The days slipped by quickly and in a haze. Everyday the project and building plans slowly inched along, and nearly everyday I saw Percy, which was painful as is without having to work with him.

The rain left was was quickly replaced with a cold front near December. Well, cold for California, which is fifty degrees and shorts weather back in New York.

The days of December went by and soon it was the last day before Christmas break. I, of course, was stressing over building plans. My company had recently given me a deadline for the project, which had sent me into overdrive.

"Annabeth, it's almost six-thirty," my boss said as he exited his office and his made his way to my desk, which happened to be near the exit. "Your designs are great, but it's almost Christmas. Nearly everyone left ages ago."

This was true. Nearly all of my co-workers had left already when my boss released them half an hour early. The only people that remained were me, my boss, and, of course, Percy. At least I thought he remained as I hadn't seen him leave yet, not like I was watching for it or something.

I smiled at my boss in an attempt to put him at ease. "I know, but I have to finish one last thing. Then I'm leaving. Is...is Mr. Jackson still here?"

"I'm not sure," he replied as he checked his watch. "Ah, I've gotta go. My wife will kill me if I'm late to dinner. Perhaps you can find Mr. Jackson in the conference room. Are you looking for him to speak about his indecisiveness?"

"Actually, yes," I responded with a nod as I stood up from my chair. "I emailed him, like, twenty times today about lighting, each email with no reply."

My boss frowned. "That's strange, but don't worry. All of us get lazier towards holidays. Good luck and have a happy holiday."

He waved at me a final time before leaving. I nodded and worked up the courage to enter the conference room where, sure enough, Percy was waiting.

"We need to talk," I said, somewhat harsher than I meant.

His expression hardened. He was sitting down on one of the plastic chairs, his arms folded over his chest. "Oh, so now you wanna talk?"

"About business," I interjected with a harsh glance in his direction. He narrowed his eyes but didn't lessen his intense gaze on me. "You don't reply to my messages, take days to decide simple things. I'm starting to think that you want this project to fail."

Percy laughed angrily before slamming his laptop closed. "I don't want this project to succeed? I'm spending tons of money and spending all these days here because I want the project to fail?! You're killing me, Chase!"

"I'm killing you?!" I nearly shouted, anger growing in me. "I get one huge break for my career and now it might not even happen because of you!"

"Oh, so I'm just a huge break in your career? That's all I am to you?" he asked me as he stood up out of his seat, clearly upset. "And this is all my fault, huh? Just blame everything on me!"

I clenched my fists in anger in an attempt to calm myself down. "My firm, they don't like having big projects like this linger. They want the plans to be finalized by April, and with your indecisiveness, we're lucky to be halfway through this project in two years!"

Percy's eyes widened as he took a deep breathe. "Well, maybe you need to actually communicate with me to finish the project! Maybe you should just talk to me. And no, emailing doesn't count!"

"Well, maybe I would if you actually replied to me once in a while!" I replied. "We're on the same team, Percy! Stop pushing me away—"

Then, in an instant, Percy pulled me close to him and kissed me. His hands quickly cupped my face as our kiss intensified in a moment of passion. My heart beat against my chest as I wrapped my own hands around his neck, tousling his hair in the process.

I've kissed Percy loads of times, but this kiss....it was different. This kiss meant something. It made up for our years apart, our years of longing.

The kiss ended slowly. Neither of us wanted it to end, but it had to. When we pulled apart it was quick and Percy quickly blinked.

"I...I think we should wait for the project to end," he told me, his voice rambling. "We should wait to sort all this out..."

I nodded, unable to speak a single word. It was as if he'd stolen my breath. I watched as he slowly packed his things and headed out of the conference room.

My knees felt as if they were going to buckle, so I quickly fell into a chair, my eyes wide and a million thoughts running through my head.

Before I could address any of these thoughts, Percy's appeared back in the conference room, this time wearing a goofy grin and his face had a slightly pink tint to it.

"Oh, and have a Merry Christmas," he said with a wink before leaving for a final time. I could barely hear his voice from the hall once he'd left. "And a Happy New Year."