Chapter 15

Nico's Point of View

My phone buzzes next to my ear and wakes me up from an unfortunately short nap. I pick it up and squint to read the screen. It's a message from Reyna.

Come outside, it reads. I bury my face into my pillow. I'd rather not. But, considering how good she's been to me, I figure I don't have much of a choice. She more than likely knows I'm here; where else would I be? So I tell her that I'll be right down and force myself out of bed.

I'm betting she's here to talk about Jason. More specifically, how I haven't talked to him since he told on me. I don't know why she'd be surprised by that one, though; he broke his promise. I don't owe him anything.

Nevertheless, I pull a sweatshirt over my head and hastily run my fingers through my hair. I look like complete shit, but I feel too much like shit to care. I head downstairs.

Paul is sitting at the couch watching some documentary about the French Revolution. When he sees me, he says, "I think there's a girl outside here to see you."

"Thanks," I say. He's been really awkward ever since he found out. I mean, I guess he's nice enough about it, but he doesn't seem to know what to say.

Well, nobody does, but he's the worst at faking it.

It's pouring rain again. Reyna's standing outside of her car bundled up in a denim jacket and a scarf, looking miserable. She waves to me, and then motions for me to get in her car before climbing in herself. I follow her, thankful for the relief from the cold and the rain that her car offers.

"What are you doing here?" I ask. She seems to be the only one who doesn't mind when I'm blunt. I like that about her.

"I'm guessing you already know. Want to get some lunch?"

"Um, sure," I say. "But if this is about Jason, I'm not going to talk to him. He shouldn't have told on me."

"I know you're angry," she says.

"Yeah, well, I have a right to be."

Neither of us says anything else until we get to a small diner a few minutes away from my house. There are only a few other cars on the road, but we have to drive slowly because the ground is covered in huge puddles from the nearly constant rain. The sky is gloomy, making me long for the comfort of my own bed again.

The diner is small and cozy, but smells like greasy food and cleaning supplies. For some reason, it's not entirely unpleasant. We both somehow agree to head to the table in the back without using any words. We sit down opposite of each other. Given as there's only one other person in here, a waitress immediately comes to our table.

"Hello, good afternoon, my name is Megan and I'll be taking care of you today," she says. She has blonde hair down to her waist and is wearing a plain white T-shirt with a name tag and a pair of black jeans. She only looks like she's a year or two older than us. "Can I start you off with something to drink?"

"Uh, yeah, can I have a hot chocolate, please?" Reyna says.

I look at her nervously; I didn't think this through. I'm not very good at ordering my own food. As Megan turns to me, I feel my cheeks go hot. Fortunately, Reyna's eyes widen in realization and she tells her that I'll have a hot chocolate, too.

"Sorry, I didn't realize…" she says.

"It's fine. No big deal."

Reyna opens her menu and begins to speak. "Jason didn't want to tell, you know. I made him."

Fuck. "What?" I demand. Well, I try to sound demanding, but it comes off as more of a whisper.

"Just hear me out, will you?"

"How could you do that?"

"You have to know deep down that this is for the best, right?"

"Reyna, they won't even leave me by myself for two minute. They're not even letting me close my door anymore, and if I take more than ten minutes in the shower, someone's there, pounding on the door. They forced me to go to the doctor's, forced me on medication I don't really want. I have to sit down with them and eat three meals a day. If I try and opt out of hanging out with the family, I immediately get asked what's wrong. It feels like a prison sentence."

"Oh, god," she says. "I'm sorry. I remember what that's like."

"Uh- What do you mean?"

"I need you to know that we really did tell on you because we care about you," she begins.

"Reyna, what did you mean by that?"

Instead of replying, she begins to shrug off her jacket.

"What are you doing?"

"You're not the only one with scars, you know."

She folds her jacket on her lap, puts her arm on the table, and rolls up her knit sweater. Near the top of her forearm, there are a bunch of small scars that look like holes.

"These are from my freshman year of high school."

"What- Did you…?"

"I was a heroine addict," she says, as-a-matter-of-factly. "I mean, that's not the only drug I did, but that was the main one. I drank a lot, too."

Shit, shit, shit.

Still struggling to process the new information with my old perception of Reyna, I ask her why.

She shrugs. "Same as you, I guess. I heard somewhere that we all get addicted to something that takes the pain away. I was sad and lonely, and my father was a mean drunk."

Shit.
"I- I'm sorry," I say. "I had no idea…"

"I would probably be dead right now, if my sister hadn't found out, you know. We got in a fight one night, and I stormed out. She followed me to this party, and found me, well, you know.

My dad didn't really give a shit, so she went to my grandma. I was admitted to a psych ward, and I didn't get released for weeks. It was bad. Sometimes it's still bad, even three years later, but Piper helps."

"I- god, I had no idea."

The waitress chooses that moment to come back with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate. It actually looks good, which is the first for a long time.

She sets them down in front of us as she says, "Are you ready to order?"

"Oh, um," Reyna says, looking startled.

I take a deep breath in. "Can I have a grilled cheese, please?"

Reyna smiles at me. "Actually, I'll have that too."

"Sure thing," Megan says cheerily. "I'll have that right out for you."

"So do you understand why I had to do it?"

"I- I guess so-"

"It's not Jason's fault, so stop blaming him. At least talk to him, it's been nearly a week. He's been moping around the entire time." She smiles. "It's actually kind of adorable, how much he cares about you. It reminds me of Piper and I in the early days."

Desperate for a subject change, I ask, "How did you guys get together?"

Her smile grows even bigger as the memory flashes before her eyes. "It's actually sort of similar to you and Jason. It was at school, sophomore year. I had stayed up all night studying for a final, and so in the morning, I downed like a shitload of coffee. After I finished the test, I really had to pee. I practically ran to the bathroom, but when I got there, it was locked from the inside. I heard her inside, crying."

"Did she let you in?"

"Yup," she says. "I guess I banged on the door hard enough to scare her. Anyways, after I was done peeing, I let her cry into my shoulder. She told me pretty much everything; she really does talk a lot. After that, we were pretty much inseparable."

"That's going to be a good story to tell the grandkids."

She laughs, right as Megan comes back carrying two plates on a tray.

As she sets them down, she says, "So, if you don't mind my asking, how long have you been together? You two are adorable."

Reyna locks eyes with me and as she does, we both burst into laughter. We laugh until we're both nearly in tears as Megan stands there, looking confused.

"Did I say something funny?"

"I'm gay," I blurt out before I can stop myself.

"And I'm dating a girl," Reyna says.

Megan's eyes widen and blush rises to her cheeks. "Oh- I'm- Uh- I didn't-"

"It's okay," Reyna says. "You didn't know."

After we finish our food and leave the restaurant, we both begin cracking up again. We laugh the whole way home.