/JADE/
"Oh my God... I can't pronounce any of these words!" I snicker behind my menu, listening to Tori's cute panicking on the other side of the table.
"Would you like me to ask the waiter for a children's menu instead? I'm sure even you can pronounce chicken dippers." I lower the gold fancy booklet to be greeted with Tori's indignant face, batting my eyelashes at her innocently. "Or perhaps Miss Vega would like a translator?"
"You can't tell me you know exactly how to say these words. I mean, what does 'Foy Grass Gan-ache even mean?" She has to squint to read it and I almost spit out my water. "And it's served with grape rising jelly. Is that like regular grape jelly or some fancy rich person term for something entirely different?"
"Foie Gras Ganache is chicken or duck liver that's stuffed and riesling jelly is regular jelly but it's laced with wine." I move to pick up my menu again, hearing stunned silence from Tori. I set it down to explain. "My step mother has always been obsessed with the "finer" things in life, so she might have drilled all this rich talk into me and Cody from a young age in order to fit into her 'social circle'."
"Oh...well you know, I would have been perfectly happy with a greasy burger and fries..."
"So would I, but this is a real date and I've seen enough movies to know things have to be done properly. So it's tough."
"Do you think a place like this would serve PunchStar?"
I grimace. "After watching you swinging from the ceiling after drinking that. I'm not letting you have PunchStars ever again."
"Are we ready to order, ladies?" A nasally voice suddenly cuts into our closed conversation, his hair slicked back with so much hair gel they could probably use it to fry half of the food. Not that anything was fried in such an upmarket place. He looks between me and Tori, his immaculately plucked eyebrow arching in an air of condescension.
"Yes, I think we are. Tori, would you like to order first?" I flash her my sweetest smile, receiving a promising glare in return.
"Uh sure..." She looks back over the short list. "I will have the pan seared flounder - that is a fish, right?" I have to bite the inside of my cheek hard, a scowl thrown in my direction. Okay, so in retrospect it might have been a little cruel taking Tori to a super upper class dining restaurant without what my step mother referred to as, 'social prepping' beforehand, but what can I say? I just couldn't resist any golden opportunity to see my girlfriend flustered and acting embarrassingly cute. Slick-back turns to me next and I rattle off my order without even glancing at the menu.
Tori and I were a consistently ongoing power struggle and we had surrendered to it, deciding it was impossible to try and explain or work out how it gelled together. I'd given up anyway. Maybe we liked the competition? Maybe we felt like the other was always wanted with the way we would try and one up the other? Like we hadn't given up - wouldn't ever give up and let the other have their own way. She challenged me and I loved the friction. God, I loved the friction. The soppy romantic words weren't necessary and we didn't need constant physical contact of slurping on each other's faces to know what we both knew -we just did that because we wanted to. She had promised she'd love me and I knew I was stupid for believing it but I clung to it.
I'd boldly crossed over into no man's land into enemy territory and I wasn't turning back because...I think I needed Tori.
I'd never needed anyone.
"I can see the city reflected in your eyes...it's beautiful." Tori smiles wistfully, reaching across to stroke my hand, before she pulls it back quickly.
"Yes, thank you for the Hallmark moment, babe. Please, I think more cheese is needed in that sentence."
"Says the woman who decided to take us to a 5 star revolving restaurant overlooking Los Angeles?" Tori shifts in her seat, tugging awkwardly at the collar of her sweater. "You could have told me we were coming here though. I feel so under dressed."
"You feel so undressed?" I pretend to mishear her, smirking at the crimson which rushes to her cheeks.
"Under dressed!"
"Oh! You want to be under me while you're undressed?"
"There are about seven different forks here and I'm not sure which one I can stab you with!" I snicker and tug at my long lace sleeves.
"It doesn't matter what you wear anyway. Clothing is just another mask, another facade people put on to hide behind. Those women in designer ball gowns and men in Emporio Armani tuxedos are really the ones most insecure with themselves."
"So wearing ripped jeans and an old sweater?"
"Means you're a secure rich woman who doesn't need to show off." I smirk and raise my glass, ignoring the filthy looks that get directed to our table.
"Can I ask you something...?" Tori sets down her glass, her finger skimming the rim. She was trying to appear nonchalant but her eyes were serious. "Why has it taken so long for us to do this? It's weird but I feel as if we've been doing this for years, like it's all just coming naturally." I let her continue. "We pretended to hate each other to begin with. But when did - what I'm trying to say is, when did you first start to see me like that...?"
I put my glass down, my tongue running along the top of my teeth in thought.
"It started after Well Wishes, well actually before - kinda. I took an interest in you when you stood up to me. Not many people, if any, have the balls to do that. While I didn't appreciate you kissed my ex-boyfriend, I liked that you challenged me." I click my tongue. "But it was after Well Wishes, after my Dad came down to tell me he thought my play was excellent. You were the only one who bothered to stick around, who cared to help me. Beck just bolted off."
"Well...you did threaten me with a pair of scissors." My eyebrow arches. "But I would have helped you anyway because your play really was fantastic, babe." Tori rescues herself with a sheepish look. I try and keep the scowl on my lips but it slips into a smile.
"You told me you read it. I didn't even give you a copy."
"I uh...I might have pulled Sinjin in for a favor and broke into the screen play writing office so I could." I must look impressed because Tori is grinning back at me, proud she got to demonstrate her small, yet existing rebel side.
"So when did you first start liking me?" I lean back in my chair.
"The first day we met and -I knew you'd roll your eyes!" I catch myself and she carries on. "Honestly, it was the first day that I saw you. I haven't told you this but I watched you and Beck kissing in the hallway before we even got to Sikowitz's class. I wanted to get to know you a little more...so I staged the whole coffee accident with Beck."
My mouth drops open, it was rare when someone actually surprised me, but Tori got me with this one.
"You staged that?"
"I did." She nods. "I walked into him on purpose and spilled coffee down his shirt so I could get your attention. I figured if I introduced myself to Beck then I'd get to know you and we could become friends or something silly like that..." Her words trail off awkwardly, fingers plucking a hair from her sweater. "Then you walked in and I was gone."
"I made you get on all fours and bark like a dog. I dumped iced coffee on you."
"Oh I remember." She grimaces slightly and I chew on my lip. "But it doesn't matter now, Jade. Because all those little moments the iced coffee, stealing my blood - yes I knew that was you, wrecking my Prome, pushing me off of a building-"
"Is this supposed to be making me feel better, Vega?"
"-it's all important and relevant because it led us to this moment." She laces her fingers with mine. "I know no one else will understand it but we had to go through all of it to get to our first date. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't have stood up to you and you hadn't kept pushing me - we wouldn't be here now. So with all due respect, I wouldn't change it for the world."
"I love you." The words slip from my mouth without conscious thought.
I don't find myself taking them back.
"One pan seared flounder and one medium rare filet mignon." The waiter places the food down on the table, the delicious aroma wafting up to surround us. I watch Tori in amusement. She looked relieved that her fish looked relatively normal.
"So what other things did you want to talk about? Since you seem to have an undying thirst for questions." I take my knife into my meat, the bloody juices oozing onto the plate. Perfection. The bloodier the better.
"Anything. Everything with you. But it's not like we don't have forever to talk about it now." Tori grins and slices into a piece of her fish. "I want to know everything about you. Maybe starting with your likes and dislikes? You know, for future references and to keep up the whole 'first date' theme." She winks.
"My dislikes are going to take longer than this dinner."
"Try me."
"Kay... well to start with, I dislike the word 'dislike' because you either hate something or you love it. There is no in between. That being said I hate ducks, wet doorknobs, string cheese, pips in fruit, fake pockets, people who walk slowly, people who chew loudly...people in general." I take a deep breath. "The artificial flavoring of watermelon and cherry, sticky or wet fingers, short ladders, chip bags that have more air in than them chips. Oh and when you can't get comfortable in bed because you're both too hot and too cold. Yeah, I hate that.
I notice Tori hasn't taken her eyes from me.
"People who spit on the floor, absolute burning hatred. Brownies with rainbow sprinkles, any coffee flavored ice cream - I know. Double dippers and people who think it's okay to mix the guacamole into the sour cream. Oatmeal cookies are disgusting. I hate pretentious people, stupid people, most spin off TV shows." I'm suddenly interrupted by a light chuckle from Tori, her fork poised in the air.
"You're amazing." I blink taken back, immediately searching her eyes for any sign of sarcasm, but she's genuine.
"Why?" I test carefully. "Because I openly hate so many things?"
"Well that and because you're never afraid to say what you think." She gives me a soft smile. "I've always admired that about you."
"So everything about me which usually turns people off, is turning you right on?"
"Way on." Tori winks again and keeps eating.
We carry on in silence, the gentle clink of the cutlery mingling with the wine glasses and the soft piano music in the background. I can't help but watch Tori while she eats, being careful to cut up her fish into acceptable bite sized pieces. She's got the tip of her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration and I struggle to resist the urge to lunge across the table and kiss her. The mental image of sending the expensive dishes and food to the floor as I take Tori against the wall makes my mouth run dry. I take a gulp of water.
"You're going to groan at me when I say this but the last month..." She looks down, awkwardly fiddling with a corner of the tablecloth. I put my hand over hers, finishing the sentence.
"Has been the best month." Tori nods, carefully pressing a gentle kiss to my wrist.
"It really has. I mean, yes it's been...rocky and unsteady to begin with but we've gotten past that and we know what we want." Her thumb starts rubbing circles on my palm, she must notice me shivering because she smirks. "I'll admit you gave me whiplash more than once though."
I suck on my bottom lip. "That's because I kept denying what I wanted. I didn't know whether to push you away or pull you closer."
"And what do you want now?"
"You." I keep my hold over Tori's hand, willing to make her stay. No longer caring if anyone stared tonight.
"Okay. I have a super awkward question to ask. I don't even want to ask it but...are you a virgin?" I watch Tori fidget uncomfortably. There had to be a reason why she brought that up out of nowhere. My eyebrow arches, studying her carefully.
"Why does that matter?"
"Because I am."
"Repeating my first question." She goes back to pushing her fish around on the plate, reluctant to answer.
"Because I've never - and you probably want to because they all did, and-" I feel my heart sink. My hand tightening the grip on her hand.
"No. Okay? No. I don't give a shit about what your previous boyfriends wanted from you in the past." I use my fingers to tilt her chin up. "I love you and I respect you. We can do that when, and only when, you feel ready for it."
"But that's the thing... I think I am ready for it." I bring her hand up to kiss the back of it, a little smirk tugging my lips.
"Oh no, no. On the contrary Vega. You are so not ready for it."
A/N: Did anyone catch the Punchstar reference? Another iconic moment from the blog: Jade and Tori's first official date at the revolving restaurant. More confessions and deep revelations which really confirms just how hard they've fallen for each other. Let me tell you now, the next chapter is gonna be HOT!
Thank you for all of your incredible reviews so far! Feel free to leave me some more, much like Jade and her bunnies. You can never have enough. ;)
My favorite line from this chapter: "There are about seven different forks here and I'm not sure which one I can stab you with!"