9: The Guitar

Percy POV

"Seaweed Brain, I was wondering if you'd be willing to, um," Annabeth faltered off. She seemed hesitant to ask me something.

"What's up, Wise Girl? You can ask me anything," I said firmly.

Terminus was driving both of us back to my home. A few of the others were also meeting me at my house to hang out today. My security didn't like having people over to my home, but I trusted all of my friends.

"Thalia said that you recorded a new song about the Stolls," Annabeth expressed.

"I wouldn't say that it's about them, but it was inspired by their close friendship even though they're brothers," I said.

"Yeah, I was wondering if I could hear it. Thalia said it was really good," Annabeth said cautiously.

For some reason, she was awkward w3ith me today: a little more restrained. She was careful in the things that she was saying and how she was interacting with me.

"Annabeth, is everything all right? " I asked quietly.

She immediately turned towards me in surprise. "What do you mean, Seaweed Brain? Of course, I'm completely fine."

"You seem different today with me," I said.

Her gaze intensified as she looked away. Her finger fidgeted with the owl bracelet on her wrist. She always did that when she was nervous.

"I'm fine, Seaweed Brain. Can I listen to the song?" she asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, absolutely," I said firmly. Then, I reached forward and held her hand gently. My thumb reassuringly rubbed her soft skin. "Annabeth, you'll tell me if something's bothering you, right?"

She looked at our connected hands but didn't pull away.

"Yes, Percy, but I can assure you that we're fine."

Then, Annabeth turned away from me again and retracted her hand as well. Things didn't feel fine to me. She was definitely thinking about something regarding me, but I decided not to push her for information.

The rest of the car ride was too quiet.

By the time we arrived home, my hand was still feeling empty. It was tingling with the sensations of Annabeth's hand even though she pulled away from me minutes ago.

Annabeth and I walked into my home together. I could tell by the way she walked freely that she's been to this house before. Technically, I bought this house for my family a year ago, and since Annabeth and I weren't really friends, I didn't know how she'd been here.

However, as soon as I went inside, I knew.

My mom immediately came and embraced Annabeth. "Hi Sally, it's so good to see you again," Annabeth said happily.

"Same to you, Annabeth. I'm glad that you and my son are friends again. I remember how distraught he was after telling me that you wouldn't talk to him," my mom said.

"MOM," I exclaimed as my cheeks reddened.

Annabeth chuckled as I led her away before my mom could say anything else that would embarrass me. We walked downstairs to the basement.

I had set up a private recording studio in my home.

A bunch of instruments was positioned along the borders of the studio room. The sound equipment was on a table facing the vocal booth. The vocal booth was larger because it had room for the main singer(s) as well as any backup vocalists and instrumentalists.

"Wow, I've never been in your basement," Annabeth breathed out. Her eyes sparkled as she looked around the room.

I smiled as I watched her. She walked around the room, looking at the wide assortment of instruments and equipment. Then, she went into the vocal booth. A drumset and a piano were in the booth. All of the other instruments were where I was standing outside.

In the corner of the room was my most prized position: a guitar. It was a 1960 Les Paul 'Burst', and it was the only remembrance of my dad that I still had.

I remembered the vague memories of my dad from when I was a kid. I was four when he died in the navy. I didn't remember him much, but I did remember that he'd sing me ocean songs using that guitar.

I sighed as I turned back towards Annabeth and pressed a button on the soundboard.

"Wise Girl, why don't you sing something?" I asked.

Annabeth turned around in surprise. Then, she looked at the piano and smiled. She cautiously sat down at the bench and positioned the microphone.

Her fingers gently played the piano before she started.

Wise Girl had an amazing talent and voice. I closed my eyes as I listened to her sweet voice singing "Killing Me Softly" by Fugees.

Annabeth sand a few verses before stopping.

Her eyes closed as she breathed and smiled. All you needed to do was watch how she ended a song to realize how much she loved music.

Annabeth finally came back outside and into the sound room. "I love hearing you sing," I said quietly.

"You're just being nice," Annabeth said humbly. Her eyes continued to search the room before falling on my dad's guitar.

"Wow, a 1960 Les Paul, it's beautiful," she said as she walked over.

I followed her towards the guitar. We both simply gazed at it before I turned towards her. I felt like I could trust her with anything.

"It was my dad's guitar. He used it to sing to me when I was a baby. He was also a musician before joining the navy to support me and my mom."

"You never really talk about your dad, Percy," Annabeth expressed softly.

"Yeah, I know, but I felt like I could tell you," I said quietly. Her eyes locked onto mine as I continued, "he was a hero, my dad."

"I can tell. He influenced you to pursue your dreams of music," Annabeth said.

I nodded as my body shifted. We were both near the corner of the room and standing very close to each other. Our faces were only a few inches apart.

My heart pounded hard due to our close proximity. Her chest was rising and falling softly, and she looked so pretty.

Without thinking, I started to lean forward. My eyes closed as my lips moved towards hers.

Suddenly, the door swung open and my loud friends stormed into the room. Annabeth and I immediately pulled away from each other.

God, damn it.

Annabeth cleared her throat as I quickly picked a random guitar.

"Yeah, so, Annabeth, this is a Mohagony strummer," I blurted out as I tried to cover up our moment.

"Oh, that's very, um, neat," she stumbled on her words.

"Hey, guys, your mom said that you and Annabeth had already arrived. So, what are we planning on doing today?" Jason asked. "Do you have some food?" Leo added.

Annabeth and I both breathed out a sigh of relief. None of them seemed to have seen anything. My eyes locked onto Annabeth's as we joined the group.

As we all hung out, I found myself looking at Annabeth several times. Sometimes, she would already be looking at me, and we'd both turned away quickly.

Gods, our friends had the worst timing.

I mentally cursed because I wanted to kiss her so badly.

At that moment, I realized that I was falling for her again. The love was inevitable. However, I didn't want to fight my feelings for her this time around.

I wanted to be with her.

I wanted to love her.

***

"Hey, Leo, I wanted to ask you something," I said hesitantly.

Leo turned towards me as I lowered the volume in Jason's car. It was also weird to listen to myself on the radio anyway. It was cool and awesome at first, but now, it was strange to hear my own voice.

"Yeah, what's up, Perce?" Leo asked.

Jason smiled since he knew what was coming.

Jason already worked at Olympus records since his dad owned it. I had to get permission with the label first, but Chiron luckily took care of the formalities. During the process, Jason found out my plan, and he loved it.

"And, you can say no if you want," I added quickly.

"Percy, you're stressing me out, man. Just tell me what's going on," Leo said.

"All right, so I want you to join my team as a tech producer. You'd be involved in helping me with composing my songs and filming my music videos," I said.

Leo simply blinked as he stared at me.

"Hold up, so you're literally giving me a job doing the things that I love to do. Wait, why me?" Leo asked.

My words escaped me as Jason hit a speedbump. He immediately apologized before straightening the car on the road.

"Leo, why not you? You're super talented, and we click in terms of artistic vision. I like when we work on music together and the edits that you incorporate," I expressed genuinely.

I thought long and hard before making the decision. However, Leo loved working with music and film composition, so this would be amazing for both of us.

I wanted to work with people that I connected with. There weren't many people like Leo at Olympus records.

Leo seemed lost in thought. Suddenly, I feared that he was going to say no. That would be so awkward. Then, Leo's face stretched with a bright smile.

"Oh my god, Percy, I'd love to. This is my dream. I get to work at Olympus recorders as a record producer and film choreographer," Leo exclaimed.

I laughed in relief as Jason cheered.

Leo screamed in excitement, which extended our laughter. Jason had to pull over so that he did cause an accident out of excitement.

"Ahhh. I'm so happy, I could literally start a fire right now," Leo shouted. "Thanks so much, Aquaman."

I laughed as I accepted Leo's embrace. I was so glad that Leo accepted. I was grateful that I was able to make one of my best friends so happy.

Somehow, I felt like life was coming together.

I was learning how to juggle my personal life with my professional life in a way that I could manage and enjoy. It was invigorating.

It made me excited for the future.