Everything had been going great. Well, as great as things could be with Callie and Adam fighting ...again. 'At least they didn't break up this time, though. Nope, this time they decided to have an all-out, love-hate, intense, emotional brawl in the middle of her brother's house...when he is hosting a huge party, nonetheless,' Jay thinks. Alexa manages to maneuver all of the close-knit friends into the billiard room and sets Evan as a guard on the door. The belligerent couple doesn't even realize the change in scenery, or the abrupt lessening of the audience size (though, to be fair, they never actually realized that they had an audience in the first place). Aside from their fighting, the night is going fairly well for Jay...until the argument escalates (as is always seems to with them) and the couple unintentionally invites more participants.
"Do you think they're gonna stop anytime soon?" Matt asks Alexa and Jay.
"No," Lex answers quickly, shaking her head, "half of Adam's past transgressions still have to be brought up."
"And don't forget Adam's rant about all of Callie's exes," Jay notes helpfully, rolling his eyes at the insanity of it all.
"Then one of them will turn up their seductive powers," Jeff says, with a shake of disgust.
"Plus the disturbing makeout session," Punk shrugs.
"So, a good thirty more minutes," Alexa finishes, answering the questioning glances of the room's other inhabitants (namely Hunter, Steph, Kelly, and Matt, of course).
Unfortunately, this fight decides to take a slightly different turn. Instead of merely going back and forth about past mistakes and exes, Callie seizes an opportunity to get Adam off of her back. If only she realizes how big of a secret she is about to release into their tight-knit group, she would have shut her mouth and never thought about mentioning it again. But, as Adam so often does, he pushes her too far and she falls off of the edge (bringing the other guests along for the ride. Damn it, they were just supposed to help her up, not topple down with her).
"Well, at least I didn't go dating people that we were both close to," Adam spurts out, glaring daggers at Jeff.
This causes a general groan to erupt within the audience (and a roll of the eyes from the rainbow-
haired warrior) because they had all agreed not to discuss the Callie/Jeff relationship. Callie, seeing red and clearly not thinking straight, shoots back what seems to be the perfect defense.
"Oh, come off it, Adam. Leave me alone about Jeff. For God sakes, suck it up like Kelly did.
You don't see her freaking out about Matt and Lex!"
Alexa and Matt's eyes simultaneouly pop open wide in shock. There was a reason that she was the one person that knew about their brief fling - they can trust her with their secret. Unfortunatly,
they had neglected to actually tell her that it was a secret. But she still would never have brought it up, at any rate, except that Adam brings out he worst in her (and, at other times, the best). Now it is up to them for damage control. They start to open their mouths for defense, but it's much too late for that.
"Alexa Courtney Levesque!" is the cry heard from her brother, Hunter, in sync with Kelly's watery wail of "Matthew?!"
The two secret-keepers decide to take the tactical approach. Therefore, they switch targets immediately, because Lex is much too likely to just accept a harsh talking-to from Hunter than argue with him, and Matt absolutely cannot stand it when women cry (especially when his woman cries). Matt rushes to Hunter to cool him down. Alexa approaches the wailing diva cautiously. They both suck in a deep breath and plunge into their quick defensive explanation. It actually doesn't take that long for them to calm down. After all, they were both rebounding heavily,
from long-term relationships with cheaters (namely Amy and Cody). Matt and Alexa were both at a vulnerable time in their lives and turned to each other as close friends, for comfort. Considering the pain that they were both in at the time and how short and innocent their relationship was (only six dates that were more like friendly hang-outs than romantic interludes,
Hunter and Kelly forgive them for not discussing it with them earlier. Unfortunately, as they will later learn, not every one is so forgiving.
Five minutes later, a ruckus emanates from the balcony behind the rec room. Callie and Adam were just heading out there to make up after their quarrel (as they always manage to do) when Callie's screech of "What the hell, Jay?" and Adam's snarky laughter waft to Alexa's ears. Curious as to what mischief her blonde-haired Canadian friend is up to, she rushes to the balcony just as Kelly and Maria also approach it to see what has Callie so freaked.
Seeing the strange sight first, Kelly yells "Matty?" in terror and rushes to the aid of her love.
Said love is crouched in a defensive position, under the table, dodging further blows from Captain Charisma himself. It is apparent that Jay caught him at least a couple of times before he made it to safety because his left eye is much darker edged than it should be and a bright red circle is apparent on the other side of his face. He is glaring at his attacker profusely, but seems to sympathise with his anger somewhat, as he doesn't not fight back in any way. Kelly reaches Matt and shoots daggers out of her eyes at his attacker, causing Jay to back down just as Alexa gets her voice back from the shock of the unwarranted violence.
"Jason! What the hell are you doing?" she shouts, emitting a wince and a forceful "Damnit" from the culprit.
"Um...having a friendly brawl?" he says, in a poor attempt to laugh it off with a joke, only making Alexa's frown bigger in the process. "Or...not. Don't worry, Lex, I didn't leave any mark that will show up on screen Friday. So, it's better than Chris and Gregs' little scuffle. Anyway, it's over now, so no use crying over spilt milk and all that, right?" He doesn't wait for a reply and answers his own question instead. "Right, so...back to the party we all go. Time to have fun!"
Everyone on the balcony looks at the princess for confirmation, though most of them already know what her reaction to this foolishness will be. She doesn't move an inch, her eyes are narrowed down on Jay's nervous/hopeful gaze, and her frown barely changes (only to get deeper still). Then, a glint of something other than anger, perhaps a sparkle of mischief runs through her eyes and she asks the question that Jay is dreading.
"What reason can you possibly have for attacking Matt?" she asks him, knowing that he will not lie to her point-blank.
She waits for his answer patiently, thinking it will be something stupid. Something like 'Matt stole the last of the good beer' or 'Matt said something about Adam that I was too drunk to ignore.' She wants to embarrass him for taking out his aggression on Matt for something so incredibly moronic. So when he whispers his answer a minute later, so quietly that she cannot make out a word of it, Callie and Adam's twins gasps don't faze her. Of course his idiocracy surprizes them - it still catches her off guard most of the time too.
"What was that?" she prods, "I think that you need to say it loud enough for the entire class."
"Everyone else watches with bated breath and intense curiousity. Many of them already think they know what this is about, if they didn't hear Jay's answer clarify their suspicions. All of the audience has been waiting for this moment for months and nothing will stop them from witnessing it finally happening. Unless, of course, Alexa's complete disregard for the obvious gets in the way once again (it has happened four times in the past). Case in point to her utter naivete - her reaction a moment later, when he repeats himself loudly.
Sighing heavily and steeling himself for her response (which is likely to be shrill, possibly becoming violent eventually), Jay states the truthful answer once again, "He took advantage of someone I care about."
He knows it is cowardly and he realizes that she is going to make him explain further, but he can't help but hope that she will let it go at that. He has never explained how he protects her from everything he can (especially wrestlers) so how is he supposed to tell her that he just attacked on of her very best friends because of a need to protect her? She won't understand and he doesn't want to explain everything right now, not like this.
"That doesn't sound like Matthew at all," Alexa scoffs doubtfully.
'Maybe she won't ask' Jay thinks excitedly being letdown quickly when does ask "Who was it?"
Thinking of a diversion, something that he is quite adept at, Jay says, "Well, I might have overreacted. I know that Matt didn't mean any harm, so why don't we just let it all go and get back to the party?"
The crowd sighs in exasperation when Alexa responds with "That sounds like a terrific idea, Jason." But they nearly laugh out loud (in fact, Adam does before receiving a stiff elbow from Callie) at her next words, not spoken until after Jay starts back into the house. "We can enjoy the party...after you apologize to Matthew."
Jay stops dead in his tracks, with the doow to the billiard room already halfway open. "What was that?" he asks, turning around slowly, like he is in the middle of a horror movie and Alexa is the monster sneaking up behind him.
"You heard me, Jason," she announces, rolling her eyes at him but reiterating her statement anyway. "If you were overreacting then you should apologize to him right now."
Jay blinks at her long and hard, hoping that he is hearing things. Not so, he realizes soon,
as she has her 'command' face on, demanding that he follow her bidding. Which more often than not, Jay is more than happy to do. But, didn't she hear what he said? He can't apologize to Matt because he isn't sorry for what he did. Sure, he overreacted but he still didn't regret it. Before he can even think up a proper defense, he is already telling her as much.
"I can't do that," he states plainly, hating to defy the (his) princess, but finding no way to comply with her wishes. "I don't regret what I did, princess."
He throws in the princess for two reasons-one, to remind her that he is one of her 'royal guard' and hoping she will take that as a hint to drop the subject; and two, to distract her from the subject altogether, because he says it in a teasing manner. No such luck, however, because Alexa is completely oblivious most of the time.
"Jason, you're being childish and immature," Alexa chides, upsetting him (because a man can only take being called childish by someone fourteen years his junior so many times before it is too much). "Just apologize so we can move on with our evening."
"No, Lex," Jay states, firmly this time, "I don't regreat what I did and I won't apologize for it, either."
"Jason, you beat up one of your friends," she argues, clearly getting annoyed and forgetting about their small audience (which is growing in size due to the upper balcony filling up above them). "Of course you regret it."
"Little Princess, you don't have any idea what I do and do not regret," he replies angrily. "You don't even know what happened, so just back off and stay out of my business."
The audience gasps because not many people speak to the princess like that. She does get into people's business, but usually only as a mediator. She's an incredibly sweet person, only trying to help. So Jay's words really hurt her. She turns away from him before saying another word.
"What did Matt do that is making you act like such a jerk?" she asks, barely able to contain her sadness about his unusually bad attitude.
He feels bad for a moment, but his anger flares up at the word jerk. How dare she get upset about him defending her honor. Can't she see that nearly everything that he does is for her? So his retort is not the apologetic one that the audience is expecting. Instead,
he spurs both his and her anger on with another vague and upsetting response.
"You don't want to know that answer," he spits out, not even bothering to address her,
because now they might as well be the only two people in the entire state.
His anger fuels her fire and she turns to face him once more, every emotion except anger drowned out by the fire in her eyes. "Why? Am I too innocent, too naive? I'm always too something with you! I'm never going to enjoy life and make my own mistakes if all of you keep deciding what I can't do, what I can't hear, who I can't see! How can I possibly learn anything with you guys controlling my entire life?"
Jay is taken aback for a minute and then he gets his voice back and yells, "You do make mistakes!...like that cheating bastard Rhodes and then, Matt Hardy! Seriously? This is why we try to protect you, for God's sake. So we don't have to clean up after you make these stupid mistakes."
It takes her a moment, but Alexa connects the dots, for once. Her eyes widen slightly, she takes a sharp intake of breath, and then the anger filters through once more. Her eyes darken, her breath speeds up, and she looks like she is about to blow up at him.
"You did this because of me?" Alexa shouts, with a shrill edge, and flailing her left arm out towards Matt. "How could you? You attacked Matt because he dated me two years ago?
That is completely ricockulous, even for you."
A chuckle comes from above, where Chris hears her use his favorite made up word. The audience glares at him, but it is ignored by the two fighting friends.
"No, Lex, it's not ridiculous. It's necessary," he tells her.
"Why is it necessary? What could possibly give you the right to do this to Matthew?" she demands an honest and complete answer this time.
Jay narrows his eyes and his answer leaves his mouth furiously, without any type of permission from his brain. "The same reason that I got into a fight with Nash the very first night I met you. The same reason I beat the shit out of Rhodes after he broke your heart. The same damn reason that I hate every single time that psycho Orton even thinks that he is good enough to speak to you."
"Oh, really? And what reason is that?" Alexa asks huffily, even more upset after learning about the previous encounters.
Jay hesitates a moment, just enough time to allow his brain to actually come up with a decent answer and not the one that he is itching to scream at her, "Because you need princess," he answers, with a charming smirk.
The smirk quickly falls away when she doesn't buy the act and says, "That is bullshit, Jay, and you damn well know it! So just drop the crap for once and give me an honest an..."
"Because I FUCKING LOVE YOU," he interrupts her with a scream.
"...swer," she finishes as he yells, dropping her jaw to the ground and widening her eyes (in sync with the majority of the audience, except for her brother (Hunter)-pissed, Adam-smirking, and Callie-smiling brightly).
Jay walks slowly to her stunned form, having thrown all of his anger out with his impromptu declaration. He gently closes her jaw together, cupping her cheek delicately, and whispers, "This isn't how I wanted to tell you, but I do. I love you, okay?"
And then he is gone, leaping over the railing and heading out to the cars. His car is running before she can even think again, must less move again. Turning towards Callie, she finds that the beauty has taken off after Jay, so Alexa just nods her head in resignation and goes inside to wait out their return.