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“Hey, you must be Reyna. I’m Jason. Grace. Jason Grace. Most people call me Jason.” Jason put on a smile, holding his hand out before sighing and falling back onto his bed. “I’m an idiot.”
“Yes, you are.”
Jason all but jumped out of bed, turning to see Percy standing in his doorway with Annabeth behind him, kicking off her shoes by the door.
“You’re home early,” Jason said, scowling at his roommate.
“Yeah, well, you’re going out so I invited Annabeth over,” Percy shrugged, smirking. Sometimes Jason wanted to just smack that smugness right off his face.
“Thank god, I’m leaving,” he deadpanned, getting up and fixing his appearance in the mirror. Annabeth stepped into the room, frowning at him a little.
“What?” he asked after a moment.
“You should wear the purple plaid, not the red,” she suggested, exiting towards Percy and then to his room. Percy watched her go, whatever attention he had on Jason was now on Annabeth.
Jason rolled his eyes but changed his shirt anyway. Annabeth was right, purple plaid shirt with a gray undershirt and his khakis. Not half bad , he thought to himself. He turned to Percy, who was half hanging out of Jason’s doorway.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah, looks good,” Percy replied without looking away from where Annabeth had gone.
“Percy. Percy? Percy ,” Jason repeated until Percy finally tore his eyes away from his girlfriend with an eloquent “huh?”
“Go,” Jason dismissed him.
“Yeah, sorry, man. Have a good time tonight. Tell me all about it when you get home?” He babbled, disappearing the second the words left his mouth.
Jason stood there, alone now, chuckling a little before checking his watch. Shit .
He got to the cafe as fast an humanly possible, but he was still about five minutes late. He looked around at the tables, looking for the woman who matched Nico’s description. Finding no such woman, he started to panic a little.
“Maybe I’m at the wrong place?” he mumbled to himself, pulling open the door to look at the sign outside. Jason was not paying attention to the doorway he walked through, but neither was Reyna, so it makes sense that they’d walked straight into each other.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t-” Jason sputtered, freezing when he looked up.
“No, no, it’s fine. I wasn’t watching where I was going. Hey, you’re Jason, right?”
Jason almost forgot how to talk. He stared for a moment, his mouth open a little before becoming aware that holy shit she actually spoke to me .
“Jason, yeah. Sorry, yes, I’m Jason.”
“I’m Reyna,” she smiled, sending a flurry of butterflies into Jason’s stomach. She held out her hand and Jason took it, shaking it. The contact sent a wave of electricity through his veins and it was everything he could do to keep from letting the shiver it sent down his spine be visible.
He held the door open for her and followed her inside. He stood behind her, somewhat awkwardly as she ordered a hot chocolate. Jason found that to be odd, but endearing and ordered one as well, paying for both of them despite Reyna’s several objections.
“Jason, I mean it, you really should let me take care of that.”
“It’s not a big deal,” he shrugged, smiling at her.
“Aren’t you a student?”
“Yeah, aren’t you?”
“No.”
Jason desperately tried and failed to remember what Reyna did. She was standing there, looking like the most beautiful thing Jason had ever seen and she was smart and confident and he could barely remember his own name.
“I’m a cop. Officer Reyna Ramirez?”
“Right, sorry. I -uh. Can I be honest with you?” Jason blurted out.
“I’d prefer it,” she answered coolly.
“I think you’re probably the most beautiful woman I have ever met and I realize that I’m probably coming on really strong here and I know we’ve just met but you’re intelligent, successful, and a little intimidating, but I don’t mind that at all, I just wanted you to know because it’s why I’m kinda nervous because I don’t want to mess this up because we’ve barely talked for five minutes and I really like you.” Jason sort of surprised himself with the tangle of words that fell from his mouth. Then Reyna did something that surprised him even more.
She laughed. It was a gorgeous sound if you asked Jason, but he couldn’t help but be a little confused as to why she was laughing. He quirked an eyebrow up at her.
“I’m sorry,” she said, starting to calm down. “It’s just refreshing to meet someone who really speaks their mind. And besides, you’re pretty cute when you babble like that,” she smirked at him. Jason felt like he was losing his mind in the best way possible.
They stayed in the cafe, talking about anything they thought of for hours. Jason found it was easy to talk to Reyna like he’d been doing it his whole life. He walked her home to her nearby apartment. Now, Reyna was leaning against the doorframe and Jason was leaning over her, one arm against the wall. He had spent the past few minutes trying to read the signs. Should he kiss her? Would she get upset if he did? He felt clueless, but then she smiled and laughed at something he said and he could help himself.
He carefully brushed a stray lock of hair, tucking it behind her ear. He cupped her face gently, pulling her to him slightly as he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. In an instant, his entire body felt like it was on fire. Reyna wrapped her arms around Jason’s neck, deepening the kiss. She brought one of her hands down to rest on his chest for a moment before continuing downwards.
There was a sort of beautiful chaos that ensued in his head. Is she really going there? Is she actually interested? Holy shit holy shit holy shit. What is she doing? Jason had to remind himself to not freeze up, to keep kissing her. But then she pulled away.
She was typing on her phone- no, his phone. When did she get my phone? Jason thought.
He watched her put her contact in. When she was finished she flashed a smile at him, tucking his phone back into his pocket.
Then she kissed him again. This kiss was different. It was no longer gentle and sweet, but deep and firey and passionate.
She pulled away, whispering “Goodnight, Jason” and by the time Jason’s eyes fluttered open, she was gone and he was left leaning against the wall, breathless.