"Hey, could you guys help me out

Disclaimer: I own nothing IAHB related, so don't sue. Thanks to everyone that reviewed, I guess I threw some people off on the last chapter, I hope you like this one, it should calm the fears of most of the T/V fans that feel like assassinating me right now…

Chapter 2

Improv.

            Val finally reached the convenience store, her forehead glistening with sweat. She wasn't kidding when she told Jamie it was about 100 degrees outdoors. She pushed the glass doors open and sighed contentedly as she was met with a blast of cool air from inside. It seem like it had taken a lot longer than usual for her to get there, but she figured that was a by-product of being wrapped up in her own thoughts. "Should I really go out with Jamie?" she wondered for about the hundredth time. "He was so cute and desperate when he asked me… and it's not like he's really bad on the eyes either…" she giggled at that last thought. "But I've always thought of Jamie as just a friend. As in pals, as in platonic." "You know that's not the real reason you don't want to go." A wicked little voice said in the back of her head. "You don't want to go because you're still waiting for Tyler" Tyler. Everything boiled down to Tyler, no matter how hard she tried to refute it; he was the reason that she'd turned down almost every guy that had asked her out the past year. The reason why she'd missed her own homecoming. Sure, she'd always had a little bit of a crush on him, but it seemed to grow the past year, grow into something bigger. "What Lanier, you think you're in love with him?" the same voice scoffed. No. It couldn't be love. Love was mutual, and she was sure Tyler never really thought of her as more than one of his best friends, except… except that sometimes Val thought that he felt the same way about her. Sometimes he'd get this look in his eyes when they talked, but then it would fade away, almost before she realized it was there.

            "Uhhh, miss, are you all right?" The clerk from behind the counter called to her. Turns out she had been standing in front of the drink freezer for about 5 minutes, staring aimlessly. She blushed crimson,

            "J-just deciding on a drink." She stammered. The clerk nodded and turned back to his magazine. "Maybe I should go out with Jamie I mean, I don't think Tyler is ever really going to like me, not in the way that I like him anyway." she thought sadly reaching into the freezer to pull out two sodas for Jamie and Hank. She paused before finally pulling out a Mountain Dew for Tyler, his favorite. "Why do you care so much about getting him his favorite drink?!" she scolded herself as she picked up her cherry slushie. "Because you're hopelessly in love with him." The annoying little voice chimed in. She nearly dropped her slushie in surprise. "I'm in love with him…" she murmured, her eyes wide. Val knew right then that she couldn't do it. She couldn't give up on Tyler. Couldn't go out with Jamie. She had to straighten this out with him, somehow, without breaking his heart. "The problem is what am I supposed to do until I find a way to turn him down?"

***

            Val returned to the station, carefully balancing the three bottles of soda and her slushie as she struggled to open the door. Tyler and Jamie glared at each other for a split second before jumping out of their seats in a race to open the door for her. Probably due to the fact that he was an athlete, Tyler reached it first. "Here you go Val." He said sweetly. She gave him a grateful smile.

            "Hey Val, want help carrying those?" Jamie offered eagerly, having arrived too late to let her in.

            "Umm, that's ok, I think I can handle it." She said, carefully avoiding having to look into him in the eye. Puzzled and a bit insulted by her obvious discomfort around him, he nodded mutely and walked back into the common room. Tyler took the sodas from her hand.

            "You're going to drop these, and I really don't want for you to have to go all the way back to the store in this heat to go buy new ones."

            "Thanks, I guess that does make sense." She said, following him back into the common room. "Awww, he's soo considerate." Jamie watched them stroll into the room and sit down on the couch, his eyes narrowing at sight of Tyler carrying the soda bottles that Val wouldn't let him carry. He muttered something to the effect of

            "Wouldn't let ME help her but as soon as TYLER offers…" that caused Val to blush, and she quickly hid her face behind her magazine. The room slowly sank into an uncomfortable silence, as each person tried to engross themselves in their activities.

            "Hey, could you guys help me out? I need a male's perspective on something." That was Val, of course. Jamie, Hank, and Tyler sat up.

"Yeah/Sure/I guess." The three answered in unison. Val motioned for them to look at something in her magazine.

"Uhh, Val, I'm not exactly a fashion guru." Jamie said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes.

"I just need an opinion, what do you think about these swimsuits? I'm going swimsuit shopping today as soon as my shift is over, and I want to see what would look good on me. Pleeeeeeeaaase?" she pouted. They sighed and glanced at the pictures, which, to their dismay, lacked models, just swimsuits.

"This is hard to do without a picture of what it would look like on a girl." Jamie grumbled. Hank and Tyler nodded in agreement.

"Well, I don't care what you do, use your imaginations. All my close girl friends have gone out of town, and I have no one to help me shop except Brooke, who isn't so helpful, so unless you guys have a sudden urge to go swimsuit shopping with me…" voice dripped with sarcasm. Jamie pretended to contemplate the thought of him spending the whole afternoon shopping for swimsuits with Val…

"Will I have to watch you trying on swimsuits the entire time?" He asked suddenly. She raised an eyebrow,

"Do you want to?"

"Well I need to go to the mall to get a couple of CD's anyway, and our shifts end at the same time, so why not?" he answered awkwardly. She peered into his face, looking for any signs that he was messing with her. Jamie shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny. Finally she shrugged

"Ok… if you want to we can go right after our station duty ends, I've got a change of clothes here, and since you're bike's in the shop I can give you a ride." She said agreeably.

"All right then, it's a date." He answered. She froze, looking like a deer trapped in the headlights.

"D-d-date?" she stammered. What had she done? She didn't mean to set up a date with him; she'd just wanted to go shopping. Tyler stared at the both of them, looking betrayed. He'd seen what Jamie had done too; he'd tricked her into going out with him! He glared at Jamie's head, willing it to burst into flames.

"Val? Are you all right? You look a little pale." Jamie said worriedly, trying to ignore the death stares Tyler was shooting him. She snapped back into reality.

"Jamie, I have to speak to you in the ambulance bay- NOW" she said, pulling him towards the door by his sleeve. Jamie followed he obediently, walking to the garage and locking the door behind them. Tyler and Hank waited till they heard the lock click shut before following to listen outside the door. "Jamie, about this date thing…" Val began once she could breathe normally again. Jamie shushed her.

            "I'll explain everything," he whispered, "but Tyler and Hank are listening right behind the door, so talk softly!" Val glanced towards the door and sure enough she could see Hank and Tyler's shadows showing under it.

            "Why those nosy…" she grumbled loudly. Jamie clamped his hand over her mouth.

           

"Shhh!" he hissed. She rolled her eyes.

            "Fine, we'll do it your way secret agent boy." She lowered her voice. "Ok, Jamie listen, I-I don't think it would work out between us, you know? I like being your friend, and that's really how I want to stay." She looked into his eyes, expecting to see hurt or anger, but instead they were filled with amusement. "What's so funny?" She demanded suspiciously. He chuckled

            "I wouldn't have it any other way Val. I don't want to go out, I think that we'd make much better friends than lovers." He joked. The confusion in her eyes was projected by her voice.

            "What do you mean? First you get down on your knees and practically beg me to go out with you, then you set us up on a date, now you're telling me you DON'T want to go out?! How could you change your mind in the 15 seconds it took to walk from the common room to here?!"

            "Ok, Val, you want the truth? I never meant it, I mean, your pretty and sweet and all, but you're my friend. I actually did this to kinda piss Tyler off and make him jealous, cause I'm sick of hearing him talk about how much he likes you without him doing anything." He hoped his last comment would deflect some of Val's anger. She narrowed her eyes. Apparently, she was still angry, "Uh oh." Jamie thought, bracing himself for the furious diatribe that he knew was coming.

            "You mean this was all an act!? James Timothy Waite I'm going to…" she froze as the significance of Jamie's last sentence hit her, "He likes me?!" she squealed, forgetting to be mad. Then realizing she had made it painfully obvious that she had a crush on Tyler quickly added, "Oh, not that I really care or like him or anything, it's just really sweet to know someone…" she stopped, seeing the skepticism on his face. "Ok, ok, maybe I do like him, a little…" Jamie grinned in satisfaction.

            "Ok, so what we have to do now is-"

            "-Wait a minute, what makes you think I'm cooperating?" she interrupted loudly.

            "SHHHHHHHHH!" He said again. "You're cooperating because you want Tyler, right?" She rolled her eyes again, reminding Jamie of how alike she and Catie could sometimes be.

           

"I don't see how this is going to-"

"Just trust me, Val, ok? I've got this all figured out." He said confidently. Though her better judgment told her not to listen to him she finally agreed.

"Ok, ok, what do I have to do?" she asked resignedly. Jamie smirked triumphantly.

"How good of an actress are you?"

"Ok, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything." He said impatiently.

"Ok, I'm a good actress, at least when it really matters, so what's next?" she actually wanted to hear his scheme, because the excitement in his eyes told her that this one was a doozy.

"Just follow my lead." He whispered mysteriously. Motioning towards the door he raised his voice. "Val, please, don't shut me down yet. I-I really like you! Don't waste your time on some guy that's too cowardly to love you back!" Val caught on to what he was doing immediately.

"Improv." She chuckled; he looked her in the eye and nodded. "Jamie, what you've done today is one of the sweetest things that anyone has ever done for me… but I can't go out with you! I've loved him for so long, it's too hard to give up!" The last of her words came out as a desperate sob. Jamie winked and continued their little performance.

"Val give me a chance, please. Let me prove to you that you don't need him. One chance, I swear, I'll show you how you deserve to be treated." He pleaded. Val laughed silently at the cornball lines Jamie was using.

"Ok Jamie," she finally managed to choke out, "One chance. Win me over. Show me how I can get over him, show me how I don't need him." She took a breath before jumping off the proverbial cliff, "Prove to me that I can stop loving Tyler Connell." Jamie's eyes popped out of his head. She'd done it; she'd really done it. She smiled nervously. "Oh God, please don't let this completely backfire." She prayed.

***

Meanwhile…

           

Tyler and Hank positioned themselves quietly outside the door of the garage, intent on listening in on Val and Jamie's conversation. They heard Val's voice, "Jamie, about this date thing…"

            "Tell him that it's not going to happen, not in a million years…" Tyler begged quietly. Hank shot him a glare,

            "Shut up! I'm trying to hear what's going on in there!" he hissed, putting his ear to the door. Tyler followed suit, but heard nothing but soft, inaudible murmurs.

            "He's probably whispering sweet little nothings in her ear." He thought darkly, his face pulled into a jealous frown. Suddenly Jamie's voice rose dramatically

            "Val, please, don't shut me down yet. I-I really like you! Don't waste your time on some guy that's too cowardly to love you back!" he begged. Tyler's eyes widened, sure, he was happy that she'd evidently turned Jamie down, but Val was in LOVE with someone? Someone that didn't like her? That hurt him worse, much worse. He turned his attention back to the doorway as Val began to speak, her voice pained

            "Jamie, what you've done today is one of the sweetest things that anyone has ever done for me… "

           

"What about my leprechaun snow globe?! That was sweet, ten times sweeter than asking you out!" Tyler thought with indignation, "Any guy could just ask you out, I-I was THERE for you!"

 "…But I've loved him for so long, it's too hard to give up!" She was crying, Tyler could hear it in her voice.

"Who is this guy?!" he groaned, causing another sharp look from Hank. "Why would she love someone that would make her cry like this? I mean he's obviously some egotistical jerk who doesn't deserve her! I don't even deserve her, and I love her!" Hank shrugged.

"Who knows? Women always want what they can't have… It's like a challenge to their femininity or something."

"And you know this, how?" Tyler asked cautiously. Hank shrugged again. "Never mind." He sighed. Jamie's desperate voice interrupted their conversation.

"Val give me a chance, please. Let me prove to you that you don't need him. One chance, I swear, I'll show you how you deserve to be treated." Tyler could almost see Jamie begging her on his knees.

"Please don't tell me that's she's going to fall for that! 'Show you how you deserve to be treated' I mean COME ON!" Val was silent for a moment.

"Ok Jamie, one chance. Win me over. Show me how I can get over him, show me how I don't need him." Tyler's heart sank; he couldn't believe that someone as smart as Val wouldn't see through Jamie's stupid lines. Now it was over, he'd lost his chance even before he began. Val continued to speak, and though Tyler knew that what she had to say now would probably consolidate the destruction of his heart, he listened anyway.

"Prove to me that I can stop loving Tyler Connell."  He stumbled away from the door as if it had punched him.

"She-She loves ME?!" he cried, hitting the wall. Hank grinned manically at him.

"Some 'egotistical jerk' that doesn't love her eh? That's not the most accurate description that I've heard of you lately… well, at least the part about not loving her isn't." his joke fell flat, as Tyler was still leaning on the wall for support. "Tyler, blink once if you can hear me." Tyler finally opened his mouth to speak.

"I love you too Val…" he mumbled, his eyes glazed over. Hank threw up his hands in disgust and walked back to the common room, muttering something about "seeing this coming all along" and "lovebirds." A dark thought pulled Tyler out of his happy mood. "Jamie's got her convinced that I feel nothing for her!" he slumped down to the floor in dismay. Val's voice rang in his head.

"Win me over…" Win her over? How the heck was he supposed to do that? He was distracted by footsteps coming from the garage. Val and Jamie's footsteps.

"If she catches me spying she'll murder me!" he panicked. A burst of adrenalin sent him flying into the common room. Hank glanced up from his paperwork to see his best friend scramble over the couch and plop down with a loud thump. Tyler tried to appear as if he'd been lying there all along as Jamie strolled into the room. "Where's Val?" he asked casually. Val, who'd just entered the room, strolled over to the couch and leaned over to look him in the eye.

"Right here." She answered, flashing him a smile that would melt diamond. Her face filled with concern. "Have you been running Tyler? You look a little tired." It was a few minutes before he could finally speak.

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm just, relaxing… Magazine?" He said quickly, handing her the issue that she'd been reading earlier.

"Uh, Thanks. I guess I'll just sit over here then." She moved over to the armchair opposite him and eased herself into the old upholstery. Tyler gave himself a mental smack.

"Idiot! Why didn't you offer her a seat next to you?"

"You dork! Why didn't you ask to sit next to him?" Val chided herself at the same time. There was an awkward pause.

"So Val…" Tyler began, searching something to talk to her about. "What do I say now?" he wondered, "So Val… I heard that you loved me? So Val, I don't want you to go out with Jamie because I've helplessly fallen for you?" Funny, it had been so easy to do this before. Her head snapped up and she looked at him with anticipation.

"Yeah Tyler?" she answered calmly, hoping he couldn't see the nervousness that she was masking. "What does he want to say? Did he hear what I said about loving him? Oh, I hope he did… or didn't… or, oh I don't know! GIVE ME A REACTION TYLER!" her mind screamed.

"Uhhh, thanks for the drinks." He said lamely. "'THANKS FOR THE DRINKS?!' You did NOT just say that you complete and total LOSER!"

"T-the drinks?" she stammered, "Well that certainly wasn't the response that I was hoping for." She sighed, "No problem Tyler, anytime." She answered with fake cheerfulness. "Hey Hank, when do the shifts if the EMT-I's end?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Val, our shifts end the same time that yours does, you know that quitting time is designated by squad, not rank." He answered, impatiently. He wanted to finish the seemingly unending paperwork before they had to leave at 3:00, and it was already 2:45.

"Is that so?" Tyler nodded to affirm what Hank had already said. "Then why don't you guys come to the mall with us? You can follow in your cars, we can have late lunch there, and I can have more people to help me choose a swimsuit!" she chirped. Tyler sat up in interest.

"Us? Go with you and Jamie? But don't you guys want to be, well, alone?" She laughed.

""Why would we want that? It's just a trip to the mall, not like a date or anything. Right Jamie?" she said, enunciating the words "not" and "date".

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess." He said flatly. Tyler thought that Jamie looked crestfallen, but Val knew better then to fall for his acting again.

"So are you in or out? Come on Tyler, pretty please? I really need help deciding on a swimsuit." Tyler could never resist Val when she pleaded like that.

"Ok." He answered, sounding a lot more eager than he wanted to, Hank nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I guess I need to get some summer clothes too."

"Great!" Val squealed happily, she glanced at her watch. "It's 2:56 right now, so we better sign out and get changed before we get a call!" she skipped out of the room to grab her stuff from the lockers. Tyler, Hank and Jamie watched as she left the room.

"Ok, who replaced her vitamins with Prozac again?" Jamie sighed. Hank and Tyler shrugged wearily before walking out the door behind her.

***

AN: Hey, What do you think so far? I promise that it will eventually turn out T/V, thought I really don't understand why you guys don't really like a J/V story! COME ON! THINK OUT OF THE BOX! Anywho… Many of you wrote in asking me to add some J/C stuff. Yes, there will probably be some of that, but it's in the FUTURE! Keep reviewing! My goal is to get at least more than 15 reviews for this story, but I'm not going to threaten you or anything. The next chapter may take a little longer; I'm kinda stuck on what to do next, so when you review always give me your suggestions! I might take you up on them. NO FLAMES PLEASE, it's my first story, so let's BE NICE.