The abundance of sunshades over the fair's many attractions quickly became Jade's favorite part of the date—aside from Tori, of course. While she gladly walked alongside her girlfriend, browsing through different stands of locally-made art and clothes, Jade was quietly cherishing every second under the cool shade to avoid the afternoon sun looming over their heads.
As she breathed a sigh of relief under the latest shade they passed under, Tori's voice cut into her thoughts, making her look in the direction of a small black box on the vendor's counter that held a beautiful necklace.
"Hey, Jade!" Tori bent down to examine the necklace closer. At the center of its small chain, there was a black and gold circular charm that rang eerily familiar to both of them. "This necklace…it looks a lot like my mom's! I guess she must have gotten it here a long time ago."
Jade blinked, kneeling down next to Tori to examine it herself, "Your mom had a necklace like this, too?"
"Yeah," Tori sighed as she stood back up, "She let me wear it sometimes, but then Trina wore it to school one day and lost it. My mom got over it, but I still think I would have taken better care of it."
"So, do you wanna get this necklace and send it to your mom or something?" Jade frowned as she listened to the story.
"I-Well, I would…" Tori sighed, taking another look at it on the counter, "But I don't think I can afford it. Sorry." She frowned, waving to the disappointed vendor as they left for another booth.
A few feet away from the last of the street vendors were a line of colorful midway carnival-like games that made Tori's eyes light up with excitement over. Jade, on the other hand, rolled her eyes at the inevitable call from Tori to play them with her.
"I keep telling you, Tori…" Jade groaned as she joined Tori in front of a booth full of colorful balloons tied to a cork board, "These games are rigged as all hell!"
Tori quickly shushed her with a finger to her lips, nudging her head toward the small group of kids to their side, "Jade! They can hear you!"
"Good!" Jade scoffed, craning her neck to make sure they could hear her. "Then they should be wasting their money somewhere else!" Her elevated tone and the face she made to the kids made them run away, leaving the worker at the booth annoyed and glaring at them both.
Tori lightly slapped Jade's shoulder as she reached into her bag for her wallet, "You see what you did? This guy's just trying to make a living; you know how that feels!" She handed a five-dollar bill to the vendor, who gave her 5 small darts in return. "Now let's at least make up for the business we just cost him, okay?"
Jade's eyes narrowed at the three darts Tori held out for her, and she inspected the tips for any flaw in their sharpness. With a sigh, Jade took a stance in front of the balloons, uttering, "You are just too freakin' nice sometimes, Vega…"
"You know I'm right, though," Tori smiled back, taking her stance next to Jade, aiming her first dart at a red balloon directly in front of her. She tossed the dart forward, but it ended up bouncing right off the balloon and onto the floor. She then tried again with her remaining two darts, varying her angle and strength, but to no avail.
Jade eyed the balloon suspiciously as the vendor just shrugged at Tori's frown. She aimed her dart at a green balloon in front of her and loosed it forward just as Tori did. The same result occurred with a light bounce and the dart falling to the floor. With a huff, Jade turned to Tori, "Told you; you just burned five bucks! We shouldn't even bother with the last one!"
Tori gritted her teeth before answering, "Um…so…about that. I just realized I forgot to bring cash, so that five dollar bill was all I had!"
"WHAT?!" Jade shouted, her hand instinctively tossing the last dart in her hand like she would a pair of scissors, and the dart pierced a small purple balloon with ease and stuck right onto the board. She turned toward the board as the popping sound boomed next to them, then turned back to Tori, who was grinning from ear to ear.
"You lied to intentionally wazz me off. How did you know that would work?" Jade asked, deadpan in her tone.
"Beck and Andre may have told me you did something similar with a pair of scissors someone sat on~" Tori feigned a shrug, then leaned over the counter to pick out her prize. She pointed to a purple stuffed koala bear, and the vendor handed it over to her.
The sight of Tori holding the large stuffed bear in her arms like a baby made Jade flash a quick smile of admiration before turning her back and searching for a food stand or restaurant. "Alright, Vega, you got your plushy toy. Now let's get something to eat!"
They stopped in front of a shaded space with multiple picnic tables set in front of a stage with large speakers and a banner with Nichijou's logo along the front. Tori gasped in surprise, nudging Jade with her elbow, "Hey! Nichijou's hosting a karaoke event! We should—"
"No," Jade answered flatly, then stared at Tori's pout unfazed, "Literally every date we've gone on—real or otherwise—had us singing like some high school musical flick! Just once, I'd simply like to have a peaceful meal with my girlfriend; is that too much to ask? Besides…" she smiled and booped Tori's nose, "You're a famous singer now~ It wouldn't be fair if you upstaged everyone else, would it?"
Still pouting, Tori nodded, "Alright, you make a good point. Let's just order our usual, then."
"Oh, no, I'll take care of it!" Jade took her wallet out as she gently led Tori aside and patted the stuffed koala's head, "You're with child, after all!" She took one look at Tori's blushing face before turning around, laughing as her girlfriend's cheeks puffed in anger.
Jade glanced at the menu the host handed her as she approached them. She wrote down her name and order on a slip of paper and handed it to the host, along with the menu. She moved aside and looked at the assorted couples and groups of friends trying their hand at karaoke on the stage. Plugging an ear with her finger to tune out the less favorable "talents", Jade's eyes fixed on a couple sitting at a table nearby; a familiar blonde girl reluctantly accepting a kiss on her cheek from the boy in a varsity jacket wrapping his arm around her shoulder before getting up and leaving for the restroom. Jade's eyes narrowed once she recognized the girl as Casey from the theater classes, and she carefully walked to her table, taking the seat vacated by the boy.
"Hey, Casey," Jade smiled, leaning casually over the table, "Fancy seeing you here~"
"Oh, Jade!" Casey suppressed her gasp and sat up straight as she saw Jade. "H-Hi there!"
"Relax!" Jade laughed, "We're practically the same age, even if I'm kinda your teacher…"
"R-Right, sorry," Casey mumbled, then nodded to another girl sitting across from her, "Oh, this is Jade from the theater classes I've been taking! Jade, this is my friend Leticia!"
"Letty, please," the other girl waved kindly to Jade, "Casey says your classes are a lot of fun!"
"They are," Jade chuckled, "Though I've only personally taught one of her classes, but I'm glad she enjoyed it…thoroughly~" She winked in Casey's direction, making her blush in return. Her gaze moved up to the boy who was in her seat before, "Is that the boyfriend you told Tara about before?"
Casey blushed harder as she nodded, "Yeah…that's Jackson. Been with him for the last couple months…"
"And not happily…" Letty added quietly, but not enough for Jade not to hear it herself.
"I could have told you that," Jade frowned, "Trouble in paradise, Casey?"
"He, um…he found out about my latest class," Casey sighed, trying to look away from them both, "Including my…improv game with Brad and Tara."
Jade raised an eyebrow and glanced in Jackson's direction before looking back at Casey, "What's he upset about then? He didn't know you're taking the classes?"
"He knew about them," Casey shook her head, "But he heard from Brad about my…kiss with Tara, and he wasn't happy."
"It was a stage kiss," Jade scowled, feeling the situation was familiar, "Just part of the game; even he knows that, right?"
"Jackson doesn't see it that way…He said he didn't want me taking those classes if I was going to be…unfaithful."
"Well, screw him!" Jade interjected, drawing a gasp from Letty and Casey, "I mean…forget him! Tell him that you'll do what you want!"
"Like it's that easy?" Casey groaned, looking down at the table.
"Do you two like to sing?" Jade asked, taking a napkin from the table and a pen from her bag. The two girls nodded, watching her writing on the napkin. She passed it to Casey, revealing a song code and a phone number under it. "Tell the DJ you two wanna sing that song, and I guarantee you'll come out a lot better than you are now."
"Oh…okay," Casey reluctantly tucked the napkin in her pocket, "Um, Jade? You and Tara hang out a lot, right? Could you tell her I'm sorry? I think I hurt her feelings when she asked me out. I mean, I think she's cute, but…with Jackson-"
"That's what the phone number's for," Jade winked to her again and got up, "Tell her yourself; she'll be happy to hear from you." As she left the table to pick up her order from the host, the familiar electric intro to a popular song blared on the speakers to a hearty applause from the audience. Jade didn't even have to look back as she smiled and heard Casey and her friend exchanging lyrics on stage.
Tori passed the time watching the sun slowly moving across the sky from the top of a picnic table against the pier. Picking up her newly-won stuffed koala, she took out her phone and took a few impromptu selfies with it to share later. After her last selfie was interrupted by a sudden kiss on her cheek, she turned to see Jade holding up the bag of Nichijou dinner and placing it between them.
"Was that you preparing for your photoshoot, Vega?" Jade smirked as she opened up the bag and handed Tori her box of sushi, "Do you think they'll let you bring your new koala baby~?"
"Oh, hush!" Tori laughed, taking the box and splitting her chopsticks, "And besides, it's our koala baby! You won it, remember?" Before stowing away her phone, Tori looked at the last selfie taken, smiling at how Jade's surprise kiss was captured rather well in the shot.
"Meh, whatever. At least this baby isn't gonna eat all our food and lay around all day long," Jade said as she opened up her box of pork fried rice.
"Well, you do such a stellar job of that already," Tori jabbed nonchalantly as she took a quick bite of her Jade Dragon Roll, "But anyway, thanks for the food, babe. I thought you wouldn't want Nichijou, though, since we've gone to the actual place so much already."
"Eh," Jade shrugged, "Good food is good food, and at least it's not as expensive as Nozu." She snuck a glance back toward the stage where she could barely make out Casey delivering a firm slap to her boyfriend's face and walking away with Letty by her side. With a satisfied smirk, Jade turned toward the vivid coastline, where her smile soon faded as she remembered a similar situation.
Noticing her frown, Tori tapped on Jade's shoulder, "Hey…you okay? You look like you're someplace else."
Jade blinked out of her trance and looked at Tori's concerned face. She shook her head and flashed a smile, "I'm fine; just remembered the last time I was looking at a view like this."
"Oh…" Tori's face dropped and her appetite followed, "You mean when you and Beck…"
Jade sighed and took a roll from Tori's box to stuff in her mouth. "Like I said, it's in the past, and I'm a lot happier now."
She smiled sincerely to Tori, who reciprocated with a bump against her arm, "I'm a lot happier with you, too." Tori leaned in close, hoping to initiate a kiss, when a small voice cut through the moment from behind them.
"You're Tori Vega!"
The couple turned round to see a small young girl with blonde hair, thick glasses, and overalls looking up at them with beaming eyes, like she was idolizing them.
"Um, yeah!" Tori smiled back to the girl, quickly closing up her food, "I'm Tori Vega, and what's your name?"
The girl was about to answer when another, older voice called from a few yards away. "Rose! Rose, I've told you a dozen times not to go off on your—oh, Jade!"
Jade recognized the tall woman in a casual grey blazer as Emily Parker from the theater and immediately spun around and sat up straight, "Mrs. Parker—I mean, Professor Parker! Is it…Dr. Parker?"
Emily laughed, shaking her head as she pulled the little girl toward her, "Please, Emily is fine! I'm so sorry about my daughter! I took my eyes off her for one second to find my phone, and…"
"Oh, don't worry about it!" Jade laughed with her, then remembered Tori was also there and cleared her throat, "Um, Tori, this is Emily Parker. She's a professor at the University of Miami; the one who came to see me at the theater the other day! Emily, this is…"
"Tori Vega, I'm guessing from my daughter's little cry just now?" Emily smiled and extended a hand to Tori, who shook it happily.
"Nice to meet you, Emily, and nice to meet you, too, Rose~" Tori waved to the little one, smiling sweetly and holding the stuffed koala up to her.
"My daughter's a big fan of you, Tori," Emily ruffled Rose's hair as she was waving to Tori's stuffed animal, "Ever since I bought her your cover album, she's been singing every track almost non-stop in her room!"
"Aww," Tori's heart leapt as she looked at Rose's face turning red at that remark, "I'm so flattered—but I guess I'm sorry, too?"
"Oh, please don't be! You should be proud, Tori, really!" Emily waved away the concern, "If anything, I should be sorry for interrupting your…dinner?"
"S-Something like that…" Jade shook her head, then turned to Rose, "You know, I remember you saying little Rose here wanted an autograph when we first met? Well, how about something better; like a picture with Tori Vega, herself~?"
Rose gasped, then looked up at her mother excitedly. Emily chuckled, "Well, if it's alright with you, I'd really appreciate it!"
"Mommy, can she be in it, too?" Rose pointed to Jade, whose eyes widened at the request, "I wanna say I met Tori Vega and the pretty director from her show!"
Emily looked to Jade in a nonverbal question, and she nodded happily, opening her arms for Rose to jump up onto the table and sit between her and Tori.
Tori offered the purple stuffed koala to Rose, who scooped it up in her arms as Emily readied her phone's camera. "Alright, one…two…three…smile!" The sound of the shutter indicated the picture was taken and Rose leapt back down to her mother after handing the koala back to Tori.
Emily flashed a bright smile and turned her phone to the couple. Tori "aww"ed at the wholesome smiles all three of them shared and even Jade smirked along with her. "Would you like me to send this to you?" Emily tapped her screen a few times and looked to Tori, whose phone pinged from her pocket. She took it out to see a notification from Emily, and the photo appeared on her screen as well.
"Whoa, that's nifty!" Tori laughed in surprise, "Thank you!"
"Thank you," Emily said, herding Rose back to her side, "You two just made my daughter's whole day—maybe her whole week! I guess I'll see you soon, Jade? Don't worry; there's no rush on the stuff I gave you about…"
"Sure!" Jade nodded, "Actually, maybe we could meet…Monday?"
"Monday…yeah, Monday can work! Send me an email and I can set something up for you!" Emily scooped her daughter up in her arms and waved to them, "Say 'bye-bye' to Tori and Jade, sweetie!"
"Bye-bye!" Rose waved cutely to them. Tori and Jade waved back, with the former waving the stuffed koala's paw as well until they were out of sight.
"Well, that was a cute surprise," Tori giggled, looking at the picture of them on her phone.
Jade leaned over to see it for herself, smirking how clear they looked despite being in front of the sunlight. "Kid has every right to smile that brightly; it's not every day you meet someone famous."
"You know, I think she was more excited to be in a picture with you, Miss 'Pretty Director'~" Tori laughed and leaned against Jade's shoulder.
"Well, then the kid has good taste in singers and directors, then," Jade rolled her eyes and gathered their food boxes back in the bag she carried them in, "Come on. The sun's starting to set, so we'd better go before everyone else does." Tori followed Jade off of the picnic table and the two of them made for the SUV back at the end of the boardwalk.
The couple safely made it back to their apartment, with Tori plopping down on the couch while Jade placed their bag of edible leftovers in the fridge. Taking a quick look at Tori before taking something out of her bag, Jade called to her, "Hey, Tori…you still alive over there?"
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Tori laughed, sitting up with her back against the couch cushion, "That was just a lot more walking than I thought. That boardwalk's got the one in LA beat by a mile—literally!"
Jade smiled as she joined Tori on the couch, "Well, don't faint on me yet, okay? I…just wanted to say that I really enjoyed our first 'real' date. Thank you."
Tori smiled at Jade's sincerity, leaning on her hand against the cushion to face her, "You're welcome, babe. I'm glad…um, what have you got there?" She tried to peek behind Jade's back, prompting Jade to reveal the surprise to her; a small black box that Tori recognized in an instant. "Oh my god! Jade, you didn't!"
Jade's face glowed as she nodded and opened the box with the black and gold necklace laid out before Tori. "I felt bad when you said Trina lost your mom's necklace that looked just like this one, and…maybe the vendor guilted me a bit, too, but that's beside the point. I remember when you wore that one a few times in school, actually. I thought...you looked really pretty with it, especially on the not-date we had that one time."
"Jade…" Tori sighed, taking the necklace out of the box and holding it in her hands, "But…this was expensive. Weren't you going to get a new phone with the last of your showcase money?"
"Eh," Jade scoffed, waving her hand, "I can survive on my dumb, old PearPhone for another year if I'm careful. This was the least I could do after all that you've done for me. I mean it; I don't know where I'd be right now if not for you, Tori. Thank you...for this whole time here with you."
Tori smiled brighter than almost any moment in recent memory, then held the necklace up to Jade, "Could you put it on for me?"
Jade smiled back and obliged her, holding each end as Tori turned around, pulled her blazer off, and lifted her hair over her neck to give Jade room. Looping her arms around Tori, Jade clasped the small chain around her neck and let it rest on her. The close proximity between them made Jade hesitate for a moment before taking a chance and leaning close to whisper in Tori's ear, "I love you," and sneak a kiss on her cheek from behind.
Tori quickly spun around, blushing from the surprise kiss and the rather intimate whisper in her ear, but then she settled back into a smile and pulled Jade in for another kiss. Unlike most other times Tori initiated a kiss, she immediately took charge of the moment; softly placing her hands on Jade's back to press against her and slowly bring her down with her back against the couch. When she finally broke away from Jade to catch her breath, Tori hovered over her girlfriend's surprised, but joy-filled expression that made her heart soar as she whispered, "I love you, too."
Jade could feel her heart beating faster in response to Tori's whisper, prompting her to quickly sit back up, holding Tori by her waist and slowly wrapping her fingers around the hem of her T-shirt. She remembered their prior agreement about intimacy, but their close proximity and the moment feeling so ripe to Jade that her fingers tightened as she looked into Tori's eyes, quietly asking for her approval.
One look into Jade's pleading eyes made Tori's stomach flip, and with one nod, she backed up a little to pull her shirt over her head, treating Jade to the sight of her in just her new necklace hanging just over her bra. Tori could have sworn she heard Jade gasp under her breath before she was pulled back in for an extended kiss. As their kiss deepened, Tori firmly grabbed the hem of Jade's top and pulled it up and over to join her shirt in the pile next to them. An approving hum from Jade could be heard as she almost pounced on top of Tori, pinning her to the couch and deepening their kiss even more; moving down to where the necklace still hung round Tori's neck. Their mutual laughs and sighs were all that could be heard as night fell on their apartment and their love only grew stronger from the first date they finally had.