Hey again, guys! Man, I love your reviews so much; they are so awesome! I apologize for not updating for a while but I made sure I at least got the chapter up today because I knew I wouldn't be able to do it again this week and that I had to update soon. (It's 'cuz I have a field trip tomorrow that will last the entire day and then Thursday's my birthday which means I'll be pretty busy this weekend.) Anyways, this might seem like a short chapter but it's really, really fluffy and I hope you guys like it.

Oh, yeah, and there's a little reference to my friend out there...it doesn't really have anything to do with the story, though, but I know she's watching so disregard it:3

I do not own PJO.

Now that I'm done babbling, please enjoy our first double-digit chapter!

The stadium was silent. The lights were still on and all the plastic seats were empty. The court hadn't been wiped down yet but it was still glinting over its shadows.

Piper sat alone in one of the hundreds of seats. She was silent and her fingers dug into the plastic of the chair and it hurt her nails but she didn't care. She thought over the night, and felt a pinch of guilt for doing that to Chris. But Piper knew this would've been hard and she can't keep thinking about the guilt. There was a point where you had to get over it, no matter how hard it would be. Piper did feel sorry for Chris, but, somehow she knew that they couldn't be together; she didn't feel the same for him anymore. Piper knew it was wrong, but it was right in so many ways.

Piper had chosen Jason. She knew that that would've been her decision in the end all along. She just didn't want to admit it.

Her thoughts were hurting her brain so she looked around her, the quiet atmosphere that made her ears buzz because she had been used to the rowdy crowd that had now gone home since the game was over.

She had been by Jason's side as they put him on a gurney and almost took him to the hospital. Piper had acted like a mortal for so long that she actually almost agreed with it, but then she remembered that something would probably go wrong if they brought demigods to a hospital. So Piper had to try to convince them to leave him at the stadium's aid room in the back near the locker rooms. She had to use charm speak and finally, they agreed with her. Leo had smirked at her behind them. Besides, if Jason really felt that bad, he could take an ambrosia—which Leo informed her that they had a Ziploc baggy with some of the powerful gummies in it.

Piper knew Jason would be alright; she had been through the fiercest battles with him and he could take just about anything. Plus, he's a Roman and Roman's don't back down that easily because they don't like being portrayed as weak. So she told Leo to tell Jason to meet her in the stadium after the game and when he was better. She had to talk to him alone and this was probably the only place that nobody else could interfere.

She looked around herself and could still see the ghosts of tonight's events as they sat and whooped all around her. They cheered and the players were running on the court, the squeaks still faint in her ears.

But all of that was long gone, and she was starting to worry a little when Jason wasn't showing up.

As if on cue, there was a clanking noise as a metal door opened and was closed softly. Piper glanced sideways at the double doors and saw a flash of his face and his golden hair and relief washed over her and it was like bouncy balls had been released into her
stomach. A small smile eased its way onto her dry lips. Her fingers relaxed to where they weren't trying to strangle the arm rests anymore. Piper could hear Jason's soft footsteps padding against the stone floor and echo as they were the only sound that filled the stadium.

Suddenly, he quietly sat down next to her, the chair making a soft squeaking noise as he pulled down on the seat. She could hear his low sigh and she looked down at her lap. Her gaze was averted to their hands as Jason rested his on her knuckles. Shivers went up her spine as he slowly traced his fingers down hers and she liked the way his fingertips were shaped and how his skin looked rough, but was smooth against her skin. His fingers closed over hers and then he laced them in the spaces between to where they enclosed into a big fist. A soft fist that made goose bumps travel up Piper's arm.

She finally looked up at him as the corners of her mouth tugged upward. She found him smirking back down at her and she squeezed her thumb over his in response.

He smiled, his eyes curving into crescent moons again, and he asked in a low and calm voice, "So what did you want to talk about?"

She gave him a look and could feel her eyes churning because she didn't know what to say or how to feel. And her feelings were right because Jason found them mixing into each other like waves clashing or leaves tumbling together. He was lost in her again but was able to pull himself back out of it because he knew what she wanted him to realize. Jason knew it was about Chris.

He closed his mouth into a straight line and gave her an empathetic look.

She looked away from him and at a spot on the court. It took her a couple seconds to realize that that was where Jason had been lying just under an hour ago.

"I, uh…" Her grip tightened around his hands. "I kind of…broke up with Chris."

Jason nodded and gripped her hand back. "Yeah, I know,"

"And…" She drew in a shaky breath. "I feel kind of bad."

"That's only because your brain is thinking about it too much." Jason lightly poked at her temple with his free hand. "And that's not a bad thing, either, it's just that…well, people get overwhelmed by things and it bothers them like a bug that just won't go away. Soon it'll all just seem like a bad memory and you'll forget about it."

Her eyebrows creased together, forming a line on her forehead and disrupting her delicate features. "I hope so."

"You just need to get your mind off things," Jason added.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Piper asked softly.

"We could drive over to Camp Half-Blood and do some sword practicing," Jason offered.

Piper snorted and Jason chuckled along with her after a while.

"But that's a long way away so what I do when I need to get my mind off things is that I shoot some hoops," He began to stand, taking her with him by the hand.

"But…I can't really shoot," She protested. "I haven't played basketball in such a long time,"

Jason brought her close to him and met her eyes with a playful smirk lining his face. "Then I'll teach you."

She gave him a small smile and he led her down the steps. They stepped onto the court and Piper felt a little weird actually setting foot on the waxed court where all the action was—but now it was gone and that was why it felt unusual. It was a little slippery, but after a while she got used to it and stepped farther out toward the center.

Jason let go of her hand and jogged out to a bag of basketballs that was sitting lazily behind plastic folding chairs that were there for the team to sit on. He reached inside and slipped out a ball and then let the bag drop to the ground. Jason liked the felt of the ball and how comfortable it fit into his hand—it was like holding a sword again. He tested it and bounced it once, a PING echoing throughout the walls and reverberated against the floor. He gave a small smile and walked back to Piper, bouncing the basketball with him.

He offered it out to her and she took it gingerly into her own hands. She stared at it and bounced it as well.

"Alright, so," Jason led her a couple feet away from the hoop.

Jason stood at the crook of her elbow, which was lightly touching his abs and it made his heart flop. He then moved around her and put his right hand over hers on the side of the ball. Again, his fingers filled the spaces between hers. Then he took his left hand around her other side and planted both of their hands in the center of the ball. His lips were right next to his ear and his cheek was against her hair, making his Adam's apple blush.

"I'm gonna teach you how to shoot first, okay?"

Piper giggled a little. "Okay,"

Jason narrowed his eyes at her sideways as a smile came onto his face. He waved it off, though, and turned back to the hoop that was hovering over them, daring him to make his move again. But Jason was with Piper, he knew, and with her around, he felt he could do just about anything. He didn't have to stare at the hoop alone this time.

"So, when you let go of the ball, you're going to use your right hand almost to direct it and push it forward and the left to push it upward. But you just let the ball roll off your fingers and just glide, okay? Almost like ski ball," He instructed so with both of their hands, but he didn't let go of the ball.

Piper snorted. She couldn't help but laugh for some reason and it turned into a small fit. After a while, she tried to suppress it and cleared her throat, putting her attention back to the hoop. "Okay, and what next?"

"You'll have to bend your knees a little and bounce on your toes as you shoot the ball," He said in a soft voice.

He bent his knees and they softly pressed against the backs of hers and he raised himself on his toes—with her—and then they raised their arms. Their fingers pushed the ball upward and her fingers had the ball rolling off them. With the push, it sailed through the air and bounced on the rim of the hoop and tipped forward a little, the balance of the ball leaning into the net, making it fall through.

Jason didn't look at the hoop, though; he stared at Piper and her reaction. To him, it was like a flower blooming in the nice and warm springtime and it made him smile a little. He watched as her concentrated eyes relaxed and curved with astonishment. Her lips were brought out like a curtain being drawn and it created dimples at her cheeks and wrinkles at the ends of her eyes. Jason liked that sight and Piper turned to face him.

They were so close and Jason just had the feeling to touch her and that he just wanted to close the space between them. So without his mind fully on track, he kissed her—another short and sweet kiss—and this time she didn't freeze. To the both of them, it was like they were dating again and were a pair. She kissed him back and when he parted to go get the ball again, she had that lost feeling in her stomach to just run after him and hug him.

Staring at his back, his shoulder blades and muscles and broad shoulders as they were outlined by his white shirt, made her just want to hug him from behind even more.

But she resisted the urge as she could now see his front side as he carried the ball. He bounced it to her and she caught it. She lined herself up again and her thoughts wondered how Jason ever felt while doing this as hundreds of thousands of people watched him, expecting him to make the shot every time. She wondered how he could ever live with having to be the best of the best all the time because people expected that from him.

She swallowed, making those thoughts disappear and bounced on her toes, sending the ball upward. It bonked off the rim and Jason jerked his body sideways and jumped up, taking the ball with one hand and tipping it back into the hoop as a rebound. His feet touched the ground and he gave the ball back to her.

Piper smiled and took the ball. She felt like she was a teenager again, able to jump around and fight and actually have the energy to do activities like this. She guessed that work kind of put that stress boulder on her and it had made her forget how to actually play again. But now she felt that energy surge through her stomach once more. She slipped off her jacket and tossed it to the side.

She threw the ball again and it rolled into the hoop. Jason jogged to go get it. "Now you're getting the hang of—"

Piper started to run. She raced to the ball, which was about a foot away from Jason, and she jumped in front of him to cut into his path. He was surprised and halted abruptly. She snatched the ball from the ground and stared up at him, one eye narrowed suspiciously.

Jason suddenly realized what was going on and he raised an eyebrow a little creepily (A/N: Kind of a shout-out to my friend, Caroline, who's reading this out there;)) and stood in a stance that was ready for whichever way she would dart around him.

Piper's eyes darted one way and then the other. She stepped her foot on one side, making Jason jerk that way and he was so big that he covered her entire path—even the other side she could've taken! So she stood in the one spot and Jason bat out his hands to steal the ball from her, but she hugged it close to her body.

Taking a deep breath and letting her mind loose, she shrieked and dashed out one way and sprinted past Jason and she hadn't mastered a lay-up yet so she stood in front of the hoop and reached to shoot, but Jason blocked her, his arm reaching up and taking the ball away from it.

"No!" Piper laughed and Jason chuckled as he slammed back onto the ground.

He offered it out to her with one hand. "Oh, I'm sorry, I think this was yours…you want it back?" He mumbled softly.

Her mouth was gaped open and she reached out to take it even though she knew what he was going to do.

Jason psyched and snatched it back away from her and ran to the other side of the court.

"No fair! Liar!" She yelled though a grin was on her face as she ran after him. They hadn't planned it, but they were slowly forming a game between each other.

Jason's laugh rang throughout the stadium along with the bangs of their shoes against the court and the high-pitched scream as the ball bounced against the waxed surface with them.

A laugh leapt from her mouth, too, and she found her arms wrapping around his torso as he was about to shoot and make him stumble back. He forgot about his pose to shoot and looked down at her, laughing.

"What are you doing?" He asked with a grin.

She chuckled. "Give me the ball," she reached out for it but he, again, kept it out of her reach.

Jason's arm wrapped around her back and they were in an awkward, but warm, hug as they kept stumbling backwards. He leaned forward, his nose barely touching her forehead. "What makes you think I'm going to give it up so easily?"

She stopped laughing and said nonchalantly. "Oh, just the fact that I'm a distraction to you," She leaned forward and their noses really were touching. Her smile was touching his chin and she then tipped the ball from his grasp.

It fell into her hand and she stepped away from him with the ball in both hands. She looped around to try and run back to the other side of the court but what she forgot was that his arm was still around her.

He took a giant stride and got closer to her, tightening his arm around her waist and then circling his other around her as well. Jason lifted her off the ground and her feet kicked out as he held her in front of him and a laugh echoed with her yelp.

"Put me down, Jason!" A fit of laughter kept bubbling from her.

Jason responded as he twirled around, still carrying her, and then finally planted her feet on the floor, but still held her close. He put his lips next to her ear again. "How about this; is this good?"

"Definitely," she said.

"And why is that?" He asked as he pressed his lips to her temple and swung her around. His arms were looped around her ribs and he held her tightly like she were his teddy bear when he was a kid. He knew it was because he had wanted to do this for a while now because he hadn't gotten to hold her in such a long time. With the gnawing in his stomach, he just wanted to be able to hold her like this forever.

"Because I got the best view in the house," Piper said with a small smile. "Right next to my boyfriend,"

"Oh, so its boyfriend again, isn't it?"

"Duh, Sparky," She kissed his cheek.

He blushed and gave her a smile. "Good. I've been waiting to hear that since I met you."

"You could've heard that earlier if you weren't such a distraction," Piper said and she tugged herself out of his hold. She walked away from him, slowly stepping backwards as she bounced the ball along with her.

Jason started to walk towards her and her smirk. "I am not a distraction. If anything, you distract me with your charm speaking, Ms. Aphrodite Demigod,"

Piper raised an eyebrow and was about to respond but then there was another loud clanking noise that made her jump and then freeze. The two looked at the door, where the noise had come from, and found a couple men wheeling in large trashcans and a cart containing a mop and other cleaning supplies. The two men looked at the couple and were about to protest their being here when Jason raised a limp hand.

"It's okay; we'll leave now," he said. Piper trotted over to her jacket as Jason slipped the basketball back into the bag and they connected again. Jason laced his hand into hers and they walked out of the stadium.

Piper's thoughts were almost happy now and being with Jason made her feel nostalgic, but happy. Everything felt like it had changed to where the air even felt different somehow. She thought this to be weird and knew one thing: she may have been a distraction to him, but he will always—even if there was something totally bizarre in the room—be more of a distraction to her.

She looked over at him when they stepped out into the white hallway. His blond hair was a little messed up from their game but it made him look good. And his eyes—the main reason he was a distraction to her—glowed just like they used to. It was how she knew what he was feeling.

Piper smiled because she knew that their feelings were the same at that moment. She squeezed his hand and a second later he did the same. Let's just say they both liked the fact that they were distractions to each other.

Please review (they make my day!) and enjoy your week!:)