6:59 pm

Jade kicked her feet up onto the table, which was surprisingly neat for such a cramped house like this. Honestly, that girl was not what she had been expecting. Firstly, she had been expecting a guy. Secondly, from what she had seen around the house, she had been expecting a good looking guy with a pretty girlfriend who he was cheating on.

Instead, she had just gotten the girlfriend… who happened to be single. And a real bitch. Jade hadn't even liked her in the coffee shop, writing her name on the coffee cup, but it just had to be her that she invited out on a date, didn't it? It wasn't as if there was anything unpleasing about her physically, but the girl had a real attitude.

Despite herself, Jade's lips curled upwards, swinging back just a little on her chair. People used to say that about Jade.

In fact, people still said that about Jade.

Beck had never used to care though.

Jade sighed. This incident was never going to form the relationship needed for her to get over Beck. The girl was pretty, but Jade had a feeling that if she was around her too long, she might just punch the pretty girl in her very pretty face until it wasn't so very pretty anymore.

Plus, even if she had liked Vega, Jade might as well have tried to flirt with a man in pink Prada. Vega was either straight, or so far down into denial that Jade wasn't sure if she would ever come out of it.

It didn't matter anyway. Jade was only here because she had to be. Beck was at her apartment right now. He had the nerve to dismiss her from her job, pile a box of her stuff in her hands and say that he was going to get his stuff from her place when she was on her date.

Jade suspected that was the only reason Beck had organised the 'date' in the first place. He hadn't done it because he cared about her. No, he had done it because he didn't want to go through the awkwardness of having to pick up his stuff while his ex-girlfriend was still home.

Jade didn't want Beck to pick up his stuff. Jade would no longer be able to wear his t-shirts when everything she owned was in the wash, and she wouldn't be able to put on one of his baggy jumpers and just inhale the smell of Beck.

Although, inhaling his scent probably wasn't healthy.

Nothing about her relationship with Beck had been healthy though. She'd realised that a while ago. But that didn't make her want to back any less.

Jade placed her head in her hands. A lesser girl would have been crying by now. She didn't want to be here. She wasn't to be at home, lying in bed with a hot coffee and probably more chocolate that was healthy.

She sat there for a little while, just drowning in her own self-pity.

Little footsteps behind her alerted her to the fact that Vega was back. Jade pulled her head off her hands quickly, trying to make herself look as though nothing was wrong.

Jade twisted her head around to look at the girl, raising one eyebrow slightly at the girl's dress.

"You're still here?" It was somewhere between a statement and a question.

Jade nodded, her grin increasing every moment she stared at that outfit.

Vega looked down at herself, as if she couldn't work out for the life of her Jade was looking at. She stared blankly at Jade for a moment, as if she was almost too nervous to speak in front of her, which was possible after what Vega had said beforehand. Her mouth opened slightly, and the words she said were barely hearable. "What? What's wrong with me?"

And then, so fast that Vega almost jumped back in shock, Jade threw her head back and laughed. It was a maniacal laugh, something that she was saving in case she ever got to pay the Wicked Witch of the West. Jade sat back, pointing one expertly manicured finger towards Vega, struggling to talk through her own laughter.

"Your outfit!"

Tori looked down at herself, her fingers playing at the edge of her dress. It was striped with leopard print, definitely not even pretending to be subtle, with rose on it. The dress was close to looking nice, but the colours clashed slightly, and honestly, all Jade wanted to do was avert her eyes.

There was a moment of hesitation on Vega's face as her face fell, and the sight of her sadness made Jade both want to laugh even harder and slap the girl's face until that pitiful look fell off it.

"… What's wrong with my outfit?" Vega asked, as if she were a small child who had just been told that she wasn't allowed to have the candy she wanted.

"You don't even know, do you?" Jade put on an accent, imitating Tori's high and childish voice. "What's wrong with my outfit?"

Vega crossed her arms, pouting. "I'm being serious… And I don't talk like that."

Jade smiled, the smile of someone evil just before something evil happens. "First of all… you still dress like your sixteen." She walked towards Vega, with long strides, taking in the leopard print. "Vega honey,"

"Don't call me-"

"Vega honey, we're not in 2010 anymore. And really, even if we were, that outfit would still clash. Honestly, I find it hard to believe this was ever in style. Plus…" Jade paused for a moment, the corners of her mouth sliding upwards, "You can make the dress as tight as you want, but honey, you're never going to have curves. But I see you've made up for that by making the dress as short as possible. Vega, you're a singer, not a harlot."

The girl just looked down at herself, and Jade could almost see all the self-esteem that Vega had ever had fizzle right out of her features.

"Not so good with words when you can't just call somebody a dyke and be done with it, can you?" There was bitterness in her words, and true anger. Even Vega visibly flinched as Jade spoke.

Vega replied, her voice nervous and quiet. "How, did you know I was a singer?"

"Vega, look at this apartment. There's only one good reason why you're still in New York with this little money." Jade carefully raised one eyebrow. "Unless you actually are a harlot, I mean."

Vega shook her head quickly.

"Good, because I couldn't possibly spend my time with a harlot," That comment was accompanied with a wink. "I have to be the flirt in our relationship." Jade's manner was suddenly smooth again, with only traces of her earlier bitterness remaining.

"… We have a relationship."

"Don't worry Vega, I'm not fantasising about you naked…" Seeing Tori's shocked face turn to one of discomfort and a little bit of sheer terror, Jade grinned, and winked once more. She was going to have fun with this. "yet."

"You do realise my name is Tori, right?"

"Didn't know, don't care. Now come on." It was a spur of the instant decision, but once Jade had said it, she wasn't going to go back on it. She grabbed Vega's hand, pulling her towards the door.

"What?" Tori let her hand slip from Jade's confused.

"Come on loser, we're going shopping!"

7:23 pm

"So… by shopping, you meant?" Tori glanced up at Jade. They had passed the nearest set of shops ages ago. In fact, Tori wasn't even sure what part of New York they were in anymore.

"Nothing in particular, I couldn't resist the opportunity to use the line."

" … You watched Mean Girls?" Tori resisted the urge to burst out with laughter. Connecting the pink of Mean Girls with the black of Jade didn't seem to be possible.

"This entire generation watched Mean Girls, Vega, keep up."

And then silence fell. And they both sat there, in the cab, wondering what they were doing here. This was definitely not how Tori had expected the night to go. She had expected a charming dinner out with a handsome young man. She had expected the bartender she had seen in the coffee shop. Instead she had gotten Jade. She wasn't sure if she was entirely dissatisfied with this, even if she had already said one of the worst words in her entire vocabulary and had her entire outfit mocked.

She glanced down at her outfit momentarily. Maybe she should have retired it after that last birthday party. But it just had some sentimental value… and she had been in such a panic. She stared at the dress. Sentimentality was not a reason to keep something that didn't flatter you anymore. That was why she had ditched several of her past boyfriends (or they had ditched her), so why should she keep this dress. Tori firmly decided that the moment they got home, the tacky, leopard print dress was going to go straight into the bin, no matter how pretty Tori had thought it was when she had bought it in the first place.

Jade's voice was quiet and cautious. "The dress doesn't look that bad, you know."

Tori turned her eyes towards Jade's face, her eyes full of confusion. "What…?"

Jade shrugged slightly, her face contorted somewhere between a smile and a frown.

"Look, would you just make up your mind and leave it there?" Tori spoke, her voice harsh. She's was almost getting angry with Jade now. Tori couldn't get her head around the girl.

"But there's no fun if I don't keep people guessing."

"Maybe you should put other people before your own fun."

Tori caught Jade's stare, returning it evenly, and putting a bit of bitterness into it too. Neither of them wanted to be the first one to pull away, and so for a couple of moment they were just locked in the same gaze.

Jade pulled away first, and Tori felt a moment of triumph.

"Stop!" At Jade's scream, the taxi pulled over, and then Jade was out. And then Tori was sitting alone in the cab. Despite what she had said, Tori honestly didn't want to be on her own right now. She just felt sort of empty at the moment. This was the first time she had properly met somebody in New York and it seemed horrible that all of that would disappear because she glared at somebody.

"Hurry the Hell up, will you?"

There was a sense of relief as Jade stuck her head back in, pulling Tori out of the taxi. Tori glanced around, looking up at the tall apartment in front of her. It wasn't an amazing place, but honestly, compared to the place in which she lived, it would have been heaven.

"Where are we?" Tori asked, but Jade didn't even take a moment to consider the question, moving on into the apartment. Tori hurried on quickly, attempting to always keep Jade in her line of sight. She glanced once at the sign declaring the elevator out of order, and sighed before rushing up the stairs after Jade. "Why the fuck are we running?"

By the time that Tori had gotten up the stairs, Jade was barely in sight anymore, forcing Tori to pick up her pace again, dashing after her. She did have to wonder why she was doing this? All of a sudden Jade had gotten all of the power.

But then again, that didn't seem unexpected. Jade was this confident and beautiful girl dressed all in black, and Tori was far too skinny, flat chested, and apparently dressed like a slut. It seemed natural that Jade would leave and Tori would follow.

Finally Tori caught a hint of Jade having stopped. She was knocking on a door, and seemed to be almost screaming with frustration, but only making absolutely no noise. It was as if Jade needed to be able to let her anger out, but didn't want to make a fool of herself.

And then the door opened, and a very handsome man walked out. The moment that the door opened, Jade's eyes shifted over to Tori, beckoning Tori towards her.

Once Tori neared the two, she was able to hear what they were actually saying.

"You're still here?" Jade sighed, and if Tori had thought there was anger in Jade's voice when she spoke to Tori, it was nothing compared to the way she was talking now.

"Well, this is my apartment, isn't it?"

"No." Jade crossed her arms, and Tori was beginning to wonder what she had gotten herself in to.

"We both know you can't afford it, given that you just got sacked today." There was a sad but slightly gloating smile on the guy's face. "You know, there was nothing that I could do. It was the last straw."

"Nothing you could do?" Now Tori was standing forgotten besides them as they argued. "You could have not fired me. You could have not stolen my phone. You could have not dumped me."

"Jade. Be reasonable here. I'm not moving out for you out of guilt. This is my apartment. You can't afford it. And it's a two person bedroom apartment anyway. What are you going to do, leave one as a guest room? You don't need a room for when you kick me out of our bed anymore. And you don't even have a job. You'd just lose the apartment even if I gave it to you."

"I'm hot, I'll get another job waiting tables soon."

"And the roommate?"

And then suddenly, Jade's eyes swivelled around to look at Tori. "Beck, meet Tori, my new roommate."

Hang on. Wait? What?

When the fuck did that happen? Tori had known her for almost an hour, and suddenly Jade was asking him to live with her. Tori didn't know whether Jade was being honest, or whether this was just a game that she was playing. Tori honestly expected Jade to lead her in, make Tori move all her stuff in, and then kick her out of the windows.

"Okay, so you just dragged some girl of the street to live here?" The man was examining Tori now, looking at her with a kind of sweet smile, knowing exactly how confused Tori was. Apparently he was the voice of reason around here. To be honest, Tori didn't think that would be hard to do around Jade.

"Nope. Actually, I think you'll find she's my new girlfriend."

"Wait. Wha-"

And then suddenly Jade's lips were on top of hers.

Okay... so I don't have a lot to say. I might have more to say later.

So they kissed. Yeah.

Forever Failing Better

IAmImperfect