Cuts Heal, Bruises Fade
Summary: Love sucks, but obsession does, too.
Pairing from last chapter: Thalia/Percy/Annabeth
Note: this isn't my best. Probably not the worst either.
7. Unrequited Love Is the Norm
They are in love. They are blissfully, youthfully in love. They are both so wrapped into each other's arms that they don't care about war or anything. There is just both of them, with their undying love and—
Hold on a second. This is the wrong story. Theirs goes something like this:
He loves her – she knows that he does. (He knows she knows, too – they have a circle of knowing.) But how could she love him back? She was so, so perfect with a mother who wanted her children to be perfect, too. How could she even think about him without stirring some kind of frenzy?
So she doesn't think of him. But he thinks of her – a lot. In fact, she's probably in every single waking thought – and his dreams. And his memories. And . . . well, he loved her. So you think about what you love.
And she knows that, too.
. . .
They weren't supposed to be together. It was wrong. So, you know what? They weren't. They were just . . . acquaintances. No, not even. They were just strangers who knew each other's names. (A relationship in which one knew the other, wore his heart on her sleeve – and which she knew nothing of him but his face.)
. . .
"You sicken me," she spits. "I hope you know that."
He gives her a sort of pitying look, because now he gets it. "Better to sicken you and be on your mind then charm you and be forgotten."
. . .
Obsessed. That's what he was. Obsessed with the pretty girl with the pretty face.
Obsessed with what he couldn't have.