Midnight at the Lake

As Reyna glided through the water, she stopped to take in the feeling of the lake water. Until this summer, she felt like water was trying to swallow her, trying to pull her down and end everything for the praetor who had already been through so much.

She wasn't afraid of water. She had been through too much to be afraid of water. She just didn't like it. It made her uncomfortable. And, after all, Romans didn't like the water. So she was not alone in this feeling. Reyna didn't involve herself in things involving the water, which had never really posed a challenge to her. After all, she hated summer, and that was really the only time where water was truly involved in the lives of New Roman citizens. It had never been hard to just avoid the water.

It hadn't been hard until Jason.

Jason had changed things. No, he had changed everything. Things weren't like how they used to be. Life wasn't just about work. Jason was not just a pretty boy who had gotten stature in New Rome for his paternal blood. The two praetors were friends instead of the usual co-workers. And, for the first time, someone had seen inside of the elusive Praetor Reyna.

He had changed the fact that no one had ever seen Reyna cry. He changed the fact that Reyna didn't get jealous. He changed the fact that she wore her old cargo pants all the time. And he had changed the fact that she hated summer.

But she had changed him, too.

He was no longer the life of the party. He was not just the most popular guy in New Rome that guys wanted to be and girls wanted to date. He hadn't been a bad guy or a bad leader, but he had matured a lot. And he had learned a lot from Reyna. She taught him how to be a Praetor, and he showed her how much it could hurt to be one.

Things were different for both of them, and it would never be the same again.

Reyna wondered to herself if she liked that.

Jason was forever wrapped up in her life. He was a piece of her. Jason was a part of Reyna's life, his destiny was intertwined with hers now. He could continue to change her, and she could continue to change him. But they could break each other at the same time.

Jason had earned his way into her. He had her trust. He had her friendship. She cared about him.

In her life, there had not been many people that honestly could hurt her. There were not people who could truly break her. Given time, she was always up and back to normal.

That was always a comfort to Reyna. She knew that no one could ever really get her. Reyna was a fighter, and she was too good of a fighter to ever need to worry about her emotions one day getting the best of her. Her mind was always better occupied with the worry of war or how to care for her camp. She was a leader, and leaders weren't supposed to break. They were never supposed to fault. They weren't supposed to one day find themselves useless.

The day she took office as Praetor, Reyna had the highest confidence in herself due to that fact. She would not be like some of the past Praetors who had been broken by things of a family member dying, the loss of a friend, or anything as to that. Reyna didn't have anyone worth getting hurt like that for. No one could do that to her. And that was what made Praetor Reyna different.

Until now.

Reyna had something to lose.

And it spelled out the impending doom she had feared for years.

Jason didn't look like what most people feared. He wasn't an enemy soldier removing your armor and exposing a weak spot. He wasn't the "playa" boy promising a broken heart. He was not the overly ambitious hopeful-leader who would use you and throw you away when he had what he wanted.

No, Jason was a friend. He was a great friend. He was her best friend.

And yet he had the capability to do that to her. He didn't have just the power to crack her armor. He could break through to the weak inside she hid behind her walls.

"For someone who 'hated summer', you sure can swim," Jason smirked as his graceful swimming pulled to a stop as he pulled himself up to the dock of the lake.

When girls dreamed of Jason Grace, there were many different scenarios made (typically a wedding day between the two was involved). But there was one that was considered one of the sweetest and best.

The scenario was fairly simple. It was just a normal night. New Rome would be tucked away in bed, or they would all be at their summer night party. The moon would be out, shining down like it always did. The stars would show the constellations in the sky, and the night sky would illuminate New Rome enough just as it always did.

But this scenario was not about New Rome.

It was about the lake. It was about the way the moon reflected on the lake, filling the dark water with the white light it provided. It was about the way the breeze skimmed through the night, cooling it. It was about the way the water felt against your skin.

It was about the two people in the water.

It was Jason Grace, the god-like Adonis everyone loved. It was the way his golden blonde hair shimmered underneath the stars. It was the way his blue eyes reflected the beautiful scene around him. It was just how perfect he was.

And then there was the girl.

In the fantasy, she would be Jason's girlfriend, fiancé, etc.

And, for tonight, Reyna got the pleasure of being what every girl in New Rome wanted to be.

That girl.

"I grew up on an island. Of course I can swim," Reyna laughed, her body resting somewhat in a float. She kicked her legs to splash him, and he laughed, shielding himself.

Jason kicked the water back to her, and Reyna began to laugh as she moved herself to float on the water. Her eyes began to close, and Jason launched himself gently off of the dock, not making much noise as he was back in the water.

Jason was the son of Jupiter. His domain was the sky, and the water was not always his friend due to that parentage.

In fact, because of that.

He expecting for the water to suddenly swallow him whole and pull him to the bottom, prying him away from all oxygen. But he just glided through the water just as perfectly as he did everything else.

Suddenly, Reyna felt something wrap around her and pull her down, and she let out a scared scream as it pulled her down. She began to panic, hitting and kicking the attacker, and her held in breath was released in the shock.

And then she could see the moon illuminating blonde hair, and she laughed somewhat as he let her go up to the surface. He came up with her, laughing like the teenager with a successful prank he was.

She hit him even harder than before.

"You scared me!"

"Yeah! Wasn't it funny?" he kept laughing, and she splashed him.

"It isn't nice to splash, Rey-Rey," he grinned, "But I'm not very nice."

He splashed her, and they began to splash each other until they finally realized they had to get to sleep. Even then, they didn't want to go. It took four tries of getting onto the dock and one of them doing something like splashing the other with a foot in the water or throwing a pair of flip flops in the lake. When it stuck the fourth time, their laughs had died down, but they were still there as Jason hid Reyna's purple towel behind an oak tree, and she threw twigs at him.

For the first time pretty much ever, there wasn't even an awkward moment as Reyna ducked behind the big oak tree and let them both change hurriedly at the same time. They just kept laughing, and Reyna even chased Jason around the tree to get back her hair brush as he was only wearing his swimsuit.

For that night, they were just kids.

They were just two teenage friends sneaking out for the night and enjoying summer. They were like those friends talked about in those movies. They had their differences and disagreements, but they still were close at the end of the day. They would die for the other, and they loved every minute of living in the other's company. And they might just have had a romantic involvement played on the screen right before the credits, making a bunch of girls in the theater "awww" happily at the couple being made.

But they weren't one of the romantic comedy movies stacked in the DVD collections of daughters of Venus. This wasn't the perfect scene that had been imagined by girls all over New Rome. And, while she was that girl tonight, she wasn't that girl, and the truth was that it might never happened.

The logic that existed in all of those books we read and movies we watch doesn't always apply. You don't always get your happy ending, and Reyna never really had.

So, when some girls may have been sad for the possible lack of a future, Reyna did the thing that she would look back and wish she did more.

She just had fun in the moment. She lived in the present, enjoying what time with Jason that she had.

She let this moment be perfect even if the scene of when they got home ended with a grin and a wave as they went their separate ways instead of a sweet kiss goodnight.

Sorry. School started. Tennis started. A lot more.

But I did update, and I would like to know what you thought.