Philip's party was in full swing when Jan and Jason arrived. "Jumpin, Jumpin'" was blasting through the sound system and the dance floor was filled with moving teenagers. Jan pouted as she scanned the sea of people looking for Mimi. "Again," she exclaimed. "She's late again. Can you believe this?"

Fed up with her rude comments about Mimi, he answered, "Yes, I can believe it.I can also believe that since you spent so much time telling her about your genius plan and everything she would have to do that maybe she didn't have a lot of time to get ready. And it's a party, who the hell cares if you're late?"

Jan rolled her eyes. "Touchy much? Jeez." She began looking around the living room again. She had to make sure Chloe wasn't near the place she needed for set up. "I need to get started. Wait here for homeless girl and tell her I'm setting up." Without waiting for an answer, she left.

Jason went into the living room, standing off to the side and keeping an eye on the door. He only had to wait ten minutes. She came in with Belle as the song changed to "Beauty." He cursed his increasing heartbeat as he watched her. She was wearing a form-fitting navy blue skirt that reached the floor. She had on a matching top and shrug. Sparkling glitter shone on the outfit along with the silver necklace around her neck. Her brown hair lay straight. Jason's eyes traveled up to her face and then her eyes. Their eyes locked into an intense gaze that had Jason wondering what was going on with him. He made his way to where she was standing and he felt like something was pulling him towards her.

Belle cleared her throat. "Know what? I think I'm gonna go look for Chloe." She walked away from them.

Belle's statement effectively broke the spell seeing Mimi had put on Jason. At the mention of Chloe's name, he remembered his purpose for waiting for her. "Jan's waiting for you." Mimi blinked. She'd seen the way he was looking at her when she first came in. The party was the first of the year and one of the biggest. She had picked out something that she hoped wasn't too dressy or too casual. Her choice got the desired response. She'd felt the intensity of Jason's gaze when he started walking. And after that, the last thing she expected to hear from him was Jan's name. "Right...um, the plan. Where is she?"

He shrugged. "Around here somewhere. She said she was going to set up."

"Then I guess I'd better set up my part too," she said. Mimi had only taken one step when Jason's hand reached out and grabbed her arm. His touch sent unexpected jolts of electricity through her.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, Belle and Chloe are friends. She's not gonna be happy when she finds out what you're doing." Jason was slightly surprised at himself. He hadn't known what he was going to say until the words came out of his mouth. He didn't want to think about why he was concerned about how any friends Mimi had.

"I'm sure, Jason." She pulled back her arm and went up the stairs.

Going back into the living room, where everyone was dancing, he saw Shawn, Belle, Philip and Chloe all standing together talking. He thought of the Last Blast prank and how it only served to make the bond between the four friends stronger. If this plan was executed, the same thing would happen and the three of them would be blackballed by everyone at Salem High, Philip would make sure of that.

Without giving it a second thought to what he was doing, Jason left the living room in the direction of the staircase, refusing to ask himself why he went to stop Mimi instead of Jan.

Reaching down, Mimi pulled what she needed from her bag. A few more steps and she would be finished with her part of the plan. She moved to the corner of the staircase and pushed one of the wires against the side. She added the connecting parts quickly so that she could get to a spot where she was sure no one could see her. And the faster she finished, the faster she could find Belle, have fun, and stop thinking about Jason.

Of course that seemed impossible to do. One look, that one look was all she could think about. She couldn't recall a time when anyone had ever looked at her like that. It was too bad she didn't have a chance. Belle is wrong, she thought remembering their earlier conversation.

"Guess I'll never know then." She stood on the chair she grabbed from a near by room. She had one of the last pieces she needed to hook up in her hand. She was reaching for the top of the door frame when she heard someone call her. She started to get nervous until she recognized the person’s voice. It was Jason. She heard his footsteps get closer and stop. He reached a hand up to help her down. Before accepting it, she stuck the piece on the wall.

After she was steady, he said, "I don't think you should do this."

"You told me that downstairs," she reminded him, fixing her shrug. "I'm gonna do it. Chloe is going to pay for what she did to me."

Jason sighed. "You and Jan started this. You pulled the first prank."

"A prank that you were in on too," Mimi pointed out. "You were as involved as we were."

"Yeah, I was. I was, Mimi. When was the last time I actually helped with one of these plans?" He paused t let her think about it. "I think you should call it even and leave her alone."

"Call it even and leave her alone?! The hell I will," she began, not noticing that Jason's attention was elsewhere. "You weren't the one that had to find a hat to match every outfit."

"Mimi, be quiet. Someone's coming." Jason continued looking around. He could've sworn he heard Jan's whining voice.

"You didn't have to wear that god awful fur hat... thing. Your hair didn't look like a -"

Jason grabbed Mimi's arm and pulled her into the closest room.

She stared in his general direction with wild eyes. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded. They were in a small, cluttered and dark room. Just the two of them. She could barely even see Jason, but she felt him. He was close, really close. "Where are we? Why did you -"

Jason covered Mimi's mouth with his hand, ignoring - trying to ignore the feeling of her breath on his arm. He focused on listening to the sounds outside f the room. He heard Jan mutter about how incompetent Mimi was and stomp away. He removed his hand.

"I should hit you for doing that. What is your problem?"

"Sorry. Jan was coming and like I said, I don’t want you to go through with this."

"This isn't about what you want."

His hands gripped her hands. "I'm not letting you go out there until you promise you aren't going to help Jan."

Mimi forcefully pushed him backwards, causing him to hit whatever was behind him. She went to the door and turned the handle. She twisted it back and forth. "It won't open."

"It what?" Under the assumption she was lying, Jason came up behind her to try for himself. His hand went around her to reach the door knob. He pulled and twisted as Mimi had done. "We're stuck."

"We're stuck in here," Jason said.

The words repeated over and over in Mimi's head. "No," she told him. "We are not stuck." She moved his hand away from the door and began to desperately pull the doorknob. When that proved to be pointless, she started banging on it. She couldn't be stuck in such a small place, she just couldn't Especially not with Jason. "Help! Someone please open the door!" she yelled.

"It's no use, Mimi. No one is going to open the door for us. We weren't supposed to be here in the first place. Upstairs is off limits."

"Yeah but if we're up here someone else is bound to break that little rule too, right?" she asked him hopefully, her mind scrambling for more reasons. "And Belle! She'll notice I'm gone and come looking for me."

"Mimi, what was your excuse for sneaking off?"

"I told her that I was going to mingle and not to worry if she didn't see me cause I was around some- Oh, no." She turned away from him and started on the door again. "We can't be stuck in here. I have to get out."

Jason sighed, "Just - "

"No!" She pointed a finger in his general direction, as she still couldn't see him. "I said we have to get out. We don't know where we are, it's dark in here, and small. It's too small."

"Calm down. We'll get out eventually." I hope, he added silently.

"Eventually isn't good enough. I'm claustrophobic!" she shouted.

Wonderful. "You need to try to calm down," Jason advised. "I'm gonna see if I can find a light switch." It only took a few seconds of running his hand along the wall for Jason to find the switch. He hit it and the tiny room filled with light. They were in a bathroom, or what was supposed to be one. Long blocks of wood lay in the tub to his right next to a tool box. Some of the tools were scattered in a corner or near the sink. He was surprised to see a room so small in the Kiriakis house before he remembered hearing Philip say something about his mother remodeling and expanding an unused closet. That explains why it's small.

He was about to say something but stopped. Mimi was pacing along the opposite wall. She was breathing irregularly, like there wasn't enough air. He crossed the room in three steps. He gently grabbed her arm, to stop her from pacing, and gestured toward the only available seat, the toilet.

"Sit." At first it seemed like she was going to start pacing again, but she sat. He crouched down in front of her. "Take deep breaths and pretend we're somewhere else, anywhere else."

"That's impossible. We are trapped in some tiny bathroom wannabe," she countered. Her eyes flicked over ever section of the confined space. "And is it me or did the room just shrink?"

"The room isn't getting any smaller, Mimi. Just pretend we aren't here," he covered her mouth knowing she would protest again. "Humor me and don't say anything. I'm gonna try to set up a nice happy place for you. Okay?"

She nodded. "Good. You like beaches?"

Another nod. "Close your eyes. You're at your favorite beach. The sun is shining, causing all the shades of the water to show. The blue, green and the crystal clear layer at the tope with the bright spots that wink at you. Got a nice cool breeze going, seagulls flying over you. You and uh... who are you with?"

She almost said "you," but caught herself in time and answered, "Brad Pitt."

"Isn't he married?"

"Not on my beach." Jason laughed at her reply, making her realize she'd never heard it before-his laugh. She instantly decided she liked it. Her eyes were closed, as he'd instructed her to do, but she was almost 100% sure that laughing made him even more handsome than he already was. "Keep going," she said. She didn't want her mind traveling down that path.

Alright. We've got Mimi and Brad on the beach. You're walking with him, the wet sand beneath your feet. It's later now, the sun's setting. You're watching the yellow fade into orange and the orange to red." He paused for a few seconds, observing how comfortable she looked now. Jason briefly contemplate moving forward and kissing her. It would probably be amazing, he thought. He couldn't do it. She'd most likely push him away and go crazy again.... or maybe not.

Mimi opened her eyes and found him staring at her. She looked back into those green eyes. He was doing it again. Looking at her in a way no one else ever had. It was almost like... no, no, no. She was imagining things. He didn't want to kiss her. He was still dating Jan! But then why was he looking at her like that? And why did it seem like he was moving closer to her?

To be continued…