The rest of the night I crashed on my couch after falling asleep watching a movie and received too many text messages to count.

The sun blinded me and woke me abruptly. It was early in the morning, and all I wanted was a cup of coffee, so I headed to my kitchen and stumbled around before finding my coffee machine.

As I grabbed a coffee mug, a huge knock on the door caused me to jolt and drop the mug completely, causing it to shatter.

I cursed under my breathe as I stepped over the destruction and headed over to the door. "Who's there?!"

I swung open the door and saw Piper McLean, my former bandmate and former best friend.

She completely ignored me as she shoved past me and rushed into my apartment, her arms crossed and wearing a scowl.

Piper had choppy, brown hair with little braids in it and had deep brown eyes. I hadn't seen Piper in a matter of years, or even talked to her. Why was she here?

"You have a mess in your kitchen," she observed fiercely as she stared down the broken coffee cup with disgust.

I walked over to her and joined her in peering at the mess. "Yeah, I know. You startled me. I'm still startled...what are you doing here, Pipes?"

She laughed callously as she rolled her eyes almost up to her skull. "A friend can't just stop in, Percy?"

"Of course a friend can, but you and Jason told me you never wanted to see me again!" I said defensively. "Now, why are you here? Really?"

"Because I care about you!" Piper shouted angrily as she spread her arms out. "And I know you're being an idiot right now, so I came to save your ass!"

I shook my head as I folded my arms across my chest. "You don't owe me anything, and I don't need my ass being saved, especially not from you,"

Piper flared her nostril. "Percy, I know you. Sure, we didn't end things on the best of terms, but Jason and I still care about you—"

"No, you don't! If you did you'd bother to call. Or you wouldn't have moved to California and pretended that I never existed!" I shot back at her with venom.

"Percy, that's not what happened. We—we were upset with you!" she defended. "And rightfully so! You're lucky I'm even here—"

"And why are you here again?" I asked.

Piper sighed and placed her hands in her jacket pockets. "I was bitter when you got famous. It should've been all of us, our band. Not just you. But when you started acting so famous—dating that Annabeth Chase—"

"Oh, shove off it!" I cried.

"No, I won't! We used to mock her mercilessly, and now you're dating her? Percy, this isn't you..." said Piper, her voice growing softer.

I groaned as I tousled back my messy hair. "Piper, I know this will sound like a load of crap, but she's actually great. Believe me, I've been around a lot of celebrities, and she's nothing like them."

Piper laughed briefly. "Sure, I'm so certain she's different..."

"She is!" I protested. "But that doesn't matter...you don't have to worry. This whole thing is fake. We're dating for publicity."

"You-you are?" she stuttered. "You're selling out already? Dating monsters for album sales?"

I shook my head fiercely. "She's not a monster, Piper. I...I think I'm falling for her. For real. And I think she might be, too."

Piper smiled gently as she peered down at her shoes. "You're such a dork. A lame, hopeless romantic dork."

"Hey! Jason is as pathetic as I am!" I protested. "If not more! Speaking of Jason, is he here, too? And the rest of our band?"

"No," Piper replied quietly. "He actually encouraged me to go, though. Jason misses you like crazy. How's Grover doing?"

I shrugged. "Grover's fine. He's the only one who stuck around when I became famous."

Piper blushed. "I know, but don't you understand how awful we felt? You got discovered when we were all playing, and your stupid manger didn't want us..."

"Chiron's not stupid, and you don't think I persisted?" I asked. "He said I got a deal with just me or none at all. And, Pipes, that's a dream of mine...I couldn't just give it up. And I was eighteen—I was dumb. Now, if that happened, I don't know what I would do."

Piper nodded as she glared at me, snd I couldn't help but feel her resentment. "I probably would've done the same, but it just hurt. I felt like I was being betrayed."

"And I'm sorry!" I practically screamed. "Do...do you think we could maybe talk more? End our years of silence?"

"Fine," Piper replied with a laugh. "I can't speak for the rest of our bandmates, but I can end the silence."

I grinned. "Thanks, Pipes. When do you have to go back to California?"

"Soon," Piper commented as she checked her watch and groaned. "Sooner than expected, anyways. I just wanted to make sure you weren't a sellout now, okay?"

"I won't," I promised her.

Piper headed towards the door and avoided the broken coffee mug skillfully. "Hey, wait, what ever happened to that one girl who used to swarm you when we started gaining popularity? The laid back one who loved teasing you?"

My smiled dropped. I knew exactly who Piper was talking about. "Rachel? I'm pretty sure we're over."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Pretty sure? I would double check if I were you. Don't stomp on people's hearts just because you can, alright? And please be careful with this Annabeth Chase."

"I will," I replied. "And I think Rachel is pretty pissed at me. I mean, I would be, too."

"Well, don't stab anyone in the back," she replied, "again."

She hugged me goodbye before leaving my apartment and leaving me completely filled with regret.