So a group of Teddy bears invaded my room, I used their fluff to make this story
Still don't own Victorious, stupid legal stuff
"Okay, Tori, you ready?"
"I was born ready, Cat."
"Popcorn?"
"Check."
"Soda?"
"Check."
"Cheesy movies?"
"Double check."
It was Friday evening at Tori's. Once a week, Tori and Cat got together for a game of bad movie night. The rules were simple: you picked a bad movie, and tried to get your opponent to give up and admit she couldn't take any more. Last week, Cat had defeated Tori with the Hulk Hogan comedy "Santa with Muscles". After about forty minutes, Tori was begging Cat to turn it off.
Which was why this week they were at Tori's, and why she had to spring for the refreshments. As challenger, it was also her job to come up with the movies.
They made no secret about their little weekly contest. The only friend who'd ever agreed to join them was Robbie. After thirty minutes of "Blacula", he had jokingly threatened to swallow another toy truck if they didn't end the movie.
"So, which do you want to see first; 'King Kong Escapes' or 'Shaft's Big Score?'" Tori asked, teasingly dangling the films in front of Cat.
"Well, I..." Cat was cut off by a knock at the door. Tori got up to answer it.
"Who is it?"
"It's me. Jade. Can I... can I come in?"
Tori noticed something in Jade' voice. She looked over at Cat, whose look of concern showed she too was aware of something wrong. She opened the door, and saw Jade in the hallway shaking, her eyes red and puffy from crying.
"Jade..." Tori gasped.
"I'm sorry. I um... man this is hard, I know this is your movie night and all but, um... but see me and Beck, we... I told him I wasn't interested in him... in him as more than a friend, and... and he, um, didn't take it too good."
Tori was worried by her friend's demeanor. She'd never seen Jade this shaken before. It wasn't like her at all. Whatever had gone down must've been pretty bad.
"He didn't do anything to you, did he?"
"What? No, of course not. But... but he said, he called me... oh, damn." she angrily said as the tears started to flow again. Tori pulled her over into a hug. To her surprise, Jade didn't try to resist. Cat, overhearing the conversation, came out in the hallway and hugged her too.
"I just... I know I should be stronger than this, but I could really use some company right now. Heh, can you believe it? *I* need company." she said bitterly. "I tried Cat's, but you two weren't there."
"Come on in." Cat said, gently leading Jade into Tori's house by the arm. "That mean old Beck! I don't know what he said to you, but when I see him again I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!"
Tori followed them in, shutting the door behind her.
"Oh man, look at me. I'm a mess. Is there someplace I can freshen up a bit?"
"Yeah, use Tori's bathroom, Trina's doing…something in the main one. It's in there. Just go into her bedroom, and it'll be the first door on your left."
Tori suddenly got a sinking feeling. The bedroom? What if Jade saw it? Hell, how could she not? It was right on top of the dresser next to the bathroom door. She normally hid it when she had guests, but she now realized she'd forgotten to tonight. She wished at that moment she could crawl under a rock.
"Thanks, I'll be right back." Jade said.
She turned the bedroom light on and found her way to the bathroom. She splashed her face with cold water, trying to forget the night. Beck wouldn't buy the "Let's just be friends" line Jade had used on him. He'd attacked her writing, her clothes, her lifestyle, and had called her just about every four letter word in the book. He'd felt betrayed after 2 years with her, he'd felt like he'd been played for a fool, and he let her know it.
Jade came out of the bathroom and accidentally knocked over a picture on the dresser to her left. She picked it up to straighten it, when she noticed what it was a picture of. She remembered the sleepover at Sikowitz's house. She also remembered the humiliation at the time of having to wear the farm-girl outfit. As she was looking at the photo, she noticed something was written on it.
Jade,
Te Amo (I love you).
Tori
Jade knew enough Spanish to know that Tori had confessed her love for her on the picture. She also knew how serious a thing it was for Tori to have said it in Spanish since the latina used English for almost everything.
"Tori," she whispered, "why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Hey, you done in there yet?" Cat yelled.
Jade quickly pulled herself together. "Yeah, coming."
She came in and sat on the couch to Cat's right, with Tori nervously sitting on Cat's left side. Tori's knees were shaking. She just knew Jade was going to pick on her, or worse.
What she didn't expect was that Jade would make no mention of the photo whatsoever.
"So, what kinds of atrocities do you to have lined up for tonight?" Jade asked her fellow artists. Cat showed her Tori's picks, and she made a face.
"Yikes, no wonder Robbie dropped out of your little group."
-Forty Minutes Later-
Tori was finally beginning to relax. Jade obviously hadn't seen the photo, or she would've said something long before now. "Good grief, I've seen better acting in car commercials!" she joked, getting a laugh out of her two companions.
"Yeah, and why is it the villain's upper teeth are perfect, but his bottom ones are all crooked and nasty looking?" Cat asked.
"I'm still trying to figure out why they'd give Japanese facial features to a giant gorilla." Jade said, joining in on the fun.
Tori looked over past Cat, and smiled. "Feeling a bit better, Jade?"
"Yeah, actually. In fact, I think I'm feeling better than I have in a long time."
"Great!" Cat said cheerfully, then more seriously, "Ooh, that mean old grouch Beck! He has no right to make my best friend cry."
"Cat, it's all right. Really."
"Jade," Tori asked a bit hesitantly, "I realize it's none of my business, but why did you dump Beck?"
Jade shrugged her shoulders, "I guess I realized I had feelings for someone else."
"Wow, really?" Cat asked, "Who is he?"
Jade looked down at the bowl of popcorn in Cat's lap. "It's not a he." she said, grabbing some popped kernels and popping them into her mouth.
Both Tori and Cat's jaws dropped. Jade stared straight ahead at the TV screen, trying to avoid eye contact with either of them.
"Wait, you... for a... that would make you a..." Cat stuttered. Jade nodded her head, and Cat sweat dropped. She already suspected Tori might be a lesbian, and had said as much to Trina when they went to the mall together not long ago. But now, to be sitting between a suspected lesbian and someone who'd just come out of the closet...
"I see," Tori said, "so you told Beck this?"
"No. Just that I didn't feel anything for him. I'll be honest; I'm confused here. I've never felt this way for another girl before. And feeling this way, I knew I'd be leading Beck on if I continued seeing him when I had feelings for another, especially for someone of my own sex."
"So, have you asked this other girl out yet?" Cat asked as the gossip in her temporarily overpowered her discomfort at the seating arrangement.
"No."
"No? You mean you dumped Beck for someone you haven't asked out yet?"
"I was afraid of what might happen if she found out how I felt and didn't feel the same way. I didn't want to lose her as a friend. But now..."
"Now, what?" Tori asked, a spark of jealousy kindling in her as she wondered who Jade could possibly have a crush on. 'Why,' she asked herself, 'Do I have to be so boring and average looking?'
"Now I've found out she has feelings for me too."
Tori quickly turned her head again in Jade' direction. She was trying desperately not to get her hopes up. Jade was completely out of her league, and she knew it.
"Jade," Cat said, "I don't know anything about, you know, but if you have feelings for her, and she has feelings for you, you'd better say something quick, or you may lose her."
"You think so?"
"Oh yeah. I had a friend back in middle school who was interested in this guy but didn't say anything because she was shy and didn't think he was interested in her. Well anyway she later found out he was but by that point he'd given up and was dating someone else who was on the cheerleader squad I think and..."
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Talk that fast for that long without taking a breath."
"Oh, well I don't know I guess it's just a skill I picked up over the years. Kind of like costuming but not quite the same since..."
"*Cat!*" Tori yelled, causing the younger girl to almost jump out of her skin. Jade was looking at her funny now, which caused her to blush furiously.
"I... I'm sorry. Cat's right, though." She said, intentionally avoiding Jade' eyes, "If you like this person, you should..."
"Well, it's a little more than like."
Finally, Cat couldn't take it any longer. "Jade, who is it you have a crush on?" she asked just before taking a swig of her soda.
"Yeah," Tori said, unable to take the suspense either, "is it someone we know?"
Jade leaned behind Cat to look at Tori.
"It's you." she said. Cat proceeded to choke on her drink.
Tori looked over, dumbfounded. She couldn't believe this was really happening. A wave of warmth surged through her. It was just like she'd always imagined.
Except that Cat was there with soda running out her nose.
And they were watching "King Kong Escapes".
"Ummm, guys..." Cat said, finally able to speak again and once again feeling very uncomfortable about being seated between Jade and Tori.
"Jade, I..."
"Tambien te amo." Jade said, staring straight into her friend's eyes.
The room suddenly became very quiet.
"Guys..." Cat nervously said again.
"Jade..."
"Tori..."
"*Whoa look at the time!*" Cat practically shrieked as she bolted up off the couch. "Gee, I've got to go, big day and all tomorrow. Besides, I have to get home and call the cat to see if they got my mom out of the tree yet, I mean... uh... bye!" she said as she ran to the closet, grabbed her coat, and ran out the front door, stopping just long enough to collect her shoes on the way out.
"So..."
"So..."
"You really dumped him because you had feelings for me?" Tori said, still not believing this was really happening.
Jade nodded. "Have for a while now. I never said anything though because, well, like I said, I've never felt this way for another girl before, and..."
"And?" Tori prodded. She had never seen this more vulnerable side of Jade before. It was obviously a part of herself she'd shared with very few people.
"And you're a nice girl while I'm just a scary goth . I guess I..." she looked down at her hands, "I guess I didn't think I was good enough for someone like you." she said sadly.
Tori moved over to where Jade was sitting. She put her hand to Jade' cheek and turned her head so she was facing her. She then moved in and kissed her on the lips, tentatively pressing her tongue against Jade' lips. Jade could feel her heart beat faster as she opened her mouth and returned the kiss; hesitantly at first, then more assertively as she put her arms around her and pulled her in closer. They each tasted the buttered popcorn in each other's mouths and on each other's tongues. Jade finally broke away from the kiss.
"Did you really mean what you wrote on that picture?"
"Yes. Did you really mean what you said before Cat left?"
"With all my heart." she said as she moved in again. Jade suddenly became aware of Tori's right hand on her left breast. She decided to return the favor by slowly maneuvering her hands up Tori's shirt. Now it was Tori's turn to break off the kiss.
"Jade," she gasped, "Before we go any further, would you... would you be comfortable with going into the bedroom? This couch isn't the most comfortable thing to make out on, you know."
Jade became nervous. This was the first time she'd ever made out with a girl before, and to suddenly be invited into the bedroom was a bit daunting. She looked into Tori's eyes, though, and suddenly felt herself more at ease. From the look on her face, Tori was just as nervous as she was.
"Okay. But just keep in mind; this is still kind of new to me."
"Don't worry I'll show you everything you need to know"
They both laughed at that. As they got up, Jade looked over at Tori a bit mischievously.
"You know," she began, "Cat left before the end of the film."
"Hey, that's right." Tori said, shutting the bedroom door behind her. "He he, I won! Cool. Thanks Jade."
"Anytime." She said, reaching over to turn off the light.