PoV: Jade.

I shook my head, hugging my arms tighter around my chest, feeling Vega's glare even as I refused to look at her. I knew this time was coming, but I wished it wasn't this soon. After the whole break down after finishing with Beck just yesterday, then that… that kiss this morning- I still couldn't believe that had happened- it was all too much. But now, I was trapped in a closet by Vega, literally and metaphorically, apparently, while she waited patiently for me to speak.

"There's nothing to talk about." I said in a monotone, staring at the half destroyed broom I'd taken my scissors to the other day.

Tori huffed in disbelief. "Yes, there is, Jade." She said slowly, deliberately, taking a step forward which I backed away from. "What was that about this morning?"

I snapped, defensively.

"You tell me! You were the one who-" I cut myself off, even though I knew there was no one around to hear, I still couldn't say it out loud.

"Kissed you?" Vega scoffed. I flicked my eyes up briefly to catch her with her arms also folded, biting her bottom lip in frustration as she glared at the wall to the left. "You were quite happy to kiss me back. Not to mention you kissed me right here, in this closet!"

"Don't." I cringed as my voice came out quieter, weaker than I meant it. I couldn't let this get to me, I couldn't let Tori Vega break me, but that's exactly what was happening.

She huffed. I could tell she was holding back from saying exactly what was on her mind. We both were.

While the conversation, or lack of, was extremely awkward, there was something oddly comforting about the janitors' closet. It was always the first place I came to when I needed time alone, or a private place to talk. I'd discovered the sanctuary in my first week of Hollywood Arts, when I had no one, when I was nothing but a wannabe actor, just like pretty much every single person who passed through the school. Now everyone knew me as the cold hearted bitch with the hot- now ex- boyfriend, and quite the reputation, one that I hadn't set out to build up, but didn't pause to fix.

I'd come to the closet and hide from the unwanted, to take my anger out on the innocent knickknacks scattered everywhere whenever something went wrong. Beck and Cat found me here one day, beating a wooden mallet against the floor, after I'd messed up an alphabetical improv challenge. I hadn't been able to escape them since. I'd still hide in here though. Whenever I disappeared off, they knew exactly where to find me and pester me until I told them what was wrong, or 'til they gave up, which was more likely. Eventually, they learnt just to leave me to it. Unlike Vega, who never gave up.

"I'm so confused" Tori said quietly after a stretch of silence, bringing me back from my reminiscing. She swept a hand through her long hair, turning to meet my eye as she chewed her bottom lip. "I don't know what's going on anymore. Ever since this stage kissing project, it's just been so… so-"

"Confusing" I finished in a mutter.

Toti nodded, the corners of her mouth twitched as if she was trying to fight back a smile, but instead she sighed.

"Why'd you break up with Beck?" She asked suddenly.

It was my turn to scoff.

"What do you want to hear, Vega? That I broke up with him to be with you?"

Shit. That wasn't meant to come out of my mouth. Tori looked a sour mix between hurt and angry as the words sunk in.

"Oh yeah." She said slowly, the sarcasm dripping from her words could've created a puddle, or more an ocean, on the floor. "Yeah, it's my life long dream to have these feelings for a girl who claims to hate me then kisses me on more than one occasion!"

She… she sounded like me, the bitter mockery in her voice, the humourless laugh that followed... It almost scared me, but infuriated me also. I wanted to call her out on the 'feelings' she alleged and to humiliate her for them, I just wanted to do something Jade West was supposed to do in a situation like this, but she has a way of bringing out the parts of me I'd buried from the public long ago, all without my permission.

"You think I want these feelings?" I asked with a bite of anger in my words. But I hung my head, staring determinedly at the floor, knowing that if I looked directly at her I'd shatter in mere seconds. "You think I like having my head fucked with ever since you came along? You think I choose to feel a- a happy little bubble whenever you smile! Or- or to have to hold back my jealousy whenever some sleaze of a guy gets near you!"

Fuck! Shit! Where'd that come from! I almost clasped a hand to my mouth in shock at my own words. I didn't even realise that's how I felt until the words spewed uncontrollably from me, like they were locked away in my subconscious, just waiting for the worst time to come out. Not the best, the worst. I knew it was true though; Ryder, Steven, even just the knowledge that that Danny had dated Vega made my blood boil with what I know realised was envy, I'd used taunting and teasing to mask the small gap it left and shit! Why! How did I not know all this before now?

Vega was gaping at me; jaw slacked in shock, at a complete loss for words. Evidently she'd expected those words to come out of my mouth just as much as I had. She tried to speak, but only succeeded in doing an impersonation of a lost goldfish, her mouth popping closed then falling open again; you could almost heard the words struggling to form. It would've been funny in any other situation. But I was first to recover; reflex.

"Shut your mouth, Vega. You look stupid."

She promptly did as told, then visibly swallowed. I was on edge now; I needed a reaction, a slap, a kiss, anything but this strained silence between us, making me feel even more uncomfortable than before.

"Say something." I pleaded quietly.

Tori wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing at her forearm in discomfort as she watched a spot near my shoes. "I guess- I guess that's how I felt whenever I see, uh, saw you with Beck." She said in a hushed tone, a realisation more to herself than I, but it didn't stop my reflex responding.

"Only because you want him." I spat, noticing the slight jealous edge to my voice. "He's free now, Vega. Why don't you go follow him around with those giggling fan girls of his?"

To my surprise, she laughed. Not a cold, hard laugh, but a little titter, a small smirk pulling at the corners of her lips. "Why does everyone think that!" She said, sounding amused. "Honestly, Jade, I was never after Beck. Never. Yeah, he's good looking, and maybe I did fancy him a little at first-" I bit my tongue at the comment. "But I don't like him like that. He's just a friend to me, nothing more. Why don't you believe that?"

She was sincere, and I couldn't help but believe her. The look in her eyes, the slight slump of defeat in her stature; I knew she was telling the truth. I chewed the inside of my cheek, Beck was- had been- my rock, I had been scared of losing that, so lashed out at any possible threat. It was obvious to anyone that I thought Vega was that threat and I thought she was trying to take Beck away from me. It was almost laughable that, in some small, twisted way, she'd succeeded. Just not in the way I'd expected. It wasn't like I'd left Beck for her, but these fucked up feelings sure helped along the way.

"Jade." Tori sighed, taking a step forward to lay a hand on my arm and ducking to look into my eyes. I lifted my head a little to see the soft, chocolate brown staring back at me, making my heart leap to my throat. There were so many emotions displayed in those eyes: confusion, sadness, comfort, need… a whole range I could tell were reflected back in the cold, pale green that was my own eyes.

I didn't shrug her off, instead, I relaxed a little in my tight, defensive stance, the warmth of her fingers blistering my skin with goose bumps.

"You can't fight this, Jade." Her tone was gentle, understanding. "It won't work. I know you feel it to, and it's eating away at you. So stop trying to fight it. I didn't want to feel like this either, but it's not like we have a choice in the matter of who we have feelings for. But, we do have a choice about what we do about those feelings."

Maybe I'd been staring at her mouth the entire time she spoke, and the next thing I knew, she had shifted closer so her lips were pressed softly to mine. Even behind the tenderness, I could feel all the want, need and desire, the hunger that Tori Vega felt for me. It was almost inevitable that I'd respond with equal amounts of those feelings and for a few moments everything melted away. I forgot that we were in a janitors' closet in the middle of an empty school, I forgot that I'd broken up with my boyfriend just the night before, I forgot that I didn't want these feelings in the first place, because, in those moments, this all felt so good and right, like it was meant to be. But the bliss didn't last long as something crawled from the back of my mind, reminding me of all these things, putting a stop to something I really wanted because, and I hated to admit it, I was scared. Jade West was scared. Of what, I wasn't too sure. Maybe it was the mess these feelings were creating in my head, or the fact that the reputation built up for me, the one of the girl with a stone heart, the girl who hated Tori Vega's guts, was crashing down around me, all because of said girl.

"I can't do this." I muttered against Vega's lips, not wanting to pull away.

But she removed her mouth completely, resting her forehead against mine as she nodded. "I knew you'd say that."

The disappointment in her voice cut me deep. Tori stepped back, I felt a chill fall over me where there used to be her warmth, and she looked up at me with sad eyes that made my heart break and I wished I hadn't said what I said, that I'd just stayed kissing her until, I don't know! Until time stopped and everything fixed itself and I wouldn't feel so stupid about these feelings… man, I was getting cheesy!

I shoved my hands in my pockets, head bowed, and I heard Vega huff again, but I couldn't look up at her. She shuffled backwards towards the door; I could feel her eyes still on me as she made to leave.

"I'll see you around, Jade."

"Wait!" I blurted out suddenly, snapping my head up to look at her for the first time. She had her hand on the handle, already half way out the door, a cheerless smile on her lips. I didn't want her to leave, but I didn't know what else to say, so I stood there awkwardly, hoping she'd say something first. She did.

"I'm not going to play games, Jade. I'll let you figure this out, then talk to me."

Then I was alone.

Xxx

I was awoken at 9am the next morning by a chirpy yapping outside of my door, followed by some yelling, a bang, and then silence. I groaned and shoved my pillow over my head, not even having to get up to know exactly what had happened: my step moms latest little Chihuahua mutt, who was yet to be toilet trained, must've made yet another mess on the floor last night, which my father must have stepped in once again, probably in his socks. I sniggered against the mattress at the mental image that conjured, my dad's beet red face as he peeled his fresh, once clean socks from his feet, his nose screwed up in disgust at the dog poop caught in the wool. Well, I wasn't going downstairs for a while.

I knew I wasn't going to get back to sleep either, so I lay face down in my bed for a while, just trying to relax and not let the memory of yesterday creep back into my mind, I didn't want to think about Vega or how she left me alone in a closet consumed with a mixture of unwanted feelings. Urg, too late, the sadden look she wore when I told her I couldn't do this was pretty much permanently ingrained in my mind now. It kept waking me up during the night along with the feeling of guilt and like something was missing. It was times like these I wished I had something to hold onto, to give me comfort. I couldn't even have that with Beck; something always held me back from letting him see my more vulnerable side, the side that needed a hug every so often to make me feel better.

I rolled over onto my back and slammed my fists against the mattress; this is exactly what I didn't want to think about, it made me feel nauseous. I needed a distraction, so I kicked the covers off, hopped out of bed and began pacing around my room, chucking on the first clothes that came to hand: a large, black hoodie, ripped jeans, and a pair of boots. The clothes I'd borrowed from Vega still sat on my dresser and I needed to return them at some point, but for now I just left them, pulling a brush quickly through my hair, applying a little make up, then grabbed my phone and PearPod and left my room in a hurry, keen to avoid any interaction with my family.

"JADE!" My father roared just as I got to the front door, about to stick my keys in the lock. I span around on my heel to come face to face with him looking furious, the precise shade of crimson I imagine he'd turn. In one of my hands he put a twenty dollar bill- a bribe- and a couple of plastic bags. In the other. a dog lead. It was only then that I noticed the tiny little thing that sat on the floor beside his bare feet. "If you're going out, you're taking the dog for a walk."

"What!" I began to protest, but he cut me off.

"You're taking the dog for a walk." He said slowly, like I was dumb. I hated when he spoke to me like that, but I gritted my teeth and stormed out the door, dragging the dog along with me.

Have I mentioned that I hate dogs? This yapping ball of fur was definitely no exception. It bounded along ahead of me, stopping every five seconds to sniff something or bark at something, the only upside was that it was, in fact, providing a good distraction… stupid mutt. The fresh air was helping clear my mind and the music thumping loudly in my ears drowned out any other sound around me. I wore my hood up, mainly to avoid contact with any other human that may walk by, but also because there was dampness in the air, a sign that the rain Andre had mentioned was indeed threatening to pour soon.

I walked around the block, down the little paths I'd take on my frequent walks and wandered aimlessly around the woods not too far from my house. Like the janitors closet, it was my place of peace, where I'd escape to whenever father and I were having one of our many arguments about how I was wasting my life. I'd take a sketch pad or a notebook and just sit up in a tree, drawing and writing. I couldn't do that now, not with yapping McGee with me. Don't ask why I'd suddenly named the dog that, I'm sure it had a name already, some cutesy name that would make me want to puke, but for now it was Yapping McGee.

I didn't notice how long I'd been walking for until I felt my phone buzz twice in a row. One text from father telling me to get back now, because his new wife wanted her precious pooch back, to which I responded with a simple 'Coming back now', the other from Andre saying the gang were about to head over to Vegas and asking if I still wanted to come along. Against my better judgement, I said yes, then began to head back to my house with the rain starting to drip lightly from above.

Xxx

I arrived at Vega's an hour later than everyone else. I'd stopped to have a shower, attempting to delay myself, then got caught up by my dad asking questions about where I was going and what I was doing. Apparently, 'going to a friend's house' isn't a good enough answer, even when it's the truth.

I hesitated outside her door, planning to knock, but instead I tired the handle to find it, as usual, unlocked. I flung the door open and barged in, slightly soggy from the spit of rain, and startled everyone who was already inside. Once over the initial shock, Cat jumped up to greet me with a hug and the others all mumbled their welcomes, each turning back to their activity as they did. Vega didn't look too pleased about my sudden entrance, but she'd get over it.

"So, what are we doing?" I asked, dropping onto the sofa beside the nerd and his puppet, much to their displeasure… and mine.

"Just hangin'" Andre replied, tinkling the keys of the large piano in the corner.

"Just hanging?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What, we're just gonna stay at Vega's all day?"

"You don't have to stay, if you don't want to, Jade." Tori said, a little bitterly, as she passed Beck and Cat some pink lemonade each.

"Whatever." I said, getting up from my seat. A flash of panic crossed Tori's face, probably thinking that I really was going to leave, but I didn't. Instead I snatched a pair of scissors from a drawer, sat down at the at the kitchen table and began to carve into one of the apples I'd taken from the fruit bowl. I didn't feel like socialising with them today, I didn't even know why I'd agreed to come here, but I might as well do something now that I was.

The day actually turned out to be pretty good. Andre, Robbie and Beck started work on a song not long after I got there and soon Cat, Vega and I joined in to help. It wasn't like the food song we did for that we did for that kids party, but a sappy little love song that Andre had written before and insisted on reworking. Everyone was having fun and, now that I was being honest with myself about it, seeing the playful look on Tori's face as she messed around with Robbie's guitar made me grin from ear to ear, not that I let anyone see. She wouldn't talk to me much, though, and seemed to stay away from me as much as she could manage without it looking suspicious.

Maybe those four simple words I'd said in the closet hurt her more than I realised.

It soon turned late afternoon. The rain was chucking it down outside by now and the novelty of song writing was wearing off now that the serious musician inside Andre was determined to make it into an absolute masterpiece. Beck and Robbie stayed with him; the nerd strumming chords on his guitar while my ex- I was still getting used to that- fiddled with the bass his parents got him for his last birthday. We girls were crashed out on the couch, watching some random film that none of us were paying attention to, until Cat jumped up with a squeal.

"Tori, Jade. Will you accompany me to Tori's room?" The red head asked, grabbing both of out hands and dragging us towards the stairs before either of us could answer.

"Er, why, Cat?" Vega asked, casted a look for help over at the boys who all just shrugged in response.

"Because I need to talk to you!" Cat giggled, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I've got to say, she was strong for such a petite girl, and soon me and Vega found ourselves being thrown into the half-Latina's bedroom against our will, the door closed too behind us that Cat leant against, preventing us from trying to escape. She folded her arms and gave the two of us a serious look that didn't often appear on her face.

"What's going on between you two?"

"I don't know what you mean." Tori stammered quickly, looking anywhere else but Cat and I.

"Tori." Cat dragged out her name as she sighed. "I know you two like each other, and I know you both know that too. So, what're you going to do about it?"

Why did she have to get straight to the point? Why couldn't she leave me and Vega to work this out for ourselves? I felt like a little school kid on the playground, getting teased by the others in their class for liking someone.

"Shut it, Cat." I hissed.

She shrugged. "Sooner or later, you're both going to have to stop tip toeing around each other and work this out once and for all." She smiled sympathetically. "I just want you two to be happy!"

Before either of us could comment on this, there was a knock at the door, and I've honestly never been more relived to hear Robbie Shapiro's voice.

"Are you girls okay in there?"

"We're fine!" Tori called back. "We'll be down in a minute!"

"Man, I told you not to knock! You never know what they could be doing in there! Three single girls, alone, in a bedroom-"

"Rex!" Robbie spluttered, followed by the sound of his footsteps moving away from the door and the quiet scolding he was giving his puppet for his suggestion.

Cat laughed. "We better go back downstairs before Rex starts making up stuff about what happened in here."

We nodded in agreement. Cat opened the door and left the room, Tori about to follow, but I grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Vega, wait." I said. She turned around to look at me for the first time that day and I suddenly felt a wave of nerves hit me. "Look, Cat's right. We do need to sort this out. It's awkward and weird, and I just want things to be relatively normal."

She raised an eyebrow at this. "And how do you propose we sort this out, Jade? Because, I don't know about you, but I can't just turn off my feelings so things can be 'normal' again." She said, highlighting the word 'normal' with air quotes.

"I'm not asking for that." I sighed, running a hand though my hair, the butterflies in my stomach doubling. I never thought I'd say what I was about to say. "I think, maybe… maybe we should give this a chance. So… so, how would you like to go out tomorrow, just you and me… so, we can talk?"

Vega's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What… you mean like, like a date?"

I shrugged. "I suppose…maybe?" Oh God, what was wrong with me? Did I really just ask Vega out on a date? This was getting beyond the realms of weird, but for some reason, like everything else that had happened with her lately, it felt right.

"Uh, yeah, okay then." Tori replied, taken aback, but smiling nonetheless. I couldn't help but smile too.

"Cool. So, um, pick you up at 7 tomorrow?"

"Sure" She squeaked, still in shock, just like me.

"Cool" I repeated, shuffling my feet awkwardly. "You know, this isn't like me, so you better appreciate this." I added, trying to get some sense of normality back in.

"I do." She said softly, then, to my surprise, planted a kiss on my cheek. "Thank you, Jade."

"Uh, yeah. No problem."

Thankfully, Cat appeared back at the door, interrupting the uncomfortable moment.

"Are you two coming back downstairs or what?"

A/N: Ooo, a date! Haha! Even I wasn't expecting that. I've honestly just sat here for the past, God knows how many hours, just typing and seeing what came from it. Also, 2 am seems to have become a regular time for me to update... So, if this is really bad, I apologise.

Anyway, loads more thank you's for the reviews and everything! They help keep me motivated to write this fic and they really do mean a lot. Of course, more is always welcome ;) I love to hear your opinions =)