A/N: OMG, I know it's been like... a millennium since I updated. And I haven't even seen Lizzie in Big Time Rush. I am the baddest crusher ever.
Anyway... Here's chapter 8 and yes! It is Tori POV. Do you see the cycle too?

Empty Space

Tori POV

I am so glad Cat is here, sitting between me and Jade. Though I love being around Jade, I don't think I could handle a sleep-over at my house with just her and me. Though I don't think we'd have a sleep-over if it wasn't for Cat. She's always planning these things on the most randomest of times and then she's the first to fall asleep. After only one movie – usually she wakes up half an hour later to watch another movie and the cycle starts again. Unless she's on an overdose of sugar. Which she kind of is right now, because Jade has the habit of shoving food in her mouth when she talks too much. It's pretty creepy and gross. I can't believe I once did that to Jade.

"Oeh, Tori, there's that the woman you like so much!" Cat is screaming in my ear, pointing at the television.

"Yes, Cat, I know. That's why we're watching this movie."

"You know you're supposed to watch a movie because of the storyline, not the actors, Vega." I have to say I really like this Jade. A combination of then and now. Kindness suits her.

"But Tori doesn't like the actors, she likes the actresses." Cat's talking to Jade and even though I told her already, I am still quite embarrassed. But seriously Cat, way to go. I sink down a little further on the couch.

"What'ya blushing for, Vega?" Jade's smile is evident in her voice.

"You got a little crush on Angie Harmon right there?" She's raising her eyebrow and I know she's just playing with me, but I can feel my cheeks getting red. Geez, I am twenty-three years old! Stop blushing, Vega! I look at Cat who's looking at me with expecting eyes. What? Is she seriously expecting an explanation? She's the one that makes me buy every movie Angie Harmon is in, because 'that's the pretty woman, right?'

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily say it's a crush, but... I mean, just look at her! She's 40 here! Have you ever seen a woman that beautiful at 40? Or any age for that matter?" Jade's looking at the screen now, which Cat paused at some point I can't remember. Her lips purse a little and she nods, agreeing with me. We stare at the screen for a while, then Jade rips the remote-control from Cat and presses 'play' again. Lucky for me I don't hear either of them for the remainder of the movie, though from the corner of my eye I see Jade glancing at me every once in a while. I pretend I don't notice, keeping my eyes fixed on the screen, but I wonder what she's thinking. We haven't been completely alone since that day in the park, we haven't really talked after that.

Cat lasted two and a half movies this time, it's 12:30 and I am suppressing some drowsiness myself. Apparently so is Jade, because she pauses the movie and stretches her arms above her head, yawning.

"Soooo," she says through the yawn, "Angie Harmon, huh? That your type?"

"What?" I am taken a little aback. I didn't really see that one coming. Angie Harmon was two and a half movie ago.

"If I am going to be your friend, I need to know that kind of stuff." I cock my head.

"Need to know?" I question.

"Yeah, so I can tease you with it." I laugh softly, not wanting to wake Cat and honestly too tired to fully laugh.

"But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay too." She shrugs her shoulders.

"No, it's okay. I want to talk about it." She nods her head and then we're silent again. It's a comfortable silence, no tension, it's not as if she's here unwanted. She even seemed to enjoy herself.

I guess I wandered off, because she's looking at me expectantly now. I shrug.

"I don't think I really have a type. I mean, I like you or I don't."

"No specific traits you're looking for? Like hair color or something, or personality?" She changes her position on my couch, sitting Indian-style, facing me, her arm on the backrest, supporting her head. I mimic her, looking right into her eyes. Her gaze is intense, interested. She's making an effort, she's trying to get to know me. She's letting me in.

"Let me re-phrase: what attracted you in your last girlfriend?" I can see her think after she says that, probably trying to analyze how that sounds. It's exactly what I did in the beginning. I think I've tried a thousand different ways to say that one word when I first started dating a girl. It was weird at first, now it feels comfortable, normal.

"She was sweet, with an edge to it. A little bit witty I guess." I stared off into the distance, looking into the past, trying to form the image in my head. I smiled.

"She had an eyebrow-piercing, just like you. On the same side even."

"So you like semi-sweet, witty girls with piercings?" I smiled at her summary, though I was hiding a little bit of shock behind that smile. Semi-sweet and witty sounded an awful lot like Jade. Like Jade now.

Is that what I look for in a person, in a girl? Jade? Was my crush on her in highschool so bad that she had become my type? My standard? Did I purposely look for the things I never found in her? The Jade I wanted to have, the one I couldn't get. The Jade I dreamed of. Was that what I was looking for?

Doesn't that make the Jade sitting in front of me perfect? She's nice and sweet, witty and funny. She makes me laugh, she makes me nervous. She's beautiful and confusing, illogical and amazing.

She is supposed to be my friend. Just my friend.

"I think it's about time you go to bed." Before I realize she's standing behind me, lifting my arms up, helping me off the couch. I yawn as I stretch, then make my way to clean things up as Jade drapes a blanket over Cat on the couch.

"I'll help you with that tomorrow." She says, as she grabs the half-filled bowl of popcorn from my hands and sets it down again. I can't help but stare for a second – I haven't been able to help myself for days.

"Yeah... I'll grab you something to wear. The guestroom is over there." She caught my attention by saying something, but I have absolutely no idea what it was. Probably my answer was of the right subject, because she simply nods and heads in the implicated direction. I quickly walk to my bedroom to grab her a pair of sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt. When I get to the guestroom, she's already laying on the bed. Her feet dangling from the edge, her arms thrown up above her: she's fully clothed, I chuckle.

"I am so comfortable. I'm seriously considering falling asleep like this."

"I don't think it would do much good to your back." She hums and sits up, accepting the clothing. I wish her goodnight, then turn around to leave again.

"Hey, Vega," I turn back around, "we have some important scenes tomorrow, so I at least expect you to listen to me." I can feel a blush creep up on my cheeks – again. Apparently my answers haven't been of the right subject. She smiles.

"Goodnight, Tori."

"Goodnight." I mumble back before I awkwardly leave.

Jade POV

I don't know if it was the softness of an unfamiliar bed or the knowing that she was sleeping in the room next to mine, but for the first time in weeks I really slept. I had fallen asleep almost instantly and I woke up almost three minutes ago completely rested and satisfied. My eyes are still closed, my limbs still a little numb and my mind still a little slow. There's a knock at my door and hum permission to enter, as I am still too tired to speak. I crack my eyes open just in time to see Tori's head pop in the room, her body hiding behind the door.

"Did I wake you?" Her voice is small, tired. I shake my head.

"Sunlight beat you to it. If you'd come three minutes earlier the honor would be all yours." I'm mumbling and I already know what response will be if she asks me to say that again, but surprisingly enough she heard me. Smiling, she enters the room, nervously playing with her hands, her bare feet massaging each other in turn.

"Mind if I join you?" I scoot to the right as I pull back the cover and pat the now empty space beside me. She makes her way to the bed and lays down against the pillow as I pull the sheets back over her. And then for a moment we just lay there; pressed against each other in a small bed, because neither of us feels like falling out. I close my eyes again, sighing. I should just tell her how my arm feels all tingly because hers is pressed against it, I should just tell her how my fingers are itching, wanting to grab hers. I should just tell her.

"Is Cat already awake?" And that has absolutely nothing to do with what I initially wanted to say to her, but I don't have the guts to spill the beans. I'm not the type of person to walk up to someone and tell them how I feel. I need an argument, one in which I'm being accused of God knows what, so I can say that's all not true with five simple words: I'm in love with you.

"No. And she won't be for another three hours. It's only 6 A.M."

"Ah." The silence returns again and it's eerily comfortable. It's easy, light. Not consuming or thick, like our silences used to be. It's the type of silence lovers share. Before they turn to smile at each other and softly graze their lips together. She turns her head to smile at me; it takes my breath away. It makes me want to kiss her, hold her. She softly pats my arm before she moves the cover back again and leaves the bed.

"I am going to make breakfast, you can shower if you want." And with that she's gone, leaving an empty space in the bed and my imagination.

Humming softly, she makes her way through the kitchen and as I come closer the scent of baked eggs hits my nostrils. I sit down on one of the chairs at her dining-table, watching her move around the small kitchen. I look around the house, something I didn't really do yesterday. It's not big, but it's enough for one person. There's a bookcase by the window, one shell filled with pictures and from a distance I notice our graduation picture. It's in a golden frame, surrounded by pictures of her family and friends. There's a picture of us. Beck took it that excruciatingly hot day at the beach.

"No, Vega, I won't sing a song with you." She uses her puppy dog eyes like always when she wants something.

"C'mon Jade, just one song. You can pick it."

"No." She slumps her shoulders in defeat, hangs her head and Beck's looking at me. I mouth a 'What?' and he turns around smirking.

"Fine. But I'll only sing the chorus with you." She shoots her head up, joy filling her eyes.

"What song, what song?" And suddenly she's bouncing up and down in a Cat-like manner. It's creeping me out.

"You pick one, but only if you stop bouncing." Then she stands straight up like a statue and the stupidity of it makes me smile. And that makes her smile and that makes Beck take a picture.

I don't remember her standing so close to me and I don't remember what song we sang. I believe it was something like-

Bread shoots from the toaster with a ping and I shoot from my chair with a bang as my knee hits the table and I'm cursing under my breath.

"Jade! You scared the chiz out of me." Tori's holding her hand above her heart, breathing rapidly.

"Yeah, and your toaster scared the chiz out of me." Behind us, Cat shifts on the couch mumbling. We both take it in as we hold our breaths, hoping we didn't wake her. And as soon as Cat's form relaxes again, Tori and I break out into a fit of laughter, followed by Tori shushing me and herself.

We eat breakfast talking about nothing, then leave a note for Cat before I offer to drive her to work.

A/N2: Okay, so I may have a crush on Angie Harmon too. Dude, I am crushing my life away, seriously. I have more crushes than friends... which is quickly accomplished.