This is for Bade Prompt's Save the Date: The Prequel to Every Wedding. I'm glad that I got to participate. My prompt was legitimate resistance, but frankly, I'm really not sure if I even got it right with this crazy story that involves a lovesick Beck and tons of bad choices. But I guess you'll just have to see for yourself :)
Capture and Escape
"Jade?"
"Hm."
"Do you think we'll get married one day?"
It's one of those nights where you just can't afford to sleep, because of all the great moments you would have to miss, and you really can't waste a single second of them. Perfect. Everything is perfect as they lie on top of Beck's silver RV parked in his parents driveway, blankets under and on top of them, staring up to the cloudless, black sky and the shining stars it has to offer. It doesn't happen often, that you can see the stars this clearly in a city as big and bright as Los Angeles, but tonight it is just as if some higher power had worked in favor of the couple.
"Don't be silly," is her simple reply.
They're young, too young, according to their parents and friends, to have a serious relationship like this. They're barely seventeen, but Beck knows that he will never want to be with anyone else. It's not like knowing that two and two equals four, or knowing that a red light means stop. It's not something you can explain, and he doesn't even think anyone else besides them would be capable of grasping just how deep their love goes. He knows, he just knows, when he looks at her and feels this burning passion and a wave of feelings and this tug in his chest, that Jade West is the one. He may be a teenager, he may be blinded by his raging hormones, but he's not stupid. He knows that this isn't just some sort of messed up teenage romance that will only last a single summer (oh, messed up, that they are. But they are far beyond the one-summer-mark). He knows that this is real.
He slowly turns his head to face his girlfriend. She's only a few inches away, her right side tightly pressed to his left – it's not like there's much space on the roof of his RV anyway – but her eyes stay fixated on the dark of the night and he frowns. "Why not?"
"Because," she replies, but doesn't continue for a long time. Beck is almost sure that she won't give him a reason after all, when she speaks again. "Marriage is stupid."
The frown, that has never left Beck's face, deepens. "It's not stupid."
"Yes, it is," she tells him firmly. "And now stop talking about it before I shove you off the damn roof."
And if there is anything Beck is more sure about than that he desperately wants to be with this girl for all eternity, it's that Jade is barely ever joking when it comes to physical violence.
. . .
Her words never really leave his head and they're driving him crazy. Just like something immediately becomes more interesting as soon as someone tells you it's forbidden, the thought of marrying Jade despite her protest seems to magically attract him. He wants this. He wants this badly. He wants her to be his in every way possible.
His desire just becomes worse as time passes on. They say love makes us blind, and yes, he is sure that it does – he is aware that it does – and he knows that what he is about to do is probably borderline suicidal, but that doesn't stop him from buying the most beautiful ring he can find. It costs him half a fortune, but he has never been so sure of anything in his life. This is what he wants.
His friends call him crazy.
"You just turned nineteen, are you sure you wanna do this?" Robbie asks when Beck tells them about his plan one day in his RV. The little blue box is sitting on his nightstand; the key to a complete life to Beck, a gallows to his friends.
"Man, we're still in high school. Graduation is next month and you want to marry your on-and-off-girlfriend?" Andre objects.
Beck shoots him a glare for that last remark. "Hey, we've been in a steady relationship for two years now!" He grabs the little box and starts playing with it. He feels a strange kind of affection towards it, as if it's the magical solution to all his problems. "And that's when I want to do it, the day of our graduation. I'm sure."
"You're crazy, dude. Batshit crazy," Andre murmurs, but he doesn't probe him anymore. He knows his friend is a lost cause, and it hurts his pride just a little bit that the reason he has lost him, is some girl (just that she is most definitely not just some girl. He knows that.)
Weeks pass, and the day of graduation comes sooner than any of them would have thought. Beck is still positive about his plan, Andre is still shaking his head at his friend's stupidity, Robbie is agreeing with Andre, but more silently so.
They all have their future planned. A few weeks after auditioning for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles, the AMDA, Jade, Beck and Tori all got their acceptance letters. Cat chooses to go for a career on Broadway, Andre has already found a label that will produce his music, and Robbie is planning on going to college in Florida. Everything seems perfect.
The day goes smoothly. There's tears and hugs and diplomas, and after the official events are over, Beck takes Jade out to Maestro's to celebrate (or at least that's what he tells her).
"Why are we here?" she asks suspiciously as a waiter places a plate of pasta in front of her.
Beck just gives her one of his signature smirks and shrugs. "It's a special day."
They finish their meal rather quickly, Beck even faster than Jade, and when it's finally time for dessert, he can't wait any longer. He's not one to go to his knees (and he thinks Jade would probably hate that, too), so he just pulls out the little blue box under the table, where she can't see it yet, and clears his throat. "Jade?"
"What," she replies without looking up from the piece of chocolate cake she is currently stabbing with her fork.
"You know we've been together since we were fourteen, right?" he begins. His voice is shaking more than he would like to admit, but he hopes that she doesn't notice over the live music. Now she does look up and raises a skeptical eyebrow at him. He gulps and forces himself to go on. He shouldn't be as nervous as he is. "I've never been with anyone else, and I don't want to be."
Jade's eyes widen as she seems to slowly catch on to what is happening. She has always been good at reading signs. "Beck," she says in a warning tone, but he isn't intimidated by it.
"And now that we're done with high school and starting our lives," he continues, now lifting the box up and setting it on the table before her. She stares at it wide-eyed, almost scared.
"Beck, don't," she warns and shakes her head. Her voice sounds both pleading and angry.
"Jade West," he says and opens the box, revealing a beautiful ring with a single, black gemstone. Jade keeps shaking her head no, fists clenched and lips pressed together tightly. "Will you marry me?"
He feels as if the whole room falls silent all at once, but it's really just them, while the music keeps playing and they're still surrounded by amused chatter. Jade's silence however, scares him witless. A silent Jade is never good; not when she's silent and glaring at you, and especially not when she's silent and looking at you as if she'd just been stabbed in the back. He feels his heart hammering up to his throat. "Babe?" he asks hoarsely.
Jade's face remains unchanged as she slowly reaches for her purse and pushes her chair back. Beck frowns. "Jade." She doesn't listen. She doesn't even look at him, while she gets up as if in slow motion, and leaves. She just leaves, faster than Beck can even grasp what is happening or has enough time to react to his fleeing girlfriend.
And then, she's gone.
Finally, Beck realizes what just happened and reality hits him like a storm of missiles. She left. She's gone. He messed up. As if in trance he throws a few crumbled bills on the table, grabs the unwanted piece of jewelry and hurries out of the restaurant after his (hopefully still) girlfriend. His steps fasten as he approaches the exit, and by the time he is out in the streets, he's running. He doesn't notice that he has left his jacket in the checkroom and neither does he notice the chilly night air seeping through his skin and sending cold shivers down to his bones. All he thinks about - all he cares about - is Jade. He can't lose her. (Not again.) Not when all he wanted was her to agree to spend their lives together.
He finds the streets dark and empty, and his throat seems to contract, taking the air from his lungs. He knows this isn't good. It isn't good at all. He hates himself for his stubbornness. He knows Jade's opinion on marriage; he has known it all along. He feels stupid. He should have known that a bond like this wouldn't make her stay, it would scare her away. And now she is gone.
Jade is gone.
. . .
He doesn't find a single hint on her whereabouts for weeks. Not to mention that he is worried sick, it is simply beyond him how a single person could manage to seemingly vanish from the surface of the earth overnight. But he shouldn't be surprised, really, because this is Jade, and he knows that she is capable of as good as everything – minus commitment.
The day of their graduation - of her disappearance - he spends the entire night looking for her. He checks the abandoned playground near Santa Monica Beach first, one of her favorite hideouts. It's empty except for a few teenagers shrouded in a cloud of cigarette smoke. He goes to every Jet Brew's that he can think of that is still opened at this hour. But Jade isn't there. He drives to Cat's house, Andre's house, Robbie's, and even Tori's. Heck, he even asks Sinjin. None of them have seen Jade since their goodbyes in the Hollywood Arts auditorium. He wakes Jade's father and his second wife to ask about his girlfriend, but they haven't seen her in months, they tell him groggily. It's morning by the time he gets to her house. He's hopeful, positive that he has checked every possible place where Jade could have went - she has to be here. The sobering reality hits him when her mother just shakes her head. Jade didn't come home that night.
Beck seems to fall into a deep, black hole. When he isn't out in all of Los Angeles to look for Jade, he spends his time in his RV, doing nothing really, but enough to emotionally wreck himself. He blames himself for what happened, he is the reason she is gone, it is all his fault. For all he knows, Jade could have become a victim of some crazy rapist murderer that night, and the not-knowing is killing him. His endless calls to her phone never tell him anything but that the number he is trying to reach is no longer in service.
His friends help him search for a while, but they can't possibly do that all summer. They are worried about him and also Jade, but there's things they have to take care of, boxes to pack, and stuff to move - they are ready to start their lives. Tori and Andre check on him regularly, since they are the only ones staying in LA with him for the time being. Tori tries to comfort him, tells him that she's Jade; she's strong, she's fine, she will come back, just give her time. Andre restrains from constantly reminding him that he has "told him so".
Cat is the first one of the group to officially leave. Just a few weeks after graduation, all of them (minus Jade) find themselves at LAX airport, saying their goodbyes and well-wishes to the excited redhead, who is surprisingly happy about starting a new life in New York. It takes a lot of convincing to get Beck out of his RV and to the airport, but eventually he gives in, knowing that it's important for Cat.
The small girl hugs everyone tightly, assuring them that she will miss them "soooo much!". The last one she hugs before she goes through the gate to the security area, is Beck. She holds on to him longer than to the others and Beck can only imagine why. Before she lets go of him again, she whispers something in his ear. It's so quick and silent, that the others don't even notice the gesture. But Beck does. "You'll find her."
The next one to leave is Robbie, and this time Beck doesn't bother to show up, much to Tori's dismay. She tries everything to get the boy out of his with pizza containers-filled vehicle, but it's no use. It's been six weeks since Jade's disappearance and Beck just keeps getting worse. Of all people, Robbie is the one to understand. And he's not one to hold grudges, anyway.
Andre's visits at the RV become less frequent. He's busy with his debut album, Beck gets that, but he can't shake off the feeling that his friend has fully given up on him. It doesn't even bother him half as much as it should, because his head has become a black hole that only one thing can fill: Jade.
Tori tries her best to keep him going. She knows that if she doesn't do it, no one will. Everyone else is gone living their own life; Beck's parents are in Canada for the next few months. He's on his own. She tries to cheer him up by dragging him to the movie theater or his favorite fast food places (every boy loves fast food, come on!). She goes through brochures of their new college with him, encouraging him to look forward to what is about to come; a life-changing experience. But looking at glossy pictures of the AMDA just reminds him of what he could have had. With Jade.
He stops his random patrols through the city. It became a waste of time after the first week of her disappearance anyway, he convinces himself. Jade must have left Los Angeles. She probably isn't even in California anymore. He spends a lot of time looking at maps of the United States and the world, imagining where his only love might be right at this moment. It just makes his heart feel a hundred times heavier and he knows that most of his guesses are probably wrong.
About one thing, though, he is right. Jade isn't in California anymore. It's a phone call from Cat that finally wakes his spirits again. It's 6 in the morning when his PearPhone goes off. He groans and pulls a pillow over his head, before he realizes that it could be Jade. Finally, after all those weeks, what if she called him? In less than a second he has grabbed his phone and picked up.
"Hello?" he asks breathlessly. He can feel his heart hammering in his chest.
"Beck!" Cats voice rings through the speaker. He lets out a deep sigh and almost hangs up again, before one of the many sentences the redhead is bubbling excitedly, catches his attention. "I saw Jade!"
In a single bound, he is on his feet. "What?!"
"I saw her just a moment ago, in a coffee shop! I usually don't drink coffee, but they also sell tea, isn't that funny? I mean, it's a coffee shop, but–"
"Cat!" Beck urges. He doesn't think he has ever been this nervous in his life before.
"Oh, right. Well, I just saw her for a split second, but it was definitely her. She's in New York!"
Beck is already pulling on a jacket and stuffing a few clothes from the floor in a black backpack, when he announces, "I'm coming."
. . .
New York turns out to be a more than disillusioning experience. He takes the next flight he can get and meets up with Cat in the city, close to where she has seen Jade. He doesn't care that his hair and beard have reached a length where the people on Times Square ask him for pictures because he looks an awful lot like Jack Sparrow. All he cares about is finding Jade. The two friends spend the whole day out and about in the city, checking every place they could imagine Jade to be at, including at least thirty different Starbucks. They have no luck.
Cat has to think of her apprenticeship as a musical performer, so she can't afford to miss more than that one day while looking for her lost friend. Beck continues searching alone. He stays in New York for two weeks, before he runs out of money. He didn't have a lot to begin with, since he has spent almost all of his money on the engagement ring and dinner, and naturally hadn't worked that summer, either. He hates that he is forced to give up, but he is determined to come back, and gets a job at a diner as soon as he lands in LA.
Another two weeks pass, and Beck is almost looking like a normal human being again. For one thing, because he works now and has to look somewhat presentable for the customers, and for another thing, because knowing Jade's whereabouts has given him exactly the push and strength he needed.
He is working a night shift, when his phone rings and one look at the caller ID tells him that it's Cat. His heart jumps. "Beck!" she says excitedly, before he can even greet her. "You won't believe this! I talked to Jade!"
Beck immediately leaves his position at the counter (much to the dismay of incoming costumers), and quickly walks into the storeroom, where he knows it's quiet. "Is she okay?" is the first thing he asks and his voice is shaking with both fear and excitement.
"Yes, she's fine," Cat confirms. "Well, given the circumstances."
He feels his chest tighten. "What?Cat, talk! Tell me everything!" he orders. He doesn't like yelling at Cat, but right this moment he just can't help it. He needs to know.
"She blames herself, Beck. She blames herself for running away. She thinks you've moved on and that she's ruined everything." She takes a deep breath. "And she misses you. She didn't say it, but I could feel it."
"Well, did you tell her that I've been looking for her? That I still am looking for her?" He's getting more and more impatient.
Cat sighs. "I did."
"And?"
"She said, 'don't be stupid, Cat. He knows that he can do better than me.'"
"Cat," he breathes. "Do you have her address?"
There's a long silence on the other end of the line, and if it wasn't for Cats uneven breathing, he would think that she he had hung up on him. "I had to promise her not to tell you. I shouldn't even have called you! But I did," she eventually says.
"And I'm very thankful for that," he tells her. "But I need to know where she is, Cat. I have to see her."
"Beck, I– I can't!" He can tell that Cat is almost at her emotional limit, but he can't stop now; he can't give up when he's so close to finding Jade. "If I tell you, Jade will know and then she will run away again. And I don't want to lose her a second time," she admits. "She's my best friend, too, you know."
Beck sighs and runs a hand through his hair. His friend actually has a point. "Can you at least tell her that I miss her? And that I will wait for her. I will give her as much time as she needs, I just..." He takes a deep breath. "I just want to be with her."
There's another pause and Beck swears that he can feel Cat smile on the other side of the country. "Sure," she says. "Will do."
. . .
It's almost time for him and Tori (and Jade, too, if she still counts) to start their freshman year at the AMDA, and Beck hasn't heard from Cat (or Jade, for that matter) since their late-night phone call. He is worried, to say the least.
Also, he hasn't had any time to rest ever since. He is a nervous wreck, knowing that Jade is basically within his reach again, yet still so far away. He doesn't know how much longer he can bear it.
He gets ready for work as every morning, absentmindedly throws on a white shirt and red jeans (don't ask, they make him wear it), when his phone buzzes. It's a weird time for anyone to text him. Well, technically the only person that still does text him sometimes, is Cat. And she should be in rehearsals right now. He curiously picks it up from his nightstand. It's an unknown number. He opens the message.
I shouldn't have run away. I'm sorry I'm such a shitty girlfriend.
His heart does what feels like three flic flacs and a salto and his head is a big mess of JadeJadeJade. He can barely grasp that she has actually talked to him (well, texted him) after all these weeks. It feels like a miracle to him.
He is just about to type a reply with shaky hands, when there's a knock on his door. He considers not opening it, because this moment is far too important to him, but curiosity gets him. He hasn't had any visitors in so long, he wonders who decided to pay him a visit.
He carefully sets his phone on the table, as if one false move could make the virtual Jade go away again, and opens the door in one swift move. The sight he is greeted with literally knocks the air out of his lungs.
A few steps away from the door, her black curly hair glistening in the sun, her appearance as breathtaking as ever, stands Jade. He is too dumbfounded to say anything, as he takes in her appearance, almost as if he had to convince himself that it was really her. She has lost weight and her eyes look tired, but she is undoubtedly as beautiful as she has always been, if not more. He opens his mouth to say something, but she cuts him off. It's nothing more than a single word she mumbles, almost awkwardly, but he hears it, and it makes his heart stop.
"Yes."