Bumper Cars [EDITING]

° nine °

When Henley woke up, she surprisingly regretted nothing. She was in bed, with a guy who she could never stop herself from loving, no matter hard she tried to.

"Jackson, let me up, I gotta pee", she said to her ex.

"No. You'll leave", he said, joking, but still not letting go.

"I might, but I really do have to piss, Jax", Henley said, before he let her go.

After doing her business, she walked out to find that Jax was up and awake.

"You got club shit ?", Henley asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, but stay...", Jax said, "It shouldn't take long. It's just church."

"....... I have to take a shower.. And get dressed. Maybe, I'll come back later", Henley said, finally allowing herself to listen to that little voice that had been bitching at her since she stepped foot in Charming.

Jax looked at Henley. He could tell she was starting to come to her senses. He wanted to skip church all together and spend all day trying to make up for the shit he did in the past, but he couldn't.

"I'm gonna go, Jax", Henley said, pulling Jax out of his thoughts.

"You really don't have to", Jax said, wishing that she'd change her mind and stay.

'Take your ass home, Henley Annalise', Henley thought to herself....

And even though her heart was screaming at her not to....

That's exactly what she did.

°°°

It had been about a week since her drunken hookup with Jax, and Henley had been avoiding the club like the plague.

She was watching TV with Ellie and Kenny, while Donna ran some errands, and Opie worked when her phone rang.

It was Gemma.

"Hey, Ma", Henley answered.

"Haven't seen ya in while, baby. I thought you were visiting us. Can't visit somebody if you don't see them", Gemma said, blatantly.

"Yeah, I've just been hanging with Opie, Donna and the k-", Henley started before getting cut off by Gemma.

"I need you to do me a favor, Henley. Jax is headed to the storage unit to get some shit for the baby, I don't trust that he'll get the right shit, even if I wrote him a list. I need you to go with him and make sure he doesn't screw shit up", Gemma said.

You didn't have to see her to know she was smiling.

"Why can't you just go with him, Gem ?", Henley asked her, knowing that she was just trying to push her and Jax together, like always.

" 'Cause Jax asked me to check on the junkie. And I've got shit to do", she said, quickly.

"It's really not nice to call her that, Ma, and why do you always do this ?", Henley asked.

"That's what she is. I'm just being honest", Gemma started, obviously annoyed with Henley's complaints, "And what are you talking about ? Do what ?"

Henley thought for a moment about how to say this without offending Gemma, "Butt in", was all Henley could come up with.

"Because... I know it's what you both want. Jax has got way to much pride to say it, and frankly, so do you", Gemma said back, honestly.

Henley sighed with annoyance, because Gemma was right, which happened way too often lately.

"Fine... I'll go to the storage unit with him, but don't get too excited. I'm just helping get shit for the baby, don't start planning our wedding", Henley stated, sarcastically.

"Was that so hard, Henley Annalise ?", Gemma asked, before hanging up.

°°°

Henley thought deeply before getting out of her truck...

'You are just getting shit for his baby. That's it. You ignore what happened the other night. You ignore those god damned eyes, and that fucking smirk. You do this to shut Gemma up, nothing more, Henley Annalise, nothing more'

After her internal lecture, she hopped out of her truck, and walked into Gemma's office.

"You actually showed up. I thought you were gonna pussy out on me, honestly", Gemma sarcastically stated.

"When have you ever known me to pussy out on anything, Ma ?", Henley asked, kind of annoyed.

"When you ran away for 11 years, instead of sticking around and fighting for your man", Gemma said, not holding anything back.

"I graduated, Ma. I didn't run. I stuck around for TWO months, after I found out about them", Henley replied.

"You ran. If you were just leaving for college, you'd have come back way earlier, Henley Annalise. You pussied out. And you ran", Gemma said, obviously done with the subject.

Henley never thought that she would say this, but she was actually glad that Jax walked into the room.

"Can we just go, now ?", she asked him impatiently.