Jason sits on in his rental car outside the gym where Kimberly is currently teaching her youth gymnastics class. She left the apartment this morning before he had the chance to talk to her about the previous night. After spending the first couple hours trying to figure out what he was going to say when she returned, he concluded that he needed to get over his irrational fears and decided to go be there to pick her up so that they could have that talk sooner rather than later.

Stop being a coward. He tells himself for the hundredth time as he opens the car door and steps out. Locking up the car, he starts across the parking lot. His muscles tense slightly when recognizes one of the few people standing on the sidewalk outside the building. Great…it's the creeper.

For a brief moment, Jason thinks he might actually make past unnoticed. That is until Jake's eyes turn his way. "Fancy seeing you here." He says with an insincere smile. "It's Justin, isn't it?"

"It's Jason." Jason responds coolly not wanting to provoke anything.

"Oh, right. Sorry. I'm bad with names." Jake shrugs. "How's it going? What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"I'm fine." Jason replies not letting missing the underlying meaning to the other man's choice of words. "I came to pick up Kim when her class is over."

"You didn't have to do that." Jake half smiles again. "I could have dropped her off."

"Well, now there is no need." Jason is getting tired of this man hasn't even talked to him for an hour and the strain is beginning to reach his voice. "Look, I need to go let her know I'm here."

As Jason starts to move past him, Jake reaches out and grabs his biceps firmly stopping him in his track. Stay cool. Turning his head he looks at the hand on his arm and the up at its owner.

"Hey, there is no call to be rude."

"I'm sorry if it seems that way." Jason looks the other man straight in the eyes. "Now please let me go."

"I know what you are trying to do here and its not going to work." Jake's voice drops to a menacing tone. "I can take you."

"I think you should really let go of my arm and walk away." Jason keeps his voice steady and firm. "I don't have a fight with you."

Jake glares at Jason for another minute before releasing his arm. Turning away, Jason walks past him and through the doors of the gym. He takes a deep breath letting his body relax as he makes his way over to the small reception desk on the other side of the lobby.

"Good Afternoon. How can I help you today?" The petite woman sitting at the desk asks with a warm smile.

"I'm here to see Kimberly Hart." Jason states returning a kind smile feeling his tension melt away.

"Aren't you a little old for the Tiny Tots class?"

"I'm an old friend who is visiting from out of town." He says ignoring the woman's obvious flirtatious smile. "I just thought I'd drop by to pick her up."

"I see." The doesn't seem to know what to make of his lack of reaction to her. She glances over at the clock on the wall. "Well, her class ends in about twenty minutes. I can't let you in without a member present but I suppose you could wait…" She gestures at the few chairs sitting on the opposite side of the room.

"I'll do that. Thank you." Jason smiles at her again before going to take a seat. Great more waiting…

The time seems to drag by as Jason skims through the various magazines scattered around the small seating area. He can feel the eyes of the receptionist watching him while feudally imploring him to look at her.

"Jason?"

He looks up to see Kim standing beside the reception desk with a surprised smile.

"Hi, Kim." Jason smiles back at her as he stands up and starts toward her. He is aware of the other set of eyes watching them closely. Offering her his arm he asks, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, sure." She sounds slightly uncertain but slips her arm through his. She lets him guide her to the exit as she feels slight flutters rise in her stomach. Once outside she looks up at him and asks, "What's going on, Jase?"

"Well, I figured we could go grab something to eat." He says as he walks then through the parking lot. "And that we should probably talk about what happened last."

Last night… Kim gives him a weak smile. "We don't have to. If you don't want to."

"No, we have to Kim."

"We could just forget it…"

"No." Jason's voice is harder than he would have liked. "Sorry. I didn't mean…its just…I don't want to forget about it." Stopping Jason steps in front of her and looks down at her with the same brown-eyed boy expression she remembers from their youth. "I love you, Kim. More than as just a friend."