Chapter 2: The Morning After
The phone buzzed for the twentieth time. It was getting really annoying.
With great reluctance, Reina cracked open one eye and reached out for her phone from the bedside table.
"Hello?" she answered the call, her voice hoarse with sleepiness.
"Reina, are you still in bed?!"
"Yes I am, Emilia." Reina shut back her eyes as she let out a yawn.
"Get your ass over to The Nook now. We've been waiting for you for the past hour."
Oh, great. Reina had forgotten all about her brunch appointment with Emilia and the rest of the gang.
"I don't feel like eating," she told Emilia. Which was the utter truth – between the hangover she was nursing and the whole stupid Ander episode last night, she was not in the mood for food or anything else.
"What?"
"I think I'll just skip the brunch session and see you all in school tomorrow, okay? Okay."
"Reina." Emilia sounded impatient. "You have to come. Matteo is here."
"What does he want?"
"He heard from Eric about what happened at Maison. He's really mad and –"
"That's nothing new. Matteo is always mad about something."
"Reina, just come, okay?" Emilia pleaded. "We'll be here."
"Hmm."
"I'll help you order your favorite baked eggs and orange juice. How about that?"
"Fine. I'll go get ready. But I mean it about not being hungry. So just get the OJ for me."
"Okay, I am starving," Reina exclaimed as she arrived at The Nook and found her friends. As she took a seat at the table, she removed her Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses that shielded her puffy hangover eyes. She caught sight of Kate's plate of The Nook's famous lemon ricotta pancakes, reached over and dug in with a clean fork.
Kate merely smiled wryly at Emilia. "I thought you said Reina didn't want any food?"
"A lot of things can change in forty-five minutes," Reina said defensively before taking another bite of the pancakes. God, this was so good.
"Reina." Matteo sat across from her, his arms folded in front of his chest.
"Matteo," Reina returned coolly.
Emilia glanced at Kate who was seated next to her. Kate in turn threw an expectant look at Noel who sat on her other side. Noel was Matteo's best friend and unofficial peacemaker in the group.
"Come on, you two," Noel dutifully spoke up. "Stop being childish and make up already."
"What's there to make up? We're not together," Reina declared.
"It was just a dumb fight. You know I don't want to break up, Reina," Matteo muttered.
Reina remained silent and took a sip of her glass of orange juice.
Matteo continued, "And anyway, if you wanted to fool around, you didn't have to choose a joker from Las Encinas."
Tell me about it, Reina thought, mentally slapping herself for the hundredth time. How could she have been so stupid? Why did she let her guard down around some stranger she'd never met before? Were all the drugs she was doing actually killing her brain cells? Argh.
"We should've known better when he didn't want to say if he was from San Patricio or not," Emilia noted with an annoyed sigh.
"Emi, you just forgot about everything the moment he offered to treat us to Ice Imperial champagne," Kate accused laughingly.
Reina wished they would stop talking about Ander. She wanted to banish him from memory as much as possible.
"I should find that guy and teach him a lesson," Matteo said to Noel, anger splashed all over his handsome face. "I'll help Las Encinas reduce their trash by one person."
Noel shrugged. "I'm in, man. You know I've been itching to beat up those people. Bastard cheaters."
Matteo nodded, his nostrils flaring. "First, they stole our victory three years ago like a bunch of dishonest pricks. And now this? Nobody can touch my girlfriend and get away with it."
"Excuse me? Your girlfriend?" Reina couldn't stay quiet anymore. She glared at Matteo and tilted her head to one side. "Gianmatteo Herrera, you don't own me. You don't get to decide if we're back together – or not."
Matteo's anger dissipated in an instant. He learned forward and spoke softly, "Reina. I was an idiot, okay? Don't be like this. You know I need you. Tell me how I can make you feel better. Please? Baby?"
Reina rolled her eyes, but the heat had also disappeared from her voice as she replied, "You need me because nobody else wants to deal with your immature antics and ego, dummy."
Which Reina knew was not entirely true. Matteo was the king of San Patricio – son of Madrid's most prominent celebrity couple, captain of an incredibly talented football team, and blessed with piercing blue eyes and an irresistible smile... And his body was not too bad either.
So yes. Any girl in school would die at the chance to date Matteo. But he chose Reina. His queen. And she did love being number one in everything. Absolutely everything.
Matteo grinned and reached to hold Reina's hand across the table.
"Aww, a happy ending," Emilia remarked with relief.
Matteo's grin was intact as he looked around the table and announced, "Yes. But I still mean what I said. I will hunt down the Las Encinas punk and remind him never, ever to mess with anyone from San Patricio."