Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.
Uninvited
Chapter 2 – In Like Flynn
No one's POV
With a great deal of skepticism, Jade looked at what was in Tori's hand. After a second Jade's eyes practically bugged out of her head. The object in question, was a DVD case for what appeared to be a 80's horror movie called, Band Camp Massacre. The cover showed what appeared to be a standard summer camp scene with several frightened looking teenagers. In front of them was a tuba with an arm sticking out of the open and blood dripping from the mouthpiece. The tag line for the movie read….
"How many will make it to the final measure….."
Looking rather surprised, Jade walked up and Tori handed her the DVD case.
After examining the case she looked back up at Tori, looking somewhat impressed. "I've never seen this one and I've always wanted to."
"You mentioned it once in passing, at lunch, something about it being really obscure. I was lucky to find it."
"It was released in 1982, the same weekend as ET and only played in like a dozen theatres around the country. It only played for one week, vanished and the production company that made it, went out of business 6 months later."
"I even brought a couple of those Hammer Horror films you're always raving about, 1958's, Dracula and 1961's, Curse of the Werewolf for us to watch. I've never seen either one of those." Tori then took the DVD case from Jade and turned to head to the front door. "But I have to leave so…."
Tori took exactly 2 steps, before Jade gave in. "Ok, you can stay over."
Tori turned, looking just a bit smug. "I just wanted to make tonight fun. Does that mean I get to enter the Inner sanctum? I'll even promise not to touch the sacrificial altar."
"Ha Ha!" Quipped a sarcastic Jade. "Real funny Vega. Play your cards right and you may end up on that altar. I'll clean up here. You grab your bag and put in my room and don't touch anything."
Tori left, leaving Jade alone with her thoughts. While she was no longer depressed, she felt torn and at the same time this strange tension seemed to be lurking in the back of her mind. Tori had brought some good food and some good movies; something Jade really wanted. It's not like Cat, Jade thought, who'd probably show up with a couple of happy meals and a game of Candyland. But it was more than the fact that Tori came prepared, but Jade put that out of her mind and finished cleaning the kitchen.
Several minutes later, the kitchen cleaned, Jade came upstairs half expecting to find her room in ruins. As she came to her room, Jade found herself pausing in the doorway to see just what Tori was doing.
Her first feeling was that of relief, as it seemed it seemed nothing in the room had been touched. Tori herself, was standing near a set of shelves in one corner, studying the various strange objects on it. Tori then focused on a rectangular object with something carved on it. Looking closer, Tori could see it was some strange symbols and two odd looking people.
Jade hesitated for a moment to watch her uninvited houseguest with almost the same curiosity as Tori showed the object she was looking at.
"It's a Mayan carving, only a small reproduction of course. Got it in Mexico, on a family vacation a while back." Announced Jade, from the doorway.
Tori scrunched her face. "It looks like one of them is drawing a rope through their tongue."
"Yes. Does that disturb you?"
"A little, but this is something from another culture. I'm sure whatever this is, has an importance, a function in their society, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered to carve it into stone. I guess it's just a matter of perspective. Different worlds, different mindsets, different priorities, but we need to remember the differences aren't really as big as we think. What does it depict?"
"Quite insightful" Jade remarked, as she stepped into the room. "it is called the Yaxchilan Lintel 24 and is from around 700 A.D. It depicts, what show's two royals engaged in what's known as a bloodletting ceremony. The one on the right is pulling a rope with shards of obsidian in it through her tongue. The blood that spills is collected on paper then burned as a sacrifice to the gods. It's complex, but it essentially gives them good fortune, life, that kind of thing."
"I can see why it would appeal to you, the whole bloodletting thing, but I really shouldn't assume that. Perhaps you find Mayan history itself interesting."
"Mostly the former, but a little bit of the latter, I guess. But I try to know the story behind most of my morbid little collection. What's the point of having something, if you don't know what it all about?" Jade then tilted her head and sounded just a bit skeptical. "But doubt you're here because you want to see my collection."
Tori turned, as a disarming smile formed on her face. "Of course not. I'm here for a girl's night, lots of fun, you and me, good times."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
"Don't be a party pooper Jade. Just relax, I assume you want to watch Band Camp massacre last?"
Grabbing the DVD case for Curse of the Werewolf and turning towards her entertainment center, Jade nodded. "You can sit on the recliner chair over there. I'll sit on the bed. If you're thirsty, you can grab something from the fridge. Otherwise, I'll get some sodas later.
Moments later the lights were off and the movie started. Jade sat crossway on her bed, her back against the wall, directly facing the TV. Tori sat in a recliner which was off to the side, near the window. She still could still see the tv fine, she was just at an angle towards the screen.
About a minute or two into the movie, Jade looked over at Tori and spoke. "Thank you for dinner Tori, you chose very well. I enjoyed it."
"You're welcome Jade."
They watched the movie in silence for a time, when Tori said she thought the lead, was familiar.
"That's Oliver Reed, a great actor, who unfortunately, was known for his drinking just as much as his acting. You probably saw him in the movie Gladiator. He died during the making of it."
"Too bad. He's rather good in this. I like these kind of horror films."
"I didn't think you liked horror films at all." Jade remarked with a bit of surprised look on her face.
"I like horror films with characters, emphasis on atmosphere and suspense. Those are kind of fun. Not the blood soaked, torture porn, slaughter fests you see now days. Those Wrong Turn movies for example, those have about as much imagination as a brick wall." Tori remarked derisively, knowing full well Jade rather liked that particular movie series.
Tori then glanced over to Jade, waiting for some sort of snide comment or some kind of angry reaction.
Unseen by Tori in the dark, Jade half smiled, but otherwise said nothing.
The rest of the first movie went uneventfully, with Jade making an occasional comment regarding the movie.
The next movie was 1958's Dracula, with Christopher Lee.
"This is a good one." Jade announced as she placed the DVD in the player. As soon as she was finished she turned around to see Tori, had moved from the chair, to the floor in front of Jade's bed. Tori had grabbed a pillow that was on the chair and was sitting on it.
"I didn't' want to watch the TV from an angle any more. Wanna join me Jade?"
Jade hit play on the DVD player. "Uhhh, no thanks."
This time as the movie proceeded, Tori asked a number of questions about the movie itself. One of which was, why doesn't Dracula speak.
"Lee only has only about 15 or 16 lines. He's actually only in the movie for about like 10 minutes. It's a very minimalistic performance. However, his presence is felt through the entire film."
Tori kept asking questions and as she did, Jade seemed to get more animated. Talking about horror films was a thing she liked to do. Eventually, she got off the bed and sat next to Tori. There she would point out various things about the movie and the actors in it.
As the movie ended, Jade stood up. "Time for the main event. Band camp massacre, in all it's 80's glory."
Tori got up as well. "Great. I'm thirsty and a bit hungry. How about we get some snacks."
"Sure"
The pair headed down to the kitchen and as Jade went to the cupboard to get some snacks, Tori went to the refrigerator, moved aside a container of orange juice and pulled out a bottle of wine.
"I got the drinks Jade."
Jade turned and furrowed her brow. "Where in the heck did you get that? My mom doesn't keep wind in the fridge. She keeps her in some special wine fridge, in the basement."
"Brought it with me, I had it in the bag with the food and snuck it in the fridge right away, to chill it."
Stepping over, Jade grabbed the bottle, "Just what kind of swill did you bring?" After a moments examination of the label Jade looked back up at Tori. "Hmmm, a cabernet sauvignon, 2003. Not a bad brand actually."
"I originally was going to go for a Riesling, but guessed you liked red wine better. Being that it looks like blood and all."
Jade put the bottle on the counter, smirked and then started to dig through a drawer. "My aren't you just full of surprises."
"I aim to please. Am I succeeding?" Tori said, ever so coyly
Jade ignored the comment, then gestured to the bags of snacks. "You take the snacks and wine upstairs. I'll find the corkscrew and the glasses and join you in a minute."
Alone again, Jade continued her search for the corkscrew, kept thinking about this evening. It was fun, she had to admit it, though rather reluctantly. Still there was that vague sort of tension that kept lurking in the very back of her mind. She didn't know what it was or what it meant, so jade just ignored it and continued her work.
Jade appeared up her room a few minutes later, to see that Tori had the movie Band Camp Massacre all ready to go on the DVD player.
The pair then sat down, opened the wine, which poured into two glasses. Tori picked up hers and raised it in a toast. "So, what do we drink to?"
Jade pondered for a moment. "It's your wine, so it's your toast."
Smiling, Tori clinked her glass to Jade's. "Here's to, surprises."
"Surprises then. Have any more in store for me?"
With a shrug, Tori hit he play button on the remote. "That, would be telling."
Sitting next to each other, Tori and Jade sat and watched the long-lost forgotten classic, Band Camp Massacre. The plot was predictable, with a group of teens at a band camp, being slowly picked off by a masked person, who uses a Trombone with a blade attached to the outer slide tube.
After about 30 minutes of watching the movie, Tori who looked over at jade to see a look of slight disappointment.
"Not quite the Citizen Kane of horror films you thought it would be?"
"Some of the kills are ok. But I think I've seen the boom mike, more than the main character."
"I know." Tori said. "Did you notice that after Buddy was killed, he was in the background of the cafeteria scene 10 minutes later."
Jade chuckled. "Yeah, I guess the director forgot he was supposed to be dead."
"Sorry it wasn't better."
"No forget it. This is one of those rare horror films that I haven't seen. Even though its' bad, it's kind of fun."
Tori finished her glass of wine, filled hers and topped off Jade's. "Mind if I ask you a question?"
"Somehow I think you're going to ask the question, whether I mind it or not."
Taking that as permission to ask, Tori turned to Jade. "It's normal to be sad after a break up, but you seem a bit more lost. Does that mean you…."
"Want Beck Back? NO!" Snapped Jade.
"What's wrong then?"
Jade didn't answer, she merely took a long sip of her wine and turned her attention back to the movie. Tori just shook her head and did the same.
"I feel lost sometimes." Jade said out of the blue, 10 minutes later. "I wasn't happy with Beck. But once I broke up with him, I just felt sort of adrift, sort of empty, confused, I guess. It's hard to explain." Jade's voice then turned somewhat cynical. "But what do you know about that? You're the happy go lucky Tori. Your biggest problem is, your no talent sister constantly borrowing your clothes and ruining them."
Tori's response was swift. "You think you're the only person who feel lost, not sure who they are, who they're supposed to be. If that's what you truly think of me, then you don't know me at all. I know you've made some comments about your parents. How they were cold to you. My dad is nice, but he works a lot. He's never home. My mom is extremely self-centered and not to mention she favors Trina over me."
"Does she?"
"Yeah. I'm not even sure why."
For the next few minutes as the movie continued Tori complained about her mom and sister, each she felt, did give her much respect. Every time Trina would borrow something of hers and she'd complain her mom would blow it off, saying how Trina didn't mean to hurt whatever she'd ruined."
Jade in turn, not only complained about her parents but Beck. "He was never abusive or anything like that, but he always felt he was smarter than me. Like he was better or something."
"What that the reason you broke up?"
"Partially. It was more than that. Basically it just didn't feel right anymore."
The pair continued to talk and drink wine through the rest of the movie. Jade did feel measurably better, by having someone to actually talk to. Each time Jade talked, Tori listened carefully and never once talked down to her. But still there was that tension, but as it came more and more towards the front of her mind, despite her trying to suppress, it, Jade wondered if it were more than simply tension.
Finally, the movie ended and it turned out the killer was the head of the rival Orchestra camp, across the lake. Years before he had attended the band camp, but was humiliated when others there dumped a bucket of garbage on him during a concert, ruining his big solo.
"So Jade, what did you think?"
"I can see why it was forgotten. A couple of the kills were pretty good. That said, the director was terrible, the cinematographer should be shot and the scriptwriter should be exiled to another galaxy. Because I've seen McDonald's commercials with more character development."
Tori then started to laugh. "I was pretty terrible, wasn't it?"
Jade laughed in turn. "But worth it. So bad it's good. Thanks Tori."
After a good laugh, Tori asked. "Mind if I get ready first? My contacts are killing me."
"Sure. I'll clean up and then just watch TV for a few minutes."
Tori grabbed her overnight back and left the room. Once Tori was gone, Jade picked up the now half empty wine bottle and began to clean up. For a brief moment she held up the bottle. "Perhaps I misjudged you."
About 15 minutes later, Tori returned, wearing a pair of shorts, t-shirt and glasses. "Thanks." Jade nodded, grabbed herself a pair of black shorts and a Siouxsie and Banshees t-shirt, then departed. Alone in the bathroom a minute later, she realized she had a pretty good time and had opened up to Vega of all people. It was a good, but odd feeling, which as before Jade simply dismissed. Either way, Jade couldn't deny, she was indeed having fun.
Once done, in the bathroom, she turned off the light and went back to her room, to tell Tori she was going to go to the basement to grab a sleeping bag for her.
"Hey Tori, I'll be down in the basement getting a…." Jade started to say, but stopped once she saw exactly where Tori was.
Of all places in the universe, Tori was in her bed. The rather smug looking Tori, was off to one side of it, with the black bedspread pulled back in a rather inviting fashion.
For a brief instant, Jade suddenly had thought of that fish guy from the movie "Return of the Jedi" it might have been a meme or something, but Jade couldn't recall exactly what it was.
Dismissing that, Jade stood there with an unreadable expression, before composing herself, saying.
"And the baby bear said, someone been sleeping in my bed and she's still in it."
Well, that's it for this chapter, Tori has not only wormed her way into Jades house, gotten Jade to let her stay over and now is in her bed. Jade's given in so far, will she this time? What's next? What's Tori's plan, if any?
Yaxchilan Lintel 24, that Jade spoke of earlier in the chapter, is quite real and is in the British Museum. Check it out, it's quite interesting both artistically and culturally. The Mayan People were quite advanced. Once upon a time, I myself, once toured the Mayan city of Chichen itza and saw it's wonderous buildings. It was an incredible sight; I highly recommend it.
Thank you for all the nice reviews and I am so glad you are enjoying it.
Happy New Year everyone.