The Forgotten Ships

Cecil

                 Disclaimer:
The characters belong to Rick Riordan, as do the PJO and HoO series.

Written by:

@libraryhaunter
@AmAeRaI
@Chilea
@The__Crazy_Girl
@BrokenTimeTurner

               [☿cEciL☿]

Ever since the war with Gaea, Cecil couldn't seem to get Lou Ellen off of his mind. There was something different about that girl, something he needed to figure out. He couldn't focus on anything lately either; he had totally screwed up the other day at Capture the Flag, tripping on his own two feet when running for the flag. His siblings, who were very angry about the slip-up had been on to him ever since. He needed to learn how to deal with his thoughts and feelings before somebody figured out what was going on with him.

On the way to sword fighting, Connor noticed how uncommonly quiet his brother was. Suspicious, he nudged Cecil with his shoulder.

"Normally, I wouldn't question this, but why aren't you, ya know, talking five million miles a minute?" Connor asked. Cecil looked at his half brother with a hint of panic.

"No reason," he told Connor nervously.

Connor raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Why do you wanna know, anyway?" Cecil gave him a shove, more gently than if he was angry, harder than if he was joking. "I thought I annoyed you."

Connor rolled his eyes. "You annoy everyone all the time. I've gotten used to it. Speaking of which..."

Cecil knew what was going to come up next: the Capture the Flag slip up.

"I know that you always mess things up, but, really, Cecil? Even an Aphrodite kid could do better than that!"

Cecil felt a drop of sweat slide down his forehead. He didn't want to tell anyone about Lou Ellen, especially someone in the Hermes cabin. The word would spread like a Floridian wildfire. But his brother's words had hit a nerve. A small voice in his head said, He's right you know. You always mess up. What chance do you have with Lou Ellen?

Shut up, he told the voice.

"I was just having a hard day!" Cecil protested. "Can't you let me off the hook for once?"

Connor was about to respond, when Cecil quickly said, "Oh, look, there's Mirandaaaa!"

He smirked, knowing he'd lit a fuse. An obvious fuse actually, next to Percy and Annabeth, who were the most obvious people on camp when it came to how they felt about each other.

Connor groaned. "Why does everybody think I like her! I mean, she's so annoying and pushy and-"

Cecil held up a hand."Don't even go there, dear brother. I'm not stupid. You like her. Just admit it."

A moment of silence hung over them. Cecil knew he'd won this one. Connor was either going to fess up or change the topic quickly. Either way, the conversation would steer away from Cecil and the Capture the Flag incident.

Instead, Connor replied, "It's obvious you like somebody." Well, at least he'd changed the topic...

Cecil shook his head. "Um, no. I don't, actually."

Did he? Did Lou Ellen count? No, she doesn't, he reassured himself, I'm just curious, that's all.

Connor scoffed. "Yeah, whatever you say."