And you will never know just how beautiful you are to me,
But maybe I'm just in love when you wake me up


The sun streams through the window in a way that makes me wonder how much of our day we've wasted. Jade's still asleep. I can tell from the relaxed nature of her breathing. I wonder if this is the only time she ever allows herself to fully relax. With a slightly smile playing at my lips, I drag my arm from beneath Jade and roll out of bed. Hauling myself upright, I extend my arms into a stretch that pulls me fully into the waking world and begin trudging towards the door. My eyes have a mind of their own and drift back to Jade one final time before I leave. She's splayed out over the entire bed now, and light sounds drift from between her lips as she continues to doze. After yesterday, I should have known something as minor as me getting up wouldn't disturb her in the slightest.

It's almost lunchtime now, and I feel as though I've slaughtered enough time with menial activities. I've cleaned the living room, done our laundry and even watered a couple of long dead plants. Pursing my lips, I step into the kitchen and sift through my fridge for some ingredients as I wonder how I let Jade convince me to ditch class today. Maybe the smell of brunch will finally rouse Jade from her slumber and we can kick start our day.

The entire living area smells like bacon now. I'm cooking it because I remember Jade mentioning her love of bacon in the past. Unfortunately, that fondness for this particular food apparently isn't enough to wake her up. Losing patience, I take hold of a cup of coffee and pull a strip of bacon from an overloaded plate before marching towards my room. Lingering next to my bed, I find Jade still face down and lost in her dreams. The blankets are twisted around Jade's lower back, and only indication that she's still alive is the gentle rise and fall of her back.

I'm not sure how long passes by as I lean down next to her and try to coax her into consciousness with gentle words and the aroma of bacon. Eventually I realize that blunt force might be the only weapon left in my arsenal. Rolling my eyes, I bludgeon the air with Jade's name. The corpse on my bed finally begins to stir, and her hand flitters over to my face. Jade's slender fingers brush over my lips, as if I'm an alarm clock to simply to shut off. I'd be surprised my screeching didn't frighten her, but I'm fairly certain she's used to people waking her this way by now.

"Breakfast in bed? You shouldn't have…" Jade mumbles, her voice getting lost in the pillow covering her face. I shake my head lightly, finding humor in the gentle lilting nature of her voice as she falls into awareness. It's as if the weight of the world hasn't yet landed on her shoulders and she's not fully aware of how stern her voice is supposed to sound.

"I didn't. It's out in the living room, come and get it!" Armed with the knowledge that this Jade isn't capable of leaping up and tearing my throat out, a teasing tone finds it's way into my voice. It's musical even. Jade's low growl rumbles against the pillow and I find my lips curling into a full blown grin. I'd call her cute, but I'm fairly certain Jade would hear the word bounce around in my head. I don't think that even this Jade would let me get away with calling her cute.

"Coffee." I'm about to turn and leave when the mournful wail slips into the air. I learnt yesterday that coffee isn't just a drink to Jade. It's what fuels her. Without that caffeinated beverage, there's no way she's even capable of standing.

"Turn around, sit up and look to your right. There's a cup there." I instruct, wondering if she's even capable of that basic action in this coffee deprived state. Jade's hand drops away from my face in defeat with my reply. Well I assume its defeat, maybe her energy reserves have just run totally dry.

"Not close enough." She moans feebly, just barely stirring. Shaking my head, the smirk on my lips deepens as I walk back into the living room. In spite of her protests, I know that the lure of coffee will eventually win out over Jade's apparently lack of interest in movement.

A few scant seconds amble past me before I heard a faint creak as Jade throws my bedroom door open. I almost choke on my tongue as Jade appears before me. She's still wearing the same bra and panties as last night, and nothing more. My throat goes dry as my eyes scatter away from the dark curls spilling over Jade's shoulders. The blue bra valiantly fighting to contain her breasts just barely qualifies for the term material. My head starts to go dizzy as Jade steps towards me, swinging her hips and carving desire into my mind with her every movement. I can't tear my eyes away from her, as hard as I try.

"Jade…you uh…forgot...you're not…clothes." Not once does my rambling approach anything resembling coherence. The only think that salvages any pride for me is that I somehow manage to keep my eyes focused on her face. As I speak, Jade thrusts her eyebrows high on her forehead as shock sinks into her features. I wonder if she's about to scramble out of the room until she begins to speak.

"Oh what! I did? Oh my lord!" Jade's retort comes in the form of an exaggerated southern drawl. It's the unholy offspring of the voice she's tormented Tori with countless times, and a damsel in distress. The worst part of her mockery is the way Jade writhes around before me. She leans forward slightly and clasps her hands together, creating an even deeper fissure of cleavage between her breasts. I begin to feel lightheaded as she shifts again, arcing her back and placing the back of her hand over her forehead in fabricated distress.

"Oh yeah, I don't care." Her voice veers back into its usual tone, and Jade ceases her contortions as she trudges towards me. As she takes a seat at the table, I'm left to wonder if that performance was just an initial effect of the coffee she'd already finished before joining me out here.

"Should I be cursing you, or thanking you?" I mumble under my breath, inclining my gaze to the heavens. Shrugging off my cosmic lamentations, I peel some bacon away from the pan, and place it on Jade's plate next to some eggs. Lifting the plate into the air with one hand, I amble past the bench and sweep Jade's second coffee into my other hand. She watches with interest as I step over to the table with an ease that belies my total lack of experience with this kind of thing.

"Wow, Robbie. This actually looks edible." Passing through Jade's lips, those words could almost pass for a complement. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I still find my eyes rolling in response. Something malignant wells up in my chest, and I my throat burns with bile. I know Jade didn't mean anything by it, and yet a blackened cloud has settled over my head.

"Thanks." I draw the word out, letting it hang in the air and infect the room with my sarcasm. I'm not sure why the word comes out so scathing, but it scars my lips as it tears through them. Jade's eyebrows crash together in response, a line of concern briefly appearing between them as she takes note of my reaction.

"Seriously, it's good. I really appreciate you making me breakfast. You're the first." The last few words are barely audible, as though they've crept past Jade's lips without her realizing it. Even still, they act as a hurricane and the cloud above my head blows into the distance. Jade's eyes flitter away from me, focusing on the utensils that she's currently massacring her meal with.

"Nobody ever made you breakfast?" My curiosity eventually takes control of my tongue and a question slips into the air. Jade peers up at me with a startled blink. The shock on her face dies in less than a second, but even as her eyebrows sink back into place it's written in the way her back remains rigid.

"My parents hired a maid and one time I found a bag of chips in Beck's bed. That counts, right?" Her voice is annoyingly calm, bereft of the doubts that I know would plague me if those words came out of my mouth. As Jade lifts her fork towards her lips, I peer between the veil of her midnight hair trying to discern her true feelings.

"Not really…" I answer, feeling my brows fall over my eyes in disapproval. As sad as it seems, I guess Jade and I have more in common then she'd ever care to admit. I guess in Hollywood it's easier to end up on the cutting room floor than it is to end your day in the frame of a happy ending.

"So, what are we doing today?" I ask casually, peering over my coffee at Jade as she finishes her meal. We'd eaten in silence mostly, but it wasn't as suffocating as I had been expecting. The quietness just settled over us with what felt like a practiced ease. It's ridiculous to say, but I could swear it almost felt comfortable. With the sound of my voice, Jade brushes a ringlet of hair away from her face and hangs an elbow on the table. She leans forward and rests her head on her hand. It feels like all of the air within my lungs rushes out of me. I'm struggling for breath as Jade's posture reminds me of just how little she's wearing.

"Uh, I'm not sure. This is the first time I've been without Oliver in some time." She answers pursing her lips slightly. I feel like I'm choking, but for once Jade isn't doing it on purpose. Her eyes cloud over and fail to focus on a thing as she loses herself in contemplation. As time ambles past us, I wonder if Jade realizes that this morning she's both called me by my first name, and call Beck by his surname. Somehow I doubt it.

"Well, what would you usually do together to kill a Monday away from school?" I ask hesitantly. Horrifying images of Jade sacrificing children while Beck juggles puppies drift before my eyes before I shake them away. I'm being ridiculous. Jade's not all bladed words and deadly corners, no matter how much she'd like for the world to believe that.

"Uh…" Jade stutters, and her eyes flitter toward her plate nervously. She's eying it with interest, even though it's clear of any food. There's not even a design on the plate for her to pretend she's studying. Jade catches this fact faster than I'd expected, interlacing her fingers and peering down at them instead. I study her curiously. Anything that can halt Jade in her tracks like this definitely has my interest.

"C'mon Jade, just tell me. I mean seriously, we shared a bed last night, I got beaten up by you yesterday, and your ex the day before. It's not like things can get more twisted between us. Please?" Though the urge to beg Jade for most things has long since abandoned me, I stitch a plea to the end of the reply. Maybe it's enough for Jade to feel like she has all of the power. I feel like the the only way I'm going to pry this information out of her is to make Jade feel like she has control of the situation. A few muffled words slip through Jade's lips as she buries her face in her hand, but I can't make them out.

"Sorry, what was that?" I ask, the edges of my lips lifting into a teasing smile at the scent of her apprehension. Jade's eyes shoot up and meet with mine, fire burning at the edges of her emerald irises. I feel like a foolish knight that poked a sleeping dragon one too many times. I'm pretty sure the rest of today is going to a laced with pain for me as a result of my arrogance.

"We'd go to that Porno Theatre in Northridge, okay?" Jade snaps, the edges of her words slicing through me with a vigor that I haven't felt in days. The wounds don't bleed though; the only thing that seeps into the air is my laughter. The image of Beck walking into a place like that flitters past my eyes and its every bit as ridiculous as it sounds. I wonder how Jade talked Beck into doing something like that. It's totally not his scene.

"R-really?" I splutter, struggling against the laughter tickling my throat and the convulsions my lips continue to experience. Jade's eyebrows cut into her nose and her nostrils flair, carving frustration into her face. I bit down on my upper lip to finally stifle the laughter, I get the feeling I'm about to push her too far. Even if she's grown fond of me, I don't think Jade's above retaliating in a way that will make me sad for a long time.

"It's not even like that." She huffs, screwing her arms tightly across her chest and looking more like a put out child than the dragoness I had expected. It's comical to say the least, and laughter threatens to spill from my lips again. My mind begins to double back, wondering if Jade's truly capable retaliating as violently as she used to these days.

"Oh?" I question simply, my eyebrows drifting high on my forehead. It still feels alien to say, but Jade's just the tiniest bit adorable once you've learnt how to dodge the sharpened edges of her responses. There's something endearing about her, but I just can't put my finger on it.

"We went there to throw popcorn at the dirty Northridge perverts and ruin their theatre going experience." Jade speaks and then everything makes so much more sense. It's something that Jade's the type of person to do and it's something that seems slightly more plausible for Beck to go along with. I can just picture her speaking at inappropriate moments or bursting out from behind a chair and scaring some guy half to death after having threatened her way into the theatre itself.

"Fine, lets go then." My eyes blow open as I realize what I've just said. I really need to think before I speak, or at least exercise better control over my tongue in the future. This kind of this has happened way too many times over the past few days. The urge to curse my rebellious tongue all but dies when I look across the table though, and the girl peering back at me holds the smoking gun. The way Jade's eyes lit up was the killing blow. They're sparkling with glee at the prospect of our little day out and my heart bounces around in my chest.

"It's a date!" She states, pushing her chair across the ground and flying out of it. Something like giddiness tingles at the edges of her limbs as she throws herself upright and saunters out of the room. I can't help but feel that this is not the sort of thing that people mean by going to the movies for their first date. My body seizes utterly with that last thought. I linger in my seat as I wonder if Jade had realized the implication of that one four letter word. I linger in my seat for a long while, wondering if Jade is the type to think before she speaks, the type to carefully pluck each word from her mind.

I kind of hope she is. I kind of really hope she is.


Yeah, I know. You thought this fic was dead. But much like me it has risen from it's grave like a zombie. Leave reviews and stuff, they're like brains to us. :)