A/N: Invader Johnny strikes again. Guess I'm putting this break on hold; these intriguing prompts cannot be ignored LOL.
Hope you all like this one
Jade's plane touched down at Flughafen Berlin-Tegel or, TXL. She had never been in Germany but it was on her personal bucket list of European countries to visit. Jade wasn't interested in visiting the old beer halls, like most American tourists. In fact, she couldn't stand Oktoberfest. But the literary and cinematic legacies of Germany always intrigued her. From the Grimm's fairy tales as a child to the great works of Fassbinder and Herzog that she had discovered in her World Cinema I class.
But this wasn't a sojourn to absorb some of the culture. Jade was on a mission. You might even say that it was 'family business'.
She had to find that girl with olive skin and voice of pure joy.
As Jade was driven by taxi, she had passed several high end chocolatier shops. While the aroma wafted across the street and penetrated the car window, Jade had to refuse. All chocolate did was remind her was of Tori's eyes and hair. The Goth boned up on her German on the long plane ride and taught herself enough to instruct the driver to take her to Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam, just outside Berlin. The old studio city served as the backdrop for the epic masterpieces of Fritz Lang and Josef von Sternberg to name a couple. It's still in use today, only rivaled in sheer size by Shepperton and Pinewood which were in England.
She paid her fare and managed to get past security with the Authorized Personnel pass Sinjin forged for her. Jade reminded herself to hold her end of the bargain and bring the fuzzy-haired boy back an assortment of sausages. Jade felt confident as she walked around. She stuck out a little less in Europe than she did in the States. With her hair, piercings and clothes; she could easily pass for anything from a New Wave to punk to metal fan.
Jade eventually found the space on the studio dedicated to the upcoming Roman Polanski movie. After saying no for years because the subject hit too close to home, the auteur set out to make his now second film about the Holocaust.
It was there she saw her.
Tori Vega was talking with a couple of cast and crew (you could tell the former from the latter by their period clothes). The groups disbanded as Tori got into her dressing room. Jade saw her chance and ran to the door that bore her name. The dark haired girl took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After a few seconds it opened. Brown eyes went from jovial to agitated in a heartbeat.
"Who the hell are you?"
Jade was stunned. She could hear her own heart crack at such a callous question.
"I broke her" Jade thought. "I really fucked things up this time. Was I this cold when we first cross paths years ago? Karma's a bitch."
"Jade," Tori said. "What are you doing here? You flew all the way to Germany to talk to me?"
The Goth shrugged.
"Do you have any idea how insane that sounds?"
"Tori...I..."
The half Latina put up her palm.
"Save it," she hissed. "I'm in no mood to talk to you. All of you are on my shit list but there's a special spot for you."
"Don't do this..."
"You know despite the script and the scenery; its some girl from L.A. who made me depressed."
SLAM!
The door was mere centimeters from her face, so Jade felt as much force as that shutting door could bring without a mark to show for it. No physical one at least.
"How did I let this whole thing spin out of control?"
FLASHBACK
Cat was designing costumes for a local theater company. They were putting on a production of Cinderella. She was tasked with making outfits not just for the titular character but also Lady Tremaine and the ugly stepsisters and the prince and the fairy godmother. The list just went on and on. It was a lot of work bu the spunky little redhead was having the time of her life, doing what she was born to do and with one of her favorite stories ever.
This was a time when her and Jade and Tori and Trina were all living together while attending college at UCLA. The girls figured they could save a ton of money by pooling their resources and buying a duplex. It had a living room, dining area, spacious kitchen, two and a half bathrooms, a rec room but only three bedrooms.
Unfortunately, Tori drew the short straw and was stuck on the couch in the living room. She didn't mind for the first couple of nights but after throwing a party in the backyard with their old classmates, Tori couldn't sleep. Robbie brought over one of those horror movie trailer comp DVD's and while many were cheesy shlock, a few genuinely scared Tori. She didn't realize they did until she was alone downstairs in the dark so close to the front door.
Still a tiny bit buzzed, Tori wandered upstairs into Jade's room. The Goth was more malleable than usual because she was half asleep and nowhere near sober. So Tori climbed under the covers. Inhibitions were lowered, fear was prevalent, bare skin felt and smelled so good - naturally, one thing led to another. By the end of the week, Tori and Jade were an item and the three bedroom situation was no longer an issue.
On the first April Fool's Day of them being a couple, Jade felt a high school bitch relapse and pulled a prank on Tori. It was pretty funny in hindsight. Jade replaced everything of Tori's with dollhouse-sized replicas. Her hairbrush, clothes, car - Jade was grinning the whole time and the others marveled at the ingenuity of the whole thing.
Tori got her back though. Jade came home to find all of her scissors scotch taped to the ceiling. And Tori hid the ladder. Jade then came back by sneaking behind her while she was watching TV, with phone at the ready. Tori dropping her popcorn and hitting the ceiling got a lot of comments on The Slap. Andre suggested she get Jade back but Tori refused. She said it wouldn't be over because Jade would be competitive enough to start a prank war so she wasn't interested.
One night, Jade was looking for a dress to wear to a costume party and Tori offered to help. Her eyes were drawn to Cat's clothing rack. She grabbed one of the redhead's original creations and gave it to Jade, seeing that it was about her size.
As the night progressed, everyone was dancing. Slow, then more livelier. When Jade was dancing particularly aggressively, the fabric began to come apart and before she knew it Jade's dress was in tiny ribbons. Fortunately Jade wore bra and panties but the damage was done. After running away, embarrassed; Tori found her.
"What the fuck Tori!" screamed the pale girl.
"What?" the half Latina asked, confused.
Jade's eyes were ablaze. "You know the fuck what!" she bellowed, showing the tattered remains of her dress.
"I didn't do this," she pointed.
"Yeah, fucking right!" she bit back. "The dress you mysteriously found laying around just happened to fall apart after I pranked you last month? What; were you biding your time? Picking your moment?"
Now Tori was getting irritated. She folded her arms in disgust.
"You actually think I would do something like that to you on purpose?"
"Don't you get it?" Jade asked. "You fucking humiliated me out there! I was almost buck naked in front of those strangers!"
"Tori?" Trina asked as she came up behind Jade to drape her jacket over her. She looked back at the girl she normally butted heads with and gave her an appreciative nod. Trina locked eyes with Tori. "This was no joke, Tori. What if Jade was by herself and some creep tried something?"
Tori couldn't believe what she was hearing right now. Not only was Jade (who she said she loved the other night) and Trina (who she had known her whole life) would think she was capable of something so calculated and vicious. And to top it all off, they're making her feel worse by saying that this 'sabotaged' garment could have facilitated something far worse than any kind of humiliation.
It didn't matter anymore. Tori couldn't stand the judgmental eyes staring right at her. She had to get away.
Without saying a word more, Tori ran away in tears. When the girls returned to the house, Tori and most of her stuff was gone. She went back home to live with her parents, which became sole reason why Trina didn't bother to visit. Feeling a greater sense of being unwanted, Tori took that offer from a casting director who visited Hollywood Arts two years back. Her dad gave her some money to hold her over until the job started to pay her.
Next thing she knew, her career really took off. She had been in a strong of small, credible productions. Her mom called her when someone from work said they saw her at the Cannes Film Festival alongside Colin Firth and Audrey Tautou. She worked with some top filmmakers over the course of five years, including Guillermo del Toro and Terry Gilliam. Tori had this magnet for the most eccentric but rewarding directors.
Enter Roman Polanski. He said that he was an admirer of her work and asked if she was interested in working with him on his next film. And she agreed after reading the script that he co-wrote.
END OF FLASHBACK
Jade continued to talk through the door. She did not come all this was to give up after one clumsy attempt.
"Tori, please listen" Jade shouted from outside. "I found out what happened that night."
Tori didn't respond but she didn't tell her to go away either.
"Cat was making costumes for Cinderella and she was designing Cinderella's first dress - and that was the one you took for me. The stepsisters were supposed to rip it to shreds before she would get visited by the Fairy Godmother. It wasn't your fault, Tori. It was an accident!"
"I told you that, Jade" Tori finally said.
"I know but I wouldn't listen and I was so stupid..."
Tori opened the door, startling Jade.
"Do you understand why I was upset, Jade?"
Jade didn't answer, unsure if she was gonna set herself up for a bigger fall.
Brown eyes rolled before she continued. "I was hurt, Jade. It really disappointed me that you would think for a second that I would do something that cruel. Yeah, we've butted heads - I'm not stupid. But I've done nothing but be patient and loving toward you. And yeah, sometimes I can cut loose and get some of mine back. Like when I stuck your scissors to the ceiling. I knew it would piss you off but it didn't cross the line."
"At the time," Jade sighed. "I was just so embarrassed and so pissed off...I wasn't in my right mind."
Tori shook her head "Not good enough."
"What?"
"You hurt me Jade. I couldn't even stand to be at my own home because I knew my sister resented me..."
Jade held up her hands "But Tori, once Cat figured out what happened and told me; the first thing I did was tell Trina and the others it wasn't your fault."
"You think that's going to make it okay?"
"Tori, what do you want from me? I'm sorry okay! I pushed you away over something so stupid years ago and you've been off the grid since. The second...the second...I found out what really happened, I felt like complete shit. Here was this girl that I've grown to care about and I didn't even give her the courtesy to hear her explanation. No matter how many mistakes I make, none will be as big as when I drove you to flee your own home."
Tori ran over and hugged Jade's torso so hard she looked like she was going to split the girl in half.
"Took you long enough."
"I'm confused," Jade coughed, no longer deprived of oxygen.
"I was waiting for those words," Tori explained.
"What? 'I hate myself'?"
"No," Tori smiled. "You said you were sorry. You felt bad and you wanted to make things right. Yes, it is important to explain how this calamity happened but that's not what's important. It's about trust."
"I should've believed you."
"But you didn't."
Jade looked down. "So what now?"
"You mean where do we go from here?" Tori shrugged. "I don't know."
"HEY TORI!" a voice called out.
The girls turned and there was about six cast members walking over.
"Jade," Tori began pointing. "This is Sam, Keith, June, Harry, Lilian and Francis. Guys, this is Jade."
They happily exchanged handshakes.
"We were going to go out for dinner, if you wanted to join us" suggested Lillian.
"You're friend can come too" Sam added.
Tori took a long look at the Goth and sighed.
"Alright then," she replied. "Let's go."
Outside the tavern, Jade joined the one actor Francis for a smoke.
"Fresh air?" he asked her.
"Sort of," Jade shrugged. "The cigarettes here ain't bad."
"So tell me, how do you know Tori over there?"
Jade clicked her tongue. "We're acquaintances I guess. Mutual friends; that sort of thing."
"Ah," he nodded. "Nothing more than that?"
"No, I guess not. I mean I would like for there to be...but..."
Francis grinned, cigarette still between his lips. "Oh..." He then took it out so he could talk better. "I get it. You know about her...proclivities."
Jade nodded.
"Well, take my advice Jade. Nothing sweeps a lady off her feet like an old fashioned courting."
Jade raised an eyebrow.
"Charm her," Francis said. "Woo her. Make her feel special. It's a lot of groundwork and a lot of legwork but the rewards are great." He leaned back on an iron rail. "That is...unless you wanted a fleeting romance."
The brunette looked out onto the twinkling lights of the passing cars and buildings. In the dark, most cities looked the same to Jade. She honestly only knew she was in Germany from the conversations she would overhear. In fact, Jade didn't care all that much that she was in Germany.
What mattered was she was where Tori was and that was something. They had a good thing going and she blew it. It was like it didn't even happen. Now Jade understood. It was like before they got together, when there was that air of animosity. It was like someone pressed the reset button. Tori could've told Jade to leave again but she didn't. She must be hoping that Jade would keep coming back.
"That's it," Jade thought. "It's a do over. I have to win Tori all over again. It won't be easy but we WILL be something special again."
"No, Frank" Jade quipped. "I want Tori but I want all of her. Mind, body and spirit."
She turned around and walked back toward the door.
"Hey, Jade"
"Yeah?"
"Good luck."