A lot of important notices in this chapter actually which is why I'm going to put them at the end because all these bold notes are not what you are here to read! Shorter chapter but it seemed like a good place to leave it considering I seem to start a new day at the beginning of a chapter!
"This is going in my box," he chuckled, trying to make light-hearted humour out of the situation.
"I feel so violated, how do you live like this?" Jade asked, looking down at the two page spread lying on her lap. There was seven photos' of them, alongside a clump of text that she didn't feel up to reading yet.
"I got kind of used to it in Canada, I was always careful with everything I did but I completely forgot ever since we met again, I mean when I'm with you I feel like I'm not Beck Oliver, I'm just Beck. I should have been more careful," he sighed, looking down at the glossy pages on her knees. Back when she was sixteen she would have loved to be in a glossy magazine, she would have been complaining about the angle of the camera despite the fact she looked like a goddess or she would have driven straight to the editor and yelled in his face that he'd put the article in the magazine.
But as a young adult, who'd grown up considerably, who'd made her own life without the help of anyone, who'd known the struggles of living without money and resources. She wasn't the type to be knocking on the doors of world renowned editors and barking in their faces, she hadn't gotten more 'wimpy' or 'weak' as sixteen year old would have called her, she'd gotten more grown up, she knew that sometimes being the one person who stood out wasn't the best thing, especially if everyone was looking at her.
"It's not your fault, I just, I've never been in a magazine and to be in a magazine just because I was caught at the beach with you, it's just... I feel dirty, violated; I'm in a mainstream gossip magazine Beck. Sleeping. It's not how I want to be famous; I don't want to be Beck Oliver's girlfriend. I want to make my own name," she stated, fingering one of the photos where she could just make out her and Beck lying together.
"There's not enough of your face in any of the photo's for someone to recognise you," Beck reminded, pulling into his driveway where the Silver Streak once stood.
"I know I'm there, besides what if someone finds out?" Jade asked, panic rising in her voice, "I'm a college student Beck, I make a living doing modelling for one of my friends and helping Jasper run a candy shop, I can't have my name out there, I live simply and I like it that way."
"No-one will find out, but let's just lay low for a while, stay inside for a few days before we go out again, okay?" Beck suggested, stopping the truck and placing a hand over hers, "I love you okay, I'm not going to let them cause trouble."
She bit her bottom lip slightly, her white teeth penetrating softly the plump rose as she looked up; melting ice-blue eyes that were open windows to her heart and soul.
"I love you Jade," he repeated, his voice sincere, caring, honest.
Her reply was a muffled whisper, and indistinguishable jumble of syllables and sounds but he wasn't going to ask her to repeat. He was going to give her as much time as she needed, but in the last ten minutes he'd discovered that she was more important to him, he did love her and he did want to her to be his girlfriend again. Not his hypothetical, 'well on this technicality' girlfriend. He wanted to say out loud that she was his girl, not mentally pretend that she still was.
"So we're laying low?" she asked, putting on a brave smile.
"Laying low," he nodded, opening his car door and grabbing the bag from the back.
They lay together on the sofa, every curtain and blind closed despite it only being four in the afternoon. The TV droned on, bright colours twisting together on the screen so their un-focused minds couldn't see a thing. They knew the story regardless, it was Tori Vega's own TV programme, based on her book about her time at Hollywood Arts. It was nauseating, embarrassing and unnerving to watch your childhood over again, revisiting your teenage years through a child's Television show was a gaudy and garish experience as it would be for anyone.
And of course there was seeing their relationship and how at times it had been somewhat immature, somewhat silly, very unconventional and they didn't know if it was because it was told through the eyes of Tori, which could have been a reason as to why to Beck Jade seemed meaner and more jealous in the show and why to Jade Beck seemed more glorified, more emotionless than what he really was in real life.
Yet the neon lights and watching the Hollywood actors portray themselves was better than watching more the real life TV programmes, or sitting in the surreal silence that without the white noise of the TV would leave them in.
He was stroking her hair as she rested her head on his shoulder, they were in one of their signature positions; a mess of limbs that look uncomfortable to anyone looking in yet to them was perfectly comfortable.
"You've still got sand in your hair," he stated, pulling at a strand of her raven hair piecing a grain of sand between his fingers.
"I have sand everywhere," she complained, "I thought showers were meant to get rid of all of it."
"Do you want to take another shower?" he asked, "I'll show you how to put the multi-spray thing on; it might help with the sand."
"Is that what all those buttons were for?" she asked, remembering the countless buttons she'd been tempted to touch.
"Yeah, now c'mon sandman let's go and get you showered," he chuckled, taking her hands and standing up, pulling her with him.
"As long as I don't end up naked on the front cover of "Oh Wow" then fine," she muttered darkly.
"Now that would definitely go in my collection," he chuckled, leading her through to the downstairs bathroom.
"See these buttons here, if you just fiddle for a while then water starts coming from here, here and here," Beck demonstrated, pointing at three different parts on the wall where water would be soon attacking her from.
"Fiddle, seriously? You don't even know how to work your own shower?" she scoffed, unbuttoning the stolen flannel shirt.
"Not exactly, I don't know what I do to get it work it just eventually does," he shrugged, pressing one last button before ducking out of the way of the spurts of water.
"Scientific," she smirked, rolling her eyes.
"I'm an actor, not a scientist, Miss College-Girl," he countered, "I know basic biology and believe me, that's all I need to know."
"Where's your diaphragm?" she teased, rolling the shirt off her arms.
"Not a singer either, songbird," he retorted.
"Surely your diaphragm is basic biology," she concluded.
"I know the important stuff," he explained.
"What side's your heart on?" she questioned with a soft smile on her lips.
"That's not the important stuff to me," he winked, standing at the doorway trying not to look as she wiggled out of her vest top.
"It's what keeps you alive despite what all the rest of your breed might think," she declared, watching him break out into a smile before disappearing behind the door he brought closed with him.
He went back to the couch and threw himself down, turning his head to focus on the still running 'tween' programme just in time to catch one of their most famous quotes played out by their doppelgangers as Tori's cousin watched them on the screen.
"That maybe, you'd love me again."
"Who said I stopped?"
He hid a smile from the empty room as the teenagers kissed on screen, the silence of the chemistry allowing him to hear Jade's shouts from the bathroom.
He ran to the door and questioned for a second whether to burst right in or knock but hearing her shout for a second time he decided on the former.
"Jade," he yelled, "what is it, what happened?"
"How the hell do you turn this down, I'm melting here," she shouted, standing soggy just outside the glass container as the curtain flew violently with the pressure of the steam with only a small towel wrapped around her frame.
"God Jade, I thought you'd fallen or something," he exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief, reaching into the cubicle of steam and turning it down to the heat would be less overwhelming.
"It burnt me," she said like a child.
"You'll be fine, it's colder now," he smiled, kissing her on the cheek before returning to the door.
As he opened it he saw from the corner of his eye that her naked body stepped into the shower, quickly closing the curtain before the glass door shut with a soft bang. He could see a blur of her shape through the curtain, her skin pink from the heat and her long wet hair sticking to her back, he watched her for longer than he should have before hauling his shirt over his head, stepping out of his jeans and giving it a one second thought before adding his boxers to the pile on the floor.
His bare feet walked over the white tile till he reached the shower curtain, he slipped around it and slowly prised the glass door open, thankful that the water was loud enough to mask the sound. He stepped inside and closed it quickly, wrapping his arms around her waist making her jump and turn around inside his grasp.
"Beck!" she exclaimed, her heart beating from the fright and her stomach fluttering at the closeness of their naked bodies, her fists were clenched at her face like she was hiding and she was quick to use them to punch him lightly, resting them on his water sprayed, tanned chest.
"I'm sandy too," he smiled, "I'm saving water."
"How eco friendly," she chuckled, trying to mask the butterflies swimming in her stomach, making her quiver in his arms.
His mind was confused by his tongues confidence and his body's forwardness, his brain knew that they had boundaries, which meant everything was to remain platonic and getting in the shower with her was not, ever in the history of the universe a platonic thing to do, especially with her and her-for lack of a better word- nakedness.
He lent over her to pick up a washcloth from the shower hanger and the bar of soap, he coated the chocolate-coloured washcloth with the white soap until it frothed and foamed and twirled her around so she had her back to him. He immediately began to rub the washcloth over her back, deciding it was possibly the only part of her body without getting into some sort of trouble.
She lifted her hair up to give him better access to her shoulders as he massaged the soap into her skin, he followed a trail up her back and across both shoulders before running it around her neck, as he neared the front of her neck he felt her swallow and he did the same before retreating back down the path he'd arrived on. He briefly dipped over her buttocks before spinning her around again, moving on quickly before the awkwardness of it and his nervousness and everything just made them stop.
They'd done this before countless times but as the most-famous-hottest-obviously-sexually-active-despite-not-really-being-that-couple of Hollywood Arts and now as the adult-kind-of-and-not-being-sure-at-all-what-they-are-or-what-they're-doing couple it was a rush of messy feelings and emotions returning to them but with added disadvantages of not being teenagers any more.
He ran the cloth of her arms before beginning his way over her breasts, massaging them with the cloth, covering them in a thick coat of bubbles as he tried to keep his body at bay and she tried to repress the deep, throaty moans threatening to escape and tried desperately to rid herself of the dirty thoughts which was making the crevice between her legs throb desperately.
He took the washcloth down her stomach, circling her belly button as she felt all the butterflies inside her begin to gather in that one place like they were drawn to the foreign feeling. She knew for a fact and from times of experience that if he was to touch her just a little further south then she wouldn't be able to stop what would undoubtedly happen so she took things into her own hands, placing her hand over his and slipping the washcloth through his fingers she soaped it up again, confirming that it had been her best choice as she felt a searing hot fluid which definitely wasn't water begin to seep onto the highest point of her thighs.
She pushed him back with such strength that pushed him against the glass of the box they were in, she took the facecloth and ran it over his muscled arms and down his toned chest, rough enough that she began to hear him pant despite the innocent ministrations. She began to go lower, continuously looking him straight in his black-coffee eyes with a small smile on her face but he stopped her, knowing his own self control was no way near ready for it.
"I think you should wash your hair," he said breathlessly, grabbing the bottle from the shelf.
"I think so too," she nodded, letting him walk around her so she had her back to him as he began to lather the sweet smelling shampoo into her hair, working through every tiny little wet strand, piling it on her head as he massaged her scalp. He was happy to stand under the cooling water as he washed her hair, willing away his body's enthusiasm for their earlier moves was going to take a lot more than simple will power.
"Are you asleep?" Jade questioned softly into the dark room, propping herself up on her elbow as she turned to look at him.
"No," he replied quietly, sitting up, pulling his pillow and fixing it between his head and the headboard.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked, brushing her damp hair from her face.
It was her most famous question, one she'd ask often when neither of them could sleep. He usually answered with detailed honesty but right now, telling her that he was thinking about pinning her to the mattress and fucking her so hard that she left a dent in his mattress probably wasn't the best way to go.
"You," he replied after a moment of silence.
"No, honestly, what are you thinking about?" she questioned, looking straight into his eyes despite the darkness of the room.
"Honestly Jade, it's you. My mind refuses to stop thinking about you," he answered, "what are you thinking about?"
"What you said in the car," she said, taking a deep breath and preparing the words she was going to say in her head.
"I'm sorry Jade, I didn't mean to do that, or I mean say that, it just slipped out," he replied, trying to cover his declaration of his love for her with the lies that he made that would hopefully put everything back into perspective.
"Oh," she stated, each word planned vanishing into her mind.
So he didn't love her.
"I think we should go to sleep now," he said softly, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close, surely this was friendly wasn't it?
She moved closer, resting her head between the crook of his body and arm like a cradle as his arm wrapped around her side, his fingers brushing on a piece of soft, cold flesh. Her hair curled beneath her like a personal pillow and her arm followed his down. She felt safe, like that sixteen year old who would want to spend the whole day like this and depending on how nice she was to Tori that week she often got her way and they spent Saturdays and sometimes Sundays snuggled together under the blankets.
She felt his breathing began to steady and she forced her own to match but her mind was running at a million miles an hour, she replayed the car scene where he told her he loved her, then it would progress to the shower only to end with her lying there being told that he didn't love her, that it was all a slip of the tongue even though she had been ready to pour her heart out to him.
She slowly began to drift into a sleep-like state but the day had been such a chaotic twenty-four hours that her mind refused to rest, choosing to run through the events causing her to re-evaluate their relationship, her future, their future but all of those things would take a lot more time than just one sleepless night to solve.
"Show me," she whispered, her hair running down his naked chest as she sat on his lap. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek, taking her hand in his own, trailing it down her beautiful body...
He awoke with wide eyes as he realised where the dream was headed, and when the object of your desire, fascination, dreams and heart is lying there sleeping like an angel beside you, his dream wasn't the most appropriate and the devil on his shoulder was laughing menacingly while the angel was hiding and choosing to have nothing to do with the dark side his brother was pulling him into.
Deciding upon taking a trip to the bathroom now he was awake Beck slid out from underneath Jade, careful not to wake her as he read the neon numbers of 03:24 on his alarm clock, he pattered through to the small bathroom at the end of the hall. The bright lights blinded him as he stood in front of the old mirror on the wall, revealing his dishevelled hair and day old stubble as well as the white wife beater that displayed his toned physique just as well as being shirtless. He ran a hand through his hair and stared at the man looking back at him. He looked like a mess but he chalked it up to it being 3am, he did his business before slowly plodding back to the bedroom, relishing in how warm the covers felt against his cooled skin.
He eased his way back under the sleeping angel and wrapped his arm around her, hoping the cold wouldn't disturb her as he closed his eyes. Easily falling back to sleep and into his own dream-world that he couldn't help but wish was real.
Time for a little competition for all you arty people, I was wondering if any of you could come up with a story cover for this story? I'm really horrible at computer graphics and I thought it would be a great chance to get my wonderful readers involved a bit more in the story. The design will end up being the Story Cover for this story, your name would be credited in every chapter onwards and your work would be seen to anyone scrolling through Victorious Fanfiction. I'm not demanding you do it all, just if you're bored in the Summer or if you live in Scotland like me and are currently stuck in the house because every day is raining miserably then this might give you something to do?
Also this story does get a bit risqué and I assume you've already noticed and I was wondering that when it does go to sex (which will happen much later, this is not smut, it's a story about the relationship of two people and it's a milestone in a relationship! I'm just really nervous to broach this with you all) if you wanted me to bump up the rating to M, or if you wanted me to keep it T and have one-shots that are M-rated that fit into the story for those who want to read it. I just don't want to lose any of you and sex is such a big problem- especially in these times of Fanfiction and I don't want to lose readers because they don't like to read it or if any of you are too young- which is rather hypocritical of me but anyway- so I'd like it if all of you could drop me a word to push me in the right direction with this? Our little story democracy?
Finally, do any of you ever get that really endless feeling of happiness after reviews come in? I mean like the bouncing off walls excitement and the permanent smile on your face because every single one of you my dears manage to do this to me, and every alert I get for this story just makes me so happy and I want to thank each of you for being so utterly brilliant and beautiful for reading, reviewing and alerting!