Jade hadn't realized what a good idea it was to watch The Scissoring with Tori until it was five minutes into the movie and the pretty girl had just been killed off. Tori was now clenched to Jade's side with her face tucked into Jade's shoulder, and the grin on Jade's face was getting ridiculously big. If someone asked she would tell them that she really was just enjoying the movie, and anyone who knew her would buy that excuse in a heartbeat, but the truth was that Jade wasn't even really paying attention anymore. She did try to tone it down a bit though because she could feel Beck's piercing gaze and she didn't want him to figure out Jade's real intentions. She did, however, sneakily wrap her arm around Tori's waist, in just a way that Beck couldn't see it from his angle. Tori had shifted a bit at that, but it was only to get more comfortable. Okay so maybe tonight wouldn't be a complete bust.
It was halfway through the movie and she could tell Beck was getting restless. He was in no way paying attention to the movie and probably sulking because his opportunity was slipping through his fingers just like Jade wanted it to be. Jade was also getting somewhat restless because she really had to go to the bathroom, but she didn't want to lose her spot on the couch to Beck and she also didn't want to move out of the comfortable position she was in with Tori. All of a sudden she saw Beck sit up and then he was talking.
"Hey are you guys hungry? I'm hungry. Let's order pizza or something! Jade would you go order us a pizza please?"
"Why don't you do it?" Jade was now scowling at Beck. That good for nothing pretty boy was ruining everything!
"See I asked you, and if you remember from earlier today, Sikowitz said we had to say 'yes'… to everything." Jade groaned and as she carefully unwrapped herself from Tori she noticed there was a gleam in Beck's eye. That couldn't be good he was definitely up to something.
She narrowed her eyes at him as she said, "Fine, but I have to go to the bathroom first. What kind of pizza do you want Tori?" She softened her gaze when it landed on the girl.
"Oh um… Whatever you like is fine with me. But don't get any peppers I'm-"
"Allergic. I remember."
"How do you know that?" Beck asked her incredulously.
"It was only a few weeks ago. Someone messed up Tori's order so she couldn't eat her lunch. I think Andre shared something with you right Victoria?"
"Yes… he did." Tori was also now staring at her with a surprised expression. What? She had always paid attention when it came to Tori. Her excuse before had been so that she would know how best to annoy her, but in situations like this, it really came in handy.
"Right so I'll go order us just a pepperoni – that way everyone's good."
"I don't want pepperoni!" This came from Beck.
"Beck stop being difficult. You would always get pepperoni pizza. Now, if you don't stop being annoying I'll take my scissors and-"
"Jade! Just let it go and go order the pizza. Please? For me?" Gosh there couldn't be anyone on Earth that could say no to that pout and those eyes.
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes as she walked away, frustrated beyond belief with Beck.
She had taken a little bit of extra time in the bathroom to splash some cool water on her face and take some big breaths to relax. When she got out of the bathroom she noticed that Beck had changed seats and was now sitting very close to Tori and all the calmness she had just gathered while in the bathroom vanished. Her fists clenched and she gritted her teeth, but didn't say anything as she went into the kitchen to find the menu and number for the pizza place.
"Hello, Village Pizzeria. What can I get for you today?"
"Hi. Can I get an 18" Neapolitan with pepperoni? And could you make sure that no peppers go near it when you make it? My friend is very allergic."
"Yes of course! Is this for delivery?" Jade eyed Beck and then smirked.
"No we'll come to pick it up."
"Okay that's perfect. So that's one 18" Neapolitan with pepperoni and no traces of peppers right?
"Yup."
"Okay it will be ready in about 30 minutes. What's the name for the order?"
"Beck Oliver."
"Okay. Thank you for choosing Village Pizzeria! Have a great day!"
"Yeah, I will thanks. Bye."
"Bye."
Jade didn't give Beck any chance for argument and led straight into a question, "Beck, would you go pick up the pizza?"
"What? Why do I have to pick it up? Don't they do delivery?"
"They said the delivery boy is sick or something. They're expecting you – the order is under your name. They said it would be finished in about 30 minutes so you should go soon, cause I ordered from Village Pizzeria."
"Why would you order from there? Domino's is much closer."
"Well it's obviously because Village has the best pizza. I hate Dominos."
"But we always used to get Domino's!"
"Exactly."
"You know what? Fine! I'll get the stupid pizza."
"It's not like you could have said no," Jade gave him a sweet smile that they both knew was fake. It was like they were having a silent war that Tori had no idea about. Although Beck probably didn't think it was because she wanted Tori too, "and anyways, you were the one who suggested it in the first place, so you should be the one to pick it up."
Beck had reluctantly gotten up from his seat beside Vega, and grumpily walked out of the Vega household to go pick up the pizza. Jade was happy with her ingenious decision to send Beck out. Now she would get some alone time with Tori. Maybe she could get up the courage to ask her out.
Tori had ignored the whole argument between Jade and Beck probably because that was what she was used to doing when they had still been dating. They always got into arguments and all her friends knew not to try to help because they would either just make it worse, or get caught in the middle somehow. Jade once again took her seat beside Tori and as the final character in the movie died, Tori yet again buried her face into Jade's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around Tori's shoulders and smiled as a sense of warmth and comfort ran through her.
Tori's then spoke, her voice muffled, but Jade could still make it out, "Jade? Could we maybe do anything else than watch this movie? I really don't want to get night mares."
"It's pretty much over anyways Victoria. But I guess when this one's over we can do something else. I was planning on putting the second one in, but it's fine."
"Thank goodness! I didn't want to say anything before, but I really need to sleep tonight! The Moonlight Jam is tomorrow, and I want to make sure that I'm really ready for it."
"You do? Why would that be?"
"I'm just really nervous about it."
"Why? You always do really well."
"Oh, I always get a certain amount of nerves when I perform at first, but I'm just really nervous about after my song."
"After your song…? What's happening after your song?"
"Um I can't really tell you right now. It's supposed to be a surprise."
"Whatever." Jade was annoyed that Tori wasn't going to tell her. She could hear the determination in Tori's voice and knew that no amount of bugging her about it would get it out of her. She also didn't want to seem too interested, because she was somewhat nervous about tomorrow too, and she didn't want the questions to then be turned on herself. Jade didn't move her arm from around Tori's shoulders even when the movie stopped playing, but reached onto the coffee table with her free hand to turn the tv off. She then turned to Tori, "Okay it's over now. So what did you want to do?"
Tori's lifted her head but made no move to get out of Jade's embrace, and instead slid her arm around her waist.
"Um we could play the question game. You know, like you ask me a question and then I ask you one… there's still a lot I don't know about you."
"Hmm… I guess I'd be okay with that then. But you go first. I need to think of a question."
"Okay, I'll make it an easy one to start. When was your first kiss and who was it with?"
"Um I think it was seventh grade. Jared King cornered me after gym class by the locker rooms. I punched him afterward."
"Not surprised there." Tori laughed and Jade sat there a moment listening to the beautiful sound. She was a little dazed and it showed when Tori brought her out of her trance.
"Hey Jade?"
"Hmm… yeah?"
"It's your turn."
"Oh right. Um same for you then."
"It was in the summer when I was 13 and it was with a boy from my old school. His name was Skylar James. It was his first kiss too and it was very awkward and kinda slobbery. Kinda put me off of boys for a while. I don't think I kissed another one until two years later. Anyways, um do you like dogs or cats?"
"Neither. I like bunnies."
"Seriously? I would have guessed dogs. Who knew the big bad Jade West loved fluffy cute little bunnies?" Tori teased.
"Hey! I'm still a bad ass. Whatever, I don't care. You can't say that you don't love them too. How can you look at one's face and hate it?"
"I never said I didn't love them too."
"Good. Cause I have one."
"Really? What's its name?"
"You can save that for your next question. It's my turn now."
"Right sorry. Go ahead."
"What is your favourite colour?"
"Oh that's a tough one. Depends on the day kind of. I really like Red, but purple is pretty awesome too. So what's your bunny's name?"
"His name is Fenix. Spelled F-e-n-i-x. He's named after a character from Gears of War."
"Cool. I like it."
"Yeah I got him while I was in a Gears of War stage... So… If you didn't have acting or singing as a career, what would you want to be?"
"I would probably be a psychiatrist because I like helping people with their problems and I like to think I'm a pretty good listener too."
"Yeah I can see that. You'd be a good one." Tori looked a little taken aback at Jade's compliment but didn't make it a big deal, to which Jade was very thankful.
"Thanks Jade. Um… what… why… w-what's up with your dad? Like… why don't you like him?" Jade stiffened and shifted out of the position she was in with Tori and shuffled over to the other side of the couch.
"No! Next question."
"You can't skip questions! That's a rule!"
"Well you should have told me that at the beginning! I wouldn't have agreed to play this stupid game." Jade was angry. Was this the only reason why Tori wanted to play? To get the dish on the situation with her father?
"Well it is a rule, so you have to answer it."
"I'm not going to Vega. You can ask me something different. I'm not going to be one of your 'psychiatrist' projects. You can't fix me."
"That's not why I want to know!"
"Oh really? Then why do you want to know?"
"Because I care about you and I want to help."
"See! You do want to fix me."
"That's not what I meant by that! I just want you to be happy and I can see you're not with your dad."
"Vega. I'm gonna say this only once, so listen up. You don't know me, so you don't know what I feel about my dad, and frankly, my situation with my dad is none of your business. I'm putting in The Scissoring 2." Jade got up without looking at Tori and put in the movie, taking a seat on the other couch when she was done. She stared at the tv pretending to focus on the movie, but her mind was just going over what had just happened. She didn't really mean to be so harsh with Tori, but she just couldn't get herself to open up about that situation. Her situation with her dad was a very sensitive one. A lot of things had happened with him, and she was not at all ready to tell Vega anything about it than what she already knew, which was that he wasn't supportive of her chosen career. This night really wasn't going very well. It was in that moment that Beck made it back with the pizza. Jade was actually grateful for this, the tension in the room becoming too stifling for her. She noticed the grin that Beck had as he noticed that she wasn't sitting beside Tori and that he could reclaim the seat next to her.
"Pizza's here!"
"Perfect. Thank you Beck. I'll go get the plates and the drinks. What would you like to drink Beck?"
"Umm you have pink lemonade right?"
"Sure do!"
Tori had come back from the kitchen with two glasses of pink lemonade and surprised Jade by handing her a Wahoo Punch. Jade had been annoyed that Tori hadn't asked her what she wanted to drink, but just figured she was being ignored because of the conversation they had just had. But no, Tori didn't ask because somehow she knew that Jade liked Wahoo Punch. Jade was kicking herself even more now because of the way she had snapped at Tori. She still wouldn't have told her just yet, but she could have been nicer in dodging the question. She tried to capture Tori's eyes to be able to say thanks, but Tori wasn't paying attention, just getting her pizza and sitting back down to watch the rest of the movie.
Beck was now comforting Tori as they watched the rest of the movie, Jade getting angrier by the second, mostly at herself. Not only had she messed up with Tori, but now Beck was thinking he had more of a chance with her, and Jade was thinking that he probably actually did at this point. Tori and Beck as a couple would make way more sense than Tori and Jade as a couple. He was very good looking too and a lot nicer than she was, so it would not surprise her at all if Tori and Beck started dating. She was just stewing in all these negative thoughts and there was a montage of Tori and Beck being all couple-y running through her head. Her confidence in asking Tori out was fast dwindling, and she really just wanted to leave now.
Surprisingly, the second movie had ended before Jade had even managed to pay attention at all, and now she was realizing that Beck and Tori were talking about something they were doing tomorrow.
"Yeah so I'll see you tomorrow about that then Beck."
"Yeah it's totally no problem! I'm really sorry, but I actually have to go now. My mom needs me to help her with her plants or something. Hey Tori, um could you walk me to my truck?"
"Sure thing Beck."
They both left and Jade was still sitting there in the same spot, with all kinds of scenarios on what Beck was planning with Tori and what they were doing outside right now going through her head. She was getting frustrated with herself as her head conjured up more and more ridiculous things, so she decided just to go and see for herself, and snuck outside to watch.
From where she was standing she could only see Beck. His truck was parked on the side of the road, and they were both standing by Becks driver side door, but Beck was in front of Tori, and Tori was too short for Jade to be able to see her. They were clearly talking and Jade was about to go back inside thinking that she didn't want to get caught and that she was being stupid, but then she saw Beck move forward and lean down towards Tori. Her eyes widened as she realized he was going to kiss her. She didn't want to watch that, so she stormed back inside and started pacing in Tori's living room.
It felt like an eternity before Tori came back inside and Jade tried to read her expression, but it was kind of difficult and Jade's mind had pretty much gone on one track anyways.
"Jade? Are you okay?"
"No."
"Well what's wrong? Did something happen?"
"Yeah I would say something did happen." She gritted out, her eyes flashing dangerously at Tori. She had thought she had this whole situation figured out. She'd ask Tori out and everything would work out great. To have this all turn on her was making it so she couldn't think straight. Her mind was all jumbled up from the past hour and a half of events.
"Jade? Would you please tell me what happened?"
"You kissed Beck. That's what happened. I thought we were done with this! I didn't think he would have a chance, especially after you turned him down when the Platinum Awards were going. Ugh I can't believe you kissed him!"
"What? Jade you're really not making sense."
"I'm not making sense? I'm not – Tori, I just saw you and Beck outside just now kissing! How's that for not making sense!"
"Okay I really don't know what to say to you Jade. Except that we didn't kiss."
"Yes you did!"
"No we didn't"
"I just saw it Tori. Don't lie to me!"
"I'm not lying Jade. We really didn't kiss."
"Okay. Then what was that outside just now?"
"Not that it's really any of your business, Jade, but Beck was talking to me about tomorrow, and then all of a sudden he was leaning towards me to kiss me."
"HA! See!"
"You didn't let me finish Jade." It seemed Tori was getting frustrated if the change in tone was anything to go by.
"He leaned in to kiss me but I stopped him."
"Why would you stop him? You like him."
"Why don't you tell me why you care so much."
"Because I don't want you going out with Beck."
"Why not? What's so wrong with going out with him?"
"See! I knew you liked him!"
"Would you stop saying that Jade? Could you just answer my question? What's the real reason you don't want me going out with Beck?"
"Cause I car– um h-he's not as amazing as everyone thinks he is you know? So I don't know why you like him so much."
"Seriously Jade? Stop dodging the question! Would you just stop being so closed off with me? It's ridiculously frustrating. You're like hot and cold all the time! I finally think we're getting somewhere and then you just shut down and you put your walls up and you act all snarky. You can trust me Jade. I care about you and what you feel."
"Stop trying to be all psychiatristy on me!"
"Okay first of all, I'm not trying to be, and second of all, 'psychiatristy' is not a word. Now I regret ever telling you about that. Could you just tell me what you want? I don't want to play these guessing games anymore Jade."
Jade just stood there with Tori's pleading eyes staring straight into her soul. But if that was the case, then Tori would just know what she wanted. She couldn't say it, she chickened out. Her theories on Beck and Tori were taking up all the space in her brain and she couldn't take that chance on being rejected. She wasn't very good with words anyways, so she probably would just make this situation a lot worse. So instead she grabbed her bag off the couch, not even caring that her copies of The Scissoring 1 and 2 were still by the DVD player, and just got out of Tori's house as fast as she could.
She was breathing heavily as she drove back to her house, not even fully paying attention to her driving and when she drove into her driveway she couldn't remember how she'd even gotten there safely. She banged her head against the steering wheel a few times, and then dejectedly walked inside her house.
Her mom was in their living room reading a book, and she didn't even stop to take her boots off, just dropped her bag and climbed into her mom's lap and threw her arms around her. Her mom didn't hesitate to hug her back.
"Jadelyn honey, what's the matter." She groaned, and lifted her head back and looked into her mom's loving face with tears brimming unshed.
"I've made a mess of things mom."
"Well, what happened?"
"It's about my crush."
"Is it Tori that you like?"
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
"Honey, I could see it in the way you were looking at her earlier. That, and the fact that it was so easy to embarrass you in front of her and you didn't want me to say anything about your crush. I kind of put two and two together."
"Yeah well, you were right. It's Tori."
"I'm glad, she seems like such a lovely girl, and I think she'll be really good for you. Much better than that Beck boy in any case. I don't know why you stayed with him so long."
"Ugh I don't want to hear about Beck right now. I don't know what I was thinking either!"
"Why don't you want to hear about Beck?"
"Well, it's because of what just happened while I was at Tori's."
"Okay, maybe you should start at the beginning. You've been acting weird this whole week, and we haven't had a chance to properly talk yet, so start filling me in."
"Okay. But can we maybe get some coffee first? It's a bit of a long story, and I need something to calm me down anyways."
"What? My hugs aren't good enough for you?"
"That's not what I meant!"
"I know Jadelyn. I was teasing. You should take your boots off anyways. You're going to track mud all through our house."
"Fine."
"Good, I'll go into the kitchen to start the coffee."
It didn't take long for Jade to join her mother, and they were soon back in the living room with their mugs of steaming coffee, and Jade was preparing to launch into the story of how her week had been going. It didn't take as long as Jade thought it would to tell her story, but by the end she was realizing how very idiotic she was being.
"Oh Jadelyn, you really did make a mess of things."
"Wow mom, way to make your daughter feel better."
"I'm just being honest honey."
"I know… and you're right, I am an idiot." She was now dejectedly staring at her empty mug.
"You're not an idiot. You just have to make sure you fix things tomorrow."
"But how?"
"Well, didn't you say the Moonlight Jam was tomorrow? I know you're bad with words, so why don't you just sing her your feelings. You do have such a lovely voice."
"But what if she likes Beck? They were talking about doing something tomorrow, and what if he asked her out! I mean, yeah, she told me that she didn't kiss him, but what if she's waiting for their first date or something."
"Honey you keep telling her that she likes Beck, but she not once showed it, from what you tell me, and she also never told you herself that she did. You need to take your own words into account and stop telling her what she feels. I can tell that she likes you too Jade, and I know that it's scary telling someone you like them because you're making yourself vulnerable, and I know you've had issues with that in the past, but honey, if you don't, you'll really regret it. You'll keep wondering what if, and you'll make yourself even more depressed than you have been. That girl makes you happy. It makes you act like the Jade that I knew before your father left and that is a wonderful thing. You need to take the risk honey."
"Okay. Let's say I do. What should I sing?"
"I can't answer that for you. They're your feelings, so you need to come up with something."
"Alright… I guess you're right."
"I'm always right, I'm your mother after all." Her mom's tone was light, and she could tell she was teasing her again.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm going to go upstairs and get ready for bed. I'll try to think of something before I fall asleep."
"Okay. Don't stay up too late, you need to get some rest for your big day tomorrow. I love you Jadelyn," her mom kissed her on her forehead, "and I know that everything is going to be fine."
"I love you too mom. Thanks for everything."
"You're welcome dear. Now, up to bed!"
"I'm going, I'm going!" She laughed and climbed the stairs to her room, her mind already going through a number of different songs, trying to find the right one. She laid in her bed with her headphones on skimming through a bunch of different songs. There were a few that could work, but none that were great. Then she realized that she couldn't say everything in just one song, but there were two she could sing that would hopefully get everything she needed to say across to Tori. She finally fell asleep satisfied and with a smile on her face ready to face tomorrow.
After Jade had ran out, Tori had slowly made her way to her couch. At first she was really angry and frustrated at Jade. Why couldn't she just tell Tori the truth! She didn't even really care that she wouldn't tell her about the situation with her dad, but she thought that maybe she would get a short answer and that maybe it would help Jade to trust her more and slowly build up to the whole problem. Tori wasn't lying when she told Jade she cared about her and didn't want to "fix" her problems. She couldn't do that anyways. She just wanted Jade to be able to trust her with the bigger things happening in her life so that she could support her and be able to comfort her and maybe offer some advice at times if she was asked. She didn't know why Jade was always running from the truth. They were so close, and Tori wasn't going to let Jade slip through her fingers just because she was scared or something. She was thinking through the night and all that had happened. Her anger slowly disappeared and even though she was still frustrated about the whole thing and the dance they had been doing around each other, she came to a realization. She hadn't ever outright told Jade that she had absolutely no interest in Beck. She was almost as bad as Jade with not telling her what she wanted. She was determined to fix this, and knew exactly how to do that.
She ran upstairs and grabbed her notebook, ready to write all her feelings into a song. It actually didn't take as long as she expected, and when she was happy with it she called Andre so he could help her with the accompaniment. He grumbled about how late it was, but she just reminded him of the time he had crashed at her house for a few days writing and playing the piano way into the night. He quickly acquiesced and in 10 minutes time, Tori heard a knock on the door. Rushing to open it, she found a tired looking Andre. They got right to work, and after Andre had read over her lyrics, he didn't find it hard to write the music along to it on the piano. He had the perfect voice to back her up too. By the time they were done it was quite late, so she told Andre to sleep on the couch and offered him the left over pizza. She left him downstairs and she went up to her room, quickly getting ready for bed. It didn't take long at all for her to get to sleep, really excited about the next day and hopeful that she would finally be able to call Jade hers.
AN: I might not be able to update this very soon because I have three exams this week and a paper due next, so sorry about that. Hopefully all goes well in the next chapter for these two ;) I hope you guys are enjoying this, so read and review! I also have another story of these two that's more of a one shot, and it's pretty close to finished, so I might be able to put that up before the end of the week, we'll see. Thanks!
IsirisRose
