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Thalia rushed from the bathroom to Annabeth's bedroom while trying to buckle her belt.

Annabeth looked up from her spot on her bed, pushing her laptop off her knees. "Dude, you're supposed to be at the restaurant already."

Thalia rolled her eyes as she rushed to Annabeth's closet and pulled it open without even asking for permission. At this point, Annabeth was used to it.

"Chill, I know. I know. I just need to borrow your...." They rummaged through the closet, trying to search for the last item to complete their outfit. "Where's that tie that Percy left here once?"

"Which one?"

"The thin black one."

"Oh..." Annabeth cleared her throat awkwardly. "You don't wanna borrow that one."

Thalia finally turned around, raising her eyebrows as her hand stilled completely. "You—" and then realisation hit her. "Ew, god!" She took a few steps back, removing her hands completely out of the closet, even though she was sure Annabeth would not have put it anywhere near there.

Annabeth shuffled out of bed and rushed over to her closet, pushing past Thalia. She pushed her hangers to the side and found the one that held all the ties she wore with her fancy suits to work. She pulled out a thin, black tie with small white polka dots, and handed it over to Thalia.

Thalia looked down at it and then just shrugged and went on to tie it loosely. It was good enough.

"Okay, now, will you just leave already? You can't keep her waiting for so long!" Annabeth sighed, pushing Thalia toward the front door by the shoulders.

"Wait, wait— shoes!" They laughed, trying to get out of Annabeth's surprisingly tight grip.

Annabeth released her and she rushed over to her own room to grab her Doc Martens and slip into them as fast as possible. Thalia grabbed her phone, wallet, and keys, and ran over to the front door.

Just before she left, she turned around, holding out a finger as she waited for the elevator to open.

"So... you're sure she's hot?"

Annabeth scoffed, shaking her head at them. "First of all, so superficial, you dickhead. Second of all, yes, she's definitely your type. You can thank me later."

Thalia grinned, running her fingers through her hair. "Okay, so, in case everything works out—"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I'm going over to Percy's."

"Awesome. Love you! Bye!"

Annabeth laughed under her breath as she closed the front door to their apartment. Thalia got into the elevator and rode all the way down to the parking. She got into her Wrangler and drove all the way to the Italian restaurant she was meeting her date, set up by Annabeth. She put on her "NOT A SIMP. TOTAL HOE" playlist, pretty loud, and was in the middle of blasting Arctic Monkey's song Dancing Shoes when she finally stopped the car and parked the car right outside the restaurant. She waited until the song was over to get out of the car, making sure her black eyeliner was still intact and her outfit was still on point. It was.

She wasn't really dressed too fancily, but she looked good. She was clad in a pair of simple black jeans matching a lace bralette, just slightly visible under a white shirt only halfway buttoned up, and a leather jacket. She really looked good.

She walked over to the hostess, smiling (a little flirtatiously) at her. "Hi, reservation for Grace?"

"Ooookay... great, I've got you right here. Your— friend's already at the table."

Thalia let out a small chuckle, smirking at the host. She was pretty cute and definitely trying to flirt back.

"Date," Thalia corrected her. "Blind date, actually."

"Oh?" The hostess grabbed her notebook from the front desk and started walking between the tables, leading Thalia toward her table. "Well, if it doesn't go well, I can definitely get you out of there. Just order a mojito."

"A mojito?" Thalia raised her eyebrows, her face breaking into a shit-eating grin.

"My signature drink, but," the hostess's voice went a little quieter. "Your date is gorgeous, so... good luck." She sent Thalia a subtle wink before pointing with the notebook at a table just a few feet away from them.

Thalia's eyes fell on the young woman sitting by herself, a glass of white wine in front of her. She was... gorgeous, to put it simply. She had long, black hair, braided over her shoulder, a few strands curling over her face, framing her sharp cheekbones. Man, her face really was chiseled. She was wearing a lilac pantsuit with a white blouse under it, and while Thalia wasn't one for colours, she found it incredibly attractive.

She was chewing on her bottom lip, her brows furrowed as she focused on the tiny screen of her cellphone, typing furiously.

Thalia was going to have to thank Annabeth... profusely.

"Alright, your waiter will be with you shortly."

Thalia turned to glance at the hostess and shot her a small smile. She glanced down at her name tag and then back up to meet her gaze. "Thanks, Kayla." Thalia winked at her before turning around and walking over to the table.

Her date didn't notice her presence immediately, and Thalia smirked amusedly, holding on to the back of the chair.

She cleared her throat and extended her hand as the other woman looked up, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Hi," Thalia chuckled. "I'm Th—"

She pushed her chair back in a rush, clasping Thalia's hand in hers to shake it, and Thalia couldn't help but notice how soft her hand felt in hers. "I know, I— I'm sorry, I was just— work stuff... Uhm, hi! How are you? How long have you been standing there?"

Okay, really cute. Thalia knew they were going to have a great night.

"Just a second," she laughed, meeting her gaze as she smiled sheepishly.

Thalia's date let out a small cough as she dropped her hand back to her side. They both pulled their chairs back and sat down.

"Hey— uh, I'm really sorry, I've just got a lot on my plate. I know I should know your name but it just— it kinda slipped my mind," she said, twirling her braid between her fingers in embarrassment.

"Hey, don't worry about it," she laughed, grinning up to her ears. "I'm Thalia," she introduced herself.

"Right, right! I'm so sorry, Thalia. But, it's great to meet you. I'm Reyna."

Thalia raised an eyebrow, mostly because she was pretty sure Annabeth had given her another name but, her memory wasn't always the most reliable either. She must have heard her wrong.

"It's really nice to meet you, too, Reyna," Thalia replied, fiddling with the end of her tie.

"Hi!"

They both looked up to see a waiter standing next to them, two menus in hand.

"I'm Travis, and I'm going to be your waiter for the night," the guy introduced himself. He handed them each a menu. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"I'm alright, thank you," Reyna responded, pointing at her still-full glass of white.

"Okay, and you?" He turned to Thalia who only shook her head while opening the menu.

"Just some water would be nice."

"Alright, sounds good. I'll be back shortly to take your order."

The waiter walked away right after, leaving Thalia and Reyna alone.

"Just water?" Reyna asked, glancing up for a second from her menu.

"Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of alcohol," she explained, pretty aware of the fact that it was a vague answer. "You're not judging me, are you?"

"For not drinking? Are you kidding?" Reyna laughed softly, setting her menu down, barely even having opened it. Huh... "I'm actually impressed and intrigued. It's just, from the way you were described, it sounded a lot like you were a major, uh, party type of person."

Thalia set her own menu down, still on the appetizers page, and leaned forward on her elbows. "Hey— I am totally, without a fail, the life of the party!" She exclaimed, adding a little playful scoff. "I just also always happen to be the designated driver."

Reyna smiled at her, her fingers wrapping around the stem of the wine glass. "I would have never guessed that, actually," she admitted, and Thalia noticed her eyes dragging from her piercings to the tattoo poking out from under the collar of her shirt. She couldn't but smirk subtly.

"Okay, then, honest first impressions. I like that," Thalia replied with a small grin. "I'm gonna tell you, I've been told on several occasions that I am very impressive and very intriguing."

Reyna let out a small laugh under her breath, meeting Thalia's gaze through her very long lashes. "I don't find that hard to believe."

"Why did you say it like that?" Thalia asked, sitting up straighter in her seat.

"Like what?" Reyna frowned in confusion, holding her glass up to her lips to take a small sip from her drink.

"Like— using a negative."

"So?"

Thalia was finding this situation incredibly amusing, and she couldn't fight back her toothy grin. "You definitely did not mean that."

"I definitely did!" Reyna shot back, denying Thalia's accusations.

"You were totally being sarcastic!" She responded with a little shake of her head. "This is a first date, Reyna, we gotta be honest with each other."

Reyna snorted, setting down her glass and leaning back to cross her arms over her chest. "Are you kidding? First dates are meant for little white lies. You're trying to impress your date, not scare them away."

Thalia bit down on her lower lip, a twinkle in her eyes. "I am definitely impressed."

"So!" They both looked up again to see the waiter who was back with Thalia's glass of water and a basket of breadsticks. "Have you two decided on what you want to eat yet or should we give it another few minutes?"

"I'm ready to order," Reyna responded and turned to look at Thalia to see if she was as well.

"Uh... yeah, sure. Go ahead."

Thalia wasn't exactly ready to order yet, but how hard is it to choose a meal at an Italian restaurant?

Apparently pretty hard. She didn't want to order anything too heavy, in case this ended up working out really well, and she didn't want to order any unflattering dishes, like a pizza, so it won't go horribly bad.

"And for you?"

Thalia looked up when Travis addressed her, and she panicked. So, naturally, she chose the first thing she saw on the menu. "The uh... risotto?" 

"Which one would that be?"

How many risottos are there? Jeez.

"Surprise me," she tried to play it off cool, closing her menu and sending poor old Travis a bright grin.

"Alright, sounds great," he laughed, grabbing the menus from the table. "I'll be right back."

Thalia watched the waiter walk away, their table quiet for a few moments until Reyna spoke up again.

"You have no idea what you just ordered, do you?"

Thalia whipped her head around, narrowing her eyes at her. She was really good. "I definitely do not... not know what it is that I just ordered."

Reyna laughed softly to herself, and Thalia felt for a moment that she might have been mocking her. "I am too, by the way."

"Hmm?"

Reyna's smile widened, her nose crinkling just a little. Thalia almost wanted to boop it. "I am also impressed."

Thalia's grin was wide and genuine. "Okay, here's an idea."

"Okay, I'm listening."

"Honest first impressions. Go."

Reyna let out a small, confused laugh. "Uhhh... I thought we were trying to impress each other here? Work with me!"

Thalia shrugged her leather jacket off her shoulder and laid it on the back of her chair before turning back around to give Reyna her full attention. "Okay, then I'll go first."

"No, you can't tell your date what you think about them, and definitely not on the first date!" Reyna insisted, her eyes darting up to meet Thalia's. She was definitely looking at the trail of ink along Thalia's exposed forearms where she had previously rolled the sleeves of her shirt.

"Why not?" Thalia demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's basic science," Reyna started, leaning forward on the table. "See, let's say you tell them you think they're great, and they're not, they'll start trying to act like they are, or, if you think they're awesome but they can't live up to it, and you end up being disappointed, or if you tell them you think they're, well, not great, and they'll start acting like they are great, OR it'll be like a self-prophecy and they will end up being horrible. Either way, you'll always end ho deceived and disappointed."

As she spoke, her hands were moving animatedly in the air above her. She leaned back in her seat when she was done as Thalia watched her in amusement.

"Basic science, huh?"

"Basic science!" Reyna concluded, slapping her hand down on the table.

"Okay, then," Thalia couldn't hold in her laughter. "I am definitely not going to tell you that I think you're really awesome, based on my first impression, at least. It can still change."

Reyna raised an eyebrow playfully. "Oh? I'm still trying to make up my mind about you, actually."

"Well, then, I'll try not to disappoint!" Thalia replied with a wide, lopsided grin. "What do you do again?"

She remembered Annabeth telling her they worked in the same office building. Reyna wasn't an architect, but it was the same firm.

"You mean professionally?"

Thalia nodded, watching Reyna intently. Her expression changed from a happy smile to a much more exhausted one.

"I'm a lawyer... technically."

"Really?" Thalia was a little bit impressed. Reyna looked a little bit younger than she was. She was 26 herself, but she wasn't going to ask a lady her age. Not on the first date. "My little brother just graduated from law school, actually."

"Yeah? Good luck to him. It's exhausting!" Reyna let out a heavy sigh and then a small chuckle.

Thalia laughed along, knowing exactly what she meant. She barely saw her younger brother Jason anymore. He was almost always working.

"What about you?"

"Well, I own a tattoo shop by day and have professional breakdowns about owning a business by night. It's a pretty difficult life," Thalia explained, trying to keep the conversation light with terrible jokes, her specialty. 

"Oh, sounds absolutely horrific!" Reyna played along, though her eyes were glistening in the dimly lit restaurant amusedly. "It doesn't sound as bad as the bar exam, though."

"Is this a competition now?" Thalia gasped playfully just as their food was set down in front of them.

"Kinda, yeah," Reyna replied with a small scrunch of her nose. She grabbed her fork and knife and pulled her chair closer to the table.

Thalia grabbed her own utensils, taking a look at whatever it was that she had ordered. It didn't look too bad. "I'm just gonna put it out there... I am incredibly competitive. You could say it's my fatal flaw."

"I feel like I should put this out there as well," Reyna replied while twirling a spaghetti strand around her fork, "I have never really lost any competition I've been a part of."

Thalia watched as Reyna very elegantly pushed the fork past her parted lips which were upturned into a small, kind of cocky smirk. "Never?" She asked, chuckling disbelievingly.

"Well, there was that one time I let this kid in sixth grade win a race because his ego would have been way too bruised otherwise, and I didn't really need the prize anyway."

Thalia watched her date in astonishment while playing around with the food on her plate. She couldn't focus on her food when Reyna was sitting right there in front of her. "What was the prize?"

Reyna laughed at her own memory twirling her fork around her pasta some more. "Getting to be team captain for an entire month."

Thalia tilted her head a little, taking a small bite from her food. "You didn't wanna be team captain?" She asked after swallowing, and then after a second, she added: "Wait, this is actually really good."

"I didn't have to be team captain to get my way," Reyna told her, with a tone that was deadly serious. Thalia was almost about to believe her with a little bit of fear settling in her stomach when Reyna spoke up again, a playful smirk on her face. "I still won whether I was captain or not."

"I think middle school me would have probably despised middle school you," Thalia said with a small sigh, taking another mouthful of her dinner. "Actually, middle school me would have probably gotten into a lot of fights with you."

"Yeah, you do give off "mean kid" vibes," Reyna noted, making Thalia pout, feeling just a tiny bit offended.

"I was not a mean kid! Just a little moody."

"No one gets me? I feel like I was born in the wrong place and the wrong time? Everyone's out to get me?"

Thalia cleared her throat and turned her gaze down to her plate. "Uhm... that was eerily accurate. Why are you calling me out like that?"

"That was also middle school me. Also, high school me. Except I coped by ignoring everyone and essentially making myself pretty lonely," Reyna explained, her hand around the fork stilling.

"Twelve-year-old us were lame. I prefer old us," Thalia concluded, trying to lighten the mood a little. It had gotten pretty serious quite fast.

"Hey, I'm not old. You're old!" Reyna shot back, pointing her fork in Thalia's face.

"Twenty-six is not that old!" She retaliated with another little pout.

"Okay, fair enough. You're only two years older."

The rest of the meal was spent with light banter that was surprisingly fun. There was never a quiet lull or dull moment in their conversation. Thalia learned a lot about Reyna. As exhausting as it was, she loved her job and wanted nothing more than to pass the bar exam in a few months and be able to save innocent people in court. She was half Puerto Rican and half Italian. She spoke five languages, which was four more than Thalia could. Her favourite colour was purple. Thalia of course had to mention just how good it looked on her upon learning that information. Reyna also felt the need to point out that she was absolutely useless when it came to art which was essentially Thalia's full-time job, but she could still appreciate a good Monet or Van Gogh painting.

Surprisingly, she knew a lot about art history. In fact, she seemed to know a lot about pretty much every single subject on earth. It kind of reminded Thalia of her know-it-all best friend and roommate, Annabeth. She could see why Annabeth was friends with Reyna.

They finished their meal while discussing their favourite pass-time activity. Reyna was telling her all about how she was actually pretty good at boxing and martial arts when the waiter came by to clear their table and hand them the dessert menu.

"Would you like to refill your drink?" He asked Reyna who simply shook her head, no, and asked for a glass of water.

They ordered a piece of tiramisu which they shared, making them playfully fight for pieces with their forks.

"So... how come you don't drink?" Reyna started, after swallowing a bite of dessert. "If you don't mind me asking, of course. I really hope I haven't stepped out of line."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it!" Thalia reassured her, grazing the plate with her fork. "Uh... well, I just don't think I should ever drink. I'm a lot like my mother, and well, she died while being stupidly reckless and driving drunk. It was pretty traumatising and I don't wanna end up like her."

Thalia usually hated telling that story because most people always ended up staring at her with pity. But not Reyna. Her eyes were soft and empathic, but she didn't pity her. There was a lot of understanding in them.

"God, I'm sorry. I can't begin to imagine what that must have been like," she told her softly. "But that's pretty admirable of you. You're taking care of yourself."

"I'm taking care of my brother," Thalia responded, knowing full-well that Jason did not need to be taken care of. If anything, most of the time, he took care of her. But he was still her baby brother. She was always going to be there for him, no matter what. She couldn't abandon him like their mother.

"Either way, it's admirable."

Thalia smiled softly at her.

They went back to sharing their tiramisu and talking more about growing up in California. Thalia had also found out that Reyna had lived there since she was ten until she moved to New York for college and has lived there ever since. Thalia herself had grown up between the two cities, spending summers in New York with her dad and winters in California with her mother until permanently moving to New York after her mother's death when she was twelve. That was when she met Annabeth and they had been inseparable ever since.

Just after dessert, their conversation came to a natural lull, but it was pretty comfortable. Thalia excused herself to go to the bathroom before they asked for the check and had to go their separate ways.

Thalia made sure to freshen up a little, making sure her makeup still looked good. She ran her fingers through her hair to give it a more ruffled and casually messy look, winked at herself in the mirror, and made her way back to the table. 

She found Reyna looking over the receipt which annoyed Thalia. She wasn't going to let her pay for dinner. 

"Hey, what the hell?" Thalia started, sitting back down in her chair. "I can't let you pay for dinner."

Reyna looked up, already slipping her card out of her wallet. "Don't worry about it. It's just dinner."

Thalia huffed out in frustration. "We could split it if you insist on paying," she offered. 

"I insist on buying you dinner tonight," Reyna decided stubbornly, closing the tiny booklet with the receipt over her card. "But, I guess I'll let you buy me dinner on our second date." 

Thalia was not expecting that answer. "I— uh, I'm..." she stumbled over her words, feeling the blush rush to her cheeks in embarrassment, "that sounds great," she murmured, twirling her tie around in her hands. 

Reyna sent her a small, teasing smile. She paid the bill and they finally made their way outside. Thalia fiddled with her car keys tossing them between her hands as they walked toward the parking lot outside. 

"Do you have your own car?" Thalia asked, glancing over to Reyna who had her arms wrapped around herself. It was a little bit nippy out. Thalia wanted to offer her own jacket, but she wasn't sure yet if they were about to part ways and call it a night or not. 

"Uh, no, actually, I came straight from work. It's not far from here." 

Thalia furrowed her eyebrows. She was pretty certain Annabeth's office was on the other side of town. She had been there on several occasions. Maybe Reyna had some other business to attend to; she didn't want to pry. 

"Oh, do you want a ride home?" She offered, holding the keys to her Jeep out in front of her. 

Reyna seemed to mull it over for a few seconds, possibly trying to weigh out the pros and cons of getting in a car with a stranger and leading them all the way to her home. A pretty reasonable response. 

"That would be nice if it's not too much trouble. Ubering at night is not always fun," Reyna finally responded. Thalia was aware of the wide smile that spread over her face. 

"I'll be your own personal Uber, then," she joked, and Reyna let out a small laugh, following her all the way to her car. 

Ever the gentleman, Thalia opened the passenger door for Reyna after unlocking the car and jogged all the way to the driver's side. 

As she started the car and rolled out of the parking space and onto the main road, Thalia realised that Reyna hadn't given her the address yet. They made it all the way to the first red light, and she still had no idea where they were going. And honestly, she didn't want to ask. She didn't want the night to end just yet. 

"Would it be too out of line if I invited you over to my place?" Thalia asked after a few minutes, glancing at Reyna through the rearview mirror. 

"Maybe," Reyna responded softly. "But, I'd probably say yes if you did." 

"Annabeth's not home, anyway, so, we've got the apartment to ourselves." 

"Annabeth is your roommate?" 

"Oh, yeah, we kinda live together," Thalia tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she came to a stop at another red light. " I know, twenty-six and still living with a roommate." 

Reyna let out a soft chuckle. "I mean, I live with my sister, so I'm not sure if that's better or worse." 

"Pretty much the same." 

"Yeah..."

They both burst out laughing softly. 

"So, how do you know Nico? He never exactly told me," Reyna said, her eyes trained on Thalia's side profile. 

"Uh... Who's Nico?" She answered in confusion. The name sounded a little bit familiar, but she wasn't exactly sure what or who Reyna was talking about. 

"Right, that's funny," she responded, laughing softly. "And he definitely did not set us up tonight." 

"No, he didn't," Thalia answered, driving down the road again when the light turned green. "I have no idea who Nico is but Annabeth set us up. Remind me to thank her, a lot!" She grinned at Reyna and winked playfully before turning her attention back to the road ahead. 

 "Alright, you can stop fucking around now," Reyna sighed, rolling her eyes. "Did he tell you to say that?" 

Thalia chuckled in confusion. "Dude, I seriously have no idea who this Nico is. What are you on about?"

Thalia turned to look at Reyna only to see a moment of panic flash in her eyes. "Nico di Angelo? Our very good common friend who set us up? 

Thalia felt that same panic suddenly settle in her stomach. "You're not kidding, are you?" 

"Why would I be joking about this?" 

"Right, yeah..." Thalia let out a small breath, her mind working at a million miles an hour. "You have no idea who Annabeth is, do you...?" 

"And you really have no idea who Nico is..." 

"Nope."

"We weren't each other's dates, were we?"

"I don't think so."

Crap...

Thalia came to a stop on the side of the road. She needed time to process this. 

"Shit... shit, shit, shit. Excuse me. Fuckity—" Thalia kept cursing under her breath. She cleared her throat, undid her seatbelt, and turned around to send Reyna a very wide smile, the panic probably as clear as day in her expression. "Excuse me for a second." She opened her door and stepped outside onto the sidewalk. 

She started pacing around while checking her phone to call Annabeth. Of course, as soon as she turned her phone on, she saw all the missed calls and messages Annabeth had left in the past two hours.

Sexy Brains: where the fuck are you? 
Sexy Brains: dude— Hunter's been waiting for the past thirty minutes and you're still not there? Where the hell are you 
Sexy Brains: Thalia Grace i swear to god you better be dead in a ditch and not ditching the blind date you begged me for that i specifically set you up on 
Sexy Brains: if you're not already dead im going go fucking murder you 
Sexy Brains: Hey Thal, this is Percy. Annabeth's got her murder eyes on. I rly hope for ur sake u actually are dead

Five missed calls. Jesus...

Thalia's thumb hovered over the "call back" button, nervously chewing on her bottom lip. She was screwed as shit.

Annabeth answered on the second ring. "What the actual fuck, Thalia Grace?"

"Okay, Annie, I'm gonna need you to take a couple of deep breaths, because there is actually a very simple explanation here..."

"Where the fuck are you?"

Okay, then, talking to a relaxed Annabeth was not going to be an option. Thalia had just as much right to be pissed right now too.

"Okay, first of all, this is all your fault!"

"What?" Annabeth was practically screeching. "How is it my fault that you stood up your date?"

"Because," Thalia huffed, speaking through gritted teeth. "You refused to show me what she looks like because you didn't want this to be all superficial or just a hookup or whatever and then when I got here I sat at the wrong table with the wrong person who apparently didn't know either that we were on the wrong blind date. So—"

"Wait, what?"

Dead silence.

Thalia awkwardly ran her fingers through her hair, ruffling up the short curls. "Uhm, well, yeah. I kind of... well, the waitress pointed at the table and I don't know if I saw the wrong table or she pointed at the wrong one but— well, yeah... IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! IF I HAD KNOWN WHAT SHE LOOKED LIKE—"

"So... you're currently on the wrong blind date?"

"Yes, fuck!" Thalia sighed, looking down at her boots and rubbing them against the concrete. She was in deep shit.

"Okay..." Annabeth responded rather calmly. She cleared her throat, and Thalia could hear a little bit of shuffling around. "So, hold on, so. the girl you've just spent the last two hours having dinner with also doesn't know she's on the wrong date?"

"Apparently? I don't know, she would've said something if she was aware," Thalia muttered, kicking the lampost with her boot and turning around to lean against it.

"Okay, I see your point. I probably should have shown you two pictures of each other. And exchanged numbers, maybe. I— god," Annabeth let out a heavy breath in frustration. "I... might have made a mis— a mistake."

"That hurt, didn't it?" Thalia couldn't help but grin.

"So fucking much! God!"

She let out a soft laugh, her anger toward Annabeth already dissipating.

"So, what does she look like?"

"Who?"

"Your false date, idiot." Thalia could practically see Annabeth rolling her eyes.

"Oh. Annie, she's hot. Like, drop-dead gorgeous hot. Like," Thalia pulled her hair back, tugging at the ends. "It's not just that. We're getting along so well. And we may or may not have been on the way back to our place when she had to ask how I met Nico, whoever that is. Her you."

"Then why are you still on the phone with me? Get back to your date."

"Wait but— what about... Hunter?"

"She's my friend. I'll make it up to her," Annabeth sighed. Thalia could imagine her making that face she always made when she was mentally beating herself up. "Go get laid or something. And if you do, I am TOTALLY coming back home to meet her. "

Thalia groaned into the phone. "God, please don't. I actually really like her, and I literally met her two hours ago. Don't ruin this for me," she begged Annabeth, turning back around to glance at the car. Reyna was still sitting inside. She couldn't see her clearly through the windows since it was pretty dark outside but she looked like she was having a heated conversation on the phone, probably with that Nico guy. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, or like, in a few minutes, if this goes to shit." 

"It's not gonna go to shit. You look hot today. You're getting laid." 

Thalia laughed under her breath, smiling down at her boots. "Thanks, Wise Girl. I'll text you, I guess." 

"Yeah, learn how to use your damn phone!" Annabeth snapped; it sounded only half-playful. 

"Dude, I'm sorry, but if I'm on a date, they're gonna have my full attention. I had to turn it off," Thalia huffed, glancing up at Reyna again. She was leaning her forehead against the dashboard, off the phone already. 

"Damn," Annabeth muttered, "I need you to take me out on a date, then." 

"Hey,"  Thalia heard her boyfriend Percy's voice complaining. "You wanna cheat on me with Pinecone Face?" 

"Honey, I'm cheating on her with you," Annabeth told him, her voice sounding a little muffled.

"Oh, so I'm the sidehoe?" 

"He's definitely the sidehoe," Thalia said and Annabeth burst out laughing. She had to laugh along as well while imagining Percy's offended face right now. "Alright, I'll see you later, babe. Bye." 

"Byeee, take care," Annabeth replied in a singsong voice before hanging up.

Thalia slipped her phone into her pocket, staring through the car window at Reyna who was still leaning against the dashboard but had turned her head so she was looking right back at her. Thalia pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, letting out a small, nervous breath before walking back toward her car. Reyna sat back up straight as Thalia opened the door and slipped back into her seat, letting the door shut softly. 

"Hey, so, uh—" 

"Look," Thalia interrupted her, leaning over the armrest. "I know this is a very weird, and kinda fucked up situation, but..." she let out a shaky breath, reaching over to hold Reyna's hand hesitantly, smiling softly. "I really like you. And honestly, I don't want to— not see you again. I mean, I still wanna invite you over and go another date and— I'm rambling but—" 

There was a hand on her cheek, soft, and slightly cold, and Thalia suddenly forgot how to speak as piercing black eyes bore into hers. 

"I really want to kiss you right now," Reyna murmured, her voice barely above a whisper but Thalia still heard her clear as day. Her breath hitched in her throat as she swallowed back, her own hand closing around Reyna's. 

"I really want you to kiss me right now," Thalia whispered back, holding her breath as Reyna slowly leaned in over the armrest, her thumb gently caressing Thalia's cheek. 

Reyna's lips brushed over Thalia's lightly, soft and warm, and Thalia's eyes fluttered shut. She seemed to melt into Reyna's touch as she kissed her back harder. Reyna's other hand reached up and grabbed Thalia's tie, pulling her in closer. 

They kissed until all the air in Thalia's lungs was gone and she had to pull away to catch her breath. She rested her forehead against Reyna's, taking in a deep breath, and Reyna's lips brushed over her cheek, her breath warm and sweet, before finally pulling back. 

Thalia blinked her eyes open, fighting back her smile but it was almost impossible. 

"I thought you were taking me back to your place?" Reyna said, a ghostly smirk on her face. Thalia cleared her throat, running her tongue on her lips, hoping to still taste Reyna. 

She nodded slowly, turning back to face the road ahead and buckle her seatbelt. She was grinning really wide. "I am," she replied with a small laugh, starting the engine again. "I definitely am." 

Thalia could feel Reyna's eyes watching her as she drove them back to her apartment but she resisted the urge to do anything about it; she couldn't risk killing them both before the end of their date. 

"Quick question," she started as she came to a stop in her usual parking spot. She turned the engine off and turned toward Reyna who was staring at her expectantly, a small smile playing on her lips. "Are you free tomorrow?" 

"I am not," Reyna answered and Thalia didn't bother masking her disappointment. Reyna grinned amusedly, grabbing Thalia by her tie again, running the fabric between her fingers. "But I finish early on Friday." 

In two days. Thalia could wait two days. 

Before she could reply, Reyna pulled her in again, kissing her much deeper than before. Thalia was taken by surprise but she instantly cupped Reyna's cheeks in her hands and kissed her back as her lips spread into a smile. 

In a way, she still had to thank Annabeth for getting her to that Italian Restaurant. And Serendipity. Either way, Thalia had a feeling this was definitely not the end.