Author's Note: Hi! This is my first Lazel fanfic! Hope you enjoy it! I'm a hugeeee Lazel shipper! Oh, and I haven't read all of The Mark Of Athena, I'm like only 270 pages in haha. But, I just reallyyyy wanted to do a Lazel fic! I'll start off from where I'm at in the book, right after Hazel and Leo see the two memories. :)
Leo's P.O.V.
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again...
Don't make me change my mind...
Or, I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl you is impossible to find
You're impossible to find...
-By Secondhand Serenade
I pull some of the cheese out of my grilled cheese sandwich and stuff the huge wad in my mouth. Grilled cheese sandwiches are just about the only thing I eat now a days. Not that I have a problem with that anyways.
"Hey, Valdez."
I know it's her without even having to look up. I know it's her because I've memorized her voice, and pretty much everything about her. I've memorized her smile, the way the corners of her lips turn up and I can see how white her teeth are. I've memorized her golden eyes, and I often get lost looking into them.
I finally look up to meet those pretty eyes of hers and joke,
"Hay's for horses."
She wrinkles her nose in confusion and says,
"Oh. Right."
My lips form into a sweet smile as I stare at her, looking at every detail of her face, even though I've already got it memorized. I love the way her lips are such a pretty pink; I'm tempted to run my thumb across her bottom lip. My eyes are glued to her lips and I can't look away. All I want to do is kiss her.
She laughs, that easy, carefree, angelic laugh of hers.
"What are you looking at Leo?"
"You."
I instantly regret it as soon as I'd said it.
But, she still smiles that perfect 'Hazel' smile of hers.
"Why? Do I have something on my face?"
"No."
"Then why are you looking at me?"
I bite my lip, hard, to keep from doing something I would regret even more. I took a deep breath and replied, still transfixed on those beautiful pair of lips.
"You have an amazing smile. You know that?"
She gives me a slight shake of her head, her curls flopping to the side, and giggles,
"I doubt it."
"No, you do. Gold girl." I chuckle softly.
She meets my eyes and suddenly, I'm not looking at her lips, I'm looking into her eyes. Her eyes are a light brown, like amber. They're so delicate, charming. She's so full of life, everything about her; it's hard to believe she's technically "dead".
"Thanks. Fire boy."
My grin stretches so wide it hurts.
We're both silent after that. I finish my sandwich and I'm just about to get up to leave when Hazel whispers,
"You have a nice smile too..."
"Thanks Hazel."
I slide my chair back and get up.
"Leo...wait." Hazel sighs.
"Yeah?" I raise an eyebrow at her questioningly.
She looks down at her lap, away from my eyes.
"Um...About before..." she trails off, not knowing how to continue. I can see she's uncomfortable talking about it.
"You mean...the memories?"
She gives me a faint nod, and I can see tears forming in her eyes.
"Don't sweat it. It's okay." I tell her, moving to her side, swinging an arm around her shoulder.
She smiles again, that perfect, warm, kind, smile of hers. It's what gets me every time.
"Thanks. Again. I just...feel uncomfortable talking about it..."
"Of course. It's fine."
"Leo...I'm sorry... if the memories...made you uncomfortable."
"Me? No way!"
I'm lying. They made me way uncomfortable. But, I couldn't tell Hazel that.
"I'm glad."
She's still smiling, and she's looking at me. The urge to kiss her is very overwhelming...
I give her the smallest of smiles, leaning my head forward every so slightly.
Her eyes travel down to my lips and I can see confusion unravel in them.
I think back to what Hazel said right before we defeated Narcissus.
"What in the world are you thinking?"
I'd replied,
"I try not to think. It interferes with being nuts."
And, here I was again, not thinking.
I lean my head closer to her.
She stares at me, but she doesn't back away. I can't tell if she knows what I'm about to do, or if I even know what I'm about to do for that matter. I run my thumb across the edge of her lips, like I'd wanted to before, and I move onto her cheek, slowly caressing her cheek with my thumb.
"Leo..." she whispers quietly, but I don't even hear her. My lips were only inches from hers.
I'm still in mild shock that she hasn't backed away from me yet. I move my head closer...1 inch more...but then...I hear footsteps. I back away from Hazel so quickly I bump into the chair behind me and fall flat on my rear end.
I glance at Hazel, she'd gotten up from her chair and was standing there with her cheeks ablaze, obviously embarrassed. She's looking back at me, terrified.
I then look to the entrance, where Frank's just entered. I can tell he hadn't seen what Hazel and I were doing, or about to do, because he didn't look the least bit angry. He just had a stupid smile on his stupid face.
"Hiya guys." Frank looked between us, oblivious to the fact that we'd just almost done something, and if he did notice it, he didn't mention anything about it.
"Hi Frank." Hazel said, and I looked back over to her, her cheeks still were a tad bit red, and she was twirling her hair with one of her fingers. She really was beautiful.
"Leo" Frank laughed "What you doing down there?"
"Oh...just...inspecting...the floor. You know, for any...cracks." I answered lamely.
"Okay..."
"Leo" Hazel spoke suddenly "Shouldn't you get back to...um...working the boat?"
"Uh...yeah...I guess..."
I shook my head and got up from the ground, brushing off some imaginary dust.
"Later guys. See you...at dinner."
Hazel gave me a smile, it was a semi-fake smile, but it still made me melt inside.
And, just to piss Frank off, I went up to Hazel and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. I didn't look back to see Frank's or Hazel's reaction, I just jogged out of the mess hall.
As I went back to steering the boat I couldn't stop thinking about her. Her smile. Her eyes. Her laugh. Everything about her. No matter how wrong it was, I couldn't stop myself, I couldn't stop myself from falling for a certain girl with dark skin, cinnamon colored hair, and golden eyes. And, a girl however, who already had a boyfriend.
