the other woman, heroes of olympus

000, jason grace

PROLOGUE.
jason grace

—— "You're in love." grins Juliette, her grin widening as she watched her friends starry eyes and wishful smile at the tall, blonde headed, gorgeous son of Jupiter.

"I think you're delusional!" she laughs, eyes still trailed on the blonde who's busy training. Her smile widening when he looked over and waved with his charming smile.

"And i think you're in denial," Juliette laughs, her head falling back as she did so. "Baby, if you were any more in denial than you would have to move to Egypt!"

Cecily playfully shoves her dark haired best friend, shaking her head. "Says you! You've been fawning after Reyna for years!" she said, changing the topic from the blonde boy.

Juliette cheeks turned a deep red as she hid her face. "Very funny, Cece. Deflect from Jason, change the topic."

"What? I can see the way you look at her! The way you smile when she talks! You love her, whether you see it or not, Julie. You. Love. Her." Cecily watched her friend green eyes watch as Reyna walked passed, eyes trailed on the Praetor.

"Okay! Okay! I'll admit it! Reyna is...cute..." Juliette trained off, her eyes sparkling as she watched Reyna and Jason interact, a soft smile on her lips. "And yes, i am totally crushing on her! But, at least i can admit it. You cannot!"

Juliette was right. Cecily Lovelace couldn't admit she was crushing on Jason Grace hard. She wasn't sure what drew her to Jason, everyone loved him, she was no different. He had beautiful eyes, the kind that drew you in and made you get lost in...and i guess, she did.

Jason looked over at her. His hair was still a mess, and in the soft late afternoon sunlight he looked more handsome and more human than she ever seen him. "I guess...I guess I do...like him, maybe more than i should."

"Has she admitted it?" Reyna startled the two teen girls, Cecily's hand went to her chest before letting out a loud laugh, the kind the draws look because it's so beautiful. The kind that caused Jason to get distracted from training and turn his head towards her.

"She did!" grinned Juliette, she often got all excited when it came to love. She'd written many poems about it all, she loved love, more than Cecily and she is the daughter of Venus, herself.

"About time, Cecily."

"Sh! Sh! He's coming over!" Cecily shushed her friends, watching as Jason Grace walked over to them in all his glory.

"Cecily." Jason smiled, sitting down in the grass beside her. "Reyna, Juliette."

"Always so formal, Jason." laughed Juliette, leaning her head on her favourite brunette. "Why not just, Julie? Or Cece? I mean, you've known our girl for years."

Jason laughed, "I have my own nickname for, Cilly, here."

"Cilly? Where did that come from?" Juliette laughed, shooing off Reyna who kept elbowing her. "I'm...I'm not sure, i've just always called her it..."

Finally, after a couple elbows, Juliette turned to Reyna, a dazzled and confused look in his famous. "what?" she hissed in a whisper, Reyna's eyes darted between Jason and Cecily who was laughing and smiling and talking away to each other. "ohhhhh!"

"Juliette and I are going to go...visit the rest of the Fifth Cohort, right, Julie?" She nudged Juliette, who nodded her head a bit too much, trying to convince them. Jason chuckled and nodded his head as a 'see you later'.

The two girls walked off, leaving them alone in a soft silence. She looked beautiful today, she always does, Jason thought. Her curly hair was tied half up with a pink bow, and she'd long forgotten the cardigan she had brought, it now sat under her—she hated the feeling of grass against her bare legs, Jason remember. Her skin had darkened due to the sun, it shined against it. She looked unreal.

"I've missed these days," Jason smiled, his eyes looking out over the field. It was sunny out, and a Saturday, a day off, as Cecily always put it. But the Romans never really took a day off, they just had more freedom than normally.

"Days off? We have them almost every Saturday, Jay." giggled Cecily, the boy shook his head, laughing with her.

"No, no, i'm talking about the days where we would just, sit here and talk about, everything!"

Cecily looked to the setting sun and held a soft smile, remembering the days her and Jason spent on this field, talking about anything and everything, about the future, about their favourite things.

"Oh, my gods! That seems like forever ago!" she laughed again. She was always so happy, always. Jason never understood how she could be so happy, she always seemed to shine with happiness, her eyes always shinned as bright as the stars and her smile...oh, her smile. It was so capturing, if Jason could take a picture of it, he would and keep it in his pocket all the time. To remind him, always smile...she's always smiling.

They talked for what seemed like hours, remembering the old times before Jason became Praetor, before she met Juliette...before everything became so complicated.

"Come on, Cilly. Bedtime." he reluctantly said, helping the girl up. Jason grabbed the cardigan off the grass and placed it over her shoulders, smiling softly.

That night, Cecily went to bed thinking she'd wake up to Jason by her bed, his usually smirk like smile and a cup of coffee so she could easily wake that morning.

He never. He wasn't there the next morning. His bed was empty, still neatly made from the morning before. He was gone. Jason Grace was gone. And Cecily had never felt a heart ache quite like this.