Hope

Words still escape Jason, so he says nothing as he begins to pack things away. Sometimes silence could better speak for itself, and right now, no audible conversation was needed. He knew that Katie had realized his intentions… He had opened up to her – the only way he knew how to show her that he truly did want that friendship back…that he still held her as the one who could draw him out of himself and who he could share with. He knew it would be different…but it was okay. They were both moving on. But this time…this time they were moving in the same direction.

After a few minutes, someone turns the overhead lights on, and the other guys and Jen emerge from behind the door, all talking amongst themselves and never once implying that anything was different or that they wondered what had gone on. They didn’t know, but they didn’t have to.

It takes a while for everything to be taken down, put away and loaded up again, and the group is kept lively with chatter, bantering and more laughter as always. Kyle and Phil go at it more than normal, remaining the center of attention most of the time, though in good humor.

Jason still stays on the outskirts of the conversations, though feeling a little more relaxed than he has been, joins in every once in a while, and even throwing in a wisecrack once.

“Jen, catch!” Phil tosses her the roll of duct tape.

Jen looks up just in time to see it coming her way, and catches it. Leaning down, she goes to put the roll in the box before closing it up. But the box is just a little farther away than she thought, and she leans too much. Losing her balance, Jen teeters out of her wheelchair, landing in a heap on the floor.

Mike is the closest one, and drops the cords he was rolling to immediately goes to slide down next to her, his arm going to her shoulders. “Hey, hey, you alright.”

“Yeah…” Jen rolls her eyes, disgusted with herself, and pulls herself into a sitting position. “Just being a clutz again.”

“Hey, Sis, you alright?” Kyle hollers.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Jen smirks at Mike. “Help me up, would you?”

Mike looks her in the eye for several moments before finally moving to pick her up. Instead of setting her down right away though, he lets her linger in his arms for just a few seconds.

Jen’s arm is around his neck and she waits expectantly to be set into her chair like he’s helped her with so many times before, but when he doesn’t move, she turns, her face only inches from his.

All of a sudden, the heat creeps back into her face. She’d known Mike for years…she interacted with him now almost as much as she did her own brothers, and she’d grown accustomed to him helping her like Kyle and Phil did since her accident.

But in this brief moment, something was different. Her eyes locking with his, she swallows hard as her heart beats faster. What was happening to her? Feeling silly, she looks away, and finally Mike moves to set her back down. “Thank you,” she says softly.

“Sure.” Mike leans down to finish what Jen had started with the box, and picks it up to take to the truck.

No one seems to notice anything strange, and the activities continue. After a while, everyone is back outside under the parking lot light.

“Alright, well, this was a good night,” Phil states decidedly. “When’s our next practice?”

“Tomorrow.”

Phil rolls his eyes at Kyle. “Don’t give us a break or anything.”

Kyle grins. “Never.”

Phil looks to Jason. “How about you? You sounded good tonight, how’d it feel?”

“Awkward,” Jason admits, shrugging. “But…I’m game to keep at it if you guys can put up with my mistakes until I get in the groove again.”

Kyle scoffs, waving him off. “Good grief. You were great and the crowd loved having you back. So when can you come out to Mike’s again?”

“Depends on work…we got that hearing coming up that I told you about, so…things are kinda in limbo right now.”

“That’s alright,” Mike intervenes. “Just give us a call when you can come. We don’t have another gig yet for a few weeks.”

“Sounds good.”

“Alrighty then!” Kyle claps his hands and points to the two trucks. “Move out!”

They all wave and say goodnight to Katie and Jason and soon they’re pulling away from the lot.

Jason watches them go, and sighs deeply. He was getting there…slowlyl…maybe… There was still something missing…he still wasn’t having the fun like he knew he wanted to. He still wasn’t sure how to interact with everyone yet…but he knew tonight had been a good step forward.

Hooking his thumbs in his beltloops, he glances over to Katie. “Hey, um…thanks.” For a moment, he cracks his barrier again, though lets out just the gratefulness he was feeling for her presence…for her forgiveness. “I’ll see you around.”

Turning, he heads slowly away, heading for his bike behind the building.


Scott flips channels on his television, looking for nothing in particular, and finally landing on a historical documentary. He wasn’t too tired yet, and knew that Katie would either show up or call him. It had been an interesting evening…he’d had fun. He’d never done much socially with anybody from TJY before, other than just Wyatt a few times, so it had been a new experience to be with them away from work. He didn’t have anybody he’d really call friends away from TJY either, so being around JetStream had been new as well. Though awkward, it hadn’t been too bad, especially since Katie had been there. He’d recognized her efforts to make him feel comfortable, and appreciated it.

Seeing Jason on stage had been interesting…Scott had never seen that side of him before, and had been surprised not only with his good voice, but his stage presence and the way he interacted with the crowd. People loved him. Scott still wasn’t so sure about how to interact with him again, and couldn’t help but have felt just a little bit of relief when Jason hadn’t gone to Mom and Pop’s with everyone else. He didn’t know what the future held, and his own nerves were a bit unsettled when thinking of eventually being forced to work with Jason again back at TJY.

But for tonight…Scott was relaxed and felt good about the evening.


Wyatt nods to Aerith with gratefulness. “All prayers would be appreciated, thank you. God’s the only one that knows what’s going to happen in this, so I’m just having to trust in Him on this one.”

At her comment about being Maid Marian, Wyatt chuckles. He grins and reaches out to give her chin a playful tweak. “If you want to be Maid Marian, it’s fine with me. As long as I get to be Robin Hood.”

Realizing he might have implied just a little too much, he breaks his gaze, and clears his throat. “I’m glad you trust me...and I’m glad you know about this now. Hopefully things will work out so I can still be around after all is said and done.”


Jason walks down the hall after climbing the two flights of steps to the apartment. Entering with his key, he finds it quiet and dark. Assuming Carson was already in bed, Jason simply heads to his own room.

Flopping down on the mattress just a short while later, Jason stares up into the dark. He hoped his dreams were better tonight…he knew things still weren’t right… He still didn’t understand himself and he still didn’t know where he belonged anymore… But something deep down told him it was finally going to be alright. He hadn’t lost everyone for good…