Chapter 20

Jaime Lannister POV

I'm seeing Brienne again today. I'm really excited, despite the drama with Cersei. I'm not sure if we're dating, I've never really dated anyone so I'm not sure how it works. Despite that, I'm still the one with more experience between the two of us. We plan to go swimming today, it's not too hot and her apartment complex has a pool.

"Hey," she says, smiling at me as she opens the door. We hug as I walk in. "I'm really glad you wanted to see me again."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know," she says, shrugging. "I just wasn't sure how you would feel about what happened last time."

"I should be asking you that," I say. "Sorry I haven't been able to talk much, but I did really want to see you."

"I'm glad," she says, grabbing her towel and her bag. "Are you ready to go?"

"Definitely," I say. "I brought extra sunscreen if you need some."

We walk down to the pool and she takes off the large shirt she was wearing over her bathing suit. She's wearing a one-piece, which I didn't expect. I guess it's just not what I see girls wearing as much.

"Nice swimsuit," I say. "Very practical."

"I used to wear it for competitive swim," she says. "It's not that cute, but it works."

"I'm just kidding," I say. "Sorry, didn't mean to be an ass."

"It's okay," she says, putting sunscreen on her face. "I've never been super girly."

"I don't mind that," I say. "I like that about you."

She smiles at me and we get in the pool. The water feels nice, it's a good day for swimming.

"Do you still swim competitively?" I ask her.

"I haven't in a while," she says. "It wasn't my sport of choice, I wasn't very good."

"Which one do you like the most?"

"Mainly track and rock climbing," she says. "I dabbled a little bit in basketball, I wasn't bad at it."

"Makes sense," I say. "Same here, I was on the basketball team in high school. I was decent at it, you and I have the height for it."

"Do you play any sports now?"

"No," I say. "I tried out for my college football team and didn't make it, and I realized it wasn't something I'm passionate about anyway."

"What are you studing now?" She asks me.

"I plan to go to law school," I say. "I know that's what my father wants me to do, and it'll be a good path for me to help him with his firm."

"Is that what you want to do?"

"I'm not against it," I say. "I've just never really had a passion I was really excited about, I guess."

We swim for a while and then go back up to her place. After we walk in, we start fooling around and end up in bed together. It's better than the last time, and definitely less awkward. We're cuddling in bed after we have sex, she's laying her head on my chest and I'm playing with her hair. I can feel that there's a lingering tension in the silence.

"Can I ask you something?" Brienne asks me.

"Sure," I say, kissing her head. "What's up?"

"What are we?"

I pause. "What do you mean?"

"Like, are we dating?" She asks. "We slept together so I thought so, but I wanted to make sure we were on the same page."

"Well you know I'm only in town for the summer," I say. "I do have to go back to school a couple hours away, I'm not sure what'll happen when I get there."

"What do you mean?" She asks. "Do you have a girlfriend or something back at school?"

"Sort of, in a way," I say. "I mentioned that before, our relationship is really complicated."

"Can I ask why?"

"I love her very much," I say. "I always will, but we're definitely toxic to each other. At the same time, we need each other and we'll always be in each other's lives."

"Is it your sister?" She asks after a pause, which catches me off guard.

"What?"

"Come on," she says, moving to look at me. "Even I've heard the rumors just being at Winterfell."

I sigh. "I know it's gross to a lot of people," I say. "But things aren't just black and white like that."

"I know," she says. "I just am not sure I want to get in the middle of all that."

"You won't," I say. "I honestly just want to have fun with you this summer and see how it goes, I hope that's okay."

"It is," she says. "I'm just going to miss you when it's over."

"Me too," I say. "We still might be able to talk when I go back to school, I just don't know yet."

"I get it," she says. "Let's just live in this moment."

We watch a movie and then I eventually go back home. I'm going to miss Brienne when I go back to school, and maybe there will be a way we can continue our relationship. I think I just want to do what she says for now, and enjoy each other by living in the present.

Jon Snow Stark POV

I'm hanging out with Gendry and Podrick today. I wanted to just hang out with Podrick, but Gendry kind of invited himself. He and Podrick are best friends, so I get it. I still don't love being around Gendry, but I can tolerate him at this point.

I pick them up at Pod's place and we head to a drive thru. "Hey guys," I say as Pod gets into the passenger's seat and Gendry gets into the backseat. "How's it going?"

"Fine, I guess," Podrick says. "I'm trying to be out of the house as much as possible."

"Is everything okay at home?" I ask.

"Yeah," he responds. "It's nothing bad, it's just that I'm tired of my parents being strict, I'm ready to move out."

"I didn't know they were strict," I say. "Didn't they let you and Myrcella stay in the same bed on vacation?"

"Yeah," he says. "It's more that I'm just tired of having to follow their rules. They don't love when I go out late, and it's just time for me to move on."

"I get that," I say. "I'm really excited to move in with Dany."

"Oh yeah, you guys found an apartment right?" Gendry asks.

"We did, it's just a studio," I respond. "But it's really cute, we picked out most of our stuff for it already and we'll be moving in in a couple weeks."

"That soon?" Podrick asks.

"Yeah," I say. "We really want to get settled before the semester starts."

"Is Dany excited to get away from Cersei and Jaime?" Gendry asks.

"For sure," I say. "We'll probably have to see them still, but at least she won't be living with them anymore."

"What exactly happened?" Gendry asks.

"Cersei drinks a lot and doesn't really know how to take care of herself," I say. "It's really stressful for Dany. She tried to help, but Cersei doesn't even try to get her shit together and Dany is tired of picking up the pieces."

"That's so rough," Gendry says. "I'm glad you're transferring there and you guys are moving in together."

We pull up to the window and I order for all of us, Gendry and Podrick hand me some cash so I can pay with that at the pickup window.

"So is it true you guys are moving in together?" I ask as we're waiting in the drive thru line.

"Yeah," Podrick says. "We have a place we're probably going to apply for."

"What's it like?"

"It's 2 bedrooms, one bath," Gendry says. "It'll feel really good to get a fresh start and move out of my mom's house."

"Won't you miss Renly?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "But he can come over whenever he wants. I'm pretty sure he's going to look into moving in with Loras soon, anyway."

"Oh, really?" I ask. He nods. "I'm glad they're still going strong."

We grab the food and go back to my place. We get there and Arya is reading in a chair when we walk in. There's a pause as she and Gendry make eye contact, I can see there's some form of tension between them.

"Hey," Arya says to me. "What's up?"

"We're just hanging out," I say. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she says, not looking up from her book. "I'm great, just chilling."

"Okay," I say. "Holler at me if you need anything."

Arya nods and we walk up to my room.

"What was that about?" I ask Gendry as I shut the door behind me.

"What?" He asks.

"There was clearly tension there, she didn't even say hi to you," I say. "I thought things were okay between you guys."

"Oh yeah," Gendry says, sitting in one of my chairs. "We're not friends anymore."

"What happened?" I ask, sitting on my bed with my legs crossed.

"My feelings for her were just too strong," he says, avoiding eye contact. "I didn't feel like I could just be her friend and forget there was ever anything between us."

We start eating, I really don't have much to say to that. I feel weird giving him relationship advice about my sister, he shouldn't be in this situation to begin with. I know it's been hard for him, but this wouldn't be happening if he just stayed away from her like I told him to.

Arya Stark POV

It was really awkward running into Gendry, I can tell he wasn't thrilled to see me. I hope he doesn't feel like I used him, that really wasn't my intention. He just wants to be together, and I don't want that right now. I loved being friends with him, but I want to respect it if that's something he can't handle. I may not understand it, but I can at least try.

Luckily, Sansa and Myrcella walk in after Jon and his friends go upstairs. "Hey," I say when they walk in. "What's up?"

"We were just going on a hike, we're about to change and go get food," Sansa says. "Do you want to come?"

"Yeah," I say. I turn to Myrcella. "Podrick's upstairs with Jon it you want to go say hi to him."

"Oh yeah, for sure," Myrcella says, turning to Sansa. "I'll be right back."

"Do you want to come upstairs with me?" Sansa asks me, I think she's surprised I'm not coming up to our room.

I shake my head. "Gendry's up there," I whisper. "It was already awkward seeing him when they came home."

"Oh okay," Sansa says. "Makes sense."

Eventually Sansa and Myrcella walk back downstairs after changing and we head out the door. We go to a smoothie place that's a great place to go to after hiking. I'm glad Sansa invited me, I was starting to feel cooped up in the house.

"What's going on with you and Gendry?" Myrcella asks as we're waiting for our smoothies to be called out. "If you don't mind me asking, he seemed a little uncomfortable when I was saying hi to Pod."

"We went to a concert a few nights ago, he invited me," I say. "We ended up hooking up at his place after."

"Really?" Myrcella asks, looking shocked. "I'm surprised he was okay with that."

"Well, he was a little drunk. He was definitely hesitant at first."

"So that's why things are awkward now?" Myrcella asks.

"It's not just that," I say. "He called me the next morning and basically said this was too hard because he still had feelings for me. He said we either needed to be together or not talk because he couldn't do this in between thing."

"I get that," Myrcella says. "He's much more of a romantic than you might think."

Our smoothie orders get called and we go grab them. "Oh, I know," I say as we sit back down. "He's shown me."

"I keep telling you how into you he is," Sansa says. "I think you should be with him."

"But I don't want a relationship," I say. "That's not fair to him."

"I guess," Myrcella says. "But even I know how much he loves you."

"And he has his shit together," Sansa says. "He has a job, a car, he's about to be living on his own. You could do a lot worse."

"It's not that there's anything wrong with him," I say, getting defensive. "It's just that I don't want a relationship. I wanted something casual, but he's made it clear he doesn't want that."

There's a pause. "You have the right to pursue whatever kind of relationship you want," Sansa says. "I just don't agree is all."

That's fair of her, but they also just don't understand. I wish things weren't as messy as they are between me and Gendry, maybe not being friends is a good thing for us. At least for now, clearly we have a different idea of what we want.

I do miss Gendry, though. He's been my friend in some capacity since I was 12, and I miss being able to text him and hang out with him. I wish there was a way we could go back to how we were, I miss him a lot more than I expected to.