Just Friends

Why you gotta hug me every time you see me

Why you always making me laugh

I swear you're catching feelings

I keep telling myself this might be nothing

But one look in your eyes and God, there's something

Luke Perry: (On Jennie Garth) There's always been a certain attraction between us.

"How's the set?" Darren asked once Chuck entered the writer's room.

"Good. Relationships are forming which is good. The boys are getting along famously - Ian, Jason, Luke, and Brian. Gaby's already planning a Christmas party, Tori's just a sweetheart, Jennie too, very professional."

"And Shannen?" Darren looked up from his desk.

"Shannen... Well, I let this speak for itself." He handed Darren a piece of paper.

"What's this? Notes? She gave you notes?" Darren looked surprised

"Yep. About her character and what would be good for the show." Chuck groaned

Darren laughed. "Make me feel inadequate why don't ya?"

"Ah come on. Your work is incredible, your writing is one of a kind... Don't take this personally. She's just a young girl who's been in the business a long time, she's got that youthful passion. Just let her down gently."

Luke and Shannen were filming their first couch make-out scene.

"Cut!" The director yelled

"What?" Shannen huffed

"How do I say this... love scenes on tv are not like love scenes not on tv." He explained

"Elaborate?" Luke crinkled his forehead

"You can't make out."

"But the script says make out..." Luke pointed out

"Yeah but you can't reach down and grope each other." He insisted

"So don't film down there." Shannen sounded irritated

"Look, you have to simulate a make out." After a chorus of moans and groans, and a lot of feedback from Shannen, who was annoyed that Jason got a full-on make-out session in the second episode, the director put his hands up in the air.

"Take 5 everybody. Let's eat!" Chuck defused the situation.

"Sorry." Luke said sheepishly after the crew had dispersed. "Apart from soaps, the only love scenes I've shot were for this movie I did called Terminal Bliss and we were supposed to be a little...explicit."

Shannen exhaled before turning to him.

"Do you see me complaining?" She said sharply

"Oh." Luke was surprised by how forthright she was. "So uh..." Luke cocked an eyebrow. "You wanna... rehearse?"

"Wanna hear something?" Tori whispered discreetly as she rushed over to Jennie, who was lying down in her dressing room.

"What?" Jennie's eyes fluttered open

"Shannen hooked up with Luke!" Tori squealed, loving the juicy gossip.

"What?" Jennie sat upright

"Yeah she just told me."

"Oh." Jennie felt a tinge of jealousy. She didn't even understand why. Sure, there was definitely an attraction there, but it's not like she was going to do anything about it. "I didn't know they liked each other..."

"Shannen said it's just a little fun, casual." Tori spoke in a casual tone, as she observed her fingernails.

"Oh well good for her." Jennie replied monotonously, which caused Tori to turn to face her.

"Are you okay?" She crinkled her forehead

"Yeah." Jennie forced, trying to brush it off with a light chuckle. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know... " Tori observed her, "Are you - are you jealous?"

"No!" Jennie immediately got up and moved away but Tori followed her

"Do you like him?" Tori gasped

"I hardly know him." Jennie huffed before quickly adding "-And I have a boyfriend."

"Oh yeah, Eric." Tori irked "Who you see 3 times a year."

"Whatever." Jennie mumbled

Moments later, much to Jennie's delight, Jason interrupted their conversation as he headed into the trailer.

"What are you two bickering about?" He asked as he popped his head in.

"Nothing." Jennie quickly responded

"You coming out with me and Shan tonight?" Tori asked

"Nah," Jason stretched his arms up. "Rory's here so I'd rather spend some quality time with her."

"Quality time. You're such a grandpa." Tori laughed

"That's right, kids. And one day when you're in love, you'll do the same."

"So I heard through the grape vine." Gabrielle began once she and Luke had lunch together. "You and Shannen."

"Oh Jesus..." Luke rolled his eyes - not a fan of drama.

"You might wanna be careful..." Gabrielle cocked her head to one side.

"Look, we just fooled around a couple times. That was it. It's nothing." Luke brushed it off.

"Well if it doesn't mean anything, let her know." She warned

"It's done already. Trust me, Shan does not care." Luke assured.

"Shan, Jerry Lee. Jerry Lee, Shannen." Luke introduced Shannen to his pet pig as she entered his trailer.

"He's adorable!" She bent down to pet him.

"He's a little shy. Give him time to come out on his own terms." He assured

"So... " He continued, once Shannen and Jerry Lee got acquainted. "What did you wanna show me?"

"Oh yeah. We can talk about that after." Shannen insisted

"After?" Luke questioned

"Yeah." Shannen waved him off.

"Oh." Luke paused, realizing what she meant. "Um, Shan?" He bent down to sit on the floor with them. "...You're really great, and smart and pretty, and... I had a lot of fun. But... that's as far as this goes for me." He did his best to be as honest as possible.

"Oh I get it." Shannen stood up abruptly. "You're attracted to my talent, not to me."

"No... " He now stood up too. "It's not like that, I just - I just thought we were on the same page."

She stared at him for a moment, making him even more uncomfortable.

"Relax." She burst out laughing. "I'm kidding. We were just passing time." She shrugged before bending back down to Jerry Lee.

Luke clicked his tongue, trying to process it all. "Sure you're okay?"

"You're not that irresistible you know." She teased and he smiled, relieved to know he hadn't gotten himself in a pickle.

"Alright, so what did you wanna show me?" He asked, which reminded Shannen why she came here in the first place. She then pulled out a folded, torn out paper from her pocket.

"I got a hold of the rest of this season's script." She said with complete nonchalance, despite Luke's reaction.

"What? How did you-"

"I stole it." She replied before he could finish his sentence.

"What?!" His eyes widened. She then noticed he couldn't quite understand her lax attitude.

"Look..." She groaned as she unfolded it. He took it from her and read it.

"What's the problem?" He uttered as his eyes scanned the sheet.

"They're planning to have Brenda lose her virginity."

"So?"

"So?! It's not appropriate. It's the wrong time, she's too young." Shannen said defiantly

"Shan... " Luke sighed, "Didn't you say we have to be honest? Well, teenagers are having sex. Isn't it responsible of us to show the public a better way to handle this?"

"This will backfire, trust me I know." Shannen warned

"It won't. Darren knows how to send a message to teenagers about a smarter, safer way to have sex without lecturing anyone."

"Oh come on. I know you and the boys try your hand at getting laid every Friday night - you're hardly the type of people to deliver this message."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Look, I know you're passionate about your work, I am too. But don't you want this for Brenda?"

"Not now... I feel protective over her and I believe she needs to be older. And I'd really like you to back me up on this."

"Sorry, Shan. I'm all for the storyline. I want to do it all, I want to show it all, regardless of the backlash."

Shannen huffed before grabbing the script and storming out.

"Wow." Ian whispered to Gabrielle. "You know, at first I thought 'man, this show's superficial.' but this... I'm truly moved." Ian chuckled, showing Gabrielle the goosebumps on his arm.

"Jennie did a great job with that monologue." Gabrielle nodded

'She's... incredible." Luke agreed.

Luke knocked on Jennie's dressing room door and entered upon her approval.

Jennie was getting ready to go home after a long day. He chuckled to himself as she got out of Kelly's fancy clothes and into a plain white tee and jeans and boots - typical country girl.

"You were... amazing." Luke smiled at her, referring to her Slumber Party monologue.

"Thanks. It took a lot out of me." She breathed out as she grabbed her handbag.

"We have to go out and celebrate!" He decided

"Ha!" She chuckled, "I don't know about that."

"Come on." He urged, grabbing her arm "You've already turned me down once. No more rain checks."

Jennie paused for a moment, contemplating her decision as his arm wrapped around her shoulder. "Fine. But I don't want a late night."

"Alright, grandma." He nodded before pulling her out of the trailer.

As soon as they arrived at a nightclub, Luke dragged Jennie to the dance floor. At first he acted the way he did with all the actresses and crew on the show: twirled her around, nuzzled into her, and gave her a bear hug. But that all changed after the first dance.

They went from a casual arm-around-the-shoulder to getting more intimate. He'd grab her waist and take any opportunity to engage in physical touch whenever he could, and what seemed like an innocent dance between coworkers soon felt passionate.

As he twirled her around, stretching his arm out as he held her hand, suddenly it felt like time had stopped as they locked eyes. They couldn't see the people dancing around them. He pulled her towards him, and as she twirled inwards, her hair brushed across his face - the scent of her shampoo was quite intoxicating. And now they were face to face, nose to nose, chest to chest. His fingertips gripping onto her hips, and they couldn't hear anything but the sounds of their breaths exhaling shakily and their heartbeats beating fast.

It felt like a dream. For a moment, there was just the two of them surrounded by the flashing lights in the background. He felt the urge to kiss her, something he had wanted to do practically since he met her, but he failed to make the move.

She too was full of uncertainty and struggled with what to do. So she slowly backed away, and let out a breath that she had felt she held in for so long.

"I uh... I need to go to the rest room." She hurried away and headed to the toilet.

Luke stood there, feeling foolish.

Jennie found her way back to the gang's table and grabbed Tori.

"What's wrong?" Tori asked, noticing how flustered Jennie was - she wasn't her usually bubbly self.

"I gotta go home. Tell everyone I... I don't know just tell them I had to go."

"I saw you..." Jason teased, "Shooting your shot."

"It wasn't like that." Luke scratched his head, "She's not interested."

"What do you mean?"

"She just seemed uncomfortable... Guess she didn't feel the spark I felt."

"You felt a spark?" Jason crinkled his forehead

"I know it sounds dumb, alright? But since the day I met her, I felt... I don't know." Luke shrugged. He couldn't describe why he felt so instantly enamored with her. And it wasn't just the blonde bombshell archetype, he felt a chemistry.

Jennie had spent the next couple of days with Eric, realizing that there were a couple of things wrong. For one, she felt she was being dishonest and disloyal by indulging in some quality time with Luke. On the other hand, the fact that Luke was all she could think about made her realize she can't pretend she sees him as a friend. As her mind continued to run wild, she finally came to the conclusion that she had to end things with Eric. Things hadn't been going well for them, and Eric was already annoyed that he had to do all the effort since her work schedule didn't allow her time off to travel to him. She also knew that feeling the pull towards Luke meant something was missing in her relationship.

Following the breakup, she decided to give herself time to figure out what she was feeling. Was it a simple crush or was she catching feelings?

After their short period off for New Year's, the boys and Shannen decided to go bar hopping before they were back at work. Brian, annoyed that he was too young to go, felt left out by the others. Shannen and Jason already had 12 shots between them before Jason decided to engage in a little hobby of his - making wagers.

The first bet was for Ian to walk over to a woman who was on the dance floor, and dance behind her with her back turned. Then, once she turned around, he was to nonchalantly walk away. Naturally, Ian nailed it and won 50 bucks off of Jason.

Jason then encouraged Luke to hit on the brunette in the V.I.P lounge, stating that he was about to become a huge movie star. Given that 90210 still failed to gain the type of traction they wanted, the cast weren't very recognizable.

Luke agreed to the bet and made his way over to the girl.

"What's the movie?" The brunette called his bluff, but maintained a coquettish demeanor, clearly enjoying the looks and charisma of Luke Perry

"Um it's a film about a young, successful man who gets a pretty girl at a sketchy nightclub to go on a date with him." He smirked

"Hmm..." The girl rolled her eyes.

"So what do you say?"

"Well..." She pursed her lips, "If nothing else, I can at least say I went on a date with a James Dean lookalike." She grinned.

Luke let out a slow breath, and cracked his neck. "Actually..." He fidgeted, "I just remembered I gotta do something."

Luke got up and headed straight to the boys.

"What happened?" Jason asked

"Got rejected?" Ian chuckled

"Nah I just... changed my mind." Luke shrugged nonchalantly. "Pick another girl."

"Alright..." Jason shrugged it off and glanced around. "...Her."

After talking to Tori about her crush/jealousy/awkward moment with Luke on the dance floor, Tori encouraged her to casually talk to Luke and see where his head is at. Jennie decided that her breakup with Eric obviously means something. She concluded she could at least get to know Luke with a clear conscience, and proceeded to give him a call that morning before they headed back to work.

"Hello?"

Jennie was immediately taken aback. She didn't know whose voice had just answered Luke's phone.

"Hello?" The voice urged.

"Hi..." Jennie's reply was barely audible. "Um... Is Luke there?"

"He's in the shower."

"Oh. Okay... Never mind then." Jennie quickly hung up.

Because friends don't do the things we do

Friends don't stand around, playing with their keys

Finding reasons not to leave

Trying to hide the chemistry