New Rome is really beautiful. The whole place kind of looks like a retirement village, but in the best way possible. There are only a few cars, probably tourists and wedding guests, Will assumes. Most people are getting around on bicycles or in golf carts.

Speaking of golf carts: "Hey, Solace! Get in!"

"Well if it isn't Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano!" Will gets in the golf cart driven by the eternally sixteen-year-old girl. It must be weird, watching all your friends grow up- and in Will's case, finally start shaving- while you're still sixteen.

"Thank the gods I found you! I just drank an entire Venti frappe and need someone to talk to!" Reyna's let loose, Will notes. Good for her, honestly. "So you came with Annabeth, right?"

"Yeah, we're here together," Will says.

Reyna rounds a corner with such intensity that Will has to hang on to the top of the golf cart to keep from falling out. "I mean... we're roommates over in L.A.; we're not dating or anything. Sometimes we tell people we're twins."

They sway from side to side as the path straightens. "Good- I mean, how's she doing? Does she ever talk about me?"

Woah. "I, er, uh-"

Will gets cut off as Reyna rounds another corner. "This is a super weird question, but is she... is she seeing anyone? I mean, I always got a vibe from her, but I didn't want to make any passes if she really is straight."

Will hangs on to the roof again, bracing himself for Reyna's crazy driving. Gods, she's worse at driving than Annabeth. "Um, she slept with a guy dressed as Marty McFly back in May..." Will tries to joke.

"You can do better than that!" Reyna turns a donut, sending the wheels on Will's side off the ground.

He screams involuntarily: "She's bi! She's single! Put me down! Please!"

The wheels hit the ground again with a loud thud. People are staring at them now. Will's either incredibly pale or incredibly red in the face. The mirrors on the golf cart are foggy from who knows what, so he can't see his reflection.

Will gets out of the golf cart to find that his legs are now made out of jelly because he's stumbling.

"Hey, hey, hey! Welcome to the party!" Leo Valdez is exactly the same. He's short, almost elf-like, and still sports suspenders and his magic tool belt. The only difference is that now he's added a fedora to his already ridiculous ensemble. He's a fashion disaster.

Leo throws one arm around Reyna and the other around Will. Even though he's had ten years, he still hasn't surpassed either of them in height.

"Hi, Leo," Reyna says. "How are Calypso and Jay? Are they here?"

"Nah," Leo says. "They're coming down for the memorial service; can't have my son missing out on the opportunity to hear all about his namesake!"

Of course, Leo's son, Jason, is just a toddler, so he probably won't get anything out of the service, just a ton of attention from strangers. Will decides not to mention that. Besides, even if it doesn't mean anything to little Jason, it's going to mean so much to a lot of people that he'll be there.

"And how are you, Will? Must be feeling weird seeing Nico after you broke his heart all those years ago!" Leo teases.

"Leo!" Reyna scolds. "Let's not get into that! This is about Frank and Hazel, not whatever happened between Will and Nico. But speaking of, I hear you've got a boyfriend, Will. Care to fill us in?"

Will turns red. "Ah, you don't want all the boring details. We just work at the hospital together. His name's Bill. But Reyna's right! This is about Frank and Hazel."

"Are you in the party?" Reyna asks Will. "'Cause I thought only people who were in the wedding party were getting here early. No offense; we're happy to have you either way."

"I want to play cornhole!" Leo shouts, running to set up some cornhole boards in the sand. "Someone go get the bean bags from behind the bar!"

There are pop-up bars everywhere in New Rome. It's an alcoholic's paradise.

Reyna and Will go over to the bar while Leo paces between the wooden boards, making sure they're the proper distance apart. "I'm not in the wedding party," Will explains. "To be honest, I'm not sure why Annabeth and I are here so early. Piper told us in her email to get here today, so that's what we did."

"Who uses email anymore?" Leo shouts from afar. "I'll hook you up with a real cell phone! On the house!"

Reyna ignores Leo's comment and continues. "Oh, cool. I'm officiating."

"What the hell?"

Reyna fakes offense. "Normally a praetor would marry them, but they're both praetors, so they called in me, an ex-praetor, to do the marrying. I still don't know my lines, to be completely honest."

She asks the bartender for the cornhole bean bags. "Shoot, we'll need a fourth so we can have even teams," she realizes as the woman behind the bar hands her eight purple and yellow beanbags.

Will follows Reyna's gaze down the bar. She's staring towards... oh no.

At the end of the bar, in a snazzy pair of Ray-Bans and a pink muscle shirt is Nico di Angelo. He has muscles now too?

"di Angelo!" Reyna shouts, obviously startling Nico. "Come play cornhole; we need a fourth!"

Nico makes eye contact with Will. "I dunno, I haven't played in forever..."

"You can be on my team," Reyna says. She grabs Nico's bicep and leads him towards where Leo has set up the cornhole boards. He's bent over one, attempting to use a screwdriver to keep the legs from collapsing.

"Guess we're a team," Will says to Leo.

"Damn, we have to play against Reyna? Dude, I've heard she's a cornhole beast," Leo says as the screwdriver disappears in his magic toolbelt. Knowing him, he'll be wearing that stupid belt at the wedding. He probably wore it to his own wedding, but they'd never know for sure. Leo and Calypso had a very small wedding a few years ago. Come to think of it, they probably sent announcements in the mail. Will is going to have to ask Annabeth about that when he gets back to the hotel.

Will stands next to Leo and Reyna behind a purple cornhole board. The Camp Jupiter logo is etched onto the flat face. Classy.

"Have you ever played cornhole before?" Leo asks. "You have to go stand over there. With Nico."

Will's thrown bean bags onto cornhole boards before, but he's never actually played the game. He has no idea how scoring works or evidently, where to stand. He trudges across the sand and over by Nico. Neon pink is a nice color on him, but Will would never admit it out loud. Besides, Nico has a bit of a farmer's tan.

"So we meet again," Nico deadpans.

"Uh, yeah." Gods, why does Will have to be so awkward? He was the one that turned Nico down, the one who broke Nico's heart, according to Leo. He should be the one with the good quips.

Reyna aims a purple bean bag, lining her arm up with the board in front of her.

"I'd step back if I were you," Nico says. But he's too late.

Will just took a beanbag to the nuts. It ricochets off his lap and onto the golden board in front of him.

"No way! That doesn't count!" shouts Leo.

"Uh-huh, it does!" Reyna argues back.

"You hit my teammate! That's gotta be a penalty or something!" Leo must be good at cornhole if he's calling penalty shots, right?

Nico throws the purple bean bag back to Reyna. "Let's just call that a practice shot, shall we?"

Everyone seems to agree, so Will steps far out of the way, and Reyna throws again. The beanbag sails straight up the board and into the hole.

"Woohoo!"

Leo squats down low and aims his beanbag at the target. He throws. It flies through the air, much too high to have any chance of scoring, and smacks Will in the face.

It stings. "I'm okay!" he shouts anyway. Evidently, Leo Valdez sucks at cornhole.

They finish out the round. Leo manages to land one beanbag on the board, but Will quickly learns how cornhole scoring works. They don't score, they just decrease the number of points that Reyna can score for her and Nico.

Will and Nico gather their respective beanbags. Nico gets to go first because Reyna scored. That's fine by Will.

Nico raises his beanbag into the air to aim. His muscles flex as he does so, and Will would be lying if he were to say he isn't enjoying the view.

And Nico's hair. Wow. It's amazing. So fluffy.

The purple bean bag lands flat on the board with a loud THUD! Nico whips his hair back, Justin Bieber style, and ties it back with a hair tie from his wrist. Will wishes he could be Nico's hair.

"Your turn," Nico says.

Right. It's Will's turn. Okay. He's got this.

Will takes a deep breath as he angles his arm towards Nico's beanbag. If he can knock it into the grass, then it'll no longer add to Nico and Reyna's score.

He lets go of the yellow beanbag. It tumbles into the grass and comes to a stop just before the cornhole board. This is going to be a rough game.

"So, can we just end at fifteen instead of twenty-one?" Leo asks. "'Cause I don't think I can bear this for much longer."

After a few more rounds, Nico and Reyna are three points away from the win, and Leo and Will are still at zero. "Is there a cornhole mercy rule?" Leo asks, exasperated.

Nico throws his beanbag. It tilts into the hole but hangs on to the board for dear life.

"Look, it's like Percy and Annabeth!" Leo jokes. It's a terrible joke, so everyone ignores it. Leo tends to cope with humor. "Okay, Solace, don't fail me now buddy!" Leo goes into a squat and adjusts his fedora.

Will's hands are shaking as he raises his beanbag. Somewhere along the way, they switched colors because Leo insisted that the yellow bean bags were heavier than the purple ones.

He draws back and then releases. It's a great shot! Finally! Let's go!

It lands flat on the board, but the impact sends Nico's beanbag over the edge and into the hole.

"NOOOO!" Leo collapses facedown in the grass.

"Well, Will," Reyna says. "You took the losing shot, so you're buying drinks."

"That's fair," Will says. "Wait, can you drink?"

"My California state ID says so." Reyna shrugs. "I'll do a Stella please."

"Bud Light for this Bud Knight!" jokes Leo.

Nico tightens his ponytail. "Same here."

Everyone's ordering a beer. It's Will's worst nightmare. He wants nothing more than a White Claw, but he'll definitely get made fun of.

He walks up to the bar and looks at the beers on tap. What to choose, what to choose?

"Hey hun, what can I getcha?" the bartender asks.

"Um, can I get a Stella, and two Bud Lights, and, uh, actually, make that three Bud Lights," he stammers.

She looks him over. "You sure?"

"Yeah." He's not sure. He wants a hard seltzer, but he's committing to the beer.

The bartender fills the glasses, and Will pays careful attention to remember which drink is Reyna's Stella. She'll tease him endlessly if he accidentally gives her a Bud Light.

He pays for the drinks and takes the tray over to his friends and Nico. Luckily, he doesn't have to remember which one is Reyna's because she can tell just by looking at it. "Thanks, Will," she says, taking a sip of her drink.

Here goes nothing, Will thinks as he tries his Bud Light. It's awful. He wishes he just got a White Claw and took the teasing.

It's too late now. He's so caught up in how awful this drink is that he doesn't even notice the lighthearted conversation going on around him.

Oh no. Nico, Leo, and Reyna are almost done with their beers. Will needs to catch up. He takes a large gulp, resisting the urge to plug his nose.

"You guys ready for another round?" Nico asks. "I'm buying this time, don't worry, Will."

Another round? Are these people for real? Will's a little more than halfway through his beer, and he already has a little headache.

"Sure, thanks Nico," says Reyna.

"Pull my leg! Well, since you're buying," Leo agrees.

"Cool, Will? Ready for another?" Nico smirks. Will wonders if he knows what this is doing to him.

"Sure." Will Solace is not about to lose to his ex-boyfriend twice.

End of Part II