Dan and Nick own Victorious (and iCarly), and they, along with Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins, Heath Seifert and Kevin Kopelow, own Good Burger. The songs that will be quoted later belong to the respective artists, writers and producers who made them. All I own is Built To Be Bad, Gratification, A Father's Sins And A Daughter's Revenge, The Monster In The Woods, 107 Jams (and 107 Jams Summer Fest), and SaveHut, which you may recognize from some of my other work.
As you can see, this is the follow-up to "What Happens After The Next Line", and there are references to the episodes "Prom Wrecker", "Who Did It To Trina?", "Jade Gets Crushed", "The Worst Couple", "The Hambone King" and "Tori Fixes Beck And Jade", among other episodes. Also, be warned that this story starts with a relatively long flashback with the last half of "...Next Line" as the main focus. And there may even be a familiar line or two that you might notice, if you've actually been paying attention to my work.
But anyway, without any more stalling, I give you "All Grown Up And Still In Love With You". Enjoy.
(Flashback: Hollywood Arts High School, Monday October 10, 2011)
It had been five days since he was in the school recording a song with her, and three days since he and Tori sung "365 Days" at the Friday night concert in the Asphalt Café. Now André and Jade were alone together in the janitor's closet at school, a place where many key conversations had taken place in the past, and now today in the present, the pair was discussing his recent strange behavior, or as he and his friends had called it, acting wonky.
Jade knew about what had led him to ask her to help him record a song, him going to Tori's house later in the night, and she still remembered the next day when he didn't let her listen to the song at school. But what she didn't know, at least not yet, was that she was the cause behind his antics.
"We were working hard on the song, so I couldn't really think about being scared," André said. "And you were actually being nice for a change, so that helped too."
"Well, believe it or not, even I can be nice... sometimes." The pair again began to laugh, before Jade quickly got back to the subject. "But seriously, that still doesn't explain why you've been acting so weird lately."
"Well... aside from not being able to think of a chorus, there wasn't any real issue. In fact, once you did the whole hand trick thing, that's kind of where everything started. Then when you sung that part from 'Okay', I was finished."
"What do you mean?"
"Once we left here and went home, I couldn't sleep, because I... I couldn't stop thinking about you." As André said this, Jade's eyes had practically shot open. If he didn't have her attention before, which was highly doubtful, then he definitely had it now. "I mean, it even got to the point where I rode my bike to the Vegas' place at 3 in the morning because of that."
"Okay, I get that you said that you couldn't sleep because you were thinking about me, but what about me could have possessed you to go talk to Vega at 3AM?" Jade asked, somewhat amused. "I mean, I know I might have the capability to keep people up at night, but it can't be so bad that it causes them to wake other people up from their sleep. So what gives, Harris?"
"What gives is that when I went to talk to Tori at 3AM the other night, it was because I had to tell her that I'm in love with you! Don't kill me!" André exclaimed in a panicked tone.
The new piece of information was shocking to Jade, to put it mildly. The Gothic thespian/songstress/writer had been known for having a cold, scary disposition, and she also had developed a dark side that had caused people, especially guys to be afraid of her, a trait that she would eventually admit to liking. But now, because of a rare moment of sweetness, she suddenly became the object of someone else's affection, and that someone else just so happened to be one of her oldest friends.
"So... you're in love with me?" Jade asked as she walked closer to André, resting her right hand on his left shoulder as the usually upbeat teen now had a hard time even looking her in her face.
"Yeah, I... I am. And if I'm not in love, then I might seriously have the strongest crush ever known to mankind. It's driving me nuts," André answered.
"Being in love with me is driving you nuts?"
"No, Jade, the simple fact that I'm in love with you isn't what's driving me nuts," André began. "You aren't the problem. I mean, you're smart, beautiful, you're talented. You're strong, you're honest - brutally honest, but you're still honest. And even though you usually act mean, I know that deep down, you're really sweet when you let yourself be that way. I've known it for years, but I really saw it come to light last week when we worked on the song together."
Jade briefly smiled at André's compliments, but it faded away quickly when she asked, "so if I'm not the problem, then what, or who is?"
Even with their personalities being the polar opposite of each other, André and Jade had been best friends for the past three years, and they had stuck by each other through a lot of wild instances. And it would have been easier for him to take the next step and ask her to be his girlfriend if it hadn't been for one thing, or rather one person.
"You and Beck have been two of my best friends for years. He's like the brother I don't have, and with me even thinking about you romantically, let alone being in love with you, it's like I'm stabbing him in the back a thousand times over, and I feel like shit because of it."
André had been best friends with Beck even longer (but not much longer) than he had been with Jade, and he had seen their relationship progress - and regress - from the very beginning. And as stated before, he knew having feelings for Jade, and eventually acting on them, was a bad idea mainly for those reasons.
Meanwhile, André went on to explain what happened after his and Jade's long-running studio session and his spur-of-the-moment visit to Tori's place later that night. Along with recording "365 Days", and not playing the song for her in front of Beck and Tori, his newfound love/crush had gotten so deep that what happened later almost infuriated Jade.
...Jade then asked André, "how did you get Vega to sing the song with you if she knew what it was about?"
"Well, believe it or not, Tori actually came up with the idea to sing it at the concert. She even asked if she could sing with me," André began. "It actually came up when I went back to her place the same day that I told you that I would e-mail you the song."
"So what happened this time?"
"See, she had sent me a text asking me to come over to her house. Then, once she finally came down after I got there, she had actually tried to imitate you, and - "
"She did what?" Jade asked in a stern tone.
"She tried to imitate you. It was like a role-playing exercise, basically," André continued.
"Okay, what the hell was she doing by trying to imitate me?"
"Wait, wait, wait. There wasn't anything bad about it, or at least it wasn't meant to be. See, Tori thought that if she dressed like you and acted like you, it would show me that it wasn't a good idea for me to be in love with you, and that would help me to get over my crush."
"Apparently, that didn't do anything to help you either."
"Nope. Even with her yelling and trying to insult me, it didn't make me give up my crush," André started. "In fact, at one point, I had even tried to kiss her because it reminded me of you. That's how messed up I've been over this."
From the second he met her after coming over to help Trina for the showcase, André and Tori were not only best friends, but in the time since then, they were practically inseparable, whether it was from working on songs that they would eventually perform, or just simply hanging out together. It was that bond that allowed him to go to her and tell her about his feelings, and, along with wanting to help André get over his crush, it was also why Tori was willing to go out on a limb and masquerade herself as Jade. André and Tori had developed a strong implied spark amongst themselves, and even without any truly romantic moments, it was hard not to think that they could have had something deeper than friendship if they simply would have realized it on their own.
But when André had tried to kiss Tori while she was "Jade", it served as a possible sign that his feelings for his longer-tenured friend were real. Up to that point, no other girl, including Sherry or Keiko, had drawn that much interest from him, despite the frequent habit of kissing one and his desperation to get to the other. And as close as they had become, not even Tori had been able to evoke that kind of emotion from the musician, at least not as herself.
Back to the present, what André had thought of as an ultimate death wish was actually anything but. In fact, the confession of his feelings had practically nailed the seemingly non-existent soft spot in Jade's heart. And little did he know that it would soon lead to something a bit deeper.
Now with her back against the door, Jade began blinking repeatedly, trying to fight back tears as she had finally come to grips with everything that she had heard in the last few minutes. "So, this whole week, you've been acting so strange because you're in love with me, or at least because you have a crush on me."
"Yeah, that's pretty much the reason why. It's why I had - Jade, what's wrong?" Right as he was gonna finish his thought, André had noticed Jade beginning to cry, a task that would have been difficult had he not heard a sniffling noise, since there wasn't any trace of makeup running down her face with her tears.
"Nothing's wrong, it's just... I didn't think that there was any other guy who felt that way about me. I mean, my dad doesn't really care about me, and usually when somebody else says the kind of things you did, it's usually coming from somebody like Sinjin or Robbie, or some other desperate nerd who'll take any attention from a girl that they can get. And even though Beck says it sometimes, I have to wonder how much he really means it because of all the attention that he gets from other girls. But hearing you tell me everything that you just told me, it sounds so real, like you really mean it."
"Well, yeah, I do mean it, Jade,"André assured his friend. "I mean, I'm not completely sure that I'm in love with you as much as I say I am, but all of those things that I told you since we've been in here about what and who you are, I was dead serious about all of that."
After wiping away the remainder of her tears, Jade then walked back towards André, then said to him, "again."
"What do you mean, 'again'?" André asked, confused.
"All of the things that you told me that I was, I want you to tell them to me again."
Taking a deep breath just as he had done before the conversation originally began, André then said, "okay. You're smart, you're talented, you're beautiful - "
Just as André was gonna finish repeating his compliments of Jade, she then placed her hands on his face as she went to kiss him. Once they had started locking lips, she then wrapped her arms around his neck, and in return, he moved his hands down her back and briefly gripped her waist, and eventually, he slowly but surely grabbed her butt, and not only did Jade not stop him, but the move had even encouraged her to keep kissing him.
Even if it was just for a short time, the kiss was a sign that André and Jade's friendship was now at a deeper point, and even though her feelings weren't as strong as his, she did have a higher value for the dreadlocked teen.
"...But all jokes aside, I do love you too, André. I can't really say that I'm in love with you, and I can't and won't dump Beck to be with you, but I love you just the same. You're a great friend, and a even better guy, and any girl would be lucky to have you, whether it's Tori, Sherry, some other girl, or even if I did end up with you in the future. I just hope that whenever you do find the one, it'll be someone who actually deserves you."
"Thanks Jade. That means a lot, especially coming from you."
"Oh, shut up," Jade said, laughing at the last part of André's sentence.
Just before the both of them left to go to Sikowitz's class, André and Jade had both agreed not to speak about the conversation that they just had, or the kiss that resulted from it, mainly for the sake of not hurting or angering Beck. Then, for good measure, Jade decided to remind him of one more important factor.
"...The next time you wanna kiss, don't settle for some cheap imitation that Vega tries to do. You come and see me to get the real thing."
"Okay, but how do you know that there's gonna be a next time?"
"How do you know that there won't be one?" Jade then kissed André one last time before leaving for class. As she walked away, André said to himself, "damn, girl," almost just like he and Mr. Vega did when Tori role-played as Jade to help him get over his crush. And with that, he followed Jade en route to Sikowitz's classroom.
Oddly enough, after that day, things somehow went back to normal between the two, almost as if the pair had never kissed in the first place. This held up even as Jade and Beck broke up - again, which was largely due to their constant arguing and fighting, a fact that, ironically, was pointed out by André when he and the rest of the group were at the Vegas' house playing poker one night.
Then, despite going to dinner together at one point, and hearing Tori call him out about his crush when she was trying to come up with a plan for guys to ask out Jade, André still hadn't made a move, supposedly because he was over his infatuation with her. Jade then reconciled with Beck, and André just stuck to acting and music, with the occasional love interest crossing his path every so often. This lasted up to their graduation from Hollywood Arts and into adulthood, and at that point, it seemed as if both scenarios were somewhat permanent. But now, with both of them on the verge of turning 21, life had changed a great deal, and with no spouse or significant other for either one of them to speak of, the reunion that was about to take place may have also been a second chance for the pair to take the step of becoming more than friends.
(SaveHut, Los Angeles, Saturday afternoon, mid-summer 2015)
It was almost 2PM, and the mega-store was practically empty aside from employees and customers shopping for the normal something-or-others. But nearly a half-hour earlier, the place was also swarming with adoring fans who had came to see various actors and musicians, including André himself, dressed in black-and-white Converses, black cargo shorts and a white T-shirt with the words "Consider Yourself Tomatoed" on the front.
Between his still-rising music career, an appearance in the indie film Built To Be Bad, and an upcoming role in the TV show Gratification, he had built a decent following for himself, which led to him to the autograph/meet-and-greet session that was held in preparation for the 107 Hits Summer Fest.
While many of the entertainers had left as soon as the event was over - either because of another appearance on their schedule, or simply wanting to get away from any remaining fans, André had stuck around, signing a few extra autographs and talking with one of the on-air personalities in a private conversation. But just as he was about to leave himself, most likely to go home, a familiar face snuck up on him while he was still inside the store.
"So a guy can't save an autograph for an old friend? Geez, André. What gives?" The young woman asked, but it was in the gruff, raspy voice that she often used whenever she would try to imitate a man.
"What the hell are you talking about? I don't even - "
As soon as André turned around, he saw a smiling Jade standing right in front of him, who was dressed in a royal/light blue tank top, black jeans and black heels. Her eyebrow and nose rings were gone, and while she still had highlights in her otherwise jet-black hair, they were a simple dark brown instead of the bright and bold blue, green, red, purple, pink and blonde streaks that she often wore in their teenage years.
The dreadlocked musician/actor couldn't grab a hold of his friend fast enough, as André embraced Jade in a tight hug, which she more than gladly returned. What he didn't expect, though, was the kiss on the cheek that she gave him just before they let go of each other. But rather than think too hard about the kiss, he simply broke apart from his ex-Goth best friend, and then they went ahead and (finally) said their helloes.
"Hey, Jade," André began. "How've you been?"
""I've been great, but I gotta say that I'm even better now," Jade replied. "It's really good to see you again."
"It's good to see you, too."
"So, I see that you're 'Mr. Superstar' now. You're in here signing autographs and everything," Jade teased.
"Oh, come on, girl. Like nobody's asked to get yours. I saw you on TV a couple of weeks ago, getting all actress-like." André was referring to Jade's lead role in the movie A Father's Sins And A Daughter's Revenge, which centered around a young woman coming home to visit her dad who was on the verge of death, and who she believed caused her mother's death years earlier.
"Okay, so I did a TV movie or two lately. Big deal," Jade replied, also referring to The Monster In The Woods, which was released nearly a month before. "You've been doing your music, you've been in a movie, and you're gonna be on a TV show soon. That sounds pretty cool to me."
"Yeah, but I know you still sing yourself, and I saw those photoshoots that you've done lately. Who knew that Jade West was the modeling type?"
"Well, even I like taking pictures sometimes," Jade joked. "And apparently, photographers seem to think that I'm pretty."
"You are pretty, Jade," André said with a smile. "Better than pretty, actually."
Having smiled herself, even to the point of blushing (although if anyone asked, she wouldn't admit to it), Jade then looked back up at André and asked, "and what exactly is 'better than pretty'?"
"Uh, let's see," André began. "You're sexy, sultry, stunning, gorgeous, beautiful. Those are a few places to start."
With another smile forming on her face from André's warm-hearted and possibly flirtatious compliments, Jade was ready to move on from the store and spend the afternoon with her friend elsewhere, and she had to assume that he wanted to do the same.
"That was really sweet and nice, and all of that other mushy stuff, but I take it that you had other plans aside from staying here and sweet-talking me all day."
"I actually did plan to go to lunch, now that I think about it," André said. "You wanna go with me?"
"Sure, let's go."
Later that afternoon, André and Jade were at a nearby restaurant catching up over lunch, and for the most part, it was almost as if the two were still at Hollywood Arts, as the time spent along with eating was filled with joke-cracking and storytelling, as well as reminiscing over old times. Eventually, though, after talking about future plans, the subject of their friends/former classmates came up.
"So, talk to any of the guys lately?" Jade asked.
"Actually, I did talk to Robbie yesterday," André began in response. "He told me about his new gig that he'll be doing in Vegas. Guy's doing pretty good for himself now."
"Yeah, well, I don't think it matters so much to him about going to Las Vegas. He would do stand-up in Anarctica if it meant that he could bring Cat with him."
"That's true. It's nice to see that she finally gave him a chance."
"Well, for what it's worth, Robbie deserves some credit for not giving up on her. I'm not sure why he didn't just say 'to hell with it', and keep it moving. But I guess that persistence really does pay off. And lucky for him, she dropped the ditzy-five-year-old routine."
"Yeah, Robbie's a good guy and all, but I know that even he had to be sick of seeing Cat act that way. It would have been hard to picture him sticking around too long if she kept going on like that."
"Then again, if he kept chasing after her for all this time, it might not be too much of a stretch."
"That is true. I guess the real thing that's hard to picture, it's been happening for almost the last three years."
"You mean Freddie coming here to go to USC and eventually getting with Trina?" Jade questioned.
"Yeah, that," André replied. "I mean, she is our friend, but I still remember how it was with her when we were younger. Freddie must have the patience of Job or a monk to deal with her."
"Well, for one thing, and to her credit, Freddie's not dealing with the same Trina that we dealt with as kids," Jade said. "And even if he was, apparently, she's not the worst girl he's had to put up with."
"What makes you say that?"
"Apparently, while he was still home in Seattle, he went through a lot of shit when it came to girls, especially when it came to those 'friends' of his."
"Like what, exactly?"
"Well, for starters, that Sam chick treated him like shit practically all of the time, even when they were going out. In fact, he even found out that she had wrecked his application to this place called NERD Camp, but yet, Carly talked him into staying with her because, supposedly, Sam ruined stuff for her too. Then, he kept trying to date her long before that, but she always shot him down and went after some loser, and even when they did go out, he ended up breaking up with her because of some bullshit speech that Sam gave him. Hell, up until the chick bolted for Italy with her dad, he never got another chance with her. She even went out with that asshole Steven, and before they did that sketch on their site, he wanted to kick his ass, but supposedly, he would've gotten pounded silly."
"Wow, that sucks. So much for having them as friends."
"I know, and that's just scratching the surface of everything. Trina almost got into it with Sam once because she wouldn't back off. If you ever talk to him, and he decides to tell you everything, there's a lot more than what I just said."
After a brief silence, André had thought of the figurative elephant in the room, and even though it seemed like a touchy subject, he couldn't see any point in ignoring it further.
"So, how have you been since... the split?"
"You mean me and Beck breaking up? I'm... I'm okay, I guess. It must really not be meant for us to stay together. I mean, it's been a few months, and we haven't really tried again, so, we might really be done this time."
"You seem pretty okay about it," André said.
"Well, it sucked when it happened, and I guess that it still kind of feels bad now, but it might have finally been time for us to move on. I loved the guy, and I guess I still do, but I can't stress over it . Besides, I'm sure he's doing fine without me."
Having talked to Beck in recent weeks, and knowing that he hadn't dealt with any other woman since the breakup, despite still possessing his old charm, André knew that it wasn't that simple. But rather than drag the issue on even further, he simply let it go by saying, "okay, if you say so."
"What I don't get is why you're so concerned over it," Jade replied. "I mean, I know that Beck's your best friend and all, but don't you have your own women to keep you occupied? I know there had to be a few hotties running after you looking to be the future Mrs. Harris."
"I'm not that worried about it. I'm just saying that he might not be dealing with it as easily as you think. I know Beck usually comes off as calm, collected and... emotionless, but it doesn't mean that he actually is that way. And as far as 'meeting the future Mrs. Harris' goes, you're right, I have met a lot of women since we've left Hollywood Arts, but most of them don't really want me. They just like the idea of being with me because they think I'm gonna be some super-rich celebrity. If I'm gonna deal with anybody, I want somebody who actually gives a shit about me as a person. And besides, how do you know that I haven't already met the future Mrs. Harris?"
Knowing that Cat and Trina were out of the picture - and doubting that he had any interest in either one of them in the first place outside of being friends, Jade began thinking that André was talking about either her or Tori. But rather than take the chance of questioning him about it, she decided to leave it alone and ask him about a simpler topic.
"Anyway, what are you gonna be up to in the next few days?" Jade asked.
"Aside from preparing for the show, not a whole lot," André replied. "I don't have to do any press for the show for a couple of weeks, so I'll just be relaxing for the most part."
"Well, what about today?"
"After this, I was just planning to go home. Why?"
"I don't know. I... I was just thinking that maybe we could hang out or something."
"Are you asking me out, Jade West?" André asked in a teasing manner.
"Maybe I am, André Harris," Jade answered. "So, what's it gonna be?"
"Alright then. So where do you wanna go?"
"Well, your place sounds good."
André was thrown off by his friend's suggestion, but he didn't bother saying anything about it. Instead, he simply said "let's go", and with that, he and Jade were off to his home.
So, that's one chapter in the books. A chapter that might look like I just threw it together without any real thought, but anyway. As you can see, our favorite ex-Goth and dreadlocked musician are still pretty tight, and they may have picked up on the other person's feelings for themselves. And if nothing else, you might have noticed a "new" pairing or two that came about. In the next chapter, André and Jade are gonna truly resolve everything, and there's gonna be at least a song or two to go with it. But until then, be good, take care of yourself and each other, and if nothing else, don't tell anybody, especially Kurt, what's in Ed's sauce. Later, y'all.