3: Jason: Silence
His class goes without a hitch, but he feels no satisfaction.
Zack is beaming, happy to have been apart of it, happy to be doing something productive. They've worked so hard to get this class off the ground. Celebration should be in order.
But he feels her watching him from the bar and knows he's hurting her.
The silence between them bursts his eardrums, throbs in his temples, tears at his chest.
He wants nothing more than to suck it up and apologize. It's the longest they've gone without speaking, the longest he's ever given her the cold shoulder. They've had their fights, but even the worst cant compare to what's hovering above them now.
It's a dark cloud; heavy and thunderous and cold.
He knows the damage it's doing only escalates the longer he lets it go on. But for all the guilt he feels as he walks passed her, sees the way her eyes follow him, feels the way she tries to catch his attention without speaking up, he wonders: can he overlook her indiscretion?
Tommy started out as a mutual interest. Someone that needed help, someone that could benefit from their influence. A possible friend. An ally.
Now, though, he's taking advantage. And her defensiveness on his behalf feels less like an indiscretion and more like betrayal.
Can he forgive and forget?
When he looks over his shoulder, Tommy is at the bar beside Kimberly; flirty and touching and smiling.
No, he cant.
Maybe the rift between Red and Green isn't all about how to save the world, or about what's right and what's wrong.
Jason walks home alone, broody and tense, thinking of better days.
When being alone was unimaginable, because there was always a flash of pink somewhere beside him, making him smile, making him feel better, making him think that there was nothing in this world that could separate them.
He shuts the thoughts out, refuses to let them take root, because at the end of the day he was their leader, and he had to be objective. Tommy was part of the team, and Jason had to accept that.
Even if it meant putting aside his own feelings, and letting those memories of pink and red fade into the background.