percabeth au
chapter 8 | 🚨 sneak peek!!
The music sounds louder than it should be a few meters from the door of the vinyl bar. Annabeth even wonders if the insistent chords from classical 70’s rock don’t come from a nearby pub instead, but there’s no such place in the surroundings. So, she just keeps hitting her heel to the sidewalk, unwittingly following the beat as another hipster millennial couple walks by.
It’s only after the fifth time she checks her phone, biting her lower lip that she realizes: she’s nervous.
Piper has already texted asking if she’s there already, not that this makes her worry too much, because the brunette’s text saying she’s "almost there!” can only mean that she’s just left the house. And in all honesty, Reyna is not actually late. It’s 8:40 and it can’t be more than fifteen minutes since Annabeth sent her a text informing she was walking out of the subway, and since Reyna was already living in Brooklyn —just a couple blocks away from the bar, actually— she had waited for this signal to leave her apartment.
She must be arriving soon, Annabeth tells herself as she takes a deep breath, but it does nothing to calm her nerves. That’s when she sighs, tired, because honestly, she could pretend to be nervous about Reyna all she wanted, but it would never be true. Of course, it’s still a fragile friendship and she surely wants her to get along with her friends, but it’s certainly no reason for that much anxiety.
What Annabeth is really nervous about is, she can’t deny it no more, meeting Percy’s alleged girlfriend. And honestly seeing him amidst all of that, without even having the chance to talk to him first. She’s fuming, if she’s being honest, because how can he not have told her that, how could he hide this from her and not even text her about it after the whole Sally thing on Sunday, how can he actually think that it’s a good idea to bring her here today, because she’s fucking pregnant and-
“Hey,” Annabeth turns around at the sound and the feeling of a cold hand on her shoulder, mildly startled because she’s standing on a sidewalk in New York, after all.
“Reyna,” she tries for a smile as she meets the Puerto Rican’s eyes. “Hi.”
They share an awkward semi-hug and Annabeth would forever have a hard time admitting this, but she doesn’t really know what to say next. She doesn’t want to think too much about it, because it’s not even appropriate, let alone a good idea, but… Reyna looks hot.
She’s let her hair down, and that’s when Annabeth realizes she almost always wears it on a braid or bun or ponytail to the office. She’s wearing black jeans and a leather jacket and she’s definitely rocking some kind of smoky eyes and her traditional Doc Martens and if Annabeth had any doubt about her sexuality, now she would bet all her money on it.
“So…” Reyna hold her own elbow, and Annabeth realizes she’s the one who should move first.
“Oh,” she shakes her head and gestures towards the bar. “Yeah, let’s go inside.”
