It had not taken Beck very long to find out that a sleepy Jade was a very hilarious show. Actually, it had technically only taken him three days, three nights. Unless you counted the time before he had the opportunity to (one year and two days, exactly), but that wasn't really fair.
Jade had stayed the night in his RV on their one-year anniversary, and the night after that, and the night after that. He would always wake up earlier than her, so he would often sit for a few minutes and watch her sleep before he was forced to wake her up for school. She looked so peaceful as she slept, her skin was somehow even more pale and perfect, and sometimes when he was lucky she even had a slight smile. She was so beautiful, he really couldn't help himself.
After the first night, he found out the obvious- that a sleepy Jade was very different from the Jade that appeared after she had applied her makeup and angry mask.
When he woke up, he was slightly dazed. He couldn't believe that they had been dating for an entire year, and that she had stayed with him, and even given herself to him. She surely wouldn't do that for just anyone. He took a moment to relish the feel of her soft, smooth skin against his own. After a moment, he decided to make her coffee, since she would definitely be asking for some the moment she woke up. He slowly stood up, trying not to disturb her.
It didn't work.
Her eyelids fluttered open, and he watched her apprehensively. There were so many thoughts going through his mind. She's so beautiful. Does she regret what we did? What if she was just using me all this time? What if she thought I was using her? What if she's angry? And finally, the scariest question of all- How will she feel about me not having her coffee ready for her?
She blinked a few times, her eyes never opening all the way. Then she yawned, stretched slightly, and looked up at him. He was just starting to panic when she finally spoke.
"Hey." She murmured tiredly, and he didn't know whether to laugh or scream. They had just done- it- for the first time and all she says is 'hey'?
"That's all you have to say to me? Hey?" He's being so serious, so deadly serious, but he covers the words with humor. She looks at him thoughtfully, raises one eyebrow just the teeniest bit, and finally nods.
"Yeah." She looks so odd without her usual mask of angry indifference that it's unnerving. This couldn't be the girl he saw in the hallway of Hollywood Arts a year ago. Her eyes half open, her skin pure white, her lips puffed out and her hair in a messy cascade over his pillow. She looks so clearly half-asleep that he almost laughs, but then he remembers.
"I don't have your coffee ready yet." He doesn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't what he got.
She yawned again, rolled over, stretched again, and then muttered, "So?" He's filled with relief, because he had assumed that maybe that was something she expected from him, that if they were so very much in love that she was sleeping in his bed, he should at least have coffee ready for her in the morning. He smiles at her and ruffles her hair.
"You look adorable right now, did you know that?" He says playfully. She lifts a hand as if she's going to brush his hand away, but it falls before it gets there. He laughs as she mutters admonishments under her breath.
When she finally stands up, she doesn't have her usual confident posture that screams 'Jade'. Instead, she slouches her shoulders and hangs her head back, as if she doesn't want to begin another day. She stumbles over to his small refrigerator, pulls out a bottle of milk (she hates water- it's so boring and flavorless), and sets it heavily on his counter. She pulls out a glass and sets it next to the milk. Then she begins firmly twisting the lid in the wrong direction.
After a minute, she seems to realize that it's not opening and twists it the other way. She pours herself some milk. Then she turns to the open cupboard that contains the glassware, calmly puts the milk jug on the bottom shelf, and closes it.
Beck watches her through this routine, and when she puts the milk in the cupboard, he laughs loudly. "What?" She mutters tiredly as he gets up and replaces the milk in the fridge. "Oh." She says quietly before washing out the full glass of milk and stumbling back over to the bed. She falls down on it and pulls a pillow over her head. "Wake me up seven minutes before school starts." He assures her that he will. He found out long ago that she hated 'normal' numbers.
"How long should I microwave this for?" Jade asks him as she examines a bowl of cold macaroni and cheese.
"I dunno…. Try thirty seconds." He replies offhandedly as he stares at the TV, where a mad woman is stabbing her best friend to death with a pair of scissors. Jade scoffs loudly.
"I'll try thirty-four." She replies, putting the food in and setting the timer.
"Why thirty-four?" Beck questions, tearing his gaze away from the screen to look at her.
"I absolutely hate that people always assume that certain numbers are better than others. Whenever you ask someone how long to microwave something, they tell you ten or fifteen or twenty or thirty. I just doubt that my food is at a special level of cold where if I microwave it in multiples of five, it will be perfect. That's so stupid." She finishes as the microwave beeps at her. Beck laughs as he turns back to the screen.
"No multiples of five, got it." He says in an amused tone as she sits next to him. She turns to the TV before adding, "And no 'on the count of three', or 'just give a minute', or anything like that."
The next night he wakes up at around one in the morning. For a minute he wonders why he woke up, but then he realizes Jade is talking softly to someone or something. He turns to her to find that no one's there. Her cell phone is sitting blankly on his dresser, and yet she continues to talk.
"Jade, babe?" He asks carefully. He leans closer to shake her awake when he realizes that she isn't talking. She's singing.
He has no clue in the world what she's singing, the words are too soft for anyone to know, but her voice is carrying a strong, quiet melody as her breathing remains even and her eyes remain closed. Beck chuckles to himself before rolling over and he quickly falls back asleep.
The next morning when she wakes up, he says immediately, "Did you know that you sing in your sleep?" She just looks at him with her eyes half-closed and mutters, "So?"
The third day, they're especially tired. They had stayed up until two or three the night before watching scary movies. Beck waits for her patiently to wake up, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching her expectantly.
It's the first morning that she says more than a few words. That doesn't mean they make sense.
"What happened to Mr. Toad?" She mumbles at him slowly, as though it takes a lot of work to inhale enough air needed to speak. He looks at her for a moment before scrunching his eyebrows.
"What?"
"Mr. Toad…. He said he was going out to find Bunny and he didn't come back. Did you find him?"
Beck assumes that she's talking about some dream she had and says slowly, "I don't know who Mr. Toad is."
Jade looks at him for a second, closes her eyes, runs a hand through her hair, and finally mutters, "I don't either." Beck is silent for a moment before he lets out a loud bark of laughter. She just stares at him before rolling over and groaning, "You are so weird."
The next day is Monday, and they have to go to school again, unfortunately. Beck successfully gets out of bed without her waking up and starts to get ready for school. After a while he has to wake her up.
"Jade?" He shakes her. She doesn't respond. "Jaaadddeee….." Beck whispers quietly. She opens bleary eyes.
"Did you find the book?"
He laughs quietly as she looks at him expectantly.
"What book?"
"The book I was reading last night. You told me you put it somewhere…."
"I don't know what book you're talking about, Jade."
"You know, the- the book that- I have no idea what book I'm talking about either." She moans as he laughs.
When they get to school, they enter Sikowitz's classroom and sit down. Tori, Andre, Robbie, Rex, and Cat enter soon after.
"Hey, you guys, I had an interesting conversation with Jade this morning…."