"And then that's when I said, I can change your tire, ma'am, but I am not eating that broccoli." Robbie says, delivering the punch line of a joke that was supposed to be 'hella funny', but everyone, including myself that was seated at the kitchen table in Tori's house, just stares at him like he just told us he was pregnant. "You don't get it?"
"No," Tori shakes her head, her eyebrows pulled down. "No, we don't."
"But, come on, you don't get how she wanted me to eat the broccoli, but I was only coming to change a tire? Seriously, you've never heard that joke before? It's like, the funniest thing in the world."
Silence. Absolute silence.
"I hate you guys." Robbie pushes back his chair and, grabbing Rex off the counter, uses the doll's wooden fingers to flip us off before he trots off into the direction of the living room where there are reasonably sized clusters of random kids from Hollywood Arts mingling. There is an old rap song playing on the stereo, and a couple of people have started a mini dance battle on the carpet.
"Well, that was weird." I take another sip of the kid friendly fruit punch drink that Tori is serving that she had forbidden me to spike (but I didn't make any promises). Cat is sitting beside me (wearing the pinkest, frilliest dress known to man) at the table on my right, and even though she's not paying attention to me while she chats up some guy from her science class, it's nice to have her there.
A few days ago, I made her my girlfriend. A couple days before that, I was the hollow shell of a human when my boyfriend who so-called loved me left me for some skank he now claims is his cousin. I am living proof at how drastically things can change in a week. I am living proof that things do get better with time.
"Okay, moving on." Tori changes the subject, folding her hands on the table, and looking around at everyone with that permanent smile on her face. "Does anyone know any fun party games to play?"
"Strip poker is always good." Cat's science buddy volunteers his opinion, wiggling his bushy unibrow in her direction. I almost spit up my fruit punch. My chest tightens and I realize that this is always how I felt whenever girls would flirt with Beck. I get territorial, defensive.
But much to my relief, Cat barely acknowledges science boy's suggestive comment aimed at her, and instead, beneath the table, slides her warm fingers around my wrist just like she did at lunch when Beck thought it was a great day for Show and Tell. I hide the smile threatening to spread across my lips by taking another sip of the punch, but silently using my free fingers to graze her thigh. Goosebumps spread across her skin in response.
"Sorry, Peter, this party is rated PG." Tori rolls her eyes up towards the ceiling before bringing them back down again. "Does anyone have any … appropriate games we can play?"
"Duck, duck, goose is always fun!" Cat chimes, and she is immediately pelted with protests.
"How about charades?"
"My family likes to play this drinking game, which would be fun, if you know, Tori wasn't such a goodie two shoes."
"Rules are rules, Kevin."
"Let's play Monopoly!"
"Let's get the hell out of here." I whisper into the curtain of velvety red hair where I was guessing Cat's ear would be. It's not that I'm not excited to be here, it's just that, I wasn't about to sit through a seven hour board game of buying houses and praying for a get-out-of-jail-free card. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday night.
Cat nods slowly before smiling shyly in Tori's direction and excusing the both of us from the table. We both rise, and Cat's fingers are still encircled around my wrist as she leads me towards the living room, where the music has changed into an upbeat, pop tune that talks about partying and drinking your life away.
"Come, let's dance." The corners of her mouth turn up, and she tugs me towards a crowd of people bumping and grinding against one another. As appealing as that looked and sounded, I wasn't in the mood to catch a sexually transmitted disease from one of these people. I placed my feet solidly on the floor.
"What's wrong?"
"Have you ever seen me dance before?" I raise a brow, and watch as Robbie thrusts his crotch against some blonde chick's backside and she turns around to slap him.
"No."
"Good, and it's gonna stay that way."
"Jade." Cat whines, grabbing my other wrist with her free hand and sticking out the flesh of her bottom lip in a pout that was so freaking adorable and made my stomach clench. "Come on, I'll teach you if you want. Dance with me."
I don't know, maybe it was something about her face and the way her eyes pleaded with me, or maybe it was just the thought of being able to be pressed up against her, but I finally gave in. Cat lets out a squeal of excitement the moment I nod tersely, and with both hands she drags me into the mosh pit of sweaty, gyrating teenagers.
It's not bad, being pressed up against her like that. Sure, it would be better if some random, beefy guy would stop thinking it's okay to have his hands hover dangerously close to my ass, but the sweet smell of Cat's shampoo distracted me enough.
The music is loud and throbbing, the floorboards are rattling underneath everyone's feet, but it's like we're the only ones on the dance floor. Cat's hands are on my shoulders now, and my arms are wrapped around her waist, and we're both wiggling our hips, and she's smiling.
"See, you can dance."
"This isn't dancing, this is shimming." I roll my eyes, but I'm smiling too.
We stay dancing like that for a several minutes, and then the song changes into a slower, more romantic tone. All the single people start drifting away from the cluster, breaking off to go grab a drink or some snacks. People with a significant other, however, come together like magnets and slowly sway back and forth to the music.
I'm ready to pull away, but Cat grips me tighter, and says, "No, no, keep dancing."
"But this is a slow song." I lean down and whisper the next part in her ear. "This is a couple's song."
"And we're a couple, so this is perfect." She chimes, her smile pulled so high that the dimple in her right cheek is showing.
That's when Cat tilts her head upwards, and from behind a curtain of eyelashes, her brown eyes glisten, and I am totally unprepared as her lips brush mine gently.
I know I should've stopped it immediately, I know I should've seen this coming. I should've prepped Cat beforehand and told her not do this this. I should've done a lot of things, but I didn't. I didn't, and now everyone knows. I've just been pushed face first out of a closet that I got thrown into two days ago.
No one is kind enough to whisper quietly. The music is still booming, but I can still hear them all above the noise.
"Did they just kiss?"
"Are they together?"
"I didn't know Jade was gay."
I look around at everyone's faces. Some are shocked, some are confused and some have big, satisfied grins on their mouths. They're all huddled together, cliques that form armies surrounding the two of us. My stomach plunges, and Cat can feel the sudden shift of tension in the air, because she looks up at apologetically.
I'm about to grab Cat by the shoulders and run, but that's the precise moment that a hand lands on my shoulder. I whip around and stare into the eyes of the last person I was thinking about confronting.
"Let's talk outside." Tori motions with her head towards the front door, and like in the story, people parted like the sea to let us through. Tori leads the way as she pushes open the door, and we all step out onto the patio.
The night air hits me like a bullet, chilling me straight down to the bone, but I keep my body still. Beside me, Cat is visibly shivering, and I loop an arm around her shoulders and she graciously leans into me. Tori's arms are still crossed, and her eyes are narrowed.
With the exception of the occasional car passing by, the neighborhood is silent. No one says anything for a minute. We know what this conversation is about, but we're all too scared too.
After taking a deep breath of air, Tori breaks the tension and her eyes shift between us as she says, "So, you and Cat are like … a couple?"
"Yes." I state calmly and coolly, but my insides are knocking because I just admitted, out loud, to someone other than myself, that Cat Valentine was my girlfriend. It felt deeply terrifying, yet utterly relieving as I did so.
"Well … that's cool."
Not exactly what I was expecting.
"You don't think it's weird? In any way?"
"No, no. I think it's great." Tori's hard stare softens, and a small smile breaks out on her lips. "I don't judge, love is love. I have a gay uncle."
"So, you don't hate us?" Cat confirms, her tone hopeful.
"No, I don't hate you." Tori shakes her head at Cat, but it's a motherly one, and the smile is still there. "I actually think it's really cute."
As sickening as both of them being sweet is, I don't smile, but on the inside, my stomach warms. It's nice to know that she accepts Cat and I for who we are. It's nice to know that she isn't going to judge us or shun us because of the decisions we've made.
After Tori and Cat have what seems to me to be the ultimate battle of cuteness, the three of us trail back inside where people are still giving us weird looks. Some have moved on and continued with their activities, like the smart people they are.
Like he appeared out of thin air, Cat's science buddy appears in front of us, a sleazy grin on his face. "Wow, you guys are lesbians? That's hot."
"That's right, she's my girlfriend. Keep it moving, buddy." I take a step forward, and throw him the dirtiest, most intimidating look I can muster. Peter, bless him, takes the hint and scurries away to go hit on a girl at the snack table.
The cliques start to break up, the whispers become hushed, but people are still staring at us oddly. I guess this is what I was supposed to expect when I'm now outed to about 30% of my high school. I will be awaiting the floor of the Slap messages in the next couple hours. Like I said, stuff spreads like wildfire.
But I could honestly care less. If they have a problem, they can stand in line with all the other people who don't like me. I'm chuckling at that thought, ready to hit the dance floor with Cat again, but that' s when everything went downhill.
That's the moment that Beck breezes through the front door with Nicole glued to his hip.
"Can we talk?"
It's the first thing he says, and he says it to me. Like, he literally waltzed through the door, scanned the room and when his eyes locked on me, he strode right over. Nicole followed him too, wearing a skimpy piece of shiny red fabric that I'm guessing is supposed to be her dress.
And now, he wants to talk to me. 'A talk' can mean a lot of things for a pair of people who are newly broken up, but one thing that it surely is is a challenge. And I, Jade West, will never back down from a challenge.
"Sure." I reply coolly, and I look over my shoulder towards Cat. "Give us a minute."
"I'm coming too." Her death grip on my arm tightens, and her eyes are stone hard, colder than I've ever seen them, and they're trained on Beck.
"This is just between me and Jade." Beck raises a skeptical eyebrow at Cat and then looks at me for assurance.
"Yeah, it's just between Beck and I." I turn to Cat, and flash her the bravest smile I could manage at the moment. She returns the smile with less enthusiasm that I had, but reluctantly lets my hand go.
Beck whispers something briefly to Nicole, and she giggles. It makes me sick, but I give Cat's hand a small squeeze before I follow Beck like a little lost puppy up the stairs and into the darkness of Tori's bedroom.
I know what's going to happen. I know exactly how this whole 'we need to talk' thing is going to play out. Right now, we're all alone in Tori's room, and he's going to tell me he loves me. He'll tell me how much he's missed me, how he's going to dump Nicole the minute we get back downstairs, and then he'll wait for me to fall to my knees and take him back in an instant.
If you couldn't tell already, we're been down this path before.
And that's all fine and dandy, but there's a difference this time. This time, I don't want him back. Even though we had been together, he never made me happy. Sure, there were happy moments, here and there, but I was never really satisfied with the way he treated me.
I've been with Cat for two freaking days, and I've never been so happy in my life. That's when I decide to tell him. Right here. Right now.
"I'm dating Cat."
"You're what?" He turns around, eyebrow cocked.
"I'm dating Cat. You know, the little bubbly redhead out there? She's my girlfriend now."
What Beck does next, I'll admit I didn't expect. I thought he would get mad, lash out, or possibly be so shocked that he doesn't even have words and calmly exits the bedroom. But instead, he opens his mouth, and he laughs.
The sound fills the room, invades my ears, so loud and lasts for a complete twenty seconds. At one point he even double over and grabs his stomach like his organs can't take it. When he's finished, he wipes a stray tear from his eye, and his cheeks are red. "Wow, Jade, I think that was the funniest thing you've ever said."
When he flicks his eyes up and scans my face, his smile disappears, and he says, "Oh my God, you're serious, aren't you?"
"Is there a problem?" I can hear the defensiveness creeping into my voice again. Is it really that funny that Cat and I are dating?
"I mean, I know we're broken up and everything, and you're allowed to date whomever you want, but, Cat Valentine?" His voice has a ring to it, a mocking one, and I don't like the sound of it.
I swallow, narrow my eyes. My heart is beating the blood in my ears erratically; I can barely hear myself speak. "What's wrong with Cat?"
"Nothing, nothing." Beck throws his hands up as if to surrender, or shield himself. "I'm just saying, she's a girl … and you're a girl so … I didn't think you would ever go down that road."
"People change." I look him up and down with a brow arched. "Obviously."
"I don't want to fight." He shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair.
I don't look him in the eye, instead I examine all the freshly dusted picture frames of various members of the Vega family on Tori's dresser. "Then what do you want, Beck?"
"I want you to stop pretending."
"Pretending to do what, exactly?" Trina looks better in that picture with shorter hair than she does now.
"Stop pretending you don't want me back, Jade."
Immediately, my attention is on him again. "Excuse me?"
"Jade, come on. I was your boyfriend for two freaking years. And, all of a sudden you're all gay for Cat? Bullshit. Just admit that that is to make me jealous and you want me back. I know you do."
"How dare you think I would use Cat like that." I'm appalled; completely disgusted that he thinks that I would go out of my way just to make him jealous. I was angry, but I'm not pathetic. He meant something to me, he was the world to me for a moment, but that doesn't make him worth it.
"Jade … you're Jade. You would do that."
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
"No, I wouldn't. No, I won't. I wouldn't do something like that to her. I just don't hurt people for the fun of it, Beck. I'm not like you."
"You think I broke up with you because I think it's fun?"
"Well, why else?" I narrow my eyes at him, and on the back of my eyelids, a picture of Nicole appears. "Oh, no, don't answer that. I know the reason. It's because you'd rather have mindless sex with some whore than be in an actual, committed relationship."
"Nicole is not a whore. I like her. And I know, I was wrong, whatever, but-"
"No, it's not 'whatever'." I place a hand over my heart, because my chest is beginning to hurt. Above my left eyebrow, a headache has formed. "You crushed me, Beck. You hurt me. And now you're just upset that Cat took your place, right?"
His eyebrows furrow, he's angry now. "Cat took my place? Yeah, more like she was holding my spot."
"You're an asshole." I don't want to be having this discussion anymore; I don't want to do this right now. I wasn't ready, and I don't think I'll ever be. I begin walking backwards and bump into Tori's bookshelf.
"Stop acting like that." He's walking forward, and with my hands outstretched behind me, I grip the cold metal of Tori's doorknob. I push open the door, and hallway light floods the room, illuminates Beck's eyes.
"No, just fuck you, Beck. Fuck you." I'm turning now, clomping down the hallway. I can hear the party going on down below. Someone cheers, somebody else laughs.
"Stop fighting with me, Jade. You're acting like a child."
"Oh fucking well. I guess I'm a kid then." My eye's are watering, and I don't know why. I take the stairs two at a time, and bang right into Robbie.
"You okay?" He grabs me by my elbow and glances at the top of the stairs, where I'm assuming Beck is looming.
"Fuck off." I snarl, but I make sure my eyes tell him I don't mean it, and I push him away, shoving random people out of the way until I see red. She's standing exactly where I had left her.
"Come on, let's go." I take Cat by the hand and glance back over my shoulder just in time to see Nicole meet Beck on the stairs and wrap her arm around his waist and bury her face in his neck. "I don't want to stay here with these monsters any longer."
Wow. Angst.
And I know it took me forever and a day to update, I apologize. I was on vacation, and I kind of forgot about writing for a week or two. I'm very sorry.
Oh, by the way, I just want to say that even though it may seem like it, I don't hate Beck's character on Victorious. I like him.
It's just that, for the sake of the story, he has to be a douche. Okay? Okay.