Title: Card on the Table Pt3

Author-Juana

Story summary : Matty and Jenna are embarking on the beginning of their public relationship while Jake suffers in semi-silence.

Rating: T

Jenna wasn't sure how she felt about Matty's orchestrated PDA for Jake's sake. Jake was her friend and she didn't like hurting him like that and it surprised her more than a little to realize how insecure Matty was being in regards to her. She had always felt like Matty held all the power in their relationship, but now she was beginning to see that she had a fair amount of it herself.

It was why the ride back to her house was unusually quiet as she contemplated whether or not to address how she felt with him.

Finally Matty couldn't take the silence any longer though and spoke up.

"Is everything okay Jenna?

"You've been really quiet…I mean if it's Sadie…"

Jenna cut him off before he could finish his thought, "It's not Sadie…it's Jake."

"Jake?"

"I don't think it's such a good idea to be so PDA-ish around him."

Matty wasn't really sure how to take that. At the beginning of the week Jenna had been begging for the public outing and now she was telling him to reel it in.

"I'm not following."

"I just don't want to hurt him, and he looked pretty hurt tonight." Jenna said not in an attempt to hurt Matty, but she could tell she had now by the look on his face.

"You mean the kiss in Giuseppe's?"

"Yes, I don't think we need to be unnecessarily cruel by doing a major smack attack right in front of him."

Matty was beginning to get a little insulted by Jenna's accusations now, it was clear to him now that she had misunderstood his intentions behind that kiss."

Jake is my best friend, I don't want to hurt him either Jenna."

"Then why did you kiss me like that right when he came in?"

"I didn't know he was there, I kissed you to prove a point to you that I am 100% in this relationship with you – that you are no longer, what did you call it...my dirty little secret?"

"You did it for me?" Jenna said shocked and impressed at the same time.

"Everything tonight has been for you; I was following the list and…"

Jenna stopped him right there, "What list?"

Embarrassed a little now Matty answered, "I made a list of things to do tonight to prove to you and everyone else that we were together."

"What was on the list?" Jenna asked intrigued now.

"It's in the glove compartment," Matty admitted.

Curious now Jenna opened the glove compartment and pulled out the handwritten list and began reading it out loud.

"Number one, tell Jake about Jenna…we'll I guess we accomplished that."

"Not exactly the way I planned it. I went by his house to tell him before I came to pick you up but he wasn't there, now we know why."

"Number two; take Jenna to hang out with friends at Giuseppe's." Jenna said as he continued reading the list.

"Number three, hold Jenna's hand in public," Jenna couldn't help but smile now.

"You really put a lot of thought into tonight. I'm impressed."

"Keep reading," Matty prompted.

"Number four, call Jenna my girlfriend and number five, give Jenna a kiss in public that shows she is with me and that we are a couple."

"And number five is why I kissed you like that – it was all for you J."

"I completely underestimated you...I'm liking number six here though…take Jenna home and celebrate with some SEX, although I'm not sure how that shows other people we are a couple."

"Actually number six was for me."

"Well then I guess I'll just have to suffer through it," Jenna said running her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck now.

It was like a speed race as soon as they got out of the truck to get to her room now so they could work on number six and thankfully no one was there to stop them as they found the house blissfully empty and stumbled hurriedly into her bedroom, clothes being discarded every step of the way from her bedroom door to the bed.

Just down the street from Jenna's house Jake sat parked doing his best to get hammered solo. After seeing Jenna and Matty kissing in Giuseppe's it had seemed like the perfect way to end the night. He had never felt so crushed in his life as he had watched them together. He was so pissed at Matty right now, because he had told him he was in to Jenna and he had still kept their relationship a secret. He knew he never would have let himself fall this hard if Matty had just been honest with him. You didn't covet your best bud's girlfriend it was just not right, but what Jake wondered were the freaking rules for a situation like this where you fell for her before you knew she was his?

Jenna realized she had dozed off after their energetic love making session when Matty kissed her cheek and she opened her eyes to find him dressed and ready to leave.

"Oh crap, did I fall asleep?" she asked embarrassed.

"You did."

"Sorry, I think you wore me out," she offered a smile of satisfaction on her face now.

"Not a problem. It was definitely my pleasure."

"You're dressed."

"Yeah, I have to go, but I'll see you tomorrow," Matty promised as he ran his fingers gently through the strands of her hair that were splayed about her pillow.

"Okay," Jenna said pulling his mouth towards hers for one last kiss before he left.

A kiss that kept deepening as their lust started to ignite again, reluctantly though Matty pulled away.

"You are really good at distracting me."

"Just giving you something to think about," Jenna added a mischievous twinkle lighting her eyes now.

"Are you trying to seduce me back into your bed Hamilton?"

"Is it working?" She asked a teasing tone in her voice now.

"Too well and I really, really have to go…so as much as I'd like to take you up on your offer. I can't." It was clearly a frown on his face now and that made Jenna smile. He didn't want to leave her anymore than she wanted him to leave.

As soon as Matty was finally out the door Jenna got up and pulled on the nearest items of clothing she could find and started to head for her bathroom to brush her teeth, wash her face and get ready for bed, only to be sidetracked by the knocking at her bedroom door.

Thinking it had to be Matty she hurried over to open it – she couldn't have been more wrong she realized as she watched Jake fall back onto the carpet of her bedroom floor as soon as she opened her door.

"Ow!" he said holding onto the back of his head now where it had hit the floor.

"What are you doing here?" it was said with a little bit of understandable panic, Matty had just left a mere few minutes ago and now Jake was here and he was clearly not sober.

With a little bit of effort he sat up, still rubbing the back of his head.

"I wanted to talk to you," he finally said.

Jenna felt a little self conscious in that moment as she realized by Jake's very obvious stare now that she was just wearing some booty shorts and a tank top.

"I'm just gonna get a robe," she said getting up from the floor and heading to her bathroom to retrieve one.

As soon as she got back she saw that Jake had made himself comfortable on her bed.

"You can't be here Jake. You have to go."

"You use to like talking to me," he said clearly feeling sorry for him-self now.

"I still like talking to you, I just don't think 2 am in the morning, while you are faded is the best time to have a conversation," Jenna told him.

Jake knew she was right, but he didn't want to leave, he wanted to stay and say what he came there to say.

"I like you so much Jenna."

Things were quickly hitting awkward now and Jenna was unsure how to respond to Jake and his drunken confession, so she said the only thing she could think of.

"Matty is your best friend Jake."

"I know…we're bros. Matty is my boy, but he's a total tool for keeping me in the dark about you."

"Jake…" Jenna began but he cut her off.

"None of this…would be happening," he said indicating the tension surrounding them now.

"If he had just told me…I never would have kissed you and I never would have fallen for you. I totally would have honored the bro code…I wouldn't have gotten my heart smashed," he finished, yawning as he lay back down on the propped up pillows.

That was definitely true thought Jenna.

"I'm sorry you found out the way you did."

She had wanted to apologize to him since earlier that day and she was glad she had finally gotten the opportunity to do so, but now he had to go and she wasn't sure how to make that happen or even if she could since he obviously still had a lot he wanted to say.

"I really thought you liked me. How stupid is that?"

Jenna sat down on the bed now. Maybe this was a conversation they needed to just get out of the way.

"I do like you Jake…as a friend."

"I don't want to be your friend Jenna."

Jenna sighed, he wasn't going to make this easy and as much as she didn't want to hurt him he wasn't giving her any choice now.

"You know I can't give you anything else."

"Why not?" he said a pouty look on his face now like she had just taken away his favorite toy.

"You know why," she reminded him.

He did but it just wasn't penetrating through his alcohol induced haze yet. The only thing he could semi focus on was that she was here and he was here and they were alone.

A part of him knew what he was thinking and feeling in those moments was off and really wrong but his filter at that moment was 100 % on the fritz.

He attempted to get off the bed now and into a standing position, but failed miserably as Jenna instinctively caught him before he fell.

Now they were both in an awkward place as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him in an attempt to steady himself.

"You're so perfect for me Jenna. I would do anything for you," he said his words still slurred.

"You can start by getting your hands off my a** Jake."

"Oh right…sorry," he said smiling at her now.

"You have a very nice butt."

"Oh…kay," she said as she disengaged herself from his arms and helped him get back down on the bed.

"I wish that I could kiss you again," he whispered softly into Jenna's ear now causing her to become even tenser than she already was.

She knew that she needed to get him out of there before he said even more that he would regret.

"I'm going to call Matty to come get you."

"I have a car, I can drive myself," he said indignant now knowing Matty was the last person he wanted to see.

"Yeah, so not gonna happen."

"You can't really stop me…I have my keys," Jake said as he wobbled a little getting himself off of her bed and starting taking steps towards the door of her room that lead to the backyard.

Jenna knew she didn't really have any other choice now than to stop him, so she body blocked the door.

"Give me your keys Jake."

Instead of listening Jake did the opposite and held on tighter to them.

"Nope."

Jenna grabbed for the keys and was able because of his slowed reflexes to swipe them out of his hand.

"Dang you are fast," he said a little impressed.

"You can come get these in the morning, but right now we need to get you home."

Picking up her cell phone now Jenna dialed Matty as Jake slunk back over to her bed and lay back down.

Jenna knew Jake would be fast asleep by the time Matty got there, and she was glad because she didn't know how much more she could take, watching him being sad over her was breaking her heart.