The smile on Reyna's face as she walked the L.A. streets, hand in hand with Cody, was so beautiful that he actually took out his phone to snap a picture of her. In response to that, she laughed and tilted her head back, flipping him off as they walked. He grinned, his perfect white teeth dazzling her, before stopping and pulling her to him and pressing a kiss to his lips. She grinned into the kiss and wrapped her arms around him, holding him close and savoring the moment with him. But eventually, he broke the kiss and smiled fondly down at her.

"Come on," he said quietly, brushing his thumb across her cheekbone and gently pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "I'm hungry."

"Me too," she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes that made him chuckle and press a kiss against her forehead.

"Not that kind of hungry, Squirt," he laughed, pulling away from her and lacing his fingers with hers to lead her towards the restaurant.

"Oh yeah?" she asked him quirking an eyebrow. "You don't want to take me back to the trailer and satiate any kind of hunger?"

"You have no idea how much I'd like to," he whispered into her ear as they entered the restaurant. "But first, you need to have some food in your system. Okay?"

She sighed, leaning against him, "Fine. Lunch first, then back to the trailer."

"Sounds good to me," he laughed, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Now come on, you're going to love their sandwiches."

The hostess then came over and led them to a table for two, handing them menus and telling them their server would be right with them. They were sitting across from each other, but underneath the table, she had placed her foot in between his and used the other to rub his leg. He grinned at her widely and reached over with one hand, so she happily met him in the middle, lacing their fingers together on the table. When their waitress came to the table, he ordered them both lemonades and she grinned at them widely, writing down the order and leaving the table.

Once she made a choice about which sandwich she wanted to order, she closed the menu with one hand and pushed it away from her. Then, she used her now free hand to rest her chin on so she could admire Cody. He was still looking through the menu, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips slightly pouted as he concentrated on the different sandwiches available for the customers to order. For some reason, even though he had come here before with the rest of the cast, it was taking him quite a while to pick one to eat. And when he finally did, he looked up and smiled lovingly at her, raising their hands so that he could press a kiss to her knuckles.

"Are you guys ready?" their blonde waitress asked as she set their lemonades down on the table, smiling at them widely as she did so.

Reyna nodded, turning to Alice, "Yes. I'm gonna have the Reuben sandwich and fries, please."

"And I'll have the Philly cheesesteak sandwich with fries," Cody said, smiling at the waitress kindly. "And we want the vinegar and mayo to dip the fries in."

"And ketchup," Reyna added, frowning when he squeezed her hand. "Cody, I am not having fries without ketchup. I love ketchup more than I love you."

His eyes widened for a second but then a playful grin spread across his face, "You can have your ketchup, but you have to at least try the fries my way."

She sighed, a small smile on her face, "Okay, fine. I think I can handle that."

"I'll have that out for you as soon as I can," Alice said, an amused smile on her face as she listened to the couple's cute bickering. "If you need anything, just holler."

Cody let out a laugh, "Thank you, Alice. We will."

"Yeah," Reyna added, looking up to the waitress. "Thank you. And sorry about that, we might have forgotten you were still here."

"It's okay," she said with a wave of her hand. "It was cute."

She left the table and the couple turned back to each other. Her thoughts went back to what she had said about the ketchup and her cheeks warmed, realizing she had told him that she loved him. With that realization, she pulled her hand away from his and covered her face, leaning her head down so that her hair would form a protective curtain around her. He raised an eyebrow at her actions, even though she couldn't see him.

"What's your problem?" he asked her, genuinely curious as to why she looked so embarrassed.

"I said we should take it slow," she said quietly. "That first night, I didn't want to rush us or anything like that in fear of ruining us. But we... we've had sex now and I just... I told you I love you! How is that taking it slow at all?"

"Rey, babe, it's okay," he soothed, reaching over and gently stroking her arm. "It's us. We've done a lot of waiting to be where we are now, did you really think either of us was going to take this slow?"

She laughed and looked at him through her fingers, "We did our waiting. Twelve years of it. In Azkaban!"

"Okay, Sirius Black," he laughed, smiling fondly at his girlfriend. "But really, Princess. We've both waited for this for so long and we know what we like. Did you really think that we were going to take anything slow?"

"No," she sighed, dropping her hands and looking down at the table. "But I was terrified that moving fast like we are is going to ruin what we have and I'll lose not only my boyfriend but my best friend. And I don't think I can handle losing you from my life."

"You're not going to lose me, Reyna Elaine," he chuckled, grasping her hand and squeezing it gently. "I l-"

"Oh my God, Cody?" a female voice asked, distracting the both of them.

When they looked to where the voice was coming from, they were both surprised to find themselves looking at a blonde girl. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and her sunglasses were perched on top of her head, making her look immaculate and completely put together. The smile on her face, revealing her also perfectly white teeth, was bright and kind and she wasn't even wearing makeup, revealing the freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks, her eyelashes naturally long and her skin almost perfectly clear. Reyna winced at the sight of the blonde and pulled her hand from Cody's, as well as her feet. He glanced at his current girlfriend for a moment before looking back to his ex-girlfriend.

"Aurora," he said kindly, standing up to hug the girl.

Reyna watched as he hugged the girl he had been in a relationship for the longest over all the years: Aurora Jenisen, their relationship lasting eight months. From what she remembered of the breakup, as Cody didn't talk too much about it except for to tell her that it had happened, Rory had broken up with him because she was tired of being second choice to another girl that he was obviously in love with. The split had caused quite the media uproar and both had kept quiet, neither of them making any public statements and hadn't remained friends. They had unfollowed each other on social media and as far as Reyna knew, hadn't communicated at all in the time since the break up. But here they were, embracing each other like they were old friends. And as soon as they pulled away, Rory's gaze turned to Reyna and the smile didn't falter for even a second.

"Reyna, oh my goodness! I haven't seen you in ages," she said happily, but didn't make a move to hug the brunette as Cody sat back down. "How crazy I run into you guys here of all places! I'm just here with Matt."

With that, she gestured to the tall, dark haired man standing with her. It took Reyna a second to place where she recognized him from: he starred in the new Freeform show based up a book series that she had read back in her teens. Aurora introduced the three of them to each other and there was a lot of kindness shared from him, something Reyna had heard much about via social media sites. They were seated at the table next to them per request, as the hostess was still standing behind them awkwardly, holding the menus and waiting on them.

"How has life been treating you?" the blonde asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder and smiling at both Cody and Reyna.

"Pretty good," Cody told her, glancing at the uneasy Reyna across from him. "Teen Wolf is almost done being filmed and I've got Reyna here in California. How have you been?"

"Good," she said with a smile, tapping her fingers on the table. It didn't escape her notice when the blonde gently nudged Matt's leg and they shared a fond look while Cody was taking a drink of his lemonade, not paying attention to them. "I've got a modeling gig and I'm moving here full time."

Alice brought their food to the table and that cut off the conversation, Aurora turning back to her table mate and Cody turning back to Reyna. After the waitress and the brunette shared a look, Reyna dug into her sandwich. Cody's eyes were now on her, confused about her silence. She didn't make eye contact with him and focused on her sandwich, not even paying attention to him or the couple next to him or the fries she wanted to eat, but wouldn't because she knew he'd want her to try the vinegar and mayo combo. Eventually, he cleared his throat and she looked up at hi, his eyebrows raised and her eyes wide.

"What?" she asked, swallowing her bite of food.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly, not wanting to draw the attention of Aurora or Matt.

She nodded her head towards the blonde, "Not here."

So he stood up and grabbed her hand, giving her a look. She sighed, letting him pull her up out of her seat and lead her away from his ex-girlfriend and the new man in her life. They didn't go too far, just to the bathrooms. She leaned against the wall and sighed, looking down at her own feet while he rested one hand on the wall behind her, looking down at her worriedly.

"You loved her," she admitted, fiddling with her fingers. "You loved her and I'll never compared to her."

"Reyna," he cooed, using his other hand to cup her face gently and direct her gaze to him. "Her getting to the table interrupted me telling you that I love you too, stupid. I always have."

"But-"

"Always. Ever. Only you."

With each word, he pressed a kiss to her lips. The weight of the words, the ones used in her favorite book series by the love interest to the main character, caused her eyes to well up with tears. She remembered her first time reading the series and sending him screenshots of the books, saying she hoped she would find someone that loved her as intensely as Aiden loved Keatyn. Having him use those words for her now showed her how serious he was about this, about her, and how long he truly had felt this way about her. So, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss, one that was deep and as brief as they could make it, as they were in a public place.

"Thank you," she whispered against his lips.

"Now you know," he said, pulling away and grabbing her hand. "I love you. Now can we go back to our table and eat lunch?"

She chuckled, "Yes. But you better introduce me to them as your girlfriend when we get there."

"You're choosing now to be extra?"

"Yes."

"Sometimes I wonder why I'm dating you."

"Yeah, well, you just told me you loved me and made a grand gesture. You're stuck with me now."

"Ugh, fine. I guess I can handle that."

"Good. And I love you, too. Always. Ever. Only you, too."

They got back to their table and he did introduce her to Aurora and Matt as his girlfriend, which didn't shock either of them. Aurora even congratulated them on finally being together and getting their heads out of their asses, which made Reyna laugh and apologize for being the reason that she and Cody had broken up, to which Aurora told her she was forgiven as long as she didn't try to steal Matt from her [which, of course, caused a blush to cover Matt's cheeks]. They talked for another few minutes as Reyna and Cody ate, laughing at all the appropriate moments and making small comments. Soon, Aurora and Matt's food arrived and they grew distracted by the food, causing the conversation to end. Cody smiled lovingly at Reyna.

"You ready for your life to be changed by these fries?" he asked as he dipped one into the mayo, then the vinegar.

She grinned, "I guess so."

And so she opened her mouth, allowing him to place the french fry onto her tongue. As she chewed, she closed her eyes and focused on the flavors bursting in her mouth. And when she opened her eyes, he was still giving her that look, the one that made her want to drag him back into a bathroom to have her way with him and she smiled widely at him, resting her chin on her hand and using her foot to touch his under the table.

"I love it," she said softly, which made him smile at her. "Now can we please focus on finishing this food. The trailer is waiting for us."

"It sure is," he smirked, letting his left hand fall under the table and grip her thigh, making her grin right back at him.

And so they finished their lunch, laughing and acting like teenagers again. When they left, they left a large tip for the waitress and thanked her for her amazing service. The entire walk back to their car was spent laughing and holding hands and savoring the day, despite the encounter with Aurora that had caused a few waves for their boat. In the privacy of the car, they shared a long kiss, the one that they weren't able to share at the restaurant. Reyna realized, as they were driving down the coast, that she hadn't been this happy in awhile and she wasn't sure she could ever be this happy again, and she hoped that everything would stay this way for a very long time.

•••

aurora jenisen is played by gigi hadid. she might get a spin off but i haven't decided completely yet. and fun fact, this wasn't even the drama.

[ 8.14.17 ]