A/N: Wow, I cannot believe how fast it took me to write this chapter. Hopefully I stay on a roll for a long time.
Now, the moment you've been waiting for...
is here
"You used to date Jade? My Jade?"
Katherine shrugged "How many Jade Wests do you know?"
"Okay, she has a bit of a snarky sense of humor," Tori thought. "Its not impossible to imagine Jade actually seeing something in her. But why was she here now? What did she want from me? She probably wants her back, so I better be on my guard."
"You said there was something I ought to know," Tori sighed. "Care to tell me what that is?"
The blond brushed back her hair. "It was a year ago. We got about a month and a half along before things fell apart. You see, we were inseparable at first. We at least made sure to call each other every day. And when we weren't working or studying, we got together every chance we got. I've never felt closer to anyone, Tori. Then it started to get serious. I'll spare you the details but we spent the night together."
Tori leaned in, still on the defensive "And then what happened?"
"And then nothing," Katherine threw up her hands. "Not a call or text or email. I literally couldn't find her. At first I was worried, like there was an accident or something happened to her. Then after the second day, I started to get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then it was almost a week when I saw her in the coffee shop and she looked at me like she had seen a ghost. I asked her what the hell happened. Why did she just vanish and not answer my calls?"
"What did she say?"
Katherine leaned back, folding her arms.
"Jade told me that she couldn't do this anymore and had to break things off so she could think things over."
Even Tori had to admit that sounded like a lot of BS. But Jade was probably one of those people who were terrible at breaking up and didn't know how to approach the matter, so she became a phantom. And she had to agree that made the whole thing much worse.
"I'm sorry you were hurt, Katherine. That was a messy breakup."
"Oh yeah, I was pissed off. First everything was fine. Then the morning after a nice night with her, bam! It was all over."
Katherine pointed suddenly, which made Tori blink.
"But do want to know what was interesting?"
Tori nodded while deep down not wanting to know where this was going.
"I went on Twitter and was basically pouring my heart out. I was fucking pissed off, you understand right?"
Again, Tori nodded to signal her to keep going.
"Well, after sending tweet after tweet about my heartbreak, I get a private message from a girl. She went to another school but she told me that she went out with a girl years ago that sounded like Jade. I showed her a picture of her and she said that was her. Then the two of us got talking."
The blonde clicked her tongue.
"It seems, our Jade has a pattern of behavior."
"Pattern?" Tori queried.
"Let me break it down for you," Katherine turned to face Tori. "She gets a girl, they get pretty hot and heavy but once it crosses that threshold, once they have sex...Jade takes off like a bat out of hell. Clearly, she's in it to win it. And the prize is a paid trip inside the pants of her latest victim. I'm sorry... girlfriend."
Tori shook her head "No, this...this is...wrong, you're wrong. I can't accept that."
Katherine sighed in an exaggerated huff.
"I know its a lot to take in. Nobody wants to hear this about someone they've grown attached to but that's the name of the game. She makes you feel on top of the world, like there is no one else to her; but once she gets what she is really after, boom. No call or anything. Not even a dustpan to help you sweep up the pieces of your heart!"
At this point the half Latina stood, glowering at Katherine. While she sympathized with her pain, Tori could not ignore that this relative stranger was speaking of Jade in less than desirable terms. And if she wasn't a non-violent person (more like Jade, come to think of it) she would punch her in the head.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Tori pointed down at Katherine. "Why are you trying to get in the way of us? What is it, you can't stand her being happy with someone else?"
"I'm trying to get you back, Vega!" she shot back. "You don't know what its like to be dumped like that out of the blue with no explanation. And only to find out that she did the exact same thing with another girl! Hell, I don't even know how far back this goes. Maybe she left a few broken hearts in high school."
"I don't appreciate your little public service announcement. Remember, she is my girlfriend. Present tense."
Katherine stood up, but Tori didn't back up an inch.
"And that will change, believe me. I've seen you two, okay? The look that she gives you I've seen before." She paused to gauge Tori's reaction. "You still don't believe me."
"Nope."
"Fine," Katherine sighed, frustrated. "I was naïve to think this would be easy. But then again, aren't we all naïve? Aren't we just her type?"
"Stop it!" Tori demanded. "Stop this now. I'm tired of hearing any more about this."
"Tori, please...listen to what I'm telling you" Katherine pleaded. "You're a very nice person and I don't want to see you get hurt."
Tori rolled her eyes "Look it, just because you got hurt doesn't mean I will. You two had your relationship but I'll bet you what we have now is different."
Katherine put her hands on her hips.
"Then let me ask you a few questions. Have you ever met her friends?"
The half Latina just looked at her.
"That's a no" she nodded. "See I've caught her talking to a couple of guys off and on with her phone. They seemed really close. Nothing flirty but they definitely go back a ways. Now, if I were so important to her, wouldn't she introduce me to her best friends?"
Tori did notice Jade texting or talking to her friends. Once when she left her phone, she noticed a "Robbie" on the caller ID. And for some reason the avatar was a photo of a ventriloquist dummy.
"She probably hasn't gotten around to that yet."
"Alright, fine" Katherine said in a doubtful tone. "Then, has she ever told you she loved you?"
Tori thought for a moment and admitted quietly "no."
"But did you tell her that you loved her?" Katherine asked.
"Yeah, like a week ago. We were at the end of a dinner date and I told her and then ..." Tori thought about it and realized disappointingly "...she started complaining the waiter was ignoring her..."
"She changed the subject, right?"
"Yeah, she did" Tori replied.
"Tori, I'm really sorry to do this to you. I hate to rain on your parade but I just couldn't live with myself unless I knew you had all the facts. Nobody should be played like that."
Tori backed away.
"You don't know if that will happen to me...us."
"You think she's changed. Then there isn't much more to say." Katherine started walking past Tori but looked back once more to say, "For your sake I hope you're right but I wouldn't hold my breath."
Tori was left standing there totally speechless. In a matter of minutes, her whole concept of what she knew was compromised. After being bullied and taken advantage of for a good chunk of her life in junior high and high school; Tori had a sixth sense for when somebody was fucking with her. She unfortunately wasn't getting such a vibe from Katherine back there.
What did that mean? Was she really just the next notch on Jade's belt?
She was doing her best to counter Katherine's argument but she was making some points.
The sound of a scream belonging to an obnoxious person laughing snapped Tori out of her thoughts. She quickly checked her phone to see the time. Her next class was starting in twenty minutes. She texted Cat that she was going to class and would talk to her later. Tori thought it be wise to give herself plenty of time to find the arts building and locate her classroom.
Third floor of the arts building, which was across the street from the main pavilion.
And luckily for Tori, the lecture hall was the only room on the whole floor, save for the restrooms on the adjacent wall.
She entered and was relieved to see about half the class already showed up. At least she wouldn't look like a goof for being the first one there. Since she was without Cat this time around, Tori seized on the opportunity to sit near the front. She was in the second row, slightly off to the right of the center. Pretty good vantage to watch a movie in her opinion. This classroom had nearly stadium-like seating so nobody's head would block the projector's light or anyone's view.
A woman with short red hair who looked about late 40's, early 50's entered and put down her laptop case.
"Good afternoon, I am Professor Jane Wilkes. And this is American Film Theory."
The professor then opened her bag and pulled out a DVD case.
"We can get into the nuts and bolts about the fundamentals of American cinema, what makes it unique to us and what impact it has on the rest of the world, let us watch a movie that is not only a first rate film by a world class director. It has also been regarded as one of the best post-war comedy of all time. We can discuss the themes later on and elaborate a little further next week."
After putting the disc in the player, she asked the student closest to her left to turn off the lights. The professor navigated through the menu and hit play.
The black and white movie began over a shot of clouds at high altitudes. The narrator drearily discusses the Cold War, which gives the twenty-somethings watching a little context. Then the main titles start up: DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB.
The very obtuse credits bore a resemblance to Tori the ones at the beginning of MEN IN BLACK. She would later find out that the same man, Pablo Ferro, designed both main titles. During the sequence, sweet music played over footage of an airplane refueling in midflight. The symbolism wasn't lost on Tori, who snickered at what an early 60's movie had to do to get something suggestive under the radar.
Once the credits were done; what unfolded was a dark comedy classic, a brilliant pastiche of politics, sexuality, and the military. Some of the more subtle satire was lost on the students but they roared with laughter for one liners like "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!" The class sat up and noticed a familiar voice belonging to the one and only James Earl Jones in his first film role as one of the men in the bomber plane.
Then the ending came after Slim Pickens rides the bomb to total oblivion and the titular Dr. Strangelove, emerges from his wheelchair proclaiming that he can walk; a series of atomic explosions assaulted the screen. And the whole time this is being accompanied by Vera Lynn singing "We'll Mete Again."
When the movie was over and lights came back on, Professor Wilkes had a 20-minute discussion about the movie and how people reacted when it came out. She then went briefly into a little behind-the-scenes anecdotes such as the original ending was to contain an epic pie fight. This was ultimately rejected and the footage was lost, though a few still photos survive, proving its existence. It also turned out that Peter Sellers was at first going to be the main pilot (along with his 3 other characters in het movie) but got injured so the role went to Slim Pickens.
Professor Wilkes told the class to try and rent the movie to study its themes for next week's discussion.
Tori left her class, confident that this was going to be one of her favorite courses this year. She couldn't wait to watch the movie again, only this time in her dorm with Jade.
Then she remembered about what Katherine said before.
"Could she be right? Are things not what I think they are?"
She had to find out, if nothing than to prove her wrong. It was different with her. Jade loved her.
She had to be getting off class in about fifteen minutes so Tori set off to the student center to wait for her.
