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You were supposed to have a date night with Jason, but all it took was a call from his best friend for him to leave you in the dust. Rose, the name tasted like poison on your tongue.
Jason and Rose had been best friends for years, even before you and him got romantically involved. You weren’t bothered with their friendship at the beginning. You understood quickly that nothing could break their bond and that they were each other’s top priority.
You had been in a relationship with Jason for almost two years and you fought plenty of times and most of the times it was about Rose. You tried to make him understand that you wanted his attention too, that you were tired of being his last choice and that you didn’t liked how he kept canceling on you for her.
But Jason always brushed it off, telling you to drop the topic or labeling you as jealous and insecure. Eventually you had enough and decided to stop fighting Jason on the same topic, over and over again.
You carefully blowed out the candles in your apartment after you spent hours on getting dolled up and prepared the entire date, just for Jason to leave to help out Rose.
The kitchen was clean when you went into the bathroom to take off your make-up and wash your body before changing into something more comfortable. You grabbed your blanket and pillow to make a makeshift bed on the couch, because you’d rather sleep on the uncomfortable couch than with Jason in the same bed.
Doom-scrolling was your best friend in lonely moments like this, because you wanted to keep your mind busy with funny and weird videos and not be miserable all the time.
You were quick to fall asleep with the phone in your hand and the same video playing over and over again, until the screen eventually dimmed and turned off entirely.
It was three in the morning when a key turned in the lock and the front door opened. Jason stepped inside and his eyes immediately landed on your sleeping form in the living room.
Jason let out a grunt after closing the door behind him. He took off his dirt coated boots because he knew how much you hated dirty floors and his leather jacket came off next.
He ran his fingers through his rain soaked hair while looking around the apartment, noticing how all the romantic flair was gone. Jason got a glimpse of the candles, rose petals and his favorite dish last night before it was all ruined by his own actions.
Now it was all gone and you were sleeping on the couch.
Jason walked over and kneeled down in front of you. He threaded his fingers through your soft hair, admiring your face while his heart clenched in his chest. He didn’t liked seeing you sleep anywhere but their bedroom, but his actions kept pushing you away.
Jason knew that, but somehow—he couldn’t stop hurting you. He tried to set boundaries with Rose at the beginning, he really did. But something inside of Jason stopped him from fully committing to the relationship and to you. That didn’t mean he didn’t loved you. Jason loved you, he just needed to get his priorities straight.
Jason noticed how you started to pull away after he neglected you for so long and he hated it. He hated how you stopped fighting with him and how closed off you became. Jason wanted to fix it. He needed to fix it.
He decided to wake you up with gentle kisses, smiling when your eyes fluttered open and your mouth formed into a sleepy pout.
“Hey, sweetheart. Don’t you want to come to bed?” Jason caressed your hair, hoping that his attention would sooth your anger. But judging by the way you shook your head and hid your face in the pillow, it wasn’t working.
“Come on, baby.” Jason cooed and slid his arms beneath your body to pick you up into his arms. He didn’t manage to pick you up properly, because you pushed him away.
You were stubborn and Jason huffed annoyed before he grabbed a pillow off the couch and dropped it onto the floor. You watched how Jason laid down on the ground beside the couch.
“What are you doing?” Your voice came rasp as you watched Jason with a confused expression.
“I don’t want to sleep without you.” Jason crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking up at you. “You’ve been sleeping on the couch more often than you should.”
“Wondering why.” You muttered and turned around, your back was facing Jason.
Jason wanted to snap at you but he didn’t. Instead, he exhaled and closed is eyes, reminding himself he wanted to fix things between the two of you and not ruin it entirely. The state of your relationship was already fragile enough, he didn’t want to lose you.
After a beat of silence, you felt something shifted behind you before the cushion of the couch sunk down and Jason’s chest pressed against your back. It was cramped and Jason didn’t fit properly, but he didn’t care in the moment.
“I’m sorry.” Jason said, his arms wrapped around your waist and he buried his face in the crook of your neck.
“I’m sure you are.” You grunted, elbowing Jason and trying to make him let go of you, but it just made him tighten his arms around you further.
“I am!” Jason protested and used his strength to turn you around and made you face him. He bit down on his bottom lip to hold back a smile when he got a glance of your angry face.
You tried to kick Jason but he wrapped his leg around your thigh, making sure you were now fully embraced and weren’t able to hurt him “This is not funny, Jason!”
All the bottled up emotions started to boil over after Jason didn’t held back laughing anymore. You wanted to scream and hit him, instead you started to hiccup and cry. You reached your breaking point.
You were eye-to-eye with Jason when you were crying and he was watching you for a moment before he pulled you against his chest and tried to calm you down. Jason kissed the top of your head and whispered sweet nothings into your hair.
Usually, Jason would yell at you for being dramatic but this was different and it surprised you. You let yourself melt into his arms and sob into his chest because that’s what you wanted for so long. Just to be able to fall into his arms and be held like you mattered.
“Rose means a lot to me,” Jason started to speak when you calmed down a little. Your body went rigged in his arms but he continued speaking. “She’s my best friend and she knows everything about me. All the darkest and rawest moments in my life, she was there for me. I can talk to her about everything and not be afraid to get judged. She’s my safe place.”
Your head tilted back and you looked up at Jason, tears glistening in your eyes. Jason’s heart clenched, he was walking a very thin line and he needed to be careful with his next words.
“I never gave you the opportunity to do the same. I was closed off from the beginning and when you started to complain about Rose over and over again, it just pissed me off so bad.”
Jason knew that he always snapped at you for bringing up Rose during your fights. He just felt like he needed to protect Rose from you.
You stayed silent and let Jason finally explain why he acted the way he acted for the entire time of your relationship. You needed it.
“I know I was wrong and I’m sorry.” Jason said silently, his voice was barely above a whisper. He leaned his forehead against yours and closed his eyes. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
You stayed silent for a which made Jason panic a little, he got scared that it was all too late. That he lost you for good.
“It’s not just about trust, Jason.” Your voice was shaking. “You barely spend time with me and when you do, you leave the second she calls you. I just feel like you don’t love m—“
“I love you.” Jason interrupted you immediately because he wouldn’t be able to handle to hear the entire sentence. You were unhappy and he wanted to change that.
Jason sat up on the couch and pulled your body with him, so you were straddling his lap and looked down at him. “I love you so much and I will be better for you, baby. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize what you mean to me.” He cradled your face into his hands and kissed the corner of your mouth.
Eventually, you accepted Jason’s apology and you two cuddle for a little on the couch before going to bed together.
You were still in bed the next morning when Jason roamed around in the kitchen and talking on the phone with Rose. He wanted to set boundaries as soon as possible. Jason took them serious this time.
After hanging up, he started to make some breakfast for you. He cracked open two eggs into the pan and opened the trash bin to throw away the shells and froze when he spotted yesterday’s dinner in the trash.
Hamburgers and cake, mixed with candles and petals. He could’ve had it all but he just had to leave on date night to see Rose. “Damn. Great job, idiot.” Jason sighed.
He felt pathetic now, for being such an awful boyfriend.
Jason was going to change and he will do it for you. He turned back to the stove and made sure to form the eggs and bacon into hearts for you.