Metamorphosis

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 15 (Locked Hearts)

"He's so sweet." Trina rolled her eyes while exercising on the pull-up bar; Lindsay was gushing about the time she'd been spending with Travis lately. The girl had been going on about how much they had in common that Trina knew near every line as if it were all a part of a script.

Lindsay and Travis enjoyed football, primarily the Dallas Cowboys. Lindsay and Travis enjoyed Walker: Texas Ranger, and so much more. She found it a welcome relief from the girl trying to grill her about the time she'd been spending with Jason. Friendly ventures into the woods and conversations about mutual interests were simply that and nothing more, but neither Lindsay or her new crush seemed to think so.

According to Jason, Travis was also pressuring him. "What did the two of you do after dinner last night?" She asked. Lindsay disappeared with Travis for a time, and when she returned to the room that night, she was glowing.

Lindsay's cheeks turned red and she lowered her hands together behind her back. "We went up on the battlements and sat for a while, just looking at the stars." Trina clenched her teeth and pulled her chin above the bar with a grunt. While doing so, she lifted her knees up towards her chest and puffed her cheeks when she was ready to lower herself.

"I still can't go up there. I've been rock climbing, yet I still can't do the battlements." She dropped herself to the ground and yanked a white towel from the chair nearby. Her eyes drifted to Lindsay and a smirk grew on her face. "So you and Travis had a good time last night, then. Is it my turn to start teasing you?" Lindsay's eyes widened and she quickly shook her head.

"No, but then I'll acknowledge that I like him." Her friend smirked back and Trina rolled her eyes. She wiped away the sweat on her chest and peered down at the white tank she was wearing; it was one of Lindsay's and was a tad small for her. There was a mishap with the one she was wearing before, and Lindsay simply threw one of her shirts over.

Currently the shirt was clinging tightly to her body and frame, which she wasn't thrilled about. "Glad you like Travis, Lindsay. Maybe now you'll leave things alone with me and Jason? There's nothing there. He'll never be attracted to someone like me, and I'm certainly not putting myself out there."

"Trina-"

"Please." She walked out of the room with Lindsay sighing behind her. As they turned the corner, they spotted Travis and Jason walking by. Both were clad in white t-shirts and long workout pants, and of course, Travis was wearing his brown cowboy hat. "Hey guys."

The two looked over and the second Jason spotted her, his cheeks reddened. He cleared his throat and waved. "Trina, Lindsay, getting a workout done I see." The corners of his mouth slid up into a smooth smile, drawing her eyes towards it. She took a deep and slow breath, watching his lips move but hearing no words come out.

"Trina?" She fell out of her trance and smiled back at him, realizing he must have said something important. "You played well in today's soccer game."

"Thanks Jason." Her cheeks turned a shade of pink and she turned away slightly. Her forefingers tangled in front of her waist and her eyelids closed. Jason excused himself before leaving to the restroom, then Travis walked a few paces away with Lindsay.

"Did he just blush?" She heard Travis ask. Lindsay started to laugh. Trina raised an eyebrow and looked towards them with growing curiosity. She didn't normally like to listen in to someone else's conversation, but she couldn't help but to hear what Lindsay and Travis might say about the two of them.

"Everyone thinks they're together, but she's guarding herself. I can tell." She crossed her arms and turned her eyes to the restroom. Of course she was guarding herself; she couldn't trust herself with a guy much less trust a guy with her heart. "Jason's doing the same, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Absolutely refuses to talk about it." She didn't mind when Lindsay and Travis talked about them. The two were their best friends, so it was understood that this was going to happen. Hell, she and Jason talked about the two of them.

It was the people who didn't know them well that bothered her; and half of the camp was talking about the possibility of some imaginary romance between her and Jason.

The bathroom door opened and her pulse began to quicken. Her fingers curled into her palm and she bit down on her lower lip. When someone else stepped out, she looked away, disheartened. Then Jason followed a short time later, calling out to them and taking her by surprise.

"Sorry about that."

Travis looked over and shook his head. "Bout time, you've been complaining for the last hour about the di-" Jason cried out and waved his hands in the air, causing Travis to quiet down. It was as though he didn't want Trina hearing about possible bowel issues. Her mouth slid into a sly smirk and her eyes slanted at the man.

"Haven't been feeling well lately." He ran his hand behind his head and shrugged. "It's nothing. I'm doing better."

"That's good," she replied, "I want your help with something." He raised a brow and she turned towards him. "I've been working on this exercise routine with some of the equipment here, maybe you could show me if I've got the form right?" He folded his arms and twisted his mouth into a knowing smirk.

She liked when his hands were on her body. She couldn't explain it, but something about the sensation left by his fingers caressing her called out to her and made her crave more of his touch.

"You know how to use the equipment here, Trina." She pulled her ponytail out from beneath the back of her tank top, then shrugged at him. "Do you really need help?"

"Well, it's the form. That's all." She pointed to their friends and smirked. "Besides, I say we let these two lovebirds have some alone time." He looked at the two and laughed.

"Right, they could use some time alone. I agree." Travis and Lindsay raised their eyebrows and exchanged astonished looks. Jason placed his hand on her upper back and flashed a confident smile. "Let's go."

He led her to a workout machine, more specifically the leg press. "Okay, so here's the problem I'm having with this." She swept her hair over her ear and took a seat as he crouched down beside her.

She grasped the handlebars beside the seat and put her feet up to the metal plate. Jason ran a finger over his chin while studying her placement. Trina had positioned her feet against one another, and knew the plate was too far from the seat.

"Well here's the problem." She studied him closely and watched as he pulled the pin from the metal holder. In an instant the plate started to rush forward, so she let out a yelp-despite being able to push it back on her own-and gasped when he lunged over and reached out to stop the plate in the palm of his hand.

Her breath held in her throat, swirling into a lump as his eyes connected with hers. "Next time warn me," she said breathlessly. Her lower lip tucked beneath her side teeth and her eyes drifted to the part in his lips.

His hot, minty breath flowed onto her face and drew her blood towards the surface of her skin. "Sorry." She spread her feet apart a bit, then pushed the plate back. Her shoulders rose as his hand lowered to her abdomen. "Didn't mean to startle you."

Jason's body was inches above hers, his chest almost brushed against her own. His calm and soothing eyes held a strength that commanded her attention but a passion that asked for something more.

She could see the sweat trickling down from the side of his face and clinging to his chin, while some droplets hugged the tip of his warm lips.

Trina swallowed the hard lump in her throat and smiled through her trembling lips. "You didn't." Her heart was beginning to race and her eyebrows and were closing together. She found herself rising, blushing when her chest compressed against his. "My-" Catching herself, she dropped back to the bench and peered down at the plate. "Are my legs in the right position for this?" He looked down her legs and moved his hand just beneath her right leg.

"Push this one up a little towards the center of the plate." She did as instructed and moved her left leg parallel with the others. Her lips pressed tight as his fingers gripped the cloth of her pants and tugged. "Spread them out a little more."

"Okay."

"Now, you want to be able to have your knees bent at a right angle when this is resting idly. Push straight out, then let it come down to you. Keep your body straight."

Her normal leg strength was powerful enough; she could push nearly two hundred pounds on her legs. Seeing as how it might impress him a little, she put the weight at that amount and proceeded to use the machine.

Jason chuckled softly and brought his hand to her forearm, heating the blood in the area of his contact. "Why am I not surprised?"

"I guess." She took a deep breath and pushed the plate out to its full reach. "I'm just full of surprises."

It was not long before Jason moved to one of the benches nearby to work with the dumbbells. She brought the metal plate to rest and watched as he looked at his right bicep. With each curl, his bicep bulged, tensing as he brought his arm in then loosening when he released.

Her tongue swept across her mouth and she turned her head away, scolding herself for such action. After a minute she got up and walked up behind him. "Jason. I've been meaning to ask about something." She took a deep breath and held it as he looked at her.

The question had been on her mind for long enough that she thought they were friendly enough she could ask, but she was still afraid of getting too close to a subject he might not want to discuss. "Go ahead and ask. What's up?"

"Well, a while back when you were working out one day, I kind of saw the scars on your body."

He pulled the dumbbell up to his chest and his expression didn't change, which stunned her. "Okay." She pursed her lips and sat beside him. "I figured you might have seen them." Trina slid her hands over her knees and leaned her body forward.

"Oh." She ran her hand along her upper arm and furrowed her brow at him. "I wanted to respect your privacy, but I'm curious what happened to you." Her hands slipped away from her knees and onto the edge of the bench where her fingers gripped firmly. "I don't mean to pry into something you don't want to talk about."

Jason lowered the dumbbell to the ground and turned to her, smiling slightly. "It's okay. The scars are from my father." She made a quick gasp and pulled her hand up to her mouth, keeping just her first two fingers brushing over her lips. "I grew up with an abusive drunk of a dad, he liked to hit my mother at the slightest provocation. If I got in the way, which I did several times, he'd lash out at me."

"God, I…" She pulled her hand away and drew out a long exhale. "I'm sorry. I hope I didn't-" He brought up a hand and held his pleasant smile. She would not pry any longer if he didn't want to talk about it. "It was bothering me, that's all. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Besides, I haven't seen my dad in god knows how long." He grabbed a towel from beside him and slung it around his neck. "I started learning how to defend myself from an early age. I could block his blows, kept him from hurting my mother and made sure to look after her and after Uncle Erwin too. When he saw he couldn't hurt us anymore, he left."

She reached her hand out to him, sliding it along his back. His back muscles tensed momentarily at the touch, then relaxed. "Forgive me, I asked Travis." Jason pulled his lips back into a line and he turned to gaze at her. "He said he wouldn't tell me anything that you didn't want him to, but he did say Jenny might have caused one of those scars."

His hand rose towards his right chest and the corners of his mouth sank. "She did." Her heart stopped and her eyes flew to where his hand was. "It was when I broke up with her, she threw something at me. It wasn't deep, but it left a mark."

Jason rose from the bench and Trina dropped her hand down to her leg. "Let's get a smoothie," she suggested with a soft tone. Her heartbeat was pulsating and her eyes had grown misty. She couldn't bring herself to think of the horror he must have gone through with his father and then with Jenny, but she was glad he was out of that situation.

Suddenly a hand appeared before her and she looked up to see him smiling down at her. "Sure," he said. Her heart swelled within her chest as she placed her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet.

Right now she was grateful for one thing: Jenny wasn't at the campgrounds. She was angry at the girl for having ever hurt Jason in any way and didn't want to have to deal with her.

Occasionally Jenny would leave the campsite, and nobody knew what she was doing. Jason said it was usual for her to disappear, she'd done so for a few years and always thought she was just scouting out the woods.

It wasn't as though she had anywhere else to go. Although they were secluded, they weren't alone in these woods. Jason informed them that if they go far enough to the other side of the woods, they'd run into another camp site.

This was a site for recovering drug addicts. Counselors and staff that worked there would sometimes stay for months at a time. Trina didn't want to go that far, because it reminded her of Ross, who had been in a drug fueled state of mind when he tried to hurt her those years ago.

And people like him were just part of the reason she kept her heart locked so tight as Lindsay and Travis discussed. Maybe people like Jenny were the reason that Jason's was as well.

Flirting was nice, and the two of them understood it was flirting, but Trina did have to stop herself at some point. Any closer and she'd have to open herself, and just the thought of doing that terrified her.

Flirting is comfortable and safe, sure, but it's not necessarily helpful keeping yourself so guarded as both of them do. A nice moment on the leg press there, wouldn't you say? Well, a relationship is close to starting and shall in a couple chapters here, but there's still a lot of growth needed even after that. What's going through your mind after this chapter? Anything catch your eye?