liii. Friendly Things

His wet black messy jet black dampened his blue pillow cover as he laid on his blue blankets, glancing at the ceiling while absentmindedly fiddling with a hair tie that Annabeth had left when she had stayed over at his apartment.

He then sat upright in his bed and carefully placed the hair tie in a small jewelry box with everything Annabeth left behind and smiled at the picture of him and Annabeth from homecoming.

Annabeth looked gorgeous in her pink lace dress and her silver heels—she looked like Miss Americana with her perfect curls—and they shared the smile—the happy yet sheepish kind—as they weren't dating at that time.

Percy couldn't imagine a world without Annabeth—it seemed pretty bleak and boring—she was what caused the flowers to bloom, without her, every day would be forever winter..

His phone on his nightstand dinged, alerting him a new text message, he smiled when he saw the kiwi emoji next to the name Elle.

Elle 🥝
Hey Perce!
How are you doing?

Hi, Elle!
I'm good—though, I'm kinda bored
how about you?

Elle 🥝
I'm glad that you're doing good!
I'm doing much better now that I'm talking to you ;)

Percy laughed at Elle's cheek reply and her little wink at the end though he didn't think much about it than it was friendly banter and besides, they both knew they were just friends and nothing more (after all, he had a girlfriend he cherished very much).

Haha
Anyways, what are you doing right now?

Elle 🥝
Not much
Though I am planning something rn

what?
what are you planning?
is it bad?

Elle 🥝
Omg no
Perce, who you think I am?

sorry lol
well, can you tell me?
what you're planning?

Elle 🥝
Sorry, I can't
But you'll find out later
don't worry ;)

oh alright lol
does anyone else know?

Elle 🥝
No
Stop asking Percy

well, you intrigue me now—you have to tell me

Elle 🥝
Maybe I will
If you do that adorable baby seal eyes thing
it's so cute!

is it?
Do I look like this 🥺🥺

Elle 🥝
yes

oh lol
Estelle looks like that when she's doing her puppy dog eyes

Elle 🥝
I love her
wait
do you want to have a date?
Read at 3:25 PM

Percy's sea-green eyes widened, and he furrowed his eyebrows at Elle's text message. Do you want to go on a date? The longer he stared at it, the more those words became blurred.

Elle 🥝
Shit shit shit
I mean playdate
not date
I was supposed to type, do you want to hang out?
not date
oh my god—I'm sorry
Percy?

oh
it was a mistake, right?
bc I have a girlfriend, Elle

Elle 🥝
I know and I'm so sorry!
it was an accident
You know how my grammar is!
Percy?

it's fine
yeah, we could hang out
Read at 3:34 PM

Elle 🥝
Ok! I'm coming over!
I'm also going to bring Irene with me so she and Estelle can have a play date!

Sounds good
Read at 3:37 PM

Percy then closed his phone and tried to calm his racing heartbeat from the panic he felt when Elle had accidentally asked him on a date—he was flustered and flushed though he already knew the answer: no.

Percy Jackson cherished Annabeth Chase to ever cheat on her with anyone else. Besides, he wasn't that kind of significant other.

He then bit her lips: Elle was coming to his house once again, and Percy didn't know how to feel every time she showed up with her bright smile...

Percy and Estelle were in the living room, doing homework, when the doorbell rang and they opened the door to see Irene and Elle.

Estelle and Irene tackled each other in a hug and instantly chatted with each other as they walked to her bedroom to play, causing Percy to chuckle.

He turned around to look at Elle, whose red hair was in a ponytail and she wore a buttoned-up coat, high-waisted jeans, black ankle boots, and her backpack, and they sheepishly smiled at one another.

"Come inside, Elle. It's cold outside."

Elle nodded with a blush and went inside. She then revealed her pink sweater when she took off her coat and they awkwardly stood there, waiting to initiate an conversation.

"So, um—"

"Uh—"

"Percy, look, I'm so sorry—" Elle took a step closer to him.

"Elle, don't worry about it," he reassured, "I know how horrible your grammar is."

His laugh seemed to relax Elle and she chuckled before softly smiling.

"Do you want something to eat?" Percy offered, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, no, thank you," she then sheepishly said, "I was actually hoping if we could work on our English projects, would that be alright...?"

"Yes, it would," he nodded with a smile, "Let's go to my bedroom."

Elle followed him into his bedroom and they sat on his bed with their laptops open and music playing.

In the next hour, laughter filled his bedroom and their computers left untouched as they joked about nonsense and it somehow ended up with them trying to tickle one another.

"Ha! I got you!" laughed Elle, pinning Percy down on his bed.

Percy laughed then his eyes widened, realizing the compromising position they were in with Elle sitting on top of him, and he quickly—but gently pushed her off his lap, recalling the times where Annabeth was on top of him and that always led to...you know. This just seemed wrong: Elle wasn't his girlfriend.

Elle looked clueless and frowned, "What's wrong, Percy? Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, you didn't do nothing wrong," he smiled apologetically then changed the topic, "Anyways, we should continue working on our English projects."

"Yes, we should," Elle chuckled, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to distract us."

"It's fine, don't worry."

Mid-way working on the essay, Elle sheepishly said, "Percy, this is so random, but I was just thinking about how grateful I am that you're my friend."

"Aw, I'm happy that you're my friend too," he softly smiled, "This is so random, but I think about it every time I see you—I really like the fact that you always wear the floral headbands and those kiwi earrings. It's cute."

"Thank you, Perce," Elle blushed, "Well, you're cute—like really cute."

"Oh, really? You think so? I've been told that multiple times before," it was his turn to blush and he smiled when Elle nodded.

He then blurted out, "Elle, can I say something?"

"Sure. What is it? Is everything okay?"

"Of course," he then sheepishly said, "You remind me of Annabeth and every time, we're hanging out, you're like filling in...this empty void of loneliness that I feel she's not with me. That doesn't make sense, sorry."

"No, that make sense," a small smile crept on Elle's face, "Yeah, I'm glad I'm keeping you accompany when your girlfriend is not here."

[originally published on 1/23/21.]

[1/23/21] author's note! Hi! We're done with the percelle theme chapters and percy's pov...till further notice! This chapter had a lot of texting, which I hope everyone didn't mind and liked! Anyways, I hope everyone enjoy this chapter because I know that we all ✨love ✨ percelle with our hearts. Haha! But all seriousness, I really hope you like this chapter! Thank you for reading and have a good day/night! Much Love, Lucinda! 💙