But before Tori has the chance to say anything, the door opens and Jade's eyes widen when they fall on a police officer standing in the doorway. "Jade West?"
"Uh, I… yeah?"
The dark-haired man smiles at her and steps closer, holding out his hand. "I'm David. My wife has told me about you."
"Your… wife?" He nods and only when she takes a quick glance at Tori and sees her smiling at her, does she realize who is standing in front of her. A relieved breath shoots out of her mouth as she turns her head back to David, smiling slightly. "Oh, you're Tori's dad."
He laughs and nods his head. "Yes. I'm sorry if the uniform put you off a little. I just got off work." Jade nods, a slightly uncomfortable smile playing on her lips as she turns towards Tori's body. "I actually hoped I would meet you," David quietly says and walks to the opposite side of the bed to sit down on the chair standing there. He smiles at the confused look on Jade's face. "My wife told me… you met Tori shortly before she… got into that accident."
"Yeah. I did."
"She also told me that you seemed…" He bites his lip and slightly shakes his head, his eyes narrowed as he searches for the right way to put it. "Well… affected, by Tori being in a coma."
Jade's mouth opens as she thought about what to answer to that. She seemed affected? What does that even mean? She quickly shoots a look at Tori, who just bites her lip and shrugs her shoulders. Her eyes turn back to Mr. Vega, his face taking on a curious expression. "Well… I really…" Jade frowns and looks down at Tori's unconscious body. Maybe she should just tell him the truth. "I care… about her. Maybe even more than I should, given the fact that… we only know each other for… not that long."
It's a weird sensation, admitting her feelings like this and knowing that Tori is standing right beside her. Jade thinks that maybe the brunette assumes she's acting again, telling her father a false story just like she did with her mother, but when Jade glances over at her, she knows that Tori takes her seriously. A warm smile plays on her lips and slight surprise is mixed within her brown eyes. Clearing her throat and fighting the arising blush, Jade snaps her eyes back to Tori's dad, who's still curiously staring at her. After a couple of seconds, he smiles and turns to look at his daughter. "You know, I don't think it's important how long you and Tori know each other. It's important that you care so much for her that you… come and visit her." A light smile creeps onto Jade's face but a frown takes over when she sees David's face darken a little bit, his eyes firmly glued to Tori's face.
"Um… are you alright, Mr. Vega?"
"Hm?" He looks up at her, his face almost troubled, but he quickly masks it with a laugh and a shake of his head. "Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm fine, just… you know… I get a little melancholic whenever I visit Tori."
Jade slowly nods and takes a look at Tori when Mr. Vega looks back to Tori's body. The brunette is frowning, her dad's behavior probably confusing her just as much as it does Jade. "Do you rather want me to go?" Jade asks after a long moment of silence, Tori's voice sounding in her ear. "I think something is wrong."
"No. No, of course not. You can stay for as long as you want." He smiles a sad smile and although it really puts her off a bit and she really doesn't feel all that comfortable, Jade stays, taking a chair from the corner of the room and placing it at Tori's bedside. They talk for a while, mostly about Tori, but also about Jade and Hollywood Arts. All the while, Tori sits on the edge of the bed, listening and watching as Jade and her father talk as if they know each other for years. When the door to the room squeaks open and a doctor comes in, all three heads turn to look at him. "Ah, Mr. Vega. I was hoping I'd still catch you," his eyes flick from David to Jade, a polite smile on his lips, "Could we… talk now?"
Jade moves her eyes back to Tori's dad, who takes a deep breath and nods his head. "Yes. Of course." He gets up from his seat, shoots Jade a smile and then follows the doctor out into the hallway.
"Um… I think I'm… going to see what the doctor wants," Tori slowly says as she too gets up and makes her way to the door, simply walking through it. Jade nods to herself and turns her attention towards Tori's body. She doesn't even look that sick. Sure, her skin is a little pale and the monitors connected to her body don't really look that appealing but other than that… she looks like she's just taking a really long nap. Hesitantly reaching out, Jade takes Tori's limp hand in hers, running her thumb over the soft skin. It's weird to think that, even though Jade is touching her, Tori isn't really here to feel it. A movement in the corner of her eye catches Jade's attention and she turns towards the door just in time to see Tori walking towards her.
"Jade, can we please go?"
Jade frowns at the brunette, letting go of the tan hand and turning towards Tori. She looks so shocked, her brown eyes wide. "Why? What's going on?"
"Please. I want to leave," Tori pleads, her shoulders sagged, "I don't want to stay anymore."
Alarmed by Tori's words, Jade stands up and quickly strides over to her. "What's wrong? Why are you so upset?" But Tori doesn't answer her. She just turns around and walks out of the door, without another word or some kind of explanation. With a silent curse Jade glances back at Tori's body, lingering for a second or two, before she storms out of the door, into the elevator and finally, to her car, where Tori was already waiting. "What's going on?"
The brunette stands rigid, her arms wrapped around her body, her lips pressed together so tightly, and her eyebrows scrunched up. "Tori." Jade's voice softens but the only thing she gets out of the brunette is a loud sob. Jade sighs loudly and looks around the parking lot for any onlookers, before turning her attention back on Tori. "You're really freaking me out right now. What the hell happened?"
The long pause that follows nearly drives Jade over the edge but then, Tori finally starts to speak. "The doctor said that-" Tori breaks off, her voice cracking. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath before she continues. "They want to turn off the life support."
A pang in her chest is really something Jade would have expected when listening to Tori talk about the possibility of death, but the way her throat constricts and tears start to form in her eyes seems just plain ridiculous to her. She's really not supposed to care so much for Tori, it's not how it was supposed to go. Tori wanted to get back into her body, Jade accepted to help her so that she would get her life back. And if she wouldn't be able to help Tori, then so what? She just wasn't important to Jade. But now, only thinking about the possibility of losing Tori – losing Tori? What am I talking about? – is almost tearing her heart out.
"But your dad…" She swallows thickly and shakes her head, "He refused, right? I mean…"
A bitter laugh escapes Tori's mouth. "Well, as it turns out, my parents have been thinking about it for a while now." She looks down at her feet, shaking her head. "They're going to sign the papers. I'm going to die, Jade."
"I won't let that happen."
Tori's sad eyes move to look at Jade. The pale girl looks and sounds so determined about the whole thing that Tori really wants to believe her. But she knows that if her parents decide to turn off the machines, Jade wouldn't be able to do anything other than watch. "You can't stop them if they really decide to do it."
"But you're still alive, Tori," she laughs lightly and shakes her head, taking another step closer, "You are alive and you still have a chance to get back. I'm sure of it."
"It's easy for you to say. You can see me. You know that I'm here but my parents… don't. The only thing they see of me every day is my body just… lying around in this bed and… not reacting."
"Then I'm going to tell them that you're still here. That I can see you." The idea actually sounded pretty good in Jade's head, but when she sees the incredulous look on Tori's face, she really starts to doubt herself.
"God… No, Jade! Are you insane? They'll just think you're crazy."
"Who cares? Do you know how many people think I'm crazy? I've got no problem adding two more to the list. It's worth a shot."
"No. No, Jade." Tori sighs tiredly and closes her eyes. "Please, let's… talk about this later. Let's just go now. I need to get away from here."
With any other person Jade wouldn't have given in that easily, but this is Tori, and Tori knows what buttons to push, if the brunette was aware of that or not. Releasing a defeated breath, Jade nods and unlocks the car. "Okay. Then let's go."
x.X.x
"We really should talk about this," Jade urgently says, her fingers fiddling with her car keys.
Tori slowly sinks onto the sofa in the living room. Brown eyes look straight ahead, Tori's face void of any emotion. "I don't want to talk about it," she whispers. Jade lets out a sigh, her arms falling to her sides. "Tori… you can't ignore this," she takes a seat besides Tori, twisting her body to face the brunette, "We have to do something."
"And what would you suggest?"
"Well, I still think I should tell your parents-"
"No."
"Tori, it's-"
"No," she forcefully pushes out and snaps her head towards Jade, "I don't want that. Respect that, please." Jade nods slowly and takes a look around the room. Tori's stubbornness irks Jade quite a bit but she knows that it would probably be the stupidest thing arguing with the brunette in this situation. She turns her attention back to Tori, looking at her as she starts to play with her fingers. "Okay, well… what is your plan then?"
"I wish we would have met under different circumstances." Tori's random statement hangs in the air as a long silence washes over the two girls. Jade furrows her eyebrows, then asks "What?"
"I wish we would have met under different circumstances," Tori repeats with a smile and turns her gaze to Jade. Tori's eyes swirl with something Jade can't really put a finger on, so she just smiles slightly and decides to let Tori change the subject for the moment.
"Really? I don't. We would have never gotten along."
"Why do you think that?"
"I don't know," Jade quietly murmurs, leaning back on the sofa but not letting her eyes leave Tori's, "Just a feeling." Tori smiles bashfully and looks at her lap. "Besides, you're so happy and positive all the time," she smirks, leaning her elbow on the backrest and resting her head in her hand, "Plus, you don't like my friends. At least not… Andre."
Tori's eyes snap up, an embarrassed laugh escaping her mouth. "I don't… I didn't really mean that." The knowing smirk on Jade's face intensifies as Tori continues. "I was just," – jealous – "unreasonable."
"Ah, well… You're forgiven."
Tori smiles and nods her head, looking back at her hands. A frown suddenly takes over and she looks back up at Jade. "Can we… just talk tonight? I mean, I don't want to… I don't want to think about it now. I just want to… talk to you. Get to know you better." Tori's hopeful gaze rests on Jade and like many times before, Jade can't say no to her this time either. She nods, although her head is telling her to push Tori into thinking about something to stop her parents from signing the papers. "Okay. Just for tonight."
Tori smiles. "It's just us."
"Just us. Nothing else."
The sparkle in Tori's eyes suddenly reappears, much to Jade's delight. "You know what I really want to do right now?"
"What?" Jade asks, narrowing her eyes in mock suspicion.
"I really, really want to hug you."
A light laugh echoes through the room. "Well, too bad, hm? Not possible. Anything else?"
Tori hesitates, biting her lip. "Will you tell me about your mom?"
The relaxed expression on Jade's face abruptly falls and maybe, it was a mistake asking her about that. But when Tori watches her close her eyes and sigh, instead of lashing out at her like she did the last time, Tori relaxes a bit. Jade's eyes open and after what feels like an eternity of silence between them, she nods slowly. She takes a deep breath and starts to talk because she knows that maybe… she won't have the opportunity to tell Tori about her mom if she waits any longer.
Maybe Tori would be gone soon.