A/N: Again, sorry, I suck at everything. Go take a look at Treehouse to find out why. And, lovElavan, I will update Busted, I swear, I have the chapter almost finished, but... I'm really busy with everything. I'm sorry. I love you all, I'm sorry. Gah.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognisable.
"I don't want to be here." She stated, loud and proud.
Well, at least she was honest.
Tori heaved a sigh. "Come on, Jade. This doesn't need to be nearly as hard as you're trying to make it. "
"Whatever." She mumbled rolling her eyes and dropping her new black purse next to the couch and begrudgingly sitting on it.
The hatred she felt for that couch's colour was almost overwhelming her.
"You like writing though, don't you?" Tori tried again, tentatively taking a seat nest to the talented writer.
"Not with you."
"Well!"
"You're shit and you know it."
"Could you not curse in my home? My parents might hear!" Tori said, glancing to the stairs quickly.
"Aw, would Little Miss Goody-Two-Shoes get in a widdle bit of twubble?" Jade mocked.
"Shut up, Jade. We have a project to do and I don't want you here any later than you have to be."
"Ooh, has the little kitty got claws?"
"Yeah, just like the vulture has talons."
This struck Jade unusually speechless.
"Listen, Jade, I'm sorry, it's been a long day an-"
"No, no. It's fine. I just wasn't expecting that. I... I shouldn't have said all that either."
"Oh. Okay."
There was a silence, as heavy as it was awkward.
"Jade, I just want to know exactly what our friendship is- I mean, one second we're-"
"I came here to do a project, Vega." Her voice cold and emotionless again.
Tori couldn't keep up with everything.
They worked slowly, steadily, frostily, on the project.
They got a good deal done, and decided to call it a night after two and a half hours.
"You want a drink, or some food or something?" Tori offered.
"No."
"You sure? You haven't eaten anything in ages-"
"Calm your tits, Vega. I'm not anorexic. Beck's picking me up to go for a late dinner." Without realising it, her lips curled into a small smile at his name.
A small smile that did not go unnoticed by Tori.
"Oh."
Another awkward silence.
"You really like him, don't you Jade?" She questioned, hoping for an easy response.
She realised too late that the question was too aggressive. Well, at least it was in Jade's opinion.
"And why exactly do you ask? It's not your place to go messing around in people's relationships, Vega!"
"No reason! No reason! Calm down, it was just a question!"
Jade took a few calming breaths, and returned to her place on the couch - abandoned when she sprung up.
She looked at her phone when it buzzed a moment later.
"Beck's gonna be ten minutes late. Traffic."
"Oh."
More silence.
Again, of the awkward kind.
"Okay, Vega. Listen. You're one of those stupid people, a bit like Beck, who can't just get over the fact that I'm mean and heartless."
The raven-haired girl surprised Tori by speaking first.
"You two are just- you're both just obsessed with this dumb 'soft side' that everyone apparently has. I can't do it perfectly, but I can try."
Tori opened her mouth to interrupt, but decided against it and shut it again.
"I don't think you quite understand me. Or at least me and Beck. You see, he could have any girl he wants. He could have a different one for every day of the week if he wanted to. Me? I'm not so lucky. Guys are way too scared of me. And that's okay. I like it like that. I don't care when I see the weird looks, the weird 'oh there's goth-girl' look. I don't care. I couldn't give a fuck. But for some reason, Beck stuck around. And you know what? That terrifies me. I can hardly go a day without talking to him or holding him or even seeing him because I just need him so fucking much. It is actually painful when I see him talking to another girl - not because he's flirting, because sometimes it's just plain, friendly talking - but because I know that he could leave me there and then, and he wouldn't even care. Myself? I'd be left in the aftermath, hurting so much I couldn't breathe."
She finally took a trembling breath, putting her head in her hands for a second and looking at Tori for the first time in what felt like hours.
"So do you know why I don't like you, Vega? It's because you're such a goddamn, big fucking threat. You're the one girl-friend he talks to most, and you're perfect. You're skinny, pretty, much better at singing and dancing and acting than I'll ever be, and to top it off? You'd be so much better for him. You wouldn't argue, and you'd live happily ever after. You might not be after Beck now, but one day he might ask you and you'd forget everything, you'd forget me, you'd forget the world, and you'd say yes. I know you'd forget everything, because it happened to me. You look at him, and all of a sudden, nothing matters. Nobody else is alive. And it's crazy. And it's gonna come back to haunt me in the end. I know it."
She finished, not a single trace of a tear in her eyes.
Tori was surprised by just how clear the blue orbs were.
"Jade, I-" She started.
She didn't actually know what she was gonna say.
"I want you to like me."
So she came out with that.
She mentally facepalmed. Smooth, Vega.
Jade raised a pierced eyebrow, and Tori realised that she had changed the piercing for one with a black gem at the top.
"Well, I want you to hate me."
She didn't expect that one coming back at her.
"So what do we do?"
Jade scoffed. "Like I care, Vega. Come on, you're smart, you can think of a cute little solution."
"We can compromise?"
"We can what?"
"Oh, a compromise is when yo-"
"I know what a damn compromise is, Vega. How?"
"Well... You could try to be a bit nicer to me and I could try to be a bit meaner to you."
Jade was silent, apparently weighing the situation on both sides, when she jumped up and all but ran to the door.
"Whatever. Beck's here."
She opened the door and was out, just like that.
Tori collapsed on the couch, her head aching with just the thought of Jade. She wanted to be her friend, she did. She was just one of those people. She wanted people to be her friend. Maybe it was childish, she didn't know, but she couldn't help it. She hated having enemies. She had enough on her plate with friends without trying to deal with enemies. With Jade, it was-
Suddenly the door burst open and before she knew if, Jade had stormed in and wrapped her arms around Tori, and almost before she had time to react and hug her back, she stepped back.
"You tell anyone, I'll kill you."
And then she was gone.
Again.
Tori thought this might just work.
Y'know, if she was careful.