The Poolman

Author's Note: Wow, probably my longest chapter yet, and an author's note on top of that... I'm sorry... I'd just like to thank everyone who's read, voted, commented, 'fanned' and promoted this story. I recently found out I'd had a wonderful woman promoting this story and I didn't even know! (facepalm). This chapter is dedicated to her. I'd also like to thank Bex, who's an amazing advisor, always hitting her 'head on the nail' with her comments, and Daisy, who is a wonderful supporter and also gives great comments (even thought most of those consist of 'more Jophie!' and 'smut?' :P ) No, there will *not* be smut :P You can all thank M (loveepiclove) for this long author's note, since she's the one who prodded me to put one in... (I tend to run long with my author's notes, so I've been avoiding them in my stories here on Wattpad). Go read her amazing romance Lights, Camera, Kiss Me - and her author's notes :P Without further ado, here's chapter 12 (cue sigh of relief). <3

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“Heading home?”

I jumped at the sound of Jason’s voice coming from behind me. “You scared me!” I scowled at him. “What are you doing out here? Your friends said you’d left.”

“I did.”

“Jason…” I started, but he put a hand up to stop me.

“I just need to know one thing,” he said.

“Of course,” I said quickly, desperately wanting to explain myself.

“Did you change your mind about us?”

“Us?” I blinked. Had we talked about an ‘us’?

“You told me you weren’t going to date that guy, and then there he was, with his arms around you…”

“If you’d gotten there a minute later, you would have seen me push him away,” I snapped. “But you had to jump to conclusions, didn’t you?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I never know what you’re thinking, Sophie,” he exclaimed, clearly frustrated. “One minute you’re kissing me, the next you’re basically telling me you need space… I can’t figure you out!”

“I never said that!”

“What are you so scared of?”

I bit my lip. How was I supposed to answer that question? I was scared of everything. I was scared that Jason would dump me once he got what he wanted – what I wanted.  Most of all, I was scared I’d fallen too hard to ever recover from it.

“I’m not scared,” I lied, holding my chin high as I turned to walk away.  

“Then why are you running off?” he said pointedly.

“I didn’t really want to come out tonight,” I turned around and shrugged. “I promised Kristen I’d stay until Dave’s performance, so I’ve fulfilled my duty.”

 “You’re a good friend,” he said, but without much emotion in his voice.

“No, I’m not,” I said, swallowing hard. I could feel the tears brimming. I didn’t want him to see me cry. I didn’t want him to feel sorry for me. I just wanted to go home. Waiting for a cab to drive by seemed like a waste of time and I started walking.

“What makes you say that?” he questioned, following me.

“Just leave me alone, Jason,” I sighed.

 “You’re not walking home alone,” he said determinedly.

“I’ll find a cab along the way,” I shrugged.

“Fine. Then I’ll keep you company until you do,” he said easily and fell into step beside me.

My objection was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t formulate the words, so instead I kept quiet and walked on.

After several minutes of uncomfortable silence between us, I blurted, “There’s nothing going on between Taylor and I. I was upset about a stupid prank, and he tried comforting me.”

“Was he successful?” Jason asked, his voice tense.

“Moderately,” I shrugged.  

“I could have been there for you, you know,” Jason said casually. “All you had to do was ask.”

“You didn’t give me much time to ask, though,” I said coldly. “You were out of there before I could open my mouth. That doesn’t exactly build trust.”

“I’m sorry,” Jason said after a few more minutes of tense silence. I could tell it wasn’t easy for him to apologize, but the fact that he did melted my heart a bit.

“It’s fine,” I shrugged. “I know it looked bad.”

Jason didn’t respond and we walked on in silence. I felt the pressure to say something, but I seemed to have lost the ability to speak. When I saw a cab approaching, I took the easy way out and hailed it down.