Sunday,

January 5th, 2014

The arms that were keeping her own pressed to her sides squeezed her body tighter and tighter, up to the point where Jade actually thought she could hear her ribs cracking and feel her lungs explode. "Okay Tori, please let go now," Jade barely managed to press out, her mouth opening wide to take a large gulp of air when Tori finally released her out of her death grip.

"Sorry," she heard the brunette mumble and looked up to find a blush coloring the tan skin and a cheeky grin stretching across her mouth. "I just kind of missed you. A lot."

I've missed you too. More than I should have. She swallowed the words down, tried to put a smile on, even though she was sure she failed miserably as her lips twitched up into a weak curve, and tried to brush the heavy effect Tori had on her off of her shoulders. "Yeah. That's what my charm does to people."

Holy God. Internally groaning, Jade wished she could reach into her chest and somehow stop her stupid, stupid heart from pounding so hard just because of that stupid, stupid smile on Tori's face and that alluring sparkle her brown eyes held. And, man, that smell. Even if she had wanted to, Jade wouldn't have been able to stop her neck from turning as Tori walked past her and a subtle waft of her perfume climbed up her nose, once more making her doubt herself all over again. This shouldn't be how she felt about her friend. No one felt that sort of thing towards their friends, it was almost unhealthy. Only once did she feel like this, Amelia had been the only one who could ignite this in her. But Amelia had been her girlfriend, her fiancée, the love of her life. Tori wasn't. Tori was her friend.

Her friend. Only… her friend.

"Jade?"

Her neck almost snapped as she whirled her head towards Robbie. He stood in the doorway of the living room and looked at her with amused eyes. "Are you coming or are you staying in the hall today?"

Eyes blinked away the thoughts of Tori and instead rolled in their orbits. "Funny. Better go cook something, Shapiro." She walked past him into the living room but immediately froze when she saw Cat kneeling in front of the coffee table, her hands resting on a rectangle box. "Oh, please no."

Both Cat's and Tori's head turned towards her. "Please no what?"

"I am not playing Monopoly," she defiantly said and crossed her arms over her chest while Cat's brows drew down and her head cocked to the side in confusion. "Why not?"

Jade's eyebrows shot up. "Why not? Because I won't play! You're a sore loser!"

An offended gasp rushed out of the redhead's mouth. "I am not!"

"Yes, you are," Jade scoffed and swung her gaze to Tori. "I'm telling you, Tori, you don't want to play Monopoly with Cat. Please say no."

"It's true," Robbie chimed in from behind Jade, nodding his head before lowering his voice so only Jade could really hear, "I tried to get that idea out of her head but she insists on playing."

"If Robbie and Jade don't-"

But Cat shushed the brunette and said "Tori already agreed. So ha! We're playing."

Pushing out a groan, Jade walked over to the sofa and fell down next to Tori, squeezing her eyes shut. "Fine. Then I'm on a strike as of now. Not cooking anything."

"That's fine," Cat said with an innocent shrug, "I'll do it. It's not that hard."

Jade scoffed at that and opened her eyes, watching Cat skip into the kitchen with Robbie begrudgingly following her, mumbling "I'm going with her. Maybe I'll get Monopoly out of her head."

"Tough luck with that," Jade called after him and smirked as the door fell shut behind him, only for her to realize that she was alone with Tori now. Her smirk dropped as soon as that thought nestled into her head. But maybe if she wouldn't say anything, if she'd just not look at her right now, then-

"Is Cat really that sore of a loser?"

She bit her lip as Tori's amused voice filled her ears, causing her heart to do a flip in her chest.

...Maybe it wasn't even Tori who caused that. Maybe she had some kind of heart condition. Yeah, that's probably it. She should probably see a doctor about that...

"Jade?"

Hesitantly she turned towards Tori. "Hm?"

Tori let out a small laugh. "Did you hear me?"

"Yes. Yes, um… I think there's just something Cat hates about-" The rest of her sentence flew out of Jade's brain when her eyes caught something glittering resting against Tori's throat, something awfully familiar. "You're wearing it," she noted with a hint of surprise in her voice, her eyes flicking up to Tori's. The brunette's forehead creased adorably, her hand grasping at the shirt she was wearing. "This? Why wouldn't I be wearing it?"

Jade's mouth pulled into a smile as she rolled her eyes. She reached out, her fingers gently lifting the clef hanging off the necklace from Tori's skin. "This, you dork."

"Oh." Tori's chin lowered so her eyes could look at Jade's hand holding the pendant. She looked back up. "Well, why wouldn't I be wearing it?" she repeated and Jade cocked an eyebrow, letting her hand fall away from Tori. She had bought it out of sheer remorse. The stone Tori had given her, which was now always keeping her car keys company, was a hard thing to top and Jade was very aware that a clef for someone who loved music wasn't really the most creative idea. But it was all she could think of in such a short amount of time and apparently, it was good enough for Tori. "You don't have to wear it. If you're just doing it to avoid hurting my feelings, then stop. I wrote that I don't mind."

"I know. But you also wrote that you hope it would put a smile on my face." Tori smiled brightly and lifted her hand to the necklace, playing with the pendant. "And it did. It's beautiful and I love it."

Jade nodded and looked at her lap, trying not to let her joy at Tori's words show. "Fine then."

"So? You didn't answer my question yet."

"Oh, right. Cat and Monopoly… that's just… not a good combination." Her lips formed a smile as she looked up at Tori. "I mean, if you're lucky she behaves. But sometimes… most of the times, actually… she gets really irrational and sulky if she's not winning. But she loves playing it for some reason." Jade's fingers found her engagement ring on her left finger and began twirling it around, teeth scraping over her bottom lip. "You know, she actually dared to bring that game to my birthday once."

Tori chuckled. "Did you end up playing it?"

"No. Amelia could barely keep me from throwing it out of the window." Jade rolled her eyes while Tori giggled. "I swear, the nerve that little redhead sometimes possesses…"

The twirling of her ring never stopped, causing Tori's eyes to flick down. After a little silence, she said "You've never told me… who proposed."

Jade looked at her with a frown. "What?"

"Who proposed? You or Amelia?"

"Oh." Jade looked down at her ring, then back up at Tori. "Amelia did."

"How?"

"So, what are we going to get Robbie for his birthday?"

Jade sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. "I don't know. Something nerdy?"

With a frown taking a hold of her face, Amelia turned around to face her girlfriend. "Don't be mean. I'm serious."

"I am too." She smirked at the look the blonde sent her and stepped closer, her arms wounding around her waist and pulling her into her body. "This is all very serious business," she murmured quietly, her eyes dropping to inviting lips before she couldn't do anything else but lean forward to capture them with her own. But just as their lips brushed against each other, Lia jerked away, placed her hands on her arms and pushed Jade away from her. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

Jade's eyes darkened, a single eyebrow rose. "Is it working?"

Hazel eyes narrowed. "No. I want an answer from you now," she demanded in a firm tone but failed to obtain the desired effect as Jade smirked and moved herself closer again.

"Oooh, are we getting dominant? That is so attractive," she purred, this time managing to steal a small kiss from the blonde who let out an exasperated groan.

"You are an incorrigibly vicious woman."

"Mhm," she agreed while nipping at Lia's jaw line, "And I love it when you get so… eloquent on me."

This time, Amelia let out a small laugh. "Stop it!" The hands on Jade's arms squeezed lightly while the blonde took a step back, creating a distance between them. "Seriously now, I want you to think about something."

"Why me? I'm horrible at giving gifts. I even get anxious when I have to give something to you. I never know what everyone wants me to get them."

"Just ask Cat when you see her tonight," Lia said and turned away from her, "She'll give you something. And I'll even go get it alone," she said and turned her head to look back at Jade, smiling and raising her eyebrows because she knew exactly how much Jade hated shopping, "You don't have to come with me. How does that sound?"

After a moment of thinking about it, Jade slowly nodded her head and watched as Lia picked up pen and paper from the kitchen counter. "Okay. Deal." Leaving Lia to scribble away, Jade turned to walk into their bedroom but stopped and turned back around when Amelia called her name.

"Say, can you go to the store before or after you meet up with Cat? The fridge is almost empty." Jade nodded, flicking her gaze from the shopping list Lia was writing to the blonde's face, seeing her bite down on her lip in concentration. "Yeah, sure thing."

"Oh, and Jade," her voice stopped her again, "Do you know if we still have detergent?"

"Uh… I don't think so, no." Jade looked on as Lia nodded and probably put down detergent on the list before she folded the piece of paper and placed it on the counter, looking up at her with her lips forming a light smile. Jade shot her a smile of her own before spinning around again, taking a couple of steps towards the bedroom, before-

"Hey… Jade?"

Jade abruptly stopped, for the third time that day, turned around with a harsh sigh and raised her eyebrows. "Yeah?"

The way Amelia looked at her surprised her quite a bit; with her head tilted, a slight crease formed in the middle of her forehead and eyes curiously gazing at her. There was something, hiding in those hazel irises of hers, that Jade just couldn't seem to decipher, a glint she didn't think she had ever seen in their six years of dating. But even before Jade could open her mouth to ask what was wrong, four simple words burst out of the blonde's mouth and caused fireworks to go off inside of Jade.

"Will you marry me?"

"I seriously can't imagine what brought her to ask me in that moment." Jade smiled tightly, her eyes glittering happily with the memory of that day. "I probably should have asked but… in the end, it doesn't matter. She wanted me, forever, and I wanted her. So I said yes." Her chest lifted with a deep breath. "It wasn't romantic. Like, at all. But it was perfect for me. It was probably… the most perfect moment in my entire life."

Tori smiled, waited a moment, then reached out and gently took Jade's hand in hers. The brunette's touch made her bite down on her tongue and when her fingers lightly grazed over her ring, the turmoil inside of her almost got too much. "I've never really thought that that kind of love exists," Tori admitted quietly without taking her eyes off of Jade's ring, "Nowadays it's mostly just… superficial and everything revolves around sex and… you know. So many people break up and get divorces. But the way you talk about her, the way you look while talking about her and… the fact that… you still love her so much even though she's not around anymore is just so… so beautiful."

This wasn't okay. Tori shouldn't be saying this. Not when Jade's heart is contracting in on itself, not because of Amelia, but because of her. Because of Tori. What kind of person was she? God, everything just felt so wrong, everything seemed to break down with just a single look of those brown eyes. Questions stumbled over questions in her head, she couldn't see anymore, there were just so many things that were confusing her, hurting her, and before she had the chance to think about it, her mouth got ready to ask the question that plagued Jade ever since the day on the ice rink.

"Tori…" She took a deep breath, the feeling of Tori's skin against hers still heavily present in her mind. "Do you think… that someday I could… maybe… love someone else? Do you think… someone could come into my life and just… make me feel so good about myself that… that… I don't know, that… I could fall in love with them the same way I did with Amelia?"

Her entire body tensed and her heart slowed down as she eagerly waited for Tori's answer. But all the other woman did was bite her lip, flick her eyes over every part of her face in a restless fashion and… stay quiet. The fact that not one syllable left her mouth made her heartbeat quicken again. "Tori-"

"So, bad news, ladies," Robbie's voice interrupted her from saying anything further and made her retract her hand from Tori's. The curly-haired man came into the room, oblivious to the slight tension in the room. "I couldn't get it out of her stubborn little head. We're going to have to play Monopoly."

Yeah. That was kinda the smallest problem for Jade right now.