Annabeth quickly released me as I turned around to see Rachel standing in my apartment, glaring at me as if she'd just seen a ghost.

She was dressed in her uniform for Starbucks and her crazy red curls were pulled back into a ponytail.

Annabeth stared at me and arched an eyebrow. She placed a hand on her hip. "Who's this? I thought...I thought we had a deal."

"Yeah, well, I'm not too ecstatic to see you either, Miss Perfect," Rachel snapped as she narrowed her eyes at Annabeth. "Percy, could I talk to you privately?"

I looked over at Annabeth, who had crossed her arms and was currently peering out of the huge windows yet again, this time wearing a scowl.

I gulped nervously before nodding and heading over to Rachel, who looked as if she could rip my head off.

She led me out into the hallway, still wearing a look of dismay. "I thought you wanted to talk about us. I thought that you were fake dating her!"

"I was, I am!" I assured her, worry growing on my face. "And I did invite you here to talk about us, but I got the dates confused."

"Dates?" she asked with an arched eyebrow. "So, you're going out with both is us?"

My face turned red as I shook my head fiercely. "No, I meant date as in time, Rachel! And, you said it yourself, it's not like we were exclusive!"

Rachel placed her head in her hands and sighed. "I thought you were different, Percy. But you're just a dumb celebrity who'd dump a commoner like me anytime to go out with Annabeth Chase."

"It's not like that!" I protested as I grabbed her wrist. "Rachel, I told you we weren't dating for real. This is all a publicity stunt—!"

She fought free from my gasp and closed her eyes tightly as if she couldn't even bare to look at me. "Goodbye, Percy."

"No, wait!" I called as she turned and headed towards my elevator. "Rachel, please. You're one of my best friends, I can't lose you!"

"I'll...I'll call you," replied Rachel weakly as she climbed inside the elevator. "But please, don't call me."

The elevator doors closed slowly. I watched they closed completely and Rachel left. I was almost certain she wouldn't call me.

How come I didn't want to run after her? Wasn't that supposed to happen in those cheesy romcom movies? I was supposed to profess my love to her and then we would kiss in the rain.

Rachel hated those movies. We used to bond over making fun of them. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't raining.

The sound of my apartment door opening made me turn. Out walked Annabeth, still glaring at me.

"Is she gone yet?" Annabeth asked distastefully as if the very mention of Rachel was unsavory.

I nodded as I peered down at the floor. Probably forever....

"Should we...should we get going?" she whispered as her grip on her purse tightened. Her face remained emotionless.

I took in a deep breath as I worked up the courage to respond. "I screwed up, I know. Why don't you just get it out of your system now instead of doing it on our date?"

Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows and frowned at me as if I had offended her. "We can't have a fight in the hallway of your building! That's just barbaric!"

"Barbaric?" I asked with a spurt of laughter. "Alright then, shall we go inside and fight? That's much more civil!"

"Oh, stop it!" Annabeth protested as she playfully punched me in the arm. "Fine, I'll talk out here. It's just...you said you'd keep your lady friends away from me. That...that was the deal."

Although I highly doubted this was true, Annabeth looked disappointed, almost heart broken. She knew we weren't exclusive. She knew this wasn't real...right?

I bit my lip as I peered to the side, not being able to see Annabeth's steely expression. "I know. I messed up, big time. This wasn't intentional, though. And Rachel—she's one of my best friends. It's not like I was going to take her out and make out with her in public."

"I hope not!" Annabeth said as she burst out in laughter. "Can we just go now? We've got a lot ahead of us."

I took her hand in mine and nodded. "Deal. Now let's go tell the world about us."

And with that, we walked off.