Tuesday,

April 2nd, 2013

With her eyes staring into space, Tori let her fingers gently stroke over white keys, occasionally pushing down to create a slow melody. Not being able to control it, her lips curled upwards, into an absent smile, as her mind took her back to Robbie and Cat's wedding. Jade's voice still rang loud and clear in her ears, the way it floated through the air and managed to completely enchant all its listeners.

No. Enchanting her.

Which was completely unacceptable.

Tori's smile got replaced by a frown, her hands stopping abruptly. Of course she would fall in love with someone, who had absolutely no interest in her, who would never return her feelings. With someone who, strictly speaking, didn't even want her friendship. But she wouldn't let Jade take away the hope of friendship too, even if she had to fight really hard for it. Love, a relationship… it wasn't an option and it probably would never be. But staying away from Jade wasn't either.

"Tori?"

The deep voice startled her and her hands pushed down on the piano keys, creating an unpleasant sound. Her eyebrows shooting up, Tori turned towards the source of the voice. She relaxed when she saw Andre, one of the music teachers, standing next to her, a curious look on his face. "Andre," she breathed out, chuckling lightly, "You scared me."

A happy laugh left his mouth as he leaned against the black piano and shook his head. "Where were you with your mind, huh?"

Tori sighed, smile falling and her hands reaching to put down the lid of the piano. In the course of the last seven months, Andre and she had gotten fast friends, with both of them sharing the passion for music. He was calm, always in a good mood and was always able to make her laugh. Tori knew she could most definitely trust him with anything. "I was just… you know…" She forced a smile and looked up to the ceiling, motioning her hand towards it. "Up in space."

He nodded, unconvinced, and took a seat next to Tori on the piano bench. "But everything's okay though?"

"Yes. Yes, don't worry." She turned towards him, one corner of her mouth lifting into a playful smile as she bumped his shoulder with hers. "You should know by now how weird I am."

"You're not weird," he assured her, his uncertainty erased for the moment.

"Thank you. Means a lot." She grinned and sent him a wink to which he laughed out loud. "Anyways, did you want something from me?"

Andre nodded his head and sat up straight, rubbing his hands together. "Actually yeah. I kinda wanted to check in with you about a rumor I heard making the round." His eyebrows playfully wiggled up and down but Tori only frowned. "What rumor?"

"Beck asking you out on a date."

Tori's face relaxed. "Oh." She thought back to the day the handsome acting teacher charmingly asked her out after one of her classes ended, only for her to decline. "Yeah. That's true."

"Ooooh."

"What 'Ooooh'? I said no."

Andre's grin dropped as he creased his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side. "You said no?" A nod. "Huh. Didn't expect that. Ladies usually go crazy over him."

Tori shrugged, collecting her music sheets and placing them neatly on top of the piano. "Yeah. He is really nice and good-looking and all but… he's just not really my type." If Tori was really honest, she didn't even know what exactly her type was. Back in L.A., before she had met Jade, she probably would have said yes in a heartbeat if a guy like Beck would have asked her out. But ever since meeting Jade, every other person just seemed to dull in comparison to the black-haired woman.

"Oh. Okay."

Tori smiled but a curious frown took over when a thought struck. "Hey, where did you hear this 'rumor'? Hopefully not from one of the students."

"No, no." He waved dismissively, then shrugged his shoulders. "Hank told me."

Tori raised her eyebrows. "Hank? As in Hank, the janitor?"

"Yup. He told me." He grinned and bumped his shoulder into Tori's. "He always knows the best gossip. And he can remove coffee stains out of silk. That man's a hero, I'm telling ya."

...

Friday,

July 26th, 2013

"Happy Birthday!"

Jade immediately stopped in her tracks, frowning face looking up from her phone to settle on Tori Vega standing in front of her door, a blinding smile on her face. With narrowed eyes Jade stepped closer, flicking her eyes all over Tori's face before rolling them, pushing past the brunette and into the building. Gentle footsteps hit the carpet behind Jade, hit the steps up to her apartment until they stopped when Jade whirled around. "Why are you following me? I don't remember telling you to come in."

Tori just shrugged, still smiling and seemingly unfazed by Jade's angry words. "It's your birthday," she told her slowly, leaving the words hanging in the air between them as if they were enough explanation. A shapely eyebrow rose. "So?"

"So… birthdays are there to be celebrated."

"Not mine. It isn't." Tori's smile fell and, Jade couldn't lie, it did make her feel triumphant, if only in the slightest bit. She's always so… cheerful and happy, so carefree all of the time. Something Jade hadn't felt in a ridiculously long time. Cruel as it might be, it felt good to see Tori without that stupidly happy smile on her face. But her superiority was short-lived as another smile quickly followed and her brown eyes lightened up.

"Okay then. I get it. No celebrating. See? I'm a fast learner." Jade rolled her eyes and shook her head. "But at least let us two have a nice time, hm? Being alone on your birthday… do you really want that?"

Tori's raised eyebrows and smile urged her on to tell her what she wanted to hear, what Jade really wanted to say. No, she didn't want to be alone on her birthday. She had insisted that Cat wouldn't come over today, insisted that their weekly dinner would be enough celebration. And well, Cat does what she says but sometimes… sometimes Jade wished she would just ignore her and just do what she thinks is right. And yes, she kinda even missed Tori. She missed the way they spent their time together before Tori – or maybe even she herself – had ruined their newfound friendship. But after a moment of contemplation, Jade knew that she would never in a million years tell Tori the truth. "You know what," Jade eventually said with a sigh, turning around to open her door, "I do. I want to be alone." Her hand quickly turned the key in the lock, the door springing open. Jade turned around again, arms crossed. To find a big grin on Tori's face, however, was not what she'd expected to find. "Why are you grinning at me like that?"

Tori didn't answer. Instead, she took a couple of steps closer to Jade, until she was standing right in front of the confused looking woman. "You know what," Tori mimicked Jade's words confidently, "If you really wanted me to leave, you would have just walked inside and slammed the door in my face."

Without leaving Jade a chance to retort something – which she wouldn't even have been able to – Tori sidestepped her and stepped into her home. Turning around, that satisfied grin still plastered on her face, she saw Jade slowly turn around to stare at her with her mouth agape and eyebrows furrowed. "So, what do you wanna do? It's your birthday, you decide."

There was a large possibility that Jade would kill her right on the spot, Tori was aware of that, but just like she expected, Jade slowly closed the door, although the frown still on her face. "Why do you do that?" Her voice was surprisingly quiet and soft as she took a step closer to Tori. "Why are you so persistent?"

"I told you at the wedding. I want to be your friend."

Jade's face was full of doubt. "Why?"

Tori sighed loudly, her smile now finally slipping. "Why has there to be a reason? Why can't you just accept it? I'm not going to hurt you, I promise you. I just want to be somebody who… who…" She trailed off, taking a deep breath. "I want to be a person that you can trust. That you know you can trust. I don't even want you to talk to me about anything but… I want you to know that I'm here and that I'm not going to leave. I gave you enough time now, I think and now it's time that I show you that I really don't want to hurt you or anything. I mean… the first few months after I moved here… we've had so much fun, didn't we? I just want that back. Just give me one chance."

A long silence stretched between them, with both of them staring at each other. Eventually though, Jade gave in. She rolled her eyes as her stone hard face shattered and walked past the brunette towards the kitchen. "'The Scissoring' is on tonight. It's my favorite movie. If you really want to be my friend," she paused, turning to look at Tori, "you'll have to watch it with me."

Then, after shooting Tori one last look, she turned back around and walked into the kitchen. And just like that, a grin found its way back to Tori's lips.

...

Sunday,

August 11th, 2013

Her hand was cold in hers, so cold. Her entire skin was so pale, sickly, gone was its normal warm glow. Jade's fingers tightened around Lia's in a desperate attempt to hold on to her, to keep her here but somewhere in the back of Jade's mind, a cruel voice was whispering that it would just be a matter of time before she would slip out of her grasp. Forever.

"Will you sing to me?"

Weak and so quiet, Amelia's voice brought a gut wrenching feeling to Jade. Her eyes were barely open, only a tiny crack gave away what beautiful eyes laid underneath, so warm and lively. With great effort, Jade swallowed the sob that was threatening to escape and shook her head. "I can't."

Lia's eyes opened wider, revealing dullness instead of the bright sparkle those hazel irises normally carried within them. She smiled, and although it was weak, Jade couldn't think of a more beautiful smile. "Of course you can, sweetheart."

Jade released a gush of air, her eyes closing momentarily. "I just want to hear your voice one last time," Amelia croaked out, followed by a shaky breath. Jade's eyes snapped open, Amelia's lips curled up in a soft smile. "Please don't say that. It won't be the last time, okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay," Jade breathed out, then, inhaled deeply and started singing. Her voice filled the room, slow and soft and only for Amelia. She sang and sang until she couldn't think of a good song anymore but she knew Lia was more than happy as her eyes fluttered open and a soft smile graced her lips. "I love listening to you."

Jade chuckled and lifted a hand to run through soft blonde hair. "I know you do."

Lia shakily exhaled and ran her tongue over chapped lips. "Jade," she whispered questioningly.

Jade shuffled closer, gently pushing her hair back from her burning forehead. "What's up?"

"I'll never leave you. I love you so much. Don't forget that, please."

"I won't," she whispered, swallowing harshly as Lia's words really sunk in. A shaky sigh left her lips. "God, I love you so much."

Amelia's breathing suddenly became labored, sweaty brows creasing over heavy eyelids. Jade frowned, her hand shooting out to touch Lia's cheek. "Lia? Baby, what's wrong?"

She didn't answer, her eyes closing as her breaths came out in harsh gasps and the beeping of the monitor increased drastically. With panic arising in her body, Jade shot up from her seat next to the bed and hovered over Amelia.

The next thing she knew, a long beep filled the room.

Jade squeezed her eyes shut as that horrible, horrible noise played in her head, over and over and over again. Hands buried in hair, tugging, hoping to pry this loud noise out of her brain. Four years and that sound still haunted her on this day, mixed in with Lia's words echoing and bouncing off the walls in her head. "I'll never leave you. I love you so much. Don't forget that, please."

"Where are you now, Lia," she muttered into her hands before letting out a heart wrenching sob, "I need you." A sudden anger overwhelmed her brain and nagged away at her. She groaned and wiped at her eyes jumping to her feet and grabbing, once again, fistfuls of her hair. "Where are you?! You freaking lied to me!" Her voice carried loudly through her apartment, breaking through the silence. "It's been four years now, Lia," she almost whimpered and let her hands fall to her side, eyes flicking over the ceiling as if they hoped to see the blonde woman there. "Four… years and… and you left me. Even though you said you wouldn't."

She fell silent then and waited. She waited and waited even though she didn't know what for. Tiredly, she closed her eyes and let herself fall onto the couch, her only wish to be swallowed by the soft cushions or to fall asleep and never wake up again. She was going insane, being so alone, being so… dangerously vulnerable. In the very far back of her mind, a tiny, tiny part of her wished she would have went to Robbie and Cat despite today being the anniversary of Lia's death, just so that she wouldn't be alone. But she couldn't go there anymore, she was a freaking mess. Jade doubted she would have it in her to drive to their place without driving into the nearest tree. Besides, maybe Tori would be there and-

Jade's eyes snapped open all of sudden. Tori.

"I don't even want you to talk to me about anything but… I want you to know that I'm here and that I'm not going to leave."

Her gaze slowly moved to her little coffee table, her phone lying on top of it. She hesitated, already knowing that she probably really shouldn't do it, but something inside of her just screamed to call her. Jade wanted to see her. And most of all, she thought almost ashamed, she wanted a hug. So she plucked up all of her courage, inhaled a shaky breath and slowly grabbed her phone, dialing Tori's number.

"Hello?"

"Tori?" She sighed and closed her eyes when Tori's confused voice filtered through the phone. "Will you come over?"

A/N: I hope you all had a great Christmas and since I probably won't update until next year, I wish all of you a Happy New Year!