Miniature Clone Chapter 5
Tori was nervous. No, nervous was an understatement. She was a wreck. Today was the day. She'd finally convinced Jade for an official dinosaur playdate. Tori still felt bad for barging in uninvited the first time, wanting to do it right this time with Jade's permission. Of course, Jade immediately said no, but after being annoyingly consistent the whole day, Jade yelled fine at her in agitation.
"I promise I won't make a single move without seeing if it's okay with you first," Tori said excitedly but grateful as she knew Jade was protective over her kid. Who wouldn't be?
Now Tori stood in front of her bedroom mirror nervously straightening out her hair with her fingers. She wore matching white pjs, great white sharks littered all over. She wanted Mason to like her. She needed Jade to like her too. To see how good she was with kids. Especially Jade's kid. Momma bears don't play. Tori shook her head to rid of her thoughts. Grabbing her shoulder bag she headed out, internally groaning that she couldn't also sucker Jade into giving her a ride. Trina was already stationed downstairs waiting.
Trina's jaw nearly dropped taking in her sister. "Where are you going dressed in that? Tori, I'm sorry but you're not going to catch any boy's attention in that. Your face is..bleh, so you have to win him over with your clothes!"
Tori's eyes rolled so hard that she worried they'd get stuck that way. "I'm going to Jade's. Just drop me off." Tori silenced Trina from insulting her farther with a harsh glare.
"Well Jeez okay," Trina said with a 'I warned you' look, grabbing her car keys.
"Oh my god," Tori said in panic, the car taking a sudden swerve. "Trina! Do you have to do this now?! You were just at home!" To Tori's left was her sister, shaving cream on her right pit, her left hand on the wheel trying to steer and shave at the same time.
"Oh relax," she replied. "I've done this countless of times."
Tori screamed when they swerved another time, threatening to get out of the car and never ride with her again. "I'm serious Trina! I don't want to die."
"You're so dramatic!"
The girls bickered the whole drive, Tori practically jumping out of the car in intense relief when they pulled into Jade's driveway.
She nervously waved Trina off then knocked. Waited. No response.
She knocked again.
I was sure she said five.. Tori thought to herself pulling out her phone to check the messages and the time receipts. Suddenly the front door swung open causing Tori to jump, her heart in her throat. Jade stood on the other side of the door. Her hair was a mess and her clothes looked to have food on it. Just like Lilian did.. Tori thought amused. Overall, the girl looked exhausted.
A hint of a smile etched onto Tori's lips. "I'm guessing Lily isn't here."
"Since when are you and my cousin on a nickname basis," she muttered pulling Tori in so she didn't let the cold in for too long. Jade took in Tori's appearance. "Sharks?" she questioned, not impressed.
Tori blushed looking down. "I wanted to match Mason.." she mumbled. "Was sure I had dinosaurs but I couldn't find them."
Jade didn't respond directly to the other's explanation, instead pointing with her head over to where Mason sat on his highchair, a plate of chicken nuggets in front of him that he clearly wasn't keen on eating. Recognition crossed his little face when he noticed Tori.
That was an ego booster, Tori smiling smugly. Jade resisted the urge to roll her eyes but went back over to the highchair attempting again to feed him. "Come on little dude, just eat so I can let you go," she urged trying to get him to eat his dinner which he only stubbornly pushed away prepared to throw a fit if he needed to.
Tori stepped in after Mason started to fuss. "Let me try."
Jade sighed not wanting to be frustrated at him. "Just." Jade considered. "Here. I need to change," she said wanting to remove her food smeared clothes. It was obvious the chicken nuggets wasn't Mason's first meal he'd rejected that day. Tori nodded waiting for the retreating figure to completely disappear before she turned back to the toddler.
"Okay cutie let's show Jade I can be useful." Tori picked up a nugget, making airplane noises as she 'flew' the food around. "Here comes the airplane!" she said in her sing songy voice. Mason didn't budge to Tori's disappointment. Maybe he's too old for airplane.. Tori thought taking into consideration the boy's age again. Too young for money.. she thought, thinking to bribe him. He's too old for this high chair too. Pushing the high chair thought aside, she suddenly got an idea. She swiftly took the plate and made her way into the kitchen looking for shape cutters.
Jade returned in clean clothes, her hair wet to see a Tori Vega up on one of her kitchen counters looking through her cabinets. Jade didn't make any noise, just stood there in the door frame eyeing the oblivious girl.
"You know what," Tori said to herself. "We're going to do this the old fashion way." She climbed down after discovering no sign of shape cutters, not seeing Jade. She checked a couple more drawers not finding any butter knifes but only ones with sharp cutting edges deciding she had to make do with what she had. She tried her best, looking up a picture of simple dino shapes slowly and carefully cutting them out of the nuggets.
"Tori –"
The girl jumped for the 100th time that day, wincing when she felt a sting pain. She looked down, seeing red. It wasn't a secret that blood made Tori feel squeezy. Last year when Beck scraped his arm skate boarding, Tori almost passed out. She was too focused on the color red to notice Jade suddenly at her side.
"Let me see," Jade said firmly, leaving no room for argument. She took Tori's hand looking at the decent sized cut. "You know they make nuggets already shaped like dinosaurs right?!" she asked.
Tori took note of the genuine concern laced in Jade's voice. Jade usually hid it so well that Tori couldn't identify it, but everyone slipped at some point. "By the time it would take me to go get them, it would be late and you probably would've got tired of me and kicked me out," Tori mumbled avoiding eye contact. She just wanted to spend as much time as she could with the goth, Wait no. With Mason. Just Mason. Right?
Jade momentarily left her side and came back with band aids, Tori finding herself with a neon yellow minion bandage on her forefinger. They didn't talk, Jade fixated on Tori's cut and Tori fixated on the sight that was Jade. Since when did she care when Tori got hurt? Just last month she was tripping Tori in the hallways.
Jade finished the dino shapes, relieved when Mason ate them with a newfound curiosity, a playful smile on his face. Jade knew he was well aware of what he was doing. He was a smart kid, ahead of his age.
The girls didn't see time pass them by, participating in playdoh activities and eventually getting sucked into watching three little bears on tv, though Jade would kill anyone who found out.
Mason had fallen asleep an hour ago, Jade having settled him down in his bed before returning to Tori where they changed the show to toilet wars, Sam and Cat's favorite tv show. Before they knew it they were watching celebrities under water.
"Ugh I hate this show!"
Tori glanced over. "But you picked it.."
Ignoring her, Jade continued. "They make you think the celebrity is going to die but then they never do!"
There was a hard knock on the door. The girls looked at eachother. "I swear to god Tori if you invited anyone over I will f-"
"I didn't!" Tori cut her off defensively. She wasn't planning to tell anyone anything, Plus it made her feel special to be the only one to know. Even if it were only due to Tori imposing. Her and Jade had a secret and it felt .. Tori didn't have the words.
With an agitated sigh Jade peeked out but it was too dark outside. Glancing at the time, it was near midnight. When did it get that late? How was Tori even still here. Jade had been planning to kick her out after an hour or two and here she still was in her house in shark pjs of all things.
The knocking suddenly turned to banging causing Jade to swing open the door ready to beat who ever was about to wake Mason up. "Do you have any idea what t-" the words got stuck in her throat.
Tori peeked over from a great distance behind Jade, curious as to who it was. Something didn't feel right. She didn't recognize this guy. He had a black zip up hoodie, black jeans to pair it with. His hair was short, gelled to the side. Tori felt uneasy. His eyes. The way they looked at Jade.
"I can't even get a text back now?" He asked, his eyes glinting. He slowly leant against the door frame to keep himself up, the smell of alcohol radiating off him.
Jade tried to compose herself pretty quick but it was too late. They both knew Jade was rattled. Maybe even scared? This put Tori on edge. No one scared Jade. Tori's eyes alternated between this guy and her friend.
"I will call the police. Get off my property," Jade's voice was cold, but shaky. With a firm stance she handed Tori her phone incase for any reason she wouldn't be able to call the cops herself when she needed to.
"Come on babe don't be like that." He put a hand on Jade's cheek immediately feigning hurt when she pulled away swatting his hand. His eyes flickered to movement behind Jade. Behind Tori.
"Mommy."
Jade's heart dropped, glancing behind her to see Mason wide awake, trying to see what had woken him up.
"Tori, take him, bedroom now." The look Jade was giving her made Tori bolt over to the confused boy and pick him up heading back into Jade's room with an appreciated quickness.
The male watched quietly before he chuckled to himself. "So it was true. Wasn't it?" he started to raise his voice. "You chose a snot nosed child over me? I haven't seen you in three years.." He took a breath to compose himself, looking as if he could cry for a brief moment. " I worked my ass off to come find you. To find out you went and had it anyway."
Jade's body wasn't working the way she wanted it to. She felt frozen in place. She stared at that man hoping at any second he'd suddenly catch flames and burn away. She worked so hard to disappear from his life, to wipe him from her memory; to never have him involved with her or Mason again. "Leave. Now," Jade challenged, forcing her body to bend and grab her scissors from her shoe.
He made a sudden move slamming his hand against the wall causing Jade to look straight ahead and not at him, her jaw tight and tense.
"I told you to get rid of it. You had me. You only needed me." His gaze had settled back onto Jade. "You could never listen to directions. Always doing the complete opposite! What's got you so twisted in your head that you believed you could be a mother. Hm? Look at you, h-"
Jade was numb, blocking it out. She'd gone through verbal abuse before. Most from him. Flashbacks of the past made it hard for her to breathe as he continued to verbally bash her. His words suddenly cut off, the harsh sound of a fist connecting with a jaw snapping her out of her trance. Her eyes landed on the feminine figure in front of her. Tori.
"Don't Ever talk to her like that," Tori yelled, standing over the drunken guy on the ground holding his jaw. He looked just as stunned as Jade was, it had happened so fast. Tori proceeded to kick him out shoving the door closed and locking it with urgency. Jade stood in silence, her surroundings started to blur together, heartbeat pounding in her ears. She heard echoes of someone's voice but couldn't fully comprehend the words, a gradual ringing turning from the back of her head.
"Jade?"
Silence.
"Jade."
The goth looked up at the sound of her name, seeing Tori in front of her, or who she hoped it was. Tori's lips moved but no sound came out as the ringing in the back of Jade's head only got louder, her breathing rapid.
Then everything went black.