Jade has less than a week between her closing performance of 'Our Town' and her first day on her new TV show, tentatively titled 'The Office of Innocence'. It's a working title, and if Jade is being honest...she doesn't completely love it. If the writers and producers make the choice to change it to something else, she wouldn't be heartbroken. She loves her character though. Playing Lindsey Cross has given her an exciting challenge, a chance to take on a role different than any other that she has in the past. Her coworkers are great, they take to each other instantly. The cast and crew has a very familial aura from the very beginning.
While her professional life is thriving, she feels like her personal life is making her sick...metaphorically at least. Priya's comments about her and Beck being so young torture Jade for weeks after she makes them. The annoying thing is, Jade knows her boyfriend's mother hand't meant to cause any harm...or at least she does't think that she did. She's just found a way to get too inside her own head about things, just like she always does.
Beck takes notice, it would be impossible for him not to. At first he thought her change in mood was due to the anxiety and fatigue that came with starting a new job, but he knows now that it isn't. At least, those aren't the only things plaguing her at the moment, there's something more to it. There's something else attributing to this sudden change in behavior from her. She always seems far off, like she's lost in thought...like her mind is somewhere else.
He doesn't want to consider the worst case scenario, but after the incident with Marcus that had occurred about a month prior he can't seem to shake the possibility from his mind...
Does Jade seem so distant because her heart and her head really are somewhere else? Did she find someone else? Maybe one of her new costars?
"Are you cheating on me?" He asks her one night, point-blank
They're in the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner. They had both arrived home from their respective studios early enough to have a late meal together, something they hadn't been able to do for a few days. Despite it being their first quality time together in a while, their conversation had been limited mostly to work.
"What?" Jade gasps "Beck, no! What the hell would give you that idea?"
"You just seem so distant from me lately!" He admits "I've been wracking my brain for days now trying to figure out what I could have done or what I could have said to upset you, but I can't think of anything!"
"So, your mind jumps right to cheating?"
The accusation hurts, Jade won't lie about that. When the picture with Marcus had gone viral and the tabloids had invented the cheating rumor, he assured her that he knew deep down she would never do anything like that. She'll admit that she hasn't exactly been the most attentive partner lately, but she can't believe he would let his mind go to that place.
"I don't know, I guess!" Beck exclaims, throwing his arms out in frustration "It's just like all of a sudden there was this switch that was flipped. I don't know what else it could be!"
"God, I swear...I'm not cheating on you, Beck." Jade admits, running a hand through her hair as she leans up against the island "I just...there's been a lot on my mind and I don't know how to process it all."
"Jade..."
"I'm telling you the truth!" Jade pulls her phone out of her pocket, unlocks it, and slides it across the counter to him "Go ahead, look. I text you, I text my dad, I text Cat, and sometimes Robbie. All of my calls are to any of you guys, my agent, or one of my grandparents. Go through my messages, go through my camera roll. Look at my DMs. I don't care. I'm not fucking cheating!"
"I believe you..." Beck slides the phone back to her without looking at it, and he really does mean it "I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry." Jade sighs "You're right. I've been distant, and I haven't told you why. That's not fair to you."
"Tell me what's wrong, babe..." Beck says gently, walking towards her and wrapping his arms around her waist "C'mon, please. Let's talk about it. Whatever it is, I'm sure we can figure it out together."
"Beck..." Jade pushes his arms away from her "Not now, please."
"Well if not now, then when?" Beck asks her "Because this has been going on for weeks and I want to fix whatever it is. I miss you!"
"I know, I know..." Jade rubs her temples "I'm sorry."
She feels like she could have a panic attack. This is the 'imploding' she had been worried about. If she voices her fears to Beck, there's a chance he could become upset with her. Then her greatest fear of all, losing him, could become a reality.
"What's on your mind, baby?" He says quietly, moving closer to her but not touching her at all "Let me try to help."
"Okay..." Jade takes a deep breath, wringing her hands together nervously "Okay. Uh, okay. So...when your parents came out here over Labor Day...and we all went out to dinner together? While all of you were talking about fishing, your mom and I were having our own conversation because, well...we had absolutely nothing to contribute to yours."
"Makes sense." Beck nods "I'm not sure I know what that has to do with any of this though."
"I'll get there." Jade assures him "We were talking about you since, you know...you're one of our few shared interests. I mentioned that I was lucky to have you and she agreed, but then she made a comment about how we were both lucky that we found each other so young. That she had lived a third of her life before she met your dad and I dunno, that statement just really shook me."
"I'm not following you, Jade."
"Are we too young?" She looks up at him, fearful "We met at a bar, not drunk but pretty tipsy. Then we were dating a week later, and we were telling each other that we loved each other basically a month after that. Now we live together and we're super serious and I love that and I love you but I'm scared that all of this is going to blow up one day because one of us feels like we missed out on something somewhere along the way."
"Oh..."
Beck can't think of anything else to say. He doesn't love her train of thought, but unfortunately he can follow it. You hear stories about situations like that all the time, couples who had gotten together too young or too quickly, only to realize some time later that they wanted something else or they feel that the relationship caused them to miss out on something. He didn't think that he would ever be in a situation like that, at least not with Jade...but now he's scared that her mind and her heart are already somewhere else entirely.
"Do you..." Beck hesitates "Jade, do you feel like you've missed out on something that you wanted because you were with me?"
"No." Jade insists, tears stinging her eyes "No, I truly believe that my life permanently changed for the better when you walked into it. I don't regret a single decision I've made since I met you. I'm the happiest that I've ever been because of you."
"So, you don't want to break up?"
"No." She shakes her head "God, no. I love you, Beck. I don't want to know a life without you in it. I'm just scared that one day I could..."
"I'm not going anywhere, baby..." Beck manages to smirk as he takes a few steps towards her "I know the unknowns of the future can be scary, but we can't let that stop us from living in the present right now."
"We're each other's futures, aren't we?" Jade nods, trying to reassure both of them
"I think we are." Beck smiles as he wraps her up in a hug
"You think, or you know?"
"I know." He presses a kiss to the top of her head "I know we're each other's futures."
"I'm sorry for freaking out." Jade apologizes "And I'm sorry for letting it get to this point."
"Don't be." Beck assures her "But in the future, babe...if something is bothering you or scaring you, just tell me. We could have had this conversation and put the whole thing to rest before my parents even left town that weekend."
"I realize that now." Jade admits "I'm sorry...I just, I didn't want you to think that I was second-guessing our relationship at all."
In reality, she had been doing just the opposite of second-guessing it. She's so confident that Beck is the person she's supposed to be with that she had spiraled at the thought of hypothetically losing him.
"You can come to me with anything, no judgement." He tells her "And vise-versa, right? Partners support each other."
"Right."
"Now about what my mom said..." Beck sighs "I think we should talk about that."
He takes Jade's hand and leads her out of the kitchen, hoping that a change of scenery will make the whole conversation a little less tense and frightening. They enter the living room and sit down on the couch, facing each other but still holding hands.
"I don't think she meant it as a negative thing." Jade sighs "And I'm sorry to even bring her into this but-"
"I know, I know." Beck nods "I think I want to talk more about where your head went after the fact. About our relationship timeline."
"Oh, okay."
"Is living together too much?" He asks her "Did you feel pressured to move in together just because I asked?"
"No." Jade shakes her head "No, Beck. Everything is perfect. I just...I dunno. The older people always warn you not to rush anything because it might not work out...that's the part that scares me. It's not that I think that we won't work out...I just...I tend to think too much with my head sometimes and not enough with my heart..."
She searches for her words carefully, not wanting to misspeak.
"I didn't think that I would lose my mom in a freak car accident, but I did." She admits "The thought of losing people I love for reasons I can't control scares me. Whether it be a break up or...something worse..."
"I'm still so sorry about your mom, babe. I wish I could make that easier for you..." Beck sighs "But our relationship is something we can control, okay? You don't need to be scared about that part. Let's face it, up until my mom spooked you...our relationship was pretty amazing, wasn't it?"
Jade nods.
"And even now, we've encountered an issue so we're working through it." Beck points out "We're talking, we're communicating. When things get hard, we'll be in it together, and we'll support each other through it...because that's what you do when you love someone. Fuck anyone who says that we made ourselves official too soon, or said 'I love you' too quickly. Every relationship is different, and different things will work for different people. We've found what works for us, okay? It does't have to work for anyone else so long as you and I are happy."
"I love you." Jade lets out a sigh of relief "Seriously, Beck. You always know exactly what to do and say to talk me off of a ledge when I get too close to the edge."
"You make me the happiest man alive every single day, s'the least I can do to somewhat make it up to you."
"Okay, that was cheesy."
"It was cheesy, wasn't it?" Beck laughs "Are we good?"
"We're so good." Jade admits, leaning her head against his shoulder "God, by worrying about our whole relationship blowing up, I almost blew up the relationship."
"S'okay, we fixed it." Beck reminds her as he kisses her temple "Hey, remind me to call my mom in the morning, okay?"
"Oh no..." Jade groans "Don't bring it up, she'll hate me for it."
"I don't think she will."
"Well even if she doesn't, it'll make our next encounter super awkward." She sighs "Seriously, Beck. Can we just let it be? Like I said, I don't think she meant it in a negative way. I think she really did mean it as a genuine compliment."
"Alright, if you don't want me to...then I won't."
"Thank you."
"C'mere..."
Beck wraps his arms around Jade's body and lays back against the couch, pulling her on top of him. She shifts a bit so that they're chest to chest, her head resting comfortably against his chest, while one arm wraps around his neck and the other falls to the side. This is one of their most frequented positions, usually when they're watching something on TV. Being close to one another brings them both comfort as they come down from the stress of the otherwise tense evening. They lay like that for a while, neither one of them speaking, just comforted by each other's presence and the beat of each other's hearts.
"I love you." Jade eventually whispers
"I love you too." Beck responds as he rubs her back gently "I promise, you'll never lose me."
"Okay, good."
Jade is extremely grateful for her boyfriend's reassurance and understanding. It would have been so easy for him to lose his cool with her, like he almost did initially when he thought she might be cheating, but he stayed very calm throughout her whole spiral. Whenever she needs him, he's there for her...no matter the circumstance. It's no wonder she had been so scared to lose him, he's her everything. She wants him and only him for the rest of her life, no doubt.
"Hey Beck?"
"Hm?"
"I think we should get married."
"I think so too." Beck agrees "I thought we decided that a while ago though?"
"We did." Jade nods "But I meant like...soon."
He had been right when he said that they've been doing things their own way, and that way has been working for them. They already live together, the only way to take their relationship further would be to get married or have a baby...and Jade knows for certain they are not ready to bring another human life into this world. Marriage though...that they can handle.
"Are you proposing?"
"No." Jade laughs, sitting up so they can make eye contact "No, I think I'm still traditional enough that I want you to be the one to ask me. But...I'm ready whenever you are."
"Really?" Beck grins, taking her hand "You wanna get married?"
"I think I do, yeah."
"You think, or you know?"
"I know."
"Well shit..." Beck laughs "I think we're gonna get married."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Jade can't stop herself from throwing her body back on top of her boyfriend, pressing a kiss to his lips with the utmost passion. Was it typical? No. But are they doing it in a way that works for them? Absolutely.
"Wait." Beck stops her "I'm a bit traditional too. I want to ask your dad first."
He had promised John months ago at Jade's graduation ceremony that if the thought of proposing ever crossed his mind, he would seek out John's blessing first. He has a good relationship with his girlfriend's father, and he doesn't want to damage it in any way. Asking for a blessing, while a bit old-fashioned, is absolutely necessary in Beck's mind.
"I...fair enough." Jade nods "That's fine."
He'll give Beck permission, there's not a doubt in Jade's mind. She's unaware of the conversation her father and boyfriend had already had six moths ago when she graduated, and that the idea has already been brought up. She is aware of how much she means to her father though, and how much he'll appreciate Beck's asking for his blessing.
"You can help me pick out the ring, okay?" Beck offers "If you're going to wear it on your finger for the rest of your life, it should be something you actually like."
"I couldn't agree more." Jade smirks "Wait, you'll still ask me though...right?"
"Of course I will."
"Okay, good."
"This is cause for a celebration." Beck announces, standing up from the couch
He scoops Jade up in his arms, causing her to laugh as he begins carrying her towards their bedroom.
"This night has taken such a turn." She can't help but laugh
"It has." Beck agrees with a smirk "But if this is how it's going to end? I wouldn't have it any other way."
"I love you." She tells him "Forever."
"Me too." He smiles, pecking her quickly on the lips before setting her down on the bed "Forever and a day."