"See? I knew it! That freaking asshole."

Determined to give him something he wouldn't forget anytime soon, Jade shoved the cake mix back on the shelf and made a move to go over to him, but was quickly pulled back by Tori. "Jade, don't."

Unbelieving eyes snapped to the woman holding her back. "What? He's stalking you! I'm going to kill that bastard!"

Again she tried to get to him, but Tori's fingers just curled tighter around her arm. "No, please. Don't do something you will regret later." She paused and glanced over to where Ryder was standing, only seeing his back as he disappeared around a corner. "Let me talk to him again."

"What? No way! He's-"

"He's not going to hurt me, Jade." Tori's hand fell away from Jade's arm and she tried her best to reassure Jade that she'd be fine, telling her that there are other people around too and that he wouldn't even think about doing anything, putting as much calmness as she could muster into her voice. Truth to be told, the last thing she wanted was to be alone with Ryder, but if Jade would come and talk to him with her, Tori feared that Ryder wouldn't say anything. "You just wait here and choose which cake we're going to make. Don't worry."

Before she took off, Tori sent her an encouraging smile and lowered her chin in a slight nod but Jade was still reluctant to let her go, her forehead creased with worry and her eyes storming with uncertainty. But she stayed where she was, reluctantly turning towards the cake mixes again as Tori jogged down the aisle and rounded the corner Ryder took just a couple of seconds ago, getting a glimpse of his retreating back.

"Ryder!"

He abruptly stopped at the end of the aisle and turned back around, blankly watching as Tori apprehensively approached him. "Why are you here? Are you stalking me now? What do you want?"

"You."

His low voice almost made her sick, her stomach churning while she tried to swallow the anxiety that was building up inside of her once again. "Ryder," she said exasperatedly, "Just tell me the truth."

His face kept the blank expression as he shrugged his shoulders. "I am telling the truth."

It probably had been naïve to think that he would just spill the truth in the middle of the grocery store, and Tori really didn't know what she really expected to hear, but his constant insistence that the only reason he was here was because he wanted her back gradually started to annoy her. Pushing out a loud sigh, Tori closed her eyes for a second, just collecting her thoughts, before opening them again. "Okay. So let's say you're telling the truth. Why now?"

His jaw was set as he looked away and pushed a loud breath through his nose. "Can't you just be happy that I want us to have another chance?" he gruffly spit out, starting to get slightly restless, confusing Tori. "No, I can't. Because I told you that I don't want us to have another chance."

Tori almost flinched when his raging eyes snapped back to her. "But it's important for me, Tori." Out of fear, she took a step back. "Why is it important?"

A quiet curse was muttered under his breath while he ran a hand over his mouth and stubbly chin, his eyes moving away from her again and only now did Tori notice the way he angrily ground his teeth together. With all her might, she tried to fight the fear bubbling up in her chest and resisted the urge to yell for Jade. "Well, if you're not going to tell me… then… then I… I mean… I'm just going to ask you now to leave me alone because… you know, I… I'm seeing someone and-" She suddenly snapped her mouth shut when his eyes found hers again, getting angrier by the second. Haughtily, he looked at her with narrowed eyes before he pushed out a snort. "You're lying."

"No, I… I…" From her childhood on Tori had been a terrible liar and that obviously didn't change over the years. She thought that maybe Ryder would believe her lie and finally leave her alone but now, as he stepped closer and grabbed her arms again, she feared that it just made the situation worse.

"You need to marry me!"

Her eyes widened, both at his words and out of fear; absentmindedly she wondered, where everybody was, why no one was shopping in this goddamn aisle and could maybe help her, but just like yesterday, Jade came to her rescue again, just not so gentle this time. Tori's eyes watched her storm around the corner right behind her ex-boyfriend; the slight pain Ryder's fingertips caused by digging into her flesh suddenly disappeared as Jade pushed him away from her and almost made him stumble into the shelves filled with foods. In fear that Jade would seriously hurt Ryder, Tori grabbed her sides to hold her back from stalking over to him. She shot her a disapproving glare over her shoulder but obeyed Tori's wish to stay away from her ex-boyfriend.

"I'm not giving out empty threats, you know. Didn't I make myself clear yesterday?"

"Why do you always butt into our business, huh?" Tori's gaze moved from Jade to Ryder who advanced towards them. Her hands tightened at Jade's sides, just to be sure. He came to stand right in front of Jade, towering over her, but Jade didn't move an inch, keeping her strong glare steadily on him. "Who are you anyway? Her little girlfriend?"

"So what if I am?"

Determination, resolve and a little hint of deliberate provocation shaped her casual tone, her eyes reflecting exactly the same, which, Tori noticed, obviously began to affect Ryder. Confusion replaced every trace of anger on his face and his doubting eyes flicked to Tori. The brunette felt a possessive arm wrap around her waist, Jade's arm, and she felt like she might pass out at any second, whether from fear or the close proximity of Jade.

"You're a lesbian now?" His mouth stood ajar, his eyebrows creased together. He would never buy it, Tori thought, he knew when she was lying.

"Well, I guess you were just such a huge disappointment to her that she decided to switch teams," Jade innocently stated and piqued his anger again, his eyes flashing. Jade smirked and tilted her head at seeing his reaction. "What's wrong, little boy? Can't handle the fact that Tori found someone better than you?"

If life would just be a little like a cartoon, Tori was almost hundred percent positive that white steam would come out of Ryder's nose right in this moment. "Say something Tori," he pressed out while glowering at her. "Yeah," Jade said cheerily and turned her attention to Tori, "Say something, Tori. Who's it going to be? Me or him?"

When Tori tore her eyes away from Ryder to look at Jade, it was clear to her that the entire situation seemed to amuse Jade greatly. Her eyes twinkled brightly, one eyebrow cocked and lips lifted into a smirk. Swallowing, Tori turned back to Ryder. "Just leave me alone. I don't want to see you ever again. If there's a next time, I'm going to call the police."

He blinked a couple of times, then closed his eyes and pushed out a breath. "Fine." Tori's eyebrows shot up but she tried to put on a blank face when he opened his eyes again. "Fine," he repeated, "If you really want it that way. No need to threaten me."

She didn't know if it was an act or if this time, he really understood it. But everything seemed to drain from his face, only defeat visible. He hesitantly came forward but Jade took a step back and pulled Tori with her. "Okay, well…" He nodded and slowly stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. "Goodbye then."

He lingered for a couple of seconds before he shook his head and turned, disappearing out of Tori's life, hopefully for real this time and hopefully forever. When he was completely out of sight, Jade's arm, that was still keeping Tori pressed to her side, dropped. "Let's hope he understood now." The calming warmth that transferred from Jade's body to Tori's suddenly completely disappeared as Jade created a distance between them again by stepping a step back. "What on earth was that comment about how you need to marry him? I didn't think he was that crazy," Jade scoffed while crossing her arms.

"I don't-… Wait, you heard that?"

Jade simply rolled her eyes. "Did you really think I'd just busy myself with the stupid cake mixes? I was behind that corner the entire time. Ready to lunge," she said, grinning, before frowning and cocking her eyebrow in displeasure, "You're a really shitty liar, by the way. You should work on that."

It was Tori's turn to roll her eyes, a hint of a smile on her lips. "Yeah, I know. Thanks for the tip."

"Oh, you know you're always welcome." Jade smirked and flicked her head down the aisle. "Now let's get back to the cake mixes. If we're lucky, no one stole our shopping cart yet."

…

"Thanks for doing this, Aiden. Robbie tried to fix it but I think he just made it worse."

"Oh, no problem," he said from his place under the kitchen sink, his voice muffled from its encasement of the cabinet, "This won't take long, I think. I already know what the problem is."

Cat nodded, listening as Aiden explained to her why the water wasn't able to drain off anymore and what he was going to do about it, all the while the clink of metal cutting his voice off here and there as he got to work. She let him work in silence for a few moments, watching him work, before curiously asking "Say… have you talked to Jade lately?"

"Yeah of course." His head appeared from under the sink for a moment as he grabbed a weird looking silver tool out of his tool box. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I don't know… I was just… wondering."

His blue eyes narrowed curiously and he tilted his head as he observed his sister's best friend. Cat shot him an uncharacteristically weak smile, which was all he needed to grow even more suspicious. "Is something wrong? With you and Jade?"

As an answer, Cat shook her head. "No. I just-"She hesitated but then blurted out, "Have you noticed how much time she spends with Tori?"

Aiden's eyebrows shot up. "Um… yeah. I did. I've only met her once for about… two minutes or so but Jade told me a lot about her." He shrugged, looking into his tool box before he leaned back to work on the sink pipe. "She's nice, isn't she? Tori?"

"Yeah. Yeah, she is but…" There wasn't anything she could think of to say, nothing to really explain her slight resentment towards Tori. She liked Tori. But the amount of time Jade spent with the brunette, time she could have also spent with her, made her doubt herself. Cat knew exactly what was wrong. She was jealous of Tori, of how much better she seemed to understand Jade. "I just find it weird. I mean, like… did you know Jade called her on Lia's death-day?"

"She did?" Aiden sounded surprised. "Huh. Why?"

"Tori said she needed someone to talk to. That she didn't want to be alone. So she called… Tori."

It was quiet for a moment; Aiden's hand appeared, patting the floor until his fingers closed around another one of his tools, the clank of metal soon sounding again. "But that's good," he said over the noise, "This is the first time since Amelia died that… Jade wasn't alone, soaking in her misery." His words weren't condescending in the slightest bit, nor did they carry any trace of malice. "I think it's great that Tori seems to have such an effect on her."

"Yeah, but I mean, don't you find it… doesn't it hurt you that she'd rather talk to Tori than to you?"

Cat heard Aiden sigh from under the sink. "Cat, I really don't think you need to worry," he tried to soothe, "Jade is your best friend, she always was and always will be. Just because she maybe prefers to talk to Tori about certain things, doesn't mean that she forgot about you." Almost in defeat, Cat sunk down on a kitchen chair, pouting. "Besides… Jade told me… that you wanted to hook her up with Tori. So therefore… shouldn't it make you happy that they're together that much?"

"No, I… I know it was wrong of me to push them together," Cat mumbled bashfully and lowered her gaze to the table, "Jade doesn't want to move on and I shouldn't have thought that I could make her regardless."

"Well," Aiden said, his voice strained as he put his strength into repairing the sink pipe, "Tori seems to do her good, for all I know. So that's all I care about." He grunted, then, the clatter of the tools sounded again. "And so should you. Try to understand her, push your jealousy to the side."

Cat watched him emerge from the cabinet, his eyes meeting hers and his lips forming a comforting smile. "Apparently it's Tori who she needs right now," he said and shrugged his shoulders, his smile widening, "And as long as she makes her feel better, why should we complain?"