Dionysus (Hades Series #1.5)

Chapter Twenty-Five - Dionysus

"Spencer, you don't understand. All the guys who've ever said they care for me in my life have never cared to know me." She replies vehemently. "My father never knew me. He only saw this pathetic little girl he could push around because the universe decided to be cruel to me and he took advantage of that vulnerability. Kyle never knew me. If he did, he wouldn't have run away when he heard that I was pregnant, because he would have known that I have big issues with trusting people. And you..." She shakes her head, staring down at the sand. "I always asked myself, why me? Why would you want to know me? I even convinced myself after I heard of everything that you'd been through that it was because you were lonely and you needed someone to chase away that loneliness. It never once crossed my mind that you wanted to know who I was, because I never thought it was possible. And then, to find out I was right..." She cuts herself off, her voice trembling. "Do you know how messed up that thinking is Spencer? And how it's even more messed up for me constantly to be proven right?"

"Kenzie, when I first saw you, it was like seeing a ghost." I tell her quietly, laughing a little. "You looked so much like her, even spoke like her, that for a second, I thought time had stopped. Actually, I thought a lot of things other than that. Mainly that Hades was playing some cruel joke on me, and that if I turned around, he'd be laughing in the corner. That it was some sort of karma, for all the times I'd played tricks on him." I shake my head. "So yes, the first time that I met you, I thought you were her. Ariadne. I knew she was dead, and she was never coming back, but god Kenzie, I'm a freaking deity, so of course reincarnation crossed my mind. And yes, I sought you out the next time because I wanted to find out whether you were her. But you weren't and the more time I spent with you, the more I noticed the differences between you and her.

Like the freckles on your nose, and your big blues eyes that for some reason, look like the fricking ocean stuck inside two eyeballs. Like the way you're not afraid to call me out when I'm being a total asshole, and the way your nose scrunches up when something annoys you. Like the way your forehead furrows and you frown slightly when you're confused, and the way your eyes light up when you're even thinking about Jasmine. Like the way your laugh sounds like fricking bells for some weird reason, and the way that you smell like strawberries and cream. Like the way you smile what I like to call my special smile when I call you dollface, because you like it, even though I'm sure you'll swear otherwise. Like how you're the most beautiful girl I've ever met, and you don't even know it.

The more I got to know you, the more I noticed these things, and the more I realised that you're not her. And she'll never be you. Whenever I'm around you Kenzie, I feel powerless. I never felt that way around her. When I met you... it was like I was drowning, and you were a breath of fresh air. I am falling in love with you Kenzie, and that scares the shit out of me because I'm slowly starting to fail in imagining a life without you." I laugh, scratching the back of my head. "I'm falling in love with you Kenzie, and I fricking feel powerless."

She stares at me, her eyes wide. "I..."

"So no Kenzie, I didn't stick around because I thought you were Ariadne." I wrap my hands around hers and squeeze. "I stuck around because I wanted to know you. And I'm never going to regret that decision."

She laughs wetly, wiping away a few stray tears that have escaped. "How long did it take for you to come up with that speech?"

I grin. "Completely made it up as I went."

Kenzie smiles a little. "And why didn't you say all that two days ago?"

I give her an incredulous look, and she ducks her head to cover up a laugh. "Do you really think I would have put myself through the last two days if I had been given the chance to say that?"