Disclaimer;
Looks like I still don't own Victorious. (Hm.)
Warnings;
This fanfiction contains femslash - Jade and Tori. Fair warning right here; from this chapter on, there could be mature/adult content. This fanfiction is rated M for a reason. If you don't like this pairing, femslash, or adult situations in general, you probably don't wanna read this.
Author's Note;
Back with another update. If you knew me in real life, this would be shocking; I'm normally the world's worst procrastinator.
Well, I've been away from home for about a week now, so I've been finding enormous amounts of time to sit down and write. Honestly, it's a stress reliever and a great deal of fun. For some reason, I can't stop writing on this fanfiction. So, for the time being, I hope you can enjoy some Jori.
Also, this chapter might disappoint, but I have my reasons for setting things up in a certain way. But I hope you'll like part three anyway. (And honestly, I'm not sure how many more parts it's going to take for me to tell the rest of the story.)
And once more, thank you for all the reviews, favorites, alerts - and of course, for even reading this. I'm truly thankful.
Can't Stop
Part Three
The night before had damn near been a disaster.
Tori had gotten home and quietly tried to sneak through the living room and to her own bedroom, but her parents were standing in the kitchen watching her. Immediately she was spotted, and as she tried to tell them she was going to change, her plans to conceal that mark on her neck were thwarted.
Apparently, it was half-past six and their reservations were at a quarter til seven, and if they weren't out the door that second, they would be late. She made the excuse of needing to go to the bathroom, and rushing upstairs and before the mirror, she hauled open the drawers and began digging for some concealer and powder, and immediately, she began masking the dark bruise just below her jaw.
Her parents called out for her, and she hollered "just a second" a few times to try to calm them. But as she was putting her makeup back in the drawer, the door to the bathroom flew open, and Tori instantly reached up for the side of her neck instinctively, as she hadn't quite blended the coverage on the mark.
"What are you -" Trina stopped. Narrowing her eyes and trying to get a look at what was under her hand, she moved closer, grasping Tori's wrist and attempting to pull it away. As Tori's face changed into a bright hue of deep pink, Trina's lips curled into a cheshire grin. "You have a hickey."
"Shut up," Tori said, embarrassed as she removed her hand. The dark spot was no longer visible unless you were actually looking for it in that exact spot, but the makeup needed to be blended better, as it left a patch of powdery-looking skin. She rubbed it in as her sister began to bombard her with questions, and finally, she shoved past her, making her way down the stairs and to her waiting parents with a rather flustered Trina behind her.
And so in choosing her outfit for school the next day, she opted for a rather convenient purple velvet choker that Trina had found in her rather extensive collection of accessories, and although it wasn't something that Tori would normally wear, it was wide enough to cover the spot without looking incredibly conspicuous as a bandage or high-collared shirt would, (as the springtime was bringing in a new wave of heat in LA.)
Shutting her locker, she nearly jumped at the sight of Jade leaning against the metal door next to her, her right brow arched slightly as she looked over the little brunette in front of her. The smile on her (luscious) lips told Tori that she was, indeed, incredibly amused by the effect of her actions the day before.
"I like that choker," the blue-eyed girl said, chuckling slightly. "It makes me think of you as my pet."
Tori's face was burning once more, (and it certainly seemed as if it were happening more often lately.)
"It's Trina's," Tori spat, trying her best to not let her embarrassment show. "And I'm not your pet."
Jade snorted, ignoring the part about Trina, as she wasn't pleased with herself for having liked something that came out of her wardrobe, (although she hadn't seen the girl ever wear it.) And then, as though she were remembering the afternoon before, she gave a subtly devious look, her eyes wandering down to the side of Tori's neck where she had so carelessly allowed herself to suckle the flesh and leave her mark on the girl for all to see without that little choker around her neck.
The dark-haired girl came a little closer, and in little more than a whisper she said, "You are my pet - and I think you like it."
Tori attempted to hide her face as Jade gave a smug grin, grabbing her by the wrist and leading her off. No one in the halls paid them any attention as it had become somewhat of a custom for one of these two to drag the other across the halls and to the janitor's closet. Jade opened the door and pulled the other girl inside, and as she closed the door behind her, she looked over her shoulder at the brunette with a hungry look in her eyes.
Immediately, Tori's wrists were against the wall behind her beside the shelves, pinned by the fingers with slightly chipped dark nail polish, and Jade's mouth was hovering over Tori's. The brown-eyed girl felt a heat growing in her chest, and as Jade finally closed the distance between them, she allowed herself to melt into the feel of her silky lips against her own thinner ones. Almost impatiently, Jade slipped her tongue between Tori's lips, causing her to gasp; the blue-eyed girl took the opportunity to capture the other girl's tongue.
Tori couldn't help but feel dirty as the girl's tongue began to invade her mouth, but though the sensation was strange, it was incredibly hot, and she began to let out little whimpering sounds as they continued. Jade made a sound similar to a growl, and after a moment, she drew away from her before moving to place those hot, wet kisses down the side of her jaw.
"Jade..." Tori began, gasping as the girl's tongue slipped out over that sensitive skin just below the side of her jaw. "Should we... here...?"
Jade smiled against her skin. "Why not?" And then, moving so that her breath was now tickling Tori's ear, she whispered to her, "I want you right now."
By the time Tori could come up with any more protests, the blue-eyed girl's hands were slipping behind the brunette's neck, unfastening the choker. She set it aside on the shelves and moved so that she could have access to the spot where the blood had risen to the skin. Jade dipped her head in and placed a warm, delicate kiss there, as if, in her own way, apologizing for having left it there.
After paying it some attention, she moved herself lower still so that she was bent over Tori's collarbone, where she nipped and lightly suckled the skin there, exposed by Tori's low cut shirt. Her hands had made their way down and were now running up and down the sides of the brown-eyed girl's midsection, slipping closer and closer still to Tori's breasts, causing the pinned girl to whimper in desperation to be touched.
Jade's hands had found their way under the hem of the girl's shirt and were now working their way up, feeling Tori's flat stomach before tickling lightly under her bra, which nearly drove Tori insane. Her blouse had slipped up along with the dark-haired girl's hands, allowing the cool air to tickle at her skin as her hands made their way closer and closer to her chest.
Finally, one of Jade' hands brushed over her right breast, and Tori gasped as the girl's teeth nipped at her collarbone at the same time. She whimpered something hardly audible, and Jade's lips curved into a smile as she softly suckled at the skin there. As Tori's lids fluttered open, she found a pair of bright turquoise eyes staring straight back at her, and at the sight, she felt something inside her core come ablaze.
"What was that, Vega?" Jade asked, and to Tori, the authority on her face had never looked sexier. The girl with blue-streaks moved up so that her lips were just below Tori's, and staring straight into those deep chocolate eyes, she challenged the girl.
When Tori didn't respond, Jade teasingly swept her hand over the lacey fabric that covered her breast, and the brunette whimpered, arching her back in attempt to press her chest into the girl's hand.
"What do you want?" Jade asked, her voice low, assertive; demanding. "Tell me."
Her fingers lightly teased the skin through that thin material, and finally, Tori nearly shuddered.
"Please," she began, her eyes lightly lidded and her brows pressed, "touch me there."
As if satisfied, Jade's hand pressed into her, and she began to knead her breast, and Tori gasped, her breath suddenly catching. She leaned her head back, and Jade's tongue swept out and over the skin beneath her chin, and Tori had to clasp a hand over her mouth to keep from groaning.
Jade's fingers pinched her now-hardened nipple, and Tori bit into her own hand in an attempt to keep quiet. The heat in her core had moved lower, and now she was beginning to feel a throbbing stirring between her legs, and she shifted her hips for some sort of relief. As if Jade had sensed Tori's growing need, she moved so that her thigh was now between the girl's legs and pressed closer to her.
"Oh God," Tori sighed, her voice hardly muffled by her hand. Her hips instinctively bucked into the other girl, causing her to slide over Jade's thigh and sending a shot of pleasureable sensation through her body. She couldn't help the sounds escaping her throat, and her hands were now gripping into the fabric of Jade's shirt as she began to move herself over the girl's leg.
This was the farthest Tori had ever been with anyone; in fact, this was quite a bit further than she'd been before. She had imagined doing this before - well, not like this. Not in the janitors' closet at the risk of someone unknowingly walking in to find a girl desperately grinding herself against another. And what if it was Andre? Or worse - what if it was Beck? Or Cat?
Tori abandoned all of these worries and all other thought as she began to feel herself reach a new sort of heat and pressure between her legs and a new sensation in her lower abdomen.
"Jade. . ." Her voice was desperate and came to the blue-eyed girl as a plea for relief.
Suddenly, Jade's leg was away from her, and Tori found herself trying to follow it. Opening her eyes, she found Jade staring intently at her as she backed away, looking rather cocky. Tori realized for the first time that her breath had become shallow and had come faster, and as she attempted to catch her breath, she felt that amazing feeling between her thighs dying down.
"Why did you...?" Tori's voice drifted off.
"You were being too loud," Jade replied, her brow arching in amusement. "Someone could hear you in the hall."
Tori turned away to hide the embarrassment that was now playing on her face, but Jade's hand came up, gripping her chin between her index finger and thumb and turning the girl to face her once more. Then, moving herself closer to the girl, she parted her lips, drawing in Tori's own breath.
"Consider us even - after last night," the dark haired girl murmured, and Tori remembered what she had said then when she'd had to leave to eat with her family - "You get me all worked up and then we get interrupted again." Tori could have slapped herself, as she now knew exactly what that had done to Jade, and the unsettling need to be touched was beginning to cause her to hurt.
"But don't worry; I'll wear you out tonight," Jade spoke with finality before placing a kiss on Tori's lips that felt painfully empty compared to the ones she'd given her earlier.
Jade backed away and was moving toward the door, and turning the handle, she chuckled as she cast a glance over her shoulder to Tori, who was leaned against the wall, working to regain her composure. Finally, Jade made her way out of the closet, straightening her blouse and hair as she made her way down the hall to her first class of the day.
By the time Tori's heartbeat was back to a normal pace, several minutes had passed. She remembered the mark that was still on her neck, and as she turned to the shelf where Jade had placed her choker, she realized that it was no longer there, and that Jade could very easily be a sly and sneaky little bitch.
Tori groaned as she felt the wetness between her legs and realized that she would either have to ask Jade to return her only protection from others' scrutinizing gazes on her neck, or she would have to ditch school for the day.
x-x-x
Jade had long since stopped even listening to the man speaking at the front of the class. He was a younger man who looked fresh out of college with wide-rimmed glasses and a hat that screamed "hipster" placed on his head slightly awkwardly, and for some reason, Jade got the feeling that he was going to be some sort of big shot some day. Something about him was charismatic, (although Jade opted for calling him metrosexual instead,) and by the way he would look you in the eyes when he spoke, gesturing with his hands in appropriate time with the words he said, it was obvious to her that he was some sort of socialite.
Any other day, she would have listened - hung on to his every last word, perhaps even scribbled down a note or two with the names of contacts or ideas that seemed so innovative - but today, her mind was elsewhere.
Tori had sent a text asking rather tentatively for the choker, and Jade had simply replied, "Come and get it if you want it."
Since Tori had not shown up in the hallways or in the classes they shared, the dark-haired girl guessed that she'd gone home to see if she could find something else with which to hide that mark on her neck. Jade had seemingly shrugged things off as if they were nothing - like that mark was just something she'd placed there on her neck in the heat of a moment, and that it wouldn't bee noticed by anyone, and that no one would care. But to her, it was much, much more than that.
To Jade, this was a symbol of her own rebellion; claiming her freedom from the two people who had made up so much of her life for so long. She had left her mark on someone else, and she had made this girl her own. If Beck saw that mark, he would know immediately; and he would read it as Jade had intended. "I'm over you." Cat, on the other hand, would not quite understand, but she did have a way of getting the information she needed. Smiling, Jade realized the little airhead would probably get answers directly from the source, as Tori, too, had a soft-spot for little Cat, and it had become incredibly hard to keep anything from her. But then, she wondered, what would that do to them - Cat and Jade? Would that put an end to things - would that become the final blow?
Jade shrugged and decided she didn't care if it hurt the redhead. She was still sore at her - Cat wasn't coming around much anymore, and when she did, it was as if all she had to talk about was her latest obsession in boys, which, for the moment, seemed to be Andre, (and who would have guessed that?) Cat was over her interest in Jade. Perhaps her affection had come to a halt when the danger of being "caught" by the blue-eyed girl's boyfriend was no longer present, and that had taken edge away from the forbidden romance they had been carrying on for so long, (for what, six months now? Eight? Jade couldn't bring herself to recall.)
And of course, there was Beck.
Beck. Though she couldn't quite come to say she hated him so passionately, there was a place in her heart that truly did - that sincerely wanted to watch him suffer, as he had caused her to. H should have come after her. He should have been out that door before she even counted to the number three, and he should have taken her into his arms and kissed her and reassured her that things were going to be all right. And when Jade had needed him so desperately, to help her keep that dwindling flame of her affection alive, he had failed her. Purposely. And now, she decided, she hated him, and she wanted to see that he realized how strong she had become and just how independent of him she truly was. But how could she prove that?
Tori was so inconveniently convenient.
Yes, for some time now, Jade had been watching her subconsciously; her every move closer noted, every glance in her direction embedded in her mind. But when the time had come that Jade was without the people she'd held closest to her heart for all that time, Tori was there. She was right before her, willing to close the gap between them, ready to become her newest and most intriguing infatuation - her latest distraction.
But Jade had a way about her that made everything around her work for her. Without even realizing it, she had a way of using the people she was close to. It wasn't that she meant to, but Jade was an incredibly resourceful person, and everything around her served purpose beyond an emotional connection. Beck was her shield; Cat was her haven; and Tori. . .
Tori was her outlet.
Whether it was feelings of burning hatred or of gentle affection, Tori was the one who took the blunt of it. Jade could come barging into her house with tear-stained cheeks and the brunette would take her in, regardless of the cause of the breakdown, never questioning the need Jade felt to come to her first. The girl with those loving hands would go so far as to stroke the other's wavy hair if it wasn't for the glares that the dark-headed girl shot in her direction at the closeness, (as at the time of her last break down, her policy had been different - keep Vega at arm's length.) Hell, she guessed that she could hurl a pair of scissors in her direction and Tori would take the hit if it calmed the raging storm inside the blue-eyed animal. Because that's just what Tori did. She was the masochist - the lover of the pain and the unsteadiness and the dangerous path they walked. She was the only receiving end of the blows that only Jade could deal, and although Jade hadn't tried to dwell on it, it hurt her chest and her head knowing in the back of her mind that Tori was simply her plaything.
Even with all these thoughts of self-hatred and revenge swirling violently around in her head, she couldn't help but relish the feelings of affection that were beginning to grow, like some seed after a hard and unforgiving winter. And it was unnatural, these feelings of want - no, need - that were beginning to well up in her heart. A hunter should never fall in love with her prey, nor a warrior with her enemy, nor a queen with her slave, as it would surely throw the cycle off balance; and yet, she found that when she was alone with Tori, giving her physical displays of emotion through her hands and lips and eyes and words, it all felt so incredibly natural to her.
And although it was too sick and unsettling to call "love," Jade realized that Tori was gaining ground. And soon enough, Jade would have given herself up to this little thing of beauty that she had tortured and cursed and tried her damnedest to hate for so long.
"God damnit," she whispered aloud, and thankfully, the only one who had heard her was Cat, who was sitting next to her.
Cat, the ditzy but amazingly talented little redhead, was not even half as dumb as she put on, and when she caught the swear escaping Jade's lips, she knew immediately that something had been happening, somewhere beyond her, somewhere outside of her reach. She felt her heart twist into ungodly knots and curls inside her chest, and looking down at her hands in her lap, she bit her tongue to keep herself from pouring her heart out to the girl beside her.
And she couldn't help but wonder behind those pained doe eyes - "When did she stop telling me everything?"
x-x-x
Jade knocked on the door. She'd decided to go for a visit during lunch to see if she could catch up with Tori, who, as far as she knew, had gone home earlier in the day. There was silence behind the door, and she supposed the girl could be taking a nap up in her room or wasn't at home at all, but she continued knocking, calling her name out once or twice before sighing. Pulling her phone out of her purse, she dialed Tori's number and listened as it rang.
"Jade?" Tori's voice came over the phone.
"I'm at your house. Are you here?" Jade asked plainly, twisting a few strands of her own hair with her finger as she listened to the sound of running water in the background.
"Yeah," Tori replied, almost laughing. "I'm in the shower. The key's under the window."
"Alright, I'll be there in a second," Jade murmured, pressing the red button and ending the call. She moved to the right of the door and to the window, where the blinds were closed. She ran her hand under the windowsill until her fingers slipped over cold metal, and pulling it from the little crevice there, she gave a satisfied smirk.
After closed the door behind her, she set the key on the cofee table and listened closely to the pitter patter of water coming from upstairs. And, as she had expected, there was a low, soft sound of music playing from a radio, and Tori was singing along with it.
Jade made her way up the stairs, looking at a few portraits of the girls on the walls on her way up, before she took a right and turned so that she was outside the bathroom. She could hear Tori's voice humming the tune of the instrumental now playing, and with a small smile coming to her face, the dark-haired girl took a seat, leaning against the door as she simply listened, mouthing the words when the singer's voice started up again.
It was an upbeat song, and a challenging one to sing. There was such a wide range of pitches that she was amazed how well Tori could keep up with them, hitting the notes, never flat. Even having attended a school full of amazingly talented performers for so long now, Jade couldn't help but feel invigorated by the sound of Tori's voice - of Cat's - of her own. She felt something close to a thrill when the three of them sang together, as they had for Christmas; it was just them. They were the only ones who mattered, for that time, no matter how short, no matter how unimportant. It was just a harmonic sound of their three voices combining to create something beautiful.
And it had been a while since she'd heard Cat sing, and although Tori could be caught singing just about any time, anywhere, there was something quietly spectacular about hearing her when the two of them were alone together, as if her voice was meant only for Jade's ears. And even here, with a door separating the two of them, Jade found that their voices fit so perfectly together.
When had she started singing out loud?
The song ended, and Tori had stepped out of the shower and was at the door, having been listening to the girl outside of it, (though leaving the water running, causing Jade to think she was still in the shower.) She stood there by the door for a moment with a large, unrestrained smile on her face.
"You could've told me you were here," she said, and she listened as Jade scrambled against the wooden door to get to her feet. "I would've gotten out for you."
The closeness of the girl's voice had surprised her, and as she leaned against the wall, she couldn't help but feel a thrill come over her at the image of Tori's naked form on the other side of the door.
"No, go ahead and finish," she replied, and a grin came over her face when she heard the lock click after a slightly hesitant silence.
After a moment, she heard the shower curtain close again, and Jade quietly turned the doorknob. Opening the door slowly, she held her breath, unsure of what she might find; but all she could see was a plume of steam rising from over the curtain and between the edges and the walls.
She took a seat at the stool Tori had set up for her morning makeup routine, (which, honestly, she didn't need at all - the girl could have dirt and mud in her hair and on her face and still look like some kind of unworldly goddess,) and began to shift through the drawers idly. She heard an excess of water dropping to the floor, and turning to face the curtain, she said, "What kind of shampoo do you use?"
Tori gave a snort. "Herbal Essences. Nothing special."
Jade's lips curved into a wide smile as she replied, "It smells great."
Tori was rinsing the shampoo from her hair as she laughed, trying not to allow that heat she'd felt earlier that day to come over her again. After she worked all the stuff out of her hair, she reached for the conditioner, which was sitting on the edge of the tub behind the curtain. Without thinking it through, she opened the curtain only slightly, but it was enough to allow Jade a peak at her from behind it. Tori's eyes caught sight of the dark-haired girl's smile, and immediately, she shut the curtain to the shower, and the half-empty conditioner bottle went flying.
"Are you teasing me, Vega?" Jade's voice came over the sound of the running water.
"I don't - no, I wasn't!" Tori had become flustered over what had just happened, although at most, Jade had only seen what she'd felt earlier that day. The sensation going through her veins was still hot like fire, causing her cheeks to turn into a deep shade of red, and although she knew Jade couldn't see her now, she felt as though the girl's eyes were boring holes into her skin.
"Don't be so prude, Tori." Her voice almost a purr, and Tori could feel her drawing nearer as her shadow appeared from behind the curtain. "Besides... I'm sure you look fine."
Tori was hiding her face in her hands, turned so that she was facing the corner of the shower. She was nervous; yes, she'd unlocked the door. She'd wanted things to go further and she'd wanted things to start moving between them again, because God, earlier that day. . . Jade had made her feel so damn good, and she had still been fully clothed.
The next words that came from Jade's mouth were hesitant, as if she had carefully thought over it. And with her voice low but genuine, she said to her through the shower curtain, "You really are beautiful, you know."
This was one of those fleeting moments where Tori got a look at a part of Jade that was rarely exposed - especially to her. Normally, Jade had her walls up, her defenses at the ready, and she was some sort of untouchable force that, as far as the brunette knew, only Beck could reach. And even then, she'd seen what had become of them as a couple; fighting, screaming at each other in front of their friends, until finally, Jade had given him that single chance. And, although Trina had delayed him, he'd had the choice, and he'd made the decision to let her go.
But here she was now, her feelings now wide open to the girl now covering herself in the shower as though she were afraid that Jade wouldn't like what she saw.
"Jade," Tori said, and with her hands gripping the side of the curtain, she closed her eyes and ripped it open.
Nothing happened but the chill of the outside air enveloping her wet skin.
When she opened her eyes, she found that Jade was about to close the door to the bathroom.
"Wait," she called, stepping out of the tub to go after her. The closing of the door stopped, and immediately the brunette went to cover herself. When Jade glanced backward at the girl, Tori caught the slightest of smiles on the girl's lips. "I just..."
"Just what?" Jade asked almost playfully, turning to face her. Tori grabbed a towel from off the counter using the hand which had covered her breasts, and as the dark-headed girl got a good look at what she'd been feeling up that morning, she couldn't help but allow the smallest of smirks to overtake her features.
Tori covered herself with the towel, and sighing, she said, "Don't leave without me."
"You coming back to school?" she asked, her eyes inspecting the girl's legs, exposed by the short width of the towel. "Finish up and get dressed, then. I'll be downstairs."
She moved out of the room, closing the door behind her, and Tori just about sank to the ground.
Finally, the opportunity to show some sort of confidence - some sort of desire - had been thwarted by her own inhibitions, and as she stepped back into the shower, she couldn't help but swear at herself for being such a coward. She wanted to tell herself that Jade would like what she saw; the girl had even told her she was beautiful, that she would look fine, and in her own way, that she could never hate what Tori had to offer. And still, she had found that she was still too scared to take this step forward, and again, she found that she expected Jade to what she so desperately wanted for her.
So this wasn't just a thing of morality - it was a thing of trust.