridge, unopened, expensive ink sporting a beautiful sheen in the overhead kitchen light. It made her sick; the fact she hadn’t even broken the seal and it was tormenting her. For all she knew, there wasn’t even an invitation. It could be a nice, but impersonal letter specifically disinviting her. She may actually be free of the obligation. They don’t want her there anyway.
Ok, now she was spiraling. Her hand shot out, grasping the envelope and tearing it open with her finger. The push for proof of the reality, despite how much it made the center of her ribs grow cold, was enough to override the dread.
Annabeth got what she wanted. The proof, right there in her hands, flaunting the same shimmering ink as the envelope it came in. The stationery was enough to make her want to puke. Her half-brother Bobby was getting married; the smooth calligraphy looped to spell out the message.
She was Taylor made.
He didn’t need to Chase her.
Join us for our ceremony of love.
October 3
The fact she still hadn’t RSVP’d (despite her dad telling her that they counted her as a ‘yes’ already) only made her ever-present anxiety very, well, present. The last time she saw her family was a year ago, for a Father’s Day brunch.
Her father had been there, with the same salt and pepper hair and wire glasses as always. Her step-mother still had her red highlights, and the twins looked the same as ever. Annabeth would’ve felt like time had stopped for them if not for the addition of a woman at Bobby’s side. If her hand around his arm didn’t give it away, the diamond gleaming on her hand sure did. Through a smile and some congratulations, all Annabeth had wondered was why she had no idea he was dating someone. Even then she had cowered at the thought of opening the wedding invitation.
Just like she couldn’t handle Percy smiling at her like that. Smirking, really, with the corner of his mouth just barely tugged upwards. He just had to push it, reaching over so casually to fix her blanket. They were playing nice, and he really committed. For the hours she was there, she couldn’t sense any malice. Worst of all, the lasagna was good. Now that she was home and very aware of the mostly-empty fridge, she ached to have asked for leftovers before snapping at him. It was like he didn’t even notice what he was doing. Sure, Annabeth always envied the way Percy could embody a role, letting the character wash over him and take everyone along. Now, that ability that already made her bristle intensified. He had regarded her with so much warmth like it was nothing.
Despite herself, Annabeth scrolled through the photos on her phone. Each frame made her stomach sink. Now after seeing how real the photos looked, the want to fool everyone was replaced with fear. She swiped to the next photo, hoping it would be less convincing. There it was, the pair of them on the couch. Annabeth had taken this one; a selfie with Percy’s face buried into her neck. Part of her took the picture knowing she would keep that moment. Even looking at it was embarrassing for her, knowing that she’d actually enjoyed it. Annabeth had somehow liked it, feeling him curled and melting into her, breathing softly with his constant smirk right where it was supposed to be. Just for a moment, she wasn’t pretending for anyone except herself. And that disgusted her.
She couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment it changed. Maybe it was when she stared at the photo of his mother, or maybe before he even decided to make the lasagna. Oh, that lasagna. If nothing else, she needed to meet his mother to compliment her lasagna. Did I seriously just think “I need to meet his mother?” Annabeth needed to sit down, go for a walk, something that would take her mind off of the events of the day. Even turning to put the wedding invitation back on the fridge wasn’t free of Percy. His birthday stared back at her, school bus yellow paper taunting her.
The post-it had continued taunting her for the next few weeks. Each day was ticking closer to her own birthday, then wedding, then... Percy hadn’t texted her since she left his home, and she hadn’t tried to talk to him either. Every time she picked up her phone to try, her neck got hot and suddenly anything else seemed like a great idea to do instead. Luckily for Annabeth it was pretty easy to keep herself busy. Silena had called in a chocolate induced panic, which was the perfect excuse for Annabeth to spend an entire day worrying about someone else’s problems.
Even though she didn’t like chocolate, Silena had promised to make her father’s favorite chocolates for his birthday. It was a sweet gesture, but Annabeth knew the truth; Silena’s dad was just terrible at making chocolates himself. That was the reason for the mess of a kitchen and frustrated-to-tears girl covered in edible glitter.
Silena’s dark hair was barely still in its bun, and had not escaped the glitter either. Based on where the blotches of glitter covered her, Annabeth guessed that she had lost her cool long before calling for help. Two big stripes of pink glitter covered the top half of her face, and it was impossible not to imagine Silena dragging her hands up her face and through her hair at the confectionery explosion in her kitchen. That’s how the glitter got there.
“Did you get in a fight with Tinkerbell?”
“Put on an apron and help me please.” Silena threw an apron to Annabeth, but didn’t do much to hide the smile creeping up on her. Annabeth decided to mark that as a win and settled in to make an amount of chocolates that, frankly, are just too many to make by yourself. She took in her friend and felt almost as dejected as Silena looked. In all her years Annabeth had seen this look a few times. A look of misery, bewilderment, and sheer dread; but she had never seen it over chocolates.
Alright. I’m taking over.
Since almost all the chocolates were made, Annabeth told Silena to focus on finishing the rest. The amateur chocolatier took a deep breath and nodded before going back to working with the chocolate molds. Silena had already laid out the pictures of what she wanted the decorations to look like - she has always had such good taste - and had already completed a few. Annabeth knew it would be easy; after all she had a model of the thing right in front of her. She didn’t consider herself fantastic at art or decorating desserts, but this wasn’t the first time she had helped Silena with a last minute baking emergency.
The first time this happened, her whole street’s power went out halfway through baking a cheesecake. Annabeth had told her to come use hers, and really only helped by having a marginally working oven. Since then she has made chocolate covered strawberries look like animals, a three tiered birthday cake, decorated 100 cupcakes for a wedding, and countless cookies. They only got that done because Charlie was still around. He handled the oven better than anyone, and had fixed Annabeth’s during the cheesecake fiasco. Silena’s prized possession was the glass baking bowl and measuring cup set that Charlie made for her at his shop. She didn’t touch it for a year after he died.
Silena had taken to teaching her how to really use a kitchen, and though Annabeth still didn’t find herself good at it, she knew how to help someone who did. So, now she was buffing edible glitter into finger-sized chocolates. Her fingers were more glittery than the chocolates, but Annabeth chalked it up to it being part of the process.
“Please tell me something going on with you.” Silena’s voice carried over the kitchen. Annabeth groaned at being asked to do the one thing she didn’t want to do. “Please?”
“I still don’t know what to do for my birthday,” Annabeth answered. “Thalia keeps telling me that I need to do something for it, but I don’t know.” She hoped that would be enough of a hook for Silena, and that she could maybe avoid having to tell anybody about her supposed relationship. It’s supposed to be a surprise anyway, right?
“Do you want to? I can call Katie and she’d hook me up to cook you dinner.” Silena’s offer was tempting. Katie wasn’t Annabeth’s friend, but her and Silena had been close for years. The idea of homegrown squash did sound appealing, but Annabeth was still hesitant.
“I don’t know. I’m kind of-” Annabeth stopped herself, trying to think of what to say besides I’ve been too consumed by the impending lie I have to tell to really think about my birthday. She must have taken too long because Silena asked her again.
“Do you want to: yes or no?” Silena asked, now beside Annabeth, “If you’re too stressed and don’t want to, that’s fine.” Looking up at Silena made her want to spill her guts. Thalia knew, but that was like telling her sister. Telling Silena felt like it was real. Most of all, Annabeth wasn’t sure if she wanted to describe Percy as her fake boyfriend, or to start the lie then. A twinge of her wanted to tell Silena that they were together just to say it. Maybe I want to see how it feels to call him my boyfriend. The thought worried her, so she just grumbled and shook her head.
“My brother is getting married in a few months,” Annabeth said instead of answering the question at all. “I hadn’t even known he was engaged until a few weeks before.”
Silena narrowed her eyes at Annabeth before picking up a decorated chocolate. She held it up to Annabeth’s mouth before ordering, “Eat. Then tell me more.”
Annabeth took a bite of the glittery chocolate and couldn’t help from telling more. It was delicious.
