Whatever It Takes

Summary: Tori Vega is a good actress, but she's tired of pretending. All she wants is her old life, her old friends, and her girlfriend back. When leaving is hard, coming back can be even harder. Jade West is tired of the pain, tired of feeling sorry for herself, and ready to start fresh. But sometimes you just can't let go of the things you love, even after they've hurt you.

Pairing: Jori

Rated: M

TPOV

My stomach is a mess, as it always is before a performance. Pre-rush nerves that make my hands shake and my stomach sick. I'm standing behind the curtain peering at the crowd when I see Jade pushing her way through, fingers locked with Andre's held above the crowd as she elbows people out of her way.

Her hair is pin straight and hangs around her like a curtain of black satin, her eyes are underlined with black and shadowed shade of grey and a splash of red. Her lips are glossed with something clear that makes me want to storm off stage and just kiss her senseless. Jen says something to her as she sits down and her lips quirk up into a smile. She's got her leather jacket on over a red shirt paired with some tight dark jeans and platform heels.

"Stalking?" Crystal appears in front of me, her blue eyes flicking toward Jade briefly before returning to me.

They're a few shades lighter than Jade's almost like ice crystals, befitting her name. Her skin is pale, but doesn't have that same porcelain look Jade's seems to have, her lips have pink gloss on them and she's wearing green eye shadow to match her green top. She's wearing white jeans a pair of pale pink heels, her hair is in messy loose curls.

It takes everything in me not to recoil when she touches my arm; she leans into me and just smiles, "you know she really hates me." Crystal comments, "It's pretty funny, I couldn't imagine why she'd hate me, I've only met her once." When she pulls her hand off of my arm she drags her fingers down my wrist and tosses her hair over my shoulder, walking away again.

I see Jade's eyes narrowed at the spot Crystal was just standing in, when she catches my eye I smile at her nervously and wave before following Crystal back to the rest of the band. Blake is tuning his guitar beside Anastasia who is toying with her bass. Crystal is standing by the mirror checking her makeup with her drum sticks in her back pocket.

Five minutes later we all walk silently out onto the stage; I walk up the mic, introduce my new back up band and start in on the first song, dying to chase away the tangles in my stomach.

"I kn-kn-know a girl, she gets what she wants all the time 'cause she's fine, but for an angel, she's a hot hot mess, make you so blind but you don't mind. 'Cause she's an uptown, get-around, anything-goes girl, girl. She's a hardcore, candy-store, gimme-some-more girl, girl." The crowd starts to sing a long and cheer and the familiar rush shoots through my veins, chasing away the nerves.

"She'll make you take her to the club, but then she leaves with her friends! She likes to stay late at the party, 'cause the fun never ends and all her clothes are on the floor and all your records are scratched. She's like a one-way ticket 'cause you can't come back! Saying yeah... you want her, but she's so mean"

"You'll never let her go. Why don't you let her go?" Anastasia sings beside me.

"Yeah... you want her, but she's so mean!"

"You'll never let her go. Why don't you let her go? You kn-kn-know that if you don't shut your mouth, she'll freak out. You better get your shit together, 'cause she's bringing you down now. Yeah boy you better, you better 'cause she's an uptown, get-around, anything-goes girl, girl. She's a hardcore, candy-store, gimme-some-more girl, girl

"She's got her wicked sense of humor, can't believe what she says, she drinks Bacardi in the morning 'til it goes to her head and all you want is just to hold her, but she don't go for that she has a hard time coming when she can't hit back!" The rest of the set goes well, and between my songs and my covers the crowd is singing along and hyped up. My heart is racing and I can't stop smiling. I don't care that I'm sweaty and gross from the lights or that my shirt is soaked and my hair is a mess. I feel amazing.

We take a five minute break so they can bring out their small piano for me and I change out of my sweaty tank top into a new black one and a dry pair of shorts. I brush my hair and fix my makeup, knowing Robbie was somewhere in the crowd filming this, I could freshen up a bit at least.

When we come back out on the stage we're met with more cheers, I smile at the crowd and scan the faces, seeing a few people from school. My eyes finally land on Cat and Robbie in the back on a table; I wave at them and fix the mic a bit, running my hand through my hair, "thank you all for coming out, I hope you're having a good time!" I met with louder cheering and I grin.

Blake starts playing and I close my eyes for a moment, "Oh, oh, I feel like I'm a million miles away from myself, more and more these days. I've been down so many open roads, but they never lead me home and now I just don't know. Who I really am, how it's gonna be, is there something that I can't see? I wanna understand." I open my eyes slowly, met with the silent faces in the crowd.

"Maybe I will never be who I was before. Maybe I don't even know her anymore. Or maybe who I am today ain't so far from yesterday. Can I find a way to be every part of me?" My eyes scan across the front row of girls my age or a little bit younger staring up at me smiling. "So I'll try, try to slow things down, and find myself, get my feet back on the ground. It'll take time, but I know I'll be alright cause nothing much has changed on the inside. It's hard to figure out how its gunna be cause I don't really know now. I wanna understand."

My eyes cross over to Jade, she's watching with a blank face, eyes searching mine, "Maybe I will never be who I was before. Maybe I don't even know her anymore. Or maybe who I am today ain't so far from yesterday. Can I find a way to be every part of me? I don't wanna wait too long, to find out where I'm meant to belong. I've always wanted to be where I am today, but I never thought I'd feel this way."

"Maybe I will never be who I was before. Maybe I don't even know her anymore. Or maybe who I am today ain't so far from yesterday. Can I find a way to be every part of me? Every part of me." as the song got closer to the end my stomach twisted in knots, my hands were shaking as I stepped away from the mic and moved to the piano.

I started right in, hands shaking slightly, stomach twisted, "Everybody needs inspiration
Everybody needs a song, a beautiful melody when the nights are long 'cause there is no guarantee that this life is easy. Yeah when my world is falling apart when there's no light to break up the dark that's when I, I, I look at you." The piano is angled at Jade and I meet her eyes over it.

"When the waves are flooding the shore and I can't find my way home any more that's when I, I, I look at you. When I look at you I see forgiveness, I see the truth, and you love me for who I am. Like the stars hold the moon right there where they belong and I know I'm not alone."

I close my eyes, unable to hold her steady gaze, "Yeah when my world is falling apart
when there's no light to break up the dark that's when I, I, I look at you. When the waves are flooding the shore and I can't find my way home any more that's when I, I, I look at you."

When I open my eyes again Jade is look at me with a smile on her face that makes my heart flutter in my chest, "You appear just like a dream to me just like kaleidoscope colors that cover me all I need every breath that I breathe don't you know you're beautiful!" she smiles at me, I smile at her, "Yeah yeah, when the waves are flooding the shore and I can't find my way home any more that's when I, I, I look at you."

I lift a question eyebrow at her, "I look at you Yeah Whoa-oh You appear just like a dream to me." the cheering fades in the background as she blinks slowly, lifting a challenging eyebrow, silently daring me. I stand up, walking from the piano to the stairs near their table.

Jade is standing by the time I reach her, I don't know who reached out to who or who leaned in first, it was like we both just pulled each other close, her hands holding my face as my fingers twist into her shirt and I crush my lips against hers, I grab her hip with my free hand and pull her closer, wanting-no needing to be as close to her as possible. Needing to feel her, needing her.

She breaks away first, drawing in ragged breaths, eyes searching my face, "Jade…" I whisper, she kisses me again, cutting off the words stuck in my throat. This kiss is slower, less frantic, but lasts a shorter amount of time as the screaming crowd reaches our ears.

Jade is smirking, and I'm smiling like a fool, noticing Robbie and Cat on the table smiling, and Beck, Andre and Jen somehow moving us away from the crowd and backstage. My hand is still tangled in her shirt and her arms are hanging around my waist when we get behind the door and I hit the wall.

"Were you trying to get yourselves killed?" Jen asks in a motherly voice, Jade and I look at her and back at each other and start laughing. I honestly hadn't been thinking about anything except for Jade, fuck the crowd, fuck my friends, I just wanted her. The door opened and Robbie and Cat stumbled in, Cat throwing herself at us, her arms crushing us together.

I go back on stage a few minutes later and sing until the bar starts to close and then I help my band pack up. Jade is waiting outside for me, leaning against my car with a smile on her face and her hands buried in her pockets. I fix my bag on my shoulder as I walk up to her, grabbing her hips and leaning up to kiss her quickly on the lips, "you need a ride home?"

"Yeah, Andre left with Cat and Robbie." She replies, smiling down at me. I nod my head, unlock the door and watch her circle to the passenger side. We get in at the same time and I toss my bag into the backseat. I chewed on my lip, wondering if I should say something now or wait until we were back at her house.

I waited. Music filled the tense silence between us and my stomach twisted into knots the closer we got to her house the tighter they started to feel. I pulled into her driveway and shut of the car, "walk me to my door." I pulled the keys out, but neither of us made to get out of the car.

The porch light flicked on, her dads face appeared in the window and the lights went back off. Jade chuckled nervously and opened her door. I opened mine and walked her up to the door, standing there awkwardly, unsure what to do.

I opened my mouth to say something, I don't really know what, but Jade cupped my cheek with one hand and dragged me closer to her, her warm lips settling against mine. I put my hands on her stomach to keep from falling over as I got lost in the feeling of her tongue sliding across mine and her hand tangled in my hair. The porch lights flicked on and I jumped away from her just as the door opened.

Jade was leaning against one of the pillars on her porch looking particularly annoyed, "gee dad, peep much?" he rolled his eyes at her and turns to me with a smile. I smile sheepishly back at him, feeling as embarrassed now as I felt the first time he'd caught us kissing.

"You girls can hang out with each other tomorrow." Jade rolls her eyes and walks toward me, bending to give me a quick peck on the lips before she walks inside.

"Bye Jade." I call after her, "bye, Mr. West."

"Goodnight, Tori." He says. He watches me get to my car and back out before he shuts the lights off and closes the front door. My head floats through cloud nine all the way home, and not even Harmony's loud ranting can make me come down from the high. I collapse into my bed like a lovesick idiot and cuddle my pillow, burying my face in it's fluffy depths and squealing like a loser.

A few minutes of basking later I get up and change into something more comfortable to sleep in and curl up in my bed with my phone. My twitter has about a million notifications as usual, Robbie texted me to let me know he emailed me the video and Cat texted me about 30 times about how excited she was that we were all going to be friends again.

Rolling my eyes at her I opened my email and checked out the video, once I finished it I told him it was good with me if he wanted to put it up. He texted me back its link on theSlap and on Youtube about thirty minutes later. I saved the links and then curled up to sleep.

When I woke up I was still in a good mood, and even after seeing a few nasty comments on the videos, I couldn't stop smiling. I went into the kitchen and made some French toast for myself and Harmony, she came out just as I was setting her plate down on the counter.

After my shower I checked my phone and found a text message from Jade that simply said 'come over'. I texted her back that being demanding was rude and changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top before I grabbed my keys and headed over to her house. Her dad and brother were leaving as I pulled in.

"Lock the front door behind you, Tori!" her dad called, waving at me in greeting.

"Okay!" I called back, skipping up the steps to the porch. I pushed the door open and stepped inside, spinning and shutting it behind me. I listen for footsteps and hear Jade thumping around in her bedroom. I skip up the stairs, pausing at her door, it's open and she's standing by her dresser in a pair of underwear, her back to me.

I lean on the door jamb and watch her like the creeper I am, admiring the muscles in her legs when she bends over to get something from the bottom drawer, "enjoy the show, Vega?"

"I'd enjoy it more without the underwear." I reply casually, crossing my feet at the ankles and my arms over each other on my chest.

"Well you should have walked up those stairs faster." I shrugs, slipping her bra on, she turns around to face me as she hooks it around her back, "Hey."

"Good morning." I reply, straightening and walking over to her, I wrap my arms around her back and kiss her slowly. She puts her arms around my neck and pulls me closer, walking backwards until we fall onto her bed. I've missed this more than anything, being with her just made me feel something I'd never felt with anyone else.

Somehow I ended up in my bra and underwear too, Jade pressed against me, panting with her forehead resting against mine, "I really think we should stop…" she doesn't sound like she really wants to stop. I lean up and kiss her again, sliding my tongue across her bottom lip twice before she opened her mouth and her tongue slipped out and ran slowly across mine.

I ran my finger tips down her back and she shuddered against me, breaking the kiss, "Vega…"

"West…" I opened my eyes when she didn't say anything else, "what's wrong?"

"We just got back together, Vega. I'm not ready for this with you…not yet." Her eyes searched my face, her teeth chewing on her lip. I smile and tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Okay." She smiles in relief, "But you're the one that took my shirt off." She laughs and rolls onto the bed next to me. We lay on her bed and she tells me about things I've missed with her and her brother and then we get dressed and take Jenna on a walk, and just walking down the street holding hands has me grinning from ear to ear.

We were on our way back to her place when she stopped outside the property with the cellar. Ryder Daniels was sitting by the doors taking a drag from a cigarette, he looked over at us when we stopped, his eyes flicking from me to Jade quickly, "hey Ryder." Jade called, he waved and put out his cigarette. Jade took a step forward and tugged me with her, Ryder stood and went into his cellar and we went into Jade's garage.

"You two friends again?" I ask, trying to squish the seeds of jealously starting to sprout in my stomach.

"Nope. I just figured it wouldn't kill me to say hi to him, he was my best friend for years; I'm not going to let something as petty as our addictions get between that. He was in rehab while you were away." She unhooks Jenna, "there's nothing else to it."

"You don't need to defend yourself, Jade, you can have friends. Even if they are Ryder Daniels." She smiles and hangs up Jenna's leash. I lean against her counter while she digs through her fridge, absently I toy with the bit of paper in front of me which, upon inspection, I find is an invitation to the red carpet premier of her movie next month. I have one like it at my place.

Jade sets a bottle of water in front of me and looks down at it, she doesn't say anything and neither do I. I unscrew the top of the water bottle and take a swig, "so there's a fair today, I was wondering if you wanted to go." She states, "Everyone else is going…"

"Sounds like fun." she pulls out her phone and texts someone, she gets a reply and she pushes her phone into her back pocket, chugs down her water and pulls out a pad of paper. She scrawls 'at the carnival' across it and leaves it on the counter.

"We're going to meet them there." I follow her to her car happily, staring out the window with a stupid smile on my face, thinking about the carnival and the mattress ride that night. When we get to the fair grounds Cat isn't too hard to find. She's bouncing around by the arm band booth and she starts jumping up and down and waving like we hadn't spotted her bright red hair already.

We pay for our arm bands and follow everyone in. Andre falls into step between Jade and I, he hooks his arms around our shoulders and pull us close to him. Automatically I wrap my arm around his back and so does Jade, "how are my two favorite girls today?" he asks beaming.

"We're just fantastic, who's got you in such a good mood?" Jade asks.

"Why do you assume it's a who?"

"You've got the 'just got laid' face going on so bad right now." Jade teases, Andre laughs and tells us about this girl he's been seeing for a few months, but denies getting laid. I don't believe him and neither does Jade but we don't call him out on it.

Jade drags me on every ride twice, and Cat drags us on some about three times, only stopping when Jade spins the spinner ride to fast and Cat feels sick. When we get off the ride Jade puts her arm around my shoulders and chuckles as Cat leans against Robbie pitifully and tells him she's done with rides.

After that we wander through the fair grounds to the petting zoo where Cat rides a horse and a few girls rush up to me and ask for autographs and pictures. I sign and take the pictures with a smile, talking to them for a few minutes before Cat bounces over, grabs my arm and begs me to come with her to do the rock climb wall.

I make it to the top before she does, and she pouts and forces Robbie to go with her, she's satisfied when she makes it to the top before him and Jade and I leave the pair in search of Beck, Andre and Jen.

We find them at the water gun game, battle a bunch of little girls for a stuffed white Bengal tiger, we say goodbye to them as we walk past. When we walk passed the ladder climb I can't help but think about Jade winning me Rajah. "So Aladdin, what are we doing next?" I ask her when we pass it.

"I don't know Jasmine. Maybe we could go on a magic carpet ride to dinner?" she asks, "I can show you the food, steaming, scrumptious and splendid, tell me, princess now when did you last let your stomach decide?" she spins me around and pulls me against her.

"Sounds perfect." She smiles at me leans down to give me a slow, short kiss.

"Looks like you finally got your girlfriend." The game runner commented, I laughed and looked over at him, only half shocked he remembered me. He smiled and tipped his hat before turning and watching the person on the rope flip and fall off. I lean against Jade, wrapping my arms around her waist. She puts her arm around my shoulder.