The Friend Zone

chapter twenty - the wait

Six days. It had been six days since I last spoke with Jamie. Six days I spent either at work, or in the comfort of my bed; sulking. I was a wreck; I was on edge; I was... miserable. Jamie and the Stars had won a game and lost a game, coming back to Dallas all squared up in the series, 1-1. It wasn't the best games I had seen Jamie play, but they were certainly not the worst. It was fairly easy to tell something else was on his mind.

Despite not even wanting to see his face, I had forced myself to watch the games. I felt a twinge of sadness when he opened the scoring of game two, and I couldn't text him to congratulate him. I mean sure, I could have, but I had no idea where his head was. Did he hate me? Was he still going to be snippy when he came back? Did Tyler say anything to him?

I shook my head, attempting to clear my head from the thoughts that distracted me from the work set in front of me. I tried to type the report up, but I found my mind drifting off to Jamie. I let out a frustrated sigh; this was impossible. I was counting down the minutes until I was off.

When I got home, Jamie and Tyler would be home too; and I could finally have the conversation I had been envisioning in my head since Tyler walked out of my apartment six days ago.

"Do you have that report finished yet?" I heard a familiar male voice ask. Fuck.

"Erm- no, not yet I-" I looked up to see Derek standing in the doorway, his signature smirk on his smug face. "Oh, hey Derek" I greeted once I realized who was standing in my office. He wasn't my boss; this report wasn't for him.

"Do you have a minute?" he asked, a sincere look appearing on his face.

"Uh- I guess, sure; have a seat" I gestured to the spot in front of my desk. He accepted it gladly, making himself comfortable on the otherwise uncomfortable seat. I eyed him suspiciously; it was the first bit of civil contact we were having since I told him I was choosing Jamie over him.

"Have you had a change of heart?" He asked, catching me off guard.

"A change of heart? What are you talking about?" I replied quickly.

"I heard Jamie is out of the picture"

"Excuse me?" I blurted out in shock. Where the hell would he hear something like that!?
"I miss you, Hales" he whispered, his eyes turning soft. "It's no secret we got along great; and the sex?" he trailed off, wriggling his eyebrows. "Was amazing"

"And your point?" I scoffed, anger rising.

"Your friendship with Jamie was the only thing keeping us apart" he reasoned, reaching over the desk to grab my hand. I took my hand off of my desk and set it on my lap; I didn't want him to touch me.

"I don't think that was the reason" I muttered, but he ignored my comment and continued.

"And now that you guys are no longer friends-" my eyes went wide.

"What do you mean? We're still friends" I cut in forcefully.

"That's not what I heard" he raised his eyebrows. Okay, this guy was really starting to piss me off.

"What did you hear?" I asked quietly, unsure that I would even want to hear the answer.

"Just that Jamie's been seeing somebody else, after you and Tyler so stupidly hid a secret from him" he shrugged it off like it was nothing. I was fuming mad, confused, angry... I couldn't understand. The thought of Francine and Jamie together nearly made me sick.

"Who could have possibly told you that!?" I nearly shouted.

"I've got my sources" he stated vaguely with a wink. "So? Since that dipshit is out of the picture, what do you say? Drinks at my place tonight?"

"First of all, Jamie is not a dipshit. I don’t know what sources you seem to THINK you have, they're wrong; plain and simply. Second of all, no. You had your chance and you blew it by being a pompous asshole. And if you think for a second I could ever be with somebody who talks about my best friend that way? You are sadly mistaken." I rambled off furiously. There was no way I was admitting to Derek everything he had been saying was right. "Now, if you would kindly get the fuck out of my office, I have a report I need to finish"

He sat in front of me, shock written all over his face at first. My outburst had seemingly caught him a little off guard; he didn't know me as well as he would like to believe.

"Fine. Have fun with your 'best friend'" he rolled his eyes, putting air quote around the words 'best friends'. "I don't know why you seem to think you'd even have a shot with someone like him." he sneered, getting up from his seat.

"Someone like him?" I asked in frustration; why wouldn't this guy just shut up and get out of my office?

"Have a nice life, Haley" he smirked, before shutting the door of my office forcefully. I jumped at the sound, still a little bit in shock. How did Derek find out about the fight Jamie and I were having? What sources could he possibly have that would even know that?


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The rest of the day was a blur. I wasn't sure how I even managed to get anything done. I wasn't sure how I managed to even be a productive member of the team today. Not only was my mind on Jamie, but it was on Derek and our not so great meeting early in the day. How did he find out about any of that?

My walk home didn't take nearly long enough. My heart was beating with anticipation the entire way home. On the one hand, I really wanted to patch things up with Jamie. I yearned to talk to him; I missed him despite it only being a week.
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What would he say when he heard what I had been hiding from him? Would he want to give us a shot? Was Tyler telling the truth about him feeling the same way as I did?

The elevator door opened up, revealing a distraught looking Jamie standing in front of my apartment door. He looked as confused, angry and hurt as I felt.

"Jame?" He turned around at the sound of my voice, a look of relief washing over him when he saw me.

"Hales" his voice was soft. I approached him slowly, my heart racing with every step I took.

"Can we talk, please?"

Notes