The Start of Summer

Summer was being ushered into New Rome happily.

In New Rome, you didn't feel the heat of summer to know it was there. There wasn't a moment in nature where you looked around and decided for yourself, "This is summer." There was not a weather woman announcing it or a big barbeque planned to celebrate the arrival.

Summer was shown off though the stores of New Rome.

The coffee shop still sold hot beverages, but their signs were now geared to their cool smoothies and iced coffees. Make-up stores now showed pictures of girls on the beach in bikinis on their ads in the windows. The magazines sold held articles on how to pick the best swimsuit for your body. The stores started changing their mannequins into sun dresses. And the racks of clothing that you first saw when you walked into the store were swimsuits.

Everyone just kind of new summer was coming, and they did what was expected for summer.

Their clothes got shorter. Their layers got fewer. Their tans got darker. And their hair got lighter.

Reyna did not like summer.

For the first thing, it reminded her of the year round summer conditions on Circe's island. For another, she and her sister, Hylla, split up over the summer long ago. Then of course there was her best friend, Gwen.

Every summer, they had the same day every single year.

She and Gwen met at the coffee shop. Reyna showed up in jeans and a long-sleeve tee shirt. Gwen was in shorts. Reyna ordered a hot chocolate. Gwen got a strawberry and banana smoothie. They went shopping. Reyna looked at shirts, and Gwen looked at bathing suits.

Every year, they did this.

Every year, Gwen said the same thing. She said that she needed to embrace the summer. Gwen thought that she needed to go out and smell the roses, to find a summer fling, and to just have fun. To help her in this quest, Gwen forced her to buy a hot bikini, a pair of new shorts, and a new pair of sunglasses.

All of these went into Reyna's closet, and she continued to wear her tee shirt and jeans while drinking hot chocolate.

Jason loved summer on the other hand. He happily traded his warmer clothing for something to fit the season, and he was signed up by friends to attend the summer parties that would be thrown, though Jason was off the partying scene.

Summer was the only thing that had stayed the same in his mind after becoming friends with Reyna.

Partying was done. Friends were hard to keep in touch with. And work became his life, not just an important part of it.

But summer was still the same. Summer was still being allowed to walk around shirtless, jumping into the lake, and getting more summer holidays off from work. Jason happily switched from hot chocolate to blueberry and strawberry smoothies. And his skin became darker and his hair lighter as well.

Jason liked that. He thought it gave him a sense of stability. That, even though things had changed and he was no longer the same Jason, this was still the same New Rome summer. And he was going to try to make it to those parties, though he was still avoiding his crazy ex-girlfriend. He was still going to swim around to enjoy himself. And he was still going to have fun this summer as he always did.

Jason had also never spent a summer with Reyna, and he wondered what she would be like during the summer. Did the illustrious Reyna let loose during the summer? Or did she just simply start wearing cooler clothing? Jason couldn't help but wonder, and he waited for her to start with the summer normalcies as everyone else was.

He kept waiting.

Every day, he became more adjusted to it.

But she did not. She continued to wear long-sleeves and jeans. When they went to get drinks, she continued with her hot chocolate while he opted for something cooler. She continued to work when everyone else was skipping off early.

Spring was reaching the very end, and summer was about to start when it became the time of year when it was acceptable to jump into the lake without staring at you like you were crazy. Jason, just as he always had, was planning on taking advantage of it, and his buddies were planning on going with him. Gwen and Bobby had both made an effort to make sure that they were free for the day they planned, and Jason had never thought to question whether she would go with them.

Until now at least.

Reyna was working in laptop in her bedroom. It was getting late, and it was about time for her to get a shower and get into bed. She probably would have already put up her laptop and grabbed a shower if it hadn't been that Jason was still at her house.

Jason often did this, and she didn't much mind.

He was bored, staring at the ceiling as he reclined onto her bed. He was convinced that her bed was more comfortable than his own, though Reyna assured him that they had the same bed. And, when he pushed her about it, she said that his bed would be just as comfortable if he cleaned it. That typically got him to shut up.

"Need help?" he asked, glancing over to Reyna.

"Finishing up. I'm almost done, really."

He nodded, standing up, and he began to look over her room.

This was the only place she personalized. The only place you would really be able to look around and know that this was Reyna's house. Her living room had throws and colorful pillows with books on the coffee table, but that was probably Gwen. She had cute and colorful plates, but that is more of a housewarming gift that you are given. There were many new bookcases that belonged to her, but they were meant for use, not for looks.

Reyna's room was the only place that was truly hers. Her pictures were to be seen by her, to make her happy. The fairy lights wrapped around her doorframe were for her own amusement, though it typically didn't look like her. The clothes on the floor were her own. The mess and cleanliness was hers. Everything was her own.

It always made Jason smile, and he began to walk around to Reyna's closet. And, the first thing he saw was a new black, string bikini. He was completely shocked, and he just kept staring at the bikini. He began to imagine Reyna in the bikini, and it made him peer around to look at her. It was hard to imagine someone who was sitting in old sweats wearing a sexy bikini. And, aside from how it was sexy, he wanted to see Reyna actually in a bikini. He had seen her in dresses (which were completely shocking). He had seen her in tight jeans and girly shirts (also shocking). But a bikini was completely different.

He almost couldn't picture it.

Reyna's eyes slipped up to him.

"What?"

Jason just kept staring, and he wasn't sure what to say.

"You're being weird, Jason."

"Hey, so, on Saturday, we're all heading down to the lake?"

"Nah, I'm not into it."

Jason's face fell.

"But Bobby and Gwen are coming," Jason tried.

"I'm just not into it, Jase. I'm sorry," she shrugged.

Jason tried not to be so disappointed.

"Why?"

Reyna looked up from her laptop, closing it.

"What's up?"

"No, I mean, we're just going to hang out. And you are our friend. And this is summer," he tried.

"I don't like summer," Reyna stood, putting away her laptop.

Jason's jaw dropped.

"How do you not like summer?"

"I just don't like summer," Reyna shrugged.

"Everyone likes summer!" Jason yelled, staring at his best friend as if suddenly realizing that she was completely insane.

"Not me," Reyna went into her bathroom to start brushing her teeth.

Jason stood at the doorframe.

"How on earth can you not like summer?" Jason questioned.

"It reminds me too much of Circe's island, of being on that ship. Hylla and I split up over a summer. I just don't like summer. Especially considering what this summer before," Reyna rolled her eyes as she tied her hair in a ponytail.

"You've got to come with us!" Jason looked at her, and she turned around.

"I'm not coming. Have fun."

"But we want you there!"

"I won't enjoy it, I don't like summer. I'll drag you guys down."

"How do you know you don't like summer? Maybe you should give it another chance," Jason told her, hoping that his annoying begging would at least get her to cave. She was showing no signs of caving though.

"Go to bed, Jason."

"But-" Jason tried, and Reyna gave him the look that told him that saying anything else would not be good for his health.

Jason slumped, defeated as he started out of her room. Jason kept trying to think of what he could do to get Reyna to go with them. He thought of it as he went home, as he went to bed, and as he fell asleep. By morning, he was able to put his mind off it for a little while to do his normal routine.

Jason skipped a shower that morning, got dressed his summer fashions, and he went over to get Reyna for breakfast. She sent him on saying that she was going to jump in the shower first, and he did as she said.

At breakfast, everyone was ready for summer. The clothes were lighter and shorter. The hair was lighter (though through the bottle for most of them). The days of jackets and jeans were gone. And the plates were even smaller for the Venus girls preparing to get into swimsuit season.

You could feel summer around you.

Bobby and Gwen were already ready for summer as well. Jason had other friends, but they weren't at lunch. And Bobby and Gwen had earned a special place in his heart. They were the only ones he truly had time for.

As Jason came to sit beside them, Bobby brought up the plan for swimming on Saturday, and Jason remembered Reyna's vow not to go with them.

"Speaking of that, I asked Reyna to come, and she said no. I mean, I begged, and she still said she wouldn't come."

"She never comes," Gwen shrugged as she buttered her toast, "I've been asking her for years. It would be a miracle if anyone got her to come. She hates summer."

"But her closet is full of all of those bathing suits!"

"They are," Bobby raised his eyebrows. Ever since the Christmas party where Reyna showed up looking hot, Bobby had seen Reyna as such. Even when she reverted to her less than sexy outfits, she was still hot to him.

Gwen pushed him off his seat and looked back to Jason.

"I buy them for her. I try every year to get her to like summer," Gwen shrugged as she took a bite of her toast.

"How can you hate summer?!"

Gwen shrugged as Bobby picked himself off the floor and sat in his seat again.

"She says it is because it reminds her too much of her past. Circe's island. The boast. Her sister. All that," Gwen shrugged, "I try every year to teach her to love it. She refuses," Gwen shrugged again, and Jason kept staring at her, wondering how she could be so nonchalant.

"I didn't notice it last summer," he crossed his arms.

"Because you had just become praetor. You were busy. You didn't notice a lot of things," Gwen took a gulp of orange juice.

"She is right," Bobby nodded as he bit into a piece of bacon, "You didn't notice anything other than how tired you were."

"I did, too!"

"You didn't notice Reyna hated summer," Bobby pointed out.

As Jason went on to find, everyone knew that Reyna hated summer.

Some people thought it was because she hated anything fun and thought we should work all the time. Some people thought that it was because people got to go home and see family during the summer but that she didn't have one. Some Venus girls were convinced that it was because Reyna felt inferior with her body to their swimsuit-ready bodies.

Everyone had different reasons.

But they all knew.

Jason began to wonder how, until now, he had not. He now remembered that Reyna had warn warmer clothing, but they had spent most of their first summer together (which was only a half-summer anyway) in doors and getting used to a new partnership. Before then, he has respect for Reyna if not a big crush on her. He didn't listen to the gossip about her, and they hadn't been friends.

So he just didn't know.

But, now that he did, he kept trying to change it.

First, he brought her a smoothie to work instead of hot chocolate. She went to the coffee machine in the office and made hot chocolate. He tried to get her to go for something summery at lunch, but she went for her normal food. He tried to get her to change out of her long tee shirt and into something cooler by turning the temperature hotter in the office. She just turned on a fan.

All of Jason's tricks were thought of by Reyna, and she had a plan for all of them.

Jason was beginning to give up. He was starting to understand that he could not make her love summer no matter how hard he tried. His attempts were getting fewer and his faith weaker by the time Friday rolled around. By Friday night, he had completely given up not just on getting her to go to the lake with him but on ever seeing her in the bikini.

Period.

"So, you sure you don't want to come tomorrow? It'll be fun," Jason tried his last attempt for Reyna to go with them swimming in the lake. But, as the words left his mouth, he knew her reaction. He even knew the face she would have to accompany it.

And, as her mouth opened and her words began, he could predict every single one of them.

"Nah, I have some work to do. You have fun."

"Alright, we'll miss you," Jason hugged her, and he started back to his house, completely given up on the idea.

Reyna went upstairs, and she was getting out of a shower when she noticed that her laptop was giving her an alert for a new email.

From: Hylla

Hey, Baby Sister. I am in Brazil. Last minute check up on some things here. But I managed to get out of work long enough to slide into a swimsuit, get some sunblock, and head to a beach. This is amazing. The scenery is great. The water is amazing. And there are certainly some hot guys I could enslave if you know what I mean.

And enjoying summer made me think of you. Are you still afraid of it?

Reyna looked at the message, biting her lower lip.

The summer aboard the ship in the Caribbean Sea shot to her mind. It was the summer when herr entire life changed. She was spoiled in Circe's palace. She could do as she pleased so long as she avoided boys and helped out when visitors showed up. She was free to roam, and She never had to worry. War and violence was the last thing on her mind. It seemed to be unreal. It was just something she had read about in those books Hylla didn't want her reading.

And then that security was just gone.

She had to learn life's lessons hard and young. They weren't watered down, and it was learn them or die.

Every time summer began, Reyna was reminded of these rules and of how she learned them. Every time the peaceful shuffling in of summer started, she was reminded of that safety she had felt on that island. And, as summer went on, she was reminded of how her safety was ripped away from her and how violence and war became her life.

Reyna began to type her new message.

To: Hylla

Brazil sounds wonderful. I've been working a lot. I haven't had much time for bathing suits and sneaking off. Jason and I have been working on a new project, we're really swamped. Jason and I started the project to get him busy so he wouldn't have to run into that crazy ex-girlfriend of his. Now, she is dating a Mars boy, and we are stuck finishing up the work.

And, um, summer is here, isn't it? I haven't gotten to enjoy it.

I'm not sure I'll ever enjoy it to be honest with you. I can't stop thinking about it. I mean, I like my life, but it was just such a change…

Love, Reyna

Reyna pressed send, and she was expecting my sister to take a while. But, by the time she was dressed, she had responded.

From: Hylla

You talk about him a lot, you know. Much more than your old male praetor. You sure you don't want to enslave him for your own?

Was his ex-girlfriend the one who threatened to kill you both? She sounds a bit crazy, I will agree with you there.

And I wonder if that is my fault, you know. I wonder, if I hadn't sheltered you so much, would things have been better? Would the shock have been less? Whatever the answer to that is, I thought I was doing what was best for you, and I love you, Reyna.

On that topic, I don't want you to miss out on your life. You're young. You can't live the rest of your life in fear. When you decline these parties or these beach trips with your friends or whatever, that is time being young that you can never get back. Work is important, but so is your happiness, Reyna.

I love you, goodnight.

Your loving sister, Hylla

Reyna read though the message for what felt like an hour. And, even when she stopped reading it, she could feel the words weighing on her all night. By morning, most of the message had given up on her.

But the last paragraph kept playing through her mind.

She was missing out on her life. She couldn't live life in fear. And she was throwing away time she could never get back. Work was important, but so was Reyna's happiness.

That was what she kept playing through her mind as she tried to power through her day. She had a small breakfast, but she couldn't really eat. She powered up her laptop to start working, but the presence of her laptop made her think about the email even more. She tried to do paperwork, but nothing soothed her. And then she decided to do something crazy.

And, while she was going through all of this, her friends were enjoying their first real day of summer.

The lake was empty. Suzie was throwing a party, and most everyone was attending. Jason was not invited, Bobby had just split from a Venus girl, and Gwen hated Suzie. So they decided to go to the lake, and they loved that they were alone.

Bobby was teasing Gwen about how hot she looked in her bikini, and she kept squeezing sunblock at him. Jason loved his friends, and he was having fun. But he kept thinking about Reyna and knowing that it didn't feel really complete without their little workaholic.

"Stop pouting, she was never going to come, Jason," Gwen smiled at him, "And we can still have fun without her."

"Let's skinny dip!" Bobby yelled.

Gwen and Jason both stared at Bobby, and Gwen squirted him with sun block again.

"I am getting in the water though. You guys wanna come?" Gwen stood, and she looked to the two of them. The three friends went out to the dock and dove right in, laughing and carrying on like the three teenagers they were, not the soldiers soon to go to war.

Gwen was splashing Jason when she froze and her jaw dropped. Bobby was coming up from the water, and his smile evaporated into a face of shock.

"What's up with you two?" Jason asked as he turned around, and he almost passed out.

He might as well have seen a leprechaun carrying a pot of gold while riding a unicorn and singing a Disney movie musical number.

Because, right in front of his very eyes, he saw the impossible.

Praetor Reyna.

Skipping work.

Going swimming.

Enjoying summer.

In a string bikini.

Jason's eyes felt like they were going to bob out of his head.

"Hey, guys," Reyna said calmly, getting in the water with them as if this was an everyday thing.