"Good morning."

Annabeth walked out into the main room of my house while yawning. She quickly walked over to me, wearing a grin.

The sun was shining in through the huge windows and it was a crisp, autumn day. All the people in the streets were bundled in coats.

Last night I had taken Annabeth to my favorite hot dog stand near my apartment and although I could tell she had hated it, she lied and said it was great.

"I hope I didn't wake you," I replied as she sat next to me on the piano that I kept in my living room. "It's just...Chiron left me another message asking me about my album."

Annabeth nodded as she watched me erase half of what I'd already written down. "Your song couldn't be that bad. You're being too critical."

I shook my head as Annabeth snatched the notebook out of my hands. "No, it's is! Ah, don't look at it!"

"It can't be too bad..." responded Annabeth. Her smile dropped as she read through it. "Okay, so it isn't the best."

"Jeez, thanks," I commented sarcastically as I snatched the notebook out of her hands and quickly threw it on the floor. "All my work sucks when it's forced."

Annabeth peered at the notebook and then back at me. "Well, you have a year. You don't need to finish them all now, right?"

I shrugged as I attempted to string together any lyrics in my mind with no success. "I guess, but Chiron said he wanted at least twenty songs! And he insinuated that his boss was pushing for it to come out sooner."

"Come on, just play something," Annabeth encouraged as she gestured to the piano. "Maybe I can help. This thing can't be too hard to play, right?"

I laughed as Annabeth attempted to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with some success. She grinned and played with concentration.

"Not to brag or anything, but I would say that's pretty good!" Annabeth said with a triumphant smile. "Maybe you could cover Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Or, ooh, even better, you could make an album of all easy to play piano songs."

"Ha ha, great," I snapped back as I gently shoved Annabeth over on the seat. "Now let me show you how to really play the piano."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow in doubt and crossed her arms. "Are you saying you know how to play better than me? Because I had professional lessons...for about a week. Then my piano teacher quit on me."

"My mom was my teacher, so she couldn't technically quit, but I'm pretty sure she was super close to giving me up for adoption," I retorted as I cracked my knuckles. "Now get ready for some serious piano playing."

Annabeth remained silent as I played her one of my older, softer songs that was fairly easy to play. Although I'd had lessons practically all my life, I didn't play the piano much anymore and was getting rusty.

The music, although somewhat choppy and not perfect, impressed Annabeth as her expression softened and a slight smile slipped on her face.

As I finished she clapped sarcastically. I pretended to bow while sitting down, which wasn't easy to do. "Bravo, Percy. I admit, you have defeated me as piano champion."

"I didn't know you ever were piano champion."

"Hey!"

After bickering with me about who was the real piano champion for a few minutes, Annabeth finally picked up the notebook and started flipping through it, silently reading through all the songs that were half written.

Her eyes moved across the pages as she silently read, occasionally nodding or flaring her nostrils in disgust.

"Okay, this one is decent," she admitted as she snatched a pencil from me and started crossing things out.

"Decent? Wow, you're too kind," I said. "Hey, what are you crossing out? I thought it was decent!"

She scribbled down some final notes as I snatched the notebook out of her grasp. As I read the notes, I couldn't help but realize that she was right.

As I played and sung along to her suggestions I couldn't help but agree. "This...this is actually good now. How did you do that?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I'm a woman of many talents. And I have to play instruments for movies sometimes, so I've picked up how to read sheet music, make adjustments to lyrics, stuff like that. Now here, let me try something..."

She slid over on the bench and started playing something that I recognized from my notes. Her hands were shaky and she could barley play it.

"Here, let me help..." I whispered as I placed my arm around hers and helped her readjust where her hands should be. "There, now hit that key, yeah, like that..."

As she missed another key she snorted. I placed my hand over hers and directed her where to hit the piano.

"No, right there..." I said as I drew my face closer to hers. "Okay, now try again. You've got this."

She looked up at me and, completely deserting the piano, placed her hands on my cheeks and pulled me into a kiss.

My hands instantly wrapped around her as she pulled me back down onto the piano bench.

Before we could do anything else, a knock on the door caused me to completely fall onto the piano, causing it to make extensive noise.

Annabeth laughed as she instantly jolted up. "Who's here?"

I shrugged as I rubbed my sore arm that had slammed into the piano. "I dunno, but whoever it is I'm gonna kill them."

"Or bill them for your medical bills."

"Oh, stop it."

As Annabeth lept into my hallway, I opened the door, which revealed Grover who just welcomed himself in and instantly walked over to my couch.

"Hey, man, you got any food?" he asked as he plopped down on my couch. "I'm too broke and lazy to go to the grocery store."

I frowned as I joined Grover in the living room and placed my hands on my hips. "Dude, could you not just barge in here?"

He fumbled with my remote as he ignored making eye contact with me. "Ooh, I love this show, and I knocked!"

I rolled my eyes as I snatched the remote from Grover's hand. "I know, but you couldn't wait for me to address you? Bro, this is my place."

"And like I said, mine has no food," Grover replied nonchalantly. Then his eyes grew wide. "Oh, hi there."

I turned to see Annabeth dressed in the pair of jeans she'd worn last night and one of my hoodies, all her stuff in her hands.

"Ahh, Percy, I thought you turned the company away?" she asked as she awkwardly joined us in the living room.

Grover shook his head as he stood up and instantly knocked a few dishes off of my coffee table. "Dude, your place is super messy. Uh, hi, Annabeth Chase. I'm meeting Annabeth Chase."

Annabeth shook Grover's extended hand awkwardly. "Yes, and who am I meeting?"

"Undergrover Wood," he said with a grin. Then his grin faltered as he realized his mistake. "Sorry about that, Grover Underwear. Wait, no—"

"It doesn't matter as Grover was just leaving!" I said with a nervous grin as I pushed Grover out of the room and into the hallway. "I'll call you later and explain everything—"

"Oh, there's no need to explain," Grover said with a wink. I rolled my eyes as I slammed the door on him. "Sorry, Annabeth."

I turned to see Annabeth pulling her coat on. "I'm sorry, Percy, but I should probably go, too."

I sighed as I led her to the door. "Just wait a minute so you don't have to share an elevator with Grover."

"Hey, since we have time, my mom invited you to Christmas," I blurted out. "I totally understand if you have plans, but Estelle really loved you and my mom insisted I invite you, and—"

She laughed as she tiptoed to place a kiss on my cheek. "Of course I'll go, and I thank you for the lovely time last night. And this morning."

My face turned red as I could do was impishly nod and babble. She grinned as she walked down the hall and wave. I hesitantly waved back.

And as I watched the elevator doors close, I couldn't help but grin and place a hand to where she'd kissed me.