A/N I like this chapter a lot, actually. It's to be expected that you know what's coming, but the rating probably isn't going to need to go up, unless I fail at rating stories.

Jade's POV

9 weeks after, and I'm fucking nervous

Unlike the last show we did, Merchant of Venice had the main stage booked instead of the small theater. Apparently (by coincidence), many of the local high schools recently read the play or similar works by Shakespeare. The buzz got around, and apparently a lot of people were coming to this. Unfortunately, there was this ethnic festival planned right before opening night on Thursday, so Wednesday was our very last chance for dress rehearsal. We had time constraints too, as the whole stage needed to be cleared by five. School got out at 2:15, it took a good half an hour to get into costume, and the running time was about two hours. Therefore, there was no time to spare.

Everyone was rushing about, glossing over mistakes. The director would give us hastily-typed notes to study before the next day, so there was no stopping anything. I barely saw Cat besides the scene rushes. Those costumes were damn complicated and I lost track of one of my props for a while. We finished with twenty minutes to spare, so the techies started taking apart the stage while all of the actors changed quickly out of costume to try to catch the tail end of helping. In the end, we were five minutes late out of the theater, but we had gotten through the show without stops.

All the way home, I could feel Cat's hand lingering near my thigh. I nearly got in an accident at one point, but she did not realize the true reason for this. At least, I don't think she did.

"I should carry you up the stairs," Cat said dreamily upon entering the house.

"No," I told her vehemently. "You weigh less than me and it is not romantic to drop someone on the floor."

She pouted but gave in to logic after a careful two second's consideration. "Your room?"

"Yes," I replied, half-wishing that I had not considered the notion in the first place.

I followed her up the stairs and she opened the door. My breath caught as she started to undress to her undergarments. I saw that dark lacy bra and panties set, and was pleasantly surprised. "For you," she said, smiling.

I had not thought to go all out, and was just in my normal well-fitting nude-toned bra and simple purple bikini-styled bottoms. As I pulled down my pants, I looked up for Cat's reactions. Her lips pursed in a somewhat amused "o" shape. I ducked my head and finished removing the bottoms.

Stepping towards me, she said, "Allow me." Her hands moved down my torso to the hem of my shirt. She pulled the shirt over my head and I really just felt cold.

"You don't have to do this," she said to me, observing my discomfort.

"No, no. I want to. Just..." I looked towards the bed and forced a smile. She was so beautiful and sweet, but I was so afraid this was all going to go wrong somehow. What if it didn't feel right? What if it hurt? What if my parents came home?

Oh, lord. I moved towards my door and twisted the lock on the handle. "Okay. I'm ready."

Cat's smile intensified and she grabbed me by the hand and pulled me toward the bed. I let her do what she pleased, and found myself, sprawled on the bed with her hovering above me. Her hands were cold, and I actually shuddered when she touched me at first.

She captured my lips and we simply kissed for a while. It felt really nice, and I sort of hoped that it would continue forever. But then she pulled away and I forced myself to stay calm when she murmured, "I love you, Jade" in my ear before moving her hands slowly down my sides to a very specific location.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought I would be," I admitted, pulling back on my clothes.

"You didn't even bleed."

"Yeah. But you did. I'm going to need to clean those sheets..."

"I can help."

"Ah, no. That could look suspicious. I'll just say I had a messy period in a few days when it comes. Okay?"

"Okay." The awkward silence crept in as we finished dressing. "Thank you."

"'Thank you'? For what?"

Cat finished buttoning her skirt. "I know you were reluctant to do it, but I urged you to anyway. It... I wanted to so much. And it did feel good, being so close to you."

"I hurt you," I said, looking down at the offending index finger on my right hand.

She shrugged. "I knew it might. I liked it, though, a lot at the end. So thank you." Smiling gently, she moved to kiss me on the cheek. I averted this and caught her full on the mouth. She pressed into the kiss and it intensified until we heard a door slam below.

"Fuck," I said, pulling away.

"Just... cover the stain for a few days," she said quickly, dashing to cover the spot with my comforter.

I unlocked the door and cracked it slightly, so as not to look too suspicious. My parents always said that it was ridiculous to have a closed door inside an empty house.

"We didn't eat yet," Cat realized, pacing back and forth.

"It's okay," I told her, glancing wildly about for my clock. Apparently, I had momentarily forgotten its location. "Seven fifteen. Not bad. We'll say that there were snacks at rehearsal and we were planning on going down soon anyway."

"Okay!" she said, glad to know the plan. "We talked the whole time, played a game of Go Fish... The conversation was about narwhals."

I rolled my eyes and said dryly, "We don't even play Go Fish."

"Fine. We played Spit."

"Beck, I did it," I said monotonously.

"What? You did what?" he asked.

"It. With Cat. Just like an hour ago."

With a hint of amazement in his voice, he said, "Whoa. How'd she get Stone Cold Jade West to give in?"

I had the sudden urge to twirl a phone cord around my finger like in those older TV shows, but was using a cell. So instead, I hooked a finger in my hair and twirled. I only succeeded in making a knot that I would pick at for the duration of the conversation. "I have no idea. Well, no. That's not quite true. There's something about the way she looks at me and makes me feel... Did you ever get around to with Tori?" I hated myself for asking that question.

"Nah. Actually, I'm thinking about breaking up with her."

"Do tell, Mister Oliver. I love details," I said, affecting an upper-crust British accent.

"We're just not working," he said almost nonchalantly. "Don't really click. Yeah, she's attractive, but something's not right. I think she feels the same. Good friend, really hot, not quite right."

"Deja vu?" I suggested.

"I said 'hot', Jade."

I snorted. "If you were here, I would smack you, you know."

"Why, yes. I do know that. What, you don't think I would take advantage of the proximity distance a phone call provides?"

"It's a good thing there's an understudy for Shylock, Beck. You just wait 'til tomorrow."

He laughed. "Okay, okay. I get it. So everything went all right with Cat?"

"Mm-hm," I replied, distracted a little by my finger deciding to get stuck in the knot. "Not sure if I want to do it again anytime soon, but it wasn't bad."

"Good. Don't want you getting hurt or freaked or anything."

I heard noises outside my door and lowered my volume a tad. "Think my mom's coming. Gotta go. See you tomorrow."

"Right," he said before I heard the barely-audible click that notified me that Beck had hung up.