Chapter 6

POV: Reyna

"I love you Thalia," I whispered into her ear.

Thalia stood up, offering her hand to me. She pulled me to her tightly wrapping her arms around me. "Let's go back to my place, okay? We can make sure you're not too banged up from that fall."

We slowly made our way to Thalia's apartment, sure to avoid any patches of ice that were on the ground. My mind was running wild with thoughts of what this all meant. Would we get back together or was this just a spur of the moment thing? I looked over at Thalia and it seemed she was lost and thought as well.

The walk was quiet, not awkward but definitely not comfortable. There was a slight level of tension in the air and I was nervous about what would come next. I just wanted to live in that moment of reconciliation for the rest of my life.

A tall apartment building loomed over us menacingly but Thalia entered nonetheless. Still silent we rode the elevator up, hand in hand. The elevator stopped and we made our way to Thalia's apartment only to find another girl opening the door and ushering a scrawny Mexican man out of the room.

"Bye, Beauty Queen. It was great- Woah two hot chicks!" the man said. Thalia and I both glared at him, dwarfing him not only in size but attitude. "Two, scary, hot chicks. Well bye Piper!"

He quickly left avoiding any further interaction with either of us. Surprisingly Thalia seemed the most confused of anyone about the whole situation. I had assumed that that must have been Piper's boyfriend or a hookup but the look on Thalia's face told me that it must've been someone else.

We walked into the apartment, Thalia questioning Piper about the mystery man and me just examining the place where they lived. To the right of the entryway there was a small kitchen that looked like it hadn't been used in months beyond the fridge and microwave. Towards the back was a living room with a couch and a large TV. A door sat on either side of the room, leading to what I assumed were bedrooms for Piper and Thalia.

Suddenly I was taken out of my thoughts by Thalia saying, "I thought you were all about Jason?" They couldn't be talking about the same Jason that I know. The one who I briefly dated upon coming to New York.

"I am 'all about' Jason," Piper said, putting air quotes around "all about". "That was Leo. My best friend from when I lived in California."

"The Leo? The one you lost contact with and have been trying to find for years? That's amazing holy shit!" Good to see that Thalia had never lost her foul mouth.

"Its great isn't it! But let's ignore that for now. Thals, who's your guest?" Piper questions, a mischievous grin slowly forming on her face.

"Oh, uh, Pipes this is Reyna, Reyna this is Piper, childhood friend and current roommate," she replied. Piper and I shook hands before she quickly scuttled off sending a not so sneaky wink to Thalia.

"Sorry about her. She can be a little intense when it comes to her friends and dating," she said, leading me towards the door on the opposite side from where Piper went.

"I didn't realize we were dating already," I teased. I had no idea what we were. I wanted to be dating Thalia. She was the only person I ever truly had feelings for. But I didn't want to come off desperate or needy.

"Well, uh, I don't know. Are we?" She asked. Thalia had stopped just in front of the door and turned around. Her face was schooled expertly, but I could read her eyes. She was nervous and unsure.

"Maybe we should talk a bit before we put labels on it. Shall we?" I answered gesturing to her bedroom door. She let out a small almost inaudible sigh and led me into her room.

The walls were painted a dark gray but you almost couldn't tell with the wall to ceiling posters she had covering them. There were posters for movies like Eraserhead, The Holy Mountain, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as well as some of her favorite bands like Joyce Manor and Nails. The floor was covered in clothes and in the corner sat a queen size bed with a silvery bedspread.

On the opposite side of the room as the bed was the most surprising item. A desk that was shockingly clean but had two photos on it. One of her holding a small child with blonde hair and sharp blue eyes that matched hers. The other was of her and me. It looked like it had been cropped out to remove the rest of the Hunters but she for some reason left me.

Following my line of sight, Thalia quickly ran over and knocked everything off the desk including her laptop. "Sorry I accidentally left some… Porn! Porn? Yeah uh left some porn open on my computer."

I chuckled lightly, easing the tension between us just a bit. I sat on the corner of her bed while Thalia sat in her desk chair. She nervously tapped her foot in rhythm to a song I recognized as Thos Moser by Food House. Knowing Thalia, I would have to start the conversation if anything was going to get done tonight.

Before I could say anything Thalia quickly whispered, "I love you too."

"You do?" I asked, not believing her. It was the words I was hoping she would say but I didn't think she would say them yet.

"I do Reyna. At least I think I do. But I still feel the pain of you abandoning me. You chose them over me and let me leave alone, to face the world alone, to return home alone. I'm not sure I can forgive you yet. But I want to. I want to so badly. So please tell me. Why didn't you quit with me?"

I knew why I didn't quit. I was scared. The Hunters were the only family I had ever really had. I love my sister but until I moved back to San Francisco we weren't close. It was only then did she finally start acting sisterly to me. I was scared that if I left the hunt, Thalia would have left me and once again I would've been all alone in the world.

That's what I told her, in not so few words, slowly letting my usual barriers fall down in front of her. I started to cry while talking about the abuse my sister and I had faced at the hands of our father and the fear I had of always ending up alone. I talked and cried for what felt like an hour before I looked up.

When I looked up I noticed that Thalia had moved from her desk chair to sitting on the floor next to my feet. Her hand was on the bed inches from mine and I quickly made a subtle grab for it. The comfort it brought me was able to calm me down.

"I forgive you," Thalia stated, "And I want to love you again. I don't think I'm there yet Reyna, but I'll be there eventually I'm sure of it."

I sat there mouth agape at how forgiving she was acting. I was terrified that this was all a dream and I'd once again wake up in my lonely New York apartment, an empty bottle of wine to my right and the TV still playing reruns of whatever mediocre sitcom ran at 7 in the morning. I pinched myself but still found everything around me to be real.

Thalia must have realized my shock and moved herself up to the bed with me, wrapping an arm around my waist. "Why don't you stay here with me tonight? We can get some sleep and get some breakfast in the morning. How does that sound?"

I slowly nodded my head and she pulled me over to lay down next to her. She wrapped an arm around my waist as we laid on our sides back to front.

"Goodnight Reyna."

"Goodnight Thalia."