''People are not afraid of heights. They are afraid of the fall.''-Unknown

Chapter 5: Maybe not

Piper groaned as a loud knocking on her bedroom door woke her up. She glanced at her phone: seven-thirty. It was way too early, she couldn't be late for anything right? Then who the heck was abusing her poor door? With a sigh she dragged herself out of bed, planning on what cruelty to bring upon whoever was waking her up in this ungodly hour.

''We need to talk.'' Jason said to her instead of greeting with a strangely calm face Piper knew very well. She felt the blood drain from her own face.

''W-we do? About what?'' she asked trying and failing miserably to sound casual.

Her fear was confirmed by his next words.

''I remember what happened last night.'' He said, raising his hand for her to see a peace of dark purple lingerie. ''You forgot this.''

Piper was speechless. She didn't know what to do or what to say. The idea of shutting the door in his face and hiding in some corner didn't sound so bad. She didn't want to face all this just yet but she knew it was inevitable. Mind as well get it over with. So she opened the door a little more and then closed it after Jason had entered.

His cool mask slowly slipped away as he started pacing around while Piper leaned her back on the door.

''We had sex.'' He finally stated still pacing. His eyes were anywhere but at her. ''You and me. Together.''

''Yeah.'' Piper managed to mutter a little unsure if he even had heard her.

''In the same bed. Naked. You and me.'' He continued repeating his statements, his left hand buried in his sun-kissed hair.

She didn't answer, scared that her voice would betray her. She looked down at the floor, her eyes tightly shut.

''How is this possible? How…when…?'' he trailed of, finally plopping on the bed, his head in his hands.

''I'm sorry.'' She suddenly muttered, still not looking up. Jason turned his head towards her with a mixture of pain and confusion written on his face.

''What? Why?''

''I was more sober than you. I should have stopped. It's just…'' Piper trailed off, unable to finish this sentence. She shook her head, trying to get the stupid thought out of her mind. 'It's just that I didn't want you to stop. I wanted more.' She shouldn't be thinking like that. Especially when Jason was looking so…helpless and consumed by pain and regret.

''It's not your fault Pipes. We were both drunk. It was just a … a moment of weakness. We weren't with our right minds.'' He said, looking through the window towards the rising sun.

Ouch. That hurt even though Piper understood him completely. She was suddenly glad that he wasn't facing her. She needed space so she could control herself. His words lingered in her mind, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. So he had to be either nuts or drunk to even consider sleeping with her?

'Of course. You two are best friends, he had always thought of you as a sister, nothing more. Besides, he still loves Reyna. He was just trying to lift the pressure that night.' A voice in her head said making her want to scream. His voice brought her back to reality a second later.

''What now?'' he asked softly, almost sounding desperate and defeated which made Piper look up at his eyes while he stared at her. ''What are we going to do?''

''We forget everything about it. Like it never happened.'' She stated suddenly, surprising both of them with the smoothness of her voice. She knew this was the right thing to do when she met his eyes.

Jason continued to stare at her incredulously. A small, shocked laugh escaped his lips and he tugged at his hair.

''Forget? How am I supposed to forget a night like that? Can you?''

Piper slid down to the floor silently, her eyes closed.

Truth beet told, she was sure that she would never forget the feeling of his arms against her skin, how he touched her, how he held her close and seemed to find just the right spot to make her crave for more. She would never be able to forget the husky voice in which he whispered her name when she touched him or the moans that escaped from both of them. No, she would definitely remember this night.

She heard the mattress squeak and then footsteps coming closer to her. Hands reached and lifted her up the floor but she still refused to look at him.

''You can't right. You can't just forget. Because we both remember and I have no idea why you didn't tell me but I know you remember the night. We had sex Piper, we slept together. It's not some chit-chat that we had and can forget about it tomorrow. This changes things!'' he said to her, still close.

She could practically feel his presence inches away from her. The proximity clouded her mind and she shook her head vigorously, trying to clear it up. She was on the verge of tears and that was the thing that did it for her.

''You think I don't know that?'' she asked, anger building up in her and making her voice raise a few octaves. ''Do you have any idea what yesterday was for me? The whole day you were always around and god, I thought I've gotten over you! So don't even start this because I will remember this damn night long after you have forgotten everything about it.'' She almost yelled pushing him away from her.

Jason stood there gaping like a fish. Piper immediately cursed herself mentally for bursting like that. Now things had become even worse.

''You…what?'' he asked weakly and Piper wanted to crawl under her bed and hide there. Instead, she let herself slide to the floor again and brought her knees to her chest.

''I like you. From that first day we met. You seemed genuinely kind, something that I wasn't used to and I just…you just grew up on me I guess.'' She said tiredly while he sat on the floor in front of her cross-legged, their eyes locked.

''Why didn't you tell me anything?''

At this Piper laughed humorlessly, brushing away some of the traitorous tears that had escaped her eyes.

''Because you were with Reyna.'' She retorted desperately, her voice barely above a whisper. ''And I would never ruin a relationship, I'm not like that, stealing boyfriends and such. I tried to step away, to leave you alone but we became friends and I decided that being friends with you is better than not having you around at all. And you and Leo turned out to be the best of friends I've ever had and I didn't want to loose that. That's the reason I didn't tell you anything yesterday even though I remembered. I can't loose your friendship because of this mistake.''

Jason didn't answer but Piper didn't want to look at his eyes, afraid of what they will hold. She knew what she would see there anyway: pity, regret, sympathy maybe…but mostly pity for her stupidity. And she hated being the weakling.

''Pipes…I don't want to loose you too but…''

''No buts then.'' She said sternly, standing up and brushing the moist from her face. He followed her example and let out an exasperated sigh.

''We need time to think this over.'' He concluded and Piper nodded numbly.

''Yes and by this time, you need to leave.'' She said coldly avoiding eye contact. She stepped away and opened the door for him.

Jason didn't say anything. He just exited the room but right before she could shut the door he turned back and their eyes met.

''I'm sorry Pipes.'' He said and she had to use all he will-power to not break down then and there.

''Yeah, I'm sorry too.'' She just mumbled and the door closed, separating the two in more ways than one.

In the next few hours Jason felt like in a trance. He just couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Piper indeed was the girl from the night before. He never thought that he would be with her like that. Sure, she was smart and pretty and witty and…and heart-strong but she was Piper, one of his two best friends! It was like sleeping with…Leo! 'Okay, bad analogy, Leo's a guy.' Jason thought. Maybe it was like sleeping with Thalia? 'Ugh, god no! That's even worse! Wait, so it's better to sleep with a guy?'

''Ugh, shut up!'' Jason finally groaned out loud while riding back to New York with Leo. Thalia was riding with Nico while Piper was with Percy and Annabeth in his car.

''Dude, are you sure you're okay?'' Leo turned to him concerned.

''Yeah, sure.'' He muttered distractedly.

Jason had already told Leo about Piper being the girl. The Latino boy's eyes had grown bigger than ever before and he stood like that for a good five minutes before stammering ''I'm not surprised at all.'' Sure he wasn't.

''So…what now? What's going to happen between you two? When are you going to drive to the sunset holding hands with wind-swept hairs?'' he asked casually, following Percy's red convertible Maserati Spyder (a present from his parents for his seventeen birthday and for successfully surviving the school year without getting almost expelled).

''Leo, too much chick-flicks. And nothing is happening.'' Jason grumbled, watching the New York's skyscrapers coming into view.

''So you won't be hanging out together?''

''Probably not for a while.''

''You know, it would have been a lot easier if you just admitted that you like her too.'' Leo said matter-of-factly.

''But I don't know if I like her like that. I can't lead her on like that, this is our Piper Leo. I don't want to hurt her.''

His best friend sighed while driving. ''Don't worry bro, things will come around eventually.''

''I really hope so.'' Jason mumbled to himself, his thoughts far away from the place he was in.

A\N: Is it me or this chapter turned out a bit…angst-y? Oh well, I'm not entirely happy with this but I think it will do. Could have been worse I guess. Tell me what do you think guys; it really matters like a lot to me! And thanks to all of you reviewers! Love you!