Aight, these will be a lot shorter as I update because I can manage smaller bite size pieces way easier.
Chapter 2. Coffee Woes
"You drive like my grandma." Jade mumbles, looking out the passenger side window.
"You're just mad that I didn't let you drive." You smirk as you turn on your blinker since the coffee shop was coming up.
There was an uncontent grunt from the passenger seat.
As the two of you make your way into the building, Jade continues with little backhanded pouty comments that you just ignore with an eye roll.
You open the door for her, and you briefly acknowledge that she's still wearing the same perfume after all these years.
At the counter the talk batista gives you a charming smile before he asks for your order.
"Can I get a large iced chai latte with pumpkin cold foam and cinnamon dolce syrup?" you say in one breath, your voice going slightly up an octave.
You hear Jade snicker to your side and you give her a side-eye glare, she doesn't look back at you but her wide eyed expression of feigned innocence speaks volumes.
As you pay, the barista asked Jade for her order.
"Just a large black coffee," she says.
"Finally," you mutter to yourself.
Her pierced brow raises, she slowly glances over to you before inserting her card to pay.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asks as soon as he hands her the receipt.
She looks at you again before moving past you with that cocky confidence that she always radiated.
You follow her to the condiment bar, tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth.
Jade reaches into the container and retrieves two sugar packets and a stir stick. She looks at you expectantly.
You pinch your lips between your teeth to stop your smile, "It's just good to see that you haven't completely changed. Still the same coffee order."
Her mouth hangs open as she squints at you. Whatever she was about to say, she stopped. Instead she nodded glancing back at the barista making your orders. "Yeah," she looks back to you, "I don't fuck with my coffee. If it's not broken, don't fix it."
She smirks, "Besides, it keeps me from sounding like an idiot when I order."
You glare at her and she smiles tauntingly.
"Hi, yes I'm Sweet Sally Peaches. Can I get a large sweet pumpkin November with a cold front and-" She started mocking you with her voice higher
"I DON'T TALK LIKE THAT," you defend yourself, slightly causing a scene.
She licks her lips, content with the rise she'd gotten out of you.
"Order for Tori! Order for Jade!" The barista yells from across the bar.
"C'mon, let's grab the drinks before you get us kicked out." The smirk on her face makes your eye twitch with frustration.
You frowned at the conflicting mixture of irritation and comfort that was raging inside of you.
She had grabbed both cups, and you turned to find a seat as far away from the small crowd as you could. The two-seater tall table in the corner by the window catches your eye and you make a beeline for it, the emotions settling in the process.
She pushes your drink towards you after you're both seated.
Jade poured the two sugar packets into her coffee and began to stir it with the flat wooden stick, "What about you?" she breathed out, glancing up to see you watching her.
You clear your throat a little, "What about me, what?"
"Tori. Fill me in. I've been talking the most and now I want your story." She deadpanned.
"Oh, yeah, right."
You stayed quiet, trying to decide where to start, but she looked at you exasperated after a few moments.
"Jeez Vega, just start talking already!" She sounded impatient, but there wasn't any anger in her words.
"I'm trying to decide what to say," your voice rises a little in defensiveness, "you're doing really well, so it's intimidating to explain my failures after listening to all of your success."
Your voice trails off at the last part, and you look down at your coffee.
When no witty remark comes back, you look up to see Jade chewing on her bottom lip in thought, watching you closely. You swallow in anticipation before looking away again.
"Is that really what you think? It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, you know," she says softly. You look up at her, "You've done well too, and don't try to take that away from yourself. I was on the preorder list for your album, I know how good it was just like everyone else. Your tour sold out in like 12 states, and you hit number 7 in the top 10 music billboard." You blink in shock at her, and she gives you a sheepish smile as she realizes how detailed her comment was. "You aren't giving yourself enough credit. So, please, just tell me your side of the story."
She looks down and takes a sip of her coffee, wincing slightly at how hot it was.
"Ok, so it wasn't all failure," you start off, "But it doesn't feel all successful either."
"That's fair," she encourages.
"That first year was great, the money was nice, the fame was weird, but there were just a lot of open doors." You zone out as you talk, "I hardly even remember the tour, it was so chaotic. I met a lot of really cool people, went to a lot of cool places, and routinely stayed out way too late doing a lot of things that I had no business doing."
She grins, "Yeah, you did. I want to hear about those stories sometime, too."
You blush crimson, "Oh God. Not happening." She laughs as you continue. "Those are locked away. Deep, deep down, never to be seen again."
"Lame, we want the juicy details," she pokes fun.
"Well, maybe you'll catch a glimpse one night if I'm intoxicated enough to be loose lipped about it."
"If I supply the alcohol, can we speed up this process?"
"JADE! No." You glare at her smirk, failing to stop the smile forming on your lips, "I'm a red wine kind of gal, can't say no to the stuff. Do with that information what you will."
She chuckles, "Noted."
You roll your eyes, "Where was I? Oh, right. So, the first year was great. But, I quickly realized how lonely being surrounded by people who don't actually care about you is. By the second year I was getting into some trouble, not like legally but with some of the people I worked with. My assistant being one of them." Your cheeks burn a little, "When it all blew up, I decided I needed a break, so I took some time away. While I was gone, the production company made some changes. When I came back, it was as if I was never even there in the first place. I never really even got any answers about it. Just got pushed under the rug." You hate how much your throat clenches and lip still quivers when you talk about it. You clench your jaw to keep the tear from falling down your cheek.
She reaches her hand over, setting it gently on top of yours. You look at it for a moment before dragging your gaze slowly to her face.
Her blue eyes swirled, "Fuck 'em."
You break into an emotionally driven chuckle.
She joins the laugh and removes her hand slowly, the ghost of warmth lingering on yours.
"When I came home, my parents had bought an RV and were doing some kind of extended traveling thing with some of their friends, so it was just Trina and I at the house. She made a big stink about the whole music thing, saying I was giving up and it should have been her and blah blah blah. My parents brought the whole "I told you so" argument into it, and it was just a shitty time. I mentioned to them about trying college and they said they'd help as long as I was living at home and going to that community college that was down the road from Hollywood Arts."
Jade had a sympathetic grimace on her face, "Jeez."
You nod, "Yep, 'twas was not a good time. I lasted doing that for the year and a half or so that followed. I was trying to just get my basics and associates before I tried for a bigger school. The night I came home to Trina passed out naked in the kitchen I decided I was done with that. I applied to transfer that night. Picked a place that's far enough away that I felt like I could start over and went from there. The work study program lets me have a little more freedom, but it's been a rough few months."
You take a long swig from your latte that was starting to get watery. Jade pursed her lips, digesting your words. "So, you graduate when?" She finally asks.
You frown, "I don't really even know if I'm honest. My advisor is kind of an ass. I assume I have about two more years left though, this semester not included.
She swirled her coffee in her cup, "You just can't catch a break can you?"
You shrug, "I'm making it. Slow progress is still progress I guess."
With a raised cup she agrees, "Cheers to that shit."
You smile as you tap your cup against hers.
"What about you? When do you graduate?" You ask her.
"I'm supposed to graduate next fall, but I could potentially finish sooner if I wanted to."
"Why wouldn't you want to? I'm so ready to be done here, basically burned out in my first semester."
Jade closed her eyes and inhales, "Because I enjoy what I do here, and if I graduate then I have to decide what to do next."
"Ope, yeah...I guess that makes sense."
She leans back in her chair, her eyes opening and meeting yours, "You'll figure it out, it's not too late to find something you actually want to do, so you're not just doing what you think you're supposed to do."
Your face scrunches, "I'm this far in now, I might as well."
She raises her pierced brow, "You always were such a people pleaser, I had hoped you would have grown out of that by now."
You freeze. That one stung.
Jade must have sensed your mood shift because she sat up, "I don't mean that as an insult." You cross your arms in front of you, your walls all of a sudden back up. "I'm serious, you were always so fucking empathetic, constantly bending over backwards trying to be everything for everyone else. I just want for you to see your own value, it's the bird scene but the real life version." She sounds sincere, and her face looks almost panicked.
You soften slightly.
She takes it as a show of good faith to continue, "I'm sure I didn't help with that all those years. You always had what I craved, the spotlight, real friends, a good heart. It was a constant reminder that I was a gank, so I lashed out even more...Sorry about that." She leans back into her chair, bringing her coffee to her lips, finishing it off with a look of disappointment.
You bite your lip, "Apology accepted."
She gives you a subdued look of hopefulness but stays silent.
Just as she opens her mouth to say something, her phone rings. She freezes, looking at the screen. A dark cloud rolls over her features and she picks it up, "Give me a second, "she says to you as she answers the call.
"Hello?" She stands up and walks away, but you still manage to catch a few words. You're pretty sure it's about her apartment.
You take this time to watch her. She still has that air of cockieneess around her, but it's much less of an insecure projection, and more internal confidence oozing out. She doesn't have the colored highlights anymore, but she's added more tattoos on her arm, most of them plant related.
When she turns back around, you're snapped out of your gaze. Her face is red, but you can't tell if she's just angry or about to cry. As she walks back over and sits down aggressively, you settle on angry.
"What happened?" You approach the question cautiously.
"Nothing, don't worry about it." She waves you off.
"I'm already worrying, so you might as well tell me." Your resolve hardens. You're not about to let her clam up on you after all the progress you two have made.
She fixes her stare at you, her nostrils still flaring. You watch her body relax as she reminds herself that she's talking to you and not a random person.
She jutts her chin forward and brings her hand up to rub her face, "My landlord is a dick. He's raised rent on me three times in the last two months. I reverted back to my old ways, and may have tried to...encourage...him to go back down." She winces, apparently regretting what she had done. "And now I have two weeks to find a new place." When she finishes talking she gives you a forced smile.
Your eyes widen, "What did you do?"
"Nothing! It wasn't that bad...Ok, it was a little bad." She pouts as you continue starring, "Ok, so maybe it was borderline illegal. What's the big deal, he isn't pressing charges- he's too afraid to." She mumbles the last part to herself.
"JADE! What the fuck. Are you just a glutton for punishment? You're old enough to get in serious trouble."
"My dad's a lawyer." She states as her defense.
"And mine's a cop, but that doesn't mean it's a get-out-of-jail-free card in my back pocket. So, what's your point?"
She groans, "Ugh. I know, ok! I knew as soon as it happened that I had just sealed my own coffin. It just took him a few days to find all the evidence that it was me." She put her hands on her head and went back and forth between a smirk and a scowl. .
As you watch her internal struggle, you can't help but laugh. She looks up at you slightly miffed, but soon you're both laughing at her misfortune.
As you begin to settle down, you manage to laugh out, "Just when I think you've gone and gotten completely soft, you have reminded me multiple times today that you are still in fact 100% the same person you were in highschool."
She grins at you, still laughing, "What can I say, I'm trying my best here. Can we at least agree I'm like 10% better than I was? I've worked hard for that little bit of improvement."
You hold up your hands in surrender, "Yeah, yeah, 10%. Maybe even 15% on your good days."
She fakes a few sobs, but her smile never really left.
You both relax a little, a calm quiet slowly replacing the outburst of laughter.
Jade looks up to the ceiling, "Ok. I guess I probably need to head back home, I've got a lot to figure out in two weeks."
You feel a strange sadness wash over you.
She sighs and goes to stand up, you move to follow her.
"Can I drive your car to cheer myself up?" She asks when you're halfway to the door.
"No."
"Tori, Please."
"No."
She opens the door for you, puppy dog eyes in full force, "Pleeeeeease."
You walk through the door and roll your eyes.
She quickly catches up to your side, "It's only like a 5 minute drive, can I atleast drive it around the parking lot? Or maybe the-" You stop her mid sentence with your hand on her mouth.
She glares at you, and you feel a tongue all along the palm of your hand. Immediately you drop your hand down with an exclamation of "Gross!"
She grins, self-satisfied, "I promise, I won't lick you again if I can drive us back."
You huff, "How about you promise to be nicer and get us there safely instead?" You dangle the key up in front of her.
"Deal," she doesn't even hesitate reaching for the fob, "It's a win-win for me. I get to drive, and licking you is still on the table.
You chortle, patting her upper arm with faux sympathy, "Careful there, your crush on me is showing again."
If murder was a look, it was on Jade's face now. You blow her a mocking air kiss.
"Just get in the fucking car." She spits.
You move past her to the passenger side. Through the semi-tinted glass, you catch her face morph into a smile briefly before she puts back on her look of contempt.
"Seatbelt, princess." She says arily, adjusting the seat to fit her height better.
"If I'm the princess, are you the dragon of the story?" You joke.
She looks you up and down in the seat, her gaze morphed into something that you don't recognize. "I guess we are going to find out."