Tori's POV

They say love comes after lust. That there's no such thing as love at first sight-only lust at first sight, and if you let that lust grow properly, you get love.

I, for one, don't know much about either.

All I know is that the first time I saw Jade, I got this feeling that started in my toes and jumped around my nerves, settling in my stomach. It felt a lot like lightning.

Now, I'm pretty happy I guess. Something very awesome happened about six months ago that changed both our lives-for the better.

I finish putting on my makeup and am about to leave the bathroom when my phone rings.

Jade's POV

"I have no idea what to do." I whisper to the brunette. Her hand is on her hip and her head is cocked.

I'm sobbing. My shoulders are heaving. My hands are shaking.

And then there's Vega. Fucking perfect Vega.

I want someone. I don't care who. I just…I need someone to hold me when the nightmares get too bad or when I'm too weak to actually put myself together.

There was Beck.

Never questioning, always helping.

I wipe my eye slightly like it'll do anything, rocking back and forth. I'm aware of how white my knuckles are and how my hands are balled into fists, but I don't care.

"I just want someone to be there." I whisper in defeat, tears subsiding, sobs still arriving. "I want someone to love me."

I turn to her. "Tori…" My voice cracks and I let out a mangled, raw sob.

Tori scoots closer to me, holding out her hand. I take it and she leads me up to her bedroom, a place I've never actually been in before, a place I've lied about snooping in but really just hid in the bathroom.

The walls are a tolerable light blue, like a robin's egg. I go to sit in a chair, but she motions for me to join her on her bed.

I feel like I'm shattered.

Tori's POV

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Victoria Vega?"

"Um…yeah?"

"Your friend was involved in a very serious car crash. A drunk driver swerved and T-Boned the driver's side. She then spun out of control and hit the barrier. We had to operate on her stomach as there was a piece of her steering wheel caught there."

My voice is hollow. "Is she-Is she okay?" The woman on the other end hasn't specified which friend, but I know who.

"Jade is incredibly lucky to be alive right now, in any state."

I breathe out.

"However…there were complications-irreversible effects."

Jade's POV

Without meaning to, I hug Tori, and feel a sharp, hot pain in my ribs. I push my hand to my chest and almost faint when it comes back red.

I blink and the blood and the pain disappear, as quickly as they had come. Tori gives me a hug and I get these weird, warm butterflies in my wrist that feel a lot like needles. Tori's looking at me oddly now.

I close my eyes, and I feel like I'm floating for a few seconds before a scene unfolds before me. There's a girl on a table-cold, hard. Her eyes are frozen and open and ghostly. There's so much blood and it tints my vision red.

There's a team of surgeons hovering over her and her mouth is moving slowly, saying words no one can hear. She looks like me, but she can't be me, because I'm with Tori and I'm not on an operating table. That's not my blood, or my black hair, or me.

I open my eyes and Tori's still staring at me, still concerned, and I just give her another hug.

"What's up with you?" she murmurs.

"Other than the fact that I'm upset and pretty much sobbing at you? Not much." I choke out.

I let a short laugh escape my lips and take a moment to just breathe in. She smells like vanilla and rain.

I pull back and she cocks her head slightly, asking a question without speaking.

I lean in slightly, a brow raised.

Apparently, that's what she was waiting for, because she crashes her lips to mine and her arms snake around my back.

Then, I get the oddest sensation of absolute nothing. It's in my fingers and it spreads up to my elbows before I feel them again, but for a moment, it was as if I had nothing there.

Tori's smiling into the kiss and so am I, our lips molding and meshing like two pieces of clay.

Tori's POV

"What kind of complications?" I ask, my lip quivering.

"Your friend-"

"Girlfriend." I correct before blushing despite myself.

"Your girlfriend is paralyzed from the waist-down, as far as they know. It could, however, be as much as from the neck down. Also, we aren't sure how brain damaged she is. She'll be out of surgery in about ten minutes or so."

My breath catches and tears are flooding down my cheeks.

"When we got her to the ambulance, she was still conscious…she said your name, so we figured we'd call you. You're in our system from the broken nose, so we found your number rather easily."

"How does it look for her?" I ask, my words melding with my short breaths.

"…You should probably come say your goodbyes. I'm sorry."

I feel like I've been punched in the stomach, and I double over, dropping my phone. I stumble out of the bathroom and down the hallway, clutching at my chest and feeling a weight settle over me.

The bell rings and I walk into Sikowitz's class. Everyone's already seated, and they turn to me.

A strangled sob drills itself out of my lungs and I lurch forward.

"Tori? Are you sick?" Cat whispers.

"No-No…but…" I can't finish the sentence.

"I'm gonna go to the hospital now." I whisper and Sikowitz doesn't object.

"Cat, Andre come with me." I whisper.

Sikowitz nods and the two follow me out the door.

I sprint to my car and sit in the driver's seat, sobbing for a good five minutes. Finally I start the ignition and drive very slowly, until I see Jade's car and another car smashed together, and I blink but it doesn't disappear.

She was so close to school, so close. Less than two minutes away. Two fucking minutes.

Her car is destroyed completely, and there's blood –Jade's blood-everywhere. There's a trail of blood on the ground, blood on the seat, blood spattered across the windshield.

I pull into the parking lot that the car was coming out of and stare at it, the midnight blue of her SUV melding with the cheap white of his truck.

Cat pats my back uncomfortably, still blissfully unaware of what's happened.

"She was so goddamn close, Cat." I whisper and Andre's the first to get it. His face pales and he swallows heavily, his eyes fixated upon her car.

Cat notices a few seconds later. She shrieks.

Jade's POV

Tori and I are kissing; why do I feel like I'm sad? Then, I close my eyes again.

The surgeons have left the girl in the operating room. She's swollen and bruised and her eyes are still open, blinking occasionally. Her mouth is still moving, chanting what now looks like a name, and she's disturbingly pale.

I open my eyes and see Tori's hands start to roam slowly, up and down my back, then around my stomach, and finally I just nod slowly and her impossibly warm skin melts into my own cold torso.

She doesn't move it after that and I creep a hand so we're even, one hand on each other's stomachs, neither of us daring to move.

Then, I feel it. The delicate swipe of her tongue. I tap my fingers against her stomach and I open my mouth, letting her explore as I tap.

We finally break apart for air and God, I want to do that again.

I push her down slightly and her eyes widen before she relaxes.

A few minutes later, I let her up and we laugh, laugh for five minutes. My stomach hurts, but I realize that I've stopped crying.

"Hey, I've been meaning to tell you…" Tori laughs, "That every time I'm around you I feel like I've been electrocuted." She finishes, her laughs dying down.

My mouth hangs open for a while and I see her expression go from gleeful to horrified to panicked to dejected in a few seconds.

I sweep a piece of hair out of her eyes and furrow my eyebrows.

"Me too, actually."

Tori's POV

We finally get to the hospital and the nurse makes us wait in the waiting room for another twenty minutes before the doctor comes out with his serious face and graying hair.

"Tori Vega?"

I stand up really fast and sprint to him.

"I understand my nurse called you. Who are you to Jadelyn West?"

I'm vaguely aware of Cat and Andre behind me, looking incredibly concerned.

"Girlfriend." I breathe out and he nods, checking something on his paper.

"And who are they to her?" he says gruffly.

"Best friends." I choke out. He nods and checks something else.

"She's going to be in the ICU for another hour, and right now we're only allowing one visitor in. However, we would be able to let the other two stand outside her room-there's a large glass observation panel. Also, she's in shock right now, so badly to the point where she's breathing and blinking but completely unresponsive. Her brain might be damaged, we don't exactly know. We expect her to slip into a coma soon, or snap out of it. Either of these scenarios could be extremely dangerous.

"Her parents have been informed, but it appears her mother is deceased and her father is in Morocco. He refuses to come."

I nod and glance at the other two, who look really confused.

"I'll go in first." I whisper and we follow him down the winding halls. My heartbeat is deafening, thrumming erratically against my chest.

He stops in front of a door and sure enough, there's a window you can see into. He nods and leaves.

"Why'd you lie, Tori? You were the one called, I'm sure he would have let you see her anyway." Andre whispers.

"I didn't." I swallow and wait for a few minutes.

My hand freezes on the handle, but finally I swallow the rising bump in my throat and step inside the freezing room.

My throat catches when I see her.

Jade's POV

Tori smiles, the biggest smile I've ever seen on her face ever.

I grin despite myself, a giddy, happy grin. She kisses me again, but this time doesn't wait for permission and goes about exploring every part of my mouth with hers. I smile-no, smirk-into her lips and she smirks back.

We finally break apart and I feel like I can almost hear footsteps. It's really starting to freak me out.

"So what are we exactly?" I ask softly.

She bites her lip. "I think we're girlfriends…" she trails off.

"Yeah, I think we are."

The laughing resumes.

Tori's POV

The first thing I do is hold her hand. It's cold.

Her eyes are open, scarily so. A normal person would close them, but a) she's blinking and b) I love her eyes.

Then I kiss her, not her lips, but her forehead and then her cheek. I stop there.

The EKG beeps steadily next to me.

"Come on baby. Come on. You can do it." I whisper, squeezing her hand.

"I love you, so, so much Jade. It's been like that since I first met you. Please, please wake up."

I hear a door close behind me and Cat's standing there.

"The nurse said there could be two people in here now. Andre went to go tell Helen and Sikowitz."

There are tears running down her face.

I nod and glance back down at Jade.

"I'm…God, baby, you were so close, less than two minutes away."

Jade's POV

I blink, but Tori's not there anymore. It feels like the entire scene is melting away from me and I blink.

I'm at my house now, Tori's next to me.

She smiles and I give her a hug before smiling back. She reaches up and meets my lips.

I flutter my eyes shut and push her down on my bed.

I open my eyes for a split second and realize she's panting softly. I grin and keep kissing her, harder, harder, until she squeaks slightly. I shove my tongue into hers and they duel for a few minutes before she gives up. I feel her cool hands against my hot back, soothing the skin, and I pin her shoulders down.

I take a break to breathe and she mutters something incomprehensible.

"What was that, darling?" I whisper, grinning from ear to ear.

"I said that if you leave me like this I'm going to kill you." She growls and my eyes widen at the exact same time that my mouth drops.

"Um, okay…" I whisper and I keep kissing her until the scene melts around me and I'm blinking slowly. It's bright.

Tori's POV

I kiss her frozen lips and Cat squeaks, but I don't care. I pull away quickly, though, because she tastes like blood.

Then, she turns her head towards me, slowly, slowly.

I blink.

"I-I-I-I love…you." Her speech is slurred and I frown at that.

Brain damage.

I run a hand through her hair.

"Jade, honey, its okay." I choke back the tears threatening to spill over. "You don't have to stay like this honey."

"I-I di-didn't se-see 'im com-coming, Tor-ri…" her eyes are glistening.

"Hey, hey, Jade, it's okay. I'll be okay. You'll be okay."

"No, no I-I-I was t-texting you…I-I w-w-wanted to-to…"

Her breathing gets really shallow and she swallows slowly.

"I can't-can't mo-move my body, T-Tori." She whispers. Her eyes are scared and they close for several minutes.

"I know baby, I know. And I love you so much. Andre and everyone else is going to show up really, really soon. Cat's already here."

I glance at Cat, who's staring past both of us, tears trickling around her nose.

"Jade." She mumbles.

"He-Hey Kitty." She whispers, and Cat's shoulders start to shake. So do mine.

"I l-l-love y-you too, C-C-C-Cat." Jade whispers.

Cat wipes her eyes and moves out of the way.

"I-I-I-I'm so, s-so sorry, T-Tori." She whispers.

I shake my head. "No, baby, don't be sorry. Don't even be sad. The guy who hit you was drunk, honey. I love you so much."

The nurse calls me out and I haven't realized the tears streaming down my face.

"She can't say stuff without stuttering and slurring, also I think she's paralyzed from the shoulders down." I whisper, and the nurse makes several marks on her papers.

"How much time does she have left?" I whisper, terrified of the answer.

"As long as she holds on." The nurse swallows. I can tell she doesn't like telling me this. "But if she decides to hold on, by the end of tonight. She's allowed more visitors now, but we aren't moving her because we don't want her to be stressed."

I nod tersely and she walks away.

I see Andre, Beck, and Robbie barreling down the hallway and they skid to a stop in front of me. All three are crying.

"Um, guys." I whisper. "She's…she's not…my…" I collapse into a fit of sobs and Andre holds me.

I walk back into the room and Cat steps back. I look at Jade's scared eyes, and something inside me breaks.

"Honey, baby, don't be afraid, okay? You can let go." I whisper.

"B-b-but w-what ab-b-bout you?" she whispers back. "And th-them?" her eyes motion to all our friends in the back of the room.

I kneel next to her, holding her gaze.

"We'll all be okay, even me. You'll be okay too, Jadey. You'll be fine."

"B-But I d-d-d-d-don't want to m-make you sa-sad." She says softly. "I rea-really do-don't."

"I know baby, I know. I love you so much, so, so much. You can let go. It's okay. Just close your eyes and go to sleep." I whisper, blissfully unaware of my world other than Jade. I feel tears slide down my cheek.

I move her hand and kiss it. Her breathing is dangerously shallow.

Finally, I kiss her lips, and I hear a few short gasps around me but I don't give a shit right now. Jade moves her lips slowly and I wait for either of us to break away but we don't, because we're going to have to wait a long time to do this again. So we just stay there, breathing against each other.

I pull away very, very slowly, and hold her hand. It's limp.

"I-I-I do-don't wanna g-go." She mumbles and I nod.

"I know love, but it'll be okay. You'll wait for me, right?"

Jade nods, grimacing viciously. "I l-love y-you." She whispers. "I-I t-think I-I'm go-gonna go n-now." She says slightly louder and I nod.

"I love you too."

Her eyes close for a few minutes and everyone's holding their breath until a single sound cuts through the air.

Tears flood my vision and I feel like collapsing so I do.

The nurse comes in and everyone's crying and the beep is cut off and then I'm handed a bag with her phone and a few other things. There's a ring, another ring, and her necklace that I gave her for her birthday. The rings are really pretty, blue stones embedded around the silver band.

I look at her phone. There's a draft of a message, and I click on it through the cracked screen and the plastic. It's to me.

"I want to marry you some day, you know."

They say love comes after lust. That there's no such thing as love at first sight-only lust at first sight, and if you let that lust grow properly, you get love.

I, for one, don't know much about either.

All I know is that the last time I saw Jade, I had this feeling in my stomach like I was going to die. It felt a lot like thunder.

AN: Depressing, right? Idk, I'm updating Roadwork soon, so there's that. I've just been struggling with that chapter, so I wrote this because I'm a procrastinator and I've been sorta sad for the past few days for many reasons.

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