A/N: Sorry it's been so long but here's something I hope you'll all like, a new Jori story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious

Chapter One: A flaw in my judgement

'Coffee' I say quietly to myself as I realize sleep just isn't going to happen for me. I've been wrestling with sleep for the past two hours, I creep down the stairs trying my best to avoid any creeks and make my way into the kitchen. It feels weird being back in my childhood home, after living with my ex boyfriend for so long.

I boil the kettle and sigh to myself, it's 3 in the morning so sleep is pointless at this point. It's not like I have to be up early or anything but I do have a date to keep and as much as the idea of starting something new with someone freaks me out. I don't want to let Josh… or is it Jake down.

He seems like a nice guy. I met him the same day as I met Calvin, my Ex-boyfriend. The one I should have let get away sooner! It started with innocent cocktails at the new bar in town. Calvin asked me out and I suggested we go there, I'd heard they did a good 'Cosmopolitan' and I'd thought to myself that if it had turned into a date, we could get food. It did, and we did.

We went to a pizza place across the street on account of me being fussy with food. He seemed so impressed by the things I was telling him about attending a performing Arts school that I didn't notice the huge red flags that popped up. My friends and family never met him but they knew before I did that he was bad news. He once suggested I move away to Italy, so I could learn Italian and learn to cook Italian food.

I didn't notice it then either. Our second date we went out for breakfast and he ordered the same as me. (A Bacon Roll) due to me being fussy, again. As we went on I learned that the little things he'd told me, weren't true in the slightest and I couldn't figure out why he'd felt he needed to lie about being interested in football. The thing is even after that, I couldn't bring myself to say anything, out of fear that I'd sound crazy.

Throughout our relationship, he'd make comments about my bad cooking, when I'd never cooked anything for him before. He'd complain about the possibility of him having to cook our meals someday in the future, when we lived together. He went on and on about a dish called; 'Beef Wellington'. This was something I'd never heard of and it didn't sound appealing to me in the slightest, but he was adamant that I'd never cook it for him. It was like he was telling me this was a condition to us staying together and he'd already decided what I'd say before I'd even known about it.

I should have broken up with him then and there but for some strange reason I didn't. Even when everyone around me was telling me I could do better, I ignored them and continued living this lie. I thought he loved me, he'd said as much.

He asked me to move in with him, so I did. Whenever he'd want a cup of coffee he'd expect me to make it which started to wear me down. I couldn't say anything though because it was such a minor thing that I didn't think it would matter, to him. It mattered to me though.

As it turns out he expected me to make all of his meals for him, work every day and help him look after his kids… oh and to always wear make-up!

It was the Sunday before I started my new job that I realised that he had to go… or rather I had to leave. We were at our local Italian restaurant and even though it was his idea to eat out that day, he'd insisted that I pay our bill. I got really mad then, he was the one who'd ordered an expensive starter while I'd had a small salad and he'd wanted a large mushroom, pepperoni and extra cheese pizza. While I'd stuck with a small margarita.

I put the money for what I'd ordered on the table and walked out. He followed me shortly after and made a comment about me never paying for anything while he paid for things for me all the time.

"You earn more money that I do Calvin" I pointed out. I ran my hands through my hair and resisted the urge I had to cry. "I pay for what I can and you always want to do things I can't afford" I added. He smirked at me.

"Well that's because you don't have a decent job" He said. He laughed a little as he said it. He was always making comments about the fact I worked in a small diner, it was a zero-hour contract but I did actually end up getting a decent number of hours. I was due to start a new job the next day. It was only 20 hours a week though so I was keeping the other job alongside it.

"I just… I can't!" I shouted. He looked taken aback for a second then he just started walking ahead.

"You can't what?" Calvin said, as I tried to follow him back to our flat.

"I can't" Was all I could muster. The fear of being alone was now playing on my mind and I couldn't bring myself to finish my own sentence. The walk back to our flat was silent but as soon as we got through the front door he headed straight for the fridge. Helping himself to a can of beer he looked at me expectantly.

"C'mon Tori. We haven't got all night!" He said impatiently. I sighed and took out the bottle of white wine I'd opened earlier.

"I can't be with you anymore" I said finally after taking a large swig of my wine. That was it then, I packed my bags and rung a taxi. He didn't even try to get me to reconsider, it was like he'd already moved on.

So, when Josh called a week later asking if I'd like to go on a date I'd jumped at the chance. Although, now it was 3 in the morning and I was struggling to sleep. I was scared that Josh would be another Calvin. Some of the things he did and said reminded me of Calvin. Like the way, he texted, the way he talked, the way things had gone with us so far and of course the fact that they'd been colleagues. I sat at my kitchen table and sipped my coffee. I needed to get over Calvin and I was starting to think that seeing Josh wasn't the way to do it.

I sighed to myself and picked up the phone.

"Hey, I'm sorry it's late" I said as I twirled my long hair around my index finger. I heard a loud groan on the other end and braced myself for the phone call to end.

"This better be good Vega?" Jade said.

"Hey, I just needed to talk to someone…" I said. "And I needed someone to help me deliver bad news and as I recall you're good at that" I tried to laugh to myself but hurting someone's feelings does still bother me.

"Um… okay, what kind of bad news?" Jade asked, I heard rustling on the other end as if she was sitting up in bed.

"I need to cancel a date" I explained and I went on to explain the entire sorry story that had become my life in the last six months since I'd finished college. Jade advised me to just text him saying I couldn't make it and leave it at that and then I was to instead meet her and Cat for drinks the following evening so we could drown our sorrows together.

"TORI!" The unmistakeable sound of Cat's voice was heard as soon as I entered the club we were meeting at. It was still quite early so the path to the bar was clear and we managed to be able to get served pretty fast.

"Hey, Cat. How have you been?" I asked her, It had been about six months since I'd seen her around the time I'd started seeing Calvin. My relationship with him had prevented me from talking to most of my friends.

"I've been okay, I got fired yesterday though..." She said sadly. Jade appeared at that moment.

"It's okay, Cat you'll find a better job than working for that soul sucking company!" Jade assured her.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You don't want to know" Jade warned me. I took her warning to heart and quickly changed the subject to Andre's new song that had recently hit the charts.

"It's such a catchy song!" Cat exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, I knew he was going places" I said but I couldn't help feeling a little jealous as I hadn't reached my goals of singing or acting. I hadn't even made a start, not since the platinum awards anyway.

"Yep... so are we drinking or not?" Jade asked, getting in a round of tequila shots.