Tense Exchange

Wyatt stalks into the office floor, letting the stairway door slam shut behind him. An uncharacteristic scowl accents his face, and he barely greets any of his friends on the way to his desk. He’d planned on telling Reese or at least Con about last night, just to find out if anyone else had known about Jason’s little venture, but now the last thing he wanted to talk about was Jason, no matter what the context was.

He walks briskly past Laura’s desk without a word, passes Jamie without so much as a nod, and flops down into his chair, letting his keys clatter onto his desk. He sighs deeply and flips on his computer, though his mind is in no shape to do work. This had to stop. Somehow…this had to stop.



Jason looks at Katie’s face for just a moment, trying to figure out what she’s thinking. He chuckles at her stomach growling, and finally rolls over to sit up, glad that any awkwardness doesn’t linger. “And you’re apologizing, because…? If I hadn’t been perfectly comfortable, I could have gotten up myself.” He yawns, sliding off the bed to stand tall and stretch his arms into the air. “Yeah…I want to get back in the office…get some work done…quit thinking about everything else for a while. Though I’d swing back by for lunch though…” He goes over to his bag and grabs a clean set of clothes. “On my way across the hall I’ll holler at the nurse for ya to get you some breakfast.” He stops in the doorway and turns around, throwing Katie one last glance, just looking her in the eye, so many questions lingering. Shaking his head, he continues his route.
It’s not much later before he’s on his way to TJY.


Jason waves a good morning to Laura, who returns a smile.

“Hey, Hotshot!”

Jason grins. “Morning.”

“Yo, Jase.” Con gives him a salute as he ambles by with a cup of coffee.

“Hey, Con.” Jason receives some paperwork from Susanne and heads to his office, his mind intent on getting some work done today. He had to think of something other than Katie or Jetstream for a while.


Wyatt looks up as he sees Jason pass by. Immediately he gets to his feet and tails Jason to his office.

Jason enters his office, and doesn’t even have time to sit down, when he hears his door shut behind him. Whirling around, he’s startled to see Wyatt right behind him, looking none too happy.

Recovering quickly, he tosses his papers onto his desk and folds his arms across his chest. “Yes?”

Wyatt wastes no time. “What’s the story, Jase? What’s really going through your head?”

Jason quirks an eyebrow, his defenses rising. “If this is about last night, I…”

“No, it’s not.” Wyatt cuts him off. He’d been leery about the whole concert deal, still unsure how to take that whole thing, but this morning took the cake. He grits his teeth. “I uh, wanted to swing by to say hi to Katie this morning…”

The blood drains from Jason’s face. He doesn’t have to ask any more questions. He knows instantly that Wyatt had seen him and Katie together…whether they’d meant anything by it or not, it wouldn’t have looked good at all from Wyatt’s perspective. “Wyatt, just calm down, we didn’t…”

Wyatt cuts him off again, throwing him a glare. “I don’t want your excuses, Jason. What were you thinking?!”

“I…”

“I’ve asked you time and time again about you and Katie, and each time you deny there’s anything there, and each time you pull a stunt like this!” Wyatt throws his hands in the air as his voice rises. “Why can’t you just back off?!”

“She’s my friend, Wyatt!” Jason’s tone rises as well. “I’m not trying to come between you and here alright?!”

“Oh, friend, huh?! That’s sure what it looked like this morning!” Sarcasm is flung into the air. Wyatt’s eyes narrow. “Are you so stupid to think that you’re not coming between Katie and me? Are you so stupid to think that your actions don’t convey more than just being friends?!” He shakes his head. “You spend day in and day out with Katie, you write songs about her, for pete’s sake, you’ve shared a couch, and I saw you this morning in her bed!!” Blood rushes to Wyatt’s face as his temper gets the best of him.

Anger surges through Jason’s veins, not even thinking about his emotional state and having to explain anything to Katie later. “How dare you! There has been nothing inappropriate between Katie and myself. How could you think that she…”

“I’m not talking about her!” Wyatt counters. “I’m talking about you! You’re the one I don’t trust, Jason. You’re the one who’s making all the advances. You’re the one stepping over boundaries.” He glares at his friend. “Stop making this thing so difficult!”

Heat rises to Jason’s face as he takes the verbal beating. “Why is all of this my fault?! First off, I’ve told you a million times that there’s nothing between Katie and me! Why do you even care? She picked you, remember?”

“Then stop making it difficult for her!”

Jason stops, suddenly realizing what Wyatt was getting at, and he swallows hard. “You’re blaming me for making this difficult for Katie?”

Wyatt looks at him in desperation. “Put yourself in her shoes, Jase! If she wants to choose you over me, then so be it. I’ll live. But she hasn’t, and you claim you don’t want her to anyway. So why do you insist on acting like you’re in love with her?! You’re putting her in an awful position and making her choose, when you have no intention of anything even if she WAS to pick you. Don’t you get it?! Stop making things so difficult for her!”

Jason is so taken aback that he can’t even answer. He just stares Wyatt in the eye, too stunned to know what to say. He hadn’t thought of it from that perspective before, and was ashamed to admit it. Was he really making things worse for Katie?

Wyatt shakes his head at Jason in disgust, and throws him a warning glance. “Back off, Jason. Just back off.” Having said what he’d come here to say, Wyatt spins around and exits Jason’s office to stalk back to his own desk.

Jason takes a step forward and kicks his door violently, sending it swinging back into the wall with a bang. What was happening?! What had he done? Was this really all his fault? Was he really hurting Katie? He hadn’t meant to. All he’d wanted was to be her friend…he enjoyed her friendship, was that so wrong? But….maybe Wyatt was right. Maybe he’d gone too far. Crossed too many lines. Overstepped too many bounds.

“Jason, would you come pick up these files?” Reese’s voice calls him over the intercom.

Jason groans and heads out of his office, going to Reese. He wastes no time in retrieving the work and heading back, ignoring everyone around him as he goes. Just as he’s passing Jamie’s desk, he bumps into the corner of the cubicle, and the folders slip from his grasp. They fall to the floor, sending papers in all directions. Jason mutters a curse and kneels down to try and clean up his mess, his anger and confusion still fresh.