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Annabeth sipped her cocktail and tried to swallow her disappointment along with it.
She was sitting at the bar stool, elbows resting on the counter while she glumly used the straw to mix her drink, a probably radioactive concoction made with something bright blue, vodka and lemonade called Blue Lagoon. The only reason why she had ordered it instead of her usual strawberry flavored cocktail was because it made her think of Percy — who said he would be here, but now was nearly three hours late.
They hadn’t seen each other much in the almost three weeks that had passed since their date at the café. Annabeth had a packed schedule during the week, and on the weekends Percy sometimes was on shift at the fire station. When things on Sundays were slow, he was able to take Mrs O’Leary on a walk at the park and Annabeth would join him for an improvised picnic, but other than that their communication was mostly through texts.
They talked a lot, though. Annabeth found a new person to vent about her annoying coworkers and Percy told her gossip about his own colleagues. But most of the time their conversations were about random things — stuff they liked to do, childhood memories or sending memes back and forth.
But this Saturday was one of the rare days their free time would overlap. Annabeth had already said yes to going with her friend to a club, and since Piper was bringing her boyfriend along, she thought it would be okay to invite Percy and not be the third wheel, for a change. Also… well. Things happened at clubs with alcohol and dancing involved. Their interaction had been fairly innocent so far, but maybe this would be the day she would have a chance to kiss him.
Percy had agreed to come. He’d just pulled a double shift at the station, but he said he would sleep during the day and meet her at night. Annabeth had been excited about it, even let Piper convince her to use her “slutty dress.” After one hour of tardiness, she was annoyed. After two, absolutely furious. Nearing three, though, she was just disappointed. He didn't even text her to say he would be late or that he wasn’t coming anymore. She got nothing but silence from him since yesterday.
Piper leaned on the bar next to Annabeth and stole a large gulp from her drink.
“Wow, this is actually kinda good,” she said. Even slightly sweaty and disheveled from dancing (also probably making out with Jason), she still looked stunning. Piper took the hair-tie that was around her wrist and pulled her hair up, freeing her neck from the heat and ordered a drink before turning to Annabeth. “Nothing yet?”
“Not a word.”
Piper grimaced. She had been curious to meet Percy, after all it wasn’t every day Annabeth got 'all silly over a guy.' Piper's words, not hers.
“Well, his loss. You shouldn't stay here moping, there are plenty of men around. Go dance with someone!”
“I’m not in the mood,” Annabeth replied, taking another sip of her cocktail. Piper’s drink arrived along with a second one, probably for Jason. She sipped theirs too. “What is bothering me is that this is not his style. If he changed his mind, he would’ve said something.”
It was very visible on Piper’s face that she thought Annabeth didn’t know Percy nearly well enough to assume something like that. But instead of saying that, her friend took another route.
“Maybe something came up. You said he is a firefighter, right? Perhaps he’s putting out some fires or rescuing kittens.”
Annabeth was about to say that Percy wasn’t on shift today when a horrible thought occurred to her. What if something did happen? Percy had told her that most days his job consisted of training, maintaining the station and equipment or attending to minor accidents, so she kind of forgot that the work could be dangerous and he didn’t just lounge about all day looking hot in his uniform.
Piper seemed to realize that too, because her eyes were suddenly wide.
“I’ll call him,” Annabeth said, her disappointment suddenly turning to worry. Like everybody under the age of 45, she wasn't very fond of phone calls, but this was an emergency. Unfortunately, it went to voicemail. That didn't mean anything. It was late, maybe Percy was asleep. That did nothing to quell her nerves, though.
Not in the mood for the party anymore, she said goodbye to her friends and went home. She dialed his number again as soon as she closed her door, and after some time, he finally picked up.
“Hello,’’ relief coursed through her veins.
“Percy, thank god, I—” then Annabeth stopped herself. Because the voice that answered wasn’t Percy’s, it belonged to a woman.
"I'm his mother. Percy is at the hospital."
"Is he okay?" Maybe that wasn't the smartest question to ask, nobody went to hospitals for shits and giggles. But even though Mrs Jackson didn't sound exactly chipper, her voice also didn't sound like someone about to face the premature loss of her only son.
"He is now. He got hurt at work, fractured his ankle and inhaled some smoke, but he'll be fine. He's just asleep a lot of the time because of the medication."
Shit. So something did happen. Annabeth was suddenly glad that she refrained herself from yelling at Percy over text for standing her up.
"Would it be okay if I visited?"
Annabeth got the address to the hospital and went to see Percy the next day. She asked for information at the reception, and soon enough she was in front of the door to his room. Annabeth was about to knock when the door opened and Sally Jackson stepped out. Her wavy brown hair was up in a ponytail, but other than that the woman looked exactly like the picture in the jacket of her books.
"Um, hi," Annabeth said. "We spoke on the phone last night. I'm Annabeth."
"Oh," Sally said, recognition flashing across her features. If it was from the call or the autograph thing, she didn't know. "You chose a good time to come. Percy is awake."
The older woman stepped aside and gestured for Annabeth to come in. She braced for the worst, but Percy actually looked okay. His left foot was propped up at the end of the bed inside a cast, but other than that he seemed fine.
He was staring at the TV, wearing a plain t-shirt and shorts, his dark hair a fluffly mess. A heart rate monitor kept a steady rhythm near the bed. Annabeth couldn't see anyone else in the room, but there were signs that he had received more visitors at some point. Somebody wrote "get well soon, stud" on his cast, there was a heart shaped balloon tied to his bed, and some flowers at the table beside him.
"Hey," Annabeth said, approaching the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay. Ready for another one."
"Don't even joke about that," said Sally, still near the door.
"Relax. They'll probably put me in Mrs O'Leary cleaning duty for a while after this."
"That's probably for the best," she muttered. "Well, I'm on my way out. It was nice to meet you, Annabeth."
"Likewise," she answered, proud of herself for keeping her cool in front of the woman responsible for some of Annabeth's sleepless nights in the last month. First because of her page-turner thriller novel, then because of her son. She watched as Sally closed the door, then turned to Percy, who was already staring at her with a shit eating grin.
"Didn't feel like asking for an autograph today?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Shut up."
"You have terrible bedside manners."
“Keep complaining and I’m not giving you this,’’ she said, taking a chocolate bar out of her bag. She didn’t want to show up empty handed, and flowers seemed too cliche. Turns out she made a good choice, because Percy sat up straighter and patted the chair beside his bed. “Is this allowed?”
“Probably not, but who cares? I’m tired of hospital food.”
“It’s barely been two days.’’
“Exactly, a lifetime. The only one who lets me eat anything other than unseasoned chicken is my nurse Rosa. She always brings me pudding and even lets me have seconds if I ask nicely.”
Annabeth laughed, more out of relief that he was okay than anything else. Percy opened the package, broke the tablet in half and extended one back to her. They ate in silence for a while, the only sound was coming from the TV.
“What happened, Percy?” She asked finally. As much as he played it off, the accident was bad enough to land him in the hospital.
He sighed. “An old building caught on fire yest— no not yesterday. Today is Sunday, right? The fire was on Friday night. Faulty wiring, the electric system was probably older than me. Most of the building had been evacuated even before we got there, but two apartments remained occupied. One with an elderly couple, and the other one had a teenager who slept with her headphones and didn’t hear the alarm.”
“You got in?”
Percy nodded. “We got the couple out first, they lived at the lower levels. But when I was escorting the teen out, the floor broke under us, probably damaged from the fire. I landed badly and sprained my ankle, but the girl passed out. I should have called my team and waited for them to get us, but the thought of more parts of the building collapsing and falling over my head… I’m a little claustrophobic, so I kind of went berserk. Hauled the girl over my shoulders and stormed out of there. That made my injury worse and added a few weeks to the recovery time.”
The thought of somebody getting inside a burning building instead of running in the opposite direction was insane. Action hero stuff, and yet Percy was here, sharing a chocolate bar with her. He was lucky nothing worse happened.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” she said softly. There was no use denying to herself that she was already attached to this guy.
“Me too,” he smiled. “But what about you? How was the club?”
“It sucked,” Annabeth said. She hesitated for a while, then decided to take a leap. “There was nothing wrong with the club itself, I just… I was waiting for you to show up the whole time.’’
“I’m sorry I couldn’t go.”
She snorted. “I think you had a pretty good excuse, don't worry.”
“We can always go another day.”
“I don’t think you’ll be dancing anytime soon.”
“I probably wouldn't be dancing anyway. I’d just be hovering around you and getting some liquid courage.”
“To do what?”
“To kiss you.”
Annabeth stared at him and Percy had that same expression from when he said he’d get Sally’s autograph. A mix of mischief and boyish shyness that she found annoying that first day, but now she was incredibly fond of.
“Do you mean that?”
“Depends.”
She raised her eyebrows inquisitively. “On what?”
“If you say you wanted to, then I one hundred percent mean it. If you don’t, I’m totally blaming the meds.”
Annabeth laughed. “You're ridiculous.”
But apparently she was into that, because she leaned closer to the bed and kissed him. The angle wasn’t the best, but his lips were soft, so was the hair on the back of his neck when she put her hand there to deepen the kiss. There was an insistent beeping sound in the room, and she nearly broke into giggles when Annabeth realized it was the heart monitor going crazy. They broke apart slowly, smiling between pecks and Percy was chasing after her when she pulled away.
“You’re gonna fall off the bed, you goof,” she said putting a hand on his chest.
“Totally worth it now that I know you’re gonna kiss me if I get hurt.”
“I’m gonna kiss you if you don’t, how about that?”
“Deal.’’
Seconds later, a nurse came in. She was an older woman with an expression that was both severe and caring.
“Came to check on you, Mr Jackson,” the woman said in a strong mexican accent. She looked at the heart monitor. “Your heartbeat got a little fast there, is everything okay?”
“Don’t you worry about my heart, Rosa,” he answered with a grin. The nurse glanced at Annabeth, then back at Percy and shook her head.
“If you need anything just press the button.”
“Will do.”
Annabeth’s face was a little warm, but she could hardly find it in herself to care. “She knows what we were doing, doesn't she?”
“Probably. She didn't even stay to watch the telenovela.”
“What?”
Percy pointed at the TV, where a foreign show was playing. “Rosa was trying to catch me up. Apparently, it’s like The Parent Trap except the twins are adults and one of the sisters is the actual devil. It’s very entertaining.”
Entertaining was certainly a word for it. Percy himself didn’t seem to know much other than the single episode he’d watched and what the nurse told him, but they searched online and tried to understand the convoluted plot.
It wasn’t long though before Percy started to drift off because of his medication. His fingers loosened the grip on hers, but Annabeth made no effort to remove her hand. Their second date didn’t go exactly as planned but it didn’t matter. She got her kiss, after all.
And Annabeth had the feeling she’d be getting many more.