Hello! It's been a little while since I've posted anything here. I'm not going to lie, I lost my inspiration for a little while. The idea for this story kind of came out of nowhere while I was listening to the endless collection of Broadway showtunes I have in my music library. It's been a work in progress since April and was only intended to be 12 chapters, but the ideas kept coming and I kept writing and before I knew it there were 40. So here it is.
Ultimately this is a story about choices, and both Beck and Jade will make plenty of them. Some will be obvious, some won't be, but they'll all help shape the story in one way or another. I always get super nervous whenever I publish a new story but I'm happy to finally be sharing this with you and I hope you all enjoy it!
Life is full of choices and decisions. Actually, it's said that the average human-being makes almost 35,000 decisions each day. That's over 12 million decisions in a year, and over a billion in the average lifetime.
Some of these choices are insignificant, and life goes on no matter what. Choosing a Granny Smith apple over a Gala apple for a snack probably won't have much impact on the way a person's life turns out. But there are other decisions, bigger, more significant and important decisions, that can change the course of a person's entire life...maybe even the course of other people's lives as well. The scary thing about those choices is they might seem insignificant in the moment a person makes them...and their outcomes may not become prevalent until much further down the line.
Unbeknownst to himself or anyone around him, Beck Oliver is about to make a very important and very significant decision. A decision that will effect not only him, but others as well, for the rest of their lives...
"I'm tired of fighting..." Beck sighs, feeling absolutely defeated
This isn't where he wanted to have this conversation with her, not in front of all of their friends and Trina, but it's the truth. He's exhausted, and he doesn't want to fight anymore.
"Alright." Jade nods "I'm going to walk out that door, and I'm going to count to ten. If I get to ten and you're not out there, I'm going home...and we're over."
She rips Tori's front door open and begins to count, rather loudly and rather aggressively too, before slamming it behind her. No one knows what to do, especially Beck. It's a serious ultimatum, if there's any truth to it. They've been together for close to three years now, would she really be willing to throw it all away in the matter of ten seconds? He doesn't even remember what they're fighting about now.
By the time Jade reaches four he knows he needs to follow her outside, she'll make his life hell if he doesn't. No one in the room is surprised when he begins walking out, but Trina panics. This had been the perfect opportunity to swoop in and steal Beck for herself, he's definitely Hollywood Arts' hottest ticket and she has to have him. Without thinking she climbs over the couch and launches herself towards him, and they both fall to the ground in a heap.
"Trina!" Tori exclaims as she and the others run to Beck's aid
"Stop! Stop it!" Beck demands, trying to push her off of him "Get off of me!"
"You don't understand!" Trina shrieks as Andre and Robbie pull her to her feet, allowing Beck to stand up "I'm-"
He doesn't hear anything else she says, all he can focus on is the sound of Jade's voice. She's already reached seven, and he doesn't have much time to save what little remains of his relationship.
"Eight!"
He pauses, his hand gripping the door handle tightly. If he opens the door and goes with her, he's walking right back into their never-ending argument. If he doesn't open the door, well...he doesn't really know what happens then. Will Jade follow through on her ultimatum? Will it really be the end of their relationship?
"Nine!"
The counting thing is childish, Beck recognizes that. She's treating him like a child...but then again they've both been acting like children lately. In a split second, he makes his choice. He pulls the door open before Jade has the chance to reach ten.
His girlfriend almost looks surprised to be standing face-to-face with him, like she had also been considering what would happen if she had finished counting and he was still inside. Her surprised expression lasts only a second or two, before the passive anger returns to her face.
"Took you long enough." She sighs
"I'm here though." He reminds her "Aren't I?"
"Whatever." She rolls her eyes and turns to leave "Let's just go."
Beck shakes his head and then turns back to his friends, they all looked shocked. None of them knew which choice he was going to make, they would have been surprised either way.
"Sorry for interrupting your game." He apologizes, reaching to close the door behind him "Have fun."
"I had no idea how that was going to go..." Andre admits once Beck is gone
"I'm not really sure which outcome I would have preferred." Tori adds
"Clearly he made the wrong choice." Trina scoffs
"They've always been 'Beck and Jade' for...well forever." Cat sighs, ignoring Trina's comment "It would be weird if they broke up."
"Would you rather deal with weird or deal with them fighting all of the time?" Tori asks her
"I dunno." Cat admits with a shrug as they all sit down to continue their game "Neither choice sounds awesome."
Meanwhile, Jade is already sitting in the passenger seat of Beck's truck when he opens the driver's side door to climb in himself. He slams the door closed, a bit harder than he had intended to, causing both of them to jump.
"I dunno why you're so mad." Jade rolls her eyes "Coming here was your idea."
"If you can't see why I'm upset, I'm going to wait until you figure it out." Beck tells her "Because I'm done arguing. It's exhausting and it's pointless."
There's silence between the two of them, the only sound coming from the rattling engine of the old truck. Jade wants to say something to him to ease his anger, maybe make him a little less agitated because honestly...she doesn't want to argue anymore either. She doesn't know what would sound right, what would make him feel better...so she keeps her eyes trained on the dashboard in front of her and Beck does the same.
"So, are we getting food or not?" Jade finally asks
"Unbelievable." Beck chuckles, shaking his head and putting the truck in gear "No. No, I'm taking you home."
"It's Friday..."
"And?"
"I've been spending the night at the RV on Friday nights for...almost a year." Jade reminds him
"I think we need our space tonight." Beck tells her "Mom's or Dad's?"
"Beck-"
"Mom's or Dad's?" Beck repeats
"Mom's..." Jade says with a hint of realization in her voice, very quickly coming to the conclusion that her boyfriend isn't joking around this time
"Okay."
The rest of the ride is silent, a complete flip from the ride to Tori's house when they had argued non-stop about whether or not their friends would be there, and why the two of them hypothetically hadn't been invited if they were.
At least he followed me out... Jade thinks to herself as she looks out the window, watching the streetlights pass.
She hadn't been prepared for him to not open the door. She isn't sure if she would have followed through on her threat to break up with him or not. Hopefully she would have stood her ground, but part of her thinks she might have stormed back in and demanded an explanation.
At least we're not arguing right now... Beck is thinking to himself as he follows the familiar route to Jade's mother's house.
He's not sure if he could handle anything more tonight.
Unbeknownst to them both, it would have been better for Beck not to open the door. If he hadn't, yes...Jade would have followed through and they would have broken up tonight. However, in a few months at the school's next Full Moon Jam, they would get back together after realizing they really are meant for each other. From that point on, their relationship will be stronger than ever. They would go to college in New York together, get married, have three kids, and both have successful careers in the entertainment industry. Beck would star in projects that Jade wrote, and 'Bade' would be Hollywood's hottest power couple. They would be unstoppable.
But Beck chose to open the door. The narrative that had been in the cards for them is slowly being erased, and their futures are being rewritten.