Welcome back to the new chapter!
Thank you again to alicheriee, H4ppyHippie, Rishini and Invader Johnny for the reviews! I appreciate them so much! :)
Hope you'll have fun reading this chapter.
Tori does end up telling Mike that she feels unsure about her meeting his parents. He acts way more understanding than she ever would've expected him to, suggests to push their first meeting back though he says he really would like her to come with him on that weekend, which funnily enough makes her more relaxed about it and she does go with him that weekend, he had initially planned.
His family is great, as are his old friends she gets to meet. Not everything goes smoothly though. They stay out long on Saturday with his friends and at one point she just wants to go back to his parents' place. She is exhausted and just wants to go back. But it's weird to go back there alone, right? She asks him to go with her and he promptly calls her ridiculous for the request and tells her he wants to spend more time with his friends.
But they can't be more important than her, right? This is a weekend for them, isn't it? And she would just feel uncomfortable in his parents' house without him. He should understand that, shouldn't he? She has never ever left him alone in her parents' home.
He says he doesn't meet his friends, with which he doesn't live together, all that often, which is stupid because he could come back here every weekend and could spend time with them much more often if he wanted to. Yes, two of them moved further away, but if they all want to spend time... And if he wanted to be with his friends, why take her with him then for this weekend? Then, they could've delayed it after all. To which he replies that he wanted her to meet all of his friends, which is why he wanted it for this weekend, but that that apparently was a mistake as they are now even fighting in front of his friends.
They are indeed fighting, until Mike finally says that he will go back to his parents' place with her then, but he isn't doing it happily or even understands Tori's point. And though they silently agree the next morning to just not talk about it anymore, to forget about it, it's still between them.
Tori of course tells Jade and Cat all about it, when she meets them a few days later, drinking a coffee together in their favorite coffee shop.
Cat promptly says that they should have a party soon – totally missing the point. Well...
Tori turns to Jade, definitely wants to know her point of view, especially with their last talk about relationships in mind. Maybe, Jade knows how Tori and Mike can get over that fight. Though... Jade possibly will just suggest to fight it out. That's what Beck and she probably always do.
She asks anyway: "What do you think?"
"Like I care," Jade answers.
"Come on," Tori says. "Give me some advice. I think he just wants to forget it and I want to do that too, but it's still there."
"Because you haven't actually resolved the fight," Jade answers, sounding a little annoyed.
Which makes sense, but: "So, we should talk about it again? I think we will just end up fighting again." Because she doesn't think Mike will suddenly understand her point of view.
"You don't have to talk about it," Jade says, rolling her eyes. "Beck and I resolve most our fight silently. I don't know how you can do it. But I'm pretty sure it helps if you try to understand his side."
His side?
Jade continues, noticing her questioning face: "You know there are two sides to everything, right? Just... Think of it as an acting exercise and try getting into his shoes. His thoughts, reasons or priorities don't have to make sense, but maybe they do."
Tori narrows her eyes. "You think he's right." Seriously? Is Jade on Mike's side?
"I'm not saying that," Jade easily claims though. "But he could have a point in wanting to stay with his friends. That doesn't mean I'm not on your side. We're friends or whatever, so if you want to, I'll definitely push him off of a bridge and bury his body. And if he's not trying to understand you as well, he's a big idiot who doesn't deserve you, but... you know... maybe you aren't seeing the whole picture and should try to."
Tori feels immensely soothed by Jade's words. It means a lot to her that Jade is by now able to say they are indeed friends and that she would kill for her, just as much as for Cat.
And it also makes her think. Until now, she thought more about the fact that Mike should understand her side. She hasn't really thought about his side. But, yeah. Maybe, she should try that and if she then would talk to him again...
"I'll try, thanks," Tori says and Cat smiles brightly: "So, are your problems solved?"
"I guess," Tori says confused and Cat claps her hands: "Then, let's plan a party!"
Tori has to laugh.
When they each go home later, she thinks about Jade again. About Jade and Beck. And she wonders if the two of them actually conciously do that with every fight, if they ever talked about it and made sure they both would do that.
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Beck isn't sure how the fight has started. Jade went to the restroom and told Beck to order for her as well. She didn't tell him what she wanted though, just that he should choose. He ordered a vegetarian salad for her and she pretty much exploded when she was back and their food came. She accused him of thinking she is fat, which is so not true. She just had said before that she was barely hungry and didn't feel much like meat or anything. And he knows she loves this kind of salad, she has ordered it before and obviously liked it. That's why he chose it. He thinks her body is pretty much perfect.
But she leaves the restaurant and he quickly throws money on the table for food they haven't even started eating yet, before he follows her. Why can't she just order something else if she doesn't want to eat that dumb salad? Why couldn't she have told him before what she wanted to eat, instead of getting angry at his choice afterwards?
She of course claims he should know her well enough to be able to order for her, which he is. He knows she likes that salad. But she now accuses him again and again that he thinks she is fat.
"Can we just go back and have a nice evening?" he finally asks, exasperated.
"Yeah, right," she says.
"You know I just paid for food we have never eaten?" he says. "If we go back, I'm sure..."
"Then go back," she spits out. "You can eat both your food and your salad. But watch to not get too fat eating so much."
They are at his RV now, were easily able to walk here from the restaurant. She is supposed to stay over, only for the third time ever. They are almost sixteen, have dated for over a year now and their parents just had to accept their decision of sleeping over. This night, Jade's mother is out of town. Jade has also stayed home alone before, but her mother always prefers if she is with someone over night. Apparently, she even likes it better for her to be with Beck over night than alone. Her grandparents didn't have time anyway today and she never stayed with her father over night since she was a little kid.
"I don't think you are fat," Beck says as he walks into the RV behind Jade and throws the door shut. "I already explained why I ordered what I did."
She finally turns to look at him again. "I'm so happy that you have such a good excuse ready. Whatever. Just leave me alone."
"You can't be serious. This was supposed to be a great night," he says.
"And I care so much about what it's supposed to be," she says sarcastically and gosh. Others would just suck it up for once, even if they wouldn't like something, to make way for a great time together. Especially with the prospect of them having to sleep in the same bed tonight. But Jade can't ever draw back even once, can never just accept something. He would be more than ready to just let it be for once, even if he is annoyed that they can't really go back to the restaurant just like that and he lost money because of that. But he can let the anger slide just this one time. She will never be able to do that.
"Why do you always have to be so difficult?"
Her face hardens. "Yeah, fuck you, Beck!"
"You're unbelieveable," he says helpless, because why does she always has to lash out like that?
She crosses her arms in front of her chest, almost coldly now. "Good that you are never the problem."
"You always claim I'm thinking that. I am not," he says because he isn't. Though he doesn't know what he should've done this time to avoid this fight altogether. If he wouldn't have ordered anything for her, would have asked the waiter to come back when she is back from the restroom, she would definitely also have been irritated and would've claimed he doesn't know her at all if he can't even order for her. And he has put thought into her order.
"Yeah, right," Jade says again and suddenly turns around to her bag and grabs it as she says: "I think I will go to my father."
Something inside Beck falls. "You can't be serious." She can't prefer her father to him. And she tells him she wants to go to him rather than staying here? She doesn't even say she's going home and will stay alone then, but she goes to her father, who disrespects her?
"Watch me," she says, as she passes by him, going to the door.
Seriously? How can she be so ridiculous? Leaving because of this?
For a moment, he just wants to angrily retort, have just leave her even angrier, but... He doesn't actually want her to leave. They did want to have a great night together with that dinner in the restaurant only as the start. If she leaves now, they will probably keep fighting for a week, with both of them angry and disappointed that their night together was ruined like this.
So, he suddenly says: "Jade, please, stay."
Jade turns back around, does stay for now, but raises her eyebrows: "So we can keep fighting?"
"No," he says helplessly. "I don't want to fight."
She drops her bag and crosses her arms in front of her chest again. Okay, she also doesn't want to fight. But she seems more than sceptical, as if she expects him to say something she could be offended about again.
But he really wants to resolve this. "Why don't we try understanding each other?" Because she must be coming from somewhere. She isn't unreasonable. He just has trouble to understand her and thinks she's overreacting, which he often thinks. She obviously also isn't close to understanding that he also didn't mean anything bad by ordering that stupid salad for her.
She now snaps back an answer though: "Because you obviously don't want to try to understand me."
"I do," he protests. "Do you want to understand me?"
She doesn't say anything for a moment, but he's sure to see in her face that she does want to understand him. She also would prefer not to leave.
Finally, she shrugs, and also sounds almost a little helpless now: "Why is it so hard to understand each other, when we always understand the characters we have to act out?"
He snorts lightly. It's true that they both easily understand their characters. No matter whom they are supposed to play... they are both good at it. They are good actors because they do understand each character and their motives. Why is it so easy there and so hard between them? "I don't know."
Jade tilts her head slightly, her eyes showing that she has an idea, that she now slowly states: "Maybe, we should treat each other like characters."
He blinks. Okay. That could work, right?
Jade continues, when Beck doesn't say anything: "We could just do our fight over, acting it out as the other one. If we really do want to understand each other."
"Sure," Beck finally answers, though... He imagines acting out Jade and... he loves her, but if they start fighting now again, even as each other, they could make each other angry again, truly angry, and then he could overact her and actually hurt her with that. He could act her out in a way, like he doesn't actually see her, and she will believe that's how he does see her. Which could also be true the other way around. Jade likes to claim that he doesn't care about her. If she acts him out as if he doesn't... it will hurt him.
He honestly adds: "I'm afraid that could make it worse though."
Jade looks at him for a moment and he doesn't know if she understands why, but finally, she says: "I'm thinking of leaving your place for my father's. I don't think it can get much worse."
Okay, she's right there. That's probably how low they can get. Except if they break up. Beck doesn't want to break up. But... well, they'll see how it goes.
"Fine, then."
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It's tough at first to get into it. They truly just act out their fight, they just had, starting it all with that dumb salad. And the thing is... already claiming he himself ordered the salad because he thinks Jade is fat... saying it himself already makes him feel more with Jade than just hearing it out of her mouth. He still doesn't hink he could've handled the situation any better, but... maybe, she also got that impression rightfully.
And he thinks Jade kind of gets him as well, when she says it herself. The thing that he thought about his choice and that there was no way of avoiding this fight by just not ordering anything... he's pretty sure she gets it.
But they keep going, use some of the phrases they remember the other one saying to truly get it, to truly get to all the anger and irritation.
"This was supposed to be a great night," Jade just now says and Beck does feel like that's almost undermining everything he has said before. Like he's suddenly supposed to shut up about his feelings because of what they initially wanted, as if he should just pretend to be happy though he is not. Okay, that isn't what he wanted Jade to do. Yes, he thought that others often just suck it up and can still have a nice evening, but... He doesn't actually want her to pretend or anything. He doesn't want to say her feelings are nothing and she therefore shouldn't act upon them.
But it feels a little like it, now that he has to hear it himself and he shoots back like Jade did: "And I care so much about what it's supposed to be."
Jade promptly answers rather viciously exactly what he answered: "Why do you always have to be so difficult?"
Okay, that's unfair. Beck gets it. Still, Jade overreacted and he now does too: "Fuck you!"
Jade needs a moment after that, maybe realizing something, then she says like he did: "You're unbelieveable."
"Good that you are never the problem," he gives back as he remembers from her earlier. Which also is unfair and unfounded. He does never ever claim that and at least Jade also replies like he did: "I'm not thinking that." And she does seem to believe it herself. That he doesn't think that way.
He takes a deep breath, before he decides, before he pretends to want to leave: "Okay, I can't keep doing this. I do understand where you are coming from, Jade." Though he still feels hurt and irritated himself and doesn't think he could've acted better himself. He does get why she felt insulted and how they spiralled down again.
Jade crosses her arms in front of her chest again, but not defensively, but more to hold herself. "I do, too."
He sits down on the couch and she sits down next to him. They have moved around a little in the RV as they have reenacted their fight, of course haven't sat down during it though. Now, they are probably both a little exhausted. (And acting as Jade, Beck has felt more than once to leave the RV altogether.)
Jade now huffs, as she says: "It would be easier if one of us was right."
Beck has to laugh. He knows what she means. If one of them would've just gotten that their behaviour was totally idiotic and off, it would be much easier to make up. To resolve this in saying that they both had a reason to react the way they did, for talking to each other like that... well...
"I know," he therefore says, and then it's silent for a minute.
Well, but they probably have to agree that it just went awfully and Beck will possibly make Jade promise to never make him order food for her again without telling him explicitly what she wants.
Then, Jade suddenly says, quietly: "My dad always says I'm difficult."
Beck stares at her. She doesn't look back. "I didn't know," he honestly says. Gosh. How could he have said that to her? Well, and that explains why she was so much colder after he said that and why she even said she would go to her father, why she even thought about him. Did he seriously just act like her awful father?
She looks up with a shrug: "I never told you." But she's telling him now, because she got through their reenactment that he wasn't able to get her sudden and harsh reaction at that. It's never a nice thing to say, but this is worse.
"I'm sorry," he earnestly says. "You aren't. It was the situation that was difficult."
He takes her hand in his and she squeezes his.
Looks like the reenactment did help and did resolve something. They do understand each other better now, and even if neither has totally been in the wrong, neither has to apologize about the fight in general... it's fine. And he has learned to never tell her again that she's difficult – which he has done before, as he realizes now. She has always reacted harshly to it. He gets that now.
But it's fine. They are fine.
Beck has to make sure of that with the words she uses so often: "Say you love me."
She smirks as she responds: "Magic word."
He grins. "Please."
She smiles as well, beautifully, as she leans forward and kisses him, before she whispers: "I love you."
"I love you, too," he responds and they kiss again, before they stay close and just look into each other's eyes.
Only after a while, Jade says: "We are amazing actors, huh?"
Of course, he laughs.
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They don't ever do something like that again. They don't actually act like the other person. But they do it in their minds. Each of them for themselves, not even talking about it. They try to think of the other one as a character and try to understand their reasons. It works for every one of their smaller fights, so easily. They barely ever have to talk about it any more to resolve anything, because they just both get it and it's fine. Their lips just meet for a kiss again and they get that the other understands and that's all they need.