A.N. I hope my depiction of Jade is not to OOC.

Perfectly ruined date

Beck parked his car in front of Jade's house and got up to the front door. He was dressed in his other nice suit and was holding a single black rose for Jade. Jade was not a girl you gave flowers to. Not unless you wanted them to end up as sad, wet confetti under the scissors Jade seemed to carry always with her. But Beck had found, after several unfortunate trials and errors, her weak spot. Even Jade could not say no to a single black rose. Instead of Mrs. West, Jade opened the door. She wore an elegant black strapless dress with her hair pulled up, revealing her porcelain neck and shoulders, on her ears sparkled a pair of her mother's diamond earrings. The effect was remarkable and Beck felt himself smile while he presented the black rose.

"A flower for the lady." She took the flower and one of her few non sarcastic or sardonic smiles formed on her lips. Beck loved those moments in which Jade's softer side came out.

"Aren't you sweet. Okay Don Juan, what have you cooked up?" she smirked at him inhaling the aroma of the rose.

"First, a diner at your favorite restaurant and then I got tickets for that noir film you wanted to take me to see with you so much." He told her while she put the rose in a small vase by the door. They left the house and got in Beck's car.

"How come, you answered the door?" Beck asked. "Usually your mother answers the door and look judgingly at your outfits, which I love by the way."

"They are out and won't come home at well past midnight." Jade smiled suggestively. "If you deliver on this date, there might be a private after party."

"I will do my best." Beck promised emphatically. Yes, this was really one of his better ideas. After tonight he will banish the dreams of Tory from his head. After all he didn't want to do the same thing his father had done. When Beck was ten years old his dad has had an affair for a short while. His mother had found out and his parents had separated for couple of months. They mended things up and now seemed to be happy together, but Beck couldn't forget how sad and brokenhearted his mom had been. He had promised himself that he will never do something like that to a girl he loved. Finally they reached the restaurant seated themselves on a secluded table for two. After they gave their orders, Jade sipped from her drink. Looked at Beck tentatively, as if hesitating whether or not to ask him something.

"How was your rehearsal?" She asked lightly.

"Normally for a first one. We had to clarify with Andre the lyrics and arrangement of the song." He carefully avoided mentioning Tori's name, so as to sidestep that mine. "How was yours, aside from the bad director?"

"Passably, the male lead might be even decent." Beck glanced at her curiously. Jade usually didn't have high opinion for her fellow actors in Hollywood Arts. Before Tory came along, she had the pick of the female leads. Much in the same way as Beck had for male ones. The fact that she was no longer guaranteed to get the role she wanted was, in Beck's pinion, one of the main reasons for her animosity towards Tori.

"I'm glad you have fun." Soon the waiter brought them their meals and they began dining. After the diner they decided to spend the time until the movie by taking a walk and enjoying the evening coolness. On their way to the cinema they passed a group of girls and Jade demonstratively kissed him. As if to show to the whole world that he was HER boyfriend. Mixed with the usual pleasure of the kiss Beck felt something unusual – irritation. He quickly dismissed it and both entered the cinema.

Usually he wasn't into this kind of movies and watched them as a way to spend time with Jade, but after the first half hour he began to get into the movie. He remembered the main reason he bought the tickets, making out with his girlfriend, only after her hail brushed his cheek. The heavy rich aroma of Jade's perfume reached him and he bend and buried his face in the crook of her neck. He slowly kissed his way up from her white gentle neck, thru her elegant jawline, to her full soft crimson lips. She moaned with desire and kissed him hungry. Forgetting about the movie they spend the second half of it in each other's arms. After the credits they both got into becks car in a very good mood.

"So, how did you like our evening together?" Beck asked with a gleam in his eye.

"I liked it very much. Even that annoying coupe in the cinema couldn't ruin it for me." Smiled back Jade.

"Oh, I think that for the second half of the movie we were the annoying couple."

"Yeah, I think you are right." Jade looked at him then looked away and asked. "Will you come tomorrow to watch me rehearse."

"What time?"

"Three, in the Black Box."

"Sorry, I have a rehearsal with Andre and Tori from half past two." Jade's looked at him with chagrin.

"Oh, come on just tomorrow. Our director won't be there and I will conduct the rehearsal."

"I'm sure you will enjoy it."

"Oh, so you think I'm bossy and controlling. Is that it?" Jade's blue eyes flashed dangerously.

"What? No I was just…" Beck tried unsuccessfully to calm her down while parking in front of her house.

"You can forget about the after party!" She jumped out of the car and marched angrily to her house door.

"But Jade, wait…" Beck tried desperately to salvage the date.

"Bye, Beck." Followed by a slammed door was his only answer.

He sighed and drove the car home. This was not the way he imagined the evening will end. Why did she have to blow off tonight? He looked in the mirror of his tiny RV bathroom, and asked himself, why it had to be so hard. Beck turned off the lamp and with a dejected sigh rested his head on the pillow.