When Time Eludes You (Percabeth)

18 - Stockholm

Sally's POV

They were gone.
The police confirmed it.

A week is too much. Their gone for good, a small, horrible part of me whispered.

Their fine. They'll come back.

I sat down at the table.

Not even a note.

But had they run away? They might have been kidnapped and- no. Running away was the better option and I was going to stick with it.

I was going to think of my son as a fool so I could say he was alive.

***

Annabeths POV

We'd actually done it.
We were in Stockholm. We were free. We were together.

"You coming Wise Girl?"
I smiled smugly.
"You're going the wrong way Seaweed Brain."
My smile faded.
"Oh... hey. What's wrong?"
I pursed my lips.
"Err... well. I always thought I'd travel the world, just not quite this... way."
He looked at me sadly, an eyebrow raised.
"I get it Annie- Annabeth."
I'd told him earlier that I despised the name, and asked him not to call me that.
He'd happily obliged.
   "Sorry. I didn't mean to sound like an off putter... Anyway, want to check out the city?"
He nodded, smiling brightly at me.

It took us a while to find the hotel and check in, considering the receptionist didn't quite understand English.

The conversation went something like this;

   "Hello. We'd like to check in. We booked online...?"
   "Va? Jag förstår inte... japanska. Men jag kan hämta någon som gör det om du vill."
   "We can-"
   "Jag can hämta-"
   "Let us sign ourselves in-"
   "Skriv på själva då."

Then she passed us a thick book were we signed ourselves in.

Currently, the two of us were walking down a road, passing some food shop called 'ica'.

   "Remind me to learn the language before going to the country next time."
I grumbled.
   "You mean there'll be a 'next time'?"
I smiled, my cheeks heating up.
   "Well obviously... if you want."
Percy nodded, then pointed eagerly at the clearly visible sea.
We ran up and held the railing.
Percy looked at me with his tousled hair blowing in the wind.

   "You mean to tell me that the sea is in... Stockholm?"
I rolled my eyes and sighed deeply, feigning disappointment.
   "How do you not know that?"
He looked down, embarrassed.

I laughed at his silly behaviour, then grabbed his sweater, dragging us both down a different path, leading up to a road.

By the time we got on a bus, Percy was a little more than just confused.

   "Where are we going Wise Girl?" He asked.

I looked out the window and pointed to the amusement park in the distance, the bus slowly closing the distance between it and us.
   "There."
His jaw dropped and he practically squealed in delight.

I laughed.

Five minutes of extensive jumping and hyper dancing and we were there.

I'm not sure why it bothered me so much, but Ketchup stuck to my shirt as we'd just got off the plane a couple hours ago and couldn't even be bothered to change.

Percy saw me trying to cover it up and pulled his own sweater off, handing it to me.

   "Oh no it's fine-"
   "Take it."
I took it.

It smelled of not only Percy, but also the ocean- even if that was basically what Percy smelled like- it felt like home.

With a jolt I realised Percy wasn't merely my best friend. Percy leaned towards being a miracle- a phenomenon in his own way.
He was my definition of home.

The sun got in my eyes as we climbed up on our first ride.

Of course it had to be the scary train thingy.
Of course.

To my surprise and pleasure, Percy screamed a lot more than me.

Six rides after that, we quickly grabbed an ice cream and headed towards the hotel.

I lay down on my soft bed, glancing at Percy lying on his own bed across the room.

   "So... what's the plan now?"
He said quietly, as if afraid of my answer.
   "Well it's not like we're staying here forever, Percy. So..."
He nodded as if understanding.
I needed more time to think things through.
We'd left in such a hurry, my brain hadn't quite caught up with everything.
I glanced at him again.
He glanced back.
I sighed and stood up, walking towards his bed.

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
I sat gingerly on the bedside.

   "Can I... can I sleep here tonight? I mean, if you want me to, or I could-"
   "Sure Wise Girl."

I smiled gratefully at him and lay down, as relaxed as ever.

   "Do you miss it?"
He asked.
   "Miss what?"
   "New York City."
I took a moment to think about it.

   "I miss your apartment and your mom."
I decided to answer.

I sure as hell didn't miss my family.
I hadn't even slept in my original room for...weeks.
Only yesterday was I sleeping in Percy's bed.

The worst part wasn't that I hadn't seen my family for so long.
It was that they hadn't tried to contact me.
Not. One. Phone call.

It hurt, I had to admit.

But to think that I was so easily forgotten, it scared me.

My biggest fear was being forgotten.
And if my own family didn't know I was in five years time, then what was I to Percy?

I snuggled closer to him, burying my face into his shirt.

No, Percy cared for me.
He would never leave me behind.

I loved him.

   "You need to shower. You stink."
He chuckled.
   "If you say so. Night Wise Girl."
   "Night Seaweed Brain."
I paused, hearing him already snoring.

   "I love you."
I whispered into the dark, awaiting no response.

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