Tires squealing. Slams. Yells and whistles.
"Jaaaaaaaade!" he calls out, bursting in through the door. A rush of footsteps follow him.
"In here!" I answer, smoothing down my light green sundress. I'm reaching for the cupcakes and apple juice when he finds me.
"There you are," Dave says, smiling. I smile back, my cheeks flushing. It happens every time I see him-his presence easily lights me up, no matter what. I approach him for a long hug; I haven't seen him all day. Unfortunately, the rest of Dave's friends interrupt.
"Dave come on! I got the Grand Theft Auto game right here!" John says, walking in, game in hand. Karkat, Jake, Tavros, and Dirk are right behind him. "Oh hey Jade!" he greets. I smile and wave.
"Alright cool!" Dave says. He strides past me to grab the snacks and walks back out to the living room. Everyone else follows him. I sigh and lean on the kitchen counter. Nothing from Dave, again. I know he wants to be seen as the cool guy, but couldn't he have at least kissed me on the forehead? I hug myself, feeling cold all of a sudden. I hear the sounds of gunshots and sirens from the T.V in the next room, accompanied by shouts. I want to go and watch, but I feel like I'm locked in the kitchen. This happens every time Dave brings friends; they're immersed in whatever game they bring along, and I get ignored for the most part by him. They let me join them, but all I really want is to spend some time with Dave, holding each other, not freaking out over a game.
I pace around the kitchen, lost in my thoughts, when Karkat comes in. "HEY, JADE…!"
I snap out of it. "Hmm, yeah?"
Karkat leans on the doorway. "WE NEED MORE DRINKS."
"Preferably alcoholic!" Dave calls out.
I scrunch up my nose. "What? I just-"
"I KNOW, I KNOW, BUT WE DRANK IT ALL ALREADY."
I roll my eyes. "Jeez, y'all sure are thirsty…" I rummage around for more drinks. I keep finding wine, but it's a little too fancy for the occasion. "Oh wait!" I go to the refrigerator and pull out two six-packs of Corona. "I forgot we have beer, haha!"
Karkat chuckles. "ALWAYS THE FORGETFUL ONE."
"Hee, yeah!" I hand him the beer.
"THANKS." He turns to walk out, but then he comes back.
"Something the matter?" I tilt my head.
"HOW ARE YOU?" He puts the beer down on the counter and stuffs his hands down his pockets.
"Fine," I say automatically.
He snorts. "I SAW YOUR FACE WHEN DAVE PASSED YOU BY LIKE THAT. I KNOW YOU WANTED HIM TO KISS YOU."
I sigh. "It's okay…"
Karkat puts a hand on my shoulder. I can't help but notice the steep contrast between our skin colors; mine is creamy, while his is gray. "I'M HERE IF YOU NEED ME, OKAY? SAME WITH JOHN AND JAKE."
"Yeah, I know. Now go, they're waiting." I start shooing him out, but he says:
"COME AND JOIN US."
There it is, the key freeing me from the kitchen, even though I could leave anytime. I take it happily and grab a six-pack. In the living room, all the guys are yelling while Dave's madly shooting up everything in the game. I laugh loudly. "Really Dave, your shooting skills suck," I tease, covering up my sadness from earlier. They all turn at my voice and greet me with smiles, immediately letting me in their circle. I toss the cans of beer at everyone and jump on the couch, where Dave is.
"Is that so?" Dave asks.
"Of course! What are you even trying to shoot?"
"Nothing."
"Exactly! You're just a guy with a gun, no skills whatsoever." At that, everyone oohs.
"oHHH, yOU HEARD THAT," Tavros says.
"If you're so great, why don't you play?" Dave says.
"Pfft, this is an amateur's game. Give me something harder."
"That's what she said," Dirk comments, earning a blush from me and loud laugh from the guys.
"Oh all right. Yo Jake, you got Black Ops?"
"Do I? Well of course!" Jake whips out the game out of thin air and hands it to Dave. He ejects the Grand Theft Auto disc and pops in Black Ops.
"We're gonna play zombie mode," Dave states, giving me a controller.
"I got you," I reply.
"Oooh, this is gonna be fun!" Jake exclaims. "I wish I had some popcorn to munch on…"
"Oh, I have chips!" John says, pulling out four large bags of chips from a black plastic bag and hands one to Jake. Tavros and Karkat scramble to get a bag of chips as well. I laugh.
"Glad to know we're gonna be your entertainment tonight," I joke. I meet my green eyes with Karkat's yellow ones, and he smiles at me. "I'm totally gonna beat you Dave."
"Yeah right. It's on Jade."
As we begin shooting zombies, I slip into the mind-numbing bliss of video games.
I'm in our bedroom, putting on Dave's favorite perfume, giggling uncontrollably. It's the drinks… I think about this evening; I really did beat Dave, but he wouldn't accept it, even though his laughs said otherwise. After that, I let the guys play and I watched, resting my head on Dave's shoulder. He'd pet me occasionally, letting me know he didn't forget me completely. We played drinking games too. I kept losing, because I kept laughing in mid-chug, making me almost snort out the beer. And because I got too drunk too fast. So drunk, that I kept rolling around like a dog, laughing non-stop. When Dave tried to make me stop, I planted a big, sloppy kiss on his lips. He tasted like cherry. Everyone let out a whoop, and Dirk planted one on Jake too. If the other guys weren't straight, I think it would've turned into a sloppy make-out session.
I spin around, loving how the dress flares out. Okay, let me stop; I'm getting a little dizzy…time to finally be with Dave. I stumble downstairs, my wedges making clunky noises. They're so loud…why am I even wearing them…? I attempt to kick them off, but I somehow make myself trip. I almost fall down the last few steps, but Dave catches me just in time. He laughs in my ear.
"Drunkenly taking your shoes off while walking downstairs? How graceful."
"Shhut up…!" I hiccup and squeeze his cheeks together. Dave smirks and picks me up, carrying me to the couch. I notice how the entire room's dark, the T.V illuminating it with its' blue light. He sits down, placing me in his lap. I wrap my arms around his neck, still giggling.
"Mmm, you smell great babe."
"Only for you…!" He takes off the shades he wears constantly, revealing his red eyes. I clap happily. "Ahhh, there are those eyes I love…!"
Dave chuckles. "Seriously Jade…now let's go watch some T.V."
"Nooooo," I whine. "We already stared at the T.V for too long…! Can we do something else?"
"Wanna play darts?" He gestures towards the dart board on the wall. I groan mentally. We can never just talk…
"Sureee…" I slowly get up and get the darts from the cabinet under the T.V. I hand Dave three of them. He looks really pumped for some reason.
"Now this I can beat you in."
I start laughing again. "Noo way!" I throw a dart at the target. It doesn't even hit the board-it hits the wall five inches to the right.
The red-eyed male guffaws. "Oh God Jade you suck."
"Noo! I got this!" I throw another one; it hits the floor.
Dave keeps laughing. "You really do suck!" I throw the last one down and stumble towards him. "W-whoa-" he stammers. I cut him off with a deep and passionate kiss, stroking his blonde hair. He lets out a small moan and pulls me close, running his fingers through my long black hair wildly.
I break the kiss to say, "Now this is something I certainly don't suck at," before going back to his lips again. Dave picks me up and swings me around as we kiss. We hit the wall, and we don't even care. I wrap my legs around his waist, relishing in his cherry lips.
"Damn babe, you're so good…" Dave murmurs on my lips. He trips on something and we crash to the floor. He trails down to my neck and nibbles on the skin. "You really do smell good…" It is your favorite perfume, after all… His hands roam over my body and I bite my lip, ecstasy starting to overwhelm me. Dave tugs on the straps of my dress. "This needs to go."
"I got you," I answer, clumsily taking off my dress, Dave doing the rest. Before he takes my body downtown, I ask, "Dave?"
"Mmm?" he replies, his eyes filled with lust.
"I love you." I kiss him lightly. He grins.
"I…I love you too." And then I let him love me, the bliss pulling us under.
I wake up to rustling. I look around and realize I'm in our bedroom. It takes a few minutes to get used to the pitch-black darkness of the room. I glance down at myself; I'm only wearing Dave's broken disc shirt.
The rustling resumes. "Dave?" I whisper cautiously. "That you?"
"Yeah it's me," I hear from the corner. I can't see him.
I pull out my phone from under my pillow. It's 4:13 a.m. "Dave, it's super early, what are you doing?" I put on my glasses and squint. I see his silhouette crouching.
"Putting clothes on."
"Why?"
"Got stuff to do."
"At four in the morning?"
"Yes actually."
I sigh. "Dave, come back to bed. I miss you…"
"Soon Jade." I watch him straighten up and make his way to the door.
"Dave, please…!" I plead. "I barely spend time with you nowadays, with you and your video games and leaving the house so much." In the back of my mind, I'm asking myself, Why does he keep doing this? Lately he just randomly leaves the house and comes back at the most surprising times. I worked too hard to be with him, I can't lose this…
"I'm sorry Jade, but I gotta do something right now."
I crawl out of bed and hold him around his waist. "What do you have to do so early?"
"Things."
"How come you never tell me what you do when you go out?"
He lets out a deep breath. "I…I don't want to worry you." He turns to face me. But I'm already worried…
I let go of him slowly. "Just…come back soon, okay?"
"I always do." Dave kisses me lightly on the forehead and swiftly leaves me. When I hear the front door close quietly, I slide down to the floor and start to cry, not able to understand what's going through his mind. It's like he still doesn't trust me…
I hear a knock on the door, but I take my time to get to it. I haven't bothered changing out of Dave's shirt…or do much of anything actually. Whoever's knocking does it again, this time more forceful. If the doorbell was still working, I think the person would've pressed on it constantly. I told Dave to fix it, but he never got around to it. I look around and study the shape of our house; it's starting to look abandoned.
The knock gets more persistent. "Alright, I'm coming," I call out, shuffling to open the door. In front of me are John and Karkat. Karkat looks pissed, while John looks worried.
"Ohmygosh Jade are you okay we were knocking for a while but there was no answer and Karkat was getting mad and-"
"John calm down. I'm fine." I fake a smile. He seems to buy it.
"OUT MY WAY," Karkat grumbles, pushing his way in. He turns to glare at me. "WHERE WERE YOU?"
"Here."
"WHY DIDN'T YOU ANSWER?"
I shrug and yawn. "I was busy." Thinking about how lonely I feel.
Karkat groans and goes to the kitchen. I turn back to John, who smiles sheepishly. "You know how he is," he says.
I giggle a little. "Yeah, stupid fuck ass." This earns a loud laugh from John. I like how he laughs; it sounds so genuine. His pale cheeks turn red and his blue eyes just shine wtih happiness. I used to share that in common with him. Then Dave started being weird, with his video games, and it became hard for me to do it lately. It's like I need to be drunk or something to really laugh like that.
"Jade, you alright?" John questions, his eyes full of concern.
I nod. "Yeah…come in." He passes me by and sits on the living room couch. "Where's Dave?"
I shrug again. "Out."
"Again? Aw damn!"
"Tell me about it." I plop down on the couch next to him. He puts his arm around me, flicking on the T.V.
"THERE'S NOTHING HERE," Karkat yells.
"Oh…yeah," I say distractedly, staring mindlessly at the T.V. I hear Karkat making frustrated noises, banging cabinets. He comes back a few minutes later with three glasses of Coca-Cola. He hands them to us and sits next to me.
"What, no beer?" John says. "I'm so glad. I don't really like beer."
"ME TOO," Karkat agrees.
"Same here," I say. So why do we do it? Is it because Dave the cool guy does it?
"SO WHAT'S WRONG, JADE?" Karkat inquires.
"Dave left and I don't understand what he does or why," I murmur.
"WHAT?"
"Nothing," I lie. We all sit in silence, watching the screen, but I don't think any of us are paying attention.
"YOU NEED TO CLEAN YOUR HOUSE," the nub-horned troll suddenly comments.
"I knowww," I whine. I look around the house again; the walls and ceiling are filled with cracks, the sink is overflowing with dirty dishes, and I really think there's a small colony of cockroaches somewhere. I tried keeping up when Dave stopped helping, but…it's just too hard without him. Whenever he's gone, I don't want to do anything but curl up and just wallow in misery.
"We can help Jade, if you want," John offers.
"Thanks…but I'm not in the mood for it right now." Karkat looks like he's going to protest, but he lets it go and we keep watching. It looks like we're on Disney Channel.
"HEY, JADE?"
"Hmm?"
"DO…DO YOU LOVE DAVE?"
"Of course," I answer immediately. I know it doesn't look like it right now, but I do; I always have. Ever since we met, I've been irresistibly in love with him. He was there for me when I needed him, and he opened up to me. At least, I thought so. Now it feels like he's pushing me away again.
"You're so devoted Jade," John muses, petting my hair.
"Awww, you're too sweet John," I laugh. "Oh, that reminds me…was there a reason why you two are here…?"
"Just wanted to see you, that's all."
"Oh. Okay then." That's…incredibly kind of them.
"And don't worry, we'll wait with you until Dave comes home."
"YEAH," Karkat chimes. "WE'RE HERE FOR YOU." He musses up my hair. I laugh and punch his arm good-naturedly.
"Thank you so much," I say graciously.
"Y-YOU'RE WELCOME. NOW SHUT UP AND LET'S WATCH T.V."
After two hours of waiting, I hear a car suddenly pull up in our driveway. I automatically know it's Dave. The car doors slam and the whistling starts. He always does this when he comes home; he says he's whistling my name, letting me know he hasn't forgotten about me. John, Karkat, and I turn our heads towards the door. I'm tensing up for the moment I can jump on him and kiss him like crazy.
Too bad it never happens-he walks in with Terezi. I'm so serious, everyone's jaws drop, especially mine. What's she doing here? I'm supposed to be the only female in the house. Okay, I know it sounds weird, but I'm so used to being the only girl in a group of guys, that I feel threatened when another girl comes by. Like, this is my territory.
"Jade!" the blonde greets, kissing me lightly on the lips. "You remember Terezi right?"
I nod. "Hey Terezi," I say. She waves at me, grinning.
"Sit down Terezi," Dave says. I notice that he has a big bag of KFC. I light up a little. Oh, he brought food for me, how nice! He leaves the bag on the coffee table in front of the couch and goes off to the kitchen. Terezi makes herself comfortable next to Karkat. I quickly realize this is going to be a problem-the couch only seats four people, and I really need Dave next to me. That's it. We're kicking Terezi out.
Dave comes back with more Coca-Cola and hands a glass to her. "Oh wait…there's no space," he says. We're kicking the girl out, I desperately think. I don't care that she's a guest, she's gotta go.
"YOU C4N S1T ON M3 D4V3," Terezi says playfully. Oh hell no. What's worse, Dave actually takes up her offer. How the-?! John feels me tensing up. He rubs my shoulder to calm me down. It usually works, but I'm feeling really territorial right now.
"Don't worry," John whispers in my ear. "He loves you, and no one else." I appreciate John for what he's doing, but I can't deal with this right now. But I know I have to, for Dave. I stare at the walls and their cracks. Soon this house will crumble if we don't clean it up…
Dave and I are on the swings in our backyard, laughing loudly. I've changed out of his shirt to my 3 a.m. dress. Yes, we're drunk again. Okay fine, it's mostly me. I wouldn't relax until the beer came out again, and then I was warming up to the blind troll. It's really hard to talk to her though. It's like her eyes bore into you, even though she can't see. Yet it's like she can see, deep inside you, and she's subtly judging you. I had that feeling the whole time she was there. I observed how she interacted with the guys, and she fits in really well. She's totally up for video games, all the time. And of course, that's what we did. Again.
I saw how she kept lingering on Dave. Like a hand on his arm would stay a few seconds more, her laughs lasted a little bit longer whenever he made a joke. Half of them were corny too. Wait…what am I doing…? I try to push these thoughts away. Not now…it's just time for Dave and I, and no one else.
We keep swinging, staring at the night sky. "It's beautiful," the blonde comments, looking at me. "Just like you."
I blush hard and look away. "Remember how we snuck out of our dorms sometimes and just rolled around on the grass?"
Dave starts chuckling. "Yeah. I loved it. Then we started looking up at the sky. It was just like this, stars everywhere…"
"Mm-hm! And then…you kissed me for the first time." I look back at him, giving him a smile. It's the kind of smile I reserve only for him; it's really bright and it makes my cheeks hurt. I save it for him, because he's the only one I've ever loved, the only one who's ever really made me happy. "Hey Da-" He cuts me off with a sweet kiss. He caresses my cheek with his thumb.
It feels like forever when he pulls away. "It's you," I finally say. He pulls back a little more, confused at where this is coming from. "No really," I continue. "You're the one for me." Even though you keep things from me. "I'm so glad that you chose me to love you. You light up my world when you're just being you." I look back up at the sky. "You know, heaven is supposed to be in the clouds, but for me, heaven is whenever I'm with you." I glance at Dave; his expression is unreadable.
"Jade…"
"I love you, Dave. Everyone said that we wouldn't work out, not completely, because you like the bad girls. Is that true? I don't know, and it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're with me, right here and now. And for a long time after that…" I smile shyly at him, but something feels wrong.
He's not reacting.
I stare at him expectantly, but he doesn't do anything. "Dave?" I ask, worry creeping into my voice.
He sighs deeply. "Jade…"
"What is it?"
He takes off his ever-present shades and looks into my green eyes. "I'm…I'm so sorry."
"For what?" I tilt my head.
He searches my eyes for something. It doesn't look like he finds it, because he sighs again and stares at the ground. "I hurt you…"
What is he talking about? I question myself. I shake my head. "No you haven't. Sure, you keep going off into your world of secrecy and video games, but you haven't hurt me…" At least, not enough to last…
"Yes I have Jade."
"I don't get it."
The blonde takes my hand and draws random patterns with his thumb. "You're right, I do like bad girls…"
"Like I said, it doesn't matter," I insist.
"But it does Jade, don't you get it?" His red eyes burn with a fire I can't comprehend.
"No, I don't apparently!"
"Do you really love me?"
"Yes! You're all I want. I don't want to love anyone else, why don't you understand?" I study him suspiciously. "What's going on?"
"I've been cheating on you," he blurts.
"W-what?" I'm taken aback. That's not true…right?
"I keep leaving the house so much at the most random times because I'm going to spend time with another girl," he says. At that, the haze from the beer completely disappears.
I let out a shaky breath. "W-who is it?"
"…Terezi." Dave looks down at the ground in shame.
"TE-?!"
"I know and I'm so sorry Jade!"
"How did this happen?" I suddenly feel naked and helplessly lost.
"Karkat introduced me to her one day…I found out we had similar interests and it just went from there. Haven't you noticed how much I taste like cherry?"
"Video games," I state, ignoring the last part.
"What?" he asks.
"Same interests in video games and life. She's the bad girl, isn't she?" His lack of a response gives me all the answers I need. I stand up from my swing in anger. "How could you Dave?"
"Jade I-"
"I gave my heart to you, and you just kick it to the side?"
"No-"
"It's always the fucking video games too! They're keeping us apart! You don't pay enough attention to me."
"Yes I-"
"Look at the house Dave!" I point at the sad, two-story home. "Look at those cracks! Look at how dirty it's starting to become! All because you kept leaving." I begin to storm off inside.
"Jade wait!" I hear Dave following me in. "Please Jade listen!"
"I've heard enough," I retort icily, briskly walking to the kitchen. He pulls on my arm.
"No you haven't."
I cross my arms over my chest. "What?"
"I still love you," he says. It makes me want to cry.
"Bullshit."
"No really. You know how much I'm scared of commitment, but I do love you, spend life with you."
"So what are you doing-?!"
"I fucked up I know. Let me make it up to you."
"Break it off with Terezi."
"Of course."
"Stop leaving so much."
"Anything for you Jade."
I nod tersely, reluctant to forgive him. But really, who am I kidding? I'll always love him; I can't bear to let him go, no matter how much he hurts me. It hurts to know that…
"Jade please," Dave begs, his red eyes wide, his body tense for the rejection.
I sigh. "I can't do it. I can't just stay mad at you, even if you broke my heart. I mean, who else can I love?"
"That's how I feel." Dave holds my hands in his oh so gently, a few tears escaping from him. I see the break-down of the cool guy image right before my eyes. I secretly revel in this; it shows he's not immune to pain either. "Thank you so much Jade…"
I kiss the tears away, my eyes welling up. "As long as you love me…then you'll always be my heaven."
"And mine too." We slide down to the floor, our foreheads pressed together. Dave stops crying and kisses me softly. After what feels like eternity, he asks, "Jade?"
"Yes Dave?"
"Can we play video games? It can be any game you want." He looks up at me.
"Okay then." We slowly get up and go back to the living room. He plugs in the Playstation 3, and we start playing. What the game is, I don't know or really care. I only care about my Dave, and how it's going to be like now.
It's always the video games…