_.-._ .-._ .-._ Reyna_.-._ .-._ .-._

"And that's all, Ms. Ramirez-Arellano! Everything's all wrapped up. In all honesty, I really didn't expect you to come up with the money on time—"

"Oh, it's no problem." She cuts him off, offering a tight-lipped smile. "Really, don't worry about it Mr. Klein. I didn't think I would manage either. But thank you for giving me the opportunity to extend the date for the final payment; my sister and I are extremely grateful."

He gave an overzealous nod of his head, blue eyes as wide as his smile. "I'm happy to have helped. And with such a good offer, how could I say no?"

Sitting in a foldable chair across the table from the smiling, middle-aged real estate agent, Reyna beamed. She maintained the grin as he stood to his feet, reaching over to take her hand in his before giving it a firm shake.

She let the smile fall as he turned to the table and began collecting all the signatured paperwork she had just filled out, which had taken a lot out of her. Reyna watched with pursed lips as he straightened the stack of papers on the desk before sliding them into a pocket in his brown messenger bag, and that was the last she would see of them. He glanced up, his salt-and pepper hair flopping to one side with the movement. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Reyna."

"Thank you. You too." She smiled again as they both tucked their chairs back under the desk. Reyna looked around the tall, open-spaced room and sighed contentedly at the dark green walls and streams of midday sunlight peeking in through the curtains. Just as the agent started walking past her and out of the study, she remembered that she'd have to call her sister to tell her the good news—and to thank her for offering to pay half of the price for the expensive household. Really, she couldn't have done this without Hylla's help.

The agent walked into the main hall and faced the door, shrugging on his heavy coat as Reyna stepped out from under the doorframe of the study. She waited patiently for him to fling the end of his scarf over his shoulder before they exchanged their last goodbyes and she locked the door of the household behind him. As soon as she shut the heavy, oaken door of her father's old home, she turned and leaned against it, facing the long, winding hall and open doorways. Reyna almost couldn't believe it. This place was hers now. She didn't know whether she should feel triumph or dread.

Triumph, because she had been trying to get a hold on this place for months. When her Dad was younger, he had moved up to New York with his siblings and lived in this house for some years. It was almost like it was part of her. Her grandfather had died in this house. Some of her aunts and uncles had been born and raised here, from the very start. When her grandparents were gone, her father had taken the responsibility of maintaining the house onto his own shoulders—and now here she was. It was hers.

The dread? Well, besides the fact that the house could have been haunted by the ghost of Grandpapi Ramirez-Arellano (which she really didn't like to ponder on), buying the place had cost her an arm and a leg. And probably a few internal organs. Trying to outbid two different buyers hadn't been a walk in the park. That's why Reyna had needed Hylla's help—her older sister, who held the keys to the house they grew up in back in San Juan. Hylla made a good amount of cash working as the financial supervisor for Amazon, so it really wasn't that much of a problem for her. The big problem Reyna had now was that she had loaned over ninety thousand dollars from the bank—which was definitely not good on her wallet—and that she needed to pay it back. And if she wanted to get back to California in time to manage the summer camp she worked at, she'd have to do it fast.

She was thinking of picking up a few tasks around town when her phone started to vibrate in her pocket, and she pulled it out to see a text from her friend Nico.

[ Nico ] : so r u just gonna starve or are u coming to the shop?

Reyna hadn't realized it before, but she hadn't really eaten much all day. Leaning back on the rail to the stairway, she was surprised that she hadn't noticed before. Between talking to the agent, chatting with her sister, and scraping up the funds for the apartment, she didn't think to eat anything.

[ Reyna ] : I am not starving, di Angelo. I've been busy signing papers all day. I'll come by soon if I can.

[ Nico ] : lmao why do u text like that

[ Reyna ] : Like what?

[ Nico ] : nevermind. just come by soon ok

Reyna bit her lip. Before she could change her mind, her stomach growled in protest. Yup, she was definitely stopping by the café.

"[ Reyna ] : Ok" she texted back before quickly sliding her phone into her back pocket. Shrugging on the blue coat that had been hanging on the banister of the staircase, Reyna opened the door of the apartment and walked into the mid-morning rain, leaving the household just as the real estate agent had.

The midday sun peered through thin clouds of smog, and diluted sunlight shone down on the crisp pages of the novel in Reyna's hand as she walked. Loosened wisps of her hair flew out behind her as she strode, and she absently tucked her hat into her bag now that it had stopped raining. Puddles of murky water had gathered at street corners and at low places in the sidewalk, and she sidestepped them effortlessly. She almost snorted as she read a paragraph on the effects of magnetism. New York wasn't that hard to figure out at all.

Well, that is, until she nearly fell onto some train tracks.

Ugh, Reyna hated taking the subway almost as much as she hated being hit on. And both misfortunes had befallen upon her not half an hour ago. Still walking and weaving in and out of the oncoming stream of pedestrians, Reyna decided not to give the whole ordeal much thought as she neared the address of her friend's job, spotting the telltale black and gold streetlight by the corner. Once she reached the end of the sidewalk, she took a right, and found herself standing directly in front of a pair of heavy glass doors with Christmas lights draped around the frame.

She was about to just walk right in before she spotted someone coming towards the door just as she moved to open it.

"Comin' through!"

Reyna stepped aside as a burly man carrying a huge stack of boxes made his way towards her. Before they could have a head-on collision, she smartly stepped to the side and pushed the door of the restaurant open, holding it for him with one hand. When the man saw her, he grunted out a "Thanks Ma'am," before staggering out of the shop and down the street towards a sleek, black company car.

Letting the door slide closed behind her, Reyna faced the bustling Brooklyn restaurant.

Dozens of people ate and chatted in all corners of Maria's. The tables were high up and polished, some littered with textbooks and notes seeing as how they were occupied with students from the local university. A bunch of students crowded the counter, lined up in a scattered row as numbers were called and people came to receive their orders. The black paint on the walls was old and peeling, but otherwise, the place felt brand new.

Reyna approached the back of the line, standing in place behind a tall gentleman in a suit chatting away into his phone. Waiting for the line to surge forward as the people around her continued with their business, Reyna took out her book again, skimming over paragraphs of theorems before taking a step forward just as everyone above her had.

Successfully ignoring the chatter and bustling of the other people in the shop, Reyna kept reading.

Until someone interrupted her, of course.

"Hey Reyna!" Reyna glanced up, one brow ticking in annoyance. She leaned out of line for the briefest of moments to see Nico standing behind the counter, tall and gangly as ever with his dark green apron on beneath a tentative smile. He waved.

"Ugh." she grumbled as she glanced at the page in her book before shutting and stuffing it into her bag. She cupped her gloved hands over her mouth with a wry grin as if the line in front of her kept the two of them worlds apart. "Hey, Nico!"

The man in front of her paused his call to twist around, giving her a side-eyed glare. Reyna snapped her lips shut, chest tight and face heated as she quickly dropped her hands to her sides. Oh God—she forgot that he had been on the phone. Her bad.

She chose to ignore the sound of Nico's laughter from the front.

"Shut up," she mouthed, cheeks red. He just kept snickering behind one hand, but was quickly diverted by a rather angry-looking customer who he'd kept waiting at the counter. His usually pale complexion went beet red when the young lady starting yelling at him, and Reyna was really glad she got her turn to laugh when he spared her a look of distress before getting swept up in the heat of the order.

It wasn't long before the line lurched forward, and Reyna found herself fourth from the front. As Nico occupied himself with his work, she drifted into boredom again, and pulled out her phone to check her last calls.

One text from Hazel asking how the city was. Two missed calls from Frank, one of which she had returned earlier and the other she hadn't tended to yet. She was glad to see that she hadn't gotten anything from Octavian—her whiny, son of a bitch coworker at camp—and that news brightened her spirits a bit. If she could get through this trip with minimal interference on his part, she just might be able to kick back and relax. Maybe, after she was done unpacking, she could see an off-Broadway production. Or maybe, once her loans had been paid off and she could afford a ticket back home, she could shop down Fifth Avenue and buy herself a new wardrobe. She nearly laughed aloud at that last thought, because man—was that wishful thinking or what—but she still entertained it anyway, if only a tiny bit. Besides, it wasn't like it was impossible. She could totally do it. If she worked hard enough, this entire thing would blow over in a few months, and she could go home. No big deal. She'd just have to take on a high paying job or two, and she'd be exploring the city with Nico in no time.

It didn't occur to her that she had reached the front of the line until Nico reached across the counter to wave a hand in her face. She snapped out of it all too quickly.

"—Oh, um, sorry." Her face heated up again. She pursed her lips at Nico's amused grin and chose to ignore him for a second time, training her eyes on the menu board that hung low above his head. "Instead of teasing me, could you do me a favor and get me one turkey and spinach on rye, and a cup of pomegranate nectar?" She smiled sweetly as he punched in her order. "You can put it on your tab."

"Fine," he grumbled, fishing in the pocket of his apron before slipping out a wallet and flipping through to find his card. He swiped it, then looked up at her, grinning. "Only because it's your first time eating here in like, five years."

"Thank you," she chirped politely, toting a pleased smirk as he turned his back to grab a plastic cup. He punched a button on shop's drink dispenser machine that filled the cup with a dark, frothy liquid.

"You know," he started in a low voice as he spun back to face her, placing the cup on the counter, which she took without breaking eye contact, "you don't have to wait in line. You're practically family here, Reyna." He gave her a shy grin, one she couldn't help but smile at. He looked awkward hunching down to talk to her like this. "I mean, I'd be willing to pay for you again, but my shift always ends at the end of the night. You could always drop by then, and I'd be happy to fix you up with a free meal."

"Oh, how sweet." She reached up to warmly pat his cheek like she used to, and he rolled his eyes, ducking his head to escape her embarrassing gesture. When he turned away, eyelids low and cheeks rosy, she scoffed, offended.

"Oh, stop evading me! I'm trying to say thank you, di Angelo! Is this any way to treat your former camp counselor?" She put her hands on her hips, giving him a fake glare as he groaned and raked a hand through his dark, shaggy hair. "Nico. Don't you groan with me. Where are your manners?"

"I'm nineteen." he stressed with a moan, one hand dragging down his face as his dark brown eyes darted around to see if anyone was looking at him. Reyna caught the gaze of two giggling employees in uniform farther down the counter, who then cut themselves short at Reyna's smirk. Nico noticed them, and flushed red. Her smirk deepened. Mission accomplished.

His voice raised an octave higher when he let his hand drop to his side, face contorted into a look of pure agony. "Stop embarrassing me in front of my coworkers!"

She thought about it...and decided to let things go. She'd had her fun, and she could see out of the corner of her eye that another employee had her order ready in a plastic bag, straight from the kitchen. Reyna let out a drawn out sigh. "Alright, fine. I will. For now." She beckoned to the worker, who looked surprised at being summoned, and then took her purchase in hand, giving Nico an exaggerated I'm watching you hand signal over the counter. When he paled, she laughed, and he quickly turned away to take the order of the next customer, a tall blonde in tennis clothes.

Upon leaving the restaurant, Reyna took a deep breath of ozone-filled air, marveling at the pale grey skies that filled the spaces between the tall buildings that lined down the block in either direction. She entered the flow of sidewalk traffic with ease, absently sticking her straw into her drink before taking a long sip of the sweet, pungent drink. As she retraced her steps to the subway, she couldn't help but grin at the scene that had just unfolded—and giggle to herself, because ever since she'd left dreary California, it felt like the best thing in the world.

The next day came without ceremony.

Outside the window of the study, the awakening sun began to rise, illuminating the quaint, spacious room before it with a warm golden light. The morning haze spilled from the windowsill onto the carpeted floor, creeping towards the tall, mahogany bookcase mounted on the wall at the opposite end of the room. The sunlight made the golden lettering on the backings of her father's old, musty books shine, and sitting in the center of it all, with thin fibers dancing through the air as she sifted through boxes of old discarded things, Reyna knew she had a lot of work to do.

For one thing, she still had to get to re-painting a few of the rooms. This place wasn't as welcoming as their old flat in San Juan—the area was a lot noisier, and cars constantly sped by down the street outside—but it was nonetheless home to her now. And if she really wanted it to feel like her old home, she would have to repaint the ugly pink walls with colors much more practical, like white, or grey. Or maybe something more interesting, like beige.

Reyna was still sifting through boxes and skimming over the faded titles of her father's books when her cell phone began to ring. She put the books in her hands aside and sat back, folding her legs under her as she looked down at the screen. At first, she feared it was Octavian calling her to complain about some shit that was going on in California (again), but she was pretty surprised to see that it was Zhang, and when he called, it was usually pretty urgent news.

Feeling somewhat nervous, Reyna put the phone to her ear.

"Reyna?" he spoke first. His voice was muffled and full of static. Reyna shifted around and pulled her legs out from under her, spreading them on the dark carpet of the study.

"Frank? Is something wrong?" she asked, immediately voicing her concerns. Frank was back in California with Octavian in charge of the summer camp, so she expected the worst. Did the little blonde bastard finally hurt somebody? She really hoped not. She really hated lawsuits.

"What? Nothing's wrong. Why would you think – " he immediately stopped, catching himself. "Oh yeah…the last two times I called were about Octavian. Right."

"…Yeah."

On the other line, Zhang chuckled. "Well believe it or not, I actually have some pretty good news this time, if you're interested in hearing it."

Reyna sat back, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth as she voiced her thoughts. "Is this about Hazel again?"

She could practically hear him fluster. "I—it's not—no!" he said quickly. He was probably blushing a dark red. "Of—of course not! It's about Lupa. She's coming to visit soon."

Hearing this, she sat up straight. Lupa? Coming to visit? "Wait—Lupa? Are you serious?"

"Yeah! She called in yesterday to say she's making plans."

Biting her lip, Reyna glanced around at the various items littering the floor of the dusted off study. She still had tons of boxes to get through, and thousands of books to put away—this was bad. Bad, bad, bad. If she couldn't make it back to California in time for Lupa's visit…

Reyna thought of ways to postpone her boss from coming. Zhang's good news didn't sound so great to her.

"Frank? Still there?"

"…Yeah?"

"If I can't make it back in time, do you think you can manage the camp by yourself for a while?"

"…What?"

"As in Octavian will be taking an unpaid leave. I just need him to be gone long enough for Lupa to not see the chaos he's unleashed on her summer program."

"Oh, come on Rey," he tossed out the nickname she hated so much, and she couldn't help but exhale in disdain. "Octavian's not that bad this time. He led out in fencing and horseback riding today. And this time, not a single kid was maimed."

"That's not the point," she began to explain, her tone growing agitated. "Lupa's the camp sponsor! She's like a mother to me! I don't want her to be disappointed with the way I'm running things."

"But…you're not here, so…"

"I know," said Reyna with a roll of her eyes and an exasperated sigh. "That's the problem. Just—keep things in check until I get back, okay? Unfortunately, I still have a lot of work to do. Tell Octavian I didn't say hi."

"Okay," Frank sounded unsure, but there were crackling noises on the other line as he moved to end the call between them. "Bye."

As soon as he hung up, Reyna let out a long groan, glancing at the tall, mostly empty bookshelves and the stacks of novels littering the office floor. Her Fifth Avenue shopping spree would have to wait, she decided.

She was going to be in New York for a while.

a/n: so heyyyy guys. my bad. i know it's been a year and time (let's not dwell on it, shall we?) but in all honestly, the plot for this entire story grabbed me last night of all nights, and it's the first inspiration i've had for this in months. please rebuke what i said last chapter about the povs switching between piper and leo, because obviously, that was a lie. the chapters will most likely follow a pattern that you will discover in two chapters that switches between reyna, leo, jason and piper. now that that's all said and done, i'm glad to be back, and i will not wait a year and six months to update this ever again, i promise. hopefully, it'll be done before i start my senior year this fall!

one more thing: this chapter is a slight nod to Café Jupiter, which is one of my favorite fics of all time by my designated big sister figure 1ooo-w0rds. love ya girl! and once again, forgive me for taking over a year with this, my bad.