Jade tapped her fingers against the plastic of the armrest, her gaze trained outside the small plane window and the clouds passing below. Her initial shock at being surprised with the tickets to Boston had worn off, and now, in true Jade form, she could only think of things that could go wrong now. What if she got there and Tori, not expecting her, didn't exactly want her to stay? What if things between the two of them were strange; what if they didn't click like they used to? It had been a long time since they had seen one another in person and the distance could do things to a relationship. All of it had seemed like easy stuff to handle when Tori had been on one side of the country and Jade on the other, but now they were so close to being together again and the reality of what problems could arise were setting in.
Cat's sudden voice caused Jade to bite down on the thumbnail that she had been absentmindedly chewing on as she thought, and she swore, spitting it out. "Hi, Jade!"
The redhead had been seated three rows behind Jade with Robbie, and Andre and Beck had been across the aisle from them. Jade was the only one with her own seat and she was just fine with that. She preferred it, even. But now it seemed like all three guys had fallen asleep and Cat needed someone to entertain her. "Hi, Cat."
Cat dropped into the empty seat next to Jade – her seatmate had never showed up, thank God – and cocked her head to the side. "What's wrong?" Say what you might about Cat (and people said a lot of things, most of which earned them punches in the face straight from Jade, because if it wasn't from her or one of their friends in the group, she wasn't going to tolerate it) but the girl was perceptive as hell. Jade rubbed at the bridge of her nose, weighing her options right then. She could lie and put on a bitch face like she always did, or she could actually say something to someone about something for once and see if it got her anywhere.
"I'm fine."
There was a quizzical look from the redhead, as if she hadn't been expecting that response, and Jade almost rolled her eyes, because really? How was Cat not expecting that after all these years of knowing Jade? Regardless, she shifted back in her seat so that her head was touching the headrest. "I'm sure Tori will be super excited to see you, Jadey."
"Don't call me that," Jade said through gritted teeth, hating the way Cat always seemed to know what was on her mind. "Go back to your seat."
"I don't know why you're so worried. She misses you a lot, you know. She always talks about you. It's the best kind of romantic."
Jade closed her eyes, counted in her head to three, and then opened them again. "Cat – "
"I know. I'm going!" With that, she stood up and flounced back to her seat, purposely landing in Robbie's lap so that he'd wake up and she would have someone else to entertain her for a while. Jade was left alone with her thoughts once more as the captain's voice came on the loudspeaker and announced that they had another half an hour before they landed at Logan International Airport.
x x x
When everyone got off the plane and managed to grab all of their things (Robbie's luggage was the only one lost, much to everyone else's relief), it was time to get to the Hotel Commonwealth, the hotel that Tori and her cast had been staying in for the past few months. Apparently the director of the movie had worked out a deal with the hotel that involved putting up the actors in return for filming on location and doing a lot of promoting of the hotel when the time for the movie's release came. Whatever, Jade didn't really care for the logistics of it all.
Andre and Beck helped the cab driver load their things into the back of the van and Jade took the front seat, cutting a sharp look at Robbie when he dared to protest. He and Cat took the farthest row and then Andre and Beck sat in the middle, and everyone else oohed and ahhed over the sights while Jade gnawed on her thumbnail again and worried about seeing Tori.
Her stomach was in knots, and it hadn't done that in ages, not since she and Tori had started to date. Jade simply didn't get nervous, not when it came time for an audition or when she sang in public, or when she met new people. Tori, however, was always the one to break the rules when it came to Jade and this was no different. She bit her lip and rested her forehead against the cool glass, hoping that Cat would be right about all of this being a good idea. She couldn't imagine Tori not being thrilled to see her, but at the same time…
The van jerked to a stop, the fifteen minutes it took to get to the hotel from the airport seeming like two minutes. Everyone else piled out, chattering animatedly between one another, and Jade climbed out woodenly, crossing her arms over her chest and staring up at the building. Somewhere inside there was her girlfriend, who she hadn't seen in months, and who had no idea she was in the same time zone as her right now, let alone the same state or the same city or on the same street.
She was pretty sure she was going to throw up, and Jade West did not throw up.
x x x
"She's shooting a scene right now but she should be taking her lunch break in a few minutes, guys," Andre said, his eyes skipping down the text message he had just received on his pearPhone. They had just checked into the hotel and were trying to figure out where Tori was, hoping to surprise her with their arrival as soon as possible.
Cat and Robbie were rummaging through the mini bar already, Robbie finding a bag of cookies and tearing into them delightedly. Cat waited until he was looking out the window and carefully plucked them from his fingers, giggling madly and racing to lock herself in the bathroom. "Cat! Cat, dammit! What are you doing? Come on!" he whined, banging on the door. Jade could hear her giggles through the door and groaned, flinging her arm over her face. She was laying on her back on one of the two double beds in the room – there were two cots at the foot of the beds, too; everyone figured that Jade would be staying in Tori's room and that there wouldn't be need for a third cot – and trying to push down the butterflies that were trying to bite their way out of her stomach. They might have been vampire bats.
Suddenly Andre's phone began to vibrate incessantly and he picked it up, pressing a button. "You've got Andre," he said smoothly, turning around to mouth "It's Tori!" at Beck and Jade. He then pressed speakerphone and put his finger to his lips, motioning at Robbie, who immediately stopped.
"Hey, Andre!" Jade's stomach flipped unpleasantly at the sound of her girlfriend's voice and she sat up. "What's up?"
"Nothing much, chica. On your lunch break?"
"Yep. We're just going across the street to grab some Thai."
Beck stood and crossed the room to look out the window, scanning the street until finally a sign caught his eye and he motioned for Jade to stand. She did and joined him at the window, where he pointed. That had to be the place Tori was talking about, unless there was another place around there. She turned and mouthed to Andre, "What Thai place?"
"Oh, uh, that's cool. What's it called?"
Tori sounded puzzled. "Thai Dish II. Nothing special. So, what are you up to?"
"Nothing much. Look, Tori, I gotta go, my grandma is stuck in the toilet again."
"Your grandma is – "
Andre hung up the phone and grinned at Beck and Jade. Robbie and Cat joined them, Cat having exited the bathroom. "Well? Let's go."
x x x
The closer that they got to the Thai restaurant the more prominent the vampire bats in Jade's stomach became. It got so bad that she actually leaned over and took Beck's hand at one point. He didn't even question it, just squeezing it once before letting go and putting his arm around her shoulders. The walk was incredibly short and before they knew it they were standing in front of the place. Cat glanced in before anyone else did and squealed. "I see Tori! She's in there with a bunch of other people and this cute blonde guy has his arm around her!"
That got Jade's attention. "What?"
Cat stopped bouncing and shook her head. "Oh, uh, I was kidding!" For an actress, Cat was a terrible liar. Jade rolled her eyes, realizing that it was probably Oliver, Tori's costar that she blathered on about constantly, and tried to squash down her jealousy so she wouldn't somehow ruin the surprise before it even happened.
Andre opened the door and all five of them filed into the restaurant, at first shielded by what Jade assumed was a large part of the cast and crew of East Coast, West Coast. Beck sidled right on up to where Tori was standing by the front of the restaurant, waiting for her order, and leaned against the wall. "So, come here often?"
Tori turned to look at him, shock registering all over her face. Before she could get a single word out, Andre showed up on the other side of her, grinning. "Damn, girl, you coulda told us you were getting some Thai! I'm hungry as hell!" Tori pointed at him, then at Beck, then back at Andre, her mouth open but no noise coming out. Cat skipped between a group of burly looking men, holding tightly onto Robbie's hand, which meant that the lanky teenager banged into the men and had to apologize profusely as he was tugged along.
"Tori! I don't have anything funny to say, but you look pretty!" she giggled, leaning up to give Tori a tight hug. Robbie waved to Tori over Cat's shoulder, and Jade couldn't hear what Tori finally did say due to the noise in the restaurant. In fact, she raised her eyes until she found Beck and she pointed to outside the restaurant, then to her phone, before exiting the Thai place.
She shot him a quick text, telling him to bring Tori outside when she got her food and that Jade would be waiting there, but not to tell her that Jade was there. If Tori asked, tell her that Jade really wanted to come but something came up and she had to stay behind because of schoolwork. The five of them exited a few minutes later, Tori talking excitedly to all of them. Jade was leaning against the brick wall with her arms crossed and one boot against the wall, dressed in what she knew was Tori's favorite outfit on her: her green top with her black skirt and tights and combat boots, complete with her heavy silver rings and necklaces (including the heart one that Tori had gotten her on their anniversary and that Jade would have never worn for anyone else), and the eyebrow ring and stud in her nose that she had switched out for a silver hoop that Tori always said with a sigh were totally hot on Jade but not on anyone else.
"You didn't think I'd miss the party, did you?"
Tori's back was to her so when Jade's distinctive voice rang out into the air she froze before turning slowly around. Jade's gaze slid from her nails to Tori's eyes and she cocked her studded eyebrow up, a smirk on her lips, before pushing off of the wall and standing up straight. Her hand went to her hip and she gestured to Tori. "Well? Aren't you going to –" She sighed. "- hug me?"
The scream that Tori let out made Andre and Robbie flinch away from her in terror, and Beck only just barely caught the take away container that Tori threw into the air as she ran towards Jade. Jade waited until the last second to hold her arms out and catch Tori, hating this sappy love stuff, but loving the way that Tori's laugh sounded in her ear as she clung to Jade. She melted a little at the way that Tori would only hold her tighter whenever she made the tiniest movement away, and when she heard Robbie say something about how cute they were together she flipped him off behind Tori's back, grinning (grinning – that was what Tori freakin' Vega did to her) when Tori whispered, "Don't flip them off."
Tori finally pulled away, but not very far, and rested her hands on Jade's shoulders for a brief moment before cupping her face. Her eyes roamed all over Jade's face as if memorizing any new details that had arisen in the last few months and then she tenderly brushed a lock of Jade's dark hair out of her eyes. "Hi," she said quietly, and Tori smiled.
"Hi," she said back, before closing the gap and kissing Jade so hard that Jade was pretty sure she saw stars go off behind her eyes. Tori wasn't even ashamed to admit that this time it was her who flipped off Robbie when he said something behind them and just deepened her kiss with Jade.