Note: Anyone else have way too much school work? I literally avoid so much of my responsibility on this god forsaken website, lol
I hope y'all enjoy reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it.
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 6. Sugar and Spice
Walking down the stairs, there was another shift in the air, except this one was extremely palpable for Jade. But, if anyone else noticed something off they didn't acknowledge it.
Andre was helping Tori open the cans of cinnamon rolls, Beck was helping Robbie with what looked like a bandage to the face, and Cat was hovering over them both looking very concerned.
"Hold still Rob, I gotta get it clean or you'll get an infection," Beck said calmly before manhandling the younger boy's face, forcing stillness.
"OUCH!" Robbie yelped, "Do you have to squeeze so hard? I bruise easily."
"Don't worry Robbie, I found some ointment in Tori and Trina's bathroom that should do the trick." Cat seemed very pleased with herself and her find.
Jade walked up to the trio with a frown. Robbie clearly had 4 long scratches across his forehead and cheek that were red and puffy. Beck had a wet rag that he was dabbing across the cuts, trying to get the dried blood off.
"Ew, gross. What the hell happened?" Jade asked with only mild interest.
Beck glanced up at her, his eyes lingering on hers before he responded, "There was a raccoon that attacked us last night. Robbie over here had taken the second bag of marshmallows into his sleeping bag like an idiot, and he got the brunt of the attack." He looked pointedly at Robbie, who immediately was mumbling gibberish in an attempt to come up with a feasible defence for his actions.
Jade raised her eyebrows in annoyed amusement, "Gee, I would have never seen that coming, way to go Robbie." Her words were dripping sarcasm.
Cat frowned and looked up at the goth, "Don't be mean, if he hadn't had on his glasses his eye would have been gouged out." The redheaded girl glanced to Beck for confirmation that she had repeated his words correctly, and he gave her a small nod and smile.
Jade rolled her eyes, "That would have been more interesting." She went to walk around them to the kitchen as Beck started rubbing the ointment on the cuts.
She smirked as she saw the tube, recognizing the packaging. "I wouldn't use that stuff," she said moving past them, "that's Trina's butt ointment from last year. Remember? When she got a rash from that Russian beetle bite?"
Robbie screeched, smacking the tube out of Beck's hand causing Cat to scream in surprise.
"OH, GOD NO!" Robbie yelled.
Jade smiled sinisterly, not even looking back to the chaos she had stirred up as she continued to the kitchen.
Beck just stood there, eyes closed and shaking his head, completely unphased.
"Robbie," the calm voice struggling to remain dominant, "the ointment is fine, and it's what you need, or else I wouldn't have used it." Beck's voice was more biting at the end, and Robbie flinched.
"But...it's Trina's...butt...cream." With every word the curly haired boy sank further into the chair under Beck's gaze.
"Cat, did you see where it went?" Beck asked her.
"Under the piano, I think," she said pointing.
Beck motioned for Robbie to stay where he was as he went to retrieve the medication. When he turned around he gave Andre and Tori a wide-eyed bewildered look, and then squinted at Jade who shrugged in response.
Andre managed to finally pop the last roll of the baked goods, "Heeeeey, now we cookin."
Tori smiled as she finished arranging the first roll onto the cookie sheet, handing it off to Andre for his addition to the pile.
She turned to the sink, going to wash the cinnamon residue off her hands, noticing that Jade was staring at the array of cabinets around the coffee pot. Drying off her hands, she took a step to her left, opening the cabinet that contained coffee mugs, grabbing the only black one and setting it down. She quickly poured the fresh coffee into the cup, and opened the drawer under it to reveal the sugar and cream packets. She grabbed two sugars and set it next to the full cup before turning back to Andre, eyes skipping over the guilty looking Jade.
"Thanks," Jade whispered, following the girl with her gaze, pretty sure that Tori hadn't heard it until she saw her eyes cut to her before barely nodding.
Jade released a breath that she didn't remember holding before looking forward and grabbing her coffee and mixing in the sugar.
She brought the cup to her lips and closed her eyes, her back still to the rest of the group. The coffee was too hot to take as big of a sip as she wanted but she revelled silently in the small amount she got on that first draw. She had only had coffee at the Vega residence a few times, but every time was like the first. Something about Tori having family connections in South America meant that they always had the best coffee. Jade swallowed her coffee, before opening her eyes and turning around.
All of the conversations she wasn't listening to suddenly became overwhelming.
"It's throbbing, is that normal?"
"Did you name it? I bet it was cute."
"Not at 3 am it wasn't."
"Is it supposed to be on 350 or 400?"
"Yes."
"Wow that's so helpful, Tori."
"Do you think it'll come back?"
"Cat, you can't pet it."
Jade took another sip of her coffee, still not awake enough to include herself in the conversations as they all continued talking over one another.
"Maybe we can go to the aquarium today or something," Tori's voice piqued her interest.
"Finally, something interesting." Jade said as she let out a sigh of indifference.
Tori cut her eyes to Jade, a frown in place. "You didn't have to stay, if you're too bored with us here maybe you can entertain yourself by yourself." The look paired with the hint of malice made Tori's point for her.
In this game of feelings, Jade had proven she wasn't willing to finish what she started, and if she didn't do something about it then Tori was going too.
Jade jutted her jaw forward, her face darkening slightly as she geared up for a comeback. Tori raised a challenging eyebrow. The girl's confidence made Jade falter, her initial response lost before it formed.
She swallowed and she cleared her throat, switching gears mentally, "No that, uh, sounds good. I like the shark exhibit." She forced a smile and looked to the rest of the room, trying to hide her blatant submissiveness in the moment prior.
It was quiet for a few seconds, the other four people who had watched the exchange were glancing around to one another, asking questions and giving answers with their eyes.
Jade looked back to Tori briefly, immediately glaring at the cocky smirk on the tan face.
The tables had turned; the shift was now perceived by everyone. Not to mention, as much as she hated to acknowledge it, the power move she had just been subjected to was entirely too hot for her to fully wrap her brain around at the moment.
The conversations picked back up, now buzzing with ideas for the day. Jade zoned out into her coffee cup. She felt heat on her cheeks as she thought through the interaction, and fought the groan of frustration.
Jade was too busy being at war with herself to see the glance exchange between Tori and Beck. His look of questioning, and her shrug in response.
Cat started laughing, Robbie having cracked a joke. Everyone put their attention on the two, and the moment between Jade and Tori was forgotten.
"They golden brown yet Andre?" Tori asked as he was looking into the oven after about 15 minutes or so.
"Almost, I'd give them a few more minutes," Andre's sadness at the news shone through his voice.
He went to join the group back at the couches, but took a turn at the last moment and went to the piano instead, "Robbie set us a timer for 5 minutes, Tori come sing," he ushered.
Robbie pulled out his giant Pearpad to accomplish his task, and Tori smiled as she stood up and made her way over to the bench. Andre had already started hitting some keys, playing around with different tempos and chord progressions. Cat saw an app on Robbies ipad and exclaimed, him happily obliging to show her.
Jade was zoned out again, trying not to let it show that she was secretly listening to the musical duo. She was so focused on not focusing on them that she didn't notice Beck moving over to her until he sat down close enough to dip the couch in next to her.
"Dammit, Beck. You almost made me spill my coffee," Jade exclaimed. Conveniently leaving out the part about him scaring her just a little.
He smirked, knowing the truth, "Since when do you scare so easy?"
She just glared at him.
He looked over to the others, acknowledging that they were all occupied before turning to the flustered Jade. "Spill it, West."
"I don't know what you mean." She gave him a blank stare.
He rolled his eyes, "Oh, don't give me that. You are in a terrible mood." He glanced back to the others again, lowering his voice before he continued, "Not what I expected after your night of cuddling and hand holding." He looked over to her pointedly.
Her eyes were wide, mouth hanging open briefly, "How did you-" She coughed, her blank expression reappearing. "We didn't cuddle. And the hand holding was just...emotional support," she seemed satisfied by her on the spot reasoning.
"Uh-huh, sure. If that's the case, what's got you both so tense? And don't bullshit me, I know you better than that. We all know something happened, so just spill it. It's just me after all." His calming voice helped her relax.
The timer went off, and Robbie jumped up to check the cinnamon rolls. Jade followed the gangly boy with her eyes before responding quietly.
"I just, suck at this stuff, you dated me, you know." She paused to glare at Beck as he nodded his head in agreement. He shrugged and she continued, "I may have caught her from falling out of the bed this morning," she watched his face morph from 'oh?' to 'oh.' as she finished her sentence, "but I dropped her when Cat came back into the room."
He gave her a sharp breath intake, "Not your best move, huh?"
She groaned, slouching back into the cushions, "No. No it was not." She winced as she kept talking, "And then I told her that I didn't want anyone to know about anything."
He scoffed, "I don't think that's a problem, Jade." She glared a questioning look at him to explain further. "We are all your friends, whether you acknowledge it or not is beside the point, but you know I know." He gestured to Andre and Tori discreetly, "They are like us, but without the dating history, so I know he knows about her. Cat is your best friend, and even if she is ditsy, she's smart and I assure you she has put the pieces together a long time ago."
They both looked at Robbie in the kitchen, and the silence was telling when they looked back at each other. "Yeah, I got nothing about him." Beck said with a smile. Jade laughed, his attempt to cheer her up, she decided begrudgingly, was working.
Her laugh caught the singer's attention, and Jade caught her eye as Tori finished the last verse of the song.
'So, tell me that you love me, anyways.'
They both hold the others' gaze. Tori flashes a small, wistful smile and Jade smiles back. Except her guilt turns hers into more of an abashed grimace than a smile.
It takes only a second to realize that probably wasn't the best reaction to have when staring at your crush. Tori pursed her lips looking away, but Jade could see her nose flaring from across the room.
"Come EAT! They're nice, and hot, and covered in icing." Robbie holds up the sheet of pastries excitedly.
Beck looked at her with soft bewilderment, "That was both hilarious and depressing to watch." He added a small pat on her shoulder, rubbing salt in the wound.
Jade groans quietly, rubbing her face in her hands and then mumbles to herself, "I need more coffee if today is going to continue."
