Part Two

Previously: (Chapt. 6) Jade glared at Beck and answered, "If you want to know more, you'll just have to stick around. I'm not going to go off and tell you my life story."

(Chapt. 8) "I would love to have sex but it just wouldn't be fair," Beck tells the drunk Jade. Jade giggles, "Wow...Ryder would never do that."

"Who's Ryder?" Beck asks. "Nobody," Jade answers.

"Have anything exciting planned for us today?" Jade tilted her head as she asked the question. The pair sat cross legged facing each other on Beck's couch, both gripping their coffees with both hands.

Beck took a sip of his coffee while studying Jade's seemingly blank expression.

"What would you want to do?"

"No, no, no. I asked you first," Jade's lips drew upwards, but only slightly. Beck felt his lips mimic her expression.

"We are going to have a lazy day. Just doing nothing until something comes along, I guess," Beck said, having a hunch that she'd leave immediately if he said they were staying indoors so they could converse about Jade.

"Alright...I'd be okay with that," Jade nodded slowly. "But first, more coffee." Jade held out her empty cup to Beck, her eyes bored into his, silently pleading for him to get her more.

"There's coffee in the fridge, you can pour some into the cup then heat it up in the microwave."

Beck laughed as Jade's expression quickly turned into a glare. However, unnoticed by Beck, her expression faltered as his face lit up. With his kind eyes squinting and his mouth curved into a full smile, she almost smiled back.

"Fine. I will get it, but I'll remember this, Beck," Jade said in a threatening tone as she stood up from the couch.

Beck winked and laughed again as Jade threw him another glare, this one less harsh than before. It was hard to stay mad at a kid who was as kind and hot as him.

"Hey, you're wearing my hockey jersey," Beck said, watching as Jade sauntered to the kitchen.

"I know."

"Why?"

"I wasn't allowed to leave, remember?" Jade joked, leaning against the framing for the doorway into the kitchen after putting her coffee into the microwave.

"No, I mean why'd you choose my hockey jersey? You could have put on a button down," Beck frowned slightly.

"Well, I, uh, thought you were one of those guys who loved sports," Jade murmured her answer, a tad embarrassed, though her confident attitude was present. She walked back over to the couch so Beck had to look up to speak to her.

"Nope, I'm one of those guys that pretends to love sports," Beck grinned cheekily and whispered, "I only like them."

"What do you love then?" Jade asked, her expression suddenly serious, her green-blue eyes probing his brilliant brown ones.

Before Beck could stutter out an answer the microwave let out a loud beep. He took a deep breath as soon as she went to get her coffee.

"You intrigue me, Jade," Beck said, collecting his thoughts as Jade reclaimed her spot across from him.

Grinning deviously Jade said, "How so?"

"Well, you enjoy confusing people and trying to scare them... Would you agree?"

"I don't know what you're trying to do here, Oliver, but I'll play along. Yeah, I would say that's accurate." Jade grew skeptical to Beck's game. What the hell is he doing?

"And would you say that maybe you're mean because you're covering up your kindness?"

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there, Mr. Psychologist. I think-

Jade abruptly stopped talking. She took a deep breath instead then continued.

"Yeah, I am, as you grossly put it, 'covering up my kindness'. It's to keep people from seeing in... If people know how you operate, they can control you; it makes you vulnerable. Or, in this case, susceptible to an outsiders analysis." Jade gave Beck a pointed look as she said "outsider."

"I get it," Beck said solemnly, "I'm the same way. But, for a few hours, can we...let each other inside? It's a bit cold out here." Beck looked at Jade, not trying to offer any sort of comfort, rather, he tried to bring about a sense of solidarity between them.

Jade stared down at her coffee before biting her lip and nodding confidently.

She and Cat had many discussions about her being a bit more open to people. For some reason Beck was easy for her to talk to, although she wasn't sure if it was because of her growing fondness of him or simply because of the kindness that seemed to emanate off of him.

"My parents divorced when I was young. Neither supported me in my pursuit of a career in the arts. My father pays for my apartment. The money I made from the off-Broadway shows I was in as well as several side jobs I had throughout high school help pay for my tuition to Julliard. The last time I spoke to my mom was two years ago." Jade spoke with little emotion, but Beck could detect an anger underlying her words so he simply nodded, wearing a stern expression on his chiseled face.

"That's terrible and I'm sorry. Parents suck. I moved out from under my parents roof at 16." Beck's words must have pleased her as he saw her struggle to stifle her smile. Pleased with himself, he took note that she liked the tough love and blunt speech route.

"You did?!" Jade was shocked that this pretty-boy could be a badass.

"I moved into an RV that was parked in their driveway...so my roof, my rules."

Jade burst out laughing at his ridiculous solution to parental oppression. Jade's laugh was also one of relief, she shared her story with him and with that came a removal of tension, on her part at least, now she could enjoy learning about Beck's life.

"You intrigue me, Beck," Jade said, once she returned to a calm state again. All Beck wanted to do was say things that made her laugh or smile. However, the only question he wanted to ask was one that would probably make her want to leave.

"Well, I'm glad we intrigue each other. I have to say, I really like you Jade," Beck said with a smile, though he didn't mean to say the second part of the sentence outloud, he went with it anyway. Better to get it out there now.

Jade hid another grin and stared into her coffee cup as she said, "I really like you too."

Beck fell completely silent, making Jade look up.

"Who's Ryder?" Beck blurted out.

"Ex-excuse me?" Jade stuttered, something she rarely did.

"Last night you mentioned a guy named Ryder and I was just wondering who he was." Jade grimaced and Beck realized he was unfortunately correct in his assumption- he probably shouldn't have asked about him.

In an effort to be more open, Jade stayed in her spot and mumbled, "He's an ex-boyfriend...and he's an asshole."

"I don't think I like this guy," Beck said in a light tone. Jade gave him some credit for trying to joke by letting her lips turn upwards for half a second.

Beck stayed quiet, waiting for Jade to elaborate. Jade's face contorted, struggling to contain a remote expression but slowly morphing to one that showed her sadness.

"I can't talk about him right now. Sorry." Jade said, moving her coffee cup from one hand to the other in a state of anxiousness.

Beck gently took Jade's coffee cup and placed it on the wooden coffee table next to them. He then pulled Jade into his lap. His arms wrapped around her body, not necessarily for protection, rather, it was for comfort. Jade didn't need protection, Beck realized. She only seemed to need another person to be strong enough to hold and take weight off her. Perhaps she would need to feel safe one day, though and thinking it over, Beck realized he would like to be there to do that. For now, he's glad to be her equal who's there for her; her rock to grab hold of and help steady herself when life throws her off balance.

Beck realized he liked her a lot more than he probably should.

The pair sat in a comfortable silence, breathing each other in, slowly relaxing and easing into each others bodies.

Twenty minutes passed before the sound of Beck's stomach growling, and the laughter following, broke the silence. In those twenty minutes, Jade realized that Cat may have been right. Opening up to people can be beneficial. She'd never let Cat know this, nor does she plan on making it a habit to tell others of her past.

"Sucks for you," Jade said with a smirk.

"What?" Beck asked, grinning at the alluring girl tightly curled in his lap.

"You're hungry but there's no way I'm getting up," Jade said through a widening grin.

"Hmm, this isn't that sucky though, not when I can just do this," Beck curled one arm around her shoulders and the other beneath her knees, then, with Jade in his arms, stood up with ease. He walked the two of them to the kitchen, Jade forcefully kicking her legs, begging to be put down. Instead of making it difficult for him to walk, she did nothing but move Beck to laughter.

To annoy her a bit more, Beck decided to spin around and dance in the small kitchen with Jade still in his arms.

Through her suppressed laughter, Jade kept crying out, "I will call the police! Put me down!" Beck drowned out her cries as he hummed a random tune to go along with the spinning and dancing.

"Oh my god, Beck. You're such a loser," Jade said, covering her face with her hands as she laughed harder than before.

After another few seconds, Beck placed Jade on the kitchen counter, making them eye level. Beck immediately went in to kiss Jade, but Jade quickly jumped off the counter, smacked Beck's butt then reached for the box of powdered donuts on the top of the fridge.

Jade then ran and jumped onto the couch, lying on her stomach. Beck ran and sat right on top of her, easily taking the box out of her hands.

Hitting her bum, lightly, and taking a doughnut from the box, he proudly stated, "I win."

"No, I always win." Jade successfully grabbed the box from him and pinched his arm, making him drop the doughnut.

A tickle fight then ensued, resulting in a sugar powder-covered Beck and Jade. Still panting from laughter, Jade straddled Beck on the couch as the two finally ate their doughnuts.

Jade leaned down a few moments later to kiss Beck. Beck's hands went to her waist, gripping her tightly and holding her closer to him.

After a minute or so of kissing, Jade rested her head on Beck's chest while Beck's hands ran up and down her back in a slow manner.

Jade looked at him with a smile, her hands resting under her chin.

"Let's take a nap." Jade yawned and Beck had a feeling that was her way of saying her hangover was hitting.

Instead of answering with a yes, Beck's mind spoke out before he could think, "Jade, will you be my girlfriend?" He inwardly cringed, but kept a cool expression on his face all the while.

The question barely phased her as she smiled, laid her head back down on Beck's chest and said, "I'll let ya know."

Beck's smile stretched across his face till it hurt and his hands resumed their light track up and down Jade's back.

A/N: Hi! Hope you enjoyed Part Two! There will be a Part Three & a Part Four as well, which take place over the course of 1 to 2 days. There will be more chapters after that, I just wanted to make it a bit more interesting by having a different, specific, focus over those days.

Hope you all have a great day/night and part Three will be up soon-ish!

xx