Disclaimer: Dan pulling a Dan, and Suzy pulling a Suzy.
(.x.)
You can count on me.
Amen, we've made it this far.
Jade never forgot. She will remember everything about you; she was just naturally born with an amazing memory. She was precise, concise and cold cut dry. She was good at many things besides the obvious sing, dance, act and well, just generally exist. Jade could paint; long strokes against the white canvas- often void of black. A new canvas was hope to Jade. It was freedom. It was the closest thing she got to happiness.
She had a lot of pink in her paintings. It made her mother arch her eyebrows when Jade brought into her mother's studio- because she must have gotten the artistic talent from someone.
Pink hues in a summer sunset.
Pink, rosy cheeks of a flushed newborn.
Pink flower bushes, accenting the edge where the grass met the pond.
Pink cupcakes.
Pink.
Pink.
Pink.
Cat used to like it when she painted pink.
Now Jade paints in grey with a splash of green, of blue, of purple, of yellow, of tangerine- but not of pink so much. There was no point. She barely spoke to Cat anymore. And though Jade had fought for Beck, she had never thought she would have to fight for Cat.
As kids, she had trained Cat well enough to know when she had gone too far, when she should stop speaking, when she should give Jade a hug and when to pull out The Little Mermaid and Snow White for a Disney princess marathon. Now they were older, Jade didn't have to teach Cat anything anymore; she just knew when Jade was upset, when she was angry, when she was resisting the urge to smile and when she was frustrated.
Now, Jade wondered if Cat remembered anything about her anymore.
And then other times, she stopped wondering at all.
She was never one to remensce.
.
.
.
For a while, Cat was the most important thing in Jade's life, and somewhere along the line, Beck inserted himself in the picture- maybe Jade had painted him in- but he was between the two of them. He kept Jade all to himself. Jade never had any time for sleepovers because she was too busy sleeping over at Beck's.
Gone were her melodious laughs and twinkling eyes; now they raged with a fire, Cat was sure Beck had lit.
He liked to play with fire.
Jade sat alone with Beck at lunch, and they walked to class together.
Cat wasn't sure what it felt like to be replaced, but she knew that Jade never waited for her after school and never offered her a ride to school anymore.
When she confided in her older brother, he told her, that was what he felt like when she was born, and then slammed his bedroom door shut.
When she asked Andre, he gave her a reassuring pat on her back and offered her a sip from his chocolate milk.
She saw the way his eyes flickered over to Jade&Beck's table.
She wasn't the only one who lost a friend.
.
.
.
When Tori came, Cat realized she didn't have to spend Friday nights sandwiched between Andre and Robbie anymore.
She didn't have to fight to keep up with the inside jokes that Beck and Jade had.
She didn't have to hum under her breath, fighting the urge to sing because her only partner was too busy sucking face with her exclusive boyfriend.
She didn't have to wonder if Jade would find time to come over so they could go to the park like they did when they were kids.
Back when Jade had no problem pushing Cat on the swings.
They would play hide and seek. Jade was particularly good at that game.
Once she had smiled brightly and said, "You're the only person who really looks for me when I play Hide and Seek," and then licked her ice-cream cone shyly.
Cat had never felt so important in her life.
.
.
.
Cat and Tori had sleepovers.
Jade slept alone.
They giggled at inside jokes and waited in each other for lunch.
Jade walked past the line and sat in a corner.
Cat always called Tori when she needed help.
Jade could only rely on herself now.
Cat and Tori had each other.
Jade didn't even have Beck; not anymore.
.
.
.
"She was hurt you know," Andre told her one day.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Jade sneered and her shoulders stiffened.
"When you got together with Beck, who did you think she hung out with after every time you cancelled on her?" Andre shrugged his shoulders.
He wasn't angry at Jade; he knew she loved (loves) Beck.
He was more disappointed than anything.
"You know she needed you back then. I wasn't good with all that girl stuff."
A pause.
"She's a big girl, she can take care of herself."
A sad smile.
"She can now."
A soft sigh.
"That's good."
Relief.
She doesn't have to worry that much.
"She has Tori to protect her now," Andre said slowly.
"I know."
The truth.
"Are you upset?"
"At least I know Vega will always be there for her."
"She will." Andre nodded.
A promise.
"That's good." She repeated.
She could hear the sorrow in her own voice. She lost Beck and she lost Cat.
Andre gave her a reassuring pat on the back- he wasn't afraid of her.
"You'll always be her friend," he said lowly, then gave her a drink of his chocolate milk.
(He did the same thing 3 years ago.)
.
.
.
"Do you think she'll forget about me?" She asked Andre in the middle of their calculus homework.
"Never."
"I wish she would." She said softly- she hadn't intended for him to hear.
"Your parents have been friends since they met in that birthing class. It's impossible for her to."
"Oh."
"You were a good friend. You just fell in love. Nothing's wrong with that."
"I hope she'll be okay."
"She knows where to find you," he said.
(He said the same thing 3 years ago)
"I'll never forget her." Jade said.
(He heard the same thing 3 years ago)
.
.
.
(.x.)
I really don't know okay. Bye.
