Piper was not having a good day. It got even worse when she hit the ditch. She wasn't quite sure what had happened. For one second, she was on the road. The next, her car was sliding off the road and into a ditch. She didn't remember anything from the actual crash, just throwing her arms over her head.
After a minute, Piper slowly lowered her arms. A relieved breath left her. While she was in a ditch, it was totally deep, and her airbag hadn't been deployed. Piper took a few moments to calm down her racing heart. She swallowed painfully and took off her seat belt.
Piper slowly made it out of her car. There was heavy snow on the ground, and she didn't think it was cold enough to freeze at all. Piper's gaze moved up as she saw that snow was falling from the sky. Great.
"Fuck," Piper decided. She studied her car. The front half was in the ditch, and there was no getting out of it. Piper slowly grabbed her phone and searched for a tow company.
As her phone didn't get service, Piper tried to resist the urge to fling her phone. She had been heading to Chiron's place for dinner, but she wasn't expecting to hit a stupid patch of ice and wreck her stupid car.
"Fuck!" Piper yelled as she hit her car. The last few weeks have been stressful. Not to mention the problems with her and Jason. Piper just wanted to date the big idiot, but he didn't want to be boyfriend and girlfriend. She really enjoyed all of the time that she spent with him.
Their date had gone well, perfect even. Jason did seem distracted during the entire thing, but Piper hadn't paid too much attention. Until Jason said that he didn't want to date again. The problem was that he couldn't give her an answer beyond him not wanting to. It wasn't like he had to go out with her, but not having a reason didn't sit right with her.
And, Jason did have a reason. It just wasn't one that Piper wanted to hear. She confided that to Leo as they spent a night eating ice cream and watching movies. Leo asked her if she felt like Jason just wanted her for sex. Piper didn't think that was it, but it also wouldn't be anything more.
A sad sigh left Piper as she called the tow truck. The phone rang, and when she got through, it went to a voicemail. She lowered her phone. Another angry sigh left her.
"Piper?"
"Jesus Christ!" Piper yelled as she whirled around. Her foot slipped, and she fell ass first into the snow. "Fuck!"
A hand was held out to her, and Piper promptly ignored it. She stood and studied the last person she wanted to see at the moment. Reyna looked back at her. She wore two jackets and had that stupid scarf around the bottom of her face, hiding her scar. A hat was on her head, covering her ears. The only part of her face that Piper could really see was her eyes and the area around it.
"I didn't mean to scare you," Reyna began.
"What the fuck are you doing out here?" Piper demanded as she tried to wipe the snow off of herself. She retrieved her phone from the ground and quickly tried to wrap it up in her coat to keep it from getting damaged.
"Walking to Chiron's," Reyna muttered. Her gaze moved to the car. "Do you need help?"
"Are you a tow truck?" Piper snapped. Reyna remained silent. "Unless you can drag my car out of this ditch, no. I don't need anything."
Piper looked back at her phone and tried another mechanic. When the phone only continued to ring, she nearly threw it back in the snow. A third try was unsuccessful, and she felt tears of anger welling in her eyes.
"Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay?!" Piper demanded as she turned towards Reyna. The woman remained quiet. "Just leave me alone!"
Piper turned and marched towards her car. She tried a fourth tow truck number, and the failure of the fifth one made her feel like the universe hated her. Piper threw her phone in the snow again and hit her car once more. She instantly winced and cried out in pain.
"Do you want me to stay with you?" Reyna began.
"I already told you that I want you to leave me alone!" Piper snapped. Reyna flinched slightly. Then, she turned away and started to walk. Piper felt guilt instantly pang in her chest. "Wait. I'm sorry."
"It's just been a terrible month," Piper continued. Reyna stopped walking and turned towards her. Piper studied the other woman. Just being around Reyna pissed her off, and she couldn't pinpoint the reason why.
Was it because she didn't tell anyone about Lycaon? Jason had almost died because of it, and who knows what Lycaon would have done to him, not to mention Piper. She heard about what they did to Nico, and she knew they wouldn't hesitate to do the same to her. And Jason.
On top of all of that, she hated how much Reyna had been behind the bar lately. Especially since Jason always went to her with drink orders for his table, and while Piper knew it was mostly because it gave Reyna easy practice not directly in front of customers, it still angered her.
Piper wasn't jealous, but if she was, who could blame her? When they first found a half dead Reyna at the bar, she had been scrawny and maybe even malnourished. Her face had been extremely pale, and that paleness lasted for at least a week.
Now, Reyna looked much healthier. The paleness was gone, and Piper could see how much healthier Reyna was now that she had consistent meals and a place to sleep. Even with the scar on her face, Reyna had a regal beauty to her. Piper thought she was hot, so she knew that Jason probably thought the same.
"I'm sorry," Piper grounded out. She sighed and grabbed her phone before leaning against her car. Her entire body felt like it was drooping. "Nothing is going right for me."
Reyna slowly walked towards her. She stopped in front of the car and examined it, "We could try to push it out."
"I don't think that will work," Piper began. She tried to keep herself relaxed. No matter how shitty her month had been or how much Jason had been pissing her off, it wasn't right to take it out on Reyna. "I don't think any of us are strong enough to lift the car out. I can't get a damn mechanic to answer."
Reyna remained silent, and Piper looked back at her phone, "I don't know if I'm getting any service or what. Fuck. Do you have your phone on you?"
"No," Reyna replied. Piper bit her lip and stared down at the car. "Chiron will let you use his phone."
"That's like a thirty minute walk," Piper complained. A frown came to her face as a realization struck her. "You were going to walk all the way to Chiron's? In this weather?"
"How else would I get there?" Reyna asked, and Piper couldn't tell if she was being condescended or not.
"Do you not know how to drive?" Piper asked. Reyna shook her head. "Oh. I just assumed you didn't own a car."
"If you don't want to walk to Chiron's, we can just wait here," Reyna suggested. She looked around. "For..."
"No. Your idea was good. We should walk to Chiron's and get out of the snow," Piper said as she stood from her car. She locked the car and started to walk. Reyna followed by her side but stayed quiet. Piper always noticed how quiet Reyna was at the bar.
Other than Clarisse or Chiron, she never went out of her way to talk to anyone. Jason talked to her a lot, but he was always the one seeking her out. Not that Piper cared. At all.
Piper hated how quiet their walk was. The only noise was the snow crunching up their feet and the occasional howling of wind. No cars passed them on the road. As a particularly sharp wind hit them, it cut right through Piper. She immediately shivered and pulled her coat over herself. Her coat was enough to keep her warm normally, but she wasn't expecting to walk all the ways to Chiron's house.
Piper cursed up her breath and stuck her hands into her pockets. She shivered again and felt like her teeth were chattering. She quickly pulled up her hood before bringing her arms closer to her.
"Here," Reyna offered as she pulled off her jacket.
"It's fine," Piper declined. Reyna handed the jacket off to her. "I really don't need it."
"You're shivering," Reyna stated. "I'll be fine."
"Thanks," Piper quietly accepted as she grabbed the jacket and put it on. Reyna was wearing a hoodie, and Piper hoped that she had another layer or two underneath. As soon as Piper had the jacket on, she felt herself warming up almost instantly.
"How are you and Jason?" Reyna asked quietly. Piper tensed and tried to keep a frown from her face. Why was Reyna trying to fill the silence? A glance to the side showed that Reyna looked as uncomfortable as Piper felt.
"I don't know," Piper finally said. "We tried a date, and I thought that it went well. He didn't."
"Oh," Reyna said eloquently. Piper looked at her.
"What about you? Dating anyone?" Piper questioned. Reyna shook her head. "I know a few guys who are single. I could give you their number."
"I don't think I'm ready to date," Reyna muttered as she seemed to draw in on herself. Piper wasn't sure if it was the cold or the conversation.
"Bad relationship?" Piper prodded.
"Something like that," Reyna said so softly that Piper barely heard.
"You're getting better at being a bartender," Piper complimented. Reyna's cheeks turned red, and she turned away. "I'm sorry about what I said at the bar the other day. It was just a stressful situation."
"It's fine," Reyna dismissed with a shrug. Piper wanted to say more, but she bit her tongue. Should she apologize for what she said to Reyna after she learned that the woman knew about Lycaon? Or, was it better to just keep that buried in the past?
"If you ever need a ride to work," Piper offered. Reyna shook her head. "Well, just keep it in mind."
"I will," Reyna said. Piper nodded and fell silent. The rest of their walk passed with no conversation, but Piper didn't miss the way that Reyna would glance at her every so often. Truthfully, Piper wasn't sure where they stood, and she didn't feel like completely forgiving the woman for what she had done. The most important thing was that they were still able to work together at the bar, and from there, Piper didn't really care what happened between them.