The Fine Art of Moving On
Prologue
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fic!
Jade closed her bedroom door with a quiet, deliberate click. Letting out a sigh, she leaned against it and slowly sank down to the floor. All of her motions were in stark contrast to the rioting emotions rampaging throughout her. She barely resisted the urge to bang her head against the door. Nothing was going right for her. Absolutely nothing. Not since…that night. It was annoying the hell out of her. An unpleasant grimace crossed her face as she battled away the memories of a closed door, with her on one side and…him on the other. In the grand scheme of things, tonight wasn't nearly as bad as that night had been but it wasn't much better. Holding herself as rigidly as possible, she thought about the recent events. Dog-sitting with Cat, a broken window, and a broken guitar. To top it all off, there had even been an earthquake. But the earthquake wasn't the worst of it all, not in her opinion. She considered that to be Beck's unexpected, and unwelcome, arrival with Robbie.
"Always coming to the rescue," she grumbled crossly to herself, frowning down at the soft black area rug on her floor. Reaching down, she tugged off first one boot and then the other before tossing them in the general direction of her closet. They landed with a soft thud next to her dresser. She put the pair of scissors she always kept in her boot in her lap, absently running her finger along the blades.
Eyes closed, she recalled how her carefully concocted plan had backfired on her. The second she saw him enter the room, she knew her plan had failed. He realized that she wasn't out on a date. In retrospect, it had been a stupid idea on her part, to post on The Slap about a nonexistent date and then add that part about him not getting jealous. Seriously, when did Beck Oliver ever get jealous? Part of her, a very small part of her, rejoiced in the fact that he'd at least been looking at her slap page. That meant he had to have been thinking of her…somewhat, at least. Lord knows she spent more than enough time thinking about him this past week.
She'd realized that breaking up wasn't going to be easy. That had been a relatively simple conclusion to come to. But she'd never imagined how hard moving on was going to be. Not when every thought, every memory, every little thing seemed to bring her back to him. Only he wasn't thinking about her any longer. He wasn't looking at her any longer. He sure as hell wasn't protecting her any longer. He'd proven that by taking care of Cat during the earthquake instead of her. (A part of her refused to acknowledge the fact that he'd been literally standing right next to Cat when the earthquake hit so it made sense that he'd grabbed ahold of Cat and pulled her to safety.) He certainly didn't love her any longer. She frowned and swiftly batted her eyes, hoping to ward off the stinging pain caused by the tears she simply refused to let fall any more.
Letting her head fall back, she stared up at the ceiling, contemplating the mess that had become her life. Finally growing frustrated with herself and tired of the pity party she seemed to be living in right now, she abruptly stood up and smoothed a determined hand down her skirt. So over it, so over everything, she stomped her way over to her bed. After plugging her phone in the charger, she grabbed her laptop and settled herself comfortably on her bed. She spent a few minutes of mindlessly surfing the web while her mind whirred with possibilities. Finally, she typed in ideas on how to get over a messy break up. Maybe she'd find some direction on the web. Obviously, everything she'd been trying wasn't working. And she was sick and tired of being…well…sick and tired. Something had to give.
Unsurprisingly, most of the articles she clicked on were boring, preachy, or very much in line with what a therapist would suggest. "Nope. Sorry. Not what I'm looking for," she sneered in disgruntled disgust, passing over each and every one. She wasn't looking for self-help. She wasn't looking to improve herself through the recovery of her break-up. She had absolutely zero desire to become a better person. She was perfectly content with who she was. She already considered herself a perfect person. Maybe she had a few flaws but who didn't? She didn't want closure. She definitely didn't want to get back together with him. She simply wanted it to be done. Or at least that's what she told herself.
"Ah," she mumbled, her eyes narrowing with interest as she finally landed on an article that seemed the most promising of them all. At least it wasn't lecturing her or promising her that she would magically feel better if she'd just admit her feelings and forgive him. She quickly read over the introduction, a familiar smirk sneaking its way across her face while her eyes took on a mischievous gleam.
Moving On: It's a Fine Art
So, you're finally ready to admit that everything's gone to hell in a hand basket and it's all because of him. Otherwise, why the hell would you be reading this? Break ups are the epitome of awfulness. Terrible, even. But you can't live in the break up. You can't live in the past. It's time to get moving. It's time to move on. It totally sucks because you don't know how. Everything was all about him, all about you two as a couple, and now it's time to make everything all about you again. I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm not going to be encouraging you to study your relationship and pinpoint what went wrong or what you could have done differently. I'm not even going to try and get you two back together. That ship has most definitely sailed. There will be no focus on self-improvement. Nope, my only goal is to get you to that glorious finish line. Follow my proven steps below. And, before you know it, you will have discovered exactly how easy it can be to move on.
After reading over the steps, and actually chuckling in amusement a few times at some of the wording, Jade grabbed the black journal she always kept on her nightstand. Picking up her favorite black pen, she hastily scrawled down the suggestions, thinking she'd finally found a way to recover from her break up. Only time would tell if it would work. Feeling a small strain of optimism for the first time in a very long time, she flopped back against her mound of pillows and closed her eyes, a tiny little smile on her face. At least she had a plan she could tolerate now.
If only she had remembered there was one immovable obstacle standing in the way of her moving on.
Author's Note:
So this story is going to be a little bit different from any story I've written before. Each chapter will start with a little snippet from the article on the internet that Jade read and then that chapter will focus on how well that piece of advice is working out for her. Also, I am not going to be including all episodes of the show from this point on. If I don't specifically mention it, then it didn't happen in this story. I hope you enjoy the story!