Chapter 7

The look on Jades' face the moment the door shut behind Chet on his way out was pure unbridled hatred. You wish you had taken a picture. The entire interaction had been hysterical to observe, and you had been holding in the laugh as soon as they had pushed their way through the door. The giggle bubbled out, and she just glared at you, "He was even worse than I thought he was going to be."

"You should hear him in class," you say as you open the box of pizza and push it towards her.

"I'd rather shoot my foot off with a shotgun than to spend any more time with that asshole." she frowned as she reached for a slice, letting the lid close again.

"You're so dramatic," you say, standing slowly and hobbling over to the other side of the counter to grab the scissors.

You could feel her watching you struggle. As soon as the purple handle was in your grasp you turned back towards her. She looks away quickly, "How's it feeling after the ice?" she says in an effort to stir the conversation.

"Still hurts, and it's starting to get a little stiff. I'm glad I got tomorrow off, or work would have sucked, although it probably still will the next day, too."

She winced sympathetically, "I don't envy you at all, but I'm glad you can take it easy tomorrow" She took a large bite of the pizza, stringy melted cheese falling down onto her chin as she pulled it away from her.

You stifle a laugh as she looks at you with a frown, but it soon morphs into a playfully irritated scowl as she finishes her bite- cheese still on her face.

"Listen here, limpy-," she points her free hand at you in obvious faux anger and you laugh more freely. She never finishes her sentence but gets up and grabs the paper towels off the kitchen counter, wiping her face. She brings you a few sheets, "I know you're accident prone with food, too." You smile softly, nodding in thanks, knowing she was right.

The rest of the evening had the same weightlessness to it. She set up the futon as you watched from the dining chair, music playing from one of your phones.

It was almost midnight by the time either of you realized that it was late. The futon had taken both of you to assemble and neither one of you knew what you were doing with the tools they had provided. It turned into more laughing than anything but finally it was done, and you were both sitting on it comfortably, enjoying the spoils of your war. Your hurt leg sat extended in between and her feet were tucked under you, she said they had been cold, but you think it was just an excuse. Theres a quiet moment, a comfortable pause in the conversations.

"What is your plan tomorrow?" You try to sound indifferent hoping she can't hear the plea in your tone. You hadn't planned to stay home tomorrow but since you had hurt yourself your plans were changing quickly. If you had to be home, you'd rather not be alone.

"I'm not that sure, honestly. I feel oddly like working on my play that I haven't touched in months. And the arboretum is relatively self-sufficient since I've been in charge- you know I've always loved giving orders. I might just stay here and try to get organized if you don't mind?"

You resist the smile, but you can't quite shake the happy sound of your voice when you respond, "Not at all, it'll be nice to have some company while I'm on self-imposed house arrest." You gesture to your leg.

She grins faintly, obviously not calling out the sound of glee in your tone. "Maybe we just make it a stay at home and rest day. I can work on my play and maybe you can work on some homework or something?"

You watch her yawn as she finishes speaking, and it's contagious, "Stop that." You say after you finish, a little giggle at the end of it.

"I guess I didn't realize how tired I was. Maybe it's time to test this baby out." She pats the futon cushion a couple of times.

"I don't feel like showering, so I'm going to brush my teeth and go to bed." You think about how you don't even feel the need to drink your relaxing tea- you're just relaxed already. Swinging your bum leg to the ground, Jade nods in agreement. Before you can try to stand up on your own, she's already up and holding your arm as you assess the strength of the leg gingerly, "Jeez, that fucking hurts. I don't even know what all I did but it feel's way more dramatic than what I feel like should be warranted for hitting your shin." You say with a wince as you take the first step away.

"You didn't see the fall, and really not even the wound. You're definitely not being dramatic. I had to basically cut your pants off it was so bad, remember?" she wriggled her eyebrows at the mention of pants being off.

You feel your eyes roll and a breathy laugh escaped as you kept walking, slowly getting a little faster. "I think the ice helped for sure. I'm just worried about how stiff it's going to get, so I should probably take something for the pain and maybe it'll feel a little better in the morning."

"If you need to get up in the middle of the night, wake me up and I'll come help if it's too stiff to work with." She said it so genuinely, but you stop and sit there searching her face skeptically.

"Me? Wake you up? I know better than that. You'd be so grouchy you wouldn't even be worth the help." You start walking again, but how you said it must have struck a nerve because Jade stiffens and doesn't walk with you anymore. After a few more small steps you turn back to her.

The frown is evident on her face before she even starts to talk, the laughter previously in the room fell flat and she just stares at the ground, "I know I've been an ass, literally the entire time that you've known me. But I've tried really hard to work on myself and would appreciate it if you didn't automatically assume the worst in me every chance you get. The last couple of weeks were hard, so I don't expect you to believe that I'm not the horrible person that you think I am. I just wish we could start over- clean slate." Her eyes were unreadable. There was an unusual tone to her words that was very out of place for the Jade you remembered. Then again, that was probably the very point she was trying to make.

"I see. I'm sorry I've been holding you to the same standard I used to. You've done almost nothing but prove how different you are now. However, I also know there are always going to be parts of you that don't change. And frankly, I don't want them to. They're reasons I was always drawn to you, even when you were a self-proclaimed ass." You shuffle a little closer to her. "How does the new Jade feel about hugs?" you say, bending your head down a little to meet her gaze.

Her eyes met yours, and a ghost of a smile danced on her lips, "They're growing on me," she said with a thick voice, "but practice makes perfect, I guess."

You both stood up more straight again, and gestured for a hug, "Don't keep making me have to walk, damn it." You smile as you say it and she moves slowly towards you. The hug was just a comforting embrace that seemed to make time slow a little and heal some wounds that neither of you knew you had had. You could smell her sweet but spicy perfume mixed with something that smelled suspiciously like your deodorant. "Jade?" you ask over her shoulder, "Is that my deodorant?"

Jade shrugs into the hug, "It smelled good."

You snort, leaning away and looking at her face. "See, you're not different. Just improved. Version 2.0."

She grinned at you, "Eh, more like version 20.0, but sure. Let's go with that."

You can't help but look at her smile, the slight part in her lips. That feeling flooding back into your stomach. You swallow, loosening your grip. "I'm going to go brush my teeth now, for real this time." You watch her close her eyes and let go.

"Good idea." She says it so softly you hardly catch it as you turn around and resume hobbling back towards the bathroom, biting your lip to keep from doing anything stupid.

The night continued passing quickly, brushing your teeth cleared your head a little, and you laid down as Jade went to shower. Your eyes were so heavy that you don't remember the water stopping, or the lights turning off. The door locking made you come to just enough to see Jade in the glow of the night walking over.

You feel her walk up, and gently kiss your cheek, "Good night, Tori." She whispered softly. The futon squealed slightly as she pulled it down to bed position, "Shhhh." She whisper yells at the inanimate object.

It got quiet again after she laid down and shuffled to get comfortable in her new space. It was directly adjacent to your bed, and you sleepily wiggled your way over to the side she was on, your hand bridging the gap from the bed height difference.

"Psst." You wave your hand over in her direction for a moment, just barely visible in the light coming from the balcony window. You feel her hand brush yours, and you latch onto it. Her hand grasping yours back gently. Effectively holding hands, albeit semi awkwardly, you say quietly, "Consider your slate cleared. Sweet dreams." You held on for a few more moments before attempting to let go, but she stayed holding onto you. Your hand relaxes, just resting with hers. You feel her grip slacken, but rather than pulling away you find yourself falling asleep- content to stay where you are.