Rachel's father picked her and Caly up and brought them to her home to grab their things. The two girls had been bonding a lot, and had even gotten ready for the dance together. Grover's uncle did the same for him and Juniper, leaving Annabeth and I to walk alone.

"Did you have fun?" I asked her.

Annabeth looked up at me. "Of course. I had a blast."

"Good."

We passed the park where so many memories had been made. It was where our Spring Fling pictures were taken hours before, where I had comforted Annabeth while she was stressing about college, and where she had seen me arguing with Thalia all those years ago. I reached for her hand and tugged her down a familiar path. 

"Seaweed Brain, what are you doing? The guys are going to be at your place soon."

I shrugged. "They can wait. Come on."

We walked side by side down the narrow path, avoiding branches and other obstacles. Eventually we found ourselves staring up at a large pine tree.

"This is the spot," I murmured.

Annabeth nodded. "I remember it like it was yesterday."

"It's been almost four years, Wise Girl. Isn't that crazy?"

"It feels longer," she admitted. "I feel like I've known you my entire life."

I smiled at her. "I hope that's a good thing."

"I don't plan on it ending any time soon."

We took in our surroundings a few moments longer before finally heading home.

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"Now, now, kiddos. Where were you?" Rachel scolded, wagging her pointer finger teasingly.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and jerked her thumb at me. "We took a detour at the park. This guy dragged me there."

"You loved it, admit it, Wise Girl."

Annabeth had gotten a chance to change at her house before we came to the apartment, but I was still in my formal clothes. I excused myself to my bedroom to go change and neaten it up for the guests.

I slowly peeled my dress clothes off and hung them immediately so I wouldn't accidentally ruin them. I pulled on sweatpants, a tee shirt, and my Goode High school swim captain hoodie. I straightened my covers out, closed my drawers, and straightened the clutter lining my dresser.

I did one final swoop of the room before meeting with everyone in the living room.

"Alright, what do you guys want to do? Mom said to quiet down around midnight, and we have almost three hours until then."

"Um, let's play Never Have I Ever, and if you have, you've got to eat a but of the grossest thing we make from the fridge, or suffer a consequence made by the group," Caly suggested.

Rachel smirked. "You've got a whole lot of evil under that little mask, huh?"

Caly blushed. "Is that a yes?"

We all agreed, marching to the kitchen.

"Okay, everyone grab a condiment and a random item, then we'll blend it up," I ordered.

Hopefully Mom doesn't mind, I thought, because things might get messy.

We ended up with a gooey brown mixture of ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish, barbecue sauce, sriracha, eggs, Swiss cheese, bread, bananas, chocolate chips, and sprinkles.

I plugged my nose and gagged, pouring the nasty concoction into six glasses.

"Hopefully everyone has high tolerance," I muttered.

"I am not consuming that monstrosity," Annabeth stated as we all sat in a circle in my room.

I poked her arm. "Prepare to face the consequences," I said dramatically.

"Okay, we'll go clockwise, starting with Caly since it was her idea."

"Oh boy, alright. Never have I ever been on a plane."

Annabeth grimaced. "How much do I have to drink?"

I laughed. "One big sip."

She sighed and downed a tiny amount of the mixture. Rachel and Grover followed suit.

"My turn," Rachel announced. "Never have I ever been kicked out of a school."

I glared at her and held the glass to my lips. "That was rude," I commented, wiping my lips.

I'm not going to describe the taste of the drink because I don't want to live through it again, and also because I care about your mental wellbeing.

"Never have I ever assaulted an adult with a beauty tool." I smirked.

"Perseus Jackson!" Rachel squealed. "It was one time!"

"Drink up, Rache."

"No way. Give me a punishment, that was nasty and I am not putting myself through it again."

"Alright," Grover piped. "You have to perform thirty seconds of your favorite song, like a music video."

"And we can record it," I added.

"Whatever. It's better than that."

Rachel stood and gave us a wonderful show of The Beatles' hit song Lucy in The Sky with Diamonds.

"Oh, bravo," I cheered, clapping like a proud mother.

"Shut it, Kelp Head."

It was Annabeth's turn. "I'm going to go with a basic one, so, sorry? Never have I ever kissed a girl."

Grover and I both drank, and so did Rachel, surprisingly.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"It was a dare," she spat.

"No, I thought you didn't want to drink anymore of this stuff."

"Oh." She shrugged. "I didn't want to put myself through something like that again."

"More like put us through something like that again," Annabeth retorted. "That was painful, Red."

I chuckled. "You're up, G-Man."

"Never have I ever eaten an avocado," he said.

Juniper was the only one that didn't ingest any of the mixture.

"Never have I ever been on a boat," she stated when it was finally her turn.

I groaned, throwing back the drink into my throat. I had become immune to the explosion of flavors, and I didn't take that as a good thing.

"Never have I ever been to Europe," Calypso said.

Nobody had any of the mixture.

"Guess who's turn it is!" Rachel sang. "Never have I ever kissed my best friend."

I pressed my hand against my heart. "I wasn't your best friend?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, never have I ever kissed a blonde."

Nobody drank. Annabeth blushed.

"Liar!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Nah uh! You said kissed, not been kissed by!" I pointed out.

"What?! That still counts!"

"Whatever! What's my punishment? I refuse to have anymore for now."

"Yes!" Rachel shouted. "Okay, you have to dance with Annabeth."

"What kind of dance?" I asked.

"You'll figure it out."

"Wait, add another factor. That's too easy," Grover said.

"Do it with ice in your pants," Annabeth blurted.

I glared at her. "You traitor!" I bellowed jokingly.

I trudged to the kitchen and grabbed some ice from the freezer, sadly dropping it into my pants. I sprinted to my room and tugged Annabeth up.

Rachel put on a song. "You have to dance until the ice has melted."

I wasn't sure what Rachel expected. I just hugged Annabeth close and swayed side to side, tentatively placing my hands on the small of her back. Annabeth's hands were loosely hanging on top of my shoulders.

She buried her face in my neck and laughed. "It's cold!"

I rubbed my nose against her hair, inhaling the addicting scent. "Yeah, how do you think I feel?"

Personally, my entire body was on fire. I couldn't think of a time where I had been this close to her, where I could feel every curve and dip of her body.

I grabbed Annabeth's hand and made her do a twirl. She laughed, spinning back to me.

Moments later, I stepped back. "It's done."

"That was lame!" Rachel booed.

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry, not sorry. Never have I ever..."

We went around the circle a few more times until we eventually got tired. I helped the girls lay out blankets on my floor while Grover went to the kitchen to grab waters and snacks.

After they were all set, I went to the kitchen to check on Grover.

"Hey, Perce," he said.

"Hi."

"I have a question. What's up with you and Annabeth?"

I groaned, putting my face in my hands. "I don't know, G-Man. I really like her, but she just doesn't feel the same. Any time I mention anything relating to the idea of us being, you know, together, she either changes the subject or laughs."

"Have you ever actually asked her how she feels?" he asked curiously.

I shook my head. "No."

"Then how do you know she doesn't feel the same way as you do?"

I stared at Grover, deep in thought.

He patted my shoulder, walking past me.

"Maybe you should find out how she feels. That's the only way to get anywhere, Perce."

Grover was right. I needed to man up and ask Annabeth out, old school style.

I needed to quit acting like a coward and turn into the Percy Jackson everybody else saw me as.

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Eh? You likey, or nah? I wasn't sure about the whole Never Have I Ever scene, but idk what people do at gatherings like this so I just added it. Let me know if and how I should change it.

This story is reaching its climax! I don't want to say how many chapter are left, but my estimate is about ten...which is almost sad.

If you did like this story, leave a vote and let's start a Never Have I Ever in the comments, no consequences required ;) Never have I ever owned a cat!