Jade held Tori's chin tightly in her grasp, forcing her to look at her and see that she was being genuine. She tried to convey every emotion she had left unsaid into her gaze as they looked at one another with tears streaming down their faces. Eventually, Tori started to stammer for a response and ended up breaking down, unable to maintain the walls she worked so hard to put up as she collapsed into Jade's chest, letting the woman hold her as she broke down. Jade leaned back and sat down as she let Tori fully lean into her as she cried, wrapping her arms around her and whispering to her that it would all be okay again now that she was here. Duke came over, ever concerned about his mother, and sat down next to them, placing his head on Tori's thigh for moral support which seemed to calm her down a fair bit as well while the rest of the pack rushed over and gathered around them. Part of Jade felt a little jealous when she noticed the shift in Tori's demeanor as her shaking subsided and her breathing evened out a bit as she glanced and mumbled a thank you to the dog and pet him while still being held in her arms, but now wasn't the time to feel jealous.
They sat there on the bank of the creek as Tori calmed down and mumbled apologies and Jade shushed her and told her it was fine, eventually, she managed to get Tori to calm down enough as she stroked her hair and hummed some of the songs they used to listen to together. Partway through one of the songs, as the sun was beginning to set, Tori looked up at Jade and said, "Why…why did you run?"
Jade's humming stopped for a moment as she looked down at Tori into her large brown eyes with dried tears mixed in with her complexion and sighed before saying, "Tori…I-you know why…I was ashamed. I hurt you. I messed up and I needed time to think."
She broke eye contact with her and looked out over the creek as it stretched out towards the sunset and continued, "When my book started to take off, I used that as my chance to run…"
"No Jade," Tori said sternly as she leaned back, leaving Jade's embrace, and said, "The real reason. I've let you see so much and am trying to see if we even have a chance together but I can't even do that if you won't let me in!"
"Tori what are you talking about?!" Jade said, she started to become quickly irritated that Tori was still able to read her so well. "I told you! My family is still shit! I was cut off! My Dad hated that I was with you and wanted me to be a normal boring person with some shit job and to top it off, I cheated on you and then hit you! All because I was upset that you were pulling away, or that's what I thought! But now I just feel worse since you were protecting yourself!"
Tori held her knees close to her chest as Duke rested his head over Tori's shoulder and licked her cheek as Tori said, "The truth Jade. Please…just tell me. I won't be mad! We need to get it all out there, don't you want us to try again?"
Jade sprang to her feet as she looked down at Tori, fire burning behind those stormy eyes as she said, "Of course I do! That's all I've fucking wanted since I walked out that door!"
She then started to walk down the creek towards the sunset, in an attempt to clear her head but she could hear Tori get up and start to follow her as Tori said, "Then tell me! Tell me what caused you to run! You could have come back! You could have fought for us but you ran! Why?!"
Jade kicked some loose gravel and let out a haunting scream as she turned back towards Tori, "Because Vega! Because I was afraid! I was afraid I was going to lose you! Your album was coming together and you were gonna go on tours and leave me behind! I wanted you to go off and be this superstar that sells out stadiums full of people and have millions of fans and live out your dream of being a singer but I was fucking afraid that I would lose you!"
Tori tried to walk towards her and place a hand on Jade's shoulder but this time, Jade brushed her off as she stepped back as she said, "I was afraid I'd lose you when you got famous and I didn't think I could fucking handle that, alright?! I wasn't going to be some accessory to the star, Tori Vega, with no accomplishments of my own! There are you happy now?! I was stupid and envious that you had so much going for you—just like always!"
At that last comment, Tori hesitated but chose not to push it, not wanting to risk the tenuous progress they were making as they said, "You wouldn't have lost me, Jade! You know that! I loved you! I would have asked you to come with me! Do you think I'd have been able to handle it on my own, without you there to calm me down or stand up for me?"
"That's not the point Tori! I know you would have! I know you would have stayed faithful and invited me," Jade said as she threw her hands to her side, "but I was stupid and didn't want to be seen as your accessory! Just another struggling thespian clinging to the heel of someone who had actually made it! It's stupid and I hate myself for even thinking that but when you started talking about your album and going away, I started to lose it!"
"Jade…" Tori said as she came forward and took one of Jade's hands and cupped her face with the other, she brushed away a stray tear with her thumb and said, "you should have just told me."
"I know…I know," Jade said as she broke down a little, "I'm sorry. I-I just didn't want you to see me as weak but now I'm here! I'm back now and I can fix this! I can fix us! I have money, I have fame! I can get us anything we want!"
"Jade! This has never been about the money!" Tori cried as she let go of Jade and stepped back with her arms crossed. "It is about you and me! Nothing else mattered if we had each other!"
"Tori as much as I love your 'can do' attitude, the real world isn't like that—" as the words left Jade's mouth, she felt her heart sink as Tori's eyes grew cold and distant as she slowly nodded her head and started to turn and walk away. "Tori wait! You know that—"
A sharp whistle from Tori caused the pack to spring to action as Duke, Nyx, and Axel all came in between the two women while the other smaller dogs stayed off to the side but were watching intensely. Jade stopped and backed off as Tori stopped several paces away and massaged her temples before turning around and said, "Maybe this was a mistake letting you come here. Maybe I shouldn't have tried to talk to you at all. I know the world isn't kind. I knew that back in school! Jade, for Christ's sake, I lived with a cop! I know it's not easy out there! Hell, I've lived it!"
"Tori, I know! I'm so, so sorry! Please! Just let me say one thing! Just let me do it, and I'll leave you alone! I swear!" Jade said as she stumbled back a step further while reaching for her pocket, only for Axel to growl.
"Say it quickly," Tori said in a voice just above a whisper as she glanced back over her shoulder to Jade.
The pale woman nodded and slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out a small black jewelry box and held it out towards Tori for her to come and examine it. "What is it?" she asked as she walked towards Jade.
"This…this was my mother's," Jade said sadly as Tori carefully took the box and opened it. Inside was a beautiful yet simple engagement ring with a solid gold band holding a small but carefully crafted diamond in place. "She gave it when I was younger, I don't know if she knew I was…different or why she wanted me to have it but, I knew, Tori, I knew after our first kiss that I wanted you and only you. I had started to plan my proposal…our wedding, everything! Tori, you made me think about the future in a way I had never done so before!"
Tori then looked at Jade with a conflicted expression as she closed the jewelry box and started to hand it back only for Jade to wrap her hands around Tori's and push the box back towards her, "Even when I was with Beck when I thought of the future, all I thought about was me! You changed that! You made me change all my plans to include you! I never want us to be apart again! I want us to work and I'm willing to do whatever it takes!"
"Jade—" Tori said as she shook her head.
"No, please! We can go to therapy! We can get help, please Tori, anything you want! I want to try—"
"But what if I don't want to?" Tori asked solemnly with her eyes cast down.
Jade could feel a wave of nausea come over her as her grip on Tori's hand loosened and she stepped back and said, "What?"
Tori stood motionless but repeated her words in the same tone but this time, loud enough that words were clear, "What if I don't want us to be together?"
The evening glow of the sun was now completely faded away and replaced with the dim light from the rising moon and the stars that appeared through the dark curtain of the night sky as the two of them stood just out of arms reach. Jade couldn't tell if the chill she felt came from the dropping temperature or Tori and her words. She stammered and tried to form some coherent thought but failed until she finally managed to say, "Then why did you give me hope?"
Tori looked back up at her with a shocked and hurt expression as she came forward and tried to hold Jade, only to be brushed off as she said, "No, no! Jade! I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that! I-I just meant that—"
"No!" Jade said in her signature fashion. "You just wanted to fucking mess with me, that's it, right?! I finally come back after getting the fucking nerve to try and fix things and you think it—"
Jade's words were cut off as Tori again, pushed past Jade's arms and wrapped her in a tight embrace, and got on her toes to reach and plant a kiss on her cheek to silence her. "Please…please just stop talking."
Tori's plea was weak as she took a shaky breath, fighting back tears as she held Jade tightly in her arms, "Please. I don't know what I want yet! I'm sorry I don't have your answer but I need more time…"
Jade hugged her back and closed her eyes and tried to let go of her anger so she could just enjoy this one intimate moment. She breathed the new yet vaguely familiar scent that Tori had as her hair tickled her nose as she said, "Okay…okay. I'm sorry."
"It's okay…" Tori said as she subtly slipped the jewelry box back into Jade's pocket, hoping that she wouldn't notice and ask her to keep it and said, "We could still try…whatever this is. I'm willing to do that now that we cleared things out."
"Do you mean that?" Jade asked with wide eyes and held Tori's shoulders.
"Yes," Tori said with a soft smile, "I think we owe it to ourselves to try at the very least."
"That's all I've wanted," Jade said with a smile as she leaned in and hugged her once again. She fought the urge to kiss Tori on the cheek and settled for a hug. She wanted the first kiss she gave Tori to be a true one full of passion and remorse for her actions. "What about the audition?"
Tori broke the hug and put her hands in her pockets and turned back towards where they left their shoes and said, "I'm going to give it a go. If that's okay with you."
"Of course!" Jade said as she followed behind her. "I actually will have to go back to New York for a couple of days to pack up more clothes and wrap up some things there so I can get a flight during your audition."
She nodded in response before sitting down and putting her shoes back on and whistling for the pack to gather around so they could head home. The walk back to the cabin was quiet, except for the pattering of paws mixed with the evening ambiance of the woods. Once back on Tori's property, the dogs all rushed ahead while Duke stayed out on the porch with Tori as Jade stopped at the steps and said, "Thank you for this."
Tori nodded and said, "This wasn't how I thought things would go…but I'm glad you came."
"To be fair, nothing we seem to do works as intended, why should making up be any different?" Jade said with a smirk.
"Fair enough," Tori said with a small smile and a nod before stepping backward on the porch and said, "Goodnight Jade."
"Goodnight Tori," Jade said as she started to slowly walk back to her car.
As she got into her seat and fired up the engine, she turned her phone back on and hooked it up before pulling away from Tori's cabin. In the rearview mirror, she could see Tori sitting on the banister of the porch, lighting a small joint and watching her pull away, but once she saw that Jade was far enough, she climbed off and went for the door.
While driving, Jade saw she had several missed texts from Mary and decided to just talk to her once she got back to the hotel. The drive back was quick enough, given the traffic, but gave Jade plenty of time to think and take in everything that had happened tonight but it also served as a surprising piece of inspiration. As she drove, she let her mind wander and drift back to the image of Tori standing in the sunlight and calling her animals to her sides. Jade's mind started to bounce ideas around for a new story or a new short film possibly if things worked out. By the time she was in the elevator going up towards her room, she had a small document pulled up on her phone where she wrote down the idea and started to jot down details after sending Mary a text to meet her in her room.
Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door and Mary was let in wearing some pajamas and a hotel bathrobe and holding up two pictures with an annoyed look on her face. "What are these?" Jade asked as she took the pictures and closed the door behind Mary.
"These are what were going to be plastered all over those sleazy tabloid magazines," Mary said as she laid down on the couch. "We managed to stop them before they went public but there may be another. I'm having our people work on it."
Jade took a seat at the armchair and flipped through the two covers and started to get pissed. Both of them were of her and Tori leaving Angio's Diner but from different angles. The first one was of Jade leading Tori across the parking lot by the wrist with a clearly pissed off expression with a caption that said 'New Romance or New Affair for West?' while the other one was of her and Tori driving away in Tori's beat-up van with the title 'Is the sun setting for West?' Luckily, in both of the pictures, Tori's face was obscured since she was looking the other way and her hair was blocking her features but it still pissed Jade off that they were caught by those annoying reporters. "What the hell are these even supposed to mean? They're just running with the first picture they've got!"
"I know," Mary said, "The first one they were just gonna cast a wide net and see if they hit anything. The second one…yeah, the van doesn't help but they don't know anything. Luckily, your girlfriend is in the clear."
"She had better be," Jade said as she tossed the pictures onto the coffee table, "I thought we were in the clear but now that they know I was with her, they'll try to figure out who she is. Mary, please, I need you to make sure that doesn't happen, at least not yet."
"Why?" Mary asked as she sat up, "Something happened with her?"
Jade nodded as she said, "We're gonna try to work things out. I—"
She was cut off by the excited squeal and overwhelming hug that Mary gave her as she dashed around and nearly tackled her out of the chair and said, "I'm so happy for you! That's great news!"
"Mary! Mary!" Jade said as she tapped Mary's back to get her to let go. "Air! Five, four, three!"
"Sorry! Sorry," Mary said as she released her and crouched down on her knees and said, "But that's so exciting! You two are going to try and work things out? What happened?"
Jade then went on to explain the details of the afternoon and skimmed on the darker details Tori shared but alluded that some things were not how they seemed. She explained how their conversation went and shared that Tori was planning on auditioning and even showed Mary the notes she had for the new project she came up with after seeing Tori with her dogs. "Well, I'm hoping that things work out for you two…but it sounds like an uphill battle."
"It is," Jade said as she sat back and looked towards the windows, "but it's worth the climb."
Author's Notes:
Hey there! A little bit of a shorter chapter this time but I hope you enjoyed it all the same! Reviews and everything else are appreciated and really helps me out to keep going! Our ladies are finally starting and making their way on the road to recovery so fingers crossed things work out for them and they managed to find some happiness as they work on restoring what they had.
This one was a little harder for me to write and I ended up going back over and over to get the wording down and I ended up restarting several times because of it. Just out of curiosity, how many of you actually listen to the songs as I post them?
Songs Used for Inspiration:
1. ?
2. "She Got the Best of Me" by Luke Combs
3. "Miss Missing You" by Fall Out Boy
4. ?