Hi. Every time I write an A/N I feel like I have something really important to tell you, but I can never remember what it is. Never mind.

Anyway, apologies, as always, for how long this is taking. I appreciate your patience. And thanks for your reviews, they mean a lot.

.

.

.

Tori had that sly look, a look that a few months ago Jade would have dreaded as presaging some terrible caper that was bound to end in disaster. She watched as Tori glanced around, before sidling across the hallway.

"Do you know what today is?" She nudged Jade. "Hmm? Hmm?"

Jade sighed, and waited.

"Today," Tori went on, "is our-"

"One-Month-A-Versary."

Tori's eyes lit up. "You remembered!"

"No. I was just trying to think of the dumbest thing I'd hear before lunchtime."

"Oh."

"Firstly, there's no such word as 'One-Month-A-Versary', and secondly, as I seem to have to point out on a daily basis, we are Not. Actually. Dating."

Tori pouted. "Spoilsport."

Jade just snorted. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small package "Here."

"What's this?"

"It's for you."

"You bought me something?" Tori said in surprise. "I thought you didn't-"

"Yeah, well," Jade said, uncomfortably, "I knew you'd make a big deal out of it, so I thought I'd better cover my ass."

Tori opened the small paper bag and pulled out a small bracelet, silver charms on an intricate leather band. She slipped it on. "It's beautiful," she said, turning her arm to admire it. "Thank you."

"Don't hug me."

"You know, I think I could get used to all this fake dating," Tori said. "It's got all the advantages of real dating, like presents, and fancy restaurants, and none of the disadvantages."

"What disadvantages?"

"Well, guys, mainly."

"Whoa."

"Especially when they're trying to stick their tongue down your throat. I mean, why do guys do that? Kiss you like they're trying to scoop out a watermelon."

"I think I just threw up a little in my mouth."

"Sorry. Was that too much information?"

"Any information on your past dating habits is too much information," Jade said. "So, what have you got me?"

"What?"

"For our One-Month-Whatever. I hope you got me something, Tori, or else you're on very shaky ground, morally speaking."

"Oh, right," Tori said. She reached into her bag. "Well, I didn't know what to get you, because you hate everything, so instead I made..." She pulled out a plastic tub with a flourish. "Brownies!"

Jade blinked. "You made brownies?"

"Yes." Tori's face fell. "You don't like them?" she said. "I guess I could always give them to the guys and get you something else."

"What? Nonono," Jade's arm snaked out and snatched the tub, clutching it protectively to her chest. "Brownies is good." She popped the lid and stuffed one in her mouth. And then another.

Tori watched her. "Are they okay?"

"Yeff," Jade mumbled through a spray of crumbs. "Ver' good."

"Oh, well... great," Tori said, picking a small speck of brownie debris out of her hair. She watched for a minute as Jade demolished another two. "I mean, you don't have to share them with me, obviously..."

"Forry." Jade reluctantly offered the half-empty tub to Tori.

"Thanks." She took one. "Look, I've been thinking. Does it have to be today?"

"What?"

"I mean, I know we said we'd give it a month, and everything..."

Jade had entirely forgotten. "Er... no, it doesn't have to be today."

"It just seems kind of stupid now we've given each other something."

"Well I've still got the receipt for the bracelet, but I can't give you the brownies back." She patted her stomach. "Well I could, but you'd have to wait a while."

"Eurgh."

"So, you want to do something tonight?"

"To celebrate?"

"No, to alleviate the crushing boredom of our shallow and pointless lives."

"My life's not shallow and pointless."

"Really? Must be just me, then."

"And yours isn't either."

"Isn't it?"

"Of course it isn't. Think of all the things you've got going on."

"Like what?"

"Well, you've got me, for a start."

"Truly, I am the luckiest girl in the world."

"You know, that sounded a little sarcastic."

"Did it? I can't imagine why. So, tonight - yes or no?"

"Where are you taking me?"

"I'm not taking you anywhere. It's your turn."

"My turn?"

"To take me on a... to take me somewhere."

"Oh, right."

"So you'd better come up with something good."

.

.

.

"Movie night!" Tori announced as they headed out of their last class for the day.

"Movie night?"

"Yeah. We stay in and watch movies. Oh, come on," she said, when Jade looked unconvinced. "'Movie night' is a totally respectable, legitimate kind of date."

"Yeah, if you're a cheapskate."

"I am not a cheapskate!"

"So you're paying for some movies?"

"Well… I thought maybe we'd just see what was on, first."

"I thought so."

"There's no point in paying for a movie if there's something good on for free."

"Right. And maybe we can find some leftover pizza in a dumpster somewhere if we get hungry later."

"That's not fair. It's all right for you, you got to go to the restaurant for free."

"I had to pay for gas."

"I don't have a car," Tori said. "If I had a car, and a fancy free restaurant, I'd put you in one and drive you to the other. But I don't, so I can't, so it's movie night. Take it or leave it."

Jade sighed. "Okay. What time?"

"Eight?"

"Fine."

"Great."

Pause.

"So, do you want me to check out the dumpsters on the way over, or...?"

"There. Will. Be. Snacks."

"There'd better be."

.

.

.

Jade rolled up at half past seven. Despite the fact that 'movie night' promised to be indistinguishable from every other night she'd spent sitting around at Tori's house watching TV, she felt slightly nervous. Habit, she decided. Or maybe just the knowledge that 'movie night' was practically date-speak for 'let's get it on while my parents are out'.

Tori opened the door. "Hey!"

"Hey."

Jade looked at her for a moment, and then shook her head, sadly. "Oh, Tori," she said. "Really? Has it come to this?"

"What?"

"It seems like only yesterday that you couldn't wait to see me, that your heart fluttered at my approach, that you'd greet me at the door looking like a million dollars. And now look at you."

"What do you mean?"

"Slippers and an apron, Tori. Where did the magic go?" She peered closer, and frowned. "Also, you look like you've been snorting coke, which is not a good look on you."

Tori blinked, and then rubbed at her nose and sneezed. "It's flour," she explained. "I've been making stuff."

"No need to explain, your secret's safe with me."

"Anyway, you're early. I was going to get changed."

"Don't worry about it. Some people find the 'drug-addled housewife' look quite hot."

"Do they?"

"Probably. Takes all kinds. Are your folks home?"

"No, everyone's out for the night."

"Good. Here." She shoved a bag into Tori's hand.

"What's this?" She held up a bottle. "Is this wine?"

"No, it's the tears of a thousand angels, wept for the death of innocence. Of course it's wine. I've got another two in the trunk, but I didn't want to look like a lush."

"Oh, right. Thanks." Tori looked from Jade to the car parked outside. "Are you really sure you ought to be drinking?" she said, doubtfully.

"Well, I thought..." Jade shrugged, uncomfortably. "I thought maybe I might stay over."

"Oh."

"If that's okay, that is, I mean I wouldn't want to-"

"No, no, that's fine," Tori said quickly. "That would be great."

"Well okay," Jade said, a little relieved. "I'll get my bag." She retreated to the car, rummaged around in the trunk, and returned with a backpack. She followed Tori into the house and dumped it on the floor with a clank.

"Okay," Tori said, pulling something out from her apron pocket and wiggling a pen between her fingers. "Here's the plan. I've been looking at the guide, and this is what we've got." Jade looked over her shoulder to find a crude timetable sketched on a piece of paper.

"At eight o'clock we've got this…" she pointed to the first movie on the list. "Then when that finishes we've got time for a bathroom break before this starts." The pen moved again. "Then we've got a gap of fifteen minutes before we switch over to this one. Alternatively…"

She flipped over the paper. "We could go with this, followed by that, and then a choice between these two."

Jade looked to where she was pointing. "'Sharknadov'?" she said. "Is that some kind of Russian thing?"

"Hmm?" Tori squinted. "Oh. No, that should be 'Sharknado five'. I used a little 'v' sign, you see to-"

"I get it. Looks like a blast. What are these little red areas?"

"Snack breaks. That one's pizza, that one's popcorn."

"What's this one?"

"Miscellaneous."

"'Miscellaneous'?"

"You get a choice."

"Of what?"

"Follow me." Tori led her over to the kitchen. "Ta-da!"

Jade surveyed the table. "Wow."

"Impressed?"

Jade was. She'd assumed that Tori's cooking would be much like her science projects, well-meaning but ultimately hopeless. But then her brownies had been on point, and this lot looked delicious, so maybe she was doing her a disservice. "Are we expecting someone else?"

"No, why?"

"There's quite a lot of food here."

"That's because all the recipes said 'serves four'."

"Why didn't you just use half the ingredients?"

"Because, Miss Smarty-pants, it's pretty difficult to add 'half an egg'."

"Well you could-"

"They just go splat when you try to cut them. The shell just cracks."

Jade stared at her. "Anyway," Tori went on, "it doesn't matter, I'll just box the leftovers up and take them to school."

Jade shrugged. "Okay," she said. She reached out for a small cupcake, only to find her hand slapped.

"Not yet," Tori said. "We're not due for cupcakes until nine forty-three."

"Oh."

"You can have a breadstick."

"Thanks." Jade took one, and crunched it. "I don't mean to be critical, Tori, but all this timing seems like a lot of effort. Couldn't we just pick something on Netflix, or something?"

"I thought it'd be more fun this way."

"Why?"

"Because it's more like going to the movies."

"Why, are you going to sit right in front of me in a big hat and talk all the way though it? 'Cos that's what usually happens to me at the movies."

"No, I mean, half the fun of going to the movies is in the buildup, sitting there in the dark, with your popcorn, and your soda, waiting for the movie to start," Tori said. "It's all in the anticipation. If you can just watch it whenever you want it's not the same."

"So if you want it to be more like the movies, why the heck didn't we just go to the movies?"

"Because I'm broke, okay?" Tori said, exasperated. "You know, you could have just come over, or we could have hung out with the guys," she said, sulkily. "But you wanted this to be a date, so this is what it is, this is the best I could do."

Jade felt guilty. "I'm sorry." Tori just sniffed, and looked away. "I really am," Jade persisted. "I know you've gone to a lot of trouble, and I'm being a gank about it. It's just… I don't know. I'm too used to it. You bring out the worst in me."

Tori snorted. "Thanks," she said. "That's nice to know."

"But also the best," Jade said. "I mean, me and Beck, we used to argue all the time. I mean, major blow-ups, once, twice a week. What you saw at school was just the minor stuff. But with you, we've haven't argued at all." She paused. "Well, hardly at all."

"Yes, but that's different. We're not actually dating, are we?"

"But we're spending a lot of time together," Jade insisted. "And not only that, I haven't hurt anyone else, either. I've been nice to Cat, I've helped Robbie with his homework, I even lent Sinjin a pencil the other day. Gave it right to him, just like that. In his hand, too, not up his nose or anything."

"Hmmm."

"In fact, I'm pretty much a saint, these days, Tori," Jade said, radiating sincerity, "and it's all down to you. You make me," she said, resting her hands solemnly on Tori's shoulders, "a better person."

There was a long pause, and Tori finally relented.

"Okay, I forgive you," she said. "But only because we're going to miss the movie if I don't." She looked around. "What time is it?"

"It's almost," Jade said, reaching into her bag and pulling out the bottle with a grin, "wine o'clock."

.

.

.

And so movies were watched, and wine was drunk, and the evening settled down into a snug familiarity, as they sat, side by side, upright at first but slowly sliding down into a comfortable sprawl, feet up on the small table, shoulders touching, eating, watching, laughing, talking. At one point, Tori accidentally nudged Jade's feet off the table, Jade retaliated by kicking Tori's off, and so it went on until Tori solved the problem by simple putting her legs on top of Jade's, which strangely, Jade didn't object to. Halfway through the last movie on Tori's itinerary, a romance so bland and generic that Jade could practically fell herself forgetting it even as she watched, Tori nudged her. "See?" she said, tipsily. "It's not such a bad date, is it?"

Jade smiled to herself. "No, Tori," she said. "It's not bad at all." And she felt Tori's head tilt until it was resting on her shoulder, hear the tiny sigh of satisfaction.

A few minutes passed as she basked in the warmth of the contact and she decided now was as good a time as any to say something.

"Can I tell you something, Tori?" she said. "This is going to sound kind of weird, and if you tell anyone, I'll... well, I won't actually kill you, 'cos I wasn't kidding before, you do kind of make me a better person, but I'll definitely do something gross. But the thing is... you and me, we're pretty good together, you know? We have a lot of fun. I'm having a better time not-dating you than I ever had real-dating Beck, apart from the sex, and even that was nothing special. In fact, if I had to choose between dating you with no sex, and dating him with it, I'd probably go for you." She hiccupped, gently. "Yeah, you heard me. I'd give it up, just for you. Because the thing is, I quite like you, Vega. We get along. I know I give you a hard time about a lot of stuff, but that's just because you're all perky and optimistic, and that annoys me 'cos I'm pretty cranky deep down…" She giggled to herself, as she imagined the look on Tori's face. "Yeah, I know, you'd never guess. But sometimes I think you're the only one that understands, the only one that really... fits me. Maybe that's it, we just fit together, like two halves of a puzzle, lock and key, yin and yang, all that crap. It just works. I guess that's why all this fake dating seems so easy. We just work."

She paused, and frowned. "Maybe we should just stick with it, what do you think?" she said. "Give up guys, and sex, and all that relationship stuff, and just fake date our way through school. Then after college, we could fake staying together, invite everyone to a big fake wedding, and people would buy us all kinds of cool stuff. And then we could just fake settle down, you and me, and live out the rest of our lives in peace. Maybe get a couple of fake grandkids from somewhere when we retire.

"Would that be worth it, Tori? Would it be worth a life of subterfuge just to know you were going to spend it with someone you trust, someone you care about? 'Cos I'd do that. I'd do that like a shot. I was terrified of spending my life with Beck, always worrying that he was going to cheat on me, or find someone better, or hurt me, but you'd never do that, would you, Tori? You'd never let me down. I trust you. You know why?"

Judging by her silence, it seemed Tori didn't. "Well I'll tell you," Jade said, waggling her glass for emphasis, spilling half of it. "Because at the end of the day - and it pains me to say this, and I don't want you to get all bouncy and huggy about it – I think you're my best friend."

She laughed. "What do you think about that, Vega?" she said. "You're my best buddy. My BFF. Who'd have thought it? Not that I really have any other friends as such, but… Tori? Hey, Tori. Tori?"

She twisted her head to look down at the other girl, and was rewarded with a long and sonorous snore, which suggested that Tori hadn't heard any of this. Jade sighed. Probably for the best. She slipped out from under Tori's weight and laid her gently on the sofa while she went to rinse out the glasses and stashed the wine bottles back in her bag away from prying eyes. Then she returned to the sofa to tackle the thorny problem of getting Tori to bed.

In the movies, it was easy, you just scooped them up in your arms, and carried them away, usually in slow motion while cars exploded in the background. But in reality, it wasn't quite so simple. Tori didn't weigh much, but then neither did Jade. She slipped one hand underneath the sleeping girl's shoulders, one under her knees, and lifted, but Tori just slid through the middle, like spaghetti between two forks. She persevered, and finally managed to get upright using one knee to support Tori's butt, but this made moving impossible. She was just about to give up and throw a blanket over her when Tori stirred, not waking but conscious enough to instinctively put her arms around Jade's neck for support, her head nestling into the curve of Jade's neck. And so, with this slight co-operation, she managed to maneuver her charge to the foot of the stairs, and ascend, one step at a time, until finally she kicked open the bedroom door, dumped Tori into bed, and crawled in gratefully beside her.

.

.

.

.

And so it's goodnight. For them, at least. Jade is probably the only person in school that's ever had to address the question of 'how to get Tori into bed' as a purely practical problem.

I promise there'll only be another couple of chapters of this and then I'll leave you in peace. Although there may be a chapter or two of 'Green Eyes' to endure as well.