Tori waits for several minutes before a response rings from her cell. She grabs a glass of Lila's wine and sips it slowly, feeling the buzz take over.
"Sleeping."
"Pleeeeeeeeaase?"
"No."
"Lila's gone." She grabs another glass.
"NO."
"I want you to meet someone incredibly important to me and you won't come over. That's not what friends do."
"We're not friends."
Tori stares at her phone in shock. Not even at Hollywood Arts had Jade blatantly stated it, a few times maybe, but by senior year, not at all.
A lump starts to form again in her throat.
No. She thinks. I will not cry because Jade West doesn't consider me a friend.
Blake snuggles in closer to Tori's chest and she sends off one last text.
"I thought you changed. I guess I was wrong."
Sighing, she scrolls through her contacts again, this time settling on Cat.
"Hey Kitty."
"TORI!"
"Hi."
"I HAVEN'T HEARD FROM YOU IN LIKE EIGHT MONTHS WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"I got busy."
"Busy? ;)"
"CAT! You aren't supposed to have a dirty mind yet."
"But I do. How's Lila?"
"She's great."
"That's good! Well, I'm sorta busy…"
"With what?"
"Um…Robbie's really muscular?"
THE Robbie?! How is that even possible?
"…andwe'reonadateatmyhousebye."
WHAT.
Tori groans. Cat and Robbie. She drinks another glass.
Blake gurgles and her phone beeps again.
"I have changed."
/
Tori wakes up the next morning to Blake screaming.
"What's wrong little buddy?"
More screams.
"Come on kid…it's the first day of winter break…"
She picks him up and immediately wishes she hadn't. There is a steaming pile of disgusting mush leaking from his bottom, and the smell is a mix of dog shit and burning plastic.
"What the hell…?" she whispers as she cleans him up, holding her nose between two fingers.
The screams subside and are replaced with a silly baby smile.
Her phone buzzes and she sees two new texts.
"I'm staying for the week…hope you don't mind. XOXO"
"I'm sorry I said we aren't friends."
She sighs and responds to Jade.
"You know what, you're right. We aren't friends. You TORTURED me throughout high school. Why I even thought we were close enough that I could introduce you to this little man in my life is beyond me. I can blame it on two things: I was slightly drunk and it was late. Sorry for disturbing you, I'll stay out of your life."
Blake gurgles and Tori starts to nurse him as her phone goes off again.
"…I'm sorry."
How dare she. I'm sorry doesn't cut it.
"Doesn't cut it. Why am I even texting you? We aren't friends."
Why am I so upset about this? She's not my friend, girlfriend, wife, puppy, son, lizard, or dinosaur. I have no reason to care.
"Tori, come on. I was tired and half asleep."
"They say that's when you're most honest."
Jade doesn't respond to that.
Tori sighs and carries Blake into the spare bedroom that they've turned into Tori's creative space. Lila has Jason's studio, Tori has this.
There's a typewriter on a table and the walls are a light blue. There's a framed, pressed sunflower hung on the wall and a stack of scripts in one corner. There's a shorter stack of song lyrics in the other corner.
There's also a rather large bulletin board hanging opposite the door. There's several overlapping sticky notes and a few pictures, but isolated in the bottom right corner is a newspaper clipping.
William 'Will' Ewerson Prosecuted On Charges of Rape and Assault
Handyman Will Ewerson was fixing a broken door when a young woman, aged 18, caught his eye. The woman, who wishes to remain unnamed, was then raped and struck several times before passing out.
Ewerson was arrested as soon as the victim reported the incident, as he was the only one in the alley at the time of the rape. The victim pressed charges and Ewerson now resides in Sing Sing prison.
Written by Ralph Werd
The article is short and to the point, but Tori's eyes linger on it for several minutes before she leaves the room.
"Mommy loves you Blakey." She whispers. "Don't ever forget that."
/
That night, Tori's phone rings.
"I'm really sorry."
It's Jade.
"Why are you calling me? According to you, we aren't friends."
"Because I know you're mad at me and I can't stand that feeling Vega."
Blake gurgles.
"All I wanted was for you to meet this guy, okay?" Tori switches the phone to her left ear as she picks Blake up.
"I thought you were gay."
"I am, Jade. I never said I was romantically involved with him."
Tori can feel Jade rolling her eyes over the phone.
"Well can I still?"
"No, I only trust friends."
"I count you as a friend."
"I don't."
With that, she hangs up.
"We did good, didn't we Blakey? We showed mean old Jadey that she can't bully us anymore didn't we?"
/
"I don't."
The words are harsh and lifeless as they resonate through the empty apartment.
There are a million things Jade wants to say at that very moment. She wants to tell Tori she's crushing on her, tell her she doesn't like Lila, tell her so much more.
Instead, she turns off her phone and falls asleep.
Final two chapters for the week will be posted tomorrow. I hope everyone likes 'mooncheese1331's' fic, and I hope you all enjoy the flashback's I'll be doing.
Blessed Be.