A/N: In which Jade goes on a special trip;

"I love you! Keep me updated! Be safe! Let me know when you meet her!"

Bleary eyed but excited, Tori enthusiastically hugged and kissed her girlfriend goodbye in the airport lobby.

"Tori—" She barely let Jade get any words in herself between her kisses, until Jade finally had to grab Tori's hand to make her pause her affection. "Baby, I hate to cut you off but I really need to go now or I'm gonna be late for the flight."

There was still a little over two hours until the actual boarding process started (it was an international flight, so the time gap was necessary), but there was going through security time to factor in; plus, Jade had never flown internationally before, so she wanted to be extra early to scope out where her gate was. And she'd definitely have to get a coffee or something with caffeine in it from an open gift shop today to stay awake, so that might take a little extra time, too. All good and valid reasons to be extra early, she'd thought.

Tori's face fell slightly, but her smile almost instantly returned. "Okay! Go meet your bestie. I'm so excited for you babe, sincerely."

"Thank you," Jade smiled back, leaning in to kiss Tori once more. They shared one more big hug before Jade broke away, taking a deep breath and giving a quick thumbs up as she turned away from Tori.

Tori watched Jade and her carry on suitcase walk and roll down the long hallway before disappearing around the corner to the start of the TSA checkpoint. She didn't know how long she stood there watching, as if Jade would come back around the corner, until she heard her sister's voice from behind her.

"Tori, come on! She's off now, let's go!" Trina called. Tori had almost forgotten that her sister was there (despite the fact that she'd been her and Jade's ride), since she'd wandered off to browse the open gift shops to let Tori and Jade have some privacy to say goodbye in the lobby (Trina had said her own quick goodbye and that she was also excited for Jade before she'd wandered off).

"Coming, Trina!" Tori called back, watching the place where Jade had disappeared for a moment longer before turning away from it to meet her sister. She immediately noticed that Trina had bought an energy drink and some candy for the ride home from one of the shops, and was anticipating a fun ride back to their house.

It had ended up being a fun middle of the night drive back home (Jade's flight was at 3:30 am, it was now a little before 2). Tori happily danced in her seat to songs from Trina's playlist (mostly so Trina could stay alert enough to drive, along with the energy drink and candy), and Trina had even let her pick a few songs for them to vibe to between her own favorites. The drive back home took less time than it did to the airport, and by that time the sugar had worn off and both sisters were ready to get a little more sleep before the coming day.

"Thanks for driving us again," Tori said to Trina once they'd gotten back to their house.

"Sure," Trina replied. "And you'll let me know when we need to go pick her back up?"

"Yup. But it won't be in the middle of the night again, unless her flight gets changed or something. I think she said it's a red eye, but I won't know until she tells me," Tori replied, and Trina nodded. Both sisters then said goodnight, and went to their rooms to collapse into their beds. It wasn't until Tori woke up later that morning that it hit her and the happy mood she'd been in subsided slightly.

She was still extremely happy and excited for her girlfriend, it was just that she would miss her. They'd been practically attached at the hip since they had started dating. Jade's trip was for about a week to go to meet her long distance best friend, a girl that Jade had known longer than she'd known Tori (they had even tried dating for a brief period, but things hadn't worked out and they'd gone back to being best friends instead). But they'd never met in person before; things just never worked out. It didn't help that this girl lived in a different country ("Canada, America's hat", Tori liked to say) and that Jade would need a passport to go visit her.

But they finally had an excuse to; Jade's and her friend's current favorite artist was playing in her friend's country, and by some divine miracle, they had gotten tickets to the concert. Jade had registered for the infamous 'ticket lottery', her friend and her girlfriend had both registered, and Tori had even registered a 'burner' email— she'd joked that she was just unlucky enough that her account would get picked despite the fact that she wouldn't even be going (she was just in it to try to help Jade; Tori liked the artist, but going to see her in concert wasn't a bucket list item for her like it'd been for Jade).

And somehow, that's exactly what happened. Jade and her friend and girlfriend had all been put on the (dead end) wait list, but Tori had gotten a presale code to buy tickets. She'd screamed and immediately shoved her phone at Jade, who was torn between total shock and excitement. They wouldn't be able to (hopefully) buy tickets until tomorrow, but Jade did everything in her power to prepare for it, from getting Tori's email login information and putting her credit card information in early, making sure her laptop was fully charged and stayed on the charger, to having her friend be ready for her to call her the second Jade got in the virtual queue to be able to keep her updated on the process.

That next day was a chaotic blur, but nevertheless, Jade had managed to secure and buy three tickets (and for a very reasonable price, at that). She was both going to see her favorite artist, and meet her long time best friend. Tori was ecstatic for Jade, and Jade promised to keep Tori in the loop the whole time she was gone.

Throughout that travel day, Tori got numerous texts from Jade about her flight progress (she unfortunately hadn't gotten a direct flight and had a single big layover to deal with), but when the big moment finally came, it had come with a photo of Jade and her friend standing together, finally having broken the distance after ten years of friendship. Tori felt excited tears well up in her eyes as she texted Jade back, congratulating her and telling her how excited she was for both of them.

She got many more photos from Jade that week, seeing all the same sights Jade's friend was showing her of her hometown, and it felt to Tori as if she was there, too.

The evening of the concert, Tori's phone was constantly bombarded with photos and videos of the concert, all three of the girls together and enjoying it. After the show, Tori got photos of all the merch the three of them had bought, which took up the entirety of one of the hotel beds from where they were staying (Jade had said she'd excluded a few smaller things she'd bought for Tori and wanted to keep a surprise until she got home to see her reactions in person).

That day was only about two days away now, and while Tori was excited, she was also anticipating how Jade might be feeling after coming home. She spent the next two days preparing all of Jade's favorite things for her homecoming, to try to make her transition from an exciting trip to home a little easier.

When that day came (Tori had warned Trina ahead of time as promised, and it had been a red eye flight but luckily no layovers this time), they arrived early to the airport and awaited Jade's flight. Two separate flights landed and departed before Jade's flight arrived, and Tori ran to greet her girlfriend the moment she saw her come through the gate.

"Hi, babe! I missed you so much! Welcome home!" Tori peppered Jade's face with kisses before Jade paused that by grabbing her and hugging her tightly.

"Hey, I missed you too." She held Tori tight for a moment before releasing her, and bringing a hand to lift Tori's head so she could plant a kiss right on her lips. They shared a quick but passionate kiss there in the airport, and it felt to Tori like it had been so long since they'd kissed, even though it had only been a week.

"Ready to go?" she asked, once her head had cleared from the kiss, and Jade nodded. "I can't wait to hear all about your trip."

"I've got lots of stories," Jade said. "And some little gifts, for both you and Trina."

"Gifts?"

Naturally Trina had come back just then (again, with an energy drink and some candy), and Jade rolled her eyes, but nodded. "Consider yours my thanks for driving me to and from the airport at obnoxious times."

"Works for me," Trina said.

Tori laughed and grabbed Jade's free hand, squeezing it gently. "Let's get you home."

As expected, Jade's mood the next few days was up and down, but Tori's preparations had helped make the transition a little easier, and she was thankful for that.

Overall, it had been an amazing trip. During the week Jade and her friend had made plans for another one sometime in the future, throwing around the idea that maybe she could come to Los Angeles and let Jade and Tori show her around this time.

Maybe if their favorite artist dropped new tour dates and ended up in their neck of the woods again, who knows.

A/N: As I said in the original post I made on Tumblr, this was a thing I "haha...unless 👀" wrote to try to help my girlfriend manifest getting tickets to Taylor Swift's December 2024 show(s) in Vancouver, to both see the concert and meet her bestie. It unfortunately didn't end up working, but I still wanted to flesh this out a bit because I like the idea (and, they're still trying to get tickets for a different show so maybe this could still be a little luck for that concert instead 🙏).

Also disclaimer that the concert attended in this isn't necessarily Taylor Swift (Jade very secretly liking her is a fun concept though, so for chiz and giggles totally could be)

Thanks for reading! c: