Simply a Façade

"Jade… Jadey wait!" When Jade turned around she saw Cat's face distorted in an expression that didn't suit her, she was smiling, as usual but it didn't meet her eyes and her brow was puckered with what Jade could only assume was concern. The taller girl glared down at the smaller clutching at her wrist though in truth her heart wasn't in it, the glare was really just a feeble scowl that she would usually be ashamed to call her own, she usually scared people into crossing the street away from her when she glared but Cat just stared defiantly up at her, that small, worried smile still on her lips.

"We should do something," she said a little breathlessly, "Anything you want, you've just seemed really sad and I don't think I like it."

"Can't you ever just leave things be?" Jade snapped, her eyes lined perfectly with kohl narrowed and radiated anger, purposefully aiming it at the smaller girl opposite her. The redhead shrunk back slightly, disappointment etched in every gentle part of her face, her smile was replaced by a small pout and the tears threatening to appear in her narrowed eyes only further irritated Jade. She turned on her heel sharply and stormed off, leaving Cat stood there paralyzed, her arm still slightly extended as though she was still clinging onto Jade's wrist.

Sometimes being angry seemed like the only thing she was good at. Jade sighed and looked at the mahogany door in front of her, glaring it down as if it were a person. She had been perfectly polite to Mrs. Valentine when she knocked the front door, nodded in all the right places when asked questions and even attempted to smile at her but now it seemed as though all those false smiles and words meant nothing as all she wanted to do was to turn around and bolt out of the house. She knew she couldn't, she didn't want to leave things like that, not with Cat. Her hand went out and her knuckles rapped on the door uncertainly,

"Come in!" the girl's soprano trilled sweetly, Jade paused and bit her lip before hesitantly letting herself in. Cat had been led back on her bed, her feet in the air and her eyes focused entirely on the ceiling as though there was something particularly interesting on there, she didn't look over as Jade stepped in and closed the door behind her, it even took her a few seconds to tear her eyes away from it when Jade gruffly coughed and indicated that she wanted attention. Her brown eyes slowly travelled to look up at her, Jade now stood directly above her and was trying with all her might not to scowl at the girl led on the bed.

"You're not mad anymore," it was more of a question than a statement, Cat's lips parted slightly as she blinked through her full lashes up at Jade.

"No," she murmured. The redhead looked away before nodding and rolling so she was on her knees and able to look at the other in the face properly, they waited in silence for a while, both of them wanting the other to interject and break the silence first so the tense atmosphere would cease. Jade was looking everywhere but at the girl opposite, her eyes rolled around the room although she knew it like the back of her hand having been there so many times before, whereas Cat looked straight at Jade with slightly melancholy eyes, her expression, usually distant and far away, was inquisitive as she swiftly glanced and peered at every aspect of the other's face, hoping to catch a glimpse of some sort of emotion.

"I'm sorry for yelling," Jade murmured finally, "I know you don't er… You don't like it when people yell."

"It's okay," she smiled, her voice was a little distant now, as though she was reverting back to the absent-minded ditz that she usually was, "You're still upset, it's okay."

"I'm not upset," Jade retorted through gritted teeth, Cat blinked a little rapidly, not wanting her friend to get angry and leave her again. Timidly she edged over to the standing girl and grabbed her hand before pulling her down softly so that Jade sat beside her on her bed, the dark-haired girl's face was a picture of surprise, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion as Cat simply smiled and played with her hands for a little while before smiling back up into the harsh face of her companion.

"Jadey likes to pretend to be so tough, it's funny sometimes…" she paused, trailing off before looking back down at the other girls' hand she had wrapped in her fingers, "But sometimes it makes me sad, especially when it's obvious you're lying."

"I'm not-"

"I like Beck, he's nice but I don't like him for hurting you, Jade." The taller girl stopped dead, she felt her chest tighten as the redhead leant on her shoulder gently and begin to play with the loose dark curls that brushed her cheek as she did so, Jade felt the smaller's dimpled smile against the bare skin of her shoulder but simply carried on staring out at nothing in particular, making a feeble attempt to distract herself from Cat and her endearing way of seeming so… understand but oblivious to everything at the same time. The redhead's hand left her own and went up to tilt Jade's face so that they were looking eye to eye, so that there was no hope that Jade could at least pretend not to be listening.

"Jadey's strong anyway, you don't have to pretend that you're tough for anyone to know that. It's okay to be sad, silly. Just don't get too sad because then I'll be sad and if I'm sad then we'll both be sad and…"

"Cat, please shut up," Jade groaned with feigned aggravation. The smaller giggled before brushing a stray strand of hair that had found it's way onto the dark haired girl's forehead and had been bugging her for a while now but she was tactful enough to ignore it.

"You know, even when you're glaring like that, you're very pretty," Cat smiled gently and kissed the other girl's forehead lightly. Jade blinked in surprise, her pasty complexion flushed as an unwanted blush crept along her face and her hardened, prickly exterior flared, causing her to roll her eyes and yank her head away from the other girl's grasp. Cat let out another string of giggles before falling back onto her bed and looking up at the ceiling again, her feet kicking the air excitedly as a child's does when they're anticipating something.

"Blushing only makes you prettier, Jadey!"

(A/N: DONE.
I'm not actually a big Victorious fan, I've only watched the show a few times but I was requested to write this for a friend in this little writing challenge thing we have going at the moment, she writes quite a lot of Cade so if you're a fan of the pairing be sure to check her out, her name on here is StolenProdigy ^^
RAWR. THIS WAS ACTUALLY PRETTY HARD. I probably went OOC in some places so if I did I'm really sorry I'm just not familiar with the characters ^^')