On her Dad's way back from work that evening he picked up Cat, saving her another bus ride. "You really should start taking driving lessons" He reminded her for the umpteenth time.
"With what money?" Cat always thought to herself. She'd never retort out loud though. She loved her father but he was sometimes a very short tempered man. Again, Cat understood him though, she had to learn to understand. Like her mom, Leo also had to quit his passion job, producing documentaries. He needed a steady income, rather than contracted work, with a lot less travel. He now worked as a bank manager. A part of Cat hoped her parents were proud of her for wanting to do a creative career like they had, but equally she could feel their jealousy every step of the way.
She'd first wanted to be a dancer, like her Mom. But as much as Cassy had once been overjoyed by this, it just started reminding her of she could no longer do. And besides, she couldn't take Cat to any of the competitions, so that had to stop. Next Cat chose singing. She took afterschool lessons at Hollywood Arts, long before she was old enough to enrol as a student. Singing was easy, she liked it, she could get herself to practice, and it was fun. But of course becoming a successful singer had incredibly slim odds, so she looked elsewhere. Fashion design was a more newly developed passion. With her parents always so busy, and money so tight, Cat had learnt how to make the most out of thrift shops. She loved turning a few dollars into a whole outfit. Taking pieces and making them more 'her', expressing herself in those colours, patterns and shapes. So that's what she'd be, a fashion designer. Next year she'd go to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York to study Fashion Design. That's as far ahead as she'd thought for now. It seemed like a great course and was far enough away from LA to get some space. She loved her family, but often she didn't feel included in it, so why not get away for a few years. She didn't watch much in life, just a partner to settle down with, and enough income to keep them happy. Maybe a few kids if the situation allowed it. But that was much too far in the future to think about tonight. Tonight her only plan was a quick shower and then to go to bed.
But, just as she was bout to put down her phone for the night;
'Valentine' a text from Jade came through.
'hiiii Jadey' she typed back quickly
'Don't call me that'
'whats up buttercup?'
'You make me regret texting you'
'whats up Jadey?'
'Try again'
'whats up Jade?'
'Better. I need advice. Now.'
'OOOoh I'm good with advice! What advice am I giving?'
'Dating'
'dating who?'
'Me dating someone.'
'ur dating someone?!'
'No. Urgh. I'll be over in 10 mins, we're going for a drive.'
'kk!' Cat texted back chipperly, not a clue at all what Jade meant during any of that.
She wasn't dating anyone, not since her and Beck broke up over the summer break. Gosh coming back to school and seeing the two of them avoid each other was so annoying until they sorted their chiz out. She liked Jade better when she wasn't with Beck, because it meant she'd spend more time with her. She often used Cat to fill the void that Beck left, which included late night drives.
By the time the older girl had arrived, Cat was already sat on the doorstep, wearing a matching pyjama set, some ugg look-a-likes and a big bar of chocolate that she had in her room.
"Jadey!" Cat purred as she got into the passenger seat of her best friends car.
"How many times do I need to tell you its not 'Jadey', it's Jade." The goth huffed, pulling the car into reverse to make her way back up the driveway and into the road.
"Whats wrong?" Cat asked, pulling her seatbelt on.
"God Cat let me breathe first." Jade grumbled. She was always like this when sad.She just needed a minute to work her emotions out and remember she was mad at something, but not Cat.
"Kay kay." Cat replied, happy to wait for Jade to open up in her own time. As she always did, Cat picked up Jade's phone, ready to change the music blasting through her car speakers. As much as Jade liked screamo tunes, to calm her down a little she needed them off.
"No-"
"No bubblegum pop." Cat nodded, knowing what Jade was about to say. "I got it I got it."
Cat was one of the only people Jade ever gave her phone password to. Even she had to admit the girl had good music taste. Besides the bubblegum pop she occasionally listened too, and country. Jade didn't like either genre very much, but especially not bubblegum pop.
"GET OFF THE ROAD YOU MANIAC." Jade screamed, blaring on her horn while Cat clicked a new song. The redhead didn't even flinch at Jade's yells, nor look up at what she was yelling at, chances are it was just a kid on a bike.
Jade was seemingly always angry, always had a bone to pick with someone. It scared most people away, that's the reason she did it. They say anger is the mask of sadness, and Jade was, deep down, very sad, especially after her and Beck broke up. After knowing her this long, Cat understood it. She always seemed to be the one understanding other people, but no one ever took that time with her. Sometimes Jade did she guessed, but not as much as Cat listened to her. Still, there only so many times you can cry to your best friend about the same thing. Matty's done this or Matty's got hurt by that gets as repetitive to listen to as it is to talk about. Cat was happy listening to Jade, she felt a lot of self-fulfilment in it- and of course, that's what best friends are for.
There were layers to Jade that others just didn't quite see. For example, just last week Cat was having a particularly hard time letting others talk at lunch, so Jade placed a colouring book in front of her. To most this looked like a dismissive way to tell her to shut up, and maybe it was, but also it showed that Jade had carried that around, for God knows how long, incase Cat needed a quick outlet. It's all about perspective when it comes to Jade.
Neither girl spoke again until they were at their usual spot - a small viewpoint on the edge of the Hollywood Hills. Sometimes there were other cars there but often it was empty. Tonight was luckily the latter. Once the car engine was off, both girls unbuckled and climbed onto the car's bonnet, as they'd done many times before, backs rested against the windshield, looking out across the miles and miles of LA at night. It really was as stunning view, an absolute tourist spot if it wasn't for the 'DO NOT ENTER' sign positioned at the path's entrance. Locals knew of course it was a fake sign, made by some teenagers in years gone by exactly for the reason of keeping tourists out.
"Do you want to talk now?" Cat pried, placing the chocolate bar onto Jade's lap. Sugar bribery always worked with Jade, even if she said it didn't.
"No actually I think I'm good now-" Jade lied, unwrapping the chocolate bar and snapping off a row. "View's good isn't it?" She said, trying to distract her.
"Jadey-." Cat pried, giving the girl a stern but sweet look. "Speak."
"I'm not a dog." Jade glared, "don't bark-" she added, sensing Cat's next move.
"I wasn't gonna-"
"You were so gonna I could see that look in your eyes." Jade replied, a small smile pulling at the corner of her lips. God Cat was weird, but it was a nice, icebreaking kind of weird.
"So are we going to play cats and dogs or are you going to tell me what's up?" Cat smiled back softly, reaching forward and taking a square of chocolate off the row that was now melting slightly in Jade's hands.
"I just... urgh." Jade sighed, finally biting the chocolate too. "I miss Beck- I know that's what we talked about last time we were up here but like. I don't miss Beck I miss, having a boyfriend I think. Like well it's lonely being single you know? Like I wanna know how to find a new boyfriend. A less, I don't know, jealousy inducing boyfriend. But I don't want an ugly one. That's not what's I'm saying. I want someone that's pretty, but not 'every girl drools over them' pretty. I want someone I can talk to that doesn't make me wanna slam my head into a door. I just want… I want to not be single." Jade spewed all at once, the word vomit coming suddenly thick and fast, not a single ounce of eye contact made with Cat throughout it.
"And what would you like me to do to help?" Cat pried, head tilted to the side. Normally with Jade there was an obvious thing Cat could say back to her problems, normally 'just talk to Beck' or 'your script was amazing don't doubt yourself' or 'Tori didn't mean it like that' or 'your Dad will see that he was wrong soon'. But this time, she was at a complete loss.
"You're always with someone, how do you do it?" Jade asked, she knew it was a pretty loaded question, and could be inferred meanly.
"I'm not always- what's that supposed to even mean?!" Cat cried out.
"Oh come off it you've basically always got someone on your arm. This year alone you've dated what, Yash, Jacob, that girl, what was her name?-"
"Jasmine-" Cat answered, "But there were gaps in-between all of them! This isn't about me." Cat's brow furrowed at this and she twiddled her thumbs together. Sometimes Jade used insulting Cat to navigate her own problems, but never as a leading point. Jade wasn't technically wrong, Cat did date a lot, in fact she'd missed Tony from that list, a guy from over the summer. But she didn't do it because of the reasons everyone thought. It was just, having a boyfriend or girlfriend meant that she had a place to go in the evenings other than her own. They'd never last of course, as as soon as it hit tor 2-3 month mark they'd always want to meet her family and - well Cat hadn't introduced them to anyone since she was 14, not even friends. As soon as someone met Matty they'd be scared off. It was sad really, Cat lost a lot of good people because of this, people that had really made her happy.
"Sorry you, you know I didn't mean that to be mean." Jade nodded, placing her hand over Cat's briefly. "I meant like. Uh well how do you do it?"
"What do you mean?" Cat replied, even more confused.
Jade laughed a little at this. If there was one thing Cat couldn't hide it was confusion. Some people have a resting bitch face, Cat definitely had a face of resting befuddlement. "Like yesterday, for example, at Karaoke, you had a guy give you his number-"
"You can have it if you'd like-"
"Cat I could crush him between my thumb and forefinger." She shook her head, referring to the boy's size. "I meant how do you do it, how do you find people?"
"Oh!" Cat announced, finally connecting all of the dots. Quite easy to do that when the other person straight up tells you the final puzzle piece. "I guess. Hm." She thought aloud, taking a moment. "I guess I'm just approachable."
"I can be approachable!" Jade defended, in which Cat replied with an expression that could only be described as 'oh be for real girl'. "I can learn to be." She muttered, taking a bite straight out of the chocolate bar this time.
"No you shouldn't." Cat replied. "If you change yourself in hopes of finding a person then you're going to attract the wrong type of person."
Jade blinked at her slowly. This is why she always called Cat, she knew exactly what to say sometimes. "How does so much wisdom come from a girl who, at lunch today, asked if Alaska was an island south of California?"
"It's always in the little box on the map!" Cat defended, since being told her mistake. "I know about feelings, I don't know about Geography!"
"You're telling me." Jade mumbled, offering Cat another chocolate square from the unbitten side. "Do you really think I'll find a guy?" She asked, trying to bring the conversation back on track.
"I think you'll find the love of your life Jade." Cat said in earnest. "Someone who understands you, who likes the same music, who shares your passion for movies, for a good script. And hopefully someone who doesn't rile you up in the wrong ways like Beck did."
"But I like when Beck riled me up." Jade mused.
"When he was trying to, yes, but not when he did it unintentionally, and then gaslit you into thinking he wasn't" Cat summarised, "I do love Beck but he does have a case of weaponised incompetence."
"Damn Cat read him like a book why don't you." Jade laughed, throwing her head back. She loved when Cat spoke her mind, she only really did it when it was just the two of them, where she could be sure anything she said stayed just the two of them. "Maybe I'll go through a gay phase at College and find a nice young girl." She joked.
"Being gay isn't a phase." Cat narrowed her eyes again, trying to read if Jade was being serious.
"It was for you."
"No it wasn't!" Cat defended. "I still like girls! You can like both at once. I just like people, we've talked about this."
"Yeh yeah you like people not their gender got it got it." She continued, before noting that Cat's demeanour had changed. "Oh Cat you know I'm kidding. I know it's not a phase."
"I don't like you kidding about that Jadey, people can be hurtful about it. You don't mean it but they do." Cat continued. Sure she'd never experienced any outright homophobia during either of her two relationships with girls but- it still didn't mean that there wasn't that underlying worry that came with being bi. She was very happy with who she was, but there were people out there who would happily kill her for it.
"Fine, fine I'm sorry." Jade said, taking Cat's hand on hers again. "I'm actually sorry."
"It's okay." Cat smiled weakly at her, trying to turn the conversation back up, squeezing Jade's hand before Jade let go again. "So uh, College aye. Get yourself a pretty girlfriend as a backup?"
"Ay the jury is still out on that actually being an option, but maybe. People are alright sometimes." She smiled back. "I'm just excited for us to both be studying in New York next year,"
"Me too!" Cat beamed. "We can see broadway shows every night! And take the subway and - other New York things!"
"You're really excited about the subway?" Jade laughed.
"Mainly broadway- and us living together! I hope we can still do that." Cat continued.
"We can so do that. I'm almost there with trying to convince Dad to buy us a flat out there- he may be useless but all that money he's got isn't." Jade winked at the redhead. They'd had this planned out for years now, with Jade going to New York Film Academy to study Screenwriting. They both still needed to actually be accepted, but it was pretty much a no-brainer. Hollywood Arts kids got into whatever arts programme they wanted, no other schools produced talent like HA did. Unless you're Trina of course but that's Trina for you. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I should wait till I'm in College to find someone."
"I didn't actually say that part, you did silly." Cat giggled.
"Well thank you then me, good idea me."
"Keep it PG in the flat while I'm around." Cat stuck out her tongue.
"Ah bite me." Jade replied jokingly.
"Well that's certainly not PG." Cat quipped, winking.
"Ew, Valentine!" Jade shuddered, throwing a chocolate square at Cat, which bounced off her nose.
"Ooh again, I'll try and catch it In my mouth! Aaaaa-" She opened her mouth.
"You really do flip on a dime don't you." Jade shook her head, breaking off another square and aiming for the redheads mouth.
"Score!" It went in as the two girls laughed.
"Thanks Cat, I needed that laugh."
"It's okay Jadey."
"Don't call me that!"
"Call me that!" Cat joined Jade on the last three words, matching her tone and pitch scarily close.