Prompt — Cait is failing Spanish and her tutor, Nate, is too busy to help her before midterms. Jason offers to fill in and despite the fact that his goofy behavior constantly clashed with her serious attitude, she readily agrees. At one point, they start arguing about what caused the riff in their relationship when he kisses her.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, it's been a while, but inspiration comes and goes. Sorry!

Alternate Universe where the Gray brothers weren't rock stars, and Caitlyn was their next door neighbor growing up. Caitlyn and Nate are 22 and in college for music production. Shane is 23 and not an active member of the story. Jason is 24 and went off to boarding school for high school while Nate and Caitlyn stayed local.

"Hey Cait! I'm so sorry, but I can't come over tonight. I have to get some work done and they won't let me leave early. I called my brother and he should be over to help you out soon. Talk to you later!"

Caitlyn stared slack-jawed at her phone. She couldn't believe Nate had stood her up when she needed help studying for her college Spanish final. And not just that, but he had sent his brother as a replacement tutor. The same older brother she used to be best friends with before he ditched her to fly off to boarding school. That in itself wasn't a huge deal, except she had been in love with him for years and he had completely rejected her when he tried to set her up with Nate. Talk about awkward.

The doorbell rang.

"And talk about perfect timing," she grumbled to herself as she trudged across her flat to open the door. There he stood. All 5 feet and 9 inches of pure attractiveness. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt, black leather jacket, a pair of old faded blue jeans that were starting to get frayed at the knees, and a pair of black boots. His curly brown hair was slightly longer than when she'd last seen him, but still relatively short and his 5 o'clock shadow helped define his jawline. She had to clench her hands to keep from reaching out to feel it.

"Sooo… Are you going to stare at me all day, or are you going to let me in, Caity?" Jason asked with a small smile as he saw her eyes travel up and down his body.

"Neither," she smirked back at him, putting her hand on the door with every intent to slam it in his face. Before she could put her master plan into action, his foot blocked the doorjamb and his hand rested on the door above hers.

"6 years," he chuckled, "And I can still read you like a book. Besides, do you really want to turn me away? I thought you needed help for your final?"

"Yeah. Nate's help. Not yours," she replied, not bothering to hide her disdain.

"Well Nate's decided to help the blonde bimbo who just appeared at our house begging for his 'assistance', so I'm as good as you're going to get," he replied with a slightly disgusted look and a slight shudder at the memory of her overdone face and revealing outfit.

"Let me guess," Caitlyn leaned against the doorframe. "High ponytail and more makeup than a drag queen? Oh, and a pink maserati as a ride?"

Jason nodded.

"That would be Tess," Caitlyn explained, pushing off the frame and heading into her apartment. Jason took that as his invitation inside and closed the door behind him. Quickly taking off his shoes and leaving them by the door, he followed the sound of her voice down the entryway into the living room.

The room was sparsely decorated, but Jason just knew that was because Caitlyn was a minimalist in everything except her equipment and wardrobe. The cream colored walls were accented by a few scenic paintings of Italy. There were a few potted plants placed around the room and a coffee colored sofa set was set up around a coffee table. The red brick fireplace added a homey feel while the flat screen TV added a hint of modernism. On the far side of the room, a small round dining table was surrounded by 4 chairs and a breakfast bar separated the kitchen from the living area.

"Make yourself at home," Caitlyn said as she gestured to the couch and coffee table, where her books were spread out. "Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked as she headed towards the kitchen.

"Oui, Mademoiselle, a coke merci," he joked with a bow, offering her his hand. In the past, she would have replied with a laugh and a curtsey as she took his hand. But years had passed and things had changed.

"That's French," she pointed out with a quirk of her lips as she came back with a cold can of soda for him and a glass of wine for herself. "And very broken french at that. Do you even speak Spanish?"

Jason straightened with a slight frown and followed her, noting the difference in the way she carried herself as she moved around her home. She used to be able to give off the illusion of dancing through life. She'd always be bouncing around with barely concealed energy and would laugh at any stupid joke he'd say. Now, she seemed weighed down with the weight of the world causing her shoulders to slump in exhaustion.

She set the drinks down on their coasters before wrapping herself up in the throw blanket left on the couch. Grabbing her notebook and pulling her legs up underneath her, she made herself comfortable for her long study session.

Noting her stress level, he decided to tone back the jokes. "Yes, I'm actually fluent," Jason answered her as he moved to sit next to her on the couch. "My roommate at boarding school was hispanic and had a bit of trouble with his English," he explained as he pulled the closest textbook into his lap. He tried to acquaint himself with where she was in her studies while doing his best to ignore the pang he felt at her laissez faire attitude towards him. It was if she didn't care if he was there one way or another.

After a few minutes where he felt extremely awkward, he tried to start the ball rolling. "So where are you having the most trouble?"

"Mostly in the conversational aspect," she replied. "I can read Spanish and write down what I want to say fairly easily, but when I have to converse, it all gets tied up in my head."

"Got it," Jason smiled at her. "Then let's start there and see if we can untangle those thoughts."

A few hours later, the textbooks were scattered on the floor and Jason and Caitlyn were facing each other from opposite ends of the couch. After tackling the main parts of conversational Spanish, they decided to try vocabulary. They quickly turned it into a game where they each had a Spanish-English dictionary and were trying to find impossibly difficult words to throw at each other.

"Truce!" Jason called after Caitlyn asked him to translate onomatopoeia into Spanish.

"Wrong!" she giggled. "It's the same, except it has a 'y'!"

"I forfeit!" Jason held his hands up in mock surrender as they both dissolved into giggles. "We should take a break," he suggested. Caitlyn nodded as she got up to get them both a new glass of wine.

After just a few hours, she already seemed to be moving more freely, as if some of the burden had been lifted. She was even beginning to open up with him and smile like she used to.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked as she handed him a glass of white wine.

"Sure," she replied with a smile as she re-settled herself onto the couch. They hadn't spoken in years, yet it almost felt like no time had passed. They were still so in sync. They used to be best friends, why had that ended?

"Why do you follow Nate like a helpless puppy when he's obviously not interested?"

Right. Never mind, I retract my question.

"What do you mean?" she asked with a scowl.

"I mean he got a date and stood you up for an easy fuck."

"Do you have a point, or did you just want to take a chance to insult me?"

"What? No, I mean… I think he's an idiot. You deserve better you know," he said, falling over himself as he tried to recover from his previous poor choice in words.

She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms and pouted with a huff. "And you would know what's best for me, because...? We haven't talked in years Jason!"

"And that's my fault?!"

"Who else?!" she stood up angrily. "It's not like I stopped replying to your calls. It's not like I never replied to your letters or emails."

"Wha–"

"No! You know what Jason? You have no right trying to tell me how to live my life! You told me that I should go after Nate when you flew off to boarding school. You were my best friend and you just up and left one day to fly across the country to boarding school. Now, years later, you think you can come in through my front door acting like nothing has changed? I pined over you for ages! I was in love with you for years! But a girl can only be ignored for so long before it gets to be too much! I guess you only ever saw me as Nate's kid friend. No matter what I did, you never saw me as anything more! So yes, I did grow closer to Nate, but I figured it's better to have some friends rather than waiting for someone who obviously wants nothing to do with–"

Caitlyn's rant was silenced by Jason's mouth on hers. She let out a startled squeak in surprise. Jason, for his credit, didn't move or try to deepen the kiss. His lips were simply pressed firmly against hers, his hands holding her hips as they sat next to each other on the sofa. Caitlyn knew that she could very easily break the kiss by just leaning back, but she was frozen. Never in her wildest dreams had Jason actually wanted to kiss her.

'Okay, that's a lie,' she corrected herself. 'In my wildest dreams, he does a lot more than just kiss me, but that's beside the point. Wait… Oh God, Jason is kissing me! It feels nice. Wait, now he's pulling away. Bad Jason. Come back.'

After a few seconds of kissing her and her sitting there frozen, Jason decided to pull away. He figured that her lack of response was her response. He pulled back slowly, not wanting to lose the connection, an apology ready on his lips. Before he could even begin, though, Caitlyn was ranting again.

"What the hell was that?"

"I–"

"No! What the—why would—why the—what the hell Jason?!"

"You said that I only saw you as Nate's friend and wouldn't shut up long enough for me to tell you how wrong that was," Jason stammered, only realizing how stupid his excuse sounded after it had left his mouth. 'I really need to learn to think before I—Hello!'

Before Jason could really scold himself for being an idiot, he found Caitlyn in his lap, her arms around his neck and her lips pressed firmly against his.

Despite his shock, he didn't hesitate to kiss her back. This was the girl he had been secretly in love with since he had met her at his brother's 5th birthday, and he was determined to make this the best damn kiss she'd ever received.

Their lips moved together in a passionate, angry kiss. When he nipped at her bottom lip, her lips parted in a startled gasp. He used this opportunity to slip his tongue between her lips to lightly tease her tongue. His right hand slid up from her waist to wrap around her lower back, pulling her in closer as his left hand moved to cup behind her neck, his fingers playing with the honey brown curls that haunted his dreams.

Caitlyn gave as good as she got. As soon as she felt his tongue enter her mouth, she moved to push him back against the sofa. Not to be outdone by his kiss, she initiated a deeper kiss, her tongue battling his. It was a battle she quickly lost as his tongue traced the inside of her mouth as if he couldn't get enough. She whimpered in need as he pulled back, biting her lower lip as he pulled away.

Jason smirked at the sight of Caitlyn. Her gaze was completely glassed over, her hair was messier than usual and her lips were red and thoroughly bruised from their kiss.

"Why'd you stop?" Caitlyn pouted. Jason smirked and leaned up to give her a quick, chaste kiss.

"It was not without difficulty," he assured her. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

"Then why'd you stop?" she repeated her question with a confused pout on her face. "Was I not good?"

Jason couldn't help but let out a burst of laughter at that. Her problem was the opposite. He didn't think he'd have been able to stop if they had continued.

"I'm sorry for laughing," he quickly apologized when he saw her look of anger. "It's just that you're too good," he told her in explanation as he pulled her more into his lap, so she could feel his growing desire through their jeans.

Her eyes lit up in understanding before what she hoped was a seductive smirk crossed her face. She leaned forward to press her chest against his as she moved to whisper in his ear, "I still don't understand why you stopped." She captured his earlobe between her lips as she started nibbling and kissing the flesh there.

Jason's jaw was on the floor. He had never been more aroused than he was now. She couldn't be implying that she wanted more… Could she?

"I–" Jason had to clear his throat after he spoke in a pitch he didn't know he could reach. "I don't do one-night-stands."

"Nor do I, sweetheart, but believe me when I say that if you make me yours tonight, you'll never regret it," she replied as she moved to start kissing the sensitive spot right behind his ear.

"Wha—what about your test?" Jason asked, desperately trying to regain control of the situation.

"Forget it," Caitlyn practically purred in his ear. "We've spent the past few hours studying the information backwards and forwards. Besides, what our dear friend, Nate, has failed to realize is that I'm completely fluent in French and Spanish and I only took this course because I needed the credit and thought it would be fun to try and seduce him. I actually have a higher grade in the class than he does. However, I think we both know that he's not the brother I really want. What I don't know is whether or not the one I do want will take the bait his younger brother was too stupid to see," she stated as she pulled away to give him a hopeful look.

Jason couldn't help the blank stare he gave her as his jaw hit the floor. When had Caitlyn become so… sexy? Her easy grace now held an air of sultriness and her normally wild curls had a hint of 'just fucked' looseness about them. What drew him in most, though were her eyes. They held confidence, desire, hope, and just a hint of the vulnerability she normally hid completely from wandering eyes.

He found himself wondering where the time had gone. They had gone from two kids exploring the neighborhood and somehow had both matured into adults, seemingly overnight. He had been an idiot in high school. He knew he was falling too hard, too fast for his younger friend and playmate. In an effort to protect her and himself, he enrolled in his boarding school, hoping the distance would help. Instead, they had lost track of each other. He had wanted Caitlyn for years and he'd be damned if he let her slip away now. Especially if it meant he lost her to someone like his younger brother.

Without anymore hesitation, he yanked her hips into his as he looked straight into her eyes, his dark with desire. Their faces were less than an inch apart as he pressed her small frame against his. "If we do this Caitlyn, you're mine. No one else can touch you and you look at no one else but me. I'm not typically possessive, but you should be warned that when I care about something, I take care of it. If you choose to be with me, I vow that you shall never want for anything. I will treat you the way you deserve to be treated. I don't do anything half-assed. If you stay with me, I'll worry about taking care of your needs before I even consider my own."

"Deep," Caitlyn replied with a bemused raised eyebrow. The slight smirk was quickly replaced with a devious smile to rival that of the Cheshire cat as she pulled away to stand up. "I guess it's a good thing we seem to have the same need right now then, huh?" Caitlyn replied with a conspiratorial grin. "Now how about you go make sure the apartment is locked up good and tight as I go get more… comfortable?"

Jason had to swallow his tongue as he watched her leave the room, her hips swaying seductively as she left the room to head further into her apartment. Beating down the primal instinct to follow and claim, he turned to go make sure the front door and windows were properly secured. As a last thought, he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to his younger brother.

'Thx for being such an idiot. Don't wait up.'

After pressing 'Send', he turned his phone off and stashed it in his coat pocket by the door.

"Caitlyn?" he called, as he moved back to the living room.

"I'm in the bedroom," he heard her call from his right. Following the sound of her voice, he found a closed door. Knocking before he entered, he heard her call for him to come in. He opened the door to find the lights dimmed. The master bedroom had a few modern pieces of furniture here and there; a dresser, a bedside table, but Jason's main focus was drawn to the king-sized bed where Caitlyn lay… wearing only a red, silk negligee. Combined with her tousled hair and swollen lips, she looked irresistible.

"Join me?" she called to him. "It's so lonely on this big bed all by myself."

Oh yes. His brother was an idiot indeed.

I was going to add a more mature scene, but thought it'd be best to leave it where it was. I had no idea where that came from or where it was trying to go, but this was as good as I could get it after reigning it back into trying to make sense.

I was also going to include Nate's reaction to his text, but decided it'd be better if I didn't try to attack too much all at once. I'm only just getting back into writing after all.

Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a comment or favorite it if you did!