A/N: Another idea from smardiculous.
"This isn't going to work," Jade lamented as she slumped on the bench. "It's a stupid idea anyway."
The brunette got tapped hard in the back of the head by Miranda, the blonde pitcher.
"Oh no, you're not backing out now."
Jade looked up with an annoyed expression because she anticipated a lecture.
"I have heard you yammering on and on and on about Tori Vega. Two years I had to listen to your babbling about her eyes, her smile, her perfect skin, how sweet she is...ENOUGH!"
Luckily it was only practice and they were the only ones in the dugout at this moment. Jade and Miranda have been on the Hollywood Arts softball team since the latter half of sophomore year. Becoming teammates and friends in their own right; they're talked boys in Miranda's case and girls in Jade's. Or to be more precise, one girl in particular: Tori Vega.
Jade was the kind of person who would tell it like it is, despite whose feelings she would hurt. Fortunately for her, nobody had ever asked her if she had the love jones for Tori. But Miranda didn't have to ask because she had heard so much about Tori that she felt compelled to help Jade. The pair hatched a plan for Jade to ask Tori out, since she was too nervous to ask her point blank.
Tori just happened to catch practice most days after school, as well as actual games. She normally sat between home and third base. Jade knew if Miranda threw the right pitch and she hit it square with the right stance; it would be a guaranteed foul ball and make it toward the stands near Tori. And this ball would have a special message for a special half Latina.
"You're gonna do this," Miranda held up a ball. "TO-DAY."
Jade had to admit she was right. Here they were in senior year and during spring. That meant she only had a couple of months to profess her feelings to Tori before she went off to college somewhere and would potentially lose her forever.
"Gimme," huffed Jade when she snatched the ball and took out her pen and began to scrawl a note. "But what if she says no?"
Miranda threw up her hands, "Then we know for sure she definitely doesn't swing that way because who would say no to you? You look like Madonna in A League of Their Own."
"Gee thanks," Jade chuckled.
Actually that description wasn't too far off. Even in her uniform with hat, her porcelain skin and piercing eyes and pouting lips shown through. Jade blew on the ball a little bit to help the ink dry before tossing it off to Miranda.
"Let's do this," the blonde grinned, walking out onto the field. Jade followed shortly behind her, grabbing a bat on her way to the plate.
Jade took a moment to look out into the stands and spotted Tori in her usual spot. The tan girl smiled friendly and waved like she always did which made Jade's heart fill up with butterflies. The brunette took a deep breath, paying attention to Miranda's body. She saw her in action enough times to know when she was about to make a trick pitch. The ball left her hand and Jade gave it a good swing and nailed the ball on the bat's sweet spot, sending it toward her desired target.
Tori really admired how amazing Jade was at the game. She wasn't the sporty type and when she had the occasional date, the guy would drag her to a game of some kind. She made a promise to herself that the last thing she would do was date an athlete. But truth be told; if Jade were to ask her out, Tori would likely say yes.
Ever since freshman year, Tori was dumbstruck by the girl. She was the whole package; smart, talented, achingly beautiful. But Tori felt someone like her was out of her league. That didn't stop her from catching Jade's shows where she demonstrated how incredible an artist and entertainer she was. And when she joined the softball team, Tori saw another side of her. The pale girl never looked nervous out on the field, she was always in her zone. Tori deeply admired Jade on many levels, using her as a model to push her own stuff more like to be a better actress or singer.
If she couldn't be with her, Tori found serenity in the hopes that one day she would be like her.
CRACK!
Before Tori could react, there was the pitch and the swing and now a little white cannonball was hurtling at her. Naturally, she flinched but the ball landed several feet away from her on the row below.
"Little help?" called out Miranda from the pitcher's mound.
Tori nodded and pursued the ball to throw it back into play. She finally found it underneath a seat and picked it up. Before getting ready to throw it toward the field (to the best of her "abilities") Tori noticed there was something written on it. It was small but she could make it out.
Watching helplessly from home, Jade felt like she was going to throw up. She had wished it was a fair ball so she could run and focus on something else. Jade could tell from way over here that Tori was reading it right now. It needn't take long at all to read.
The message on the ball was simply: "Tori, I might strike out asking but will you go out with me this Friday night?"
Jade bit her lip for there was nothing more lame than a sports analogy. But when it came to Tori, she didn't put a lot of stock into what was cool or uncool. In fact, Tori had the ability to make Jade feel off-kilter.
She could see Tori grab her backpack and start running toward the steps, exiting the stands.
"Damn, I blew it" she thought. "So stupid..."
Jade looked at Miranda with a hopeless expression but the blonde pointed back at her. She turned around and there was Tori behind the fence where the catcher was. Her breathing gave away that she was just running.
"I wanted you to hear me when I said yes," Tori huffed, smiling.
Jade's eyes widened, "Really?"
"Uh-huh" she nodded. "Be at my house by six?"
"Y-y-yes."
"Awesome sauce" and then Tori took out the ball, brandishing it. "And I'm keeping this, All The Way Mae."
"Hah! Told you!" exclaimed Miranda from the mound.
Tori wiggled her fingers as she waved goodbye, grinning the whole time. When she vanished, a horrible feeling plagued Jade's stomach.
"Oh crap!" she said.
Miranda was coming up behind her so she had heard that. "What?"
"Today's Wednesday."
"So?" the blonde asked.
"SO?" Jade turned to her. "That means I only have two days to plan a date with Tori!"
"You'd better get crackin'" Miranda chuckled.
Jade raced home, went up to her room and plopped on her bed. From there she began to ponder about what to do for her first date with Tori. Jade wanted everything to be ideal and perfect, but what to do?
Usually when Jade was stumped she would listen to music to help her think. She crawled to the left side of her bed where she had about two shelves of CD's, mostly classical and soundtracks. She detested most pop music. Thumbing through the titles, she came across the soundtrack to the 1978 movie Grease. Studying the album art, it suddenly struck her.
Tori had this preoccupation with 1950's/early 1960's campy kitsch. Kind of like Jade's proclivities with dark and Gothic aesthetics. While the late 60's were about mind expansion, the 70's were gritty, etc...; that window starting in the 50's was this bizarre idealized American landscape. The ironic thing was such a period was not permissive for something like two girls going out on a date. But that didn't stop John Waters from appropriating that squeaky clean time to his works like Cry-Baby and Hairspray.
To get inspired, Jade spent the rest of the day marathoning movies like Grease, American Graffiti, Hairspray, Back to the Future, etc. that would look back on those times in either a nostalgic or subversive way. It began to become clearer to her. There were gay themes then but because of the time it came out in different ways (no pun intended). Jade was understanding how the fashions, interior designs and music would be popular to audiences today. This was Tori's way of admiring the strange and it intrigued Jade. She did this until she fell asleep.
By Thursday, Jade had a notebook bursting with ideas and proceeded to make arrangements.
Jade's black Ford Mustang pulled into the Vega driveway. She looked at the door and checked her phone. On time, but no sign of Tori. Jade sighed and got out of the car and knocked on the front door.
The door swung open and a tall, chiseled man of about 40 answered.
"You must be she," he said almost ominously.
"Jade West," she spat out feeling like she was in court. "I am here to take Tori out. May I come in?" Her hands started shaking.
Chuckling he said "I know who you are Jade." He then stepped aside and opened the door more "Come on in."
This wasn't her first time in the Vega living room. She had been there many times with their friends working on some project or another. But this time Jade felt a heaviness over the whole thing.
"Where is Tori?" she asked.
David Vega looked toward the stairs and shrugged, "She should be a few minutes. Tori let me know you would be here around 6. And they way she had been talking, she wouldn't miss this for anything."
"Oh," Jade said sitting down on the couch.
He continued to stand, making her feel a little uncomfortable.
"Jade, how long have I known you?"
"A few years...I guess" she replied nervously.
David let out an audible sigh and sat on a chair adjacent to the couch.
"She's my youngest, you know" he said. "And unlike her sister she hadn't gone on too many dates. Not that I blame her; they guys turned out to be complete dicks. But you...you're different."
"Mr. Vega, if you're wondering if I would hurt Tori I promise you I wouldn't."
He leaned back in his chair, "I'm just curious why you asked her out in the first place."
Jade took a deep breath and prepared herself to answer, "I've always liked your daughter, sir. And it took a long time, too long, for me to work up the guts to ask her out. Someone as nice and wonderful as Tori...I dunno...felt better to risk rejection by going for someone out of your league than living with the regret of never trying."
He nodded and made a half smile, "Good answer."
"DAD!"
All eyes were on the stairs. Tori was on her way down, hands on hips.
"Are you interrogating my date?"
"I'm a cop," he shrugged. "I interrogate."
"Oh, and what did we find?"
David stood up and motioned toward Jade.
"That you were rude making this lovely girl wait."
"I had to make sure I looked nice," Tori retorted.
Tori was wearing a baby blue poodle skirt with a pink sweater.
"Yeah you do," Jade nodded.
Mr. Vega cleared his throat, warning Jade.
She looked at him and let out a sheepish "Sorry."
"We should be going," Tori said taking her red and white school jacket with the big HA initials on it. "Where are we going?"
Jade stood up and met with Tori "It's a surprise."
"Surprise?" the half Latina raised an eyebrow.
"I hope you'll like it."
Tori looked back to her dad as she opened the door, "Bye dad, I shouldn't be too late."
"Okay," he smirked. "And Jade?"
"Yes?"
"You're a ball player, right?"
Jade nodded.
"Just watch it with those bases."
"DAD! REALLY?"
He laughed "I'm just kidding, go and have a good time."
As they walked to the car, Tori began to fully take it what Jade was wearing. She had tight cheetah-pattern pants, black boot and a leather jacket. They were quite the pair; like Rizzo taking Sandy on a date.
Jade got the door for Tori and she lightly curtseyed at the gesture and got in.
"So, where are we going?"
The pale girl gripped the steering wheel in anticipation, "You'll see."
Jade drove for a while, the sun was beginning to set. Finally, she came across to a building painted bright red with neon signs galore.
"What is this place?"
"A little place I found called Donna's"
Once they parked, Jade went around and got the door for Tori before she even had the chance. They went inside and were immediately sent back to the 1950's, or rather how a movie remembered the 50's. There was a jukebox, a soda jerk, the whole deal. All of the tables were a ring around the building and in the center was a roller skating area.
The girls were quickly shown to their table, where they ordered a large pepperoni and mushroom pizza plus a large hand-spun chocolate shake. The waiter, who was dressed like James Dean, said the shake will be out soon and the pizza would be a matter of minutes.
Jade looked around the establishment and sighed.
"Something wrong?" Tori asked.
"I was a little disappointed," Jade replied. "Never been a James Dean fan. Kind of hoping we would get served by Marilyn Monroe over there."
Tori looked across a few tables "Which one? There are two Marilyn Monroes."
"No, there's not" Jade shook her head and pointed to one table "That's Marilyn Monroe..." and then the one where Tori was originally looking "and that's Mamie Van Doren. I don't see Jayne Mansfield, so it must be her night off."
"Good eyes," Tori smiled.
"But none of them hold a candle to you," Jade added.
Brown eyes softened at the sentiment, "Well don't you know how to make a girl feel special."
They talked for a little bit more until the large chocolate milkshake came. It was in this shiny, tall cup with fluffy whipped cream and a cherry rising above the rim. The girls both opened their straws and stuck them into the shake.
Tori stopped sipping and laughed to herself.
Jade stopped a second later "What?"
"It's really good," she giggled.
"Sure is," Jade agreed. "We may have to get another."
Soon, the pizza arrived. It looked incredible, the toppings poking out of the glimmering cheese. Jade normally didn't care for crust but it was cooked so perfectly, that she found herself not leaving the crust behind; it was good and soft on top and crispy on the bottom.
After a couple slices, Jade asked if Tori wanted to roller skate.
"I don't know," Tori shook her head. "Haven't done it in a while."
Jade took her hand "Me either, lets go."
Before they knew it, the pair were renting skates and tying them on. Once they entered the hardwood floor, they began to fly across out of control. Jade was laughing at how bad they were, anticipating falling on the floor. Meanwhile, Tori screamed the whole way, grabbing onto Jade for support who wasn't very stable herself. After an intense three minutes of trying to maintain, they collided into one of the barriers coated in carpeting.
"Okay, I don't think skating is for us" Tori said.
"Agreed." Jade looked up. "Hey, look. There's an arcade here too."
"That sounds...great. Now let's get these death shoes off."
The arcade was a little less authentic to the 50's but it had a neat combination of old and new games in it. There were recent things like DDR and fully interactive racing games. But there was also an original Pac-Man cabinet, a Dragon's Lair game that ran on laserdiscs, and even an old school Donkey Kong. But Jade's eyes were drawn to the pinball machines all lined up in the back. Their flickering lights and sound effects were calling out to her.
Jade found her machine with the Bally's Kiss machine from 1978. Either this was fully restored or someone took good care of it because it looked brand new. Jade was convinced that she was born in the wrong decade. Not just the fact she preferred older movies and music and TV; but also she could see herself as a pinball wizard. And she was about to demonstrate to Tori that she knows her way just as well around a marble as she does a baseball.
"Ready to be impressed?" Jade asked Tori, brandishing two quarters.
"Oh, show me" she grinned.
One of the dealmakers with choosing this vintage machine was the plunger. Jade preferred pulling back on an old-school plunger to launch the ball into play. She couldn't stand modern machines that have you simply press a button. The little metallic ball was shot onto the surface and the magic began. Jade was so quick, she always had the flippers in position when the ball came near. Points were racking up like crazy. Before Tori knew it, Jade had already gone passed 400,000 points before she finally had to use her next ball.
After her turn, the machine went bonkers and the scoreboard read 666,000. Tickets then came rushing out of the machine and Jade snatched them, rolling them up as she went because there were so many.
Tori's eyes widened "You are incredible."
"Thanks," Jade smirked. "Hours of practice pay off eventually."
"Let me try," Tori exclaimed.
"Okay," Jade said. "I'll be right back." She held up her roll of tickets. "I'm gonna play a couple more games. I'm gonna win you something yet."
Tori shook her head, "Silly, you don't have to get me anything."
"Too late, I see skee-ball."
And with that, the dark-haired girl vanished.
After about fifteen minutes, Jade returned and saw Tori struggling with the pinball machine.
"Having trouble?"
Tori gave a look, "What makes you say that?"
Jade pointed to the lackluster scoreboard "You're still in the triple digits."
"Help me, please?" Tori asked with her big brown eyes. How could Jade refuse that.
"Okay, let me show you."
Jade positioned herself behind Tori, placing her hands over hers. Once the ball was launched into play, Jade caressed her fingers right above Tori's to signal for her to press the respective button.
"Your eye needs to always be on the ball; that is absolute. And when you make the flippers move, anticipate the ball. If you wait too long, never mind missing it; you might hit it at the wrong angle and not get the bonus round."
Tori started to get the hang of it after a few minutes and soon enough, Jade was able to stop being the puppet master and Tori was racking up points on her own. But Jade's hands had to go somewhere so they began to snake around Tori's waist.
"Hey Jade?"
"Yes?" she replied.
"I have a small confession to make."
"What's that?"
Tori turned back and blushed "I can actually play pinball well. I only pretended so that you would end up doing what you're doing now."
"You sly girl," Jade tightened her grip into a full hug.
Jade started to blush herself because of her thoughts about potential future dates. Maybe when she hugs Tori from behind in the future, her hands may go higher or lower. California had no shortage of cute tan girls but Jade knew she found the one that got her motor running.
When all was said and done; the girls went up to the counter to claim their prizes. With what Tori earned, she gave Jade a skull and crossbones necklace. With all of the many tickets Jade earned, however, she was able to get the fourth priciest item on the top shelf: a neon purple gorilla that was about a third of Tori's height.
The pair returned to their table and ordered another shake, talking more and more. They just had the best time in the world.
Jade drove Tori up to her house. She let the radio stay on while parked because Meghan Trainor was on and Tori liked her music. Once the song was over, Jade cut the ignition and got out of the car only to come around and let Tori out. They walked up to the front door, Tori still holding onto her gorilla.
"This was so nice," Tori beamed. "I really had a great time."
Jade sighed and said "No one on this planet is qualified to describe how I felt when you said yes."
"Awww," Tori said. "How did I land a date with someone so sweet?"
"I dunno, can we find out with another date? Maybe another after that?"
Tori raised an eyebrow and did her best southern belle impersonation "Well, that would make a lady think somebody wanted her as their girlfriend."
"Wait," Jade said. She then dug out a baseball from her jacket that was waiting under seat in the car. "So far, I've had good luck with this method."
Tori giggled and took the ball, seeing something written on it.
"You're my favorite catch. Will you be mine?"
Her heart skipped a beat when she read that and saw Jade biting her lip in anticipation.
The half Latina grabbed Jade by the jacket and smirked "Does this answer your question?"
Before anything else could be said, Tori's lips crashed onto Jade's. They could feel the electricity running through their bodies. Jade's hands, once again, found their way around Tori. The kiss broke but Tori snatched a small one on the corner of Jade's mouth.
"Wow," Jade sighed.
"I was gonna say that" said Tori. "You got practice again tomorrow?"
Jade nodded, "Sure do."
"I'll be there."
"Great," Jade chuckled as she backed away toward her car.
Tori opened the door and waved like she did in the stands "Goodnight, Jade."
"Goodnight, Tori."
Jade got home feeling absolutely ecstatic. She had to bury her face into her pillow because she had to let out her joy into a scream.
Just then, her phone vibrated and she immediately grabbed it. It was a text message from Tori.
It read: "Thinking about you still. Feel like I'm the one who hit a home run."
Jade stuck her thumb in her mouth and bit on it, just flummoxed about how much she's in love.
She began to drift into sleep, fantasizing about one day having Tori to herself under the bleachers after a big game.
Nothing wrong with some extra innings.