Chapter Twenty

The light turned on too quickly for us to move apart.

So, her entire family got a glimpse of her straddling me, us both disheveled and staring at them with wide eyes.

Wonderful.

As soon as she got over the shock, she ripped herself off of me and fell on the floor. "It's not what it looks... oh, God...," she trailed off, standing up.

I was sitting there, still dazed from all the kissing. And the whole being interrupted thing. That too.

Her parents were in the doorway, their jaws dropped, staring at us. Trina looked excited. "I'm telling Beck you're cheating on him with a girl!" she exclaimed in a sing-song voice.

I barely caught it in time to say, "We broke up."

She looked confused. "Oh," she said, disappointed. "Well, I'm still telling him!" she said, excited again.

"Trina!" Tori yelled after her retreating back. Then, when she was gone, she looked at the remaining threat, her parents. "I... um... I thought you guys wouldn't be back from Grandma's till tomorrow...," she murmured.

Her Dad got a hold of himself. "We were planning on that, but then your sister called, saying she needed a ride home from the mall and you weren't answering your phone... so we had to drive back early...," he explained awkwardly.

"Oh...," she said.

Breaking the awkward silence, I stood from the couch. "Maybe I should go...," I muttered.

She looked at me, thinking. "Yeah, you probably should," she said.

I threw on my jacket, picking up my bag. "Later, Vega," I started. Then I looked over at her parents. "Good luck," I said softly, kissing her on the cheek quickly.

I walked towards the door, biting my lip then smiling nervously at her parents, waiting for one of them to flip out on me. "Goodnight, Jade," her Dad said as he moved out of the way.

When I got outside I saw my truck, but I decided I'd rather walk home and kept the keys in my pocket. It wasn't exactly a brilliant idea, walking through Hollywood alone late at night, but I had scissors in my bag so whatever.

It started raining at one point. I didn't notice, I was lost in my thoughts I suppose. I love the rain. I used to sit in it when I was younger, writing and then watching the ink smear until my words were undecipherable.

What ever happened to that?

I found a bench, sitting on it, looking at the buildings. Who knows how many people are in them. I never will.

They all have their own lives; their own problems. A million problems. They all seem the same, no matter how bad they are. No one wants to hear about other people's worse lives unless they're trying to feel better about themselves.

I'd probably never meet one of them.

My phone suddenly started vibrating in my pocket, so pulled it out. Tori was calling.

I picked up, pulling my hood up to cover it from the rain. "Who calls anymore, Vega?"

Her voice came out panicked. "Jade, are you walking in the rain right now?"

"Yeah," I said.

She sighed. "Why? Your car is right in the driveway!"

I chuckled. "I'm fine. Relax." Then I remembered. "How are things with your padres?"

There was silence. "That was the weirdest way you could have possibly asked that."

"Yeah, that was what I was going for," I stated.

She giggled. "They got over it quickly enough. Basically they just told me not to make out with you in the living room anymore."

I blushed at that. Which is weird. 'Cause I don't blush.

I cleared my throat. "Um... they didn't even make a big deal about it being with a girl?"

"No, I came out to them like a month ago."

"You're gay?" I asked. Which was a stupid question.

She didn't respond for awhile. "Um... yes? What did you think? That I was kissing you, but I was still somehow completely straight?"

I face-palmed. Obviously.

There was another pause. I forgot to respond. "Well, what about Trina?"

"I didn't tell her, 'cause I figured I'd wait until I was ready to tell everybody, since she'd do that for me. Oh, shit. She'll tell everybody about it!" she panicked.

I chuckled. "Don't worry about it, Vega. Everybody already thinks I'm a mental patient and you're my odd companion. No big deal."

She calmed down. "You really don't care?" she asked.

I shrugged, not realizing she couldn't see me. "Not really," I muttered.

"Wow," she said. "You're a lot more stable than I thought, then." I heard somebody talking in the background. "I gotta go. Get home safely, okay? I love you. Bye."

I stood. "Bye."

Then I shoved my phone back in my pocket and walked home.

A/N - There you are.

Thank you BeautifullyBrokenBlood for being the second to review every chapter so far! Except for chapter 15 for reasons I cannot decipher.

Anyway, I made that a lot less dramatic than I could have made it.

I have come to the conclusion that I have the weirdest dreams ever.

Last night I had a dream that was like I Am Legend in that everyone but me became a blood-sucking zombie thing.

But I trapped them all in this glass chamber and then went on to run all over the world and see everything I've ever wanted to see and have a great time.

And when I woke up I thought, if that was what the movie was like, it would've been so much more upbeat.