Two weeks pass. Jade and Beck don't get back together, Jade doesn't show up on his door step, and he's grateful for both honestly. Hope demands more and more of his time until he's spending practically every second with her and has seriously considered jumping out the window of her penthouse. The only reason he doesn't is a conversation they had the day after she asked him out:

"So, you're going to write me a song for my birthday."

"Sure thing babe, when is it?"

"Saturday after next, I'm having a big party at Nozu and everyone is going to be there. And you had better write me an amazing song."

He figures it's best for everyone involved not to mention that every song he could write about Hope was crap and he ended up writing another one about Jade.

He's just getting home after Hope's party when a black car pulls up and honks.

"Harris! Come with me, I want coffee," Jade yells out the window.

"You can't get it by yourself," he yells back.

She shrugs indifferently, "Sorry, just thought you might want to come."

He knows it's a bad idea, but wanders over anyway, "24 hour place on Sunset?"

"You know your coffee, Harris?"

"No, but I've heard you screaming about how much you hate that place."

She nods, "I do. But the only other coffee place open at midnight is three hours away and I'll take it you're not down with that. You coming or not?"

He gets in the car, she smirks and pulls out of the driveway. They drive the ten minutes without taking, some sad, belty song playing on the radio.

Once inside, she orders a black coffee and he orders a latte, feeling lame, but it's not like he drinks a lot of coffee, so, whatever.

"Kind of a girly drink, no?" She says as she slowly stirs two packets of sugar into her cup.

"I don't like coffee that much."

She just raises her eyebrows and takes a sip, "Ugh, this is awful."

"Yeah, so, why did you want to get coffee with me at midnight?"

She shrugs, "I don't know, I just didn't want to go home and I didn't want to sneak past your grandmother."

"Why didn't you want to go home?"

"I saw Beck tonight," he's not sure if she's changing the subject or not.

He's not really sure how to respond to that. Oh really? Well, I broke up with my girlfriend, who got hit in the head with a sushi sign, and oh, yeah, I sang another song about you. Yes, another one. There have been previous songs about you.

Something clicks, "Wait, didn't you have a date tonight? It said so on the Slap... Are you and Beck going out again?"

"Oh, no, that wasn't true," she says bluntly, "I was trying to make him jealous. It didn't work."

"So what we're you doing?"

"Dog-sitting with Cat," she rolls her eyes, "We, well, I, broke a ton of shit and she invited Robbie to fix it because that makes sense and he brought Beck."

"That sounds awkward..." he trails off, why is he her relationship therapist now? Isn't this a position Tori should be dying to wiggle into? Why him?

"It was, it was. So, I decided I could go home and stare at my walls and feel things, or I could get coffee."

"I see..." he's feeling really awkward now.

"Calm down, Harris, I'm not going to bite you. Or kiss you for some creepy goon's enjoyment. You'd taste like latte anyway."

"Yeah, that shit was weird."

She smirks, "Tell me about it. You auditioning for the spring play?"

"No, I was thinking about doing the music instead..."

They somehow lapse into easy conversation about acting, the upcoming plays, and the handful they've been in together. He finds himself relaxing and enjoying himself. Jade turns out to be weirdly easy to talk to if she's in the mood to talk to you and late-night coffee becomes a weird weekly tradition. Over the nights that follow, they talk about everything - classes, dreams, hobbies - except his ever-growing crush on her and Beck. She complains about the shit coffee every time but never suggests going anywhere else. He suspects its because Beck hates this place just as much as she does and they'll never run into him here.

She comes in one night half an hour late and dripping wet, groaning as she collapses into the chair. "I'm going to kill Cat."

"That why you're late?"

"Ughhh, Tori made me drive them to this dead actress's house in San Diego so we could light a candle. Except Cat is an idiot and she was totally alive and sprayed us with a squirt gun. And Cat's brother's car doesn't have a roof, so..." she motions to the storm still raging outside.

"No 'Hey Andre, I'll be late' text?"

She pulls out her phone, "It doesn't work. Water."

"Oh, yeah, that would be a problem."

"Yeah, she leans back, sipping at the now-luke warm coffee he bought her, "So, what'd you do tonight?"

"Erm," he does not want to bring up Beck, "Played a prank on Trina."

"Why?"

"You didn't hear the rumors?"

"I haven't really been hanging out on the quad lately."

"You know, you don't have to eat in the janitor's closet. You can sit with us and it wouldn't be like, super awkward."

"Yeah, whatever," she rolls her eyes, "What rumors? Did Trina get the clap?"

"No, but that would be the only applause she would ever get," he is desperately trying to change the subject.

"Hilarious. No, but really."

"She was spreading rumors that Beck asked her out."

She slams her coffee down, "He did not."

"Calm down, he didn't. Trina was just being an idiot. So, we staged this whole thing, there were puppets."

She seems sort-of lost and he doesn't know what to do so they just sit there in silence for a few minutes. He finishes his latte, she sips at the coffee and stares off into space.

After a while he can't take it anymore, "You okay?"

She blinks, "Oh, yeah, whatever."

"You wanna cut it short tonight? It can't be comfortable in the wet clothes."

"No, no, I can't go home. My dad's having a party," she sips at the coffee again, "I'm a horrible guest, so, no going home until after two for me tonight."

"They expect you to just stay out until two?"

"Yeah, well, it was never an issue before."

They're veering back into Beck territory, so he says the first thing that pops into his head, "You wanna come back to my place and take a shower?"

"You serious?"

"Yeah, why not?"

She shrugs, "Yeah, that would work."

She follows him back to his house and, not under the influence of alcohol this time, expertly tip-toes up the stairs, and his grandma stays asleep. He motions to his room and walks down the hall to grab fresh towels out of the linen basket.

"Okay, so, here you go," he hands her the towels, "Soap and shampoo are in there, let me know if you need anything."

She nods and goes in the bathroom, emerging a few seconds later wearing only a towel and holding her pants, "Do you have a dryer you could throw these in?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah, I can do that," he frantically looks anywhere but at her and oh god, Jade West is almost naked in his bedroom, "You need anything else? What about your, uh, shirt?"

"Can't go in the dryer... can I borrow that," she motions to a t-shirt on his bureau.

"Uh, yeah, sure, you take that."

"Thanks," she smiles at him, or smirks, he's not sure, and goes into his bathroom. He sneaks downstairs, throws her clothes in the dryer, and spends the next twenty minutes freaking out because he just saw Jade West in a towel, and messing around on the piano, listening to the water run and her occasionally singing a line of a song.

When he hears the water stop, he runs downstairs and gets her pants, handing them to her when she sticks her hand out of the door. A few minutes later, she comes out, wearing her pants and his t-shirt, her hair pulled off her face in a drippy ponytail. He realizes he's never seen her without makeup before - she looks different, younger, but still really really pretty.

"Thanks," she says, he's just sort-of staring at her really, "I'll bring the shirt back."

"Uhh, that's cool," she grabs her bag and turns to leave, "Same time next week?"

"Yeah, I'll be there. Good night Andre."

Between seeing her in a towel, her wearing his shirt, and the rare use of his first name, he has some dreams that night that definitely push him into the bad best friend territory.