The Hate Between Us (Percabeth&Solangelo)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: You Drool In Your Sleep

Percy POV:

Annabeth got ready for her night out in silence, and when she left I felt empty inside. I spent the entire evening pacing the room by myself, wondering where it had all gone wrong, hardly understanding how I had just been so stupid.

I told her I hated her... well that couldn't have been further from the truth.

And now she was out with the other applicants, probably spending an evening cozied up with Marcus... all the while thinking that I hated her and that I never wanted to see her again. I paced the room until my feet hurt. And when I realised it was midnight I crashed down on the armchair, defeated. She isn't coming back, is she.

At some point I must had drifted off into a light sleep, only waking up when I heard the click of the door opening. I opened one eye slightly and watched Annabeth creep into the room, leaving as much space between the two of us as she could. She disappeared into the ensuite and reappeared 5 minutes later, climbing into the bed silently.

Some time passed, the two of us lying in the dark, allowing the awkward silence to consume us. We both knew that neither of us were sleeping.

"Percy, you're shaking," she said at last, sounding concerned.

"What?"

"You're freezing, aren't you."

Now that she mentioned it, I realised how cold I actually was. There was no heating on in the room. "I-I didn't get out of my clothes from earlier... you know, when it was raining." My teeth began to chatter together.

"Well... come on, get in here," she said softly. I frowned and looked over at her. She turned on the bedside lamp and pulled the covers away from her, shuffling over slightly so there was some space for me to lie. I tried not to look at her, but I couldn't ignore the fact that she looked beautiful with her hair tied up messily in a bun, and her shirt hanging loosely on her body, exposing one of her shoulders to the light.

"I-I can't..." I tried.

"You look like you're about to freeze to death. Come on, don't be stupid."

Feeling too tired to protest anymore, I jumped up from my armchair and slowly, awkwardly, climbed into the bed by her side. She turned to face the wall as I pulled the covers back over us, and I turned away too so that we lay back to back. I became dreadfully aware of my breathing – whether I was breathing too heavily or not enough. I became aware of my body, which was still shaking from the cold. I became aware of my heart, which seemed to be beating too loudly in my chest. I became aware of her, the heat that came from her body, and was reminded of her cute messy hair and thin pajama shirt and the tanned skin on her exposed shoulder and the curve of her collarbone. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep.

"You know, you drool in your sleep," she whispered. I stared at my shaking hand and said nothing, scared of what might come out of my mouth. Scared of the words I wanted to say. "I noticed it last night when I came back. A-At least you don't snore."

"Grover snores all the time," I said quietly. "Even when he's taking a short nap."

"Yeah, I remember when he used to snore so loudly it would piss Thalia off – one day she threatened to choke him in his sleep if he did it again."

"Did he stop?"

"No, if anything he started snoring louder after that. He knew Thalia wouldn't dare hurt him, ever. She was too protective for that."

"She sounds like an amazing person," I said. "A good friend."

"She was the best," I felt Annabeth moving beside me, but didn't dare look. She paused momentarily, and I lay silent waiting for her to continue, knowing that she wanted to say more. "With Luke, and Grover, and me... she was just the best. So protective, so kind, so helpful. She got me through some of the hardest times in my life. And she gave me hope, you know? She told me about all of her dreams for us, and they became our dreams. We wanted to go to school together, so we did. We wanted to go to college together – Yale – so we planned to. We wanted to become successful together, so she said she'd do anything in her power to make that come true.