Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.
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Chapter 37 – A night to remember
No One's POV
Looking somewhat relieved, Jade took a deep breath and exhaled. "Great, get cleaned up and we'll go. I don't want to be late and you tend to be pokey in the bathroom when you're getting ready. I don't want to be late."
Tori briefly scrunched her face. "We're not dating more than 3 seconds and you already insult me."
Jade quickly scoffed. "That wasn't an insult, that was criticism."
After shaking her head, Tori playfully and gently slapped Jade on the cheek. "You're just lucky you're cute."
Jade shot back a rather dubious look. "Cute, just cute, not sexy or heart stopping gorgeous, or utterly stunning."
With a shrug Tori headed off to the bathroom to get cleaned up. "Sorry, you have to work your way up to Sexy. But to get to that, you have to go through, really cute, really really cute, kinda hot, hot and then only then do you get to sexy."
Jade put her hands on her hips, with a perplexed expression. "And who gets to be the judge of that?"
"Me!" Tori said, as she shut the bathroom door behind her.
Contrary to Jade's opinion, Tori got ready very quickly and in a short amount of time, were in a cab on their way to the restaurant.
"So Jade, sounds like you have the evening already planned out. May I ask what the evening entails."
"Fun." Said the Goth cryptically.
"Fun, hmmm. Your idea of fun, sometimes vastly differs from mine."
"You do have a point, when I stuck that Tarantula into your bag during lunch that one day and your subsequent screams of terror when you found it during Sikowitz's class the following hour, I found to be really fun." Jade then made a rather proud smile. "You ran screaming, all the way to the parking lot. So obviously, you didn't find that fun."
Tori's eyes instantly narrowed. "No, I did not. Especially when I tripped in the parking lot and ripped a brand new pair of pants and bruised my knee. I limped for 2 days after that."
"Vega, you really need to pay attention where your running, when flee in terror. I see that in my horror films all the time. But I digress. This will be an evening that I think won't be too painful."
Tori couldn't help but chuckle. "Not too painful, nice way to describe a date. Oh yeah before I forget, you still owe me for one pair of pants and a bag."
"I understand the pants as you ripped them, but why the bag? What did it do, lay eggs in it or something."
Looking briefly but very sad, Tori quipped. "YES IT DID. I loved that bag, it was purple and it went with nearly everything I had. "
"Oooops. You'll have fun tonight and there will be no ruined bags, I promise." Jade said with smile.
As the cab took them to the restaurant, Tori told Jade about some new music she had been writing. Minutes later, they pulled up in front of one of the cities more trendy and authentic Chinese restaurants.
"We'd been eating as Nozu so long, I figured we'd forgotten what real Chinese food tastes like. Not the pale imitation they served."
"Sounds good."
They were seated in short order and the lively conversation continued. Through all of it, each could detect an underlying nervousness in the other. They both knew they had come through a lot to get to this point and it appeared their troubles were behind them, but at the same time, both knew things could still go wrong.
They were soon seated and once they had ordered, the conversation began, in earnest.
"Vega, you work with Barbie, are her and Cat and Item?"
"You know you could always ask Cat that?"
"Because I want an answer that I can understand, now that she's been deprogrammed and is mostly back to her old self, she's making a lot less sense."
"You mean she's back to normal?" Tori said casually as she sipped her glass of wine.
"You haven't talked to her much then?"
"No, when she's not at work at the daycare at the health club, she's out with Barbie, doing this or that. I don't think I've had a conversation longer than 3 minutes."
Jade impatiently huffed. "We liberate Cat so Barbie can monopolize all her time, that stinks. So has Barbie told you anything?"
"She said that they've become fast friends and she is helping Cat explore unknown sides of herself, while she recovers from her terrible ordeal."
"Sounds like something a press agent for a crooked politician, would say." Jade snapped.
Tori gave Jade a stern and somewhat disappointed look. "What's got your panties in a bunch? If they're seeing each other we'll know in time. "
Jade closed her eyes and silently counted to 10 to calm down.
"Sorry. I'm nervous and my emotions tend to run away from me sometimes. It makes me worry."
"About?"
Jade sighed. "To be honest. Even before I was involved with, him, I wasn't all that pleasant a person. Now, you can add, PTSD and emotional instability to the mix. I wonder why you're even here with.."
Tori cut off Jade's rather sad sounding lament, quite sharply. "Stop that. Jade you're a strong woman and admittedly been through a lot, but I have faith in you. You've been working very hard at your recovery and I see you getting better every day. I have faith in us. That's why I said yes tonight. I'm no picnic either. If you have problems, issues talk to me, I'll listen, I'll always listen, but I hate that self-pity-bullshit. It's not you. It's actually kind of pathetic. The Jade I know and am attracted too isn't pathetic." Finally, Tori ranted in a brief fit of frustration. "I hate pathetic Jade. I get it, you're nervous, I'm nervous too, but just don't be pathetic."
It was then, Tori was aware that Jade was staring at her, looking somewhat shocked.
Suddenly feeling horribly embarrassed and somewhat bad, Tori shrunk in her seat. "Sorry, I was out of line. I never should have said that."
After taking a few moments to recover, Jade shook her head, "No. don't apologize. In all that you had a very good point. Me wallowing in self-pity doesn't help me or anyone else. Dr. Cortez has told me that before. I needed that."
"Good."
Jade then seemed to toughen up. "But don't think I won't let you have it when I feel like you're acting like a jerk."
Tori smiled, I wouldn't have it any other way."
After that the conversation seemed to flow much more smoothly and they both greatly enjoyed dinner and each other's company. By the amount of time they spent simply looking into each other's eyes, they both felt that for once, things were finally on the right track.
After dinner they headed to a karaoke bar not far from the restaurant, which was the next part of Jade's planned date.
"I'm so going to trash you Vega." Jade quipped as she held the door for her date.
Tori stopped and tilted her head. "That sounds like a challenge. Now that's the Jade I remember, confident to the point of arrogance. "
The bar was crowded and the girls picked songs they wanted to sign and signed up to sing. However the list to get on the stage was rather long so they grabbed a table, ordered some beers and decided to wait.
As before they talked and enjoyed each others company. After a short while, Jade even took Tori's hand. Tori began to feel a real sense of magic growing.
At least for a while.
Tori began to notice that something about the young man and woman at the table right next to them, seemed to catch Jade's attention. In fact it seemed to be increasingly bothering her.
Looking over at the couple herself, Tori could see that they were both about 22 years old, casually dressed and seemed to either college seniors or maybe just out of college. She was drinking soda and he appeared to be having whisky. He was well built with blonde hair, seemed a bit loud and obnoxious, but nothing else really stood out about the guy. The girl, had dark hair, was wearing an engagement ring and seemed a bit more reserved.
Thinking it was nothing, Tori tried to ignore it, but soon couldn't.
"Jade, what's wrong?" Tori said quietly.
Jade took a long drink of her beer and focused her attention on a drunk man in a business suit on stage, murdering Nirvana's "Smell's like Teen Spirit". "He's beating her."
"What? How do you know this?" Tori said, consciously keeping her voice down and her surprise concealed.
"She's wearing more make up on her left eye than the right, she has a large ugly wrist watch on her left hand which when she took it off, revealed bruises. Plus I spotted two more barely visible, just under the sleeve of her t-shirt. He's drinking one glass of whisky after another and with each glass, she looks more afraid."
"Are you sure?"
Jade nodded ever so slightly. "I've seen the look on her face before, when I used to look in the mirror. He's abusing her, I know it."
While Jade's evidence was compelling, Tori wasn't sure. She was tempted to get Jade out of there, but decided to just let it go and enjoy the evening. But as they waited their turn to sing, Tori kept an eye on the pair. She also noticed that Jade was covertly watching them, without fail.
A short while later, the girl went up and sang a rather dismal version of "California Girls." By Katy Perry. It was obviously that she simply could not sing and the guy looked rather embarrassed.
As the girl walked, back the guy sneered at her, somewhat angrily.
"Sara, I told you not to waste your time, you can't sing. Now you made me look like a loser."
"I'm sorry. I didn't meant to embarrass you." Said Sara, rather meekly.
Then Tori saw it plain as day, he then grabbed her tightly by the arm, causing the girl to cower in fear. "Next time I tell you not to bother, don't bother. I mean it. You can't sing, you suck and that's that."
Looking to Jade, Tori could see the Goth tense up, dramatically as she watched it. It was plain that Jade did not like what she was seeing one bit and that gave Tori a very bad feeling.
"I gotta piss. Order me another whisky." Bellowed the guy as he walked off.
"I hate this Tori! I hate this!" Said Jade through gritted teeth.
"Jade calm down." Tori said in hushed tones.
Jade however, looked like a volcano ready to explode and with each passing second Tori began to increasingly worry. After a few more moments of thought Tori, quickly decided to get Jade out of there. But before she could do anything, Jade got up and walked over to Sara.
"You deserve better than that!"
Tori groaned and slapped her forehead. "Oh crap."
The girl looked to Jade, with a puzzled and somewhat irritated expression. "Better than what?"
"That that ape you're dating, the one that gave you the bruise on your left eye that you're so badly trying to cover up with makeup, the same ape that gave you the bruises on your wrist. I'm sure there's more that I can't see. You deserve better than him."
Sara, looking very offended, glared at Jade. "It's none of your fucking business what my fiancé does. Now stop bothering me and leave me alone."
Jade instead stood her ground, looking fierce as ever. "You think he's going to stop. But he won't. He's going to beat you until one of three things happen. You die, he dies or you finally get the smarts to leave him. I've been there, you don't have to do this."
Tori got up and gently put her hand on Jade's shoulder. "Come on, let's go."
"FUCK YOU! He's good to me. He just gets a bit rough when he's drunk. You don't know him. Get fuck away from me."
Out of the corner of her eye, Tori spotted said guy walking up and he did not look happy. That bad feeling she had suddenly got much worse.
"What the fuck is going on?" Said the guy with a mean look.
Sara looked to her fiancé and then to Jade. "This woman is bothering me. Poking her nose where it's not wanted."
The guy stepped forward and pushed Jade back. "Leave her alone."
Jade smirked, "Oh I get it, you're worried that I'll beat her. Because only you can beat her up, isn't it." Jade then shoved him back. "This woman shoves back, pencil dick!"
Tori, who was standing directly behind Jade, watched with horror as the situation quickly spun out of control.
"I'll TEACH YOU. YOU BITCH!" The guy suddenly roared in fury. At the same time, he raised his fist to throw punch.
But Jade was quicker and before he connected, slammed her foot right into his groin.
His eyes, going wide with surprise, he quickly doubled over in pain, only to have Jade slam an upper cut into his face. The force of Jade's blow sent him flying backwards right towards a crowded table. With a loud crash he hit the table, sending, the table, chairs, patrons and glasses flying in different directions.
Looking down at him, Tori could see the guy, lying on his back, blood gushing from his, nose.
"SOME GIRLS HIT BACK, ASSHOLE!"
"Michael are you alright!" Screamed Sara, now in tears, as she ran to her fiancé's aid.
With the advent a fight, especially one between a man and a woman, chaos quickly broke out and people quickly started to move to see what was going on.
Jade however, felt someone grab her arm and hurriedly yank her out of the crowd and towards the door. In seconds they were out of the bar and as luck turned out, in a cab that happened to be just outside.
"Drive! Now!" Shouted Tori to the cab driver and seconds later they were off.
As they drove down the street, Tori gave the driver her address and looked to Jade.
"Jade…."
Looking mortified, Jade shook her head. "I'm so sorry….i just….."
Jade fully expected Tori to yell, scream or do something indicting she was furious. Instead she took Jade's hand.
"Just calm down, are you ok?"
Jade nodded.
"Jade, just stay quiet. We'll talk about this when we get home."
An uneasy silence, suddenly filled the cab as they finished their journey home. With each passing minute, Jade felt worse and worse for ruining the date.
By the time they got home, Jade was very depressed.
Upon entering the apartment Jade sat on the couch and put her head in her hands.
"Go ahead Tori, let me have it."
Instead the Latina sat next to Jade and put her arm around her.
"I'm not going to yell at you Jade. Yes, I'm a bit upset. Yes I think you handled it horribly. But I won't yell at you. "
"But I ruined our date. I wanted it to go so well." Said Jade as she shed a tear.
"Yes, it got ruined, but in a way, but I understand what happened?
Jade lifted her head and looked at Tori with confusion. "You do?"
"You saw a woman being abused and due to your own experience, couldn't stop yourself from reacting. Your wounds are still fresh. But not only did she get angry with you for trying to help, when you punched him, she ran to his aid. In fact you made him a martyr in sense. She feels sorry for him now."
"I just wanted to help her. I knew what she felt. Tori, honestly, I just wanted to help. I just got carried away. I failed."
"I know. But in a way, I'm glad this happened."
"What?"
"Maybe for the first time, you finally see it through my eyes. You want to help someone and you simply can't. Your attempts to help are rebuffed and met with anger. You get frustrated and angry. What you did to him, I've wanted do to Beck, more times than I can count. I nearly did on a couple of occasions. In fact her words of you don't know him….."
Realizing what Tori was getting at, Jade nodded. "Are almost the same thing, I once told you."
"You understand my frustration."
"But what can I do?"
Tori pulled Jade in closer. "Realize that sometimes you can't help and violence can backfire horribly. You need to control your anger and frustration. I had to. The one time I let it affect my judgment, I came to regret it. But if you truly want to help others that were in your situation, you can volunteer to help at the battered woman's shelter or man their phone line. They do accept volunteers. There are people out there who want help. Help them and hope like the girls like Sara, come to their senses. I hope this makes you a bit wiser."
Now looking somber, Jade realized that Tori was indeed right. Yet she still felt terribly. "You've got a very good point. But I am sorry, Tori. I'm sorry I ruined our date."
Tori smiled and gently kissed Jade on the lips. "One ruined date, will not wreck us. Thank you for dinner. I care about you Jade. I really do."
"I care about you too, Tori."
Tori then got up. "Our next date, which hopefully will not end with a bar room brawl, will be much better. Because I'm going to plan it. Just think about what happened. Think about what I said. Please. And let's keep the violence to a minimum next time.
"I will."
With a nod, Tori gave Jade one more kiss. "Good night and thanks for a wonderful evening."
"How could this evening possible be wonderful?"
Tori smiled and paused in the bathroom doorway. "Because I spent it with you."