Like I said, bite sized pieces. I have only a vague sense of direction for this story, and write it willy nilly as it comes. But I gotta try to keep you on your toes a little bit, right?
Is it predictable? Yes. Do I care? No. Are you still reading? I don't know, but I hope so.
I can assure you one thing, I need wholesome fluffiness in my life, and don't think there will ever be too much variation in that theme with this story.
Chapter 3.
"Do you still have the same phone number?" Jade asks on the way back to campus.
"Oh. No actually, I had to change it after someone stole my phone on that tour." You thought back to the massive pain in the ass that it had been.
"Well, I guess I wouldn't have been able to text you anyways then." She tapped the steering wheel lightly.
You can't help the wave of guilt that comes at her words, "I'm sorry. It never really crossed my mind."
"I wouldn't have expected it to, we weren't friends," She says it so simply.
Your brow furrows at her, "I was friends with you, you just refused to be friends with me."
She waves you off and hands her phone to you, "Just update your contact."
You scroll through her phone's contact book, finding your name. You're almost surprised she had saved your number at all, but this afternoon couldn't have been any more clear about how little you had really known the real Jade back then.
You go to edit the number, but you pause as you study your name, "Why is there a shovel emoji next to my name?" You look over to her for an explanation.
She just clicks her tongue a few times, obviously avoiding the question. "Just change the number, Vega."
You drop it, but take the time to add a microphone and a coffee cup too.
She turns into the parking lot where her car must be, and you see familiar vehicle. A decal of a pair of scissors was on her back windshield. You stifle a giggle, and she glares over to you as she parks.
"What?" She grumbles.
You bite your lip, "Scissors have a new double meaning to you now, don't they?"
She closes her eyes, shaking her head ever so slightly trying to erase the words she just heard, "Get out of my car."
You scoff and smirk, "It's MY car, and that's exactly the response I'd expect if I was right." She opened her eyes just enough to glare at you.
The smug look was quickly wiped off your face, "Sounds like experience talking there, Tori."
You roll your eyes, the embarrassment showing up, "It was just a joke. It's ok to laugh, you know."
At that, she did laugh, "I'll always laugh at you being dumb."
You glare and open your door, stepping out to walk around to the driver's side.
"Let me know if I can help with your sticky situation." You say as she hands you your keys.
Her pierced brow raises, "Which one?"
Confusion plasters your face, Uh, wha- Which one? What? Your apartment problem isn't the only-" Her amused face makes the light bulb go off in your head, "UGH, JADE! You know what I meant. God you're horrible."
She shrugs and grins cheekily, "Just figured I'd clarify." She starts to walk to her car, "No but seriously, don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
"Ok, fine. I won't, but I would like to hang out again." You say it somewhat too eagerly as you climb to stand in the doorway.
She looks up at you with squinted eyes, contemplating the type of response to give you. She settles for a nod before responding, "How about a movie at your place this weekend? Tomorrow is packed for me, but I figure Friday night will be open enough."
You frown, "I work almost all day on Friday. My shift isn't over until after 11."
She shrugs, "So? Late night movie nights are the only kind of movie nights I know." A small smile plays on her lips, "I'll text you when I'm headed that way."
"You don't know where I live."
"So, text me your address. C'mon, keep up with me, it's not rocket science." She says it slowly, nodding her head in mock encouragement.
"I'm not an idiot, I just wasn't sure of the details." You cross your arms in irritation.
She smirks, "Details. Movie night on Friday, you're going to text me your address, and I'm going to tell you when I'm on my way. You're going to make popcorn and have snacks, and I'll bring some movies and a bottle of wine."
She gives you a fake smile and a sarcastic double thumbs up before spinning around and closing the distance between her and her car.
You watch her from above your car, slightly amused and annoyed. "It's a date then!" You say slightly louder than before, making sure she could hear you.
"Not a date!" She says loudly without looking back.
"Sounds like a date." You lean into the roof of your car.
She opens her door, looking at you as she goes to get in. "Not a date," she says again, adding a curt shake of her head, and shutting the door.
You dramatically mouth your response silently since she's still watching you through the window, "It's a date." You wink at her and drop down into the seat.
You see her looking straight forward, shaking her head with her hands on her steering wheel.
"Totally sounds like a date." You say to yourself, mildly alarmed with the smile that comes with the statement.
Thursday blows past, and you spend the majority of your free moments studying for your chemistry exam, but on your brief breaks you try to straighten up your apartment just a little bit.
Friday morning your chemistry exam kicks your ass, and you barely make it to your shift on time.
Around 10:30, when the shop is technically now closed, you alert the remaining customers lounging in the chairs that you're trying to close up. It takes them a while to get the message, but turning off the lights and music is usually enough to make them move.
At 10:37 you're in the process of mopping the kitchen area when your phone pings. You see that it's from Jade and smile briefly before opening it.
[Address, Vega]
You pale momentarily before responding.
[Oh, shit. Sorry- Forgot. 1832 S Main St. Apartment 149 B. Second floor on the left!]
[I'm almost done, promise.]
Her response was almost immediate.
[I'm on my way. ]
You frown as you respond
[I'm not there yet.]
Her only response was a thumbs up. It dawns on you that that has never stopped her before, and you find yourself in a refreshed working fervor.
As you lock the door, you check your watch. 10:52, a new closing record for you.
You shoot her a text on the walk to your car.
[I'm headed that way!]
[Made myself at home, don't worry.]
Her response makes you let out an incredulous chuckle.
[Of course you did. I don't even want to know how you got in through the dead bolt.]
She offers no explanation, just a shrugging emoji.
Needless to say, you make it to your apartment quicker than you probably should have.
As you get up the stairs, you find the door still just as locked as you had left it, and you still have to wiggle the key into the deadbolt for it to turn.
You open it slowly, greeted by the sight of Jade West sprawled across your bed on her phone.
"How?" You say, dropping your bag to the ground.
She lazily glances back at you, "You left your balcony open."
You look to the balcony door and then back to her.
"It's on the second floor."
"It's on the second floor," Jade mocks you, sitting up, "yeah, and you should still lock it. That little climb won't keep the crazies out."
You look at her, waiting for her to acknowledge that she apparently was one of those crazy people, but she didn't.
Instead she stands up, holding a bottle of wine in one hand and a horror movie in the other.
Holding your palm up to her, you speak "Immediately, no. If we are watching a movie it's not going to be horror. Do you not remember me at all?"
She visibly groans, rolling her head back, "Such a wimp." She reaches back down to the bed, where she picks up a second dvd case, "Can we atleast do something action packed?"
You walk closer to her, managing to catch a glimpse of Anna Kendrick in cat ears holding a gun. You glance a look at Jade, "I never took you as an Anna Kendrick fan?"
"She's hot. And in this movie, a little unhinged, I like it."
You nod your head in agreement, "I'm down. Let me get changed." You make your way to your dresser, pulling out a set of pajamas before heading to the bathroom.
When you come back out, Jade has the TV turned on, and is attempting to get your playstation to work. You can hear her grumbling obscene insults to the black box.
"You need some help there?" You say, from the kitchen, pulling out a bag full of candies and popcorn from the pantry cabinet.
"Who uses Playstations anymore? This is just stupid." Jade glares at you.
Laughing softly, you put one a bag of popcorn into the microwave to pop before you go to help the angry woman.
Wordlessly, you grab a different controller from the charger, and press the playstation button in the middle, turning on the console. You put in the dvd and press X when it pops up on the menu.
You look at Jade who is just fuming at this point, glaring daggers at the controller in her hand.
"It was dead." You say, patting her shoulder softly to add extra insult.
"Why the fuck did you just have a dead controller just laying there."
The commercials start playing as you laugh, "Because I haven't used it all week, and it died."
"That's stupid."
You take the controller from her and put it on the charger, the yellow light flashing.
She huffs, "Why don't you have a couch?" There was an edge to her voice.
"Are you just going to shit on my apartment while you're here?" You ask her shortly.
Her tense stance softened at your tone, and she swallowed. "No. Sorry, I was...frustrated." She looked around once again, "But seriously, no couch?" This time, her voice suggested that she was genuinely asking.
You inhale deeply, "I never really needed one. People don't usually visit." You look away embarrassed at the confession, "Besides, it's such a small room, I wanted the space more. I usually just lay on the bed to watch stuff."
She seemed satisfied enough, she started to walk around looking at the various decorations and knick-knacks. " It's cute, I like the vibe you've got going here."
You watch her, trying to decide if she's making fun of you or not. "Thanks." You say slowly, clicking to the movie menu.
"This one especially," you look to where she's pointing, where your giant Blue Morpho butterfly was mounted in a wooden frame, "they're my favorites."
Vaguely you remember that you had gotten that for her initially, and you bite your cheek, trying to decide if you should share that information or not. You sigh, "I know. I, uh, had actually gotten that for you for your birthday one year, but then I saw one already hanging in your room when we were all on a video chat. I just decided that it was pretty and kept it for myself after that."
She looked at you, her eyebrows raised with surprise. She smiled and looked back at the butterfly, "You can never have too many Morphos."
She walks over and sits on the bed again, looking to the TV screen.
You go to the kitchen, swapping out the popped bag for the other one. "Press the blue X button." You tell her, and she complies. The movie begins, and you pour the popcorn into a big bowl before grabbing it and the bag of candy and heading to the bed.
She suddenly stands up, "I forgot," she pauses as she walks past you to the kitchen, "the wine."
You snort softly, crawling onto the bed and adjusting some pillows to lean against the wall, facing the TV. "Cabinet on the right."
Jade pulls down two glasses, filling both halfway up with the dark red liquid.
She sets them down before heading back to the front door and switching off the light.
You're already engrossed in the plot before she ever even gets back to the bed. You catch her smiling at you watching so intently out of the corner of your eye.
You cut your eyes over to her, and she holds her hands up. You reach for your cup of wine, taking a big sip before turning back to the movie.