PIPER
Someone's turned off the music and immediately Piper's attention is where there's a crowd growing.
"What's going on?" Reyna asks. She puts her hand against Piper's back, and Piper can't keep herself from leaning back into it. "Is everything okay?"
"Jason's wrapped around Nico," says Piper, "so I'm guessing they've finally gotten all up on that. Them. Each other. Whatever."
"Yes, but there's three dudes staring at them like someone shot them in the face. Adult dudes." Reyna pauses. "You know, I feel like dudes is exactly the wrong word for them. I'm going to call them men."
Piper's about to ask who they are, but it's answered for her when the man with the big ass beard shouts, "Well it's about fucking time!"
"You expected this?" replies another man, whose hair is longer and blonde, a little like Jason's.
"Well yeah!" says the man with the beard again. "God knows we were all into each other at some point in our college days."
"Oh, my god, Dad!" shouts Percy.
"Ah," says Reyna from behind Piper, "that explains the eyes."
"You're right, Pete," says the quietest man with the darkest hair, "And you, Zeke, you nailed half the college regardless of gender. Do you remember Gary?"
"We don't talk about Gary!" thunders the blonde man, but there's unmistakable pain in his voice and in his eyes.
"This can't be happening," says Percy. He sidles up next to Piper. "Can you punch me in the face so that I forget this? I'd ask Reyna but she probably hits so hard I'd forget my first name."
"Damn straight," says Reyna, her eyes still on the scene and her hands now securely around Piper's waist. Piper is doing her best to ignore the fact that Reyna's fingertips have slipped below the pinny and have begun to absent mindedly stroke Piper's skin.
"But seriously though," says Percy. "Kill me? I've heard about Uncle Zeke's relationship with Gary one too many times to tolerate."
"Uncle Zeke?" Annabeth asks. "Are you and Jason -?"
"Again, no," says Percy, "I just call them Uncle Zeke and Uncle Harry so things are easier."
They all turn back to the scene in front of them, where Zeke and Pete are arguing while Harry rolls his eyes in the background.
Appearing as if from the shadows, Nico and Jason come up from behind their little group. "Think this counts as screwing up the party?" asks Nico, and Piper is pleased to see that he and Jason are holding hands. "This frat's super homophobic. Maybe that'll be enough to get us out of it."
"Pretty sure Piper wouldn't mind if you two made out a little more," says Reyna, and Piper can just hear that stupid little smirk in her voice.
"Don't feel bad, Piper," says Annabeth, "Nico was totally checking you and Reyna out earlier when you were against the wall, so it's all even."
Nico turns to the side, but even Piper can tell he's blushing bright red. "This is probably the most embarrassing day of my life," he mutters.
"Shut up and come make out with me on the porch," says Jason, "I'm still not convinced we're out of this frat yet and I think a lot more of your tongue in my mouth is in order."
"WHAT IS WITH YOU SEX FIENDS?!" yells Percy, and, of course, that gains them just a little more attention.
"He's got a point," chuckles Annabeth, "but he'd have a bigger point if he wasn't the one last night –"
"And that's where this conversation ends," says Percy. "Leaving? I'm leaving."
Annabeth rolls her eyes. "I better go make sure he doesn't get lost. And then make sure I get laid before I get to sleep. Have a good night, guys." They're out the door before anyone can say anything else.
"So," says Piper, turning to press herself up against Reyna, "looks like it's just us."
"Just us and a billion other drunk college students."
"I'm not drunk anymore," says Piper. "But I can get there in about thirty seconds if you want me to be."
"Please," chuckles Reyna, "Your drunk persona is your sober persona, just a little more likely to grab my ass in public."
"I'm always willing to grab your ass in public."
Reyna shrugs. "That's a point."
As they speak, Reyna's slowly tiptoeing her fingertips up and down Piper's spine, sending shockwaves down to her toes at each press.
They stand there, entirely still, entirely quiet, for a little bit too long. There's noise and people around them, and it's loud enough that it should be distracting, but it isn't.
Piper just stares into Reyna's eyes for a little bit, and something rises in her chest, in her lungs, and it's just unfamiliar enough to scare her.
Reyna's words interrupt her fear just in time.
REYNA
"So, I've got a question," says Reyna.
"Shoot," says Piper, and Reyna doesn't miss how her eyes are fully locked on how a handful of people keep glancing at where Reyna's got her hand wrapped around Piper's waist. Reyna kind of likes that – they know she's with Piper.
"Are we going back to my room after this? Because if we are I'm kind of totally going to fuck you into the mattress."
Piper's eyes light up, and it erases something that was behind them. There's a smirk on her lips now, too, and, god damn it all, it's that expression that wrecks Reyna for anyone else on this planet. "That's the kind of thing I love to hear."
"So are we?"
Piper nods. "Eventually. But first we've got to fuck up this party a little bit more."
Reyna's laugh confuses Piper only a little bit. "Pipes, I think this party's going to make itself last as long as possible. The dance floor's still going hard. I think we should dance to fuck things up. Or something. Let's just dance."
"That's boring, I have a much better idea," says Piper, bright eyes and a broad smile, "let's go make out in the living room."
Reyna pouts. "But I want to dance!"
Piper sighs and pouts, which makes Reyna immediately stop her own pouting when she realizes how ridiculous it looks. "Pretty please? Just a little smooching? For a long time?" Piper pauses. "Is it obvious that Jason and I took vodka shots earlier?"
"Yes," Reyna replies with a chuckle. "That's why I definitely didn't believe you for a second when you tried to convince me you weren't drunk. Also, why does that mean we can't dance?"
"You can go dance if you want," says Piper, pouting, "but I'll be over on the couch listening to that dude in the fedora playing Wonderwall. Maybe I'll go home with him."
"You'd rather kick him than listen to him play that guitar," laughs Reyna, "but if you insist."
She leaves Piper pouting, and swings out to the dance floor which, in actuality, is just the kitchen, but it counts today because someone's knocked out all of the lights since Percy, Nico, and Jason's dads took their discussion outside, and there's black light and silly string everywhere. She starts dancing on her own, until someone's hands come up behind her and a voice whispers in her ear, "Booty like that, I'm surprised you're not shaking it more."
She jolts, because hearing something so Piper-like that comes from a male voice. She manages to squeak, "What the fuck?!" and the hands immediately disappear from her waist.
"I'm sorry, was that a bad line? I'm sorry."
Reyna turns around to see a nice looking boy with dark hair and olive skin behind her, blushing bright red. "No, it's okay, I figured it might be your first attempt at a line, but we can keep dancing."
"I didn't freak you out?"
Reyna snorts. "Not much freaks me out. I'd just try being your actual personality instead of using those lines."
The guy frowns. "My idiot friend, Olly, told me to use it. I knew it was bad. I should have –"
"Hey," says Reyna, resting her hands on his shoulders, "look, let's just dance, okay? Doesn't need to be all complicated or anything."
He looks visibly relieved. "Thank god. I'm Dakota, by the way," he holds out his hand, like he expects her to shake it, "Nice to meet you."
"Quit it with the names, first rule for dancing," says Reyna, "second rule, for the love of god, there are much better things to do with your hands than shake them. Come on, do I need to teach you how to dance?"
"Um."
"Oh, for the love – put your fucking hands on my waist and just, like, swivel your hips. This is way more work than casual ass shaking should be, Christ Jesus."
She puts his hands where she wants them, and finally, for god's sake, they start dancing she can stop teaching people how to do what they're in a freaking party to do.
It lasts about eight seconds before someone else is grabbing the hand that's in her hair and dragging her outside.
"What the fuck…?"
"Come with me and I'll let you live."
"Not funny, Piper," says Reyna, recognizing her pinny. "Where are we going?"
"Back to your place, so I can fuck you into the mattress."
"I thought that was my job tonight."
Piper turns to her, and there's a strange sort of fire in her eyes that both turns Reyna on and scares her a little. It's a feeling Reyna really, REALLY likes.
They get into the building, and the second Reyna opens her door, Piper's got her shoved up against it and her hands are basically everywhere.
"Fuck, if you were this horny, why didn't you just say something?"
"I did, you idiot," growls Piper against Reyna's lips, "you just chose to dance with some dong instead."
Reyna laughs at the word dong. Maybe she's a little less sober than she thought. Whatever, her head's clear enough to do whatever Piper wants and she's not worried at all about it. She pulls Piper closer, into a rough kiss that's a lot of bit and not a whole lot of kiss.
A roll of toilet paper suddenly falls out of Piper's shirt as Reyna's hands push up under it, and she freezes.
"Where the fuck did THAT come from?!"
"Idea I had," says Piper, pulling Reyna's shirt up and over her head, "I conceal things well in my boobs. Now get more naked, I want to get you screaming before it's sunrise."
"But why did you have toilet paper in your bra?"
Piper rolls her eyes as she pins Reyna's arms to the sides of the door. "Because it's fun to steal toilet paper from shitty house parties, okay? Are you really going to focus on that when I'm planning on making you come at least three times in the next hour?"
Reyna makes some sort of noise that she's never heard before and all that happens next is that she feels Piper's lips and fingers everywhere and she's entirely forgotten how to breathe.
Piper growls, low and deep, and Reyna's got no idea what's gotten into this girl, but she really, really likes it.
"Get on the bed," says Piper.
"Okay," replies Reyna. And she does. "Are you still drunk?"
Piper rolls her eyes. "I sobered up the moment I realized how much I hated seeing you dance with that guy."
"Does that explain all of this?"
In an instant, Piper's on top of her, legs on either side of her thighs and one hand bracketing Reyna's wrists.
"Are you pinning me to the – oh, fuck me."
"That's what I'm doing," says Piper, as she rubs roughly at the material of Reyna's underwear. Reyna's got sparks – she's literally seeing sparks, are those her synapses firing? – in front of her vision, and other than that all she can see is Piper's face above her.
"You going to keep teasing or give me the real stuff?" Reyna asks, and she's pretty sure challenging Piper will only make this so much better, and she's so right.
"Patience, you," says Piper, and immediately the touch gets gentle, soft, and Reyna'd be stupid if she thought it was anything but Piper's idea of torture.
"I'm going to pay for that comment, aren't I?"
Piper looks up at Reyna through her eyelashes. "Always knew you were a smart one," she murmurs. "And yeah. Yeah, you are."
Quick as a flash, Piper's shirt is off and wrapped around Reyna's wrists and the bed frame. Reyna knows she could get out if she wanted to, but she really doesn't. Want to, that is.
That's when it gets agonizing. Piper takes what feel like years to pull Reyna's panties down past her knees, careful to brush her fingertips against the top of Reyna's thighs as she does so.
Reyna simply whimpers, unable to form words that Piper wouldn't make fun of her for later.
"Thought so," laughs Piper. "But let me know if there's anything not right, okay? You say stop and I stop."
"I'm not going to tell you to stop, so shut up and get going," Reyna says in one extremely fast breath.
"Good," says Piper, "because I'm going to drag this out until all you can do is say my name."
"Oh, goddamn," whines Reyna.
"Not quite."
Piper drags her lips up Reyna's inner thigh until she reaches Reyna's clit, tongue moving in the way only Piper can figure out, and Reyna's making whiny, high pitched noises until Piper's fingertips dance up and down Reyna's thighs, just enough to let Reyna know she'll be pinned down a little harder if she even tries to move.
"Oh, fuck,"
"Not quite my name," says Piper, and the words against Reyna sent her moaning from somewhere deep inside her.
"Please," Reyna says, "oh, fuck, Piper, please."
Piper laughs against her and Reyna just makes the most pathetic, embarrassing whimper.
"Almost," says Piper, "but not quite."
Piper replaces her mouth with her fingers, sliding up Reyna's body slowly enough that Reyna can feel the drag of Piper's lacy bralette-thing against her skin. As Piper's lips met Reyna's, Reyna manages only to whimper Piper's name, until Piper's fingers work their magic and Reyna's gasping Piper's name into the dark.
"That's what I wanted to hear," laughs Piper. "You still alive?"
Reyna can't do much but sigh.
Piper grins. "That's what I thought.
Reyna wakes the next morning to an empty bed, which she discovers by throwing her hand over what should have been Piper and instead was a wall.
"Pipes?" she mumbles. "You there?"
"I'm here," says Piper. She's curled in on her knees, eyes staring straight ahead, on Gwen's bed. She looks really wrong, so far away from Reyna in the morning light. There's only a few more of these mornings left where she can sleep in, since tomorrow is the start of lacrosse conditioning. Their first scrimmage is tomorrow- an easy, joke of a game with the club team, but it still marks the end of the sporadic practices and the beginning of busy mornings and jam packed weekends.
There's something in Piper's eyes that concerns her. Reyna searches the night before for an explanation as to what happened the night before, but nothing really makes sense to validate the amount of vacant annoyance on Piper's face.
"Did I do something?" says Reyna. "Oh, god, sorry, I totally fell asleep last night. That was rude."
"Not rude," says Piper. Something's wrong with her voice. She sounds detached. It's not Piper – it's a shade of her.
"What's wrong, Piper?" Reyna asks.
Piper sighs. "Nothing. I'm fine."
"You sure?" Reyna searches her face, trying to find an explanation, but nothing's there but that blank, annoyed, almost angry stare.
Piper shrugs. "Yeah, I'm good. Wanna get breakfast?"
Reyna stands, the comforter wrapped around her, and promptly falls on her back. "I'm stuck in the blanket," she says matter of factly.
Piper rolls her eyes. "So get up."
"Okay," says Reyna, ungracefully untangling herself from the bed sheets. "What did I do? Just tell me?"
Piper turns to her. "You actually don't get it, do you?"
"No, actually," says Reyna, making her way over to her dresser to throw on some underwear, jeans, and a hoodie. "I actually have exactly zero idea what you're talking about. Want to explain?"
"Not really."
Reyna groans and throws herself face down on the bed. "Did I fuck up? Can you tell me if I fucked up so I know how to fix it?"
There's an incredibly long silence, long enough that Reyna realizes Piper's eyes must be on her. It feels like a laser. Reyna sits up, and Piper's staring her down.
"Okay, fine. I fucked up, somehow. Tell me how I fucked up so I can unfuck it."
"You really don't know?" Piper says, and it's a biting tone, challenge and fight in every word.
"Got no idea." Reyna stands and leans against the wall, folding her arms in front of her. "So hit me. Explain to me how you could fuck me senseless last night and then glare at me this morning."
"Well," says Piper, sitting down on Reyna's bed, looking unexpectedly even more pissed off. "Last night. At the party? That dude was kind of all over you. Wasn't that a little much?"
Reyna shrugs from where she's leaning against the wall. "I don't know. It was just dancing – not like he asked me to marry him or anything. Besides, you said you didn't mind if I danced."
Reyna chances a glance over at Piper, but the other girl is deliberately avoiding her eyes. "I don't," says Piper. "I mean, it's not like we're dating." But it doesn't sound like she's telling the truth. There's something in Piper's voice that sets Reyna on edge.
"I know we're not," says Reyna. "And – I…" She can't make herself say it. She wants to ask Piper why they aren't dating, why they can't label it as something on every stupid social media site for no reason other than to show each other off to the rest of the world. Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano is damned good at getting what she wants, except if this stupid girl was involved. And it's killing her. She feels like she's being dragged around on a line, like Piper's refusing to commit just to bother Reyna. It's been months of this – ages, it feels like. Shouldn't it have gone somewhere by now? "Whatever."
"Do you want to be dating that guy?" Piper asks aggressively, and it's so out of nowhere that Reyna feels like she just got kicked upside the head.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Reyna asks. "No, of course not. He smelled like an outrageous amount of AXE and he couldn't dance for fuck-all."
"Oh, so he's just not your type of guy then," says Piper, and suddenly Reyna's got an idea of what this is about.
"Piper, I'm not sure where you're getting this idea –"
"Because – you're…" Piper sits down on the bed and stews silently, and Reyna's suddenly very, very scared that something's happening right now that she's wanted to avoid for a long time.
"I'm what, Piper?" Reyna asks. "What are you trying to tell me?"
"I'm – you're – you weren't even into girls until you met me!" Piper exclaims, turning to glare at Piper.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Reyna asks, a bit floored. "Piper, I wasn't really into people before you. I hadn't dated since I was fourteen."
"Oh, sure," says Piper, but some sort of fear in her voice blots out all the usual bite that would be in those words.
"Say what you're thinking, Piper," says Reyna quietly. "I'm sick of trying to read your mind. What are you asking me?"
"Am I, like a phase for you?" Piper asks, and Reyna's startled to see that it looks like she might be crying. Piper doesn't cry. That's, like, watching a fish fly. It's just off. "B-because that's really, really not cool."
Reyna stares at her. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Reyna says. "Piper, I haven't liked anyone – ANYONE – since I was fourteen years old. Fourteen. You're the first person – the first – god, Piper, are you that dense?"
Piper just stares at her. And that blankness, that inability to process the truth, sets Reyna off. Maybe Reyna had been spending the past few months ignoring herself, but she can't do that anymore. She's been hiding behind this fling as much as Piper.
The only difference is that she's done pretending. She slams her head against the wall and lets it all out. "I'm fucking in love with your stupid ass goddamned idiotic face and your ridiculous tattoos and your dumb comments and, Jesus, Piper, are you that blind?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Piper says, but there's something shaky in her voice that Reyna's never heard before. "I – I'm not..."
"You just accused me of thinking that you're a phase," Reyna says, staring Piper down, "and yet you're not even noticing what you've been doing with me this whole time? For fuck's sake, Piper, you're using me if anything."
"What?" Piper says, and Reyna's never seen her look so young. For once she looks like she's just as confused as everyone else, just as goofy, and that, despite the tattoos, she is as vulnerable as Reyna is, despite the fact that she's been militantly anti-feelings for ages.
"You've been rejecting anything that even resembled a relationship," Reyna replies. "And I don't know why. Unless it's me. Unless you don't love me."
"I don't do relationships," Piper says, but it's mechanical, it's a response that's practiced and careful and one Reyna's heard one too many times.
And it hits her: this can't happen anymore. Reyna can't handle it for one more day – it's going to kill her if she doesn't kill it first. She can feel her eyes welling up with tears, and she knows this is the end unless it's the beginning of something else. "Piper I – I can't do this anymore," she says, finally. "This isn't what I want. Not anymore."
Piper reels back as if Reyna hit her. "You don't want…me?" she asks quietly.
Reyna laughs. Piper's comment is ridiculous. Piper's the only thing she's wanted since that hot August night ages ago. "Of course I want you," she says, a little too loudly. "Don't act like you don't get what I'm saying. You're not stupid. You're the one who doesn't want anything to do with me other than just sex and tutoring. And now that we're nearly all freaking done with that history class, you're in the clear. So I guess it's all over now, right? My efficiency rate has dropped fifty percent – looks like I better head out the door now." She leans against the wall and looks to the ceiling, hoping gravity will help her hold back her tears.
"Reyna, I – I don't want to use you."
"If you don't want to," Reyna says, meeting her eyes, "then don't."
There's a horrible, charged silence that's scaring Reyna half to death as Piper stares at her like a deer in the headlights.
"I…" It's like, for once, that spark in Piper's eyes goes out as she can't figure out how to make this right. "I don't…" Her sentence is lost and Reyna just stares at her, feeling like something's being ripped out of her chest. It feels worse than the time that she fell off her bike and got road rash all up her leg. It's worse than the day Jason Grace told her he was moving and that there was nothing he could do about it. It's worse than the day her mother told her she was the smart one and Hylla was the pretty one, and that there would be nothing wrong with her never getting married. It's worth than the day she met Piper.
It's worse than anything.
"Goodbye, Piper," she chokes out, and she turns to leave the dorm room. She never plans to return.