Who: Halden and Jason
What: Halden avoids Jason
Where: Tennis courts probably
When: Thursday
Rating: Probably pg-13
Status: Complete



Halden had been avoiding Jason all day with what had happened the night before he was extremely pissed at himself. Usually Halden and Jason eat dinner in the cafe together but today Halden had skipped dinner so he wouldn't have to see Jason. He knew most of the routes Jason took to get from class to class and avoided them all day. Thankfully Jason didn't text during the few classes he did attend because that really would've tipped off Jason that he was avoiding him. Though Halden knew he couldn't stay from Jason forever but at least for now this distance would stop him from doing anything stupid.

Halden was volleying against the wall in the tennis court. Tennis was his way of venting his anger because he was hitting something, and yet was being productive. Halden wasn't mad at Jason at all he was mad at himself for putting Jason in such a bad position where he had to make one of the toughest choices he's probably ever had to when it comes to relationships. As he returned a ball with a hard forehand swing his phone began to vibrate. He let the ball bounce past him as he checked who it was. It was a text message from Jason. Halden took out his phone and read the message.

Hey. Didn't see you @ dinner. Study tonite? I'll be in my room.

He took his phone and put it back in his pocket there was no way he could answer that with out making Jason feel bad and he didn't want to do that to him. Halden retrived the ball served and continue with his volley. He was probably going to play until he couldn't move, do his homework and go to bed.

... No answer. Of course, Jason hadn't expected things to be perfectly normal after last night. And if he had said he was unaffected by the ordeal, he would have been lying, too. "Shit," he muttered to himself, turning over on the bed. Of course, maybe it was just that Halden was busy doing something else. Half an hour wasn't long to wait for a reply text, after all.

Forty-five minutes, however, seemed like ages. Jason decided to go out and see if he could find Halden.

Halden caught sight of someone who he assumed to be Jason out of the corner of his eye as he approached the courts. Shit!. He stopped the ball and looked for some place to hide and yet he was coming up the way. No where, shit!! his mind screamed even louder. He sighed and turned to look at the person - low and behold it was Jason after all.

There was something weird about how Halden was acting. Of course, they were both acting weird today, but Jason felt he had to do something about it.

"Hey," he said from the other side of the chain-link fence, "I tried texting you earlier, but I guess you were playing." Jason smiled a crooked smile and curled his fingers around a couple of the links. Nervously, he looked down at his feet and kicked some dirt off his shoes before lifting his eyes back up to his friend.

"I was wondering if you wanted to study tonight. Or maybe get something to eat? You weren't at dinner. Or maybe a coke?"

Halden looked over to the boy he had fallen for and shrugged, "I'm not really hungry and I already finished my homework."

Jason slumped his shoulders and pressed his head against the fence. "I want... was hoping... to talk to you," he said. What he really wanted was for everything to be back to normal again. Well, back to the way things were before.

Of course, that could never happen. Not after that last night. "Have you been avoiding me today?"

Halden looked down a bit ashamed, "Kinda. I've just don't feel that I can really hang right now and not be tempted again, but I can't not ever see you again that would hurt too much."

This was one thing Jason had never prepared himself for. It was one thing to have a boyfriend and be able to openly admit he was gay. That was something he was almost ready to do when he was sent to Goldfinch. Having another guy - and a cute one at that - say things like this was something different. It sounded like Halden was in love with him.

Jason froze. That wasn't something he needed to think about. "Um, okay. So, when? I mean, how long are you gonna avoid me?"

Halden walked up to the fence and interlinked his fingers with it next to Jason's and put his forehead to where Jason's would be if the fence wasn't there, "I don't think I'm going to - its just gonna take a lot of self control."

If there was one thing Jason hated more than anything else, it was causing his friends pain. He could tell this was hard on Halden, and he didn't want to do anything to make it worse. However, it seemed that things were always getting too close - too intimate - too tempting for Halden.

"I'm gonna stop at the convenience store on the way back to my room. Want to come with me and get a coke or something?"

The stress was most definitely getting to Halden. He took a deep breath and nodded, "You said you needed to talk right? Then I can stop go with you to the convince store." He looked around a bit, "Its not exactly appropriate to talk here."

"Well, it's nothing that bad," Jason said, pulling his hands back and tucking them into his pockets. He walked around to the gate of the tennis courts and waited for Halden to get his stuff together. "I just wanted to talk. You know, to make sure everything was cool."

What he most desperately wanted, in fact, was for everything to be back the way it was before they got trapped in the chem lab. Actually - before Halden confessed that he was attracted to Jason would be ideal.

"So, I was looking at the school calendar. You going to the fall dance? I went to one last spring and it was pretty fun. Not that I did any dancing. I just kind of hung out and tried to avoid my ex roommate."

Jason smiled. "We should get a whole group together to go. Like last time. It was more relaxed going as a group."

Halden would scowl if it weren't for sparing Jason's feeling. Especially since it had gotten his hopes up like that, "Yea... I guess going in a group would be interesting. I don't know." He also didn't want to see Jason grinding up on Caleb or vice versa.

After Halden put his shirt on and got all of his stuff together, Jason held his hand out, offering to take his bag for him. "Well, I wasn't going to go at all last year. I kind of got suckered into it by Scott and Cal telling me it was going as a group. You know, sort of thing you tell people when you don't want them to figure out it's a double-date?"

It seemed that once he got started on it, he couldn't shut up. "Of course, I didn't really know that, and invited Ella, too. I think Caleb knew she was going. Still, at any rate, we all went, and it was fun. Even though I didn't dance. I don't dance, actually. And things got weird with David there."

As they walked down to the main drag, Jason noticed that Halden was staying a few steps away from him. "You okay?" Jason asked as he paused.

He stopped keeping his the same distance he had. His mind had a response that was along the lines of No its not ok! I want you I like you and I can't stand to be away from you! I want Caleb out of the way and you mine. This thought ended with him taking Jason passionately in a kiss. Of course that would never happen because it would just end up with him more hurt than last night in the chem. room. Instead He went with a simple answer, "Yeah I'm fine."

Jason shrugged. He could have called Halden a liar, but it wouldn't have done him any good. It was best to just go on as they had before.

"So, you should prolly get a gatorade or something, right?" Jason asked as he pushed open the door to the convenience store. "I'll buy. What do you want?"

If Halden felt scowling wouldn't have done something to make Jason more nervous he would've definitely be scowling by now. He knew Halden wasn't just fine but he was just gonna play with it, "Nah water's fine for me."

Jason grabbed a bottle of water for Halden and a Coke for himself. As they made their way up to the cashier, he paused for a moment and looked at the boxes of condoms, then tore his eyes away from them and went on. No use thinking about that right now. Even if he did have a use for the things, it would make matters supremely worse as far as Halden was concerned.

"So, I borrowed a documentary on wave theory from Mr. Thibaud. Do you want to come back to my place and watch it with me?"

He wasn't paying 100% on Jason mostly because if he did he would most definitely be hurt even more. Halden followed Jason around the store watched him pick up the drinks and pause slightly at the the condoms. It hadn't registered immediately to what he was looking at. He decided not to call Jason on it because that would just make things much much worse. "Sure I guess I'll watch the movie with you," Though he had an nagging feeling that they were gonna end up cuddling where he was gonna have to exert major self-restraint.

"Cool!" Jason said. He grabbed a bag of chips at the register and paid for their snacks and drinks. "It's awesome. I rearranged my room, too. So the bed's on one side, and then there's kind of a sitting area with the chairs and the TV. Although you can still see the TV from the bed, too."

He handed Halden the water and nodded toward the door. "Did I tell you I can get extra credit if I write a paper on it? I've already cleared it with my teacher and everything. That's to make up for today. Since I missed classes and stuff."

Halden took the water and walked through the door, "Kool I figure I'll just do make up work and if I miss out, I miss out." He shrugged. The missed work wouldn't affect his grades that much - maybe just a few points down, but nothing that'll kill him.