Jason stood outside her bedroom door for who knows how long, contemplating how he was going to get the words out, he knew she was still angry with him for his stupidity and not knowing how to talk to her, so maybe she wouldn't be upset with him...only problem was, he was upset by all of it.
He closed his eyes before he took his hand and stared at the mahogany colored door, noticing the specks of yellow that almost seemed to glow now that he was staring at it as intently as he was. The two knocks seemed to gravitate him back towards the ground, and making him feel a little more sick.
He could hear shuffling past the door, and footsteps recede, then the door swung open revealing Piper, with her hair now up in a bun and in her pajama's from the other day.
He was half-expecting her to just shut the door in his face, but he guessed it was his expression that made her open the door and allow him in.
He nodded and stepped inside, looking around and noticing that she had cleaned up. He allowed the silence penetrate the air and sighed as he noticed she was looking a little less patient, clearing her throat.
"I just came with orders…." Jason finally spoke, feeling a weird chill hit him. He didn't need to look at Piper to know she was staring right at him, she was sitting right next to him on her bed with her hands neatly placed on her thighs.
"As of now, I am officially no longer your base coach…." He noticed Piper sit up straight and shuffle her feet, as if she wanted to say something but decided best not to. "Dakota will be taking over, and finish up with your training, if you have any questions…please refer to major Grace…."
Piper could see the struggle through his words, and noticed he hadn't wanted to say those to her. Her stomach turned at the thought that Jason wasn't going to be her trainer anymore, sure she was mad at him and she wanted to say a few more things from the fight before….but that didn't mean she wanted to stop training with him, and they only had a bit longer and she had to leave….why was his dad doing this?
"I have to go…." Jason said now standing up, not once looking her in the face. He was stopped mid-stand when Piper grabbed his hand.
"Just like that?" Piper said, her voice squeaking up.
Jason closed his eyes, looking down at the tiny hand wrapped around his hand, and allowing her to lace her fingers with his.
"Don't make this harder than it is Pipes….please."
Jason so desperately wanted to just bend down and kiss her, he needed her to know it wasn't his fault, nor his choice….but he just couldn't.
"What? Why is he doing this? Please talk to me…." Piper said now standing up and squeezing his hand. Her eyes beginning to water.
Jason knew she was about to cry, because he also felt it himself, it was heartbreaking to see her this upset….making him want to just march up to his dads office and just say that he wasn't going to allow this to happen, but his dad wouldn't allow this and would definitely do anything in his power to not have them be together any longer.
"You are wasting your breath…." Jason said closing his eyes as she grabbed on tighter to his hand, now wrapping her other hand around his hand.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I yelled at you and got so angry….please Jason." She was now allowing her tears to overcome her, she felt a little pathetic that she was almost begging him, but she didn't want to lose him as her trainer, because that meant she was probably not going to see him any longer, because if his dad so badly didn't want them to train together anymore, he would definitely make it his mission to have them not even see each other.
Jason didn't want her to do that, it made it worse, and now he just wanted to grab her and kiss her. He saw the hurt in her eyes as he pulled his hand away from her and finally staring at her, he so badly just wanted wipe the tears away, she just looked so sad….but he shouldn't even be here right now, if he knew his dad he knew he would be having someone spy to see how long it took him to do this.
"I'm sorry…" Jason said once more before opening the door and leaving her crying by the bed.
Jason felt the tears surface and he had to fight the urge, when he noticed one of the corporals staring at him and writing a few notes down. He cleared his throat, tucking his shirt down and walking away, leaving the one person he just wanted to hold. He had never hated his dad more than he had right at this moment.
0o0
Jason was wrong, he could hate his dad more than that moment when he left Piper's room, right at this moment he was cursing his dads name as he saw Piper from across the room and Dakota reaching her side. That was supposed to be him, he was the one who met her here at the hall, and his blood was almost boiling as he saw Dakota put his hand on the small of her back, leading her out.
"Fuck…" Jason said loud enough for the rest of the table to hear, making some of them whisper, and a few giggle at his accidental and dumb blabber mouth.
Would his dad be angry if he kind of just passed by to check up on them? No, right? I mean he just wanted to make sure it was going alright, but what if one of his dads 'guards' were right outside or just waiting for Jason to show up.
This was going to be really hard for him.
0o0
Piper hadn't slept, she had thought that last night had been some weird misunderstanding and maybe that it had never happened, but when 5am hit her alarm clock, it definitely dawned on her that it had been nothing more than a nightmare.
Not only had she lost Jason as a trainer, and maybe a potential boyfriend for later, but she had gained Dakota as a trainer, and yes they had been pretty civil at the ball….but that didn't mean she wanted him to replace Jason.
She just wanted to know why Jason's dad wanted this to happen, Jason had mentioned that someone had overheard Dakota's conversation with Jason, but hadn't thought that this would be the outcome.
When she reached the hall, she tried her hardest to look for Jason, and maybe they could talk for at least a bit, but Dakota spotted her before she could find Jason's face in the crowd.
"Hey…" Dakota said waving at her, too enthusiastically.
Piper tried her hardest to smile as much as she could, but she could only do so much. She waved but didn't say anything.
"I know…" Dakota said noticing her smile falter a little as he reached her. "Let's go…" He said not wanting to make this even more weird and uncomfortable, grabbing her back and taking her to the training room.
0o0
Dakota had received the letter about training Piper that same night, his stomach clenched at the thought that he would be replacing Jason. He knew that Jason would definitely be upset about this, and he wasn't wanting to cause any friction between him and Jason, so this was not one that he could add to his 'happy list'.
He groaned as he noticed her enter the hall and he had hoped Jason wasn't around to notice their interaction, and he had easily spotted Piper's almost frown-smile when he finally stepped in front of her, he could feel how sad she almost seemed just by looking at her…he knew this was going to be a lot harder than he had initially thought.
0o0
He had thought training was going well…that was until not even 20 minutes into training (which he had to say, Piper was definitely a lot tougher than he had expected), and Piper had tears coming down her face.
He had thought at first that it had been something he did, that maybe he pushed her too hard or did or said something that caused her to cry, maybe something that wasn't like Jason's training.
"I'm sorry…." Piper said trying to not look and sound as pathetic as she felt.
He waved his arm and sighed, looking at her, trying not to say so much knowing this had to do with Jason.
"I just, don't get this the wrong way, I like working with you….I just wasn't aware of how much I was going to miss Jason." She said closing her eyes and wiping away at the fallen tears.
He shrugged and stepped forward, allowing enough space so as to not make her feel uncomfortable. "I get it, you two were involved and liked each other…maybe more than I am understanding, and I don't want to sound crude but let's be honest…It's me we are talking about so I'm just going to lay it on you, mainly because I know you will take it well, and the other part is because I just can't contain it any longer. I am sorry about what happened to you two, but did you really think you two would be together after this? I know I am sounding like an ass, and again I will apologize beforehand…" He saw the way Piper raised and eyebrow, and was already looking offended at his comments.
"You and Jason, sorry to say this, but you two lead two separate and completely different sets of lives. Two which are very, very demanding…I know you two must have liked each other a lot, I mean Jason definitely had some sort of feelings towards you, otherwise he wouldn't have risked himself the way he did…especially against his dad. But you came here for a reason, am I right? You came here to finish this training and you are going to one: stop the tears, and 2: buck up….I'm going to tip—top shape you up like never before. That's what you wanted right?"
Piper stared in shock at everything that Dakota was saying, because he was completely right, but how was she supposed to just automatically push her feelings aside, especially when she knew Jason meant more to her than she was allowing herself to know. As much as it hurt to hear some of the stuff Dakota was saying, she knew it was out of respect for not only herself but for Jason as well. And she now understood what Jason was trying to say to her last night. He was just trying to let her know that they came from two different worlds, and maybe they just weren't meant to work out, that was the main reason she never wanted to get involved with him….the whole 'bye' of it all. How was she supposed to say bye forever to him?
She closed her eyes once more and nodded "Yes, let's get to work…." Piper said knowing that if she continued today, it almost meant knowing she would eventually have to say bye to Jason.
TBC….
