A/N: So great to read your reactions to the first chapter. I wasn't sure if it would get people's interest but I'm glad it worked. Hope to hear more from you.
Sorry this one is shorter than the last one but I'm really sleepy and I have a very, very busy day tomorrow.
Jade led Tori to a coffee shop called Jet Brew, which was a local chain. She told Tori on the way over that she preferred this place over the indie coffee place closer to the college. Too many yuppies and hipsters coupled with bland alt rock from bands with names like Helms '108.
They arrived and Jade ordered a Columbian roast with two sugars. Tori ordered a French roast with lots of cream and lots of sugar. Before she could fish out cash, Jade stopped her and bought for the both of them.
"You didn't have to," Tori protested.
"You can get next time," Jade smiled.
"Next...time?"
Tori was left standing there a little confused when Jade found a booth for them.
"So," Tori began. "You said you were an English major with a minor in...what again?"
Jade took a short sip "Performing arts."
"What are you, an actress?"
"Sometimes," she took a pause to really take in her coffee's aroma. "But I'm really interested in writing and directing?"
"You want to be a filmmaker," Tori nodded. "Plan on making something?"
"I've already did, sort of. Well, nothing you would see on a billboard or in Variety, But I did direct a short film. Nothing much; just an eight-minute thing. It won an award from some online festival."
Tori's eyes went wide, "Wow, I'm impressed. Maybe you can show me it."
"Really? You'd want to see it?"
"I'd love to," Tori smiled.
Jade brushed back one of her onyx tresses.
"What about you?" she asked Tori. "What are you serving time for in this institution?"
Tori chortled at the analogy, accidentally snorting. She quietly cursed herself for looking like such a goof with that awkward laugh of hers. It was one of the main reasons Tori rarely laughed. Jade noticed it and in all honesty thought it made the laugh genuine and to her it was kind of cute. But she didn't dare acknowledge it for risk of the turtle going back into her shell.
"Teaching" Tori responded.
Jade nodded. "I can see that. But that's got to be really hard, huh?"
Tori shrugged. "The prerequisites were rough but now I'm finally taking almost all teaching courses. I mean, they weren't all bad. One of my favorites was in my freshman year there was this children's literature class. We read books like Harry Potter, Matilda, Narnia, some Judy Blume. But my favorite had to be when we read Grimm's fairy tales in their original form."
That peaked Jade's interest. She had heard those old fairy tales were actually quite violent.
"Have you read Cinderella?"
"No," Jade replied.
"In the end of the book, when Cinderella ends up with her prince; these birds come out of nowhere and peck out the eyes of her evil stepsisters." Tori made a little face like she was disgusted by that but her smile said otherwise.
"Cool," Jade nodded. "What were you going to teach?"
"Well, I was torn for the longest time between history and English. Both had my interest for the same reason: they each told stories. But at the end of the day, I had to go with English because I just love Shakespeare and poetry so much."
"Have any favorites?"
Tori put her bag on the table and took out a small paperback.
"I do have one that comes to mind."
Once she was about to start, Tori noticed there was a smudge on her lens so she took off her glasses and tried cleaning them with a napkin. When she got it to her satisfaction, Tori put them back on and quickly realized Jade was kind of staring at her.
"What?" Tori chuckled.
Jade grinned, "I've been meaning to tell you; those are some interesting glasses you've got."
Tori instinctively touched her frames with her hand as if they were crooked.
"Oh?"
"I didn't mean it to come out like that. Its just that I usually see smaller, more invisible glasses, not..."
"Really big, dark frames" Tori interrupted.
Jade shook her head "No, I dig them. You wear your glasses for reading?"
"No, I need them all the time. Normally I wear contacts but I ran out of solution, so I had to go for my trusty lenses."
"Why do you bother with contacts?" Jade scrunched up her nose.
"What do you mean?"
"What's wrong with wearing glasses?"
Tori rapidly shook her head "No, no. I look hideous in these..."
"No, you don't. You have really pretty eyes and your glasses kind of...frame them...like a painting. Totally not hideous."
The half-Latina blushed, "Think so?"
"Nothing more hot that a girl in glasses. I kind of hope you decide to ditch the contacts because losing that would be a shame" Jade pointed at Tori.
"Why do you keep saying these things to me?" Tori asked.
Jade held an open fist to her mouth, nibbling on her own thumb.
"I guess I'm crushing on you, Tori Vega. What do you think about that?"
Tori smiled nervously, looking around herself like there was a television crew waiting to jump out and surprise her and tell her this was all an elaborate prank. She just couldn't believe what was happening; this drop dead gorgeous girl was coming on to her. Tori kept her true nature hidden for so long that having such a conversation with another woman was a distant fantasy. But here it was in dizzying reality.
Her head was swimming and all of these compliment of how she was pretty was not helping. Strangely enough, as Jade was advancing things, Tori was inspired to further the flirting herself. So this afternoon at the coffee shop was becoming this give and take of pleasantries that bordered on declarations of sexual passion.
"So, Tori; how about that poem you promised?"
Tori cleared her throat as she opened the bookmarked page.
"You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on."
"That was really nice," Jade said. "I'd like to hear more."
And they did remain at the café for quite a while longer, talking as well as Tori reading more tidbits from her poetry book. Both girls openly acknowledged the physical attractions, though Tori often denies that there is anything "alluring" about her. Here, Jade and Tori were beginning to scratch the surface and really find out what makes the other tick.
Jade could wax eloquently and passionately about horror movies the same as Tori can with literature. The two were really beginning to hit it off. Jade was able to savor her coffee's flavor because she was already getting her warmth, comfort and energy from the girl named Tori Vega sitting across from her.
There was just something about her.
Jade didn't know what it was but that was part of the fun.
A/N: The excerpt Tori read is from a poem called "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver, one of many popular LGBT poets published in books. Go check some of them out.
