Let's talk it out

AN: I got this idea from a quote from Johnny Depp. I thought it fit our trio perfectly. 'If you love two people at the same time, choose the second one. Because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen for the second.'

Rico walks into the diner. He was supposed to meet his girlfriend Andi, but she had a school president emergency. He decided to go to the diner anyway. That way he could get some studying done. When he gets to the booth he normally sits in he sees his best friend Jo already there alone. "This seat taken?" He asks. The blonde girl looks up surprised. "Oh, hey Rico. It's just me, take a seat. It will be nice to be distracted for a while." Jo says. Rico notices his friend doesn't seem like herself. "Jo, is everything okay? I mean you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I'd be happy to listen." Jo smiles. Rico has always been such a sweetheart. "I'm not sure you would want to hear it." Rico nods and looks down at the table. "Would you rather talk to Danny or Lacey?" He admits he has felt a bit left out since Jo has rekindled her friendships with her old friends. He's happy for her, but a little sad they don't hang out as much. "No. Danny and Lacey are my problem." That confuses Rico. "I thought everything was finally going good with you guys." Rico says. "It's still pretty rocky, and things just got a little more messed up." Jo says resting her chin on her hands. "Why? What happened?" Jo takes a deep breath and leans back in her seat. "Are you sure you want to hear about my problems with Danny?" She asks concerned for her friend's feelings. Even though he has moved on from his crush on her and has a girlfriend now she's still not sure if he would want to hear about her romantic problems. "Just tell me." He says leaning forward to show he is listening. "Well, the night before Charlie kidnapped me Danny came over to talk to me." He nodded for her to continue. "He wanted to tell me he has feelings for me now. You know more than just friends." Rico nods again. He doesn't seem as surprised as much as she thought he would be. "Why don't you seem surprised by that? After the whole telling me I was like a sister to him thing I would think you would be more shocked about this." Rico starts to fidget in his seat a little. Jo gives him a pointed look. She knows how Rico acts when he is hiding something. He is definitely hiding something. "What are you hiding, Rico?" He looks up surprised. "I'm not hiding anything. Well, not really." Jo raises her eyebrow at him again. "Okay, fine. Danny and I had a talk. It was not long after Lacey broke up with him. He might have mentioned his feelings for you." Rico says. "I can't believe he would talk to you about his feelings for me." Jo is shocked. "It's kind of complicated. You wouldn't understand. You know, guy talk." He says as if he were an expert on 'guy talk' now. "Don't worry about it. Continue telling me what's wrong. I mean I thought you would be happy about that." Jo takes minute to think about if she should let it go or keep pushing Rico for information. She takes a deep breath and continues to tell him her problem. "He was with Lacey. He wanted to be with Lacey. What made him all of a sudden want to be with me? When did he start to see me differently? I just want to understand what changed." Rico contemplating telling Jo more about his conversation with Danny. He wasn't sure if should betray Danny confidants. Jo was his friend and he wanted to help her, but he can't betray guy talk. "I just wish I could know what he is thinking or feeling." Jo continued. Rico nodded. "If it makes you feel better he really does have feelings for you." Jo is wondering what Rico might know. How much did Danny share with him? "Rico, can you please tell me what you guys talked about?" He shook his head. "I really don't feel comfortable telling you what Danny said." Rico says very conflicted. "I understand, Rico. I really do. I'm glad you and Danny are becoming friends. You both mean a lot to me. I wouldn't want to do anything to mess that up, but I need to know what is going on in his head. Especially after Lacey just broke up with him and he realized he had feeling for me." Jo convinces him. He really is feeling pulled towards helping Jo. "Alright, I guess you deserve to know. It's not like he said anything that will get him in trouble."

Rico gave in and decided to tell her everything he knows. "What did he say? Tell me as much as you can remember." Jo pushed. "He said Lacey told him it was always you. At first he was confused. Even though his feelings weren't as strong for Lacey as they were before she broke up with him the first time, he still had feelings for her. But when he really started to think about you and how he felt about you it started to make more sense. He said he really never noticed the change. He was so happy to have you as a friend again that he really didn't need anything more. And he thought that the things he felt were normal. But when he gave it more thought the more he could see what Lacey was talking about." Jo is sitting there drinking in every word he says. "Once he saw that Lacey was right that he had developed feeling for you he was even more confused." He paused. "What was he confused about?" Jo says taking advantage of the pause in his story. "Like I said he also had feelings for Lacey. He was confused about how he could have feelings for both of you. He also didn't know what to do about his feelings for you. Even though the thought of the two of you dating had crossed his mind before…" "It did?" Jo interrupted. "Yes. He and I talked about that while he was hiding out at my loft. He said it wouldn't work as long as you didn't trust him. Anyway even though he thought about it he really wasn't sure he should risk the friendship you two have. Especially since it was rocky at the time." Jo looks down remembering her shameful behavior. "Trust me I know it's a hard decision to make, if it's worth losing a really good friend just to tell someone how you feel about them. It's risky. And he had already lost you once before. Are you okay?" She looks like she was about to cry. She nodded, and he decided to continue. "He also knew he might lose Lacey's friendship if he pursed his feelings for you. He had already hurt her enough. He didn't want to hurt her anymore. Well, that's all of it. So, now you know what he is thinking and feeling. Did that help at all?" He finishes. She is nodding, and he can tell she is thinking about everything thing he said. "That doesn't answer how he made the decision he made. Why he chose to tell me how felt, and why he thinks it's worth the risk to date now." Jo wonders. Rico smiles. "I gave him some sage advice." She raises her eyebrow at that. "Really? And what sage advice did you give him?" She asks. "I told him, if you love two people at the same time, choose the second one. Because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen for the second." Jo is very impressed. "Did you come up with that yourself?" Rico blushed a little. "No. I saw a quote by Johnny Depp in my Mom's People magazine." Jo laughs. "I won't even ask why you were reading about Johnny Depp in People magazine. It was good advice." Rico beams with pride that his advice met with Jo's approval. "That explains how he chose between me and Lacey, but it doesn't explain why I'm now worth the risk." Jo says starting to get lost in her thoughts. Rico notices this and decides to leave her alone with her thoughts. "I guess you are going to have to ask Danny that." Jo looks up at him as he gets up out of the booth. "I'm going head home and study." She just nods and starts chewing on her thumb nail as her thoughts drift back to a boy with deep beautiful brown eyes.

Jo doesn't know how long that she has been sitting in the booth thinking, but it seems like forever, and she is just as confused as when she started. Rico is right the only way to get the answers she seeks is to ask the one person that knows those answers. "Is this seat taken?" Jo jumps as she is startled by the voice that seemingly came out of nowhere. It's a little unnerving how he appeared as she was just thinking about him. But isn't she always thinking about him? She smiles at little at the question. "What?" Danny asks. "Rico asked me that question not too long ago." She explains. "Oh, is Rico here. I won't bother you guys if you're busy." He gives her a little disappointed look. "Sit down. Rico left already." Danny smiles and takes a seat across from Jo. "He decided to study at home since I didn't seem up for company. I guess I was too lost in my thoughts." Danny gives her that same sympathetic 'Oh poor Jo' look everyone has been giving her since the whole kidnapping incident. "I'm sorry, do you want me to leave?" He asks her in a placating way. She is so tired of people talking to her in that way. "No. You might as well stay since you were what I was thinking about." She can only assume her frustration was what gave her the courage to say that. "You were thinking about me? Should I be flattered or insulted? I hope they were all good thoughts." Jo knows that she has opened the door to this conversation and can't turn back now. She will finally get her answers. She hopes. "I was wondering what goes on in your head." Danny gives her a confused look. "We never had a chance to have that talk we were supposed to have. I had some questions I was going to ask you that night that I would still like to have answers to. Rico was able to help me out with that a little, but he only knows so much. You are the only one who can give me all the answers." Jo says. "How was Rico able to help?" He wondered. "He told me about a conversation you two had not long after you and Lacey broke up. He also told me about the sage advice he gave you." Danny laughs a little and shakes his head. "Oh yeah. His sage advice. You mean the Johnny Depp quote. It was good advice though. It really helped me think a lot clearer about what I really wanted." Danny says looking Jo in the eyes confidently. "And I'm what you want?" Jo says breaking eye contact by looking down at the napkin she doesn't remember ripping up. "Yes." He reaches across the table to take hold of her hands. "I already told you that it's always been you, and that I want to be with you." She looks down at their hands and feels the courage she needs to continue. "Why?" She looks up and straight into his soulful eyes. "Why now? Why I am I worth the risk now but not a few weeks ago?" Danny takes a deep breath.

"I think there was always something there. Buried deep down inside. We were just friends, and like I said I was okay with that. Everything that happened with my Dad made me feel closer to you. You were the only one I could talk to, and could be honest with. I think feeling that close to you just brought out those feelings. When you started to push me away I felt like I was losing everything. I felt like I was hanging from that cliff by my fingertips. When Lacey told me it had always been you it all just clicked. Everything I had been feeling made sense. I couldn't stop thinking about it, and you were so mad at me. Sometimes it felt like I couldn't breathe when I would think about losing you. When I saw you with Charlie I realized I was no longer okay with just being friends. It was all really confusing for me, and I don't know how to explain it any better." Danny looked exhausted when he finished. Jo didn't know what to say. He had never been that open with her before, or at least in a long time. After a few minutes of letting it all sink in she says. "I think that answers my questions." She suddenly smirks. "Well, maybe there is just one more." Danny curious about her smirk asks. "What is the question?" Jo's smile gets really big. "Are you going to ask me out on a date or what?" Danny laughs out loud. When he is done he gives her a killer smile. "Jo Marie Masterson will you please do me the honor of letting me take you to dinner tomorrow night?" She lets out a little laugh. He was always good at making her laugh. They had a similar sense of humor. It's has always been one of the best things about their friendship. They could sit and make each other laugh for hours. "I'll have to check my calendar. I get booked up pretty. I have a lot of gentlemen callers." They are both laughing. "Of course I will go out with you tomorrow night." They both can't help the goofy smiles on their faces.

"I will try to get us a reservation at Saint Jacques for tomorrow night. It's the nicest restaurant in town." Jo's smile fell. Danny noticed the change in her demeanor. "What's wrong? Do you not like French food? We could always go to that nice Italian place instead." She shakes her head. "Do you not know me at all?" She asks. Danny is very confused. "Of course I know you. What are you talking about?" He asks. "Why do think I would want to wear a dress and go eat fancy food for fun? Since when is that my idea of a good time? Dates are supposed to be two people going out and having a good time together. Not sitting around in some stuffy restaurant worry about table manners." Danny didn't really know how to respond to that. He was just trying to impress her. He thought that was the kind of stuff girls liked. Lacey seemed impressed, but Lacey and Jo are very different people. He hopes he isn't going to have to keep reminding himself of that. "Well, what is your idea of a fun date?" He wonders. "Well, normal teenagers who don't have ten million dollars go to places like Applebee's or even the diner would be fine. Maybe dinner and a movie. Any place I can wear jeans would be fine with me. Just because you have seen me wear a couple of dresses lately doesn't mean I love wearing them now." Danny smiles and nods. "That does sound more like a Jo date. I'm sorry. I guess I was trying a little too hard to impress you. I want our first date to be perfect." Jo takes his hand in hers. "You don't need to do anything to impress me. As long as it's you and me being ourselves it will be perfect." Danny smiles and leans down to place a soft kiss on her hand. "You're right. Dinner and a movie it is. I'll even let you pick the movie." Jo laughs. "You might regret that. I may prefer jeans over dresses, but I am still a girl. A girl who like sappy chick flicks." Danny just rolled his eyes. "There is just one more thing." Jo says. "What's that?" Danny wonders. "Stand up." He does as he is told. Jo slides out of her side of the both as well. She stands so close to him that he can smell the scent of her perfume. Jo places a hand on each side of his face. "This." She stand on her tippy toes and places her lips on his. Danny wraps his arms around her waist and brings her close enough for their bodies to be touching. Things might be rough at first since Jo still has some trust issues, but they both have high hopes for this relationship. After all best friends are said to make the best lovers.