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And Now, Chapter 4...


"What time you got?" Trina asked. Her phone was across the room, charging from the wall cord.

Nikki looked at her own phone being that it was on her and squinted at the small grey numbers.

"7:08," she replied.

"I wonder how its going," Trina mused. "I hope they hit it off."

Nikki chuckled.

"What?" the older Vega asked.

"Oh nothing," she grinned. "It's just the whole concerned big sister thing. Looks adorable on you."

"Shut up..."

A thud outside the front door startled them for a second.

"Did you hear that?" Nikki asked, getting up to check it out.

"Please be careful," Trina groaned. "Keep the chain on. I do not want to be the victim of a push-in robbery on my second day in New York."

"Just chill."

The blonde girl put the chain on and turned the know slowly. Opening the door a crack, she looked out and saw no one. But her ears definitely picked up somebody sobbing close by. Nikki looked down and there was Tori leaning against the corner beside the door. Nikki unfurled the chain in a hurry and opened the door wide, falling to her knees beside her friend's little sis.

"Tori, what happened?"

The half Latina tried to respond but her words were truncated by the manic breathing from bawling uncontrollably. Nikki asked her again, this time Trina coming up behind her.

"I...ff...fff...fucked...up" she replied shakily.

"What are you talking about?" Trina asked, trying to wipe the salty tears from Tori's face.

"Tori," Nikki grabbing Tori's shoulders. "You went, right? I mean you made it to Jade's place, didn't you?"

Trina could feel her heart drop, fearing the worst for her sister. She seemed so beside herself, so broken.

"Tor, listen to me" Trina's voice growing damn serious. "Did someone attack you? Did anyone threaten you?" She kicked herself for allowing her to go off on her own in a strange city but she wasn't thinking earlier. Trina felt terrible.

"No," Tori shook her head. "Nothing happened and nothing ever will happen."

"What are you saying?" Trina asked, shaking her head.

"I fucked up with Jade, okay?"

"Hold up," Nikki said, helping Trina bring Tori back to her feet and back inside the apartment. Trina helps her sister to the couch as Nikki locks the door. "Okay, Tori. Now we're both a little confused. Tell us what exactly happened."

"She...she...found out I wasn't a real reporter and threw me out."

Trina rolled her eyes. "I knew that was a bad idea," she chided her.

Nikki gave her a 'not right now' glare. Trina closed her eyes as if to atone for the temporary lack of compassion.

"Sorry," she told her baby sister tenderly. "Tell us what happened."

Tori's breathing began to regulate as she went over every detail of the evening with Jade West. She was genuinely smiling as she described how inviting Jade was and how pleasant the conversation was. But then Tori looked as though she was about to begin weeping again as she brought up her slip of the tongue that "made" her. Trina was disappointed in Tori's ruse but despite that, she was furious as to how Jade cast her out like she did. But then she was surprised when Tori mentioned how she paid for a taxi for her to come home in.

"Interesting..." mused Nikki.

"What do you mean?" choked Tori as she wiped her eye. "What's interesting?"

"That," Nikki pointed. "Well I know if I'm pissed at somebody I would say fuck you, find your own way home. I wouldn't take pity on you like that."

Trina bit her tongue at what Nikki was suggesting. She didn't want to dash Tori's spirits but at the same time she also didn't want to raise any false hope.

"I'm not gonna lie Tori" Trina began. "You probably hurt her by lying."

"Exactly," Nikki said, rubbing the younger Vega's shoulders. "She thought you were a reporter and she invited you to her home for an interview. That's unheard of. And to top it all off, even after you come clean with your farce she did the nice thing and made sure you got home safely."

Trina sighed. "She has a point, Tor. I hate to admit it but she does."

"Do you think she liked me?" Tori asked with big puppy dog eyes.

"I bet she still does," Nikki encouraged. "You just need to show her respect by being straight with her. Her line of work has a lot of phonies and leeches. It's probably not easy for her to make a connection."

Tori coughed and massaged her temples. "I really messed things up, didn't I?"

"Do you still like her?" Trina asked, standing up.

Tori looked up into her sister's eyes. "I do. Now more than ever."

"Okay," she nodded. "Give it a day or two. Let her have time to calm down and try to talk to her again."

"How can I get close to her?" Tori asked. "She's gonna be busy all week."

"We'll think of something" Nikki winked.


It was the end of the week and Jade was having a session in an empty warehouse at Hudson Harbor. Her photographer was none other than the legend herself Tyra Banks. Despite being the godmother of "fierce," the model turned entrepreneur had to admit that Jade West had an intensity that made her quiver from behind the viewfinder.

"Okay, Jade" Tyra shouted. "Let's have more of a dance-like quality." She snapped several shots and leaned over to the laptop to view the pictures. "Jade, come look at these" she smiled. "That is good work. It's a still picture but I have so much movement and life in it. You're a natural."

The pale girl raised an eyebrow. "Thanks."

"You okay?" she asked.

"Just a little tired. Haven't gotten much sleep lately."

Tyra smiled. "Boy trouble?" she asked.

"Actually, girl trouble" she said before taking a swig of water.

"Oh..." Tyra said. "Right on, girl. You know after all these years, you'd think I'd be able to spot gay from a mile away. Just like how I loved George Michael...and then I found out."

Jade laughed, "Wow. This is almost the same conversation I had with my mother."

"Funny," smirked Tyra. "You go on and take a breather and we'll get back to this in like fifteen."

"Cool," Jade replied as she walked off the set past the craft service tables.


Going to the bathroom, she wasn't aware of the figure following her. Jade turned around for a second, thinking she heard something but just shrugged it off. After the door to the restroom shut and she went into the stall, Jade could hear a couple of footsteps and the door locking. She tried to peer through the slit between the door and the wall but couldn't see anything.

"Jade?" a familiar voice called to her.

"Tori Vega?" she asked in response.

"Yeah," the half Latina hesitated to answer.

The sensation of having to make quickly went away and Jade burst through her stall door.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I..." Tori rubbed her hands nervously. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"This is a closed set. How did you get past security?"

Tori cleared her throat. "The guard it seems has a thing for blondes."

Jade folded her arms.

"Once again, Vega - you seem to drip the creep factor."

Tori took a few steps back and lifted herself up on the counter, unwittingly scooting her way over to a sink. Next thing she knew, her butt was wet and stuck.

The model chuckled at the half Latina's buffoonery.

"Since you don't look like you're going anywhere," Jade said. "Fine; let's talk."

"I know that you're really pissed at me for lying..."

Jade blinked, sucking her teeth.

"Go on," the model permitted.

"I wasn't planning on lying at first," Tori was really trying to dislodge herself from the sink. "I kept thinking about what I was going to say to you when I finally met you and then there you were and I choked."

"I'm impressed that cock and bull story was on the fly." She shrugged. "You fooled me."

"I'm sorry," Tori said earnestly.

"Why are you so interested in me?"

"Let me...explain..." with a flash, Tori was free but she launched herself with enough force that she landed flat on her ass on the linoleum. "Owww," she whined.

"That looks like that hurt," Jade half grinned.

"Listen Jade, please" Tori pleaded.

Jade sighed "Okay go ahead."

"I have...had...a friend" Tori began. "He was very close to me. We did everything together. One day he asked me out and I told him that I wasn't interested in guys that way. He could've been mad; he could have snapped and walked away and I wouldn't blame him. But he didn't. He stuck around and stayed my friend."

"What was his name?"

"Huh?" Tori asked as a single tear traversed the contours of her cheek. "Oh, Andre. His name was Andre."

"What happened to him?" Jade swallowed hard. "If you don't mind my...you just keep using past tense..."

"It's fine" Tori held up her hand. "It was an accident. The rain was bad that night and I really don't like talking about it."

"Okay," Jade nodded.

"He was very dear to me, Jade. He was the first person I came out to. And for many months he was the only one who knew. Not even my parents knew for a long time. It was fun sometimes. We'd be at the mall and a girl would walk by and both of our heads would turn. We'd look at each other and start cracking up. When you got us laughing, there was no stopping us."

Jade smiled, feeling her own heart swell.

"You were the first girl that I felt strongly about. Like I would see you and imagine taking you out on a date and it would just be the best time..."

"You did?" she asked.

"Andre taught me to feel comfortable in my own skin. That there was nothing wrong with how I felt about girls. I feel like I would be doing him a disservice by not doing something crazy like flying across the country and meeting you face to face just to ask you out."

The pale girl studied the half Latina and shrugged.

"You sure drive a hard bargain, Tori Vega. How could I say no after you just poured your heart out at my feet?"

Tori bit her lip in anticipation.

"You know what," Jade clicked her tongue. "I'm not gonna be in town for long and its all been work, work, work. I could use a day out with a cute girl."

"Really?" her face lit up.

"Yeah," Jade replied. "Do you know one?"

"Thanks a lot," Tori scoffed.

"How about I pick you up," she suggested. "What's your address?"

"Not sure, it's a friend's place and..."

"Okay, give me your phone."

Tori dug in her jean pocket and handed Jade her cell. The black haired girl typed and then handed it back to her.

"There," she smiled. "You got the digits."