crash & burn - e. buckley

017

02x06

Not for the first time, Jamie wished she could read Buck's mind.

Angel and Jordan had suggested she invite him over for game night, and he had happily accepted the offer, but now that he was there, he seemed distracted.

It was ephemeral. No one else would've noticed it, the way his laugh cut off a second too soon, and his eyes lacked a certain spark and flitted around the room one too many times. But this was Jamie. And it was about Buck. Not only was she embarrassingly enamored with him, he had also been her best friend for years. She knew him like she knew herself. So she noticed.

She tried to distract him from whatever he was thinking about by acting extra competitive. Sometimes when they played games together they would get so mad at each other that they didn't talk to each other for hours afterward, but neither of them would leave either because they would still rather be around each other than anyone else.

"Oh, bad luck, I'm taking all your money, Buckley!" Jamie exclaimed as Buck's monopoly game piece, the top hat, landed on her property. She did a little happy dance with her arms as he counted out the bills to give her.

He chuckled and handed her the money, leaving him with a single five monopoly-dollar bill. "And to think, Mr. Top Hat was gonna ask Miss Cat out on a really nice date, but now he can't afford it." He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest, he had a faux pout on his face that Jamie thought made him look really adorable.

"Sucks for Mr. Top Hat. Miss Cat only dates game pieces who own at least three hotels," she teased him back. He smiled, but it didn't completely reach his eyes. He didn't say anything back either, instead, he just poured himself another glass of wine.

Jordan ended up winning Monopoly. Jamie and Buck were cleaning up when she finally decided to ask him what was up. She didn't want to bring it up in front of the others.

"What's going on with you?" She asked carefully as she passed him one of the wine glasses to dry.

"Nothing, I'm fine," he told her, but he sounded less than convincing.

She turned off the water and turned towards him. She took his hand and gave it a gently squeeze. "Come on, I know something is wrong. You can tell me."

He sighed and ran his free hand over his face. "I've been thinking a lot about Abby. About whether or not to, I don't know, break up, I guess?"

Jamie tried to ignore the way her heart reacted to that, but it was difficult when it felt like it was going to burst from her chest. She had to pull her hand away from his because the physical contact didn't help either.

"Hm," she responded and went back to doing the dishes.

"What?" he asked, and suddenly he was close. Too close. She could smell his cologne as if she was the one wearing it.

"I'm gonna be completely honest for a minute," she said and turned around so she was facing him again. "You never should have dated her to begin with."

He looked confused, and a little hurt, and Jamie almost regretted saying anything. "W-why not?"

"It was weird, how it started I mean." She shrugged. He was about to argue when she interrupted him. "Think about it, Buck. If I told you that an older man took my number from a 911 report and then called to 'check up on me', what would you say?"

"I-that's not fair," he protested.

"What would you say?" She looked into his eyes defiantly.

He took a step back and looked down at the floor uncomfortably. "I'd tell you to stay the hell away from him," he admitted. "But that's not fair. It's different with Abby."