Chapter 6: Collide
It was shaping up to be a boring Sunday for Reina.
She lazed on a deck chair and stared out moodily into the blue depths of her home swimming pool, the water glinting in the afternoon sun.
The entire house was deathly silent. The maids had gone out for grocery shopping and other errands. Her father was away on another one of his business trips, while her mother had locked herself in the master bedroom for several hours now.
Reina knew better than to check in on her mother. After all these years, she knew what she would find if she were to knock on the door and peek into the master bedroom. She knew what her mother would say, and she knew what she would be expected to reply. But no, Reina refused to lie, even if it was in the name of comforting her mother.
Family affairs were tricky. Too much of a hassle. Reina preferred to keep her distance, as cruel as it sounded.
Reina was jolted from her thoughts by the ringing of her phone.
She saw that the call was from Matteo and picked up. "Hey, babe. How are you feeling?"
"Bad," Matteo said with a groan. "I don't even remember how I got home."
"Javier and Cruz came over to Club54 and drove us all back. We made sure you, Noel and Eric were safely in your rooms before we left. Let me tell you, it was not easy getting you into bed, babe."
"You usually don't have trouble getting me into bed," Matteo told her huskily. She could hear the smile in his voice.
"Well, you usually aren't throwing up and thrashing your arms around," Reina teased, rolling her eyes.
"Sorry."
"Tell that to Cruz. I think you smacked his head a couple of times while he was carrying you into your house," Reina chuckled.
"Ughhh. I'll have to thank him when I see him in school," Matteo said. "And you too, Reina. Thanks for taking care of us."
"Of course. It's just too bad the drinking competition ended up in a draw."
"Yeah. I hate myself for it. I was this close to winning."
"So what's going to happen now?"
"I don't know. All I know is we're not letting those Las Encinas fools off that easily."
"Give them a new challenge then?"
"What should the challenge be though? Any ideas?"
"Hmm. Definitely something that plays to your strengths..."
Matteo laughed. "I have too many strengths, it's hard to choose."
"Modesty is not one of them, for sure," Reina observed dryly.
Another laugh. "Well, we can discuss in school tomorrow with the rest of the gang. Right now my body feels like it was run over by a truck."
"Poor baby," Reina cooed. "Go and get more rest then."
"What are you up to today?"
Reina sighed. "Nothing much, I guess. Kate and Emilia are both busy with God knows what. Homework? Family events? Nothing exciting, that's all I know. And I could call the girls from the cheerleading squad, but they can get so annoying sometimes. Especially when they keep asking me about you like silly starstruck fans."
"I can't help it if your boyfriend is an amazing guy and well-loved by everyone."
"There's that modesty again."
"You know you love me, baby Rei Rei," Matteo said in an exaggerated affectionate tone.
"Eww, stop. Or I'll start hurling badly like how you were last night." Reina knew Matteo was just riling her up, but honest to God, she really hated nicknames of all kinds.
Matteo laughed, then sighed. "All right, I'm going to take a nap now. Catch you tomorrow?"
"Okay. Feel better soon, babe."
"Okay. Bye, Reina."
"Bye."
Reina stretched her arm to reach for her glass of mimosa on the poolside table – only to find it empty. Now her mood was ten times worse.
Why was the glass always empty? Not even half, but fully empty!
She decided to forget about drinking and started browsing Instagram on her phone. The feed was, unfortunately, severely predictable – the girls all posted selfies in their skimpiest outfits and overly made-up faces, while the guys showed off their gym bodies and latest pairs of designer sneakers.
Yawn.
Reina tapped her phone screen and activated the camera. She shall contribute an Instagram photo of her own. But not a selfie, no.
She aimed the phone lens at her toes. Black nails, tiny against the backdrop of the blue waters of the pool.
Snap.
Biting her lower lip in thought, Reina took a few seconds to type the caption: Even in the brightest day, something dark can bloom.
Publish.
Some people have told Reina that her Instagram account was filled with too many depressing captions. Not that she cared. As far as she was concerned, she wasn't being negative, just realistic.
Still staring at her phone, Reina thought of something. She tapped on the search function in Instagram, and looked for Ander's account. She wondered if he even had Instagram. Maybe Las Encinas students were major weirdos who disliked social media?
And... gotcha. Ander Muñoz.
His Instagram account housed only several photos, less than fifteen. Most of the photos didn't even show his face. No shirtless pictures with flexed muscles. No Gucci shoes. Odd.
Okay, Reina was done with stalking. Nothing juicy. Oh well. Moving along now...
She twirled her hair absent-mindedly, trying to figure out what else she could do right now. As long as she was able to get out of this mental prison called "home", all was good.
Maybe she could go shopping and check out the new collection of bags at Prada. Never mind that she had just bought a new tote from Celine last week.
Or she could call up her favorite salon and get a new cut and color.
Or...
Yes, that was it. Reina knew what she wanted.
She opened up her phone again, found the name she was looking for, and began typing: Hey. I need fresh supply. Meet at the usual spot in an hour?
The reply came swiftly: Ok c u
A smile curved on Reina's face. Finally, her Sunday was looking up.
She went back into the house and got dressed quickly. Next, makeup – eyebrow gel, some mascara, and her trusty Charlotte Tilbury dusty rose lipstick. Done.
Reina got her driver to drop her a short distance away from the meeting point, then started walking.
It was a quiet, run-down part of the town that she normally wouldn't be caught dead in, but that was also the beauty of it – she would unlikely bump into anyone she knew here.
Soon the meeting point was in sight. It was an abandoned concrete pedestrian bridge, covered in sprays of graffiti.
Reina took the steps up, keeping an eye out for the person she was meeting.
When she got to the top of the steps, she stopped. Her gaze fell on the curly-haired figure standing not too far away from her – he was looking down at the phone in his hand, so he hadn't noticed her. But he clearly was waiting for someone as well.
What. The. Fuck.
This was absolutely the last person she was expecting to see. Maybe it was the universe's idea of a twisted joke: Checking someone out on Instagram? Here, we will just make him appear right before you then.
Well, Reina wasn't amused.
"Ander," she called out angrily.
Ander nearly dropped his phone at the sound of her voice. "Reina?" he replied, confusion written on his face.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked. She didn't want Ander to be around when she was about to meet up with –
"Reina? Ander?"
Omar emerged from the steps. His dark eyes wide with surprise, he said, "So... You two know each other?"