#sutton.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ❛    i’d    kill    for    you.    lie    and    steal    for    you    —    i    swear    to    god    that’s    how    i    feel.    ❜

The parking lot at the Studio has all but cleared out and yet Reina finds herself still there, almost ten minutes after class has ended. She’s picking up both Madison and Iris today — Rowan’s got a late shift and Andy had some club business to finish up — and the girls have insisted on playing in the grassy area near the parking lot at the Studio. What could they possibly be playing with nothing around them but a few shrubs and a building? Reina’s got no fucking clue, but she’s pretty sure it has more to do with the fact that once they leave, Maddie will be heading home and they hate saying goodbye to each other. She’s told them they have five more minutes twice now, and she’s pretty sure she’s going to have to say it five more times before they actually decide to listen to her, so she pulls a cigarette out of her bag to at least give her some kind of distraction and help pass the time.

Lucky for her, Reina isn’t alone for long. Out the front doors of the dance studio comes Sutton, and she greets the woman with a look before taking a drag of the nicotine. It’s not quite a smile or a welcoming acknowledgment, but at least it’s something. “Want one?” she asks, holding her cigarette up in reference. She’s not sure if Sutton actually smokes but hell, half the Old Ladies of the club do, so it can’t hurt to ask. Speaking of — “Hey, did you hear about that bake sale we’re pulling together for the club? We’re raising money for some kids in the hospital, I believe.” Not that Reina actually knows for sure, but that’s beside the point. “Regardless, it looks good for the club to be charitable so it’d be nice if you could help out.” It’s less of a request and more of a demand, but Reina does manage to work up a smile as she says it. Figures that even though she’s technically not even an Old Lady anymore, she’s still parading around like she runs the show. In her mind, someone’s got to.

To say Reina is shocked to see Maddox arrive at the shop with none other than Sutton Chambers in tow would be an understatement. She hasn’t spoken to Maddox since his little meltdown at her house, and her last conversation with Sutton had been even longer before. Clearly, the girl had taken what Reina said at the hospital to heart if she’s now showing up to work with Maddox, looking like she’s the luckiest girl in the world. Reina admires the commitment, respects it even especially considering she’d heard the news that Allana Clarke was out of the picture for good. Sutton had obviously done her part, she hasn’t disappointed her and Reina is pleasantly surprised to find out she’s getting exactly what she wanted all along. All that’s left is getting back into Maddox’s good graces, but that won’t be hard. The kid is soft and he needs a mother figure — no matter how manipulative that mother figure may be — whether he thinks so or not.

Maddox is avoiding eye contact with her, which isn’t shocking in the slightest but she still can’t resist the urge to roll her eyes, and so Reina settles for the next best thing and beckons Sutton over to her. She’s curious to know just exactly how this all managed to pan out in her favor, but she won’t pry too much. God forbid she looks like she actually cares about anything. “I see you’ve traded in rides from your brother for something better,” she smirks, and although it’d usually be said with malice there’s none of it in her voice now. Sutton has earned her respect and she’s more than happy to show that. “You certainly work fast.”

Iris has been begging Reina to let her take dance from the moment she learned to walk and talk, and with the new move, she figures now is as good a time as any to get the little girl started. Of course she has to be enrolled in the same class as Maddie, it wouldn’t do for the two of them to be separated, and so Reina finds herself at The Studio’s front desk, impatiently waiting for someone to tell her how to do this shit. In all honesty, she should’ve just asked Rowan to do it for her since she’s been taking Maddie here for a while now it seems, but things between them are still a little tense and Reina’s pretty sure her sister doesn’t have any interest in doing her a whole lot of favors at the moment. Her nails drum rapidly on the countertop until finally, a young woman she vaguely thinks she recognizes materializes in front of her. “Excuse me?” she calls out, making it clear she’d like to be helped and not stand there for another five fucking minutes. “I’m trying to enroll my kid. She’s five, I don’t know if that means anything. Her cousin takes classes here and she’d like to be in the same one if that’s, you know, a thing.”