This is it guys the story has run it's course... i kinda love it . Thanks for skirting deep issues with me lol~SK

The Reset

Jade

As we drove to Tori's place, the silence between us stretched longer than usual. The road was familiar, but today, the air felt heavier. I glanced at her every now and then, waiting for the right moment to bring it up. We'd been skirting around this conversation for too long, and I knew we couldn't move forward without getting through it.

Tori's hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, her knuckles pale. I sighed, feeling the weight of everything that had built up between us. "We need to talk, Tori."

She glanced over briefly, her eyes darting back to the road. "Yeah, I figured."

The tension in the car thickened, and I swallowed hard. "Look, I know I haven't been... fair to you. Especially back then. I was awful, and I get why you were hurt."

Tori let out a dry laugh, shaking her head. "Jade, you weren't just 'awful.' You were relentless. I mean, the coffee, the bush daisies... framing me for stuff that wasn't even my fault. You messed with me so much, and I just... I don't know why I let you."

I winced, her words hitting harder than I expected. But I didn't try to interrupt her. She deserved this.

"I guess I was too wrapped up in trying to figure out why you hated me so much," Tori continued, her voice quieter now. "I thought if I could just... I don't know, be nice enough, you'd stop. But you didn't. And it made me feel like an idiot for putting up with it."

"I didn't hate you," I blurted, my voice breaking. "That's the thing. I didn't understand what I was feeling, but it wasn't hate. It was... confusion. Frustration. I didn't know why I cared so much about what you thought, why you got under my skin like no one else."

Tori exhaled sharply, her eyes narrowing as she drove. "So, what? You tortured me because you had a crush?"

"Yeah, I guess that's exactly what I did," I admitted, my chest tightening. "And it was wrong. I know that now. I've had so much time to think, especially with everything I've been remembering. I hurt you because I didn't know how to deal with my own feelings. And I'm sorry, Tori. For all of it."

The apology hung between us, and for a moment, all I could hear was the hum of the engine. Tori's grip on the steering wheel loosened, and she sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly.

"You should've stood up to me sooner," I added, my voice softer. "You didn't deserve any of that. You should've called me out."

Tori nodded, glancing over at me. "Yeah, I know. I kept telling myself I would, but... I don't know. I thought maybe if I just waited it out, you'd stop on your own. I was scared of making it worse."

"I can't change what I did, but I can change how I act from here on out," I said firmly. "I want to make this right. I don't want us to keep dragging the past around like this."

Tori stayed quiet for a moment, her eyes focused on the road ahead. "It's hard for me to just forget all of that, Jade. You really did a number on me. But... I do see you trying. You're different now, and I know what happened with your memory wasn't easy."

"I'm not asking you to forget," I said quickly. "I'm asking you to let me prove that I can be better. That I've learned from all this."

She nodded, her expression softening. "Okay. But no more lies. No more hiding things from me, or playing those stupid games. If we're going to do this, I need to trust you."

"I get that," I replied. "And you can. I'm not the same person I was back then."

Tori finally smiled, the tension easing just a bit. "Good. Because I really don't want to regret giving you a chance."

"You won't," I said, my voice steady. "I promise."

We fell into a comfortable silence, the weight of the conversation lifting as we neared her house. There was still so much to work through, but for the first time, it felt like we were on the same page. The past wasn't forgotten, but it wasn't going to keep us from moving forward, either.

As we pulled into her driveway, I glanced at her again, feeling a strange mix of relief and hope. We weren't perfect, but we were figuring it out. Together.

"You hungry?" she asked as we got out of the car.

"Starving," I replied with a smirk.

She laughed, and it was the best sound I'd heard all day.

We stepped inside the house, and I could already feel the change in the air—lighter, maybe, like a weight had been lifted. But before I could really settle into that, Tori turned to face me, her expression more serious than I expected.

"Jade, I need to say something."

I raised an eyebrow. "What now?"

She took a breath, rubbing the back of her neck like she always did when she was nervous. "I should've corrected you earlier. You know, when you thought we were together—when you lost your memory. I didn't stop you from thinking it... and I definitely didn't stop us before things went further."

I crossed my arms, leaning against the kitchen counter. "Why didn't you?"

Tori looked down at her hands for a second, her voice soft when she finally spoke. "Because I wanted it. I wanted you. And I let that get in the way of what I knew was right. I should've stopped you, Jade. I should've been honest from the start."

Her words hung in the air between us, and for a moment, I just stared at her. The old me might've snapped, gotten defensive, or even found some snarky comment to hide behind. But this wasn't about that anymore.

"So... does that mean we're even now?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Tori smiled, a little shy but genuine. "Definitely."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Good, 'cause if I had to keep feeling like the bad guy all the time, I might've lost it."

She laughed too, the tension breaking as we stood there, finally on equal ground. Just as we started to settle into that moment, the doorbell rang, pulling us back to reality.

I sighed dramatically. "Guess the chaos is here."

Tori rolled her eyes but smiled. "Yeah, it's showtime."

As she moved toward the door, I grabbed her wrist gently, making her pause. "Hey, for what it's worth... I'm glad we didn't stop. I'm glad we got here, no matter how messy it was."

She nodded, her eyes soft as she looked at me. "Me too."

Then, with that, Tori turned the knob, and we opened the door to our friends.

Tori

It was a mess. Of course, it was a mess. I'd just sat down on the couch with Jade when our front door swung open like some reality TV drama. In strolled Beck, Andre, Cat, and Robbie, all demanding answers. And sure, maybe I'd seen this coming. Jade and I had kind of dropped a relationship bomb on them without much of an explanation, but still—

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Beck started, arms crossed, and that voice that's way too calm for what's clearly not a calm situation.

I swallowed, glancing at Jade. She sat there, totally unbothered, flipping through her phone like we weren't being interrogated. "Look," I began, knowing I had to say something first. "This is probably… a lot. I get it. I just—"

"You kissed her?" Beck interrupted, looking straight at me. The disbelief in his voice was obvious. "You told me once that you couldn't kiss a friend's ex, Tori. Remember? When we were younger? When I—" He didn't finish, but I knew where he was going.

I felt that old guilt surface. "Beck, that was different," I said quickly, raising my hands like some kind of shield. "I wasn't ready then. And also… I'm gay. Like, super gay. And as beautiful as you are—and you are—you're not a woman. Plus…" I glanced sideways at Jade, the words coming easier than I thought. "I kinda had a crush on your ex Foreever."

The room went still. The silence was… a lot. Like, pin-drop kind of silent. I could feel the weight of everyone's stares. Cat's eyes were wide, and even Andre had stopped whatever funny comment he was about to throw in.

That's when Jade finally put her phone down and sat up, throwing an arm around my shoulders. "That's why You and I never worked, okay?" she said, her voice calm but sharp, like she was cutting through all the noise. "I had a full-on crush on her"—she tilted her head toward me—"and I couldn't make it go away by being with you."

Beck's face shifted from frustration to something like realization, and for a second, I saw the hurt there. He'd cared about her for so long, and I wasn't blind to that. But things between them had been over for a while—whether they wanted to admit it or not.

Jade leaned in, her cheek brushing mine as she looked at the group. "So, yeah. That's what happened over the weekend. We got together. Now, can we please get back to planning college stuff?"

Robbie, always quick to fill awkward gaps, clapped his hands together. "Oh, thank God. I thought you guys were gonna fight." Cat giggled beside him, nudging his shoulder.

"Seriously," Andre sighed, sitting back on the couch. "Y'all gave us a whole soap opera for a second there."

But Beck wasn't done. "Okay, okay," he muttered, pacing a bit before turning back to us. "So, you two… are a thing now?" His voice wasn't as hard anymore. I nodded, and Jade just grinned like it was obvious.

"Yeah, we're a thing now. And for the record," Jade added, "we're keeping the master bedroom."

That started a whole new wave of arguments. Beck's eyes lit up, and he pointed at Jade like she'd crossed some sacred line. "Oh, no. If you guys are taking the master bedroom, you're paying an extra fifty bucks in rent. Easy."

Andre chimed in, agreeing, and suddenly everyone was throwing in opinions. Jade just smirked like she knew she'd win this argument in the end, one way or another.

I leaned back into the couch, letting their voices wash over me. As heated as it got—and trust me, it got heated—I couldn't help but smile. We were all still here, still bickering over rent and rooms, still figuring out how to make this whole "living together" thing work.

Beck would come around. He wasn't thrilled right now, but I could see it in the way his frown was softening, how he kept glancing between me and Jade like he was starting to get it. The group wasn't falling apart, despite everything. If anything, we were still strong, still solid, even with all the drama.

I glanced at Jade as she leaned into the argument about rent, her face lit up with that spark she always had when she was fighting for something she wanted. And yeah, she could be a lot. But she was my a lot now, and the thought warmed me, even as the chaos around us grew.

"Fine, fine," Jade finally conceded, rolling her eyes. "We'll pay the extra fifty bucks. But we're not sharing the bathroom."

The bickering continued, but in the back of my mind, I knew we were going to be okay. College was just around the corner, and life was about to get even crazier. But through all of it, this group—our six—we were solid. Even through breakups, hookups, and everything in between, we stuck together.

And honestly? That felt like the best kind of ending to this whole mess.

Jade

The cool night air brushed over us as I leaned back against the hood of Tori's car. Above us, the stars were scattered like someone had spilled glitter across the sky, and out here, away from the city's noise, it felt like they were ours alone. No drama, no expectations, just… stillness. Something I wasn't used to but was slowly learning to appreciate.

Tori sat next to me, her arm brushing against mine. She didn't say anything, but her presence was enough. It always was. I glanced at her, the corners of her mouth pulled up in that soft smile she didn't show everyone—just me. My chest felt lighter seeing it.

"How did we get here?" I asked, half-laughing, half-disbelieving. It wasn't a real question, but the thought had been swirling in my head all night. How did we go from tearing each other down to… this?

Tori turned her head, her smile widening just a little. "I have no idea. But I'm really glad we did."

There was something in her voice that made me pause, that same affection I'd been feeling for weeks but was still trying to understand. She was patient with me, always had been—even when I'd been at my worst. Now that we were here, actually together, it was like that patience had paid off. For both of us.

I let out a soft laugh, glancing up at the sky again. "Think Beck's over it yet?"

Tori laughed too, a quick, breathy sound. "Definitely not. But he'll get there. He cares about us—even if he doesn't know how to show it right now."

"Yeah," I murmured. "I guess."

The truth was, Beck was just one part of the puzzle. The whole group had been adjusting to the changes, and while Beck's discomfort was obvious, there was another person in this mess that had surprised me: Anya.

Anya, who'd been with Tori before me. Anya, who, despite everything, had shown up earlier this week, wanting to talk. I didn't expect it to go well, but sometimes people surprise you.

I took a breath, breaking the silence. "So, I talked to Anya."

Tori turned to look at me, her expression softening. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." I shifted on the hood, pulling my jacket tighter around me. "She came by earlier today. Wanted to talk." I exhaled, a small laugh escaping. "Weird, right? She actually seemed like she wanted to clear things up."

Tori's eyes searched mine, a quiet patience there. She didn't push, didn't say anything right away, just… waited. That's what made her different. She didn't need to fill the silence with words or try to fix everything. She just was.

"She said she was hurt," I continued after a beat. "Not just because you're with me now, but because of how everything ended. She felt like you checked out before you even broke up. Like you weren't really with her, even when you were."

Tori winced, her fingers tightening in her lap. "I know. I never really knew how to tell her that… things weren't right between us. That something was missing."

I nodded, staring back up at the stars. "I told her that, too. I explained that it wasn't about her, not really. It was just… about you. About us."

It had been a strange conversation, standing in the doorway while Anya calmly explained the hurt she'd carried after her relationship with Tori ended. I'd braced myself for a fight, for anger or resentment—but what I got was something closer to understanding. She didn't want to cause more trouble, she just wanted closure. Maybe we both did.

"She said something," I added, my voice quieter now. "She said that when you were with her, it always felt like there was a part of you that wasn't hers to hold. Like you were saving it for someone else."

Tori's lips parted, her brows pulling together. "Did she…?"

"Yeah," I said softly. "She knew. Maybe not exactly, but she had a sense of it. She told me that when she found out we were together, it hurt because… because she realized she'd been right."

Tori was silent for a long moment, her gaze distant. I could tell she was processing it all, the guilt swirling behind her eyes. But I wasn't going to let her get lost in it. Not now. I reached for her hand, lacing my fingers with hers.

"Anya gets it now," I said, squeezing her hand. "She's okay. We're okay. I think we actually came to an understanding."

Tori looked at me then, really looked at me, her eyes wide and surprised. "You did?"

I shrugged, trying to play it off, but the truth was that it had felt good to finally talk things through with Anya. To clear the air. I had expected to feel some sort of rivalry, but instead, we found common ground. She wasn't the enemy. We'd just been tangled up in the same person's heart, in different ways.

"She's not a bad person," I admitted, my voice soft. "She was just… caught in the middle, like we all were."

Tori smiled, that warm, familiar smile that never failed to make my chest feel lighter. "I'm glad you talked to her. I never wanted her to get hurt."

"I know. And I told her that." I leaned back against the car again, letting out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. "She'll be fine. We'll all be fine."

For a while, we just sat there, the quiet settling back in around us. The stars were so bright, like little sparks of light reminding me that the world kept spinning, even when things felt uncertain.

Tori nudged me gently. "Look," she whispered, pointing up at the sky.

I followed her gaze, just in time to see a shooting star streak across the night. It was quick, barely a flash, but it left a trail of brightness behind it.

"Make a wish," she said softly, her voice barely more than a breath.

I closed my eyes, thinking about everything I could wish for, but in the end, it was simple. I didn't need to wish for anything. Not anymore. For once in my life, I wasn't fighting against everything, pushing people away or trying to pretend I didn't care. I had Tori. And that was enough.

When I opened my eyes, Tori was watching me, her smile soft, her eyes warm. I leaned in, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face, and kissed her. Under the stars, with the city stretching out beneath us and the universe feeling so much bigger than us—and yet, in this moment, we were the only two people that mattered.

The kiss was slow, deep, and filled with everything we didn't need to say. When we pulled back, Tori rested her head on my shoulder, her hand still holding mine.

"We made it," she whispered, her breath warm against my skin.

I nodded, my head leaning against hers. "Yeah. We did."

And we sat there, under the stars, together. No more drama, no more running or hiding. Just us. And for the first time, that was more than enough.

end