The One Where The Lines Get Kinda Blurry

The One With A Twist

A/N - Just wanted to quickly say a huge thank you for all the love for my story so far!  It honestly means a lot to me so thank you!  And also updates may be slower for a week or so as I am on a family trip so will have less chance to write.

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"Hi, I'm David" he said, offering out his hand as a greeting.

"Tate, pleased to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

To say things on the Studio 24 set were slightly on the tense side this week would be a little bit of an understatement. Jen hadn't seen Tate since their fateful date a few weeks ago where he had called her out on her feelings for David and then admitted that he himself had fallen in love with her. Feelings to which she had admitted were not reciprocated and that although she was fond of him, she was sorry but she didn't see any kind of longevity in their relationship as she didn't share the same depth of feelings as he did. They had parted ways with a long hug and a promise that things wouldn't be awkward, however on this Monday morning, awkward was exactly the word to describe how things were.

Sitting around the table reading through their lines together, David watching Jen have to flirt with and faun over Tate was not fun for any of the three of them. But they fought their way through and tried their very best to remain professional.

"Are you ever going to tell us what really happened with him?" Lisa asked Jen as they were gathered around the lunch table. "He seems so nice and he's obviously smitten with you."

"Oh it's no big deal, he is nice... too nice probably. But I just wasn't invested and I couldn't string him along, that wouldn't have been fair. He told me he loved me and I didn't feel the same so I ended it, but the timing couldn't have been worse really, because, well...... because now he's here for 6 weeks and we have to be all flirty and into each other and I can see he is feeling really uncomfortable and upset and that makes me feel like the world's biggest bitch!"

"It's a real shame you didn't feel it. I think he'd be great for you" Courteney interjected, "..... but if you're just not that into him then you can't force it so don't go beating yourself up. You'll find the right one someday soon, I'm sure you will."

"Knock, knock!" David grinned as he peered around Jen's dressing room door later that afternoon, spotting her busy learning lines in the corner. He made his way across the room and sank onto the sofa beside her. "How are you getting on, finding this any easier yet?"

"Which part? The 'my super-sweet, super-nice, super-in love with me sort of ex being around on set all the time' one, or the 'can't stop thinking about the super-sexy, super-smart, and super-unavailable co-star' one? Because I can tell you, no and no!" Jen said with a half-smile on her face. "How about you, how are you getting on with all this?"

"Yeah, I can't say I love watching you get up close and personal with someone else right in front of me, especially when that someone else is blatantly crazy about you. I feel bad for the guy to be honest. This must be much harder for him than either of us."

"He asked me if I was in love with you.... That's part of the reason we broke up. Well actually, no that's not true, that's the main reason we broke up. I told him I didn't want to answer, which he took as a yes, and then he told me he loved me and I couldn't say it back." Jen had placed her hand gently on David's thigh as she was talking, her fingers tracing an absent-minded path up and down his leg.

He reached down and covered her hand with his, stilling the movement before his body responded with its usual and obvious reflex reaction. "And do you still love me?"