Pick

Katie’s unintentional feelings hit Jason with enough force to make him stop, trying to digest them and ignore them at the same time. There was nothing there anymore…this was just a silly game.

Jason grins at Mabel and turns, only to stumble forward slightly as Katie hops onto his back. “I thought you wanted to get away from me!” He reaches to grab her legs to help her stay on, his grin back again.

But inside, a strange battle had been waged. A lid was on that small corner of his emotions, but having Katie so close…touching her…it made it extremely difficult to hide anything, and this time Jason knew it was true. It was just like the other night.

Fighting for all he’s worth, while still keeping up the silliness, he aims for the door. “Fine. You want it this way, you got it. Now that you can’t get away, you’ll have to replace that flower just like Mabel said.”

Aiming for the door, he opens it and ducks so Katie’s head doesn’t hit the bell. The cool night air is almost a shock to someone without a jacket. Jason spies the small flowerbed to the side of the building, lit by the moon, and promptly deposits Katie next to it.

A small relief comes as he lets her go, the connection slightly severed. He points to the flowers, ignoring any emotions. “Pick. Fast. It’s cold out here.”