Chapter Text
Annabeth checked and rechecked the tickets in her hand. The 5:15PM Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station to Montauk. Platform 7. She had the boarding information submitted to memory from the moment she bought the tickets. Her phone buzzed. Her hand flew to her jacket pocket. Her calendar notification for the train ride. She exhaled, glad it wasn’t the “Hey, this plan is crazy and so are you, I’m out!” text she had been expecting.
“Annabeth?”
She whirled around, dragging her suitcase along with her. Oh gods, he was taller than she remembered. And much more handsome. “Hi.”
“Sorry I’m late, babe,” he grabbed her waist and kissed her.
.~.~.~.~.~.
“Honey, I’m home!” Rachel yelled, kicking off her red rainboots and dumping her keys on the dining table. Annabeth waved at her from the couch, motioning to her phone.
“Who is it?” Rachel asked, already stalking across their apartment to the kitchen to rummage for food.
Piper, Annabeth mouthed. She covered the receiver, “If you’re looking for the leftovers from yesterday, they’re long gone.”
Rachel gasped, swinging open the refrigerator, “You bitch.”
“What—No, of course I’m paying attention—Yeah, got it, dress rehearsal is at seven, pictures on Sunday at ten.”
“Bridezilla come out yet?”
Annabeth scoffed, shaking her head. Piper was the most laid-back bride in the world. She covered the receiver again, “More like Groomzilla.”
Rachel laughed, as Piper continued to rattle off the list of appointments Jason had asked her to pass along to Annabeth. “Listen, Pipes, I have to go. Facetime me during your fitting tomorrow. Don’t forget your your ceremony heels. Or your reception heels. Love you. See you soon. Bye.”
Annabeth tossed her phone on the coffee table before walking into their tiny, Manhattan-sized kitchen to join her roommate. “How was rehearsal?” Annabeth asked, leaning against the counter as Rachel scarfed down some old take-out she managed to dig out of their fridge.
“Terrible. How was your day?”
“Also terrible.”
“Why? Remote wedding planning not working out?”
“No, the wedding is going to be perfect. I’m an amazing bridesmaid even though I’m across the country from them. It’s just, you know, certain people...”
“Luke.”
“Yes, Luke. He’s going to be a groomsman now.”
“Oof.”
“So now I won’t just have to bear seeing him at the wedding. He’s going to be there all weekend now.”
“I’m sure Piper and Jason will know not to put you in a situation where you have to interact.”
“Still! I haven’t seen him since he...you know . And this is the first time I’m going to see our friends again since the breakup," Annabeth groaned, "There’s no way he’s not bringing a date. I can’t show my face! My pathetic, single face.”
“Then bring a date. Show up with some hot arm candy and show him.”
“The wedding is next week, where am I going to find a date?”
“Doesn’t matter as long as he’s hot.”
“Also, if I do somehow meet someone in the next week, I can’t bring them to a wedding. Weddings are not first date material. Weddings say, 'meet my parents, I want commitment.' And we all know how guys feel about f*cking commitment,” Annabeth spat out, “No guy would go to wedding as a first date.”
“He would if you paid him,” Rachel scoffed, “Or slept with him.”
Annabeth smacked her arm, “Stop joking! You know what, I’m tired of talking about this, it’s stressing me out.” Annabeth wrenched open the freezer and grabbed her emergency pint of ice cream. “Your turn. How was rehearsal?”
“Lousy. I still can’t believe you’re going to miss my show.”
“I’m coming to opening night!”
“Yeah, but it’s an off-off-Broadway production of Romeo & Juliet. I needed you to come every night to fill the house so at least we know for sure we’ll have an audience.”
“You won’t need me. Shakespeare always draw a crowd.”
“This is going to be the worst show I’ve directed ever. Grover got poison ivy, poison oak, and poison fern, believe it or not, so I had to find an understudy last minute. I specifically told Grover not to hook up with his girlfriend in Central Park.”
“I’m sure it will be great. Itchy Romeo and all.”
“Let’s just hope Juliet doesn’t get poison fern.”
.~.~.~.~.~.
Annabeth and an older brunette woman sitting in the front row were the only people in a crowd of about seventeen who gave the cast a standing ovation, but she didn't care. In this basem*nt theater of a rec center in Washington Heights, seventeen was basically a full house.
“Great job!” Annabeth said, hugging her roommate and thrusting a bouquet of sunflowers, Rachel’s favorite, into her arms. She and a couple of the actors’ friends and family members had been invited to the ‘cast party’ after the show — pizza and soda in the room across the hall at the rec center which also happened to be the dressing room.
“Thanks, Annabeth. You really liked it?” Rachel said, beaming as various crew members patted her on the back as they went to grab pizza.
“Yes! The decision to set the play in a post-apocalyptic, Game of Thrones-y Verona was so cool. And the actors were phenomenal. Even when that magician walked right onto the stage. The way they improvised—”
“It’s because it’s happened before! People also book birthday parties here and they get the rooms confused! During our tech rehearsal, a clown walked in.”
“Well, your show was amazing. I’m so proud,” Annabeth said, sincerely. “The cast was great.” Over Rachel’s shoulder she spotted the actor who played Romeo talking with the brown-haired woman and man with glasses and salt and pepper hair. “Especially Romeo.”
Rachel beamed, glancing over her shoulder at him, “I know right! Wasn’t he amazing? He’s the understudy!”
“No way,” Annabeth said. His performance had been captivating to say the least. His monologues as Romeo were enough to make Annabeth swoon.
“His name’s Percy,” Rachel lowered her voice, “I love Grover, but I’m almost bummed his poison ivy rash is almost cleared up.”
“How did you find him?”
“Our theater program alumni Facebook group. He’s a friend of Grover’s.”
“And he willingly memorized a lead part’s lines in a Shakespearean play in less than a week?”
“You know actors, Annabeth, they’ll do anything for a gig. Especially a paid one.” Rachel said, “I have to go talk to my stage manager, go get pizza!”
Annabeth walked over to the table spread with food. Pizza, chips, various dips, soda, utensils and...blue cookies? As she poured lemonade into a red solo cup, her eye wandered back to Romeo. The couple, his parents she assumed, had left, and he was now chatting with the red-headed actress who played Juliet.
He was so handsome. Actors always were. Tall, dark-haired, green-eyed. Dreamy. He definitely would still be taller than her in the stilettos the bridesmaids were wearing. If only she could roll up to the wedding with someone like him on her arm…
.~.~.~.~.~.
Annabeth shoved the man away, “What are you doing?”
Percy looked at her, confused, “Um? I’m your…boyfriend?”
“We don’t have to start now. Not until we get to the wedding,” Annabeth said briskly, straightening her blazer. She thrusted a ticket into his hands, and extended the handles of her rolling suitcase, “Come on, they’ve already started boarding.”
Percy followed her, smoothly taking her suitcase from her and loading it up the steps of the train for her. She shot him a look.
Percy lowered his voice, following her through the aisle of the train car, “Other wedding guests are probably on this train. We don’t want to ruin this before it even starts, do we?"
Annabeth chose two seats at the back of the train car. Percy lifted her suitcase and his oversized duffle bag into the overhead compartment with ease as Annabeth slid into the window seat. She put the armrest down.
“It’s Thursday and the wedding isn’t until Sunday. The only people heading up to Long Island now are in the wedding party, mostly out-of-towners, and they all flew in this morning,” Annabeth said, curtly. She tried to remain cool even though she was feeling so flustered by him. She could barely even look him in the eye. She felt so embarrassed even though this whole situation was her damn idea.
“You look very nice.”
Annabeth flushed. “Thank you,” she muttered. Her hair was frizzy after commuting in the midsummer humidity straight from her office in the Financial District to Penn Station, but she knew she looked good today. She smoothed nonexistant wrinkles from her cream pencil skirt.
Percy’s hair was messier and curlier than it was the night Annabeth met him at the play, contrary to his gelled down Romeo locks. He looked so relaxed and cool in a light blue button down with the sleeves rolled up and navy shorts. Blue on blue. How bold.
“Okay,” Percy said, shifting towards her as the other passengers began to fill up the remaining seats. “Debrief me. What’s my job? Where am I from? How did we meet?”
Annabeth stared at him. “You’re Percy, an actor from New York. We met at my roommate’s show.” Duh?
“Come on, no cool backstory for me to try method acting?”
“No, the most convincing lies are closest to the truth,” Annabeth replied, “And I need this to be convincing.”
“I want a challenge.”
“Isn’t pretending to be my boyfriend enough of a challenge?”
Percy grinned, “Shouldn’t be that hard.”
Annabeth flushed again, “Then why exactly am I paying you $2,000?”
“Like you said, I’m convincing,”
“Please have your tickets out. Next stop is Babylon.”
Annabeth looked out her window as the train picked up speed and the platform fell away into the darkness of the tunnels as they left Manhattan. No turning back now.
.~.~.~.~.~.
When Annabeth awoke, the LIRR train was no longer underground, but racing through Long Island. The trip to Montauk was three hours long so the last rays of sun had just disappeared.
Annabeth glanced over at Percy, also was dozing away, head tilted back and mouth fully open. He really was so attractive. Tan, chiseled face and a Michelangelo jawline, but with a boyish softness to his expression, especially when he slept.
“Next stop, Montauk.”
Annabeth nudged him with her elbow. Percy blinked groggily and cracked a goofy grin when he saw her looking at him.
“You drool in your sleep.”
