Chapter Text
Annabeth
Annabeth paid almost double her cab fare in her rush to leave, pushing a wad of cash into the driver’s hand. It was probably the busiest week of the year for airports, and she had exactly one hour to get through security and find her gate. Her only saving grace was that she didn’t need to check a bag. Packing light had never worked in her favor so well.
As expected, the security line was ridiculous, but it seemed to be moving at a decent pace. She checked her watch about every two minutes. Finally, she made it to the front of the line, yanking her shoes off and setting them in a bin, along with her phone, laptop, and belt. She bounced on the balls of her feet anxiously as she waited for her turn to go through the metal detector. In just a few minutes, she was through and slipping back into her shoes.
She all but crashed into people as she ran through the corridors. Finally, there it was. The gate for her flight back to New York. With twenty minutes left until boarding, she’d made it.
Annabeth collapsed into one of the few seats available, her chest heaving with her deep breaths.
“You okay?” she heard from her left. A man was looking at her with an amused grin.
Her cheeks flushed red as she tried to collect herself. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m just not normally late for flights.”
“Well, at least you made it.”
Annabeth nodded, and the man returned to his phone screen. She exhaled quietly as she sent a text to Piper, letting her know she was at the airport. Piper was the only person, aside from her family, who knew she was getting on a plane today. Mainly because there weren’t mainly people in New York that cared too much about Annabeth coming back.
“Attention, due to the snow storm in New York, flight DA3894 from San Francisco to New York City has been canceled. Please see the attendant’s desk for more information.”
For a moment, Annabeth stared up at the ceiling from where the announcement had just played. Everyone seemed frozen for a second, unsure if they’d heard it correctly. Then, all at once, people began getting up, complaints were thrown around, and the line for the attendant’s desk began to grow longer and longer.
Annabeth just sat there.
“You’re fucking kidding,” the man next to her murmured, bringing her back to her senses.
“Please tell me that wasn’t our flight,” she whispered. The man looked over and sighed.
“Well, I’d hate to lie to you.”
“Fuck,” she whispered, opening her phone back up. The line of people trying to get information was already a mile long. “I’d rather rent a car and drive back myself than deal with this right now.”
“Shit, I’d come with you,” the man said before standing up. “I’m going to go stand in line. Want to come with me?”
Annabeth glanced at the line again. “No,” she said, deciding to figure out another way around this. “Would you mind letting me know what they tell you, though? I’ll watch your stuff for you.”
“Yeah, sure. Thanks,” he nodded once and went to stand at the end of the line. Piper hadn’t even responded yet, but Annabeth shot her another text letting her know that the flight was canceled. From the looks of it, every flight into New York had been canceled. Annabeth swore she’d checked the weather app just yesterday, there wasn’t meant to be any snow until next week. But as she checked it again now, it was definitely snowing hard in New York.
“Fuck,” she muttered again. She was looking into hotels nearby when the man returned.
“I have a lot of bad news,” he said, taking his seat beside her. “All flights into New York are canceled. As of right now, they’re suggesting flights into Delaware or Jersey, though almost all the flights there have several layovers, most of which are hours long.”
“God,” she muttered. “Most of the decent hotels around here are sold out or insanely expensive.”
The man shook his head, slipping his phone out of his pocket and looking down at it. Annabeth was just about to book a hotel that was slightly too much for the quality when he said, “It’s a 43 hour drive from here to Manhattan.”
Annabeth’s head snapped up, but he was still looking at his phone. A few seconds later, he tilted his head to the side. “And a rental car would be 120 a day.”
“I wasn’t being serious,” Annabeth said.
He looked up. “I mean, yeah. But why not?”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it. It’s either spend almost two days trying to get to Delaware, and then have to fly or drive the rest of the way to New York. And by then, there still might not even be flights, because this snow is predicted to last for two days straight. Or, just… drive there now.”
Annabeth stared at him, trying to decipher whether he was serious or not. Surely, he couldn’t be. “I can’t just drive across the country with you,” she said slowly.
“Why not?”
“I don’t even know your name, for starters.”
He stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m Percy.”
Annabeth continued to stare. But the man, Percy, just stared back, his hand outstretched. She took it after another few seconds. “Annabeth,” she said, shaking his hand. “We still don’t know each other.”
“Good thing we have two days to learn.”
She tapped her nails against the armrest of the chair. She hated that she was contemplating this, but she really didn’t want to consider the alternatives. Staying in a hotel for a few days wasn’t terrible, but she wasn’t sure when flights to New York would be available again. Percy obviously sensed that she needed a few minutes as he scrolled through his phone. She studied him. He didn’t seem like a serial killer, though she assumed most serial killers didn’t seem like killers until it was too late.
Percy looked up at her again. “I think I’m going to do this regardless. I need to get home sooner rather than later. It would be nice to have some company, as well as an extra driver. But it’s up to you.”
Oddly enough, Annabeth thought about what her dad would say. Her careful, timid father whose idea of an adventure was a day out at the museums. And then she thought about what Piper would say. Her crazy best friend who always pushed her in the best ways. It could be fun, Annabeth.
“Okay,” Annabeth said, shaking her head. “But if you try to murder me, I’ll kill you.”
Percy blinked. “I feel like I should be the one worried, now.”
They both got to their feet. They first had to get their refunds issued, which took less time than anticipated because the desk had opened up two extra lines. While they waited, they briefly discussed how they would split up the payments and quickly decided that at the end of their trip, they’d just divide the total cost of the car, gas, and hotels evenly.
They had to get Percy’s bag next because he’d checked one in for the flight. While he did that, Annabeth searched for a rental car service and found one even cheaper than Percy had earlier. Only by ten dollars, but cheaper nonetheless. Just before she clicked the button to finalize the car, she hovered for a second.
Was she really about to cross the country with someone she only knew the name of?
She glanced up at him. He was talking to the employee at the luggage desk, somehow smiling even though they were stuck in this situation. She’d heard him give his full name to the attendant earlier when they were getting their refunds issued - Percy Jackson.
But then she considered the alternative. Staying in a hotel for a few days, or even worse, the disastrous flight and layover situations… No, this was definitely a better option. Her thumb tapped the green button, and a confirmation message came through letting her know she had a white sedan waiting for her at the rental place connected to the airport.
Percy returned with his suitcase. “Get the car?”
“White Nissan Altima,” she said. “I think the rental place is this way.”
They walked down the corridor in silence, and the realization began to set in. She was going on a trip, one that would last at least three days, with a complete stranger. They would be stuck in a car together for upwards of 43 hours, with nothing but the radio and themselves to provide entertainment. Annabeth wasn’t an introvert in the slightest, but the potential awkwardness of their situation was settling in and she realized how much of a mistake this could be.
What if they didn’t get along? What if they hated each other? They’d have no choice but to ride this out and get to New York. She took a deep breath, it was too late to back out now. They managed to find the car rental booth without getting lost and Annabeth stepped up to the desk.
She gave the lady behind the desk, who looked bored out of her mind, her information and in return, she got a set of keys. “The car is in the first lane, spot ten. Drive safe,” she said, hardly looking away from her computer screen.
“Thank you,” Annabeth replied, slipping her finger through the key ring and turning away. “First lane, spot ten,” she repeated to Percy. He nodded once, and they walked to the car. As they approached it, Annabeth looked down at the keys and held the button to pop the trunk. They both put their suitcases in it, and she shut it.
And then they paused.
“Are you driving first…?” she asked, unsure if she should hand the keys over to him. “I mean, this was your idea.”
Percy chuckled. “Technically, it was yours.”
“I was joking.”
“Sure, sure,” he said, plucking the keys from her hand. “Yeah, I’ll drive first.”
——————————
Percy
Percy unlocked the doors and slipped into the driver’s seat. He tried to ignore the feeling of Annabeth watching him as he checked his mirrors and adjusted the seat. His car was a bit bigger than this one, so he wasn’t used to being so low to the ground.
He felt a little uncomfortable as Annabeth studied him. Admittedly, he was wondering what she was thinking about him. By the time he’d finished fixing the car’s settings and glanced over at her again, she’d returned her attention to her phone. Her blonde curls had been tugged at by the wind and were falling out of her bun. He wanted to know if they were naturally like that, or if she styled them that way. Regardless, he really liked the way they looked.
Percy took his attention off her and set up the GPS feature the car had. 43 hours and 16 minutes . He exhaled quietly, putting the car in reverse and backing out of the spot.
“Last chance to get out if you want,” Percy said.
Annabeth just chuckled. “Please get me out of San Francisco.”
Percy laughed, pulling out onto the road. For a moment, there was only silence. Not even the radio was on to buffer the tension. He should’ve turned it on sooner but now it felt too awkward to simply reach forward and click the button. If someone didn’t talk soon, Percy felt like he was going to explode. Thankfully, Annabeth filled the silence.
“So, are you just visiting New York for the holidays?”
“No, I was in San Francisco for work,” he said. “I’m going home.”
“Are you originally from there, then?”
“Yep, born and raised,” he nodded. “I live in Manhattan, but I’m visiting my family in Long Island for Christmas.”
“That sounds nice.”
“Yeah, my mom and sister have been living out there for a few years.”
Annabeth nodded. “Do you get to see them often then?”
He nodded again, tapping his fingers on the wheel. He feared digging too far into this conversation, mainly because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stomach it. Sticking to his mom and Stella wouldn’t be too hard though. “Yeah, we’re really close,” he said. “Estelle, my sister, is a lot younger than me but she hasn’t gotten sick of me yet so I try to come around as much as possible for now.”
“That’s sweet,” Annabeth said softly.
Percy turned the conversation around to her. “What about you? Visiting for the holiday?”
“Yep,” Annabeth said. “My family lives in Brooklyn.”
“Oh, nice. Are you close with them?”
There was the briefest pause, so quick, Percy almost didn’t catch it. Except, with the way Annabeth chuckled, almost bitterly, it would’ve been impossible for him to miss. “Eh, depends on the day,” she said simply.
Percy nodded, sensing that there was more to that topic she wasn’t saying. That seemed fair enough to Percy, considering he was in the same boat.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said, though he wasn’t sure he did. There was no one in the world he was closer to than his mother, so he couldn’t imagine any scenario where she wasn’t the first person he turned to. They delved back into silence, and only took a few more minutes for Percy to snap and finally turn the radio on.