When Percy and I reached my apartment door, I took a deep breathe and guarded the door with my body to prevent him from entering. He raised his eyebrows in confusion, causing me to sigh.

"Okay, fair warning, I didn't know anyone was coming over," I warned Percy as I raised my hands up in surrender. I half murmured the next sentence. "I really hope Thalia cleaned up..."

As I opened the door I learned, in fact, Thalia has not cleaned up. The apartment was average sized with three tiny, closet-sized bedrooms and one bathroom.

The first thing that a person would notice about the apartment was the state of mess and disarray it was in. Alice's toys, Thalia's schoolwork, and several other items lay on the floor along with dust.

"Thalia, why?!" I murmured as I stepped over a stack of her textbooks she'd been using to change a lightbulb to get into the entryway. After helping Percy enter I spread my arms out. "Anyways, this is it!"

"Cozy," Percy commented as he peered around the apartment. "It's definitely lived in. What happened to you, Chase? You used to be the cleanest person I knew, even cleaner than my mom!"

I rolled my eyes as we made our way through the messy apartment, me guiding Percy through the mess. "Oh it's definitely lived in. And a kid and a Thalia created this mess, not me—"

Before I could finish my sentence, a door opened and a small figure came running at me into they crashed into my legs.

"Mommy!" a small voice called as they finally reached me. Alice grinned before wrapping her small arms around my legs.

"Hey, baby, how was daycare?" I asked her as I scooped her off the ground. She squealed with excitement as she wrapped her arms around me. "I'm assuming good then, huh?"

She laughed and nodded before her eyes finally settled on Percy. She frowned and pointed at him. "Who's that?"

"I'm Percy," he replied, extending his hand out to her as if they were in a business meeting. "Nice to meet you."

Alice peered at his hand before shrugging and shaking it very powerfully. "Nice to meet you, too, Purse."

Percy opened his mouth to correct her but shrugged and closed it, thinking better of it. Then he pointed at her shirt. "Is that Nemo on your shirt?"

"Yes! It's my favorite movie!" she said proudly as she puffed out her chest and grinned.

"No kidding! It's mine, too!" Percy replied with a laugh.

Alice's eyes lit up as she studied Percy up and down. "Wow, really?! You're super cool!"

"Oh, well, thanks," said Percy, clearly dumbfounded. His face went red. "I like her."

"What's he doing here?" Alice questioned as I set her back down on the ground and she peered up at Percy unknowingly.

"Uh, it doesn't matter," I blurted back after peering up at Percy and then back down at her. "Where is Auntie Thals?"

"My room," she replied simply as she crossed her arms, unsatisfied because I didn't answer her previous question.

I laughed it off and ignored her scowl. I placed a delicate hand on her back and started to usher her down the hallway and back towards her room. "How about you go play with her? C'mon, it'll be fun!"

She groaned and rolled her eyes sarcastically. "I've been playing all day. Can we watch Nemo?"

"Maybe later," I replied.

She peered up at me, curling her lip and widening her eyes in an attempt to convince me, which nearly made me cave. "Pwease?!"

"We'll see. Mommy has a lot of work to do, but maybe Auntie Thals can," I told her.

"Fine, but then can we watch Nemo tonight?" she begged, curling her lip out and widening her eyes.

She sighed deeply like I'd given her a death sentence before rushing back off to her room, muttering something under her breath the whole way.

"Sorry about that," I told Percy as I led him to my bedroom in search of a change of clothes. "She's usually calmer than that."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Annabeth, she was great! And she's super adorable. And....well, you probably don't remember this, but, uh....you know what, never mind."

I frowned and crossed my arms. I paused right in front of my bedroom door, forcing both of us to stop walking and stand still. "Remember what? You can tell me."

Percy laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. "Well, back in high school when we were dating you actually bought me a Finding Nemo stuffed animal."

"Oh, I remember," I responded honestly with a light chuckle. "It was the movie we watched at your place for our first date. And Sally made her amazing blue cookies. God, those were great cookies."

Percy grinned. "Yeah well, maybe I'll just have to bring you one someday. I need to keep my architects well fed."

"I don't think that's in your job description," I replied sarcastically with a wink. "Now, let's fix your shirt."

He nodded, his shirt clearly far from his mind. "Do you have any suggestions?"

I narrowed my eyes as I peered at his shirt. I nodded before opening my bedroom door and allowing us both inside.

My bedroom was somewhat of an oasis in the messy apartment. It was prestigiously neat with an almost always made bed, freshly swept floors, and with no clutter to be seen. The only 'clutter' I had was a few photos, but that was it.

I ushered for Percy to sit, which he did. Once he was sat down I made my way over to my tiny closet and started rifling through all of my clothes before finally settling on something.

My hands quickly found the thing I was looking for: Percy's old high school swim team sweatshirt. It was oversized and had been gifted to me when Percy and I had first started dating.

The sweatshirt was blue with the words AHS Swim Team printed on the front in bold, white letters with a wave design underneath it. The back had the name Jackson in equally bold letters.

Percy's eyes lit up as he saw the sweatshirt and immediately rose to his feet and snatched the sweatshirt out of my hands and examined it. "You kept this?! And look, it's still in mint condition!"

He pulled it on over his ruined shirt. It was a little tight on him, but the wide grin spread across his face made up for it.

"That looks....simply stunning," I said, choking back laughter. "You look like you're still in high school!"

"Well, I think I may just have to steal this back," he said defensively with a smirk. Then he stuck a hand in my closet and rifled the clothes around. "Any more clothes of mine you've stolen in here, Chase?"

Yes, yes there is.

My face went red as I shoved his hand away and slammed the closet doors shut. "None of your business, Jackson."

He smiled weakly at me. For a moment there was just silence, but not the awkward type. It was comfortable, it was familiar. Our eyes met and he opened his mouth to speak, but we were interrupted.

"Hey, Annab—?" Thalia started, barging into my room. She quickly dropped the sentence as a smirk grew on her face. "Oh, I see you two are busy in here."

My face turned bright red and I instantly started to shake my head. "No, no, it's okay, Thalia. What did you need?"

"If you insist," Thalia replied sarcastically. "Well, Alice said she really wants to watch Finding Nemo. She says the 'cool guy' suggested it? We have a cool guy here?"

Percy laughed dryly. "Very funny, Thalia. I see you haven't changed a bit. How have you been?"

Thalia shrugged. "Fine, cool guy."

"I like that it's catching on," he replied proudly, choosing to ignore her sarcasm.

"Well, Percy should get going soon," I said awkwardly as I led them both out of my room, closing the door behind me. "He has meetings to attend to."

"Nemo time!" Alice yelled as she rushed into the room, crashing into my legs.

I sighed as I quickly located the television remote. Alice grinned and jumped onto the couch as I put on the movie.

Completely forgetting about Percy, I sat down besides Alice. She immediately snuggled against me and stared wide-eyed at the movie.

"Wait, is he gonna stay?" Alice asked, breaking her focus on the movie to peer up at Percy and point. "Cool guy likes Nemo!"

Percy, who had began to stare at the screen with the same expression as Alice, clearly transfixed, smiled and nodded. "Sure, Alice. But only if it's okay with your mommy."

Alice peered up at me with the same begging face she'd used earlier. "Please, mommy? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Uh...." I started before glancing at Percy, who was giving me the same expression. "Only if it fits into Percy's schedule. Don't you have a meeting? Or two?"

"I...I have some time," said Percy with a half-smile, but I could tell he was lying. "I think I can stay for a little bit."

Alice smiled triumphantly before returning all of her attention back to the movie. Percy awkwardly sank into one of the chairs before continuing watching the movie.

After a few minutes went by, Thalia tapped on my shoulder, causing me to jolt and then turn around to face her.

"Sorry to interrupt the movie screening happened here, but I could I ask you about something homework related in the hall?" she asked, which didn't cause either Percy nor Alice to flinch.

I nodded and reluctantly stood up and followed Thalia into the hallway of our apartment building, only to notice she was empty handed.

"So, where's this homework you need help on?" I asked as she quietly closed the door. I scanned the hallway as if that would help me find it.

Thalia dramatically rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, causing me to frown. "What is he doing here?! And with Alice! Did you tell him?!" 

I sighed and rubbed my temple. "No, no. I haven't told him...and I don't think I'm going to."

"So you're just playing games with him, huh?" Thalia snapped at me. "You clearly want nothing to do with him! You've made that very much clear over the years."

"I—I know!" I whispered, trying my best to keep my voice level down in case Percy could hear us. "I've tried to avoid him all these years, you know that! But....but he lives here now, in California! And I'm working with him! That's why we were getting coffee, that's why we're in this mess now."

Thalia groaned. "You need to either tell him the truth, quit the project, or just treat him professionally and hope this passes. No more bringing him over like this!"

I nodded. "I know you're right, but I can't decline this project, it'll be huge for my career. But I don't know if I can keep this secret. We're working together now, he's bound to get suspicious!"

"Yeah, I'm surprised he doesn't know already," Thalia said as she peered at the door, making sure it was closed all the way. "He must be pretty clueless."

"He must be. He hasn't noticed that the last time we were together is how old Alice," I said. "I was such a stupid teen. If I just would've told him all those years ago, we wouldn't be in this mess now."

"It's too late to ponder upon now," Thalia said in a fake, old English accent, causing me to frown with confusion. "What? We're reading Shakespeare! I think I do a pretty good Shakespearean voice, what do you think?"

She wiggled her eyebrows at me, causing me to roll my eyes and enter the apartment, Thalia on my trail.

Treat him professionally, I thought as I took in a shaky breathe and entered the living room, where Percy and Alice were debating about their favorite Finding Nemo characters.

"Percy, could we go over some of the office plans?" I asked after clearing my throat to gain his attention.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Percy said disappointingly as he stood up. He followed me into the kitchen, but before we left the room he pointed at Alice, who giggled. "This isn't over yet!"

She grinned widely, revealing a missing front tooth. "Can Percy come over more?"

Percy placed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I'm working with your mom right now, maybe later, okay?"

"Okay," she said reluctantly, turning to face the television. Then Thalia joined her, causing her to completely forget about Percy.

"Over here fine?" I asked as I led Percy to our kitchen counter. I cleared away a few socks and textbooks as he pulled up a chair.

He nodded and sat down before tapping his fingers against the countertop. "Sure, I don't mind. She's really cute by the way."

"T-thanks," I stammered, trying my best to stay professional and not let my mind wander. "So, office b-buildings?"

"And didn't you say she was five? She's already missing a front tooth, that's pretty advanced," he said, clearly impressed. Then a frown appeared on his face.

I shrugged it off and tried my best to refocus on building plans. "She's a fast grower, I guess."

He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, I get that. I actually lost my front teeth early, too, you know."

"Oh, well, I did, too," I lied, my face a bright red. He must know how. How can he not?! "She must get it from me. Maybe her dad, too."

Percy's face sunk at the mention of her father, but he nodded. "So this guy, do I know him?"

"No," I answered immediately, which caused Percy to raise an eyebrow suspiciously. "I didn't really know him well, either, when Alice was born. But that's not why you're here. Do you have a design for the exterior in mind?"

"You didn't really know him?" he asked, completely ignoring my last question. "So he wasn't from Goode, was he?"

I shook my head and gathered all of the pieces of paper in front of us and spread them out for him to look at, but he ignored them and continued staring at me. "Nope, he wasn't. In fact, he wasn't from New York. He was from Oklahoma or Minnesota, can't remember which one right now...."

He shrugged. "Weird. So, what does he do? Rocket scientist? CEO?"

"Accountant," I blurted out suddenly. "Uh, he's an accountant."

"Well, I'd like to meet this guy one day," Percy decided, bouncing his leg up and down. "I'm actually looking for an accountant for my company."

"Wow, they have you doing all sorts of stuff over there," I said with a nervous smile. "Now, how about cost? What's your budget?"

He stopped moving and stared at me with his intense, sea-green eyes. "Can I have his number? Company name? Knowing you, you only date the most prestigious accountants."

My face grew warm as I peered down at my shoes, trying to escape Percy's gaze. "He's out of state. Moved back home. That's why we broke up and why he barely....never mind."

"No, tell me," he said. "You can tell me, you know. We've known each other since, well, forever, or at least it seems that way."

"That's why he never visits," I lied. "He loves Alice and all, but he doesn't really know her. He hasn't seen her in two Christmas's...."

Percy nodded sadly. "That's messed up. If...if I had a kid, I'd visit them every day. Do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Stuff like that."

I almost choked. "Well, then, why don't you have any?"

"You need a wife for that," he explained with a laugh. "Or at least a partner, which I have none of."

"Well, you should look," I blurted out. He opened his mouth to respond, but I cut him off, fearing his response. "Since you're clearly not in the mood for business, how about you stop prying in my personal life and get to those meetings or finish Finding Nemo?"

He licked his lips before nodding and standing up. He headed towards the living room where he sunk back down into a chair and Alice cheered.

"You're seriously staying?" I asked him, eyebrows raised and holding back my laughter.

He shrugged. "You said I could. Oh, and by the way, I didn't mean to pry."

My face went red and I nodded. "No, no....it's okay."

He gave me one last wink before focusing all of his attention on the screen. While he, Thalia, and Alice watched I attempted to get my work done, but my mind kept wandering.

Why didn't I just tell Percy the truth? I suppose it was difficult to get in contact with him since I'd found out about Alice the day after I'd moved to California, a few days after I'd broken things off with Percy.

I had resisted originally telling him due to fear. I was afraid of how he might react. Would he be angry at me for ruining our futures? We'd both been accepted to good colleges, and if he knew about Alice he would most likely insist on dropping out to get a job. And I couldn't ruin his future like that.

Would he lose his future and grow to resent both of us? Maybe I should tell him. Or would he be even angrier at me now for keeping this all a secret from him?

God I wish I would've told him.