Once the table was set with their diner-bought brunch, everyone ate in a relatively calm and peaceful manner. Piper was sharing a few clips of the showcase with Tori for another article she planned to write, Tara was treating herself to one of every entrée, to everyone's surprise except for Jade and Nora, who were locked in an awkward staring contest with each other and not eating anything in front of them. Jade tried to glance in any other direction, hoping her mother wouldn't be looking straight at her anymore, but every attempt ended back with her still fixed to those steely eyes as if they were judging her.
Tori, finally noticing the tension between them, put her utensils down and looked at both of them, "Jade? Ms. West? Is something wrong with your food or…?"
"The food's fine, Tori," Jade cleared her throat, still staring across the table at her mother, "I just don't know why my mom looks so—"
"Did you two sleep well last night?" Nora interrupted in a shockingly calm tone, despite the question.
Tara's stomach flipped as she nearly choked on her food, desperately gulping down her glass of water. Piper's phone fell from her hand, but she managed to catch it between her fingers before it hit the table. Tori surprisingly set her glass down, glad she wasn't drinking from it when she heard what Nora had said, but her face was running the same shade of crimson as Jade's.
"Y-Yes, we did!" Tori answered, her voice cracking as she spoke, "Went right to bed! All that singing just wiped me out! That's right—straight to bed, and nothing else—ow!" Her rambling was cut off by a sudden kick to her leg under the table. She leered toward Jade, who was still staring at Nora with increased tension.
"How about you, Mom?" Jade painted a smile as wide as her mom's, "Since Tori and I declined your offer for dinner, I'm guessing you and Piper had a great time last night…together…alone~"
Nora's face flushed a shade, but she maintained her smile while taking a quick drink of her water. She answered with the same amount of implicit wit and shade as Jade had, "We did, in fact, but not alone. Piper, Tara, and I had dinner together at Nichijou. Really wish you could have joined us; they had some fantastic sushi that night." She cocked her head, as if to cap off her wit with a sip of her glass. Jade's eyebrows raised at her mother's nerve and sat back, arms crossed, before giving her answer.
"Oh, don't worry, Tori made sure I was very well fed last night~" She suggestively ran her thumb across her lip, drawing the attention of the whole table.
This time, Jade received a sharp kick to her leg from Tori, but she remained still with a wicked smile, watching Nora hastily finish her drink and slam down her glass to avoid spitting it out.
Nora glared at Jade for a brief moment, still keeping the smile on her face and drawing worried glances from everyone except Jade, until she let out a chuckle and sat back; mirroring her daughter's posture, "Well played, Jade. I'll let that one slide since you did such a great job at the showcase, but just remember who you both answer to—and I'm not talking about myself." She finished with a quick smile before excusing herself to the bathroom, leaving the table slightly stunned in an awkward silence once again.
…until Tara glanced around and asked, "Is anyone going to finish their pancakes, because I'll take them if they're not."
After everyone finished their meals, Nora and Tori stayed at the table to jot down a few comments for Piper's article. Meanwhile, Tara and Jade sat together on the couch, with the former's eyes fixed on a random drama they turned the TV on to.
"So…" Tara turned to Jade, wearing a nervous half-smile, "What exactly was that with your mom back there? Some kind of West family quip-off or something?"
Jade chuckled as she shook her head, "Kinda-sorta. When my mom met Tori here for the first time, she sort of messed with her like she did at the table just now; trying to secretly let on that she knew what was going on between me and her. I just didn't want her to get away with it this time, so I decided to have a little fun with it, that's all."
Tara chuckled back, turning toward the TV again, "It would have been more entertaining if I hadn't nearly choked on my breakfast watching it all unfold."
"Well, that's your own fault for having such a high metabolism and eating half the food yourself, Short Stack~" Jade nudged Tara with her elbow, to which she received a quick sneer before looking down at her phone, still pinging with notifications from her friends in LA.
"You know, I'm pretty sure this channel plays nothing but crime dramas all day long," Tara smiled, "Some days, this would be the only thing on at the foster home 'cause everyone would get so hooked to the stories that no one changed the…channel."
Turning to see Jade was still absorbed with answering messages on her phone, Tara stopped talking and continued to watch the show, resigning from the conversation with a shrug. Her head unconsciously leaned down onto Jade's shoulder, making the latter glance away from her phone long enough to see the short sight next to her. Containing a small chuckle to herself, she stuffed her phone back in her pocket and watched the show along with Tara.
In the dining area, Piper prepared another question after jotting down the last comments on her notepad, "So Tori, following the showcase last night, your cover album is set to release digitally next weekend! Are you excited? Nervous? Nervous-excited?"
Tori laughed, strongly considering the third option in her head, "Honestly, I'm just happy to see all the work we've been putting in these past weeks has been worth it from the showcase alone! I've been trying not to focus too much on the number of views the stream got or how much money the show raised; I'm sure Mason and everyone at Neutronium is going over that stuff now anyway…" A quick glance to Nora across the table confirmed that assumption, as she was exchanging emails with the company from her phone. "But the biggest relief to me is that so many people enjoyed the show, live and online! I've seen so many messages from my friends and family from LA, but getting to talk with some of the viewers directly at the theater was unreal, to say the least!"
"I seem to remember there were two young fans in particular who were very excited to see you, Tori!" Piper smiled, "What can you tell me about that?"
Tori shared the smile with Piper as her mind flew back to the previous night and meeting those young fans:
The previous night…
With the showcase fully concluded and people beginning to file out of the main and side doors, Tori stepped down and took a seat on a bench just under the stage, waving to people as they left; thanking them for coming and enjoying the show. After taking a quick drink from her water bottle, she saw two young girls walking toward her. The nervous cadence of their walking rang familiar to Tori immediately as she got up and greeted them.
"Hi!" She smiled and waved to them, "I think I remember you two; from the department store not so long ago?"
"Y-Yes!" the younger girl nodded, looking down at the floor and tucking her blonde hair back nervously.
"You remember us?" the second girl, slightly taller and brunette, visibly swallowed and looked up at Tori.
"Of course I do! You're like my first fans all the way out here in Miami! If anything, I'd have been more surprised if you weren't here! Do you two want an autograph or…?"
"We want to apologize!" the blonde girl blurted out suddenly, making her friend jerk toward her fearfully.
Tori frowned, kneeling down before them, "Apologize for what?"
"In…in that video of you and your girlfriend singing together at the karaoke place…" the blonde girl stuttered, "We wrote the comment that you two were together, and then came all those comments that made fun of you and hated you for being…gay."
"I told you not to post that comment, Kim!" the other girl stamped her foot down, "Maybe they wanted to keep it private!"
"You were the one that sent the video to me, Rachel!" Kim snapped back, "If you didn't want me to post it, you shouldn't have—"
Their argument was muffled away by Tori laughing and wrapping her arms around them. To their surprise, the two girls were speechless and looked straight at her for some explanation for the hug.
"You two have nothing to apologize for! In fact, I should be thanking you!"
"Why would you thank us?" Rachel blinked in confusion.
"We…kinda outed you, didn't we?" Kim frowned again, despite the hug.
"To be fair…I guess I might have done that myself with how I looked during that video," Tori blushed and sat back down on the bench, "But you two were only ever supportive of me and my girlfriend, even before everyone else knew. And hey, not every comment after yours was bad; there were even more supportive ones, and that's thanks to you two. How could I be anything but grateful for that?"
Rachel continued to stare in surprise while Kim looked to be on the verge of tears. Tori patted them both on the back to snap them out of their respective dazes, "Come on, now, how about we get another picture together?"
Rachel was the first to regain her senses, nudging Kim to wipe her face and stand next to Tori. Taking out her phone, she held it up at eye level to capture all three of them in the frame and took all of their smiling faces in one, clean shot.
Present Day
Piper smiled herself as she looked at the photo from Tori's phone, "That looks like a great shot! It must have felt nice to see those two again."
"Oh, very much so!" Tori laughed, "Thought it's also kind of…crazy. When I was their age, I was looking up to all those artists whose songs I covered last night, and now I'm gonna be that same kind of role model for girls like them."
"A role model for those girls to follow their own dreams, you mean?" Piper scribbled down Tori's words in shorthand on her notepad. "To be performers in their own right someday?"
"Well, there's that," Tori nodded, recalling another part of that memory where she watched Rachel and Kim talking and holding hands as she waved goodbye to them that night. "But more for them to not be afraid and embrace who they are…if that makes sense."
"I think it makes perfect sense," Piper said, closing her notepad and tucking the pencil inside its spiral binding. "Thanks, Tori. I'll send you a draft of the article as soon as it's done!"
Tori stood up with Piper, shaking her hand happily, "I'll be looking forward to it! Thank you for the opportunity, Piper!"
With the day starting to wind down, Nora, Piper, and Tara said their goodbyes and left for their respective homes, leaving Tori and Jade together in a now quiet apartment. Their phones were left on the side table, still quietly pinging notifications, and the couple was blissfully ignoring them by occupying themselves with…each other; readily making out on the couch.
Tori straddled Jade's lap, her hands getting lost in the former Goth's natural-brown hair. Jade's hands rested on Tori's waist, giving in to the temptation to slip under her shirt and squeeze the young singer's abs, making Tori gasp and break from the kiss long enough to be suddenly turned over and pinned on her back and Jade now straddling her lap.
"Mm, Tori~" Jade almost purred as she lowered to her girlfriend's surprised face, "Wanna skip dinner tonight and go straight for dessert?"
A smile grew across Tori's face, but it quickly faded as she shook her head and sat back up, forcing Jade to sit up with her. "I'm sorry…but can we hold off on…that for a while?"
"Oh," Jade uttered, not in the usual, passive-aggressive way she used to, and frowned, "My bad. I thought you were in the mood, but if you're not…"
"I mean, I don't mind kissing and making out!" Tori tried to bring up a smile again, only for it to fade again, "But, I just always considered...sex...to be special, you know? I don't think I can be so casual about it, or else something like last night…won't mean as much as it did. You get what I mean? Oh, god, this is just embarrassing to say out loud!" She covered her face, cringing at hearing her thoughts as they left her mouth, until Jade took her hands in hers and smiled back.
"I get it," Jade nodded, showing a sincere smile, despite her earlier frustration, "Last night really was special, but I know it was really impulsive, too. I guess it really was a good thing my first time was with you, Tori. No matter how…good…it felt, I don't want to do anything you're not comfortable with; you don't deserve that." Biting her lip again, she felt Tori pull one hand back while the other caressed her cheek.
"Don't beat yourself up like that, Jade," Tori returned the smile, "I mean, it's not like that was any more impulsive than us moving here together, right? We'll just take things a little slower, and try not to rush this good thing we have going right now. Like you said, you've got a start as a stage director, I've had my debut as a professional singer, and then we have your mom, Piper, and Tara on our side. I like where we are."
Jade chuckled, leaning her forehead against Tori's as they both closed their eyes, "Yeah…I like where we are, too. The last thing I wanna do is ruin it…or us." She opened her eyes to Tori's bright, brown eyes beaming at her and gave her a short, chaste kiss to solidify her statement. "I love you, Tori."
"I love you too, Jade," Tori giggled, taking Jade's hands again and standing up, "Now how about dinner? We could order some pizza, unless Tara really didn't finish the diner leftovers…"
"How about we make something here?" Jade suggested, pulling Tori to the kitchen, "Didn't you try making spicy tuna rolls a long time ago or something?"
Tori scoffed, shaking her head at the painful memory, "Those were more like spicy tuna balls, and those were terrible!"
"Well, you've got me here now," Jade rebutted as she took out some sticky rice, seaweed, and tuna packets from their last grocery run. "I was pretty observant the last time we went to Nichijou, so who's to say we can't do a better job together?"
Smiling again, Tori took the ingredients from Jade and set them on the counter next to them, "I'm game if you are, babe."
Jade grabbed two aprons hanging on a rack and tossed one to Tori, "Ride or die, babygirl."
With her face beaming happily, Tori unfolded the apron in her hands and turned around to tie it around her waist.
From across the kitchen, Jade snuck a quick glance at Tori tying her apron behind her back and appreciated the view while it lasted.