Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.
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Chapter 10 – An old Friend?
Jade's POV
Even though Tori accepted my apology and lightened up a bit, I still didn't sleep well. Granted you can only sleep so well on a couch, but it was made doubly hard by the thought of Cat being such a bitch, to both Robbie and Tori.
I woke at 9 am on Saturday morning, still quite tired. Tori had worked until 2 last night and would almost certainly sleep until 11 or 12. Getting off the couch, in realized I needed coffee. We had coffee, but Tori just bought the el cheapo store brand which I describe as marginally drinkable.
I felt like having some real stuff, from the Jetbrew that was a few blocks down the street. With the recent cold snap, I dared not venture out unless I absolutely needed too. It was warmer today, so I decided to brave the cold.
After showering and dressing quickly, I walked down to the Jetbrew and got for the first time in weeks. Finally I'd drink a decent cup of coffee.
Sitting in a corner, drinking the warm nectar down, I managed to forget my problems for a few moments.
But soon thoughts of Cat and the mystery involved, came back to my mind. I had to know more. I just had too. So taking a chance, I dialed Cat's cell. I wasn't even sure if it was current.
After three rings Cat picked up.
"Hello Jade." Cat answered in her normal cheerful voice. I'll admit that was a bit of a relief.
I wanted to believe she was the same old Cat, but evidence had proven otherwise, so I remained guarded.
"Hi Cat. It's been a while. I thought I'd call you up and see how you were doing."
"I'm doing wonderful, praise god. How are you?"
Uh Oh…
I could ask her about Tori or even Robbie, but instead I thought I'd see how she reacted to my news instead.
"I'm going through some changes right now, so things are a bit uncertain at the moment."
"You need to pray Jade. Pray for God's guidance and read your bible. Please tell me what's wrong, I'll pray for you, reverend Mike says we must pray at least 3 times day. I pray at least 5."
Houston, we have a problem….
"Cat, Beck and I broke up for good."
"Why?" Cat said in a rather shocked voice.
"Because I got tired of him beating the crap out of me when he got drunk, that's why?" Just saying it made me feel a surge of anger.
"What did you do to provoke him?"
What in the fuck did she just say? Oh my fucking god, did she just pin all this shit on me.? She did not actually go there. My blood quickly began to boil.
"What do you mean provoke him? Didn't you hear me Cat? He beat me, more than once." I barked back.
"I heard you Jade. But you must remember your place in the home. To be submissive to the man. He makes the decision, he works the job. You must have done something to provoke him. Obviously you're not being submissive enough to him."
Excuse me, while I bang my head against this table.
I was speechless, which was fine, as Cat promptly rattled off a half dozen bible verses in rapid succession, saying that the way to true happiness was for me to be submissive to my man. Then just as I recovered, she laid into me for living in sin with him. This wasn't Cat at all, it was like listening to a recording of some demented televangelist. Oh did I mention that Reverend Mike came up about every 4th or 5th word.
"Jade your life if full of sin. Only when you accept God's word and follow the teachings of Reverend Mike will you be saved."
I used to say Cat's elevator didn't quite go to the top floor, now it seems to be permanently stuck in the basement. With each passing word, I came closer to blowing my top.
"Is that what you told Robbie?" I retorted sharply.
"He refuses to follow the word of God and teachings of Reverend Mike, He's dammed to hell." Cat suddenly raged.
Blaming me for Beck's shit was bad enough, but the way she tore in to Robbie, seriously pissed me off. I was done with her shit and needed to go back to the reason for my call.
"What about Tori! She needed a friend. What in the fuck did you do to her?" I shouted back.
"SHE'S A MORAL DEGNERATE AND IF YOUR ASSOCIATIING WITH.. "
Her calling Tori a moral degenerate pushed me over the edge. I then cut her off using the most venomous tone of voice I could muster.
"Cat. You've changed, but not for the better. In fact I don't have any idea who in the hell you even are anymore. One last thing, don't you EVER, her you badmouth Tori again. IF YOU DO, I'LL RIP YOUR FUCKING HEART OUT!"
The odd thing about that last threat, I was so angry about her denouncing Tori, that I actually meant it. My reaction was much stronger than I had anticipated. In fact, I don't recall being more utterly livid in my life.
I hung up on her, before she could respond.
It was then I looked up and realized that everyone in this particular jet brew was staring at me. You loudly threaten to rip someone's heart out in public and those kinds of things will happen.
Utterly pissed off and completely disgusted, I glared back at the crowd and left.
Walking home, I vainly tried to make sense of the conversation I had just had and calm down at the same time. She sounded like Cat, but she wasn't cat. The person I spoke with, was a cruel, judgmental, insensitive, crazed religious freak. Once I finally calmed down, I grew somewhat depressed by the fact that one of my oldest friends essentially no longer existed.
Arriving home, I sat down and tried to put together what I knew. In the summer after her first year of college, Cat met some new friends and somehow wound up a crazed freak. A little while after that, Tori has a serious problem.
Something to do with her music, I'd guess. She goes to Cat for support and gets none. In fact she probably gets sermonized and called a sinner.
Already hurting from me burning her and in distress for her current crisis she gets burned once again. That would make just about anyone bitter.
Meanwhile, I get used as a punching bag for Beck when he drinks too much. Not wanting to focus on it anymore, I put on the Scissoring and tried to relax.
Tori woke up at 11:15 and as she always does, went straight into the bathroom for her shower. On Saturdays after she eats lunch, she normally relaxes, sometimes cleans her room, sometimes does stuff on her laptop, but she usually just ignores me. Than at 5:00 she leaves for work at The Playpen and doesn't return home until after midnight.
More and more I wanted the old Tori back. I like it those brief moments when we seem to be able to connect. It helped me forget my own problems with Beck. Realizing what had happened to Cat, only made me want to connect with Tori even more.
Once showered she went into her room and dressed. I just kept thinking about how it must have felt to be betrayed by not only me, but by Cat. I shuddered at the thought. I couldn't make up for what she did, but I could try to make up for mine.
As soon as Tori stepped out of her room she made a beeline for the kitchen, but I stood up and stopped her.
"We're going out to eat, my treat."
Looking a bit surprised she opened her mouth, to protest I presume, but I spoke before she could.
"Tori Please, you let me stay, despite what I did. You've let me help you make dinner, You're hungry, I'm hungry. I think we can set aside our differences and or problems for an hour and get a bite to eat. Besides, with the cold, both of us have been cooped up in here too long. We can walk down to that little diner that's 5 or 6 blocks down the street."
Tori diverted her eyes for a moment then looked back. "OK."
I smirked, probably for the first time in a very long time. "Good, you can even walk 10 feet in front of me so people won't think we're actually together."
"No Jade. That won't be necessary." Tori said softly, as she went to grab her coat.
I thought briefly about our forced play date some years ago at Nozu and smiled. "Everything will go fine, just as long as we don't run into Chad and Allen, I think they're still following us."
Suddenly out of nowhere Tori laughed. It was little more than a brief snort, but still it was a laugh. I don't know why, but just a simple a laugh from Tori, made me feel like a million bucks.
I briefly considered mocking her and say something snarky like, look, Garbo does laugh. Instead I smiled and grabbed my coat.
Though her expression had quickly gone back to a guarded, one, I knew I had brought the old Tori back at least for a second.
You know, what I loved having the old Tori back. It sent a strange jolt through my heart as I then realized just how much I missed my friend.
About a second later as we left the apartment, I felt an almost overwhelming sense of guilt for what I had done. Not wanting to blow my opportunity, I suppressed it and moved to the door.
A few minutes later Tori and I were walking down the street.
"Snow's starting to melt." Noted Tori.
"Yeah."
For the next 20 minutes until we reached our destination we kept talking about the weather and how bad the cold snap had been. It was a rather banal conversation, but at least we were talking and doing something. It helped me recover from my rather painful conversation with Cat.
Arriving at the diner, we sat down and ordered our food. We had run out of weather related topics to discuss so things grew quiet. I was used to these silences by now. I hated them, but I had grown accustomed to them.
So in absence of conversation my mind filled with a number of different things. Beck of course and my continuing struggle to break free of his influence crossed my mind. It was a daily struggle between the side of me that wanted to return and the side that was tired of being beaten. I wonder if this war is ever going to end.
Needed to stop obsessing over Beck I found myself thinking about Tori and her job at The Playpen. Of course thinking about that place reminded me of Barbie. That blonde waitress who seemed very determined to rock my world.
Thinking back I found myself focusing on that kiss she gave me. I was surprised and it lasted about all of 3 seconds, but I'll have to admit, it was different. Not in a bad way different, just different.
I find myself wondering what another one would be like. Thinking about that kiss my mind seemed to slide further in this strange tangent of thought. "I wonder if Tori like kissing with her tongue?"
"Jade!"
Tori's voice jarred me from my thoughts. "Yes."
"Is something wrong?"
"No why?"
"I don't know, just now you were staring straight at me. You had this odd look on your face."
As much as I tried to hide it, my eyes opened wide as I flushed red with embarrassment. "Oh, it's it's nothing."
A smile seemed to briefly flash across her face. "I guess it's nothing then."