Title: Who Knew
Chapter Fourteen: The Pool is Closed
Summary: When Tori Vega stopped talking to her long time best friend Jade West she never expected the heart break she felt, and now that she's found her again she wont let her go.
Rated: T for now, but possibly M later on. I'm not sure.
Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious, unfortunately.
One Chapter left! I hope you enjoy this one.
"Tori." Someone nudged my shoulder with a small hand, two times, sharp jabs. I rolled my shoulder away and cracked my eyes open, staring straight at a red car. I nearly jumped out of my skin, and then I realized that I was staring at Tyler's bed, "Earth to Tori! You're ice creams melting."
I turned my head toward my bowl which was, in fact, filled with melting ice cream, "Yeah…I guess it is. I'm really tired." I mumbled none the less I scooped up a spoonful of the melted mess and stuffed it in my mouth.
Tyler shrugged and set his bowl down next to me, curling up on his side and watching the movie though half closed eyes. It wasn't too much longer before he was snoring softly. I was as quiet as I could be as I collected our bowls, shut the movie off and –as an after thought- pulled his shoes off.
I stepped out of his room, pulled the door closed so it was open a crack and slowly walked down the hallway and the stairs. I could hear them talking, but I couldn't hear what they were saying, and I didn't know if I wanted to interrupt them so I started walking slower.
"Tori, you walk like an elephant." Jade called out, her tone filled with laughter. I shook my head, a smile tugging on the corners of my mouth, and stepped into the kitchen. Jade was sitting on a stool at the counter, scooping chocolate ice cream into her mouth while her dad sat on the other side of the counter with a nearly empty bowl, "Come join us. And get a bowl of ice cream, because I will not listen to you slurp that down."
I shrug my shoulders, set Tyler's bowl in the sink, rinse mine and get myself some more strawberry ice cream before I sit down next to Jade at the counter, "So Tori, how's school going for you?" her father asks, taking a spoonful of ice cream.
"It's interesting. Kind of crazy." I shrug one shoulder while scooping ice cream into my mouth.
"I heard about the movie you guys were doing. I can't wait to see it. Jade tells me you're quite the actress." My cheeks feel warm and I stare down at the pink ice cream in my bowl and don't reply.
Her father chuckles and I see him get up and cross the room, "you're welcome to stay here, Jade, but if you'd rather get away for awhile I completely understand. Just text me if you go to Tori's. Good night girls."
"Night." I call after him; Jade just nods her head scooping chocolate ice cream into her mouth silently. We hear her dads footsteps up the stairs and then down the hall and finally his door shuts, "So, still wanna go to my place?" she nods standing up with her bowl. I hand mine to her and she dumps them in the sink before turning to face me, "Grab your bag and we'll get going."
I slide off the stool and pull my keys out of my pocket before following Jade to the front door where she'd dropped her bag. She picks it up and slides it onto her shoulder, her eyes staring at her feet.
I step up to her and gently wrap my arms around her shoulders in a quick hug before pulling open her front door and looking out toward my car sitting in the driveway. She steps out the door behind me, pushing me slightly so I stumble ahead a few steps. She locks the door and then we head down to my car.
The drive to my house is silent and when I pull into my driveway Jade stares up at the door with wide eyes. I sigh and undo my belt, hand going for the door handle. Jade still hasn't moved.
I leaned toward her, "Jade." I whisper in her ear. She turns her head toward me, her eyes lingering on the door for a second before they meet mine. My hand cups her face and I kiss her quickly, "take a deep breath and open the door sweetheart." I lean away from her, open the door and slide out.
Jade's out of the car in a minute, grabbing my arm and pushing me against the car, her mouth crashing down on mine. Her mouth is warm and her hands on my hips burn through the cotton as she presses me against the door, her hands leaving my hips to cup my face and pull my closer.
Fireworks explode behind my eyes and everything that is Jade wraps the pair of us in a cocoon of her. My arms wrap around her waist and my hands flatten against her back as I hold her too me, and then the front door opens and we spring apart.
"You two can't do that inside?" Trina asks. She's standing in the doorway, hand on her hip that is cocked to the side while her eyebrow is raised in question, "Come on, some pervert might be watching you two. Take it in, take it in!" she steps out the door, grabs my arm and Jade's and pulls us into the house, slamming the door behind her and locking it, "Mom! Tori's back! She brought her girl friend!"
"Trina!" I squeak. Mom emerges from the back hallway, giving me a disapproving look.
"Victoria Marie Vega!" she yelled angrily, "What the hell were you thinking scaring me like that! It's been 3 hours and you still weren't home or answering your pho-." The words died on her lips as she finally came to a stop in front of Jade who was sniggering at the use to my full name, "Jade! Sweetie, what happened to your face?"
"Ah….family trouble." She said, ringing her hands together, "I'd rather not talk about it right now, but don't worry. It's all fixed." She gave my mom a winning smile, and for the first time in awhile it wasn't a forced smile.
"Alright sweetheart." She kissed the top of Jade's head and turned her eyes back to me, "and you, you better not ever do this to me again, do you understand me?"
"Yes ma'am. I'm sorry I made you worry mom, I just got caught up." Mom nodded, hugged me, and then waved Trina off before she, too, disappeared. Jade laughed softly once they were both gone and turned to me.
"Want anything before we go upstairs?"
"The only thing I want right now is a shower. I feel disgusting." She mutters. I shrug, take her hand and pull her up the stairs. I take her bag after she grabs a change of clothes and I go into my bedroom while she heads into the bathroom.
I toss her bag across the room and sit down on my bed, pulling my phone from my pocket and flicking the screen on. 10 missed calls from Mom, 6 from Andre, 4 from Cat, 5 from Beck and a bunch of texts.
I texted Andre to tell him something came up and I was sorry I ditched, I texted Cat back a sorry and I was about to text Beck when my phone buzzed and his name and picture flashed across my screen, I accepted the call.
"Hey Beck, I was just about to text you. What happened?" seeing all those calls from everyone kind of made me nervous.
"Nothing, nothing. Andre called worried about and that set Cat off and her phone died so she made me call you, and then I got worried. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, there was just some shit I got caught up in. I'm alright."
"What shit?" he asks.
"It's not really my place to say, but don't worry about it. Everything's fine. I've got to go pull out the hide-a-bed for Jade. I'll talk to you Monday, okay?"
"Alright Tori, Jade's okay, right?" he asked, worry seeping into his tone.
"She'll get there. I'll see you Monday, Beck." We exchanged quick goodbyes and I hung up, tossed my phone to the foot of my bed and yanked the hide-a-bed out before I changed into a pair of shorts and a clean shirt, yanking my hair out of the ponytail I'd had it in all night. I shook my hair out and kicked my clothes toward my dirty clothes pile on the other side of the room.
"Vega." Jade said, pushing my door open. Her hair was hanging in wet curls around her face and the makeup was gone from her now clean, pale face.
"You know, you can say my name Jade."
"Sure I can, Vega." She jokes, pushing a pick through her hair, "can I get some water?"
"Can you say my name?" I shot right back. Why it was important to me to have her say my name I couldn't tell you, but something deep in me just wanted to know she could bring herself to say it, on purpose, to my face.
"Why does it matter?" she snapped back. I turned on my heel and walked over to her standing about an arms length away.
"Why wont you say it?" I returned, locking gazes with her. I could see her shoulders tense up, her jaw set in anger.
"Vega, what is your problem?"
"I don't know, West; just say it and you can have some water."
"Fine…" she mumbled something that could have been Tori under her breath and looked away.
"What was that?" I asked, tilting my head to the side as a smile tugged at the edges of my lips. Her head snapped up and she glared at me but my nearly smile didn't falter; I just batted my eyelashes at her and made a "come on" motion.
"Tori! Tori, Tori, Tori, Tori fucking Vega, are you happy?" she snarled. A smile pulled up on my lips and transformed into a grin and I nodded, reaching down to grab her wrist before I tugged her downstairs and poured her a glass of water.
"Thank you, Jade." She shrugged, taking a huge gulp of her water and staring down into it while she swallowed. I smirked, suppressing a laugh as I watched her face turn a light pink color, "I'm going to go crawl in bed, come up when you're done, okay?"
She nods and I walk slowly to the door and flip the lock closed, something Trina never remembers to do. "Tori."
"Hmm?" I turned around to face her; she was setting the cup in the sink, watching her hands intently, "Jade?"
"Thank you for this, I really don't-." she halts for a second, swallowing hard, "thank you so much Tori, I owe you."
"You don't owe me anything Jade." I tell her, pausing by the stairs and motioning her over to me. She shuffles slowly over to the stairs and I hug her briefly before we climb up the stairs and make our way into my room.
I crawled straight into my bed, plugging my phone in before collapsing by my pillows. Jade stood by the pull out for a minute, clicking around on her phone absently before dropping her phone onto the bed walking over to flick the lights off.
"Jade?"
"Hmmm?" she responded, I could hear her moving past my bed and I reached out in the dark, my hand landing on her wrist, "What are you..." I gently tugged her down next to me, and she instantly curled up on her side and pulled my arm around her.
I smirked, adjusting so I was lying behind her with her back flush against me while she quickly drifted to sleep. Her breathing slowed to deep, shallow breaths and she rolled over onto her back, flipping so her arm was wrapped around my waist. Slowly I drifted to sleep.
"Tori…" breath fanned across my ear and someone was trailing their fingers down my bare sides. Goosebumps flashed across my skin from my toes up to my head and my eyelids popped open.
Jade was smirking down at me from where she was propped up on one arm, her green eyes dancing across my face while her fingers crept up my side. I stifled a yawn and sat up slightly, smacking her hand away from my side.
"Good morning." She grinned, "I've been trying to wake you up for an hour."
"Sorry, I haven't been getting much sleep lately." I yawned into my hand and rolled onto my back, blinking up at the ceiling. The sunlight flicked off of the gold stars and they shined all over my room.
"It's okay. You look kinda cute when you're asleep. Maybe it's cause your mouths not moving." She gave me an over done wink and rolled onto her back, her hands folding up on her stomach, "You roll around a lot in your sleep, I'm surprised you've managed to keep your shirt on."
I glance down and see that my shirt had rolled up and gathered around my bra, which is where Jade's fingers were dancing across my skin still, tickling me. I smacked her hand away again and she sniggered, returning her hands to her stomach as I yanked my shirt down.
"Listen you, don't mock my sleeping. You talk and try to kill people in your sleep. I don't think my rolling is that bad in comparison." I joke, turning my head to look at her only to find her head turned so she's facing me, watching me intently, "what?"
"I just missed this." She whispered, "And us."
"What exactly is this? What are we?" I asked, feeling this hallow space in my chest and this knot in my stomach. She bites her lip before reaching over and taking my hand in hers.
"We're just us." She whispers, "Unless you want something more?" her eyebrows raised up in question and now I can see she's as nervous as I am. I roll onto my side and she copies me.
What do I want?
Jade. I want Jade.
My hand goes forward and I brush her hair away from her face, "I want us, I want you." I whisper, "And if you're not ready for that just yet, I'll wait until you are."
She smiles, not one of those fake smiles or her little half smiles. This is a full smile, showing off her teeth and reaching her eyes and she pulls me into a crushing hug and then kisses me hard, pulling me as tight as she can against her.
She pulls away from me and I'm looking back at Jade, my Jade, my Jae, "Tori Vega, will you be my girl friend, again?" she asks still smiling at me. A laugh bubbles out of me and I manage to nod, "Yes, then?"
I hook my hand around her neck and press my lips to hers in a quick kiss, "Yes." I breath, and then kiss her again, slower this time. Savoring this moment. My heart is hammering in my chest and my stomach has butterflies dancing in it and Jade is all around me.
A ringing phone pulls me out of the kiss and Jade is laughing now, too, as we both scramble to find the ringing device, it's my phone but Jade picks it up, "Hello? Hey Beck. Oh just hanging out with Vega. Coffee? Sure, meet you in an hour? Okay." She hangs up and tosses my phone away.
"We're going out to breakfast with the gang, go shower." I roll my eyes at her demanding tone, regretting it when her fingers find my sides again and start tickling me until I'm screaming with laughter and tears are rolling down my face while I try and wriggle out of Jade's grasp.
Once she finally lets me go I sprint into the bathroom, shower, change and we head to the coffee shop near the school. Jade slips her hand into mine as we walk up to the door and she pulls the door open for me.
The gang is already inside when we get there and I send them a short wave as Jade and I get in line behind an elderly couple who are holding hands and laughing with each other. I smile at the white haired women when one leans over and pecks the other on the cheek.
Jade grins and squeezes my hand tightly, I lace my fingers through hers and we stand a fraction of an inch closer as we step up and place our orders in perfect sync. The guy behind the counter looks shocked and the other two women grin and shake there heads at us with clear amusement.
"Don't you remember when we were like that Janice?" the shorter one asked, looking up at Janice. Janice nodded with a small laugh, placing her hand over her partners where it rested on Janice's arm.
"I sure do Trish, you liked a coffee with a splash of cream and four sugars and every morning we'd go to the coffee shop and I'd order yours and you'd order mine." She smiled down at Trish with so much love shining in her eyes it made my heart smile, as strange as that sounds.
The boy behind the counter handed the four of us our coffees, we paid, and Janice and Trish went to sit at a table two away from where the rest of the gang was sitting. I sent them a short wave as I sat down next to Andre with Jade on my other side, still holding my hand.
"Hey guys!" Cat greeted with a big smile and a wave.
"Hey Cat." Jade replied with a small smile as she sipped her coffee.
I turned to Andre, "sorry about pizza last night, I really didn't mean to blow you off but a lot of stuff came up."
"Its cool." He replied giving me a half hug and sending a half wave to Jade before turning back to Robbie and arguing about some movie soundtrack. Cat was whispering in Beck's ear and her giggling was the only thing either of us could hear, but I just sat and sipped my coffee and watched my friends while Jade's thumb rubbed circles on the back of my hand and she, too, drank her coffee.
"Alright, are you guys dating?" Robbie asks after about 10 minutes of intently staring at us.
I glanced at Jade, who looked at me and smiled a small secret smile, and kissed my cheek before excusing herself to the bathroom. I watch her leave with a small smile of my own before turning back to the rest of the gang who were watching me with curious gazes.
"Yes, we are dating, again." I stated, taking a sip of my coffee. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I slipped it out, "I've got to take this." I hit accept and walked toward the front door, "hey mom, what's wrong?"
"Jade's father called, and he suggested we all go out to dinner to talk tonight, so come home when you can, but have fun with your friends for now. Alright?" I nodded, realized she couldn't see me and then verbally agreed before hanging up the phone.
I spun on my heel to go back inside and nearly walked straight into Janice, "Oh, crap, sorry about that." I stumbled back a few steps to avoid her coffee spilling on me.
"Its alright." She smiles, "I should have walked a little slower. You've got a bit of coffee on your shirt." She points to the bottom of it where a bit of coffee had indeed spilled on it.
"I'll just go wash it off." I shrugged, reaching for the door, "Have a nice day." I pulled the door open and Trish came bouncing out the door-well not literally but there was a happy sway in her step- she smiled at me with a wide grin.
"Thanks for holding the door for me!" she beamed, wrapped her arm around Janice's waist, and they walked off chatting away happily. I smiled for a minute and just watched them walk until they went around the corner before I finally went inside.
"Took you long enough." Jade grumbled when I reached the table. She yanked me down onto the seat beside her, her arm going around my shoulders. I leaned against her and rested my head on her shoulder. Cat grinned at me and I looked away, my cheeks getting warm.
"You guys wanna go to Karaoke Dokie tonight?" Cat inquires beaming around the table as she took a gulp of her water.
"Sorry Cat, Jade and I will be busy. Maybe another time." I tell her. Jade gives me a curious look, "Parents want dinner, or something." I shrug. Her brows knit together in confusion but she shrugs and sips her coffee again.
"Okay, well we're still going to the Rec-Center and swim, right?" all eyes are on Cat and she just looks confused.
"Cat, it's October, the pool is closed."
"But Beck said we were going to play pool!" Cat protests, we turn to Beck who sighs and shakes his head, pushing his fingers through his hair before turning to Cat, "What?" she asks.
"I meant pool like the game, not pool like swimming." He replies laughing. Cat's cheeks turn pink and she looks down with a soft 'oh' and drinks her water again while chuckles circle the table.
After we finish our drinks we head to the park to play disk golf for a little bit because the weather is actually really nice and then we start the 15 minute walk to the rec-center. Cat pulls Robbie with her at the front of the group while Andre and Beck take up the middle of our little group and Jade and I bring up the end.
"You know, I had a nice little chat with Trish in the bathroom." Jade says randomly, still holding the coffee cup in her hand even though it had been emptied an hour or so ago. Her finger traces the top before she looks up at me, "she said that you reminded her of Janice, which is funny since she saw us for all of five minutes."
"Yeah?" I ask.
"Mmm, yeah." Jade drops her hand down to her side before she took mine into hers, lifted it and she kissed the back of my head before letting our hands drop between us and swing lightly. I notice she keeps looking at me out of the corner of her eye; she smiles at me when I catch her eye.
When we reach the rec-center Jade and I take up a seat in the corner and watch Beck and Andre play pool. Cat plays foosball with Robbie and four other kids occupy the two table tennis tables, leaving Jade and I to watch.
She stretches across the couch, her legs taking up every space except the tiniest spot at the end, but before I can sit she takes hold of my wrist and tugs me down between her legs, pinning me against her.
One her arms wrap around my waist and she rests her chin on my head and clasps her hands together on my stomach, I smile and break her hands apart, slipping fingers through each of hers.
Depending on who was playing, Beck and Andre took places chatting away with us, Cat could be heard cheering every time she would score and pouting every time Robbie would score.
"So dinner?" Jade finally asks when Beck and Andre are both sucked into the last few shots of the game.
"Yeah, my mom called. You dad wants us all to go out to dinner or something. I don't know, we can ask when we get back home." I tell her with a shrug as she shifts slightly underneath me and pulls me closer.
"Well, alright then." She grumbles, pulling her arms tighter around me. Turns out, however, that Tyler got a raging fever and was rushed to the hospital, canceling dinner. I spent the night in the hospital sitting in an oversized chair holding Jade while she watched Tyler all night long. Turns out he just had the flu, and he was better a couple of days later, running around like crazy.