I watched as Percy fussed around, dusting off invisible dirt of his shirt, trying to tame is untamable hair.

"Do I look oka-" Percy asked.

"Yes, you look fine, Perce. Handsome, even. I don't understand why you're so nervous." I huffed.

"I'm gonna ask her out, Beth. How can I not be?" He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Oh, sure." I mumbled, pushing down my growing jealousy.

I guess I should back up a bit.

So, my best friend Percy, and I have known each other for almost 7 years. We have these little friendaversary- or however you say it- each year in order to celebrate how long we've lasted. It makes it sound like we're dating, but we're not. I wish we were, though.

I also wish we were dressing up for our friendaversary, but when have the fates ever been on my side?

Well, Percy's gonna ask out his girl he likes.

The first girl he's ever liked.

And I, his best friend, don't know who that is.

I guess I should be happy for him, but it's not exactly easy when you have a crush on that person. I can't help but wish that girl was me. It's his first time with the whole relationship stuff, and I can't help with that as I don't have any experience with it either. We're 16, for God's sake!

Anyway, I was dressed up too. For reason I didn't know.

So I asked him why.

His reply was:

"I need to introduce my best friend, right? First impressions matter, Wise girl."

Right.

"Atleast tell me who it is!" I demanded.

He cackled, "Geez. I can give you a hint." His eyes shone.

My ears perked up. I liked hints.

He laughed and said, "She's blonde."

Almost every girl in our school were blonde.

"Wow, that narrows it down a lot, thanks." I deadpanned.

He smiled, "Let's walk to the flower shop. I'll tell you more.

                                                               ***

The walk to the flower shop didn't take that long. Or it was just me with my thoughts. I don't know.

Before we knew it, we were standing in front of the shop, the words 'Florist Flowers' blinking at us.

"In we go." I said.

We scanned the shelves, which were filled with all sorts flowers you could think of. Roses, Lilacs, Dahlias, Orchids, Petunias, Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths and a lot of beautiful flowers I didn't even know existed. I Picked up a bouquet of punk tulips.

"Are these good?" I asked Percy.

He glanced at them, "They're pretty, but I'm looking for something like roses."

"Right." I placed them back on the shelves. I picked up a set of red roses and help them up to him, "What about these?"

"Hmm, something more fresher?" He said sheppishly.

I sighed.

"I'm sorry. I just want it to be perfect." He said and I immediately felt guilty.

"It's fine." I smiled at him.

We walked around, scouring through the shelves a bit more.

Soon, I got bored.

So I hit him with some questions.

"Hey, you said you'll tell me more about this girl." I asked him as casually as I can.

"Hm?" He tilted his head to his right, his eyes fixed on a batch of bright red roses.

"Oh, yeah. Well, she's beautiful." He said.

"You're hopeless." I sighed. "Are you gonna get those?"

"Should I?" He asked me.

"Do you wanna?"

"I don't know."

"Just get them."

                                                               ***

We were walking towards Central Park now.

So, here's a glimpse of Percy's ingenious plan:

We'd go the the park, and wait for her until she arrives, and I'd hide. He'll ask her out, hopefully she says yes, and they live happily ever after.

Yeah, I wasn't keen on participating in his plan.

"Is that all I'm gonna know about this girl? That she's blonde and beautiful?"

He smiled and shook his head, "Nope. She's smart. You two will get along great."

"I'm sure we will." I muttered.

"I really hope she says yes. I want it to be romantic, ya know?" He smiled. "I love her." He said it, his voice barely audible over the bustling city that is New York.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"You- you love her?" I croaked out.

"I do." His eyes shone. For the first time, I recognized the look in his eyes whenever he talked about her.

I swallowed thickly, trying not to get my raging emotions take control.

"Hey, you okay?" Percy stopped in front of me.

"Yep. I'm fine. Just shocked." I forced a laugh.

There was a strange look in his eyes, as if he knew something I didn't.

That didn't make me feel any better.

"So," I said, swallowing the bile rising in my throat. We had arrived at the Park and were standing next to the swings, watching the setting sun. "How did this girl agree to come here?"

"Oh- um. For uh...math homework." He stuttered.

"Math homework." I raised my eyebrows.

"Yep."

"In the middle of Central Park."

"Uh huh."

"Makes sense."

"Yeah." He looked nervous. Beads of sweat trickled down his neck, and his hands were fidgeting with the roses.

He looked like he was gathering up his courage.

"When's she coming?" I looked around.

"Any minute now." He swallowed loudly.

I sighed, playing with the hem of my dress. Tears filled my eyes, and I took a deep breath. I'm  ot going to cry. No. 𝘕𝘰. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴'𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺.

I looked around for a bush to hide when the time comes. I spotted a rather large bush just a few feet from where we were standing. I then fixed my eyes on the sun as it slowly descended, darkness enveloping the world.

"A-Annabeth." I heard Percy say.

"Yeah?" I looked up- no, 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 at him and gasped.

There he was, kneeling down on one knee, holding up the roses to me.

He cleared his throat, "Annabeth I- we've been best friends for seven years now. You've been there for me through thick and thin, when Gabe was in my life, when people bullied me, when I didn't have anyone except my mom to go to. You're my best friend, the one person I can always trust, the one person I can always rely on."

My hands flew up to mouth. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘦.

"And," He continued. "I- I've liked you as more than a friend for- for a long time. So, Wise girl. Will y- would like to be my girlf-"

I cut him off, throwing my arms around him, and he lifted me up and spun me around. I was 𝘦𝘤𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤. I never knew the boy I loved reciprocated the feelings. I pulled back a little and stared at him.

"You love me?" I whispered.

Hie eyes were shining, his cheeks were red, and he was smiling wide. It was the most adorable thing ever.

'I love you." He breathed.

I laughed and hugged him again, harder.

"I love you too, Seaweed brain." I smiled.

He looked down at me, a beautiful smile adorning his beautiful face.

"Can I kiss you?" His lips were inches away from mine.

In response, I pressed my lips to his.

Have you ever noticed how in Disney movies, the main characters kiss and this music starts playing in the background?

Even if we could only hear the honking of the vehicles, my mind took great care of the music part.

And butterflies. So many butterflies in my stomach.

We pulled away and stared into each other's eyes.

"You're a good kisser." He said at last.

I laughed, "Thanks."

"How did you know I was gonna say yes?" I asked him.

"I didn't."

"But you knew I liked you?"

"Yeah, about that...your brothers might have told me." He rubbed the back of his neck.

I gaped at him, "Those little shits."

He laughed and kissed me again, and my mind went blank. I couldn't think of anything except him. Percy, Percy, Percy.....

I should really thank those little shits.

▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎

𝗛𝗶! 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝘁. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀.
𝗔𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗮𝘆, 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗮 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝘆𝘆