Author's Note: For all of those John/Renee fans, this is a strictly John/Renee chapter. Whooo!

The next morning, John woke up in his own bed, at his own house and just stared at the ceiling. He swallowed hard, thinking about what happened last night. He couldn't fight this guilty feeling that he had. Why the hell was he feeling guilty? He wasn't in a relationship with either of these girls but yet he felt like he was cheating on Renee. He felt kind of bad for Jamie, because he felt like it was possible he was just using her, but then again, that's what they decided on: fun. This was not a relationship.

John changed quickly before going to brush his teeth and hair. He hurried downstairs to see his whole family already at the breakfast table.

"Hey, where you going so early?" Dean asked, seeing his son.

"I've got to go see a friend. I think I really messed up, Dad," John replied.

His father gave John a look but knew not to ask since John seemed like he was in such a hurry, "Alright. When will you be back?"

"I don't know. Probably soon. Sorry," John mumbled, grabbing his coat and putting it on. He grabbed the keys to the Camero, and then hurrying out to the car. John turned on the radio, rolled down the windows and put on the classic rock station. It was a nice day and he was going to sort things out for himself. He pulled up at the house he had been to several times and parked at the side. He jogged up to the front of the door and knocked, waiting on the porch anxiously.

"John?" Renee asked. John turned around to see Renee.

"Hi, shouldn't you be-," John started.

"I went for a walk," Renee answered. "What're you doing here?"

"I just wanted to come talk…" John said.

"Is everything okay?" Renee asked. She wanted to be a good friend for John but she didn't want to let him like she had been doing before. It was just too hard not to fall for him now.

"I sure hope so. I-, I want to ask you something," John started.

"Okay, shoot," Renee answered. What the hell did he want to ask her? Renee felt uncomfortable about all of this.

"Are we okay?" John asked.

Renee just stared at him for a moment before answering, "Uh, yeah, why wouldn't we be?"

"I don't know. Last night at the game you just seemed kinda… I don't know," John stammered, looking down and just shaking his head. He was used to being a smooth talker but with Renee he didn't know what to say. He didn't want to say anything wrong and his old lines never worked on her.

"Is this about when you asked me to hang out?" Renee asked, concerned.

"No! I mean, yeah, maybe a little, but no. It's just, I thought we were doing so well, you know?" John stammered, blushing at his disjointed response.

"Oh," Renee said, looking down.

"Oh?" John asked.

"I mean… what was that, John?" Renee asked.

"I-, I don't know. Our not-date went so well. Thought a real date wouldn't be so bad this time," John replied.

"John, I like you, I do and being friends with you again has been… good," she started. Good, being an understatement but she shook it off and moved on. "But, I saw the way that Jamie looked at me yesterday when we were together and… I don't know. She's your girlfriend and I don't think it would be a good idea if you and I-."

"Hold on. Jamie's not my girlfriend!" John interjected.

Renee sighed, "Well, whatever she is, you guys are… involved. I don't want to get in the middle of things and I definitely can't handle any drama this year. There was… way too much last so, am I making any sense here? Sorry."

"No, I get it," John replied. John knew what he had to do then. He had to figure out what the hell he actually wanted because he was starting to realize that he couldn't have both of these girls. "We're friends, though, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Renee replied.

"Well what if we just amended that. We'd hang out as friends? You know, not a date and not even a not-date," John asked.

Renee sighed, "John…"

"What?" John asked.

"I-," Renee started. "I don't know. This weekend is pretty busy for me. I've got a thing today and-."

"You had a thing last Saturday!" John exclaimed, shooting her a look.

"I'm busy, okay? I don't know if this weekend works," Renee said.

"Well then next weekend. Saturday's good for me. Or even Friday," John suggested, hopeful. If he got to spend time with her one on one without having to focus on math or anything, he hoped he'd get a better idea of what he wanted.

"Again, I've got at thing Saturday and on Friday I'm volunteering at the elementary school for their book fair. Sorry," Renee admitted.

John just looked at her for a moment. He couldn't tell whether she was going out on dates, actually had a thing, or was just making excuses to get out of hanging out with him.

"Okay," John said, admitting defeat. "So tutoring next Wednesday?"

"Sure. I found this really nice café overlooking the Sioux Falls River if you're into it," Renee suggested.

"Sure," John nodded.

"Cool. I'll see you later then," Renee said.

"Yeah, you too," John replied, beginning to leave. Renee walked up the steps to her front porch before looking back once. John was still walking towards his car. Renee took a deep breath. It was for the best. Don't spoil a good thing for him. He and Jamie are just having fun and that's what he wants. Don't mess that up for him, she thought to herself, before continuing her path towards her house and going inside.

LINEBREAK

Two Weeks Later…

It was a Tuesday afternoon and Renee and John were tutoring at the same café that they had been at since last week. It was a really nice September day and they were enjoying the weather.

Renee giggled, "No, here let me show you." She grabbed the pencil out of John's hands and flipped to a clean page of notebook paper. "If you ever get tripped up on these graphs there's an easier way to remember those. For those of us that don't want to sit down and memorize them, you can just create an x and y table for them. It makes things so much easier to see the other graphs once you have the basic parent functions down."

"Oh, okay. Mind if I try?" John asked.

"No, not at all," Renee replied, handing him the notebook and pencil that she had stolen from him.

John and Renee worked for a little while longer. John did his math homework while Renee read her English assignment and helped John if he had any questions. That's usually how tutoring worked. Then they'd get all sidetracked.

Renee kept reminding herself of the conversation that she and John had had two Saturdays ago. They were friends, just friends, but even after the conversation, there was still this undeniable chemistry between them. The flirty didn't stop; it had only gotten more. John hadn't said anything about Jamie, but she hadn't seen him with her very much. She chastised herself for even thinking about it and returned to her book, trying to distract herself.

Damn it, I just read the same sentence five times. Why can't I focus? Renee thought to herself. She looked up from her book and looked at John. He was so into the work he was doing; so focused. It was rather cute. When he got focused, he always got this little look on his face that Renee couldn't help but smile at. Damn it. I've got it bad, don't I? Renee asked herself.

"Hey, do you-," John began to ask and Renee quickly buried herself behind the book again. "Do you have an extra eraser?" John shot her a funny look. Why was she acting so weird all of a sudden?

"Oh, yeah, here," Renee replied, handing him the eraser.

"Thanks," John smiled, casually. "This is pretty cool place. I like the water." He glanced over the railing to see the rushing rapids of Sioux Falls river below them.

"That's what I like most about it," Renee smiled.

"You the place up the street?" John asked.

"Yeah, Utopia or something?" Renee asked back.

"Yeah. We went in there once when we were younger and Mom told us that she and Dad went there the night they got engaged," John started. Renee was a little suspicious. Why was he bringing that up? She shook it off, quickly responding to John.

"Your parents are a freaking fairy tale," Renee chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief.

"What?" John exclaimed, shooting Renee a strange glance.

"Well, you've got the bad things like demons and witches and shit, but then there's the whole love prevails thing going on too. I mean, my parents had the normal relationship troubles, but your mom and dad had hunting, the whole Dean dying thing, and so much more. It amazes me really," Renee admitted.

"Yeah, they really love each other… which unfortunately saw about two weeks ago on my living room floor. I mean, come on, guys! You can't even make it to the bedroom?" John complained.

Renee laughed, "Oh God! I think you're going to be scarred for life after that. Sorry, but I still get a kick out of it but they're not my parents. I think if I caught my parents having sex, I'd be scarred for life too." She drank some of her water before putting it back down on the table that they sat at, outdoors.

John shook his head, "My parents… they're crazy, aren't they?"

"Yeah, just a little," Renee chuckled.

"Here, you can have your eraser back," John said, handing it to Renee, but before she could take it, it dropped to the ground. "Damn it. I'll get it."

"No it's okay, I'll-," Rene started, as they both bent down to get the eraser. They both reached for it, their hands touching. Renee felt like a spark had shot up her arm and she and John both exchanged glances. "Um." John didn't say anything but this, right here… for the past two weeks they'd been tutoring and spending a lot of time together in school and although it was a scary thing to think about, he was really starting to think that this was what he wanted.

"I-," John started. Out of panic, he quickly reached for the eraser and straightened up. "Right. Hey, do you think you could help me with number 20?"

"Sure," Renee said, scooting closer to see his math book.

She read over the problem and John looked at her. Damn, she was hot. Her hair was curly today and he liked it. She had a sweet smile and a good heart and John loved that about her. She was funny too and they always ended up laughing together. He had fun with her. And those lips… countless amounts of times he had thought about kissing her. Just… what it would be like. They were old childhood friends so would it be weird or would it be amazing?

"John, are you paying any attention?" Renee asked, looking over at him.

"Wha- yeah! Sorry, can you say that again?" John asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

Renee chuckled, rolling her eyes playfully, "Yes, now you promised you'd focus today!"

"I am, sorry," John chuckled, trying to distract himself with math. The only problem was that it was Renee teaching it to him, so it's not like he'd be able stop thinking about her.

The next day, Wednesday morning came and John was heading to lunch when Jamie came over. He hadn't been talking to her as much ever since he and Renee talk those two Saturdays ago, because he was still trying to figure out what he wanted.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" Jamie asked.

"Sure," John replied. He stopped and pulled her over to the side of the hall so that they could talk.

"Can I ask you about something?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah," John answered.

"What's going on with you and Renee Walsh?" Jamie asked. That certainly caught John off guard.

"What do you mean?" John asked back.

"I mean, I've been hearing some things…" Jamie trailed off.

"What kind of things?" John asked, anxiously. He hoped that people weren't spreading rumors about them, especially for Renee's sake. He remembered what she said about not needing any drama and he didn't want to screw things up for her.

"People are saying that they see you two together all the time at school, and Tracy saw you two together at the café overlooking the river… and you've been kind of distant. Look, John, if you don't want to do this anymore, you should just tell me, okay? There are plenty of guys that would die to be with me and I'm not going to waste my time with someone who doesn't want me," Jamie said, forcefully.

"Jamie, look, it's not like that," John started.

"No, it is. It's either me or her, John. Choose wisely," Jamie said, before walking away from him, leaving John with a decision to make. John threw his head back, taking in a deep breath. He was going to have to make this choice sooner than he thought he would. What if he wasn't ready for the whole relationship thing? What if he was a bad boyfriend? What if Renee didn't even like him like that? She always shooting him down when he asked her out and… it was his senior year. He should just be having fun, right? Then again, it was Renee and he hadn't gotten her off his mind for weeks. Maybe he should just take a risk. He didn't even know anymore…

John was at home early that afternoon and had called Jude in a panic. He honestly didn't know what to do but he knew what he wanted to do. It just scared the hell out of him.

"Hey," John said, answering the phone quickly.

"Dude, what's up with you? You sound really freaked out on the message you left me," Jude said back.

"Yeah…" John trailed off.

"What's going on?" Jude asked. John sighed, before explaining the whole thing to his brother. "Wow, sounds like a lot. I-, I don't know what to tell you, but it's your choice."

"Oh come on, man! You've been through this, right? I mean, choosing a fling or a relationship? I-, you've got to give me more than that," John pleaded, desperate.

"I don't know. From the way you make it sound, I think you want to try things with Renee," Jude said.

John sighed, "I know, I know. But what if I'm bad at it?"

"Bad at what?" Jude asked back, with a laugh.

"The whole relationship thing, you know? I haven't really… done that… ever. I mean, middle school relationships don't count and once I got to high school, I never had a real relationship. I feel like shit's about to get real if I do though," John answered.

"Okay, well what do you actually like about this Jamie girl?" Jude asked.

John hesitated. She was hot? They had really great sex? "I don't know."

"Exactly, but you do know what you like about Renee. I'm all for risk taking, little brother," Jude pointed out.

"You think I should?" John asked.

"I think it's up to you," Jude replied.

"I hate you," John grumbled.

"I know," Jude smiled, cheekily.

"How's school? Any hot girls?" John asked, quickly changing the subject.

"I think you have too many hot girls. I'll save you the trouble and we just won't talk about that," Jude teased.

"Shut up," John groaned.

Even though Jude kept saying that it was John's choice, John knew that already. He knew what he had to do.

John knocked on the door to Renee's house and waited anxiously. He didn't even know what he'd say yet, but he was going to have to say something or it would drive him crazy. He was still on a high from earlier this afternoon, after he got off the phone with Jude. He knew what he needed to do, so he went and did it. It was now around 9 pm and he honestly couldn't wait till tomorrow morning at school.

"Hey, John," Iz said, answering the door, her long blonde hair up in a pony tail.

"Hey, is Renee here?" John asked.

"Yeah. Renee, John's here for you," Iz called to inside the house. "Sorry, she'll just be a moment. Do you want to come in or something."

"Oh, no, I'm fine. I've got go soon, anyways. I just needed to drop by and talk to Renee about something," John said.

Iz shot him a funny look, "You know, you two are getting weirder and weirder by the second."

"I-," John opened his mouth to say something else but then he saw Renee coming towards the door.

"Iz, what're you-, John?" Renee asked.

"Hey," John smiled that crooked smile of his.

"What're you doing here, John?" Renee asked. "Iz, can you give us a minute?"

"Sure," Iz said, walking away.

"So um-," John started.

"John, why are you acting so weird? What's going on?" Renee asked. She couldn't help but notice that John was kind of fidgety and was stammering more often than usual.

"I broke it off with Jamie. Whatever it was… It's, I'm done and it actually feels pretty good," John said. It was like a 500 pound weight had been lifted off of his shoulders and he sighed out with relief. "Wow, it feels good to say that."

"Okay…" Renee trailed off. John's heart froze for a moment. He thought she'd care a little bit more than that. Had he made a mistake? Was the risk not worth it? Damn it. You'll never know until you try. John straightened up.

"So yeah," John managed to say.

"Good," Renee said. John was like a dog whose ears had perked up when he heard her say that.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean… she was kind of a bitch," Renee chuckled.

"You know what? She was," John said, just now realizing that. Blinded by lust? The two just stood there in awkward silence, neither of them really knowing what to say next. This is what he had come here to say, right? Did he really think she was going to fall into his arms and confess her undying love to her as soon as he told her that he broke it off with Jamie? Get real, John, he thought to himself. Since when did you turn into such a chick?"I should probably get going though. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Renee answered. She stood there as John walked away. He would be on to his next slutty girl for the next month right? Then why the hell did he come tell her about breaking up with Jamie. The risk terrified her but Renee knew she had to take it. "John?"

John stopped in his tracks and turned around to find her just standing on her porch. He stood on her lawn as he asked, "Yeah?"

"I-…" she started. She took a deep breath before continuing. "You know, that date doesn't sound too bad right now."

"Yeah?" John asked, wide grin spreading across his face. Renee smiled too. She loved that grin.

"Yeah," she shrugged, playing it cool.

"Okay," John said. "Saturday?"

"I can't. How about Friday?" Renee asked.

"Let me guess. You've got a thing," John replied.

"Yeah," Renee answered, rolling her eyes playfully.

"Okay. Friday it is then. After the game, maybe? We could grab a bite to eat or something," John suggested.

"Sounds perfect," Renee smiled.

"Cool," John smiled back. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Renee replied, before disappearing back into her house. She watched from the window as John drove away, the sounds of Journey's "Any Way You Want It" blasting from his car. She giggled since he was rocking out so hard. God, this boy was going to be the end of her.