Yes. This is supposed to be for Liz's birthday. Yes. I know it's a day late, (about 4 hours late to be exact since I'm posting this at 4 AM PST) and yes, that does bother me but oh well. Hope you enjoy anyway.
Disclaimer: I am not Dan Schneider. Important author's notes at bottom.
Happy Birthday Jade
© lovexarcade
Every year at 10:15, the girl sits in the big plush green chair she hates so much that her father picked out once upon a time, letting her gaze wander on out the window into the busy street of her Los Angeles neighborhood, waiting, because every year at 10:21 a loud, peppy girl bustles through the front door, disturbing the usual silence of her too often empty home. She's never been off by a minute.
Jade waits for Cat in her den six minutes before the other girl shows up and welcomes herself inside because she wants to be ready. She wants to give herself a few minutes to mentally prepare herself for the torturous events of the day to come. She began this setup on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, after putting up with four previous years of the other girl busting through her home at 10:21 AM and scampering all the way down to her basement bedroom, lunging herself at Jade's bed to wake her with a start. Jade's a heavy sleeper, but even she can't fight the power of Cat's annoyingly shrill giggles, coated with her excitement for the day ahead.
It took Jade four years, but for the last three, now including this one, she's finally began to expect her. So now, for the third year in a row, she's forced herself up at a quarter past ten and she's planted herself in that chair so she can keep an eye on her driveway for when Cat comes skipping up it like she's positive she will.
Her phone buzzes with a text at 10:19. The dark haired girl lets her eyes wander away from the window for a split second to scan the message. Whoever it is is about two minutes off so she knows it won't be Cat. Cat's never off. Plus, she'd already sent her a three page text at midnight with too many unnecessary smiley faces and exclamation points after Jade had ignored her phone call.
The first thing she sees in the blue text message bubble is what she has the contact number listed as: an emoticon of a girl with brown hair and another emoticon of a handgun pointed at the smiling cartoon.
Happy birthday Jade! :{D The message reads. Jade doesn't even blink an eye as she exits carelessly out of the message without bothering to respond. Every time Tori Vega texts her, she wonders vaguely how her annoying frenemy got her number in the first place.
At 10:20 her eyes find the window again but she barely looks up in time to see the flash of red darting across her lawn. She rolls her eyes to herself at the fact that the girl can't even use the cobblestone path a leading up to her front door like a normal person and has to skip through the grass instead. Then again, very little about the girl is normal anyway.
Outside, the redhead stops in front of the big white door and checks the time on her watch. Still 10:20. Balloon bouquet in hand, she waits patiently for the minute to change before making her grand entrance, but it's the longest thirty seconds of her life.
At 10:21 precisely she pounces, making a grab for the doors' handle and swinging it open without considering knocking. She knows anyone other than Jade is probably not home anyways. They rarely ever are. She's not surprised to find the girl already waiting for her in the big green chair, facing the window. It's the third year in a row she's done that.
Cat's already plastered on grin tugs harder at the corners of her lips as she opens her mouth to sing her greeting.
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthda-"
"Too early, Cat."
The girl narrows her eyebrows and squints at her visitor. Normally Jade would yell, but she's still trying to blink the sleep from her groggy eyes. Her energy hasn't kicked in yet but Cat's never even goes away, not even with Jade's already sour attitude.
"But it's 10:21!" Jade's unsure why Cat even feels she needs to remind her. She's well aware of the time. That's why she's sitting in the stupid chair in the first place. She knew perfectly well when Cat would arrive. She's shown up every year at the same time since the seventh grade because that's the exact time Jade popped out of the womb. Jade doesn't even remember ever sharing that piece of information with the closest thing to a friend she has in the first place but Cat insists that she did once upon a time, so Jade doesn't question it.
"Which is too early."
Jade doesn't know why she does this every year; fights against Cat's cheerfulness, because she usually ends up going along with whatever it is Cat has planned anyways, but that doesn't mean she likes it. She's pointed that out to her too, she always does, and Cat always promises that "this year will be different," that Jade will actually "enjoy" herself "this time."
It's yet to happen.
"I got you these," Cat's smile still hasn't faltered as she steps closer towards where Jade is perched on her chair and thrusts the 17 balloons- some bigger than others, out at her. Jade's unimpressed expression remains but she takes the large bouquet anyway.
"I hate balloons."
"I know I got them so you could pop them with your scissors." Cat explains. She knows Jade likes scissors and explosions and popping balloons would be like creating 17 small explosions herself. She notices Jade's facial features soften a bit and settle into a more accepting look and she immediately knows she's done something right.
Jade manages a small "thanks" and stand up from her chair. It's only then that Cat notices she's still in her pajamas and her hair is slightly tousled.
"Go get ready!"
"For what?"
"Your big day," Cat beams.
"It's just like any other day."
Jade stopped getting excited about her birthday back on the morning of her eleventh when she went outside to check the mail for any birthday money from relatives and came across a suspicious looking envelope addressed to her parents. Curiously, she'd torn the envelope open without a second thought and was met with devastating papers. "Happy birthday Jade!" had been her exact sarcastic thoughts, mocking the imaginary voices of her mother and father as she clutched the papers to her chest. "We're getting divorced!"
"No it's not," Cat insists. "It's your birthday. You can eat as many cupcakes as you want and get away with it!"
Jade scowls. She has no intentions of eating any cupcakes today- those things are too sweet and disgusting, and she's not Cat. Not even close. She wants to question Cat; ask the girl what she possibly has in store this year, but she knows asking the redhead questions is pointless. Her answers to anything almost never make sense and Jade figures that even if Cat tells her what her plans are it won't make a difference anyway, because Jade knows she'll hate it no matter what it is.
Cat's idea of fun is chasing pretty butterflies. Jade's idea of fun is chasing small children to terrify them on Halloween. In other words… they couldn't be more opposite.
That won't stop Cat from trying to make her birthday special.
"I'll wait for you right here," Cat steps around the birthday girl and sits down in the plush green chair she had previously occupied. Jade blinks down at her and knows by the smile on her face that she's not planning on going anywhere until she gives in and goes to get ready. Jade's tried to kick her out of her house before, on various occasions. She knows how these things work. She knows how persistent the other girl can be. She turns and, carrying her balloons with her, heads down to her basement bedroom without a word, silently giving in, also knowing that she's about to endure a day of what she considers hell.
"Awh, I got a strike! Oh well, next time."
Cat skips back to her seat, unfazed by the fact that she didn't knock down a single pin on either try. Jade's studded eyebrow raises in confusion.
"What are you talking about? A strike is when you knock them all down at once."
Cat's shiny brown eyes widen in shock. "But in baseball when you miss it's called a strike!" She's not saying it in a way that suggests she doesn't believe Jade; she's saying it with genuine confusion.
"Well, this isn't baseball now is it Cat?" The green eyed girl snaps impatiently. Cat sinks back a little in defeat but tries not to let it show. This is Jade's birthday; Cat wants everyone to be happy including herself.
"You know, you don't always have to be so mean," Tori butts in from a couple chairs away as their friend Andre' gets up to take his turn to bowl, quite opposite from the cheery redhead in that she's not afraid to speak her mind, regardless of the fact that it's Jade's birthday.
This was Cat's idea of her "big surprise" for Jade- dragging her to some rundown, shabby bowling alley where Tori and Andre' along with the final two members of their little group, Robbie and Beck were already waiting…. Well three if you counted Robbie's puppet, Rex.
"And you don't always have to tag along to things but that doesn't stop you does it Vega?" Jade fires back.
"How crafty," the small brunette mutters, unfazed by Jade's attitude but not seeing a point in bickering, so she closes her mouth after that.
"Who's hungry?" Beck cuts in, offering a momentary distraction before the banter between Tori and his ex girlfriend can continue. It's been a few months since him and Jade have split but they still remain a part of the same group. He picks up a small menu.
"They have a breakfast special going on until one, or we could get a large pizza," the boy reads.
"I don't trust the food here," Jade says, taking a look around, pretending to examine and silently judge the rundown place. Cat's watching her from her right side with questions in her eyes, but Jade doesn't notice until Cat speaks up.
"Jade, are you having fun?" the girl asks her softly, absent mindedly curling a strand of her own hair around her fingertips. Jade blinks at her, paying no mind to her hopeful look.
"Define fun."
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Cat tries again, her look transforming to a slightly sad one because of the birthday girl's less than encouraging response. Jade notices how her eyes shift slightly downwards and her head bows a little towards the ground. She sees Cat bite her lip and a small tug on her heart that she hates makes her feel as if she's kicking a sad puppy so she decides to tone down the hostility a bit, and lie for her sake.
"Sure."
It might not be that true or enthusiastic of a response, but Cat knows how Jade is. She knows that if Jade really hates something, she will say it and that she'll speak whatever's on her mind too. So hearing that one little word makes her tanned face brighten again. It's honestly a good enough answer for her.
"Good! Because it's your turn," the girl smiles. Jade glances up at the screen that has all their names on it and sees that she's right. It's her turn at round one. The group wanted to let her go first, but she refused, saying she wanted to go last, wanting to put it off as long as possible, and they knew they couldn't say no to a birthday girl. She hates bowling, and not just because she's bad at it. There are a variety of reasons she which doesn't have the patience to explain to people so she doesn't. Now that her turn at the lane is up, she wants more than ever to take off the stupid crusty beat up bowling shoes she's been forced to wear and say a big sayonara to the place, but with one more quick glance at Cat's face she knows immediately that she can't. Cat does those kinds of things to her; actually makes her stop and think about things, makes her hesitate, makes her watch her words a certain percentage of the time without really having to say or do anything herself. It's just something in her demeanor; the way she looks at Jade with such hope and innocence that Jade knows she could easily destroy with the flick of a finger if she wants to. But that's just the thing. She can't, or she can't bring herself to anyway. She knows she probably has the power to crush Cat's mood, but she doesn't. She tries not to question why, she hates that it is the way it is and she knows questioning it will only make her hate it more. So she stands and heads to a rack full of unclaimed bowling balls because she hadn't bothered to pick one out when everyone else was, and she takes a small running start at the lane, aiming straight for the center of the ten white pins…
But she runs too fast and too far and her shoes cross the line over the oily lane by mistake, and she slips. Her knees hit the ground first, half a second before the rest of her body, and the stupid red ball rolls away on its own before landing in the gutter of the bowling lane. The gang gasps and Cat and Beck are on their feet in seconds, rushing to her aid as if she can't get up herself while Andre' and Robbie sit back, terrified because they don't know what an embarrassed Jade is capable of. Tori sits back too, because she's still harboring a slight feeling of hostility at Jade's impolite remark to her just minutes ago.
"Are you okay?" Beck asks with a slight chuckle, leaning down to help her up. Jade twists around, rubbing her chin that banged against the ground which caused her teeth to dig into her lower lip. She rejects the offer of his hand.
"I'm fine," she hisses, staggering to her feet on her own as she continues to rub her throbbing chin.
"Your lip is bleeding," Cat notices with a small frown. She knows that Jade may like pain to a certain degree, but she herself doesn't like seeing the girl in it and unlike Beck apparently, she did not find that fall very amusing.
"I'll live," Jade snaps, free hand rising to poke at her cut lip. She flinches at the slight stinging sensation it causes and pulls her hand away while a scowl of her own crosses her face. She starts to hobble away, ignoring the shattered feeling of her sore kneecaps and the gang doesn't question her, figuring she's headed to the bathroom to tend to her bleeding mouth. She only makes it about two yards before feeling a presence tagging along behind her, following her to her destination.
"I don't need you to come," she tells Cat without bothering to turn around. She only glances briefly at her out of the corner of her eye.
"I want to help," the shorter girl insists with an unnecessary grin, keeping up with her long strides to the women's restroom.
"It's not like I broke my whole face," Jade snaps before quickly tossing in "and even then I wouldn't need your help."
She knows better than to point any of this out to her, but she also doesn't care. She knows Cat will do what she wants anyways. She always does. But that never stops Jade from at least trying to fend her off some of the time. Either way Cat doesn't listen, she still follows Jade into the bathroom and while the slightly injured girl heads straight for a mirror to check out the damage, Cat goes right for the paper towel dispenser and rips out quite a few.
"Let me see," she says, turning to Jade with the paper towels after running her handful under some cold water. She starts to lift them toward her face, but Jade dodges her oncoming hand and rips the wad of damp towels from it before she has time to pretend to be a nurse.
"I got it," she hisses. Cat draws her hand back with a little pout but again Jade doesn't notice. Or she pretends not to. The redhead waits patiently and watches her in careful silence as she dabs at her lower lip with the towels.
"If there's a reason you seem so fascinated by this, please let me know," Jade remarks sarcastically a few moments later, giving her a quick glance in the mirror after noticing that she's just been staring at her. Cat snaps out of her slight trance. She hadn't realized she'd been staring at the birthday girl so intently but she catches herself doing that quite often- watching Jade. Nothing else, just watching her… not necessarily doing anything in particular other than just being Jade. Only, this time the other girl has caught her.
"Nothing, you're just pretty," Cat shrugs. She's not sure how the compliment slips but she's speaking the truth. Jade is pretty. With her pale skin and dark, shiny hair; she reminds Cat of a Cullen, the only exception being her green eyes the color of rare, pretty gemstones instead of a dramatic black, but they only make her prettier in Cat's opinion.
Jade shoots another look at her and continues dabbing at her lip without responding to the compliment. Cat may be the closest thing she has to an actual friend but that doesn't mean they normally go around handing out compliments to each other. Jade thinks Cat's pretty too, but she'll never say it out loud, knowing it would result in the already-too-happy girl beaming, eating up the compliment and throwing herself around her in a chokehold hug, something that Jade would not be able to put up with. Cat already tries to hug her over stupid things that excite her enough as it is and Jade doesn't want to give her even more reasons. She'll do whatever it takes to ensure that the all too often overly affectionate girl will keep her distance as much as possible. If there's one thing Jadedoesn't hate, it's her personal space.
"I'm sorry you fell," Cat speaks up again to break the silence as if Jade's clumsiness is somehow her fault. Instead of telling her "it's fine," or "I'm fine," or something with a little more reassurance, Jade responds flatly with "I told you I'd live."
"Tell me the truth…" Cat says carefully, taking a step closer to her. Jade turns her head away from the mirror to look at her and her guard is instantly up in case Cat tries to somehow touch her. She's really not in the mood for one of Cat's hugs- well she never is, but she can't imagine what reason the girl would have for giving her one right now anyway. She relaxes after a few seconds, turning her attention back to the mirror and her sore lip when she's sure that Cat won't come any closer.
"Are you having fun?" the girl that brought her here tries her earlier question again. Jade doesn't know quite how to respond. They haven't even been at the bowling alley for that long but she already hated it the minute they stepped foot inside, but the same thing from before that stopped her from hurting Cat's feelings completely stops her again.
"I just don't like bowling in general," she tells the girl, when she really wants to say that she hates it and demand that Cat take her home. Cat refused to let Jade drive, insisting that it's her birthday so she shouldn't have to play chauffer, which really left Jade completely in Cat's hands for the day.
"That's okay," Cat tries her best to shake it off that Jade's obviously not enjoying herself very much, since the small girl does feel like in a sense she's to blame. She planned this day, she told everyone to meet at the bowling alley, and Jade hasn't even cracked a smile. Cat knows that the girl doesn't get very excited over her own birthday and she's known for years that it's partly because it brings up memories of how the girl found out about her parents' divorce, so that's why ever year, Cat tries her best to make it at least somewhat enjoyable for her. Two years ago she planned a surprise party, one with a bounce house and a piñata that Jade never seemed to appreciate very much, so last year Cat kept it low key and had brought over some movies for them to watch, but Jade had been uninterested in every single one of them.
Cat's been determined to make this year turn out different, so it's a good thing that this time she has a plan B.
"I have more stuff planned," she continues on with a secretive giggle. Jade's chest fills with dread. Oh god. There's more? She can't just go home after this?
Cat notices Jade scowl to herself a little in the mirror at her words so she stops giggling. "It'll be fun!" she tries to assure. Her words are promising but Jade knows better. It seems like whenever Cat plans these things she plans them based on what she likes, not what Jade does. Then again… Jade knows she probably makes it hard; she gives her nothing to work with so it's not like she can really blame her, but she still can't bring herself to enjoy any of the things Cat sees as fun.
"I'm sure," Jade mutters with a hint of sarcasm under her breath. She turns and chucks the wad of paper towels spotted with little bloodstains at the trashcan. She doesn't know why she's being so bitter; Cat's trying, she sees that, but the thing is… she really doesn't want her to, so how can she fake appreciation over something she doesn't want?
"I promise," slips through Cat's lips next and she pipes up again before Jade can respond. "How's your lip?"
"Fine."
"Yay!" she grins as if she just heard the best news in the world, and it's the first thing to make Jade smile all day. It's little, lasts half a second, and you'd almost need a microscope to detect it, but Cat can detect any little bit of joy a mile away. Her own smile widens and she almost calls Jade out on it, but she stops herself in time, not wanting to make the girl feel uncomfortable enough to really make sure not to let anymore little smiles slip the rest of the day.
Jade doesn't know what compels her to smile in the first place; if you can call the tiniest bit of all lip corner raises a smile (which for her, is) but she's well aware it must have something to do with the ridiculousness in the amount of concern Cat has over her cut lip. Yes, Jade found it annoying at first- the way she practically clung on to her all the way to the bathroom and even tried to physically help her treat the small injury with the paper towels as if she couldn't do it herself, but she also has to admit (to herself) that it's almost somewhat cute how Cat treats every bad thing like a total catastrophe, and then gets all overly relieved once she finally realizes it's not.
But as quick as the smile infects Jade's lips, it's gone, and she knows that Cat saw it by the way her already cheery face brightens and the sun basically starts to glow out of her eyeballs, so she feels her cheeks grow a little warm as she waits for Cat to put her on the spot and comment on it, looking down expectantly at the shorter girl's face, but to her surprise Cat only smiles up at her for a second before latching onto her arm and dragging her out of the bathroom.
Jade's first instinct is to rip her arm away and tell Cat not to touch her, but she lets the girl lead her without a word as a silent "thanks for not commenting on my awkward half smile."
Cat doesn't let go of Jade's arm until they make it all the way back to their friends.
"How's your lip?" Beck repeats Cat's question to her from in the bathroom and studies her face carefully.
"Fine," she gives him the same flat answer and plops down in a plastic chair. It's true, her lip is fine but her chin and knees are still sore but she figures there's no use in complaining about it to these people. Beck gives her a small nod and Cat notices that it doesn't make Jade smile like her reaction did when Jade gave her the same response, and that fact in itself makes the bubbly girl smile again herself, but this time in secret.
"It's still your turn," Tori tells Jade from where she's still sitting a few chairs over, noticing the small slice in her lower lip for the first time. Jade shoots the girl a glare. Why would the group even think she'd want to finish her turn after her little incident?
Jade opens her mouth to respond, but before she can get a word out, Cat speaks up for her and after what comes out of her mouth, Jade realizes it's the first time she doesn't mind that someone's interrupted her.
"I think me and Jade are gonna call it a day!" the redhead exclaims. "So someone can take our turns for us."
Jade glances at her from where she is on the other side of Tori and it's only then that she sees the girl has already begun to untie the laces of her bowling shoes. She's thankful for a minute that Cat's giving her the opportunity to get out of here, but then she remembers she's not off the hook that easy because Cat still has something else planned for them to do.
"Wait, you two are leaving?" Andre' speaks up.
"Well, we have something else to do."
"We haven't even bowled one full round yet…" it's Robbie's turn to speak.
"Yeah, you girls should just wait until we finish this game and then we can all keep hanging out," Beck says.
Cat squirms a little in her seat. She really wouldn't mind staying but she knows Jade doesn't want to, and it's her birthday so it should be her choice. Then again… Cat knows if Jade had a choice she'd be at home not doing anything, but that's not the option in Cat's eyes.
"It's up to Jade," she speaks quietly at last.
Jade surveys the faces of the eyes that turn to her for a moment. The way she sees it, she has two options here; 1. Keep hanging around the bowling alley with a whole group of people she doesn't really care much to be around, risking further injury of her clumsy self as well, or 2. Leave while she has the chance with only Cat to put up with for the rest of the day.
She'll go with the second option.
"Let's just go, Cat.
She bends down to undo her own laces and Cat smiles to herself again because as much as she wouldn't mind staying and finishing bowling with all her friends, she also wouldn't mind taking off somewhere else and being alone with Jade. The part that makes her smile is the underlying confirmation that Jade would rather be alone with her too.
"Are you going to tell me where we're going anytime soon? Because this to me looks like the middle of nowhere."
They've been driving east for almost half an hour and although Cat's (surprisingly) not the worst driver Jade's ever been forced to sit in a car with, (that would be Cat's brother once when she got a ride to school with the Valentine's freshman year… never again) she's still growing anxious because she's not even 100 percent sure Cat even knows where she's taking them, and she hates feeling anxious almost as much as she hates that her fate of the day lies in Cat's hands.
"West Covina!" Cat giggles as if that answers everything and doesn't elaborate further.
"Why the hell are you taking us to West Covina?" Jade wonders. West Covina is one of the rural areas in Los Angeles and as far as she knows, there's nothing to do out there.
"Jade! That's a bad word," Cat presses, ignoring Jade's question and glancing at her for a second before her eyes return to the windshield, but apparently it's a second too long, because she doesn't notice that the car starts to veer off course onto the shoulder of the road.
"Cat! Ugh, keep your eyes on the road!" Jade exclaims, leaning over to make a grab for the wheel and turning it sharply to the left so they're going straight on the road again. Her take over causes Cat's eyes to widen in surprise and let go of the wheel.
"Hands! Now!"
Cat grips the wheel again with shaky hands. "Sorry," she tells Jade sadly without daring to look at her. Jade notices her hurt tone and sits back in her seat with a huff, unable to help but feel slightly guilty because of Cat's sad tone. The girl is so damn sensitive and Jade's sure it will drive her to complete and utter insanity one day. She tries to shake off the feeling by refocusing the subject rather than address the feeling or Cat's sensitivity.
"Why are we going to West Covina?" she repeats now that the little incident is over, trying with great difficulty to make her voice sound calmer.
Cat bounces back fast. She smiles a little, almost looking over at Jade for a split second again but stopping herself in time, deciding it's probably not the best idea due to what just happened.
"You'll see!"
"Cat, you know I hate surprises," Jade mutters dreadfully, letting her gaze wander out her passenger side window where she sees nothing but empty fields full of dirt and dead grass for miles off in the distance.
"We're almost there," Cat promises. They drive in silence for a few minutes that seem to drag on forever until Cat finally takes an exit and they end up on some country road that also looks deserted besides a few houses and little barns on the sides, but for the most part it's nothing but more empty fields.
"Seriously, where are we going?"
"Just wait," Cat giggles despite Jade's wildly growing impatience. Jade is perplexed by the girl's fearlessness to stay so stubborn and secretive as she loses her patience. The birthday girl knows she can terrify people, and it makes her blood boil and her brain surge at the fact that she can't seem to ever faze oblivious little Cat of all people in the slightest.
"I've been waiting for almost 45 minu-"
"We're here!" Cat pipes up as she turns into a rocky driveway of a small one story home with a little red barn off to one side and a large field behind it. It's at that moment as Jade peeks out the window that she notices the horses scattered around the field behind the house.
"Who's house is this?" she continues firing questions at Cat, but the girl remains unhelpful to them.
"Come on!" Cat exclaims giddily after killing the ignition. She lets herself out of the car, shuts the door and practically skips around the vehicle to Jade's side, who's slowly dragging herself out.
Once out of the vehicle, Jade slams the door and opens her mouth to attempt to get an answer for anything out of Cat once more but before she can, a small plump man barely taller than Cat herself trots out of the house and greets the girls from the doorway before making his way over to them in the gravel driveway.
"Hello Kitten!" the balding man approaches them with a wide grin, showing off all of his yellow teeth.
"You must be Jade," he says, sticking a large meaty hand out for the girl to take. "Put her there!"
The girl blinks at him twice and says nothing, keeping her arms locked tightly down at her sides.
"Uncle Jesse, this is Jade," Cat takes it upon herself to introduce her friend and then giggles at herself like she's just cracked the funniest joke ever. "Oops! You already said that," she continues giggling as she continues to speak. "Jade, this is my Uncle Jesse. Did you see the horses when we pulled in? Well he owns a few of them and said we could take a couple for a ride today!"
"You brought me here to ride horses?" Jade repeats without acknowledging "Uncle Jesse", not really needing clarification but wanting to hear it anyways.
Cat is unsure what to make of her tone. It's not really discouraging, although it's not really encouraging either, so she voices her response with careful caution.
"Yeah… just over in that field, me and my brother come up here every other weekend to ride them usually! It's fun!"
"Ever rode one?" Uncle Jesse questions Jade. She glances at him, but it's not exactly a friendly look. She notices how he could pass for Cat's uncle though; they have the same brown eyes and the same nose. He's even just as tan as she, and the tone in his voice is just as welcoming and happy as he continues to speak and Jade wonders for a second how and why she noticed these small details in Cat in the first place, because that's what makes them so easy to point out on her uncle. Jade's already familiar with the details because of Cat so they're not exactly hard to point out this relative of hers.
"'Cause if not I'll have to help you. Can't be risking any injuries. Don't want any lawsuits filed against me." He says it in a joking way that makes Cat laugh because she thinks everything's funny, but Jade barely flinches. Instead, she continues to study the short man for a moment in his faded jeans, gray t-shirt and tan boots and she decides immediately that no matter what, she does not want any form of assistance from this guy on anything, even if she doesn't know the last thing about riding horses.
"Yeah, I've rode one," she tells him without much further elaboration, taking a sharp turn away from the truth. She's never even been on a stupid carousel or even one of those other little kiddy horse rides, much less a real horse. "I don't need help."
"Well alright! I'll let you two have at it then. Kitten, you know what to do," Uncle Jesse flashes the two of them one last toothy grin, and much like Cat, appears unfazed by Jade's typical unfriendliness before he turns and walks back towards his house, leaving the girls to themselves which relieves Jade only slightly. He turns back to them when he's almost at the front door to call back one last thing. "Oh! And happy birthday Jade." He disappears inside the house before she can respond, not like she was planning on it anyways.
"Come on!" Cat smiles at Jade before darting off toward the back of the house to circle around it to get to the field.
"You never told me you ride horses," Jade says almost accusingly as she hustles to catch up to her. Cat's always darting places left and right. She's like a little kid that can't ever sit still or take a breather. She's constantly on the move. Jade's never been able to understand where the girl's ridiculous amount of energy comes from.
"Neither did you!" Cat responds, but her voice comes out way less accusing than Jade's, and she giggles a little instead. At first Jade doesn't know what she means, until she remembers that she just finished telling the girl's uncle that she's rode one before.
"That was a long time ago, you just told me you do this every other weekend," Jade points out to her as they enter the field and are met with the sight of more horses standing or lounging around freely. It amazes Jade that they're not even kept in the barn.
"I kind of thought you already knew," Cat says casually with a shrug. Jade follows her over to a medium sized jet black horse with patches of striking, pure white in its coat and a sleek black mane. Its shoes look shiny and polished and Jade is able to tell immediately that these horses must be well taken care of by Cat's uncle or whoever else. She's never paid much attention to animals; they're whiny, pathetic, and dirty, but even she would be lying if she said this horse wasn't beautiful.
"How would I have known?" Jade's not sure why she's so interested in the fact that she never knew about Cat's little horse adventures. She just finds it hard to believe that after all these years of Cat hanging around her, she never knew about this part of her life and it makes her wonder what other things she doesn't know about Cat.
"Well I don't know… I mean, Tori and the boys know…" Cat trails off, wondering how Jade will take that, but she doesn't look at her because she's busily petting the horses' mane. She pulls out a couple of sugar cubes from her pocket that Jade has no idea where the heck those came from, and lets the animal lick them from her hand, causing a tiny giggle to slip out of her. She's never been able to get used to the tickling feeling of a horses' tongue on her palm but she kind of likes it.
Jade doesn't realize her arms are crossed until she feels herself tighten them, her thoughts lingering on Cat's words as she carefully watches the girl feed the horse the snack. How had Tori and the boys known about this and she hadn't? Maybe Jade could understand Vega knowing since her and Cat are usually attached at the stupid hip, but Andre', Robbie, and Beck? How could Beck not have mentioned it to her at all in the time they were dating? Had everyone just assumed Jade already knew about this part of Cat's life because they did themselves?
Jade feels a little pang of something that most might interpret as guilt in her chest but she refuses to let herself dwell on it even though she suddenly realizes what apparently small amount she's bothered to pay attention to these little details about Cat's life. She has no idea where Cat is or what she does whenever she's not hanging around her and she finally realizes what little amount of attention she's put into thinking about that. Whenever Cat texts her, she usually doesn't respond, but that's just because she hates texting and doesn't normally respond to anyone. Jade ignores Cat's phone calls and she only lets the girl into her house when she absolutely insists on it like on days like this; Jade's birthday. But even if Cat doesn't know it, if Jade were held at gunpoint one day and forced to decide who her closest friend would be, she knows deep down that she would say Cat's name without hesitation, so what kind of a friend is she then, not really knowing a whole lot about the girl's life?
"This is Bandit," Cat introduces the horse to Jade, snapping the girl from her thoughts. "I named him myself when he was born," she states proudly.
Jade's able to tell immediately that this horse must be her favorite by the way she stepped over to it instantly and started letting it lick her hand clean. And if Jade wasn't able to tell from all that, then she's certainly able to tell by the way a large grin spreads out over her face when she introduces Bandit. A new feeling washes over Jade then; this time, a slight feeling of surprise at the horses' almost dramatic sounding name. Bandit? Jade can't believe it doesn't have an obnoxiously happy name on account of Cat naming it like "Star" or "Sunshine" or something. But she quickly realizes that she approves of the name Bandit. It suits the black beast well.
"Want to pet him?" Cat smiles at her, and she wants to say no, put she can't help but still feel slightly guilty or whatever that feeling that first washed over her was, so she uncrosses her arms silently and gives Bandit a few awkward pats on the side just to please Cat.
"Come on," Cat takes her own hands off of Bandit and leads Jade over to a slightly bigger horse, one with an all milk-chocolate colored coat and a shiny dark brown mane. Cat pulls out a few more random sugar cubes to feed to the new horse.
"This is Jessipa," Cat tells the birthday girl. "You can ride her and I'll ride Bandit."
"What's with those two?" Jade asks, gesturing with her head over to two more horses a couple yards away that are chewing on hay side by side and seem to be watching her and Cat intently.
"Hmm… I don't know," Cat giggles, noticing immediately what Jade's referring to as the pair of horses watch them closely. "Don't mind them though, they're harmless." She points to the slightly larger of the two, a pure, all white animal. "That's Masked and Nameless, but we call her MaNa for short."
"What kind of a name is that?" Jade's face scrunches. "Or, what kind of a lack of a name is that?"
"I don't know, my brother named her," Cat shrugs with a smile. "But MaNa takes care of Sylvie since she's older, they're best friends," the girl keeps smiling, gesturing to the smaller horse of the two, an all black one who Jade guesses is Sylvie. Jade looks at the opposite yet somehow alike pair for a second longer before growing bored and turning her eyes back to Cat and the horse she's been assigned.
"I'll hold Jessipa still while you get on," Cat instructs, standing in front of the large majestic animal and placing her hands on either side of her. She distracts the horse with little kissy faces and runs her hands back and forth on her coat, and Jade takes it as her cue to hoist herself up. She places her left foot on the metal stirrup hanging off the horse's saddle and swings her right leg over quickly, using her arms for support.
"All good?" Cat questions as Jade situates herself on top of the creature. She shifts around a little to make herself as comfortable as possible and she's surprised to find her heart rate take a random boost as Cat steps away from Jessipa and the horse takes a few quick steps forward. This is a new experience to Jade, and she's fearless when it comes to trying new things, but with nothing but a tiny little handle coming up off the saddle to hold onto, she can't help but feel like she's going to fall off the horse at any second.
Cat senses her fear and Jade can tell by the way her look transforms from excitement to slight concern, but she's thankful when the girl doesn't comment on it and replaces her worried look with a polite smile.
"Here, hold onto these," Cat says and hands her Jessipa's reins for Jade to hold onto. Jade takes them without question, fists slightly shaking as she clutches onto them for dear life while Jessipa takes another few steps forward without any form of instruction from her or Cat. Cat steps back further, but she can still sense Jade's fear by the suddenly very weary look on her face and she can tell she's clenching her jaw tightly by the way her neck tenses up. Jade doesn't notice the worried look return to Cat's face, as she's too busy staring down at the reins she's clutching in each of her hands, desperately trying to figure out how to control the horse. Cat hesitates before speaking.
"Are you sure you don't want me to get my uncle to help you guide her?" she asks slowly, slightly afraid of what Jade's likely to be snappy response will be.
"I can do this Cat," Jade states flatly, her voice sounding a lot surer of herself than she feels.
"Just making sure," Cat mumbles, unconvinced, but she doesn't question the girl further.
"You don't need to," Jade tells her flatly again. Cat nods without another word and walks back over to Bandit. Jade looks up just long enough to see how Cat manages the horse. She watches the smaller girl hoist herself up with ease and grab a hold of her horse's reins before guiding him over to Jessipa and a very fumbling Jade.
"I thought we could just take them around the field," Cat smiles at her and Jade will never admit it, but she's honestly blown away by how easy this comes to Cat. She reminds herself that Cat's apparently been riding horses for years and this is her first time being on one, but it still doesn't make her feel any better about herself. Since when is Cat the fearless one between them?
"Whatever," Jade shrugs, trying her best not to let her nerves show. She reaches up for a split second to wipe a bead of sweat from her forehead, accidentally yanking one of the reins up with her a little too forcefully, and before she even has time to react, her horse takes off in full blown gallops after letting out a loud whinny. Her eyes widen and she lets out a gasp as she lurches forward. Her arms immediately go to circle around the horse's long neck and she doesn't even realize it, but she's practically laying down on the horse, clutching on for dear life as it darts across the field.
Cat's eyes widen at the suddenness of the course of events and she guides Bandit after them quickly, instructing her horse to pick up speed to catch up to Jade and Jessipa as fast as possible. She snaps her reins.
"Come on Bandit, go get Jessipa!" she tells her horse as if he can understand her, which Cat knows he somehow can. Bandit sails after Jessipa as Cat guides him with ease but before they can catch up, Cat's forced to bring Bandit to a halt when right in front of them Jessipa takes a giant leap over a tall stack of several bales of hay.
Cat watches in horror as Jade loses her grip around Jessipa's neck and tumbles backwards off the horse mid leap, landing on her back in what Jade and Cat both hope is a pile of mud but is clearly something much, much worse. Jade coughs and gags as the stench fills her nose and Cat scrambles quickly off Bandit, rushing to her aid immediately. Jessipa is long gone, several far yards off in the field and the horse doesn't know how lucky she is to be that far away already because with Jade's rage, she's suddenly craving a horse meat sandwich made specifically from that animal.
"Oh my god! Jade, are you okay?" Cat exclaims urgently, thrusting out an arm to help her up. Jade ignores her as she staggers to her feet for the second time that day, her entire back covered in horse waste as she steps away from the revolting pile that her body has made an imprint in.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry! Jessipa's not usually that wild, she's usually a really nice horse-"
"Horse? Horse? That's no horse that's a fucking beast! A wildebeest!" Jade exclaims hatefully, tearing off her jacket which took the most damage to the horse manure and slamming it into the ground in disgust. She twists the upper half of her body around to see the damage done to the back of her jeans and gags at the sight and stench, eyes watering. At least it didn't get in her hair, she thinks, or she really would puke. At least.
"Jade I'm sorry! I thought you could control her fine-"Cat quickly sputters.
"Fuck this Cat; I've had enough of this day! Take me home," Jade demands and then thinks it over quickly. "Actually, let me shower first and then take me home!"
"But Jade-"
"I mean it, Cat!"
"You can take a shower, but-"
Before Cat has time to finish, Jade swipes down to pluck her jacket off where she threw it on the field and desperately tries to wipe it off in the grass before giving up and dragging it between a single finger and thumb with her towards Cat's uncle's house across the field. Cat hurries after her, leaving Bandit free to roam off if he pleases.
"Come on, you can't go home!" Cat's persistent to get Jade to change her mind about going home as she catches up to her, but Jade ignores her desperate cries.
"You better have some clothes I can change into," Jade tells her in an almost threatening tone as she stomps across the field, legs apart. She can feel the sun practically baking the horse feces into the back of her jeans and the thought and feel of it makes her gag again.
"I do," Cat says weakly. She keeps some clothes at her uncle's house for when she sleeps over on occasion with her brother.
"But you can't go home!" Cat repeats as Jade's steps start to turn into a jog as she's in a hurry to get to the house and out of her soiled jeans as fast as possible. Cat hurries to keep up with her. Jade ignores her, teeth clenched and eyebrows digging downwards as she keeps her focus straight ahead on the house she's nearing. The last thing she needs is Cat insisting that she change her mind. She's not having it. She's already furious enough as it is, but Cat's refusal to give her up puts her over the edge when they finally come to a stop in front of the backdoor of the house.
"I know things haven't turned out great yet but-"
"And have you thought about why that might be, Cat?" Jade snaps at her, finally whirling around to face her. She knows her bad luck of the day hasn't necessarily been Cat's fault exactly, but she needs someone to take it out on and she's too infuriated to let it be herself. Cat's the best and only bait there is. Besides, the girl did basically get her into the two bad things that have happened to her today; the bowling alley incident, and now this shit… literally. Or at least, that's what Jade tells herself anyway. Cat's footsteps come to a halt when Jade whips around toward her, and the cold bitterness of her voice leaves Cat unable to speak for the first time all day.
"Today all you've done is drag me to do things that you like to do. I get it, you wanted to just take me out for my birthday but since when have I ever liked bowling? I'm pretty sure I told you not that long ago that I hate it and I'm bad at it, and have I ever said anything about liking horses? I don't think so. If I wanted to be a farm girl I would."
Cat can feel her eyes brimming with tears and Jade tears her gaze away from the girl before she can feel guilty about inflicting obvious hurt feelings upon her overly sensitive self. Cat doesn't say anything, mostly because she has no idea how to respond to that, but it doesn't matter anyway, because at that moment, the backdoor opens and out steps her uncle Jesse.
"What's going on out here?" the man questions, looking between the two girls in shock once he notices Jade's filthy condition and the sad look on his niece's face. Cat sniffles, struggling not to let the tears fall.
"Jessipa threw Jade off her and she landed in… in that," the girl says quietly, gesturing to the waste staining the back of Jade's jeans, avoiding blaming her for the incident. "I was just about to get her a towel so she can shower."
"Oh no… well don't let me keep you waiting," uncle Jesse says, ushering them inside.
Jade waits and stands awkwardly in the middle of the small bathroom in her soiled clothes as Cat goes to gather up a towel for her and a change of clothes. The girl does her best to find Jade something as dark and plain as possible since she knows Jade hates patterns and bright colors. She ends up bringing her a purple v-neck and a pair of grey sweatpants along with a towel and even a fresh pair of black undies that Jade's surprised the girl even owns. She takes the clothes without a word, figuring they'll do. Cat turns to leave the bathroom and Jade notices the girl hasn't even looked her in the eye or bothered to say a word to her since her little outburst outside. She lets out a sigh.
"Cat, wait."
Cat freezes in her footsteps and turns slowly to face her but keeps her eyes trained towards the ground.
"Alright, you can look at me you know. It's not like I'm going to beat you with a shovel when we get out of here," Jade tells her, unable to help her own snappiness. The shorter girl hesitates before raising her eyes slowly to meet hers.
"Look, I uh… I didn't mean to get you all upset out there," Jade starts to awkwardly form some kind of apology with a bit of a struggle. She never thought "apologizing" to Cat over something so stupid in her eyes would take this much hard effort, but it does. "So… you don't have to keep acting like this."
She knows if it were possible, she probably would've won the award for Worst Apology Ever in the History of Life with that one just now, but she just can't bring herself to say anything more. The words "I'm sorry" are a foreign phrase to her and she's too stubborn for her own good to start using them now.
"I'm not acting Jade," Cat says quietly. "It makes me sad that I couldn't give you a good birthday again," she takes a short pause before speaking again even softer than before. "It was supposed to be the best day ever."
Jade still can't understand why Cat cares about her birthday so freaking much, but she stopped trying to question it years ago. She just doesn't get it though. She never sees Cat go through this much trouble on Tori's birthday or anyone else's birthday from the group for that matter, it's always her… but instead of appreciate it like Jade knows she should, she let's herself get annoyed by it instead just because Cat's idea of fun things is way far off from hers.
"You tried Cat," Jade trails off, racking her brain in attempt to find something to say so Cat will stop looking so damn sad on account of her. Maybe happy Cat can irritate the living chizz out of her, but Jade can't lie to herself; she knows deep down she'd rather have happy Cat over down in the dumps Cat any day, especially when Jade knows she's the one that's killed her good mood. If happy Cat's irritating, then sad Cat's a fucking death sentence. She's just so much harder to deal with that way.
"I um… appreciate what you… did for me today," Jade struggles to pull the sentence out of her own vocal chords, but manages it somehow. "Even if it turned out like this. Thanks."
It's the 'thanks' and the fact that Cat sees Jade fighting against her own stubbornness to go out of her way to cheer her back up that gets her. She smiles wide and more than ever she wants Jade to keep hanging out with her after she gets all cleaned up, but she knows that if she wants to get Jade to stay, then she better come up with something good that will turn this whole day around… and she better come up with it fast. Besides, Cat still has to give Jade her present. It's been the number one thing on her mind all day; not so much the present itself, more like the question to herself of how, where, and when she's going to present it. It has to be done perfectly and Cat's been hoping the perfect solution will just come to her but with the day going worse than she'd been hoping, she's yet to find a good enough solution.
She figures she has twenty minutes to think of something while Jade showers and gets dressed. She remembers what Jade said to her outside about her only dragging her into doing things that she enjoys, and Cat realizes she's right. Bowling and riding horses; Cat had figured that if she liked those things, anyone would. She never stopped to remember that her and Jade are total opposites. Cat likes things that are fun and simple… Jade likes things that are… eerie and dangerous.
And that's when it hits Cat. The perfect solution; and it only took her ten seconds to come up with because of the words "eerie" and "dangerous" as far as Jade's interest crossing her mind. She doesn't need twenty minutes after all.
"Jade… I know you've made up your mind in wanting me to take you home but… but I have one more thing planned, and this time I'm positive it's something you'll like…" she trails off almost uncertainly, as if she's not sure if it's the right time to try and persuade Jade into sticking around or if she should've waited until after the girl was showered and ready and thus in a slightly better mood to say anything.
Jade holds back another sigh because it all sounds so repetitive; Cat being so positive that she'll have a good time, only to have it go just about the opposite way. Everything Cat's saying just sounds exactly like stuff Jade has heard from her already, but even with that fact… she can't bring herself to say no immediately, but she doesn't agree right away either.
"I'll tell you what," Jade starts slowly. "How about you tell me now what your idea is instead of making it a big surprise and I'll just tell you yes or no to it point blank?"
Cat nods. That seems fair enough. She'd rather keep it a surprise of course, but she's willing to toss the element of surprise if it means Jade will be more likely to keep hanging out with her. Heck, she's obviously willing to do anything if it means Jade will keep hanging out with her, because she has to force her next sentence out of her mouth due to the face that the place she's about to suggest they go is the one place she swore to herself ever since she was little she would never set foot in, but she'll do it for Jade. She knows Jade will love it there; so it's her last hope.
"Have you ever heard of Marshall Scotty's?"
Maybe the day had gone far worse than she'd hoped, but Cat's still determined to make this birthday special for Jade no matter how much it seems as though the girl has been refusing to let her, even if it means facing the site of one of her greatest childhood fears.
"How do you even know about this place?" Jade wonders as the girls pull up to the curb inside a small neighborhood that looks mostly empty. Cat knows the neighborhood has to be mostly deserted due to the rumors of the place she and Jade are about to enter, which is a two minute walk away, but she avoids commenting on that to spare the risk of freaking herself out even more.
"My brother would tell me stories about it when we were littler," Cat tells Jade, keeping still in the passenger's seat. She'd decided to let Jade drive her car down here, since Cat doesn't like driving at night and Jade prefers it anyway. Jade had never heard of Marshall Scotty's before but after showering, she'd pulled more details about the place out of Cat and had been so intrigued by it that she looked up pictures on her phone which had sold the deal for her. After Jade fawned over the creepy pictures of the place, they were going to leave right then and there for it until Jade had the idea to wait until it got dark to go because that would make it even more spooky and awesome. Cat had been hesitant but forced herself to give into the idea, asking herself what could go wrong but refusing to think of the actual possibilities. It had been about a two hour drive, and Cat spent the majority of it trying to calm her nerves and reminding herself that she was doing this for Jade, while Jade spent the majority of it imagining all kinds of creepy spirit stories in her head.
"Well let's go," Jade urges as she unbuckles her seatbelt and climbs out of the car. Cat takes a deep breath before following suit. They start away from the car after Jade locks it, and Cat literally feels like she's about to walk straight into her doom, but she quickly remembers Jade's present.
"Wait, I have to get something out of the trunk!" she says. Jade turns back with confusion but hands her back her car keys anyway. What could possible need from the trunk at a time like this?
Cat trudges over to the trunk, thankful that she's bought herself at least a little bit more time. Jade waits for her a few yards away and her eyebrow raises in confusion when Cat returns with a miniature acoustic guitar. Her eyes travel between the tiny guitar and Cat's face back and forth for a moment.
"Why?"
Cat offers her a small half smile in the darkness.
"You'll see."
Jade knows there's not really a point in questioning Cat further and besides, she's finally too excited about something for the first time today to waste anymore time so she starts to lead the way down the street so they can turn the corner into their destination, but Cat lags behind her. Jade turns back to her, trying her best not to let her impatience show.
"Come on…."
Cat looks at her, clutching her guitar tightly by the neck and it's just really hit her what she's about to do. Not only is she about to enter a creepy, old, abandoned amusement park that's been rumored to be haunted since 1983 and she's been terrified of ever since she was little, but she's about to do something else too that she knows could be even more dangerous. But that second thing is what she's been waiting for the right moment for all day and the day is almost over so she knows this is really her last chance. She could still back out of the second thing, but she doesn't want to. She's been holding back with it for too long, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy.
Cat continues to hesitate for a moment before stepping closer to Jade. Jade starts to turn, thinking that Cat's going to just keep following her down the street, but she stops when the girl grabs her hand with her own hand that's not clutching the guitar.
Like always, Jade's first instinct is to pull away, but she can feel the trembling in Cat's fingers, and she realizes that she's been too focused on her own excitement for the last couple of hours to notice that Cat's scared, and she really obviously does not want to be here and do what they're about to do, but that she's doing it for her anyway. Jade glances down at their intertwined fingers for a moment before letting her eyes travel back up to Cat's face and she sees that the girl is smiling, when just two seconds ago she looked terrified.
"Why are you smiling?" Jade questions her, noticing that holding Cat's hand really isn't that awful. Cat's silent for a moment before responding; not knowing if she should point out what she stopped herself from pointing out way earlier in the day back inside the bathroom of the bowling alley, but she decides to just do it this time anyway.
"Because you are," she says quietly and she's happy when to her surprise, Jade's tiny smile doesn't falter, though she shakes her head.
"Come on," Jade tries one more time, pulling Cat this time with her down the street towards the amusement park. When they reach the front entrance, they see that it's closed off with a low fence that looks like it goes all the way around. Ignoring the red and white "No Trespassing" sign plastered to the fence, Jade lets go of Cat's hand.
"Give me the guitar," she says, reaching for the little instrument which she still has no idea why Cat has with her. Whatever the reason, Jade knows the girl won't be able to get over the fence with it so she's willing to take it upon herself. Cat hands it over as Jade starts to climb, telling the girl to follow her lead.
Climbing over the fence is surprisingly easy, Cat notices as she lowers herself to the ground on the opposite side where Jade is waiting.
"So this place got flooded, eh?" Jade repeats what Cat told her earlier as she hands the girl back her guitar and shines her phone around to use as a light. She stands back and just studies the place for a moment, admiring its deserted beauty. She shines her light on a rusty looking sign that reads "Marshall Scotty's Play land Park" first, and then points it towards a small, rusted metal booth with a green sign over it that says "TICKETS" in big white letters.
"Yeah…" Cat says wearily, shining her own phone around at all the empty booths where she assumes carnival games used to be held. It's amazing how, even after years of being abandoned after a flood, each booth still stands as good as new except for the rust and mold growing out of most of them. She instantly thinks of the rumors she remembers her brother telling her a long time ago about all the spirits that probably haunt this place now of people who drowned in the flood while at the park, and she shudders, stuffing her phone back in her pocket.
"Uh… you good?" Jade asks her, noticing her shudder. Cat nods uncertainly, knowing she has to calm down now or she won't be able to give Jade her present. Jade hesitates before taking her free hand again to calm her, causing Cat's body to tense immediately in surprise. It's not like she minds or anything, not at all. She just wasn't expecting for Jade to hold her hand again. She turns her head away from the birthday girl, hiding a small smile in her shoulder despite her fears. She let's Jade lead her further into the park, past the old game booths until they reach the ride area. The first thing the girls spot is the giant white Ferris wheel with yellow carts. It's the ride furthest away from them, in the very back of the park near some dead looking palm trees, but it's also the biggest ride, making it the easiest to spot.
"Now that's creepy," Jade laughs in fascination as they step closer to the wheel, past the bumper cars, mini train ride, and kiddy roller coaster. Cat's not sure which part of it she means is creepy; the rustiness of everything in sight, the way a place that was once filled with so much laughter and happiness now lies dead and empty, or what, so she doesn't comment. It's all creepy to her, but Jade seems to be enjoying herself in a place like this, just like Cat knew she would, so she refuses to chicken out and beg her to leave. It's still the girl's birthday and she finally seems to be in a good mood, and Cat's not about to take that away. She doesn't even regret coming here. In fact, she's still glad, because Jade's smiling at last.
Jade let's go of her hand again and climbs carefully into the Ferris wheel cart closest to the bottom. It swings and creaks loudly, causing Cat to cringe.
"Are you going to get in?" Jade asks her when she just stands there, peering at her from the outside. Cat nods and climbs in after her. She settles into the seat next to Jade, letting her little guitar rest across her lap. Jade studies her closely in the shadows created by the moon and stars in the darkness of the night, noticing how fidgety she's been this whole time. Jade wants to assume it's only because Cat's afraid to be here in the abandoned park, but a part of her can't help but think it's something else entirely by Cat's sudden refusal to look at her again as they sit together in the broken down Ferris wheel. She doesn't only look scared anymore… she looks nervous on top of it.
"What are you all fidgety about, Cat?" Jade asks her flat out. Cat strums her fingers over a few random chords of her guitar, refusing to turn her gaze toward the other girl.
"I'm not."
"And I'm not pissed about getting horse crap all over my favorite jacket," Jade remarks sarcastically to prove she knows Cat's not telling her the truth.
"It'll come out," Cat assures her lightly. "My uncle Jesse was washing it when we left."
Jade sighs, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and hands clasped together as she angles her body more towards her companion.
"Cat," she says, eyes searching the girl's face until Cat's forced to look at her. "That's not the point. What's with you? If you're that scared right now we can leave."
"No that's not it…" Cat trails off as she examines her face and she notices that Jade's in the perfect position because of how the moon shines off her. It illuminates her pale skin and Cat can see in the way it reflects on her that even without make up the girl has a certain striking kind of beauty about her.
"You're doing that thing again," Jade speaks up, seeming to forget their past conversation.
"What?" Cat asked absent mindedly, blindsided by the way the girl's green eyes literally seem to glimmer in the moonlight.
"Staring at me like you did in the bathroom at the bowling alley," Jade tells her without bothering to look away from Cat's face herself.
"You're just really pretty."
Cat feels her own eyes grow wide and she looks away quickly after realizing what she just let slip out for the second time that day, feeling the warmth creep up her cheeks. A curtain of silence drapes over the two again which Cat refuses to break this time so eventually Jade gives in, and her question throws the other girl quite a bit off guard. Cat doesn't notice that Jade hasn't broken her gaze away once since she's trying so hard to avoid looking at her again herself.
"Is there something you wanna tell me?"
"Yes," Cat responds after a few seconds of pondering her question and all the different ways she could've meant to ask it. "I hope your birthday's going better," she finishes, plucking at her guitar strings now.
"Is there something else you wanna tell me?" Jade tries again, eyes practically boring holes into the side of her face.
"Not really," Cat fibs. She's wanted to tell Jade something for a long time now that she never thought she could.
"Well, how about you start with telling me why you brought a random guitar with you into a deserted amusement park?"
Cat doesn't respond right away, going over her options in her head. She can either continue to give Jade a lack of real answers, or she can take the one chance Jade's openly giving her to lay everything out on the table. It's now or never, she sees.
"I wrote you a song," she blurts out finally before she can decide against it, and then throws in quickly "for your birthday!"
Finally, Jade sits back in the seat again, but keeps her eyes focused on Cat.
"Well, let me hear it," she says, crossing her arms casually across her chest.
Turning her head as far away from Jade as possible, Cat closes her eyes and bites her lip, silently wishing herself a good luck. This is it, she decides. She knows there's no way out now. She's already revealed too much for her to back out of this. With a deep breath, she picks up her guitar and holds it as steady as she possibly can in her hands despite the fact that her whole body is shaking. She finally turns to Jade then, and notices the girl giving her a tiny smile that Cat can't quite interpret, but she assumes it's for luck. Whatever the reason, Cat could get used to those smiles. They come rarely from Jade; real ones at least, no matter how tiny they are, but whenever she's lucky enough to receive one from the typically serious girl, it makes her feel a little more special each time.
Cat draws in one last breath and focuses on Jade's eyes as she begins to strum out an actual slow melody on her guitar before she opens her mouth to pair the music with the lyrics she wrote herself.
"Keep smiling…. it suits your face the best
Don't just stand there; I like it when you're being yourself
I don't know when
It's as if by magic you just popped out of nowhere
It's crazy, I know… but I like it
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa-oh-oh-oh"
Jade can't help it. She's already practically grinning from the opening stanza, for the simple fact that no one's ever written and performed a song for her before. She purses her lips to try and mask it, but it's nearly impossible. Her look causes Cat's own lips to spread into a smile as she launches into the song's chorus with a little more encouragement.
"Laugh for me, with me, baby…
I just want to see
Those lips that curve perfectly and
Dear Jadey
This is what you mean to me
I'm just a little friend of yours…"
She trails off, watching Jade closely as she does with each careful word that slips between her lips. The grin of the girl Cat wrote this song for is not as present. Her face has settled into a more relaxed look and it almost discourages Cat from continuing but the thing that keeps her going is the fact that Jade's still sitting back with her arms crossed, watching her intently as she sings, not tearing her eyes away from hers for even a second, so Cat pushes herself to go on, wrapping up the chorus softly, voice slightly wobbling with her revelation once and for all.
"…But I love you dearly
I love you dearly…"
Jade doesn't even flinch or move a muscle as Cat finishes the chorus, and Cat doesn't know if that's good or bad, but either way, she continues with the second verse, gradually revealing more and more of what she's wanted to tell the girl for so long.
"Day dreamin'
I'm drowning in your eyes
Your beautiful pale skin
I like it and I don't know why
My hearts racin'….
How do I feel this way
But you'd never have a clue?
And you don't even know this exists
I don't mind
I'm not lying
It's about time
That I speak my mind out"
She swears for a second she can see a little smile tug at a corner of Jade's lips again with those last four lines, but just as fast as Cat thinks she sees it, it's gone, and her relaxed expression has returned. As Cat heads into the chorus again, she knows that the hard part's at least over.
"Laugh for me
With me, baby
I just want to see
Those lips that curve perfectly and
Dear Jadey
This is what you mean to me
I'm just a little friend of yours…"
She swallows hard and strums out a few more notes on her guitar before she stops playing and speaks the final line quietly, just above a whisper.
"But I love you dearly."
She sits back quietly when she's done, waiting for Jade to react… move a muscle… do something, but the girl only sits there, watching her carefully as if she's still playing, with her thin eyebrows set in a relaxed mode above her pretty green eyes Cat mentioned in her song, unmoving. But finally after what literally feels like an eternity, she uncrosses her arms and leans forward with her elbows on her knees again towards Cat and opens her mouth to speak. Cat's heart tightens in her chest as she braces herself for whatever Jade's about to say, but nothing comes out. Jade closes her mouth and continues to watch her for a second, and Cat sits completely still, unable to look away from her still moonlight-illuminated face. At last, Jade tries to speak again, and this time, she manages to find her words.
"Let me try something," tumbles out of her mouth hoarsely in an almost whisper. With that lone sentence left hanging in the air, she places her hands on the guitar that Cat doesn't even realize she's still clutching tightly to her chest and pries it gently from her, setting it carefully at their feet. She looks up at Cat again then, and scoots closer to her on the seat, and immediately Cat realizes it's the only time Jade's ever moved close to her instead of the other way around which is when Cat's tried to hug her before.
The redhead feels her muscles tighten throughout her entire body as if she's literally being frozen in a state of shock as Jade continues to inch closer and closer until their legs are touching. When Jade realizes she can't reach Cat any closer with her body, she slowly starts to tilt her head down towards the shorter girl. Cat's eyes flicker back and forth between Jade's eyes and her pale pink lips and her eyes travel more and more rapidly the closer the girl brings her face until at last, a short single inch is all that separates them.
Cat can feel Jade's warm breath on her face as her own hitches in her throat. Her brown eyes focus in completely on Jade's green ones but the girl is busily looking down at her lips; a slightly darker shade of pink than her own. Nothing but pure silence passes over the two girls for a long while and Cat almost convinces herself that they'll be stuck in this same position forever until finally, Jade lifts her eyes from Cat's lips to lock on hers for a mere second before letting them fall shut. In the next half a second after her eyes close, Jade meshes her lips to Cat's.
Cat sits completely still with her head and chest pounding, terrified of what might happen if she moves or shifts even a little. She waits for Jade to pull away first, but instead after only a few more seconds she swears she can feel the other girl deepening the lip lock, kissing her harder, sending chills to come shooting up Cat's spine. At last, the smaller girl is able to bring herself to respond, kissing Jade back with equal fervor to match hers. Jade leans into Cat in the metal seat and pulls her into her arms without moving her face away from hers, circling them around her petite frame and holding her close in place. One of Cat's hands finds the back of the darker haired girl's head as her other arm circles around her back in response to Jade holding her in place against her own body.
"Your perfect," Cat whispers against her lips when she pulls away from the greatest passion she's ever experienced in her life. She doesn't mean to let it slip, it just does. Despite her own hard breathing, Jade tilts her head down and kisses her again, this time without hesitation, except it lasts for a slightly shorter amount of time.
"I like your song," she tells Cat quietly, though it's clearly an understatement. Her eyes are still half closed as she whispers her words into her soft lips. Kissing Cat is nothing like any guy she's ever kissed… she can't even explain it to herself so decides to just enjoy without questioning it. She continues to hold the girl close to her.
"I like you," Cat responds breathily, which is also an obvious understatement. "I-I've wanted you to know that for a really long time," she confesses.
Jade doesn't even have time to smile before Cat molds her lips into hers one more time. It suddenly makes sense to Jade why Cat cared so much to give her a good birthday, because of how much she likes her.
"Happy birthday Jade," the girl says with a shy smile when the kiss is over, though Jade can't imagine why she has a reason to be shy around her now. After one final long kiss, Cat darts her eyes around, remembering at last that they're in a creepy old Ferris wheel in the middle of an abandoned carnival.
"…Can we get out of here now before a ghost attacks us?"
Jade laughs, unwinding her arms from around her body. "Sure."
As they get up to leave, Jade can't help but smile to herself, because at once she feels for the first time in years that her birthday finally has a meaning.
A/N: A lot of things to say about this. First of all, the song. One of my really good friends wrote it and posted a video of herself singing it on youtube and she was awesome enough to let me use it in here. She originally wrote it for Liz for her birthday, and I died when I heard it for the first time. Some of you might have seen me post it on tumblr, or you might have even seen it floating around twitter. But if you haven't, please check it out on youtube or you'll seriously be missing out. It's called "Dear Lizzy" and it's the most adorable song ever. I just changed all the "Lizzy's" to say "Jadey" lol, but like I said, she wrote it.
(youtube DOT com)/watch?v=0amJPj91wPw&list=FLPEmg5OM_ABHXByrJTHpi
Marshall Scotty's Play land Park is an actual carnival/amusement park place near San Diego that's apparently been abandoned since 1983 due to some flood. I just made up the stuff about there being rumors that it's haunted though. And finally, I did not expect this story to turn out as long as it did, so I seriously love you for reading all of it. Well I would anyway even if it was short but you know what I mean. Anyway, hope it was worth it. Please remember to review.(:
Last thing: Liz's Winx Club song. OMG. It's so... not her hahah but I died. Literally died. Her voice is way too perfect, like I can't even- okay. Nuff Said.