R. Mathewson - Playing for Keeps

"I see," she said, her lips twitching.

"In two years the band in Las Vegas will be lifted. We're planning a big trip," he said, looking at her hopefully.

Haley opened her mouth to remind him that they weren't going to be doing anything together in two years when she realized what he said.

"You've been banned from Las Vegas?"

"Not from Las Vegas, just from all the buffets," Jason said with a shrug as if it was no big deal.

"All the buffets?" she asked, unable to hide her shock. There had to be hundreds of buffets in Las Vegas.

"I guess they had a meeting or something. As I said before, it's all political," Jason said, gesturing for her to move up in line.

She was too stunned to say anything for a few minutes. She knew they loved food, but wow......

"What movie do you want to see?" Jason asked, pulling her from her frightening thoughts.

Haley quickly scanned the list, about to tell Jason to go ahead and pick when she spotted a movie she'd been waiting to see for a while. How about "To hell and back?" she suggested.

Jason frowned. "The one with Edward and Dana Pierce?"

She nodded.

"Fine," he said with an exaggerated eye roll, earning a smile from her. "A chick flick it is." He bought their tickets and headed for the concession stand. "I just need something to eat before I pass out."

He reached out to take her hand, only to drop his hand away. His smile became polite as he gestured for her to go ahead of him. Haley forced a smile as she stepped in line ahead of him, reminding herself that this was exactly what she wanted. She wanted to go back to being friends, even if it was only for a little while, so Jason readily accepting that was a good thing, she told herself.

After they bought their snacks, well Jason's snacks since she was still full, they found two seats in the middle towards the front. Thankfully the previews were already playing so Haley took the opportunity to get her head on straight. She really had to stop herself from wanting Jason to touch her, hold her, and kiss her.

They broke up. Jason obviously accepted it and so should she. It was for the best no matter how much it made her want to cry.

"You didn't have to buy dinner. I could have cooked," Haley pointed out as they followed a waitress to the back booth in the fifties style dinner.

"You're not lifting a finger while you're on vacation," Jason pointed out, again. It was just another thing they were going to have to discuss, but later. Right now he was too busy showing Haley how much he cared about her. Over the last two days he was pretty sure Haley had started to forgive him.

By now she probably realized they shouldn't be apart. Now all he had to do was work on not screwing up again, not that he really thought he would. He'd been acting like the perfect friend over the past couple of days. At night he allowed her to decide the sleeping position and in the morning he bolted from the bed and took a very cold shower or went for a swim in the ocean. Then he spent the rest of the day finding fun things to do and keeping his hands to himself.

It was more difficult than he'd ever imagined, but somehow he managed to treat Haley as a good friend. There was no doubt in his mind that she was ready to go back to the way things used to be. Thank fucking god, because he didn't think he could last another day with this friendship bullshit.

She was his little grasshopper, plain and simple. Not being able to touch her and hold her was just wrong.

"Can I get you a drink to start off?" the waitress asked, throwing him an appreciative look.

"We'll take two Cokes, please," he said, directing his attention to the menu in front of him. He wasn't about to do anything to encourage the woman. Right now he needed to be able to focus all his energy on his little grasshopper and not some waitress in a tight pink shirt two sizes too small that hoped to warm his bed tonight.

"I'll go get those right now," she said in a seductive voice. Jason snuck a look at Haley, wondering if the waitress' obvious interest bothered her. If it did, it didn't show. Apparently once again Haley was too oblivious to care, which was probably for the best because he couldn't stand jealous women.

"I need to use the bathroom. Could you order for me if she comes back before I do?"

"Sure," Haley said, not bothering to look up from her menu. "What do you want."

"Two cheeseburger dinners," he said, not bothering to tell her how he wanted them or to ask for two extra sides. She knew what he liked.

Five minutes later he was walking out of the bathroom just as their waitress finished writing down their order. The waitress looked up from her writing pad and smiled at him. She said something else to Haley before walking over to him, smiling coyly the entire time.

"Your friend," she said, gesturing behind him to Haley who was watching them with bored interest, "said you might like the band playing over at TJ's. It's a Nickleback cover band. She said you could pick me up in two hours after I get off work, but if you give me fifteen minutes I could probably get the night off."

"Wait? What?" Jason asked, confused as hell. "She told you I was interested?"

"Mmmhmm," the waitress said, unconcerned that he was clearly pissed.

"Excuse me," he said tightly, stepping around her.

"I'll go ask about getting off early," the waitress announced, sounding giddy.

"Don't bother," Jason threw over his shoulder.

He walked over to Haley, placed his hands on the table, and leaned over until he was practically nose to nose with her.

"Tell me you didn't just try to set me up on a date with the waitress," he bit out, trying to stop himself from wringing her little neck.

"I didn't set you up per se, but I did tell her you might like the band and that you were single," she simply said, pushing her glasses up her nose.

"I'm single?" he repeated, his voice sounded hollow.

"Yes," Haley said, shifting her glance to the left and away from him.

He slowly pulled away from her and stood up. Swallowing hard, he asked, "Is that what you really want?"

"Yes," she said without the slightest hesitation, making everything suddenly crystal clear.

He pulled out two twenties and tossed them on the table. "Come on," he said, heading for the door.

"Where are we going?" Haley asked when she caught up to him.

"Home."

* * *

"Jason? Jason, talk to me. You're really scaring me."

For the past six hours he'd been deadly quiet. When he said they were going home at the diner she thought he meant back to the cottage. She knew she shouldn't have encouraged that waitress. She didn't want to and had been on the verge of informing the woman that Jason was spoken for when she realized seeing Jason with another woman might help her get over him sooner. She had no idea he'd be this pissed otherwise she wouldn't have said anything, but she needed to get over him before she finally gave into the pain threatening to bring her to her knees.

She loved him so much more than she should have allowed herself to.

Instead of answering her, he threw the driver's side door open and popped the trunk. She quickly climbed out of the car just as the motion sensor lights on her house turned on.

"Please talk to me," she said as she watched him grab the three shopping bags of clothes he'd bought and head towards his front door.

"Jason, don't do this!" she said, unable to stand the idea of ending things like this.

"You want to talk?" he asked, slowly turning around to face her.

"Yes," she said, relieved that he was at least talking.

He threw the bags to the side and walked over to her. "Fine. Let's talk, Haley," he said, getting into her face. "I fucked up, Haley. I shouldn't have let some bitch sell me a line of bullshit and I should have talked to you, but you know what? You screwed up, too."

"You never even bothered to tell me why you didn't want to have sex," when she opened her mouth to argue he spoke over her, "I know I could have asked you a thousand different times, but I was too damn happy to care. I wanted to be with you, no matter what. I loved you, Haley and I thought you loved me. So, when that woman told me that you wouldn't sleep with me because you didn't love me I panicked big time and did something I will probably regret for the rest of my life."

"You regret sleeping with me?" Haley asked, feeling her heart drop.

"Yes, because I obviously hurt you that night and it gave you the excuse you obviously wanted to break things off," he said, stepping away from her as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"I wasn't looking for an excuse to break things off," she sputtered, taking a step towards him.

"Bullshit!"

"I wasn't!" she yelled right back. "You're the one who thought I was pulling a fast one on you! You're the one who just had to prove-"

"Oh give me a fucking break!" he shouted, causing her to jump back. "I fucked up, Haley. I admit that. Hell, I admitted it right when it happened and I even told you when we started out that I would most likely fuck up." He continued, not giving her a chance to speak, "You were happy that I fucked up. It gave you the little excuse you needed to drop me."

"No, it didn't! You hurt me, Jason! You should have-"

"I should have done a hundred different things, but you know what, Haley? I didn't. I fucked up, yeah, but you're acting like I fucked around on you!"

"Because you're going to!" she shouted back, wiping angrily at the tears that spilled down her cheeks. "We both knew this wasn't going to last, Jason! What you did proved it!"

"Wasn't going to last? I fucking loved you!" he shouted, getting closer. "I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you! But the entire time I was picturing a house, marriage and kids you were just using me!"

"I wasn't using you!" she cried, shoving him back.

"Then what the hell do you call it?" he asked, letting her shove him again. "I was good enough to hang around, date, sleep with, oh wait, no I wasn't, was I? The only thing you thought I was good for was a good time!"

"I can't believe you're complaining!" she said, shoving her hair out of her face. "That's exactly how you treat women! You're just pissed because someone did it to you!"

"I have never led any woman on. They all knew I had nothing to offer them, but you," he shook his head in disgust, "you made me think that you actually cared for me when all you were was a bitch looking for a good time."

She slapped him. Hard.

"You're a fucking snob just like your family," he said coldly.

"I hate you," she bit out, ignoring the stinging pain in her hand. She hadn't used him, she knew that. She'd been the only one of them who went into this relationship with a level head. He might think that he loved her today, but she knew that would change one day and she wasn't going to feel bad because she got out before that day came.

He wiped a small drop of blood off his lip as he watched her. "You came to me for a good time so I'm going to make sure you get just that."

"Wha-"

He cut her off with a firm kiss. She tried to pull back, but he wasn't having that. He cupped the back of her head, holding her to him as he brushed his lips over hers, coercing them to cooperate. When he ran the tip of his tongue between her lips, demanding entrance, she was helpless to refuse.

She moaned when his warm tongue slid into her mouth, gliding over hers, and then tangled together. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer, unable to stand the thought of being apart.

No matter what he thought, she hadn't been using him. She loved him so much and even though she knew she would wind up hurt in the end she hadn't been able to pass up a chance to be with him.

When he picked her up in his arms she didn't fight him. No, she fisted his hair, tilted her head, and deepened the kiss. Several minutes later they were in her living room and he was kicking the front door shut. He placed her on her feet only to grab behind her thighs and lift her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, loving the way he grabbed her ass and ground her against his hard erection.

She released one hand from his hair to reach between them and yank his tee shirt up. Jason turned in the hall, leaning her against the wall as he reached back and yanked his shirt off, only breaking the kiss to pull the shirt off. He kept her pressed against the wall as he worked her shirt off.