Rain: Another day, another new chapter for my first Victorious fic so let's not waste any time and do it to it!

Jade: Grammar that is.


Hate Love
Chapter Four

If anyone knew what was going through my head when Robbie interrupted my almost kiss with Tori the other day, all they would see is a cavern made of salt that has remained all the way until Saturday aka today.

Because right now, salt is a way of life for me. The ceiling is salt, the walls are salt, the floor is salt and the air around my breath is salt and if anyone were to kiss me, they would probably taste the salt.

I'm so fucking salty, you can shake me over French fries. The Dead Sea Scrolls would pale in comparison to how fucking salty I am right now! I can't even focus because of how high my blood pressure is because the amount of salt that is running through my veins!

SALT!

SALT!

SALT!

Ok…I'm done now.

"Alright, we got the lyrics down pat," Andre said with a celebratory smirk on his face, snapping me out of my salt induced rant.

"Fucking finally. I think this sums up how I feel about her, yeah?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"It certainly does," Andre said with a laugh. "But you sure you want to go with this version?"

"I'm sure. I mean just because I love Vega doesn't mean I don't hate her either for making me confront these stupid feelings," I replied with a snort but then I imagined her big old doe eyes staring up at me on that stage, tears going down her face as I sung my feelings out to her and let a soft smile appear on her face.

"That smile sure shows the hate," Andre joked.

"Yeah, yeah…" I replied softly.

Damn it Jade, you're becoming so fucking soft. Ever since you heard that song and found out we made out, you've basically been a fucking marshmallow when we're supposed to be a deadly hurricane of confusion and chaos!

And yet, I'm not even salty at this fact.

Honestly, I'm not salty about any of the bullshit that has happened since I found out how I felt. If anything, I'm more stunned at how easy all of this has been on my end.

I was expecting to push her away and shun her out of my life or god forbid, go on a date with some doofus to try to hurt her and in turn hurting myself. I was supposed to fight all of this every step of the way until this huge realization was going to make me confront all of it.

All of which happened when I went after Beck.

And yet, none of that happened with Vega. Instead, I allowed myself to go with the flow of things and even instigated her asking me out to this.

Things were supposed to be chaotic but with Vega, I feel so much more at peace and admittedly, it feels nice. But there was no way in hell that I was going to tell her this, not until she hears my song so for now, I need to dial back the nice feeling and be the Jade she knows me as.

At least until she heard the song.

"So you think she's going to get the hint of the song?" Andre asked me.

"She's air-headed sometimes but not stupid," I responded immediately. "She can read between the lines. I have faith that she can."

"Good. What about the band? We do need that now," Andre said.

"If you can separate him from talking to Shay, see if Beck can handle that part," I replied before my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled out my phone and grinned "Well, looks like Vega showed up here early. Cool. I'll see you later."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Andre teased

I snorted but smiled at him before I left his house and saw Trina's car parked out front, with Tori in the driver's seat.


"It feels so wonderful to be back here," Vega said with a pleasant sigh as we stood at the entrance of downtown's square, where lines and lines of booths stood across from one another, various people with bags or hand baskets in their hands picking out various fruits and vegetables.

Admittedly, the smell of fresh fruit and bakeries was very appealing to my empty stomach.

"Come on, let's go pick out the veggies first," Vega said as she took my hand and dragged me through the entrance of Farmer's Market and lead me around. As she rambled on about the freshness of some green beans she held, I took this time stare at her.

Her eyes were particularly sparkly today, showing how happy she was.

I must be the only one to be able to tell this just by looking at her. I mean, I guess Trina and their folks but I mean in our group of friends, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that could tell her emotions by looking into these beautiful eyes.

Did my eyes sparkle like hers when I was happy? Did my smile brighten the rooms like hers did? Well, if anyone really saw me smile or be happy, I bet they will…But I guess only Vega has seen me at my absolute happiest.

I then saw Vega blink before she waved her hand in front of my face.

She had on strawberry lotion…Kinda fits her really.

"Hello, did you hear me Jade?" Vega asked curiously.

"Yeah…Yeah I'm here," I replied. "Was just distracted by these green beans," I add on to this by picking up a green bean and grinned. "This thing feels hella stiff. Must have saw some pretty peach before it came here."

Vega grew quiet for a moment before he face took on a cute shade of red as she said "Aww Jade."

I smirked victoriously and said "Took you long enough sweet pea," with my patented "Vega" accent, which made Vega pout.

"My voice does not sound like that," she grumbled. "Now come on, those woman with the awesome grapples are here," she hooked her arm with mine and practically dragged me through the various stands of the Farmer's Market.

I still can't believe Vega is into stuff like this.

I always figured she didn't know her way through a damn grocery store with how stuck up she was but not only was I wrong about that, she preferred getting the super fresh stuff from this place.

It was kind of nice to see it how happy she was being in this place.

Wait…Grapples?

"What in the hell are Grapples?" I asked her curiously.

"A grape flavored apple," Vega replied, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"W-What?" I stammered out. "Something like that doesn't exist."

"That's what I said until Yu…Well…Nevermind but they totally do!" Vega said. I noticed her voice take on a hesitant tone briefly.

"Yu…" I repeated slowly.

"Yuna…" Vega said softly.

"I sense a story behind this Yuna," I said with a raised eyebrow.

"There certainly is one but I-I'm not ready to talk about her…Not yet at least," Vega replied.

"Fine, fine but you will tell me," I ordered with a pointed stare. "Now, lead me to this mythical "Grapples" so I can taste," I said with a snort.

She smiled at me and dragged me through the market, every so often stopping when she saw a good fruit or vegetable and finally, we stood in front of several large bushels of apples.

"Okay…Oh! They have Ambrosia apples this time," Vega squealed with excitement as she turned to me and said "Hold this bag! I know you're not big into fruit but you're going to love these!"

I opened my mouth to reply but saw her beautiful smile and felt myself sigh and reply "Yeah, yeah…Go nuts nature girl."

Vega immediately went to town, collecting these medium-small seemingly glazed apples that were red and yellow in color. She then grabbed another bag and handed it to me before putting in eight of these really huge dark red and spotty apples and said "These are grapples," with a wink.

Vega then grabbed these slightly pink looking apples and put some in as well along with these smooth looking dark red and green apples "Cripps Pink and Honeycrisp," Vega said with a smile. "Crunchy, tart and sweet."

Vega then turned around and paid for the apples and said "Now…Onto the Banana and Strawberry bread!"

Vega once again hooked her arm around mine and pulled me with her. "You have no idea how happy I am to be doing this with someone. Trina never wants to go and my family is far too busy to do it," Vega said happily.

"I'm surprised you didn't ask any of the others to go," I stated as I stumbled slightly, trying to keep up with her pace.

"Well…I never really thought about inviting them," Vega admitted sheepishly. "The only one I thought about inviting was you."

I remained silent but I could feel my cheeks heat up at her admission. "But why?" I asked her. "I mean there are many others that you could have asked. Hell, there are many people that you could try and be friends with and yet you keep choosing me. Me…I've always treated you like a fucking leaper and yet you try so hard to keep me in your life…Why?"

Vega let a small smile appear on her face and again, I feel the entire world brighten up from it. "Simple…Your smile," Vega replied.

"My smile?" I asked with confusion.

"Yeah. Remember when you first broke up with Beck and broke into my house to stay there that weekend?" Vega asked.

I nodded.

"Well when we went through the horror movie marathon and I surprised you with tickets for the Scissoring Part II: Tabitha's Revenge? You had this look of pure joy on your face. It honestly shined my entire apartment with how beautiful it was, especially with how miserable you looked just seconds before that…You hugged me and even thanked me before pushing me off the couch and asking for juice," She ended with a non-amused tone, which made me smirk in reply.

"But it was that day told me something…I felt happy seeing you happy," Vega said. "I didn't care that you had broken into my place or been an absolute pain before that day. I cared about making you happy. More so than Andre or Beck or Trina or anyone else…I wanted to be the one to make you smile and make you happy."

The blush on my face was so hot; I could feel steam puffing from my cheeks.

"So it was that day that made me decide to make you smile like that any chance I got..." Vega said, her face heating up. "And the only way to do that was to keep you close and not let you push me away and while the road is frustrating at times…I don't regret it."

"None at all?" I asked.

"None at all," Vega repeated. "I know it's selfish to want to be the only one to make you smile but you bring out the bad in me."

"Well it is selfish," I agreed with a small smirk. "However, you're doing a great job Vega. Keep this up and I won't be hating you for much longer. Now come on, the bread?"

"R-Right, the bread," Vega said with a cute stammer before she wrapped her arm around my arm and dragged me to our next destination but it was me who took the chance to slip my hand into hers.

I saw her stumble slightly but to my delight, she gave my hand a squeeze.


"You really went overboard Jade."

I looked up from my haul of strawberry, blueberry and banana bread at Vega with a blank stare. "Yeah? What's your point?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I think there were others that wanted some," Vega noted with an amused smirk on her face.

"They snooze, they lose," I replied before sitting the large bag in the backseat of Trina's car before I got into the passenger's seat. "So what's next?"

"Next?" Vega asked.

"Yeah. You dragged me here after all, gotta keep it up," I said as I slipped my hands behind my head.

Vega frowned in thought before she nodded and began to drive. "So where you taking me?" I asked her curiously.

"Ah-Ah, you'll have to wait and see," Vega replied with a toothy grin. I scoffed but leaned back and allowed her to drive in peace and also to gather my own thoughts.

It felt so easy to just sit here in silence with her. Unlike Beck or any of the other people I've dated, I always felt unnatural when it grew quiet but with Vega, I didn't have to force anything with her.

I could just breathe and be myself…

After forty-five minutes of this comfortable silence, the car came to a stop and Vega said "And we're here!"

I looked out the window and saw that she had driven to the entrance of some park. The sun was just beginning to set and while faint, I could see the stars in the sky. "Where is here?" I asked with a small yawn.

"Hollywood Bowl Overlook," Vega replied as she got out of the car and went to the trunk and pulled out a large rolled up blanket.

She peeked into the car and motioned for me to get out before she pointed to the stairs and said "Follow me for an unbelievable sight."

I nodded and got out the car and stretched with a small whine before I followed her up the stairs. The trek was about five minutes and the sun had just set when we finally made it to the spot Vega wanted us to be at.

"Stay put," she said excitedly as she walked over to the grassy area and unfurled the blanket then shouted "Come here!"

"Don't order me around woman," I responded as jokingly as I can as I walked towards her and was immediately taken aback by the sight. This place overlooked nearly the entire city…It was breathtaking.

There was so many lights that it seemed like glitter from the distance we sat at. "Beautiful isn't it?" Vega whispered to me.

I turned to look at her and was once again rendered speechless. The soft glow of the city lights made her look so…soft and gentle. Her sparkling eyes seemed to say a million things but the main thing I could pick up was one word.

Love.

I looked away with a shuddered breath and said "I-I can agree with that."

This place was such a romance trap that had I not been struck with a lead tongue, I would have commented on it. Instead, I took another breath and forced myself to look at her smiling face. "Yeah…I'd never been here before," I told her and that was the truth.

Beck tended to keep more local and not travel so far unless he was visiting family in Canada so I never got to see things like this often.

"Glad I can change that for you," she gloated with a wide grin, which made me flick her forehead.

"Don't get too big headed Vega," I warned with a smirk.

"Too big headed?" Vega repeated with a blink.

I chuckled then looked back out at the city and asked "So is this like your special spot?"

"Yeah, it was pain to get to since it was so much farther from Sherwood and I had to rely on either Trina or the bus to get here," Vega explained. "But this view makes it worth it…"

"So how did you find this place?" I asked her.

She looked away to gaze at the city again and said "A friend of mine used to take me here. This was our spot before it just became mine."

I tilted my head in thought before I asked "This friend…It wouldn't be that "Yuna" girl you talked about before, would it?"

"The very same…" Vega replied with a frown forming.

"What was she? Your best friend or something?" I asked her.

"Something like that," Vega answered with a small chuckle. "Something a little more than that…"

"Oh…I see…" I murmured.

So Vega being in love with me isn't her first foray into the world of loving women? A part of me is glad about that but that part is small like a pea.

A pea that I really disliked.

Was it so bizarre that I wanted to be the reason for Vega's home team switch?

But this does help as well because a part of me was worried that if I sung at the concert, she would run away or make a fool of me or something…Not like Vega is like that but she can spaz pretty quickly.

"So you gonna tell me about her or what?" I asked.

"Not much to tell really…We were two girls in love," Vega replied. "Until we weren't and she moved far away. Simple as that."

I have a pretty strong bullshit detector and that answer set it off big time. "You know I didn't believe a word of that, right?" I asked her with a dry grin.

"I know," Vega sighed out. "Admittedly though, it is the truth. We were best friends until one day, she kissed me out of the blue. There was a ton of drama. Neither of us liked girls and yet, there we were."

"That must have been hell," I said, unable to stop the pang of jealousy that hit my heart.

"It was…We went two weeks without talking to one another and during that time, I realized that I did like her so I did something stupid and told her…She…" Vega paused and a haunted look appeared in her eyes. "Didn't take it well…"

"She rejected you?" I asked, unable to keep the anger out of my voice.

"Not only that but she started to bully me something fierce, calling me "Dyke" and "Bitch" and the works, despite the fact she kissed me! And then two weeks later, she moved and I got transferred to Hollywood Arts," Vega finished as she lowered her head. "This is the first time I've ever talked to anyone about…any of this and of course it had to be with you…"

It was then I saw a tear fall down her eyes.

"Y-You never dealt with this at all, did you?" I asked her softly.

"No…Everything happened so quickly that I never handled it…Never had the time to…" Vega whispered.

"Well I will tell you this, that Yuna is a fucking bitch," I said heatedly. "She put you in that situation and then got mad when you realized your feelings for her. But there is one silver lining."

"Is there?" Vega asked.

"Damn right. You got to see her true colors so even if she did date you, she would have been a bitch to you," I replied with a frown on my face.

Vega snorted and began to laugh. "Way to put it in perspective in a way only you can," Vega said with a watery smile.

It may be a little bit of a sad one but I managed to get a smile out of her. She then reached over and gave me a hug and whispered "Thank you…"

"You know how I feel about hugs," I muttered as I returned the hug.

Contradiction Jade strikes again!

It was then her phone rang.

She looked at the phone and said "Damn it. Trina needs to be picked up. Looks like her event ended early…We better get out of here."

I nodded. I stepped off the blanket and watched as Vega rolled it up and soon, we were back in the car.

We were ten minutes into the drive as I began to drift off but as I did, I heard her begin to sing to herself.

"Said all I want from you
Is to see you tomorrow
And every tomorrow…"

I didn't bother to react to the song, instead I made my "snoring" a little louder than usual.

She paused for a moment and then continued on.

"Maybe you'll let me borrow, your heart
And is it too much to ask for every Sunday?
An while we're at it throw in every other day to start."

I bit back a snort. That line is such a Vega thing to say.

"I know people make promises all the time
Then they turn right around and break them…"

Truer words have never been spoken…

"When someone cuts your heart open with a knife and you're bleeding
But I could be that girl to heal it over time"

My heart quickened at this.

"And I won't stop until you believe it
'Cause baby you're worth it."

Was I truly worth it to you Vega? I know what you said earlier that wanting to be the one to make me smile was the reason you kept trying but I sure as hell didn't make it easy for you, did I?

"So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me
Cause you might fuck around and find your dreams come true with me."

You must know that I'm just fake sleeping, right Vega?

"Spend all your time and your money just find out my love was free.

Do you not see my face heating up?

"So don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me."

Do you not hear my heart beating like a fucking drum?

"It's not a bad thing to fall in love with me."

Vega…For you to fall in love with me after already suffering heartbreak and betrayal from Yuna…Not knowing if I will hurt you like she did…

"Not such a bad thing to fall in love with me."

You really are a big hearted dimwit…


Rain: And that is the end of this chapter. So there is only two chapters left. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and until the next one…

Jade: See you all next time!