But here’s the kicker, all you ladies and gents from before: despite Leo calling her out on these apparent “excuses” of hers, he himself didn’t actually believe what he said. Could you crazy imagine that . . . ? Seriously, someone other than Piper or Jason (who were pretty much busy with each other at this rate) going out of their way to spend time with him—? Unheard of. Blasphemous. Leo poked fun with these things because what else was he supposed to do?
Did it mean something that Addy kept showing up like this? Probably. Did his jokes carry some merit? Probably. But did he continue to make up his own private excuses for why she was here that had nothing to do with enjoying his company? Definitely. She was a pretty girl. He was . . . him. What more was there to say?
And yet there she stands, lighting up at his attention, laughing at his remarks, and then . . . straight-up admitting she’d gotten herself “dolled up” for the occasion. (Like she could hear his thoughts and wanted to give him hard, irrefutable evidence.) Admittedly, Leo wasn’t typically the type to be into the girls who did the “dolling up,” but that was probably just because girls like that typically picked on boys like him. Addy could’ve shown up with twigs in her hair, dirt smearing her cheeks, and he wouldn’t have found her any less pretty.
The fact that she put in the extra effort, though . . . meant something, right?
Gods, this was always so stupidly confusing.
Girls were confusing.
People were confusing.
He’d been faking it this long, though . . .
“Hey, I like it,” Leo offers, mostly because he thinks that’s the safest response. (And he’s not lying, either.) He wonders if the slight heat he feels in his face is noticeable, once he’s taken the time to process her mention of giving him something “pretty to look at.” (Again, confusing. Some girls got bent out of shape when you stared at them.) “Did you mean to go for a whole”—he waves a hand in the air, gesturing vaguely at her get-up—“Valentine’s aesthetic? Now you just need some heart jewelry or something.” Says the guy who didn’t know the first thing about fashion, but, look . . . she reminded him of the aisles at every grocery store that were dolled up to fit the latest holiday, and Valentine’s usually looked like cupid had barfed hearts everywhere.
Addy looked way better than that.
His attention momentarily pivots to that entire basket of food, and he curiously begins rifling through the wrapped contents. “What did the oh-so-generous lady bestow upon me today?”
stormborns
pixelskylines
ellievsbear
gummygunk
titsay
baratheonpilled
origamiaround
tangentwithtanner
