a/n: I'm so sorry this was a long time coming. I don't really have a good excuse, so feel free to throw things at my general direction. Kudos to Weezer, because it's about time someone uses their song in relation to Palex and Jay.

Chapter 8: Pink Triangle

Jay Hogart did not do favours.

So why was he parked outside the mall, waiting for Paige Michalchuk to come out so he could drive her home? Because he was asked to.

He felt like some stalker, lurking at the bus stop, incognito (he had been banned from this particular mall several times already). But being hopelessly whipped for Alex, here he was, drumming his fingers on his steering wheel to the Weezer song blaring from the stereo ("I'm dumb, she's a lesbian; I thought I had found the one", how fitting). He laughed at the thought that he was waiting for the girl who the girl of his dreams was in love with, knowing full well that if it was some other jackass doing this, he'd beat them up for having no balls.

The first day he met Alex was the summer before grade 9. There was a big crowd of kids, all of them shouting at some guy to 'kick her ass!' and to 'stand up for yourself, moron!'. He pushed his way to the front and there she was. Beautiful raven hair, vicious brown eyes, in jeans and a white tank top, beating the crap outta some guy, and swearing like a sailor. From that moment on, he was in love.

Then suddenly (well, three years later, but it was 'suddenly' to him), they were broken up, and she was a lesbian. But hey, shit happens. Sure, he hated himself for fucking it up with her, but that what happened with Amy and Emma and all the other ravine girls was unavoidable. He knew they never had any chance in hell at getting back together, but that didn't mean he couldn't still hang out with her and be part of some stupid bet where he'd hook her up with the chick he hated. Okay, so the bet wasn't completely stupid. As soon as Hazel and Marco finished their long-ass speech about how they were 'destined', he knew he'd do what he could to help them. For what reason? Well, he didn't quite know. I mean, the money would be nice, but it'd be hard for him to take it. If he won and spent it, Alex would think that he stole it – and she'd kill him if he explained how he got it.

Maybe it was 'cause he liked beating other people. Maybe he knew it'd piss Spinner off for him to be so involved with people he cared about. Whatever the reason was, he was doing his part to get them back together, which meant he spent the last month enduring millions of painful girl talks with Alex.

Finally Paige appeared, walking to the bus stop from the mall's entrance. Eyeing him suspiciously with several bags in her hands, she stood in front of the bus sign, choosing to ignore him.

"Need a ride?" he asked from inside, as thunder cracked from far away.

"Not from you, thanks." It started to drizzle.

"Seriously?"

"The bus will be here soon." She looked up at the sky with apprehension.

"In like, twenty minutes. You don't even have an umbrella," he pointed out. He didn't want to put up with her attitude (and he was being pretty damn nice for once, offering her ride!), but if he didn't follow through with his promise to Alex, she would find out and she would kill him.

"I like the rain," she said stubbornly.

"I promise I won't bite," he offered with a grin.

"Or give me an STD?" she added, giving him her famous death stare, only leading him to smile broader.

"Cross my heart."

She rolled her eyes and took a step forward, the rain starting to come down a little harsher. She looked around to make sure no one else was looking before she got in. "Thanks."

"No problem. So you're going home?" He pulled away from the curb and began driving, not really paying attention to the road, but he never really did.

"Alex's. I'm assuming you know where she lives."

"Think it's smart to be going down to that neighbourhood so late?"

"Don't you live like, a block away?"

"Yeah, but I'm the one that makes it so unsafe."

"Well if I get attacked, I'll be sure to let the cops know."

"Sweet. So you're staying with Alex for the night or what?"

"Yeah." She glowered, daring him to make a salacious comment. Which he did, of course.

"How's my favourite girl-on-girl couple doing, anyway?"

"I'd take that as a compliment if you weren't such a pervert. Marco and Ellie will be there too. And we're not together."

"Oh, but in my head you are. Everyday. Any time I want. Sometimes there's mud involved." Seeing her so pissed made him strangely happy.

"You can drop me off here now, thanks." They had barely left the parking lot.

"Fine, I'll stop."

"How thoughtful."

He continued to drive in silence, and he was almost able to ignore Paige's irritated sighs before he broke and tried to start a conversation with her again.

"So I hung out with Lexi today," he started, making an effort to talk without sounding like a pervert.

"Hm."

"Yeah, she asked if I could pick you up when she heard it was gonna rain. So don't think I lurk around randomly picking up chicks. She'd come, but she wanted to get something at The Dot or whatever. She knew you'd be at the mall."

This actually got Paige's interest. "How?"

"Hazy told her or something."

"Of course she did."

"Was it a secret?"

She shrugged. "If I told Hazel, even if it was, I should've known it wouldn't be."

"But you're always at the mall. Hazel or not, she probably would've known."

"I guess," she answered slowly. She seemed shocked that she was having a semi-civil conversation with him.

"What were you doing there alone anyway? I thought girls like you made shopping a group activity."

She sighed again, making Jay's skin crawl. "If you must know, I was getting something for Alex. A goodbye present, I guess."

He almost made a snide remark, but decided against it. "What did you get her?"

"Nothing special – a CD, and a picture of all of us at prom."

"Romantic."

"Why are you such a jerk?"

"Why are you so sensitive? God, I'm giving you a ride, what more do you want from me?"

His radio still blared, but Paige switched the station so it played some crap R&B dance song that made his skin crawl. He turned it off, immediately regretting the decision. At least the music created a sort of distraction. He jealously watched the people outside, soaking wet from the sudden deluge. He couldn't believe he said yes to driving her. Why did Alex have to live so goddamn far?

"What did you and Lexi do today?" she asked, filling the silence. Apparently it was killing her too.

"Nothing really. She seemed pretty bummed, so we just watched TV. She didn't actually tell me she was but I could tell, 'cause the entire time she didn't once threaten to castrate me. But she did mention you were leaving."

"Oh. Yeah, this Sunday."

"Only two more days. Excited?"

"Not really, but I'm sure I will be when I get there. Did Alex say anything else about me?" she asked, casually.

"The usual, 'I hate Paige', 'I can't wait to get a new hotter girlfriend', shit like that." He smiled as she glared.

"Funny."

Again, silence filled the car. Paige reached for the radio again, but Jay stopped her. He'd rather die than listen to the crap Paige liked. "Don't."

"So," she started, disgustedly wiping where Jay touched her hand against her leg, "Alex told me that you two are hanging out more. With Sean?" She sighed. Alex told him about this – how Paige would sigh uncontrollably when she was uncomfortable. If she hadn't warned him, he wouldn't thought she had some sort of breathing problem. It bugged the hell outta him, but Alex thought it was cute. He could barely see how anyone could compare Paige's annoying habits to anything relatively cute, but hey, Alex was blind and stupidly in love. Her judgement was obviously messed up.

He looked over at her and raised his eyebrow. "Can't you accept a car ride in silence? Or is this an interview session or something?"

"Shut up." Suddenly her tone changed to excitement. "I saw him the other day. He got really hot; I'm loving his hair."

The fact that she was gossiping with Jay like he was one of her girlfriends made him up-heave a little. "You think he's hot?"

Paige just rolled her eyes. "Despite your disgusting fantasies, I'm not a lesbian. I can find boys attractve."

"I'm just saying – Sean? I mean, I guess if I were a girl he'd be maybe a tiny bit good looking, but what about me? I'm damn sexy."

"I have no idea how Alex can stand to be around you so much," she said, laughing a little.

He smiled, but genuinely this time, which was strange for him. "I don't either. But it's possibly because I am damn sexy."

"Whatever." Whoa, she was smiling back at him. This was weird. It was almost like they were friends.

"Anyway, yeah, Sean's back. Still wants Ellie or Emma or whatever. They're all the same to me."

"And what, you're helping him get them back?"

"Nah, I'm pretty much just using him 'cause he fixes my car for free. And Alex likes hanging out with him 'cause she says he's the only guy who doesn't think he can de-lesbian her or whatever."

"It'll be just like grade 10 all over again for you three," she said unenthusiastically. He could see why it would bother her, since she and Alex were pretty much sworn enemies back then.

"Scared we'll be bad influences?"

"Alex can think for herself."

"But I'm mighty persuasive."

"So 'mighty persuasive' that you helped turn Alex off to men?" she bit back. Surprisingly, that hurt a little.

"Feisty," he smirked, hiding it. "And don't worry, I'll do my best to keep her out of trouble."

"She can do what she wants."

"But you wish what she wanted to do was you." He stifled his laugh as she began to blush.

"Do you have to make everything so perverted, Jay?"

"You know what I mean," he said. "You're leaving in a couple days, and when are you coming back? Christmas? You really don't have anything to lose if you tell Alex how you feel…"

"How do you know that I feel anything for her?"

"Because you do. As the guy who knows pretty much everything about being pathetically in love with her, I should know. And since I'm that guy and all, I know when she's in love. And she's definitely not swooning after Sean or me."

Paige was silent for a moment. It almost seemed like she was going to be nice to him, until- "I can't believe you think I'll confide in you." She laughed incredulously. That hurt a little, too.

"I'm not a terrible person y'know," he mumbled.

"Really?"

"Really. I know sincerity isn't really my forte, but you have to believe me on this."

She flashed a patronizing smile at him, ready to challenge him. "So let's say you're right – Alex's loves me," she laughed, stopping to compose herself, "then why hasn't she told me?"

"Because she's proud, because she's stupid, because you're leaving. Because she's waiting for the right time, which in her mind probably won't ever come, or until you're like 40 and with kids and she's desperate and alone and living with cats. I don't know. You know Alex, she doesn't do the whole heart-to-heart thing very well."

Jay took his eyes off the road and looked over at Paige. She was biting her bottom lip, looking unsure as to what to say next. He decided to push his luck a little more. "You know as well as I do that Alex always puts up a front when she's scared about something. She covers up all the crap she has to deal with by acting tough and shit. This is the same thing."

"If she really loved me, then she'd tell me already," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. It was like she was testing Jay, hoping what he was saying was true.

"That's bull. Why is it her job? If things were so perfect then we'd be flying over to Alex's house on a magic carpet, smoking a joint, and the two of you would be into me instead. Then we'd all make out," he said, his words crass, but his voice gentle. "Maybe a little mud would be involved," he added as an afterthought.

"What does that have to do with what we were talking about?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to say it out loud." He turned the car onto Alex's street. "Look, I know you don't like me but listen anyway. If you want Alex back, then you should do something about it. Now sooner then later 'cause eventually, she'll move on. She's really hot, I bet there are tons of chicks who want to get with her.

"I screwed things up with Alex. And sure, it was probably inevitable that we wouldn't work out considering I have a penis and all, but the fact that I had her and threw it away sucks for me. I've gotta live with that. But you have every chance to not be as pathetic as me and you're throwing that away? I didn't think Paige Michalchuk would ever settle then less then what she wanted." He pulled up to Alex's apartment, parking on the curb, surprised when she didn't jump out of the car as fast as she could.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, not meeting his gaze.

For the first time in a while, he didn't feel the need to be rude or sarcastic. Looking at Paige and seeing her vulnerable, shook him a little – and it made him see why he had agreed to help Marco and Hazel.

"Well, I guess even more than I want her back, I want her to be happy," he answered honestly. "And you make her happy."

"Thanks," she said, finally looking at him. She looked content. At peace. Maybe tonight was the night. Maybe he won? "And thanks for the ride." She reached for the door handle before Jay stopped her.

"Umbrella," he said, grabbing one from his backseat.

She smiled as she took it. "Jay?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"I do think you're hotter then Sean," she said, before giving him a hug. "See you around." With a grin, she was out the door.

Jay Hogart didn't do favours.

So why did he feel really good about doing this one?