One Order of the Past with a Side of Fries

Jason

I looked at myself in the mirror once again to see what Lacy dressed me in this time. I still had my dog tags from Reyna and I kept my blue vans just like the first time. I was also wearing a black graphic tee, paired with a leather jacket, blackish grayish jeans along with a black fedora and a pair of fashion glasses. I guess Lacy was going with the bad boy look. I hope that Lacy didn't over dress me well at most I could just get rid of the jacket. I gave myself a nod and headed out to meet Piper, we agreed to have lunch at Riptide.

ϟ

"Pipes, over here" I called to her from the booth I was sitting at. I got out of the boot hand gave her a quick hug before sitting back down. I guess I might have been subconsciously been paying attention to Lacy when she talked because I know exactly what Piper was wearing a beige with brown accents and belt dress and ankle high white socks and tan oxfords.

"So did you order yet?" she asked.

"I just ordered some drinks, I got you coke, is that okay?" I asked and handed her a menu.

"Are you ready you order" Piper asked after a while. I nodded and signaled for the waitress to come.

"Hello, what would you like" the waitress/ Nancy as it said on her name tag asked and handed us our drinks.

"I'll take the Argo burger along with a Blackjack doughnut and she will take" I gestured for Piper to continue.

"Thanks, I'll take Lethe soup"

"And what would you like for the side?" Nancy asked. "Fries, mashed potatoes or coleslaw?"

"Fries please" Piper gave a small smile.

"So" I sipped my drink. "What do you want to know?"

"Well how about everything from that year in high school, where you said you weren't yourself to yesterday with that letter." She said, wow someone doesn't beat around the bush.

"Well from high school, that year I was determined to get my dad's attention. You see dad was always busy and never came home, mom started to go crazy, she started drinking and demanded for dad to come home. Thalia had gone with a group of girls who travel the world and she hoped that she would find dad that way." At this point I stopped since our food came. I thanked Nancy and started to dig into my burger.

"Wow, and I thought I had family problems" Piper said between sips from her soup.

"Anyways where was I" I set my burger down and continued my story. "I thought that if I had changed everything about myself, my dad or mom would notice. I thought that dad would come home or mom would stop drinking and start taking care of me again. I even hoped that Thalia would come home and give up on searching for dad." I stopped to look at Piper, her eyes weren't filled with pity but with understanding.

"Why did you want Thalia to come home, I thought see was searching around for your father to help your mom?" Piper asked.

"I was selfish, I didn't want to take care of mom by myself" I told her. "Anyways long story short, in order to change everything about myself I started to hang with Dylan. Anyways I made fun of people, my grades dropped everything. Dad never came home, Thalia either what was even worse was that mom started to drink even more."

"Oh Jason, what happened to your dad? How's your mom now" Piper questioned.

"I'll get to that" I told her. "Anyways after your visit, I soon got scouted along with Leo. I was pulled out of school and Lupa became my manager. I landed a role as the lead along with R-Reyna" I stuttered at her name. "Afterwards like this scenario Reyna and I had to go out."

"Well go on" Piper gestured.

I gave her a sad smile, "I'm sorry Piper, I don't think I can talk about it anymore."

"Oh" she looked disappointed.

"Here how about I show you instead" I called Nancy over and asked for the check. I have no idea why I was about to show Piper all this, but some part inside of se said that I trust her, but the other part said that I would only get hurt again. I guess that the trusting side of me was stronger.

ϟ

"Uhh Jason? Why are we here?" Piper asked. I don't blame here if I was suddenly brought to a graveyard I would freak out too. I got out of my car, grabbed the flowers and started walking with Piper behind me.

"Piper, I'd like you to meet Reyna" I gestured to the gravestone. I felt kind of awkward this was the first time I brought someone with me as I visited Reyna's grave. I would normally go by myself.

"Jason, why am I here? Wait that didn't come out right. What happened to Reyna? I mean if you don't want me to know I understand." Piper was really nervous, I mentally smiled at this, she looked really cute. Whoa where did that come from? I was about to answer but another voice interrupted me.

"Jason" I turned around to see Percy and Annabeth walking towards her grave. I gave Annabeth a quick hug and Percy a nod.

As Annabeth put the flowers on Reyna's grave next to mines, I noticed a silver band on her finger. I gave Percy a look and he gave me a shrug back.

"Jason, we're announcing it tomorrow" Percy whispered.

"We'll see you soon Reyna, but I think Jason needs some time" Annabeth gestured Percy to leave.

"So let me continue with my story" I told Piper as I sat on the grass in front of Reyna's grave. "As Reyna and I went out, we had way more than our share of fights" I laughed at the memories Piper did too. "Anyways soon we ended up going out for real. It was the day before our anniversary, we were one day away from going out for a year. As I was planning everything for the next day, Reyna gave me a phone call. She was crying. Reyna never cried" I saw Piper with a confused look on her face. "Anyways on the phone call she told me that she was sorry." I started to tear up. "You see, her sister Hylla got captured and the only way Hylla would get back home was if Reyna ruined my career. Reyna told me that she agreed to it at first but didn't mean it after. On the phone call the R-Reyna told me that t-they killed Hylla. S-she c-couldn't deal with the guilt anymore and she drove off a cliff." I was crying now, Piper than thankfully had some paper and I wiped my tears away.

"Then the media lied? I thought they said that a drunk driver drove into her causing her to drive off the cliff." Piper asked in a shaky voice while wiping her own tears. "W-what type of a person was she?"

"S-she was brave, independent, strong-willed. She normally keeps her emotions to herself." My eyes started to shine as I started talking about Reyna, but for some reason my chest wouldn't flutter like it used to every time I mentioned her.

"Oh, are you still in love with her?" Piper asked in an almost whisper. I was taken back by Piper's question. I thought about my answer for a bit then I remembered Reyna's letter.

"No, I love her but I'm not IN love with her" I gave a small smile when I said that. I thought that I saw Reyna in the same outfit on her last day in front of her gravestone. She was just as beautiful as when I last saw her but this time she was smiling. As the wind blew it felt like it was one last hug from her.

[A/N] Jason comes to a conclusion about his feelings, after 2 almost 3 years he finally moves on.