Chapter Fourteen: A Peaceful Night's Sleep
"Exactly what is your problem?"
"My problem? My problem is that I'm tired of hearing you whine about that dumb game show. You've been at it all day."
"Well can you blame me? We can't have one conversation without you yelling at me."
"Just stop with it. You're giving me a headache."
"Not as bad as the one I've had all day."
It was your typical late April afternoon.
Beck and Jade were driving around looking for any sign of their friends.
Friends who were trying to keep as much distance away from them as possible.
Why, you ask?
For several days, the two have been at each other's throats.
Sure, they were known for their occasional bickering… but this was different.
Almost every time that you would see them together, chances are they would be arguing.
And last night didn't make things any better.
During Sinjin's game show, Beck admitted that he wasn't happy with their relationship.
It was an embarrassing moment for Jade, which only furthered her bitterness.
"You just keep going on and on and on about our problems."
"Well aren't you tired of arguing, cause I know I am."
"Couple argue. We're arguing. This is normal. Get over it!"
Beck grew tired of hearing Jade completely twist the conversation around.
It was like she didn't want to take anything seriously.
"Ugh, you just… drive me crazy sometimes."
"So what are you saying? Do you wanna break up?"
"Jeez, you keep saying that like a broken record! 'Do you wanna break up? Do you wanna break up? Do you wanna break up?' It's annoying."
Hearing Beck mock her pissed Jade even more.
"You did not just mock me!"
"Uh, I guess I did."
"Listen smartass, I'm sick of this. This conversation is over."
"Fine by me."
The brief moment of silence was something that Beck hadn't felt in a long time.
He almost wished that it had lasted longer.
"Where the hell are we going anyway?" asked Jade, trying to figure out where they were.
"Heading to Tori's. They're bound to be there." Beck answered, trying to focus on driving and avoiding starting another argument.
But Jade didn't need Beck to start an argument.
She could do that herself.
"Why do you even care about hanging out with them?"
"Cause they're our friends, that's why."
"Who gives a shit about them?"
"So you're honestly saying that you don't care about any of them?"
"Yup."
"What about Cat?"
"Cat's like any annoying little sister… or a pet. I tolerate her. So she doesn't count.
"Trina?"
Jade simply scoffed.
"Robbie?"
"Heck no!"
"Tori?"
"HELL NO!"
"Andre?"
Hearing that name caused Jade to hesitate. She found it hard to fully think.
DAMMIT! What do I do?! What do I do?! I-I-I care for Andre, but I don't know what to say!
It didn't take long before Beck caught on.
"So you do care for someone! You actually care about Andre."
Jade began to panic, she had to come up with some excuse. Something to get Beck off her case, but her mouth wasn't moving. For the first time in weeks, Jade found herself speechless.
"Glad to see that you actually care about one of your friends."
…one of your friends…
"Uh… yeah, Andre's a really good friend. Really good friend." sighed Jade, feeling relieved that her panic attack had ended.
That was a really close one. Too close for comfort.
In order to keep the conversation from going back to Andre, Jade did the only thing she knew would keep the focus away from him.
"Why can't we go somewhere else? I really don't feel like seeing the Prissy Miss in all of her prissiness."
"Why must you always pick on Tori?"
"Why must you always defend Tori?
"Please don't start this again."
For the next two minutes, Beck and Jade constantly bickered about numerous things.
Their argument didn't even falter when they finally reached Tori's house.
"Let me hold your keys, I left my phone in the car." ordered Jade, as they stopped halfway up the front lawn.
"Why do you always forget that you've left something in the car?" asked Beck, handing Jade his car keys.
"Cause I fucking can!" she shouted, unlocking the passenger side door and grabbing her phone from out of the cup holder.
Once Jade retrieved her phone, she met up with Beck and the two continued towards the front door.
"I bet you anything that all of them are in there." Beck stated, as he rang the doorbell.
"When are you going to realize this? I… don't… care." said Jade, wishing that she was somewhere else.
"Can you please get over yourself? For once?" asked Beck, as the front door opened.
And if it isn't the Prissy Miss herself…
Jade had a feeling that tonight would be horrible… if only she knew just how horrible it would become.
"1!" she yelled, waiting for Beck to come out of the house.
He's knows I'm not joking around. He'll come out soon.
"2!"
He'll open up that door around 3 or 4.
"3!"
Here it comes, he's about to open the door.
But the door didn't open.
He'll opening it at 4, I'm sure of it.
"4!"
The door still didn't open and Jade began to worry.
Come on, Beck… you know I'm being serious.
"5!"
I'm halfway to ten… I get it, he's toying with me. Typical.
"6!"
Jade felt herself choking up a little when she said…
"7!"
She was in disbelief. She'd never seen Beck behave like this before.
He should be out here already!
"8!"
Beck, where are you?
"9!"
…Beck…
"10..."
She stood there.
Not doing much else.
She just stood there.
Waiting for her boyfriend to open the door.
After a moment, she reached down at the door handle.
Hoping that somehow, Beck would quickly open it.
But her hopes were dashed and she decided to just leave instead.
Leaving seemed to be the only way to spare the embarrassment from increasing any further.
As Jade got into Beck's car, she pulled out his car keys; which she still had on her.
Turning on his car and leaving, she tried to fight the urge that was creeping up on her…
…but she didn't have the strength to.
As she stopped at a red light, she yelled, "Fuck!" and began crying.
She had just broken up with her boyfriend and took his car…
Sounds like a pretty good night.
If it were Opposite Day.
Which it wasn't, if you were wondering.
That's January 25th.
Jade spent the next four hours driving around the city and hanging around at some of her favorite places to be alone.
Trying to clear her mind of what had just happened.
But she found this hard to do while she still had Beck's car.
So she decided to take the car back to his house and leave it in the driveway.
After leaving his car keys in the car's sun visor, Jade texted Beck about where his car was.
{Your car is at the house. Keys are in the visor. Please don't text me back. You've said enough.}
As Jade walked down the street, she began thinking about what was going on and what she was going to do.
Is this really happening? Did we really just break up? I mean, I know I told him that if he didn't open that door that we were done, but… I didn't actually think that he wouldn't open it. Why didn't he open it?!
Looking at the time on her phone, Jade saw that it was 11:44 and she was nearing home.
But she really didn't feel like going home.
There were too many memories of the times that she'd spent with Beck there.
It was the last thing that she needed to be reminded of.
So she decided to call home.
"Hello?" answered Jade's mom.
"Hey… mom, listen. I'm going to be spending the night over at Cat's, okay?"
Her mom could clearly tell that something was wrong with daughter, "Jade, are you alright?"
"I'm good, I'm good. I'm just gonna spend the night with Cat."
"Are you sure? Do you want to talk about anything or..."
"Yes, I'm sure. I'm fine. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay… take care, and tell Cat I said 'Hey'."
"I will."
"Love you."
"Love you, too."
"Bye."
As Jade got off the phone, she made a right and began walking up the street.
But there was only one problem, Cat's house was straight ahead, yet Jade walked right past it and stopped at the house further down the block.
Andre Harris was getting ready for bed.
He just had a very long day and witnessed a drama filled night.
So he was definitely looking forward to getting some sleep.
But as he laid in his bed, he couldn't shake the thought of what happened earlier that night.
Jade and Beck broke up… they actually broke up… and I had nothing to do with it. Its just so weird. Yet, the break up could be seen coming a mile away. It was only a matter of time. But it still was a surprise.
Andre turned over to face the window.
I'm not even sure how to feel about this break up. I'm upset to see the two of them like this, but…
Tap tap tap… Tap tap tap...
Looking at the window, Andre could see the silhouette of someone.
Quickly jumping out of bed and turning on the lights, Andre grabbed his old baseball bat from out of the closet and walked cautiously towards the window.
Slowly pulling back on the curtains, Andre prepared for the worse.
Gotta be ready for anything. Gotta be ready to swing!
But as he pulled the curtain back, he noticed that it wasn't a burglar at his window, it was a troubled dark haired girl.
"Jade?" asked Andre, putting down his bat and opening up the window, "What are you doing here?"
As Jade climbed through the window, Andre could tell that she was trying to keep him from seeing that she had been crying.
"Just walking around the neighborhood and decided to stop by." replied Jade, as she sat on Andre's bed.
"How come you didn't go to the front door?"
"It's late… and I didn't want to wake up your mom."
Jade really must have been out of focus for her to forget something.
"You do know that my mom works at night, right?"
Shaking her head, Jade remembered, "Yeah, forgot about that."
Getting back on his bed and sitting up against the headboard, Andre further questioned Jade.
"Does your mom know that you're here?"
"No, she thinks I'm at Cat's spending the night." answered Jade, taking off her boots, "Decided to come here after I wandered the streets most of the night."
"You shouldn't have been walking about at this time. Not with those creeps and killers that are probably out there." worried Andre, growing concerned, "You should have called me earlier, I would have given you a ride home after I had dropped Beck…"
Andre quickly stopped himself from finishing his sentence.
He could already see that Jade was still upset and didn't want to bring up Beck's name anytime soon.
"It's okay, I'm not going to get all upset just because I hear his name." Jade stated, as she moved towards Andre and sat next to him against the headboard.
"Oh… cool." Andre muttered, as Jade looked at him.
It was an awkward moment. Well, awkward for Andre at least.
Jade looked so beautiful, yet so troubled at the moment.
Even though this was the same girl who five months ago lured him to view a very steamy moment between her and her now ex-boyfriend; it didn't matter anymore.
After Jade's redemption, Andre slowly began to forgive and forget about that week of rage.
So now Jade was once again the girl whom he wanted to be with but couldn't… until last night.
He hated to see her look upset, by anything.
So all he wanted to do was make her smile again.
"Is there anything that I can do?" he asked, trapped in Jade's enticing gaze.
"Not much, really. Just… keep me company." lulled Jade, moving closer to Andre.
"Company? I can be that." he reassured, moving closer as well.
The slight awkwardness between the two had disappeared.
And they were acting on nothing but pure instincts.
So every moral and reasoning was thrown out the window at the moment.
Who needs them right now?
Slowly, their lips were just about to touch.
Both of them had their eyes closed.
Just waiting for the moment to happen, until…
RIIIIIIIIIINNGG! RIIIIIIIIIIINNGG!
They quickly snapped out of their trance and Andre reached for his phone off his bedside table.
"Oh! It's Hope." he said, as he looked at the text message he'd just received.
"Who's Hope?" asked Jade, trying to move on from what almost happened.
"Hope Quincy. I met her back at the Christmas party and we've been talking ever since." Andre replied, while responding to Hope's text.
"Oh, are you two dating?" asked Jade, curiously.
Andre had to stop texting for a moment.
He'd only been seeing Hope for almost three weeks, yet they really haven't decided on whether they were a legit couple or not.
It was just talk and text.
…with the occasional sext from Hope, but things never seemed to move any further…
…until now.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Andre, who's face lit up.
"What?"
"She wants me to meet her dad."
"And?"
"Jade… her dad's Shawn Quincy."
"The producer?"
"The world famous producer and I'm gonna meet him!" Andre shouted, filled with excitement as he jumped off his bed.
But his excitement quickly faded when he saw Jade just sitting there with a half smile.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have… especially with what happened last night."
"I told you already, its okay. You're obviously excited about meeting her world famous dad... But can I ask you one thing?"
"Sure."
"Are we seriously going to ignore what almost happened?"
Andre remembered about the kiss that almost was.
The kiss that he always longed for.
The kiss that seemed impossible.
"Jade, we can't. I wish it could happen, but it can't. You've just broke up with your boyfriend. Don't you remember that?"
"Of course, I do! It's the one thing that I'm trying to forget!" cried Jade, as she wiped the tears from her face, "But what's bugging me the most is that… I don't know if I'm upset or happy that I broke up with him."
Andre turned off his phone and sat back on the bed next to Jade.
He could tell that Jade just needed someone to just be there for her.
No kissing, making out, or possibly having sex.
Just talking, listening, and comforting.
After spending a little over two hours talking and listening, Andre grew even more concerned over Jade.
"Were we really a horrible couple? Cause we did argue a lot and I would get jealous easily, but he… he didn't have to tell everybody that he wasn't happy with us. It was so embarrassing! Then when I think about it, I wasn't exactly eager to talk with him about our problems, so maybe I'm to blame for that as well."
"Jade, just stop. I'm tired of hearing you taking the blame for this." demanded Andre, "Just because you wasn't willing to talk about your problems, doesn't mean that he had the right to just blurt it out to everyone."
Andre had to stop himself from trying to shift all the blame onto Beck. He didn't want to make it look as if he was trying to antagonize Beck and have Jade all to himself.
Which he really did want.
He wanted Jade all to himself.
He wanted all of her.
But right now wasn't the right time.
It was just too soon.
"But look at it this way, maybe this is something that the two of you need. Give you some breathing ground to think and possibly make up… and if not, you can just move on." he stated, with a bit of distaste in his mouth.
As much as he liked the fact that Jade and Beck broke up, he also hated it.
Why?
It was hard enough having your best friend breakup with his girlfriend, but when that same girl is also your friend and the one girl that you wanted to be with… it gets a little complicating.
At times, Andre felt that it was difficult choosing between helping Jade get over the breakup or helping her reconcile with Beck.
"Maybe you're right." said Jade, as she laid her head on Andre's shoulder, "Maybe this breakup is something we both need… then again, maybe its best if we stay broken up."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I just feel that way."
As Jade slowly began to get sleepy, she asked something of Andre.
"Can you do something for me?"
Not sure of what he was about to be asked, Andre replied, "Sure, what is it?"
"Can… can you just hold me? That's all… until I fall asleep?"
It was a strange request coming from Jade.
It took Andre by surprise, yet he remembered the current situation that Jade was in.
"Sure, anything for you." he replied, placing his arms around Jade.
Laying her head on his chest and placing her arm around him, Jade closed her eyes to sleep. Andre couldn't help but marvel at how cute she looked.
This was yet again one of those moments where Andre got to see the vulnerable side of Jade.
Only this time, he was more use to it.
Only this time, he was more keen to being there for her.
After sometime, Jade finally dozed off while Andre laid awake, still holding her in his arms.
He just didn't feel like letting her go.
He didn't want to ruin this moment.
This was the most peaceful that Jade has ever looked and frankly, after the night that she had just had, she could use a peaceful night's sleep.
As Jade quietly slept, Andre gently brushed some of her hair from her face.
"I'm so sorry, Jade. I wish that you didn't have go through this."
He gazed out of the window to see the moonlight entering the dark room and lighting up Jade's face.
"If you could see how helpless I feel right now… You'd probably laugh and call me a 'pussy'." chucked Andre, gently caressing her shoulder, "I just wish that there was something, anything that I could do just to make you happy."
Stirring up a bit, Jade lightly moaned and then went back to sleep.
Looking down at her, Andre could see that Jade had tightly grasped his shirt.
She'd looked like she was trying to hold on to the nearest site of comfort.
Sighing heavily, Andre spoke, "It's gonna get better, Jade. It may not seem that way now, but it will. One day, this will all be just a memory; and hopefully, on that day, I'll be able to see that smile again."
After awhile, Andre began to feel himself getting sleepy.
Eventually, he dozed off, still with Jade sleeping snugly under his arms.
Both slumbering soundly within each others warm embrace.