This story has a lot of brackets. Anyway – this is my fourth one-shot for my challenge (link on my profile) which is basically 101 prompt words that anyone can use to write a one-shot, drabble or anything they want. Please check it out and join in!

Mixed Emotion.

On Monday Tess Tyler is angry. She's angry because Mitchie (freaking) Torres is on the front cover of Pop Magazine and Jason (stupid) Gray is ignoring her calls. Nobody (and she means nobody) ignores her calls. Not if she can help it. So when she marches round to his house (he shares it with Shane, but for once that isn't why she's there) and walks in uninvited she nearly faints (being the drama queen she is) at the sight. Jason Gray is kissing Caitlyn Geller.

Apparently they are so warped up in making out that they don't notice Tess. But she wants (needs) to make them notice. So she hurries off and slams the door with as much force as she can. Sure enough she can hear Jason calling her ("Tess, why are you here? Are you okay?") but his attention doesn't satisfy her. She wants him to hurry after her and apologize for kissing Caitlyn when he could have her. But then she remembers that she never liked Jason (not really), she liked (still likes) Shane so she ignores him and doesn't turn around.

Jason doesn't chase after her and she's angry at that. But she's also angry that she bothered to go anyway.

On Tuesday Tess Tyler is confused. She doesn't know who she likes anymore – Shane or Jason. Shane hasn't called her for a week but Jason has tried calling her at least three times an hour ever since her drama queen moment yesterday. She hasn't picked up one of his calls. In fact, she hasn't picked up any calls. Her manager has tried phoning, along with Ella, but Tess ended up throwing her phone into a draw and shutting it closed. Nobody was getting hold of her – not today.

Instead she sits in front of the TV watching reruns of some show she's never heard of, though one of the main characters looks eerily like her Uncle. Halfway through the fifth episode her doorbell rings. She looks out the window; see's Jason and immediately lets the curtain fall back into place. She steps away and doesn't answer the door.

It's Wednesday and Tess is jealous. All she can see is Jason and Caitlyn and the dream she had last night featuring their wedding really isn't helping. She knows it isn't true (because if it really was their wedding they wouldn't have invited her) but it freaked her out. Tess Tyler does not get jealous. People are jealous because of her. Not the other way round. Never the other way around. Jason has stopped calling her and she wants this to make her happy but instead it makes her a little bit sad.

She remembered what her mother said when Tess was a child. "Being in touch with your emotions is not a good thing, Tessy."

Tess wants to be in touch with her emotions just to annoy her mother but right now her emotions are the worst thing in the world (except Jason, but he doesn't count).

She logs on to instant messenger (she only has three or four contacts because even Tess isn't as stupid as to broadcast that she had IM). Jason is online and immediately he tries to talk to her. She's about to close the window but her eyes catch on his first IM.

BirdhouseMan: I'm Sorry, Tess. Please, just hear me out.

She has her fingers poised over the keyboard and she even starts writing back but then she sees Caitlyn's face in her mind and she closes the window and logs off.

It's raining on Thursday. It suits Tess' mood because she feels lonely. She hasn't been out the house in days and she doesn't even want to think about what the magazines are saying. Her phone has been permanently turned off since Tuesday so when she turns it on she has so many messages, missed calls and voicemail's that she doesn't even want to bother – but she reads them anyway. Three quarters of the messages are from Jason and they either say:

I'm Sorry.

Answer the door, Tess.

I miss you.

Or

You don't understand.

She sighs but keeps the messages. The other quarter is from her manager and recording studio. She deletes them without reading. That leaves the voicemails. Debating with herself she finally rings the number and listens to them.

"Tess, its Jason. Please stop being like this, I don't understand. We were never together-"

She deletes it.

"I'm sorry, Tess. I just ... I didn't know you felt like this-"

Delete.

"Tess I know this isn't the right thing to say over voicemail but I lov-"

Delete, delete, delete.

"Where the fuck are you, Tess? Don't you pull out on me now; you have a tour in a few months. Get the hell to this recording studio or so help me I'll-"

Delete.

End of voicemails.

Friday is the day that Tess almost breaks. She sits on the couch with the TV off and waits for something that isn't going to come. The doorbell rings and she gets up to answer it, not sure who would be trying to get hold of her at 6am. She opens the door and see's Jason. He jams his foot in the door to stop her slamming it shut in his face. This makes her smile because he must know her pretty well by now.

"Now I can explain without you cutting me off." He says.

She doesn't say anything back or even nod. She just watches him. He scratches the back of his neck when he's nervous and he's doing it right now.

"I miss you." He finally says. Tess blinks.

"I don't understand why you ran off like that when you saw me and Caitlyn – we've been together for a couple of weeks and I tried to tell you but you were so busy with everything that I thought that there wasn't much point. We were only together for a couple of days, Tess. And that was two years ago. I thought you'd have gotten over me. I thought you'd be able to succeed where I hadn't." He took a deep breath. "I love Caitlyn, Tess. I do. But she isn't you." He fell silent, watching her.

Tess can't speak, so Jason speaks for her. "I love you, Tess. I have since we talked for the first time three years ago. I broke up with Caitlyn – well, we decided together, because she could tell I still liked you. That's when you saw us kissing on Monday – it was a goodbye kiss." Still, her voice had disappeared and was refusing to come back. So Jason does something that is very Tess-like. He kisses her gently on the lips before stepping back and walking away. He doesn't look back.

On Saturday Tess Tyler is upset. She's upset that she didn't kiss Jason back, or run after him, or say that she loved him too. She's upset that she never answered his calls or replied to his IM's or messaged him back. She's upset that she let him go two years ago. But she can't bring herself to call him back. She tries multiple times but the thought of him rejecting her, even after yesterday on her doorstep, is just too much.

Her record label has practically given up on her, and she knows because when she goggled her name millions of sites came up claiming she'd killed herself or had a breakdown. She didn't know which one she preferred.

Jason doesn't call, leave any IM's or text her. She does the same in return.

Tess wakes up on Sunday and grabs her phone. Ever since Jason left her two days ago on the doorstep of her house she'd been checking regularly to see if he's contacted her. Nothing.

With a small sigh she gets up, carrying her phone with her to the breakfast bar. As she's eating her low fat yogurt she keeps her eyes fixed on her phone. She finishes her yogurt and decides to do what she should have done two days ago.

She rings Jason.

He picks up immediately and Tess wonders if he's been as obsessive over his phone as she has.

"Jason, I love you too." She says it so fast because she's scared she won't be strong enough to do it.

"Oh." A voice responds.

Tess has a panic when she thinks it might be Nate or Shane.

"I love you more." The voice finally says. Tess breaks into a smile.

It's Sunday and Tess Tyler is finally happy.