"I'm In Love, and I Don't Care Who Knows It!"
Tori has been racking her brain for something special to do for Jade for Valentine's Day. She has her gift, but she also wanted to make their date special. Little does she know, Jade is planning something special as well.
AN: Hello all, Happy Valentine's Day, and also happy early birthday to our girl, Victoria Justice. I hope all of you have a great day today, and if you're aroace like me, enjoy eating chocolate from a heart shaped box. Anyway, here's another chapter for you.
In the Vega home, Trina is coming downstairs listening to music, as she enters the kitchen looking for a snack. She is still bopping to the music playing in her earbuds, when she notices Tori sitting at the table on her laptop. She is staring at the screen with her nose scrunched up, resting her chin in her hand. Tori exhales heavily through her nose as she searches page after page online, while drumming her fingers. Curious, Trina turns toward her sister, pulling out her earbuds in time to hear a huff come from Tori as she rubs her forehead. Trina pulls out a bottle of iced tea from the fridge, before sitting next to her sister.
"What's up with you?"
Tori looks over to Trina, shaking her head with her eyes shut tight, before looking back to her computer. "Valentine's Day is three days away, and I don't know what to do for Jade. I've been looking at ideas, but nothing seems good enough."
"So what, you haven't found a gift yet?" Trina asked, sipping her iced tea.
"No, I have a gift, but I want to do something special with her."
"What did you guys do last year?"
"Well, we usually have dinner on a date, and last Valentine's Day was nice. We went to Depizzio's, and the food was really good. We had a great time." Tori said, huffing before closing up the laptop.
"So, what's the problem?" Trina asked.
"Now we're in love, and I want to think of something different. It's important to me for this year to be extra special."
Tori leans back in her chair, running her fingers through her hair, and taking off her glasses. She lets out a deep sigh, before feeling her sister's hand atop of hers. She looks at Trina with a weary smile.
"Listen Tori, Jade loves you. I'm sure whatever you come up with, she'll be happy just to be with you."
"Thanks Trina." Tori smiles. "Wish me luck."
"Good luck." Trina says, standing up. "Hopefully your luck will rub off on me. I'm going to the Valentine's dance in hopes of ending the night with Adam Vaughn. He just broke up with his girlfriend, so now he's available."
Tori laughs, "Well, good luck to you, too."
With that, Trina places her earbuds back in, grabbing a granola bar from the kitchen counter, and dancing back up to her room. Tori watches with a smile on her face until Trina is out of sight, wishing that sometimes she could have the same carefree spirit that her sister does. For now, Tori didn't see any point in worrying about it anymore tonight, and finally turned off her laptop, taking herself to bed.
At school the next day, Cat approaches Jade in the hallway, who is leaning up against her locker, and fixated on her phone. Jade was so busy typing that she didn't notice her friend had come next to her or that she called her name several times.
"Jade, can you hear me?"
Finally Jade saw Cat's arms waving out of the corner of her eye, and looked in her direction.
"Hey, yeah, hi. What's up?" Jade answered.
"I was just wondering what you and Tori were planning for Valentine's Day."
"I'm not sure yet. It's so hard to find a dinner reservation on a holiday. We might end up just doing a quiet night in."
"Well, were you guys thinking of going to the Valentine's Day dance?" Cat asked.
"I don't know." Jade shrugged. "I mean if Tori really wanted to I probably would, but it's not really my scene. Plus we really want to spend some time, just the two of us."
"Do you have a gift yet?"
"I'm working on it."Jade nodded.
As soon as they saw Tori coming, Jade tucked her phone away, and turned toward her girlfriend, giving her a quick kiss on her cheek. Tori stepped in closer to Jade's side, as she saw the excited smile, and extra bounciness coming from Cat while she stood there.
"You look really happy. I mean, you usually do, but you look more happy today." Tori said.
"Yeah, I'm really looking forward to Valentine's Day this year. Robbie and I are going to our first dance as a couple, and we want to match our outfits, so I'm going to the mall after school to pick up my dress."
Cat and Robbie started dating soon after Tori and Jade did. It's been a long time coming for the two of them, with Robbie having a crush on Cat since they first started hanging out. Now that the two are dating, there are lots of things that are new and exciting, this dance being one of them.
"That's so sweet. I'm sure you guys will look great together." Tori told her.
"Well, if you guys end up coming, you'll get to see it for yourselves."
Tori turned to Jade, opening her mouth and closing it again, looking back to Cat, while trying to remain composed.
"Uhm, actually, we're going to have other plans." Tori said, with Jade turning to her girlfriend, squinting a bit with confusion.
"Okay, well I hope you guys have fun." Cat said, before the bell rang and they headed off to class.
As the two walked to Sikowitz's class, Jade leaned in, whispering to Tori.
"What other plans do we have?"
"It's a surprise." Tori said, raising her eyebrows.
Jade silently nodded for now as they entered the classroom.
Later at the Black Box Theater, after their class had finished up, Tori was pacing back and forth while on her phone, waiting for Jade to come back from the bathroom. She was able to get through class without looking suspicious, but now Tori was having a tough time hiding her feelings. She bit her thumbnail, while frantically flipping through her phone, and was immediately startled by Andre who came up next to her.
"Woah, hey is everything okay?" He asked, raising his hands.
"No, I have two days to think of someplace to go with Jade for Valentine's Day. I was telling Cat we have plans other than the dance, and I want that to be true."
Andre stood and thought a minute, before pulling out his phone. Tori stood holding her breath, trying to get a glimpse of what Andre was looking for until he finally looked up at her.
"Here, they are playing in L.A." Andre said, showing Tori his screen. "You know that band Jade always talks about; Sweet Children? They have a show at the Kingdome Wednesday night."
"Oh my god, Jade will love that!" Tori exclaimed, grabbing his shoulder. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before!"
"Yeah, they just renovated that theater, and started posting acts they have booked." Andre told her.
"Hopefully I can still get tickets when I get home. Thank you so much." Tori said, hugging him.
"No problem." Andre said, pulling his bag onto his shoulder. "So, why didn't you make plans to go to the dance?"
"Because I know Jade doesn't really want to go. I want us to have a good time." Tori explains, and Andre nodded.
Jade came back from the bathroom ready to head to lunch. Andre left ahead of them, and Tori hooked Jade's arm as they left the theater. The hallway looked mostly empty, and Jade led Tori around the corner, laying a deep, lingering kiss on her lips. Tori wrapped her arms around Jade's shoulders, relaxing into the kiss. When air became necessary, they broke apart with Jade sucking on Tori's bottom lip a bit, leaving her girlfriend's cheeks flushed.
"Well, that was certainly better than the kiss you gave me this morning." Tori said, resting her forehead on Jade's
"Ehh, well nobody else needs to see this. They'd be jealous of my beautiful girl." Jade said, capturing her lips once more.
"Yeah, okay." Tori shrugged, as they broke apart.
Tori stared down at their feet, trying to maintain a smile, while Jade titled Tori's chin up to look in her eyes.
"What?"
"It's just…" Tori sighs. "It still seems like we're hiding."
"Babe, it's not that. I just feel like it's more special when we're alone." Jade said, brushing Tori's hair behind her ear.
Tori kept looking at the ground, silently nodding before meeting Jade's gaze.
"It is. It's special to me, too." She said, with a half smile.
Jade wrapped both arms around Tori's waist, pulling her closer, and kissed her cheek.
"Hey, you know I love you, right?" Jade asked, and Tori nodded.
"I know, I love you too."
"Are you sure we're okay?"
"Yeah, we're okay." Tori said.
Jade took Tori's hand leading her outside, and they made their way to lunch with their friends.
As Tori came back to the table with her food, Andre was on the phone, while Cat was sitting next to Robbie holding his hand, resting her chin on his shoulder. She sat down next to Jade, while her girlfriend took her hand under the table, giving it a squeeze. Jade could see the girl next to her looking over to Cat and Robbie with a still gaze, as she could feel Tori's hand tense up. Jade squeezed her hand once more, and Tori finally looked back at her with a half smile. She gave Tori a light shoulder nudge while quietly eating her french fries. Jade would like to tell Tori what the problem was, but she didn't know the right way to explain it.
After all it wasn't like they were keeping their relationship a secret. All of their friends and family knew they were dating, and of course Jade had no problem kissing Tori at the New Year's Eve party, but Jade thought maybe it's because everyone was kissing at that party. For some reason, PDA at school was different. Jade was well aware of the drama at school surrounding people's relationships, and it was evident anytime she would visit The Slap. People were always in everyone else's business, wondering if this one was still dating that one or whether or not someone was going to ask out their friend's ex. Jade didn't want her relationship with Tori to be involved in that mess, and she didn't want others judging them. The little others knew about them, the better.
"Okay, thank you so much. I'll see you then." Andre said, finally hanging up from his phone call.
"Good news, I hope?" Beck asked him.
"Yeah, we have a drummer for the band. They're going to meet the rest of us after school, so we can rehearse for the dance."
"Are you going to bring a date?" Cat asked.
"No, I figured I'd be onstage with the band most of the night, but who knows, maybe I'll be able to get some dancing in anyway."
Everyone's Valentine's plans seemed to be working out. Jade hoped that she and Tori would have the same luck.
Jade made it home, anxious to get the mail, and see if her package arrived today. She got a notification that it was out for delivery, and she is hoping to see it come sometime today. As soon as she came through the front door, Jade could see a package on the kitchen table, and breathed a sigh of relief. Her name was on the label, so it is in fact what she has been waiting for. Jade took the box to her room to have a better look at her gift for Tori. She opened the door to her room, plopping her stuff down on the floor while sitting on her bed, and opening the box. It was absolutely perfect; better than what she was expecting, and she knew Tori would love it.
After wrapping her gift, Jade layed back on her bed, looking for something to watch on TV. She looked through the channel guide seeing some sitcoms, reality TV, and a few new movies that have recently come to cable, but nothing was sticking out to her. As it seems, some channels haven't quite given up on Christmas yet, with Jade stopping on the movie "Elf". Jade found the movie silly and at times obnoxious, but it was Tori's favorite Christmas movie, and when they weren't together, Jade liked to be reminded of her girlfriend so she decided to watch it for a while.
About ten minutes in, Jade starts thinking about how this is the first time she is watching this movie without Tori, and the effect her girlfriend has on her, that she wants to watch this movie just to feel closer to her. She remembers all the parts of the movie that make Tori laugh, and all the parts that had Tori snuggling in closer. Right now she is watching the part where Buddy is skating in Rockefeller Center, before he and his girlfriend have their first kiss. The next scene shows Buddy proclaiming, "I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it!" Jade couldn't help but smile as she was also in love. It has been a month since they first said it, and Jade is glad she did, because it's true. Tori Vega has captured her heart, and makes her feel lucky everyday that this kind, warm, and generous soul loves her back. Why shouldn't she let everyone know that she is madly in love, and wouldn't have it any other way?
Another class is in the Black Box Theater, and Tori is sitting by herself looking like she wants to cry. She kept checking her phone throughout their class, and then huffing before putting it back in her pocket. Beck sees his friend in distress, and sits next to her to see what's going on.
"Hey, what up? Is everything okay?" Beck asked, resting his hand on the back of her chair.
"No, I've been trying to get tickets for me and Jade to go see Sweet Children, but they're sold out. I've looked at every ticket seller, but nobody has any left." Tori said, rubbing her eyes.
"This really sucks. I wanted this to be something special Jade and I could do together, and now it's not gonna happen."
"Where are they playing?"
"The Kingdome. Andre told me about it."
Beck pulls out his phone searching for a bit with Tori giving him a weary smile, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Beck, it's okay. Trust me, I looked, there are none left."
"No, here, look at this."
Beck pulled up a map of the arena, showing Tori the fenced off section where the other side of the mezzanine area would be.
"Yeah?" Tori shrugged. "it's the space outside the area. So?"
"So, there's parking down on the street, and you guys can watch the show on this hill." Beck explained.
"You can? We won't get in trouble?"
"No, nobody will see you. I used to watch shows there all the time; it's cool."
Tori looked at the map with a smile returning to her face before looking back at her friend.
"Thank you, Beck."
"No problem." Beck smiled.
Valentine's Day is the next day, and Tori had her gift along with a back up plan to have the perfect date with Jade. She has been thinking about this day since the beginning of February, and she hopes that Jade will feel loved, and know that Tori is truly grateful for her.
Tori is on her way to school with Trina, bouncing her knees up and down in the passenger's seat, hoping her plans for today go off without a hitch. She has stared out the window the whole time, not saying a word, and rubbing her hands together, until she is startled by Trina's hand on her shoulder.
"Will you relax? Everything will be fine."
"This is important. I just want everything to go right today." Tori said, fiddling with the end of her hair.
"It will, don't worry. You've got this."
She is still nervous, but Tori is ready to make this the best Valentine's Day she could for Jade, and there is nothing left to do, but go and face the day. The moment Tori entered the hallway, she was stopped in her tracks by the sight of her locker decorated with red Valentine's Day balloons, and a sign taped to the front that read, "Tori Vega, I love you and I don't care who knows it! – Jade West." She stood there speechless, looking around at everyone smiling at her, before Jade appeared from around the corner, handing Tori a bouquet of roses.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Baby."
"When did you do all this?" Tori asked, smiling.
"I got here a few minutes early, and set it up. Do you like it?"
"I love it." Tori said, wiping away happy tears.
Tori tucked her flowers in close to her chest, while Jade took Tori's hands, kissing her knuckles, and pulling her close.
"I wanted to let everyone know that I am in love with the sweetest and most amazing person to ever come into my life. I love you so much, Tori, and I don't know what I'd do without you."
By this time, Tori was full on crying, her lips quivering through her smile as she wrapped her arms around Jade's shoulders.
"I love you, too." Tori choked out, meeting Jade in the middle for a kiss.
Jade wrapped her arms up behind Tori's shoulders, still kissing her while hearing an 'aww' from some of the other students. Meanwhile Cat was standing with Robbie at his locker, arm and arm while leaning her head on his shoulder as they watched their friends share a moment of pure love between them. Cat thought that maybe someday she and Robbie would be where they are, but for now she was happy with the way things are.
Soon Tori and Jade broke their kiss, with Jade wiping away a few of Tori's stray tears. She took one of Tori's hands in both of hers with her next question.
"Tori, will you go to the Valentine's dance with me?"
Tori smiled even bigger, with the surprise that Jade actually wanted to go, but still hesitated a bit before answering.
"I…I would love to, but we can probably only stay two hours." Tori said, squeezing Jade's hand. "There's still a surprise I have for you later."
"What kind of surprise?"
"You'll have to wait and see." Tori said, with a wry smile.
Jade hugged Tori tight, kissing her cheek. She would be curious about this surprise all day, and now couldn't wait for school to be over.
The Asphalt Cafe is fully decorated with red and pink heart garland, flower bouquets on all of the tables, and multicolored disco lights shining everywhere. Even though it was last minute, Tori was able to find a dress she liked in her closet, settling on her pink, knee length, strapless dress, with her hair pulled up on the sides. Jade had on a black, spaghetti strap dress with a handkerchief skirt, and a red heart bracelet to get into the Valentine's vibe of the evening. The two walked in holding hands, making their rounds around the place before bumping into Cat and Robbie.
"Hey, you made it! You guys look great!" Cat exclaimed.
"Thanks, so do you." Tori answered.
Cat and Robbie came in their color coordinated outfits with Cat wearing a ballerina like dress, but with the skirt to her knees, and a glitter sheen to it. Robbie had on a tux with a red vest, and pink hearts on it. Robbie would normally rather be anywhere else than out clothes shopping, but with Cat it was actually an enjoyable experience. He loved seeing how excited she was to show up at this dance in a new fancy dress, and Cat loved seeing her boyfriend's reaction to her final outfit, after trying on several dresses to find the right one. Robbie would do anything to make Cat happy, even if that meant he had to sit for hours while she tried on every dress if she wanted to.
Soon after the four of them found each other, they gathered at a table, enjoying the music. Andre was with the band onstage playing keyboards, while Beck was with a girl he met in one of his acting classes. He came by the table to say 'hi' for a moment before making his way out to the floor to dance with his date. Jade moved closer to Tori, brushing her hair off her shoulder, and kissing her cheek, while whispering to her.
"I'm glad we did this."
"Me too." Tori said, squeezing Jade's hand.
Soon the band was playing a song perfect for slow dancing, and Jade stood up with Tori's hand in hers, leading her out to the dancefloor. Jade gave Tori a spin, making her laugh as she came back in close, with the two of them swaying to the song. The whole time Tori couldn't keep the smile off her face, while she watched Jade actually having a good time. The band was good, with Andre leading things of course, the food wasn't bad, and getting to dance with Tori was something Jade would always do if it meant getting to see her smile. She brought Tori closer, kissing her cheek, and then her lips while losing themselves in the music, not caring who was watching.
In the midst of their dance, Tori could see Cat and Robbie dancing across the way, and Cat smiled at Tori while she was swaying along with Robbie, resting her chin on his shoulder. The song ended with everyone clapping for the band, and Andre got up to the mic. He wished all the happy couples a Happy Valentine's Day, and thanked them for coming out to see them before leading the band into more of a party song.
Tori and Jade took a break to grab a drink, with Jade picking up two water bottles handing one to Tori. The girls walked over to a more isolated part of the dance over by the coffee stand so they could hear themselves talk. While they were by themselves, Tori wrapped Jade in a hug, burying her face in the crook of her neck. Jade squeezed her back tight, with Tori being able to feel her girlfriend smiling after she kissed her shoulder. The two of them rested in the hug for a moment listening to the other's breathing, and lightly trailing their fingertips over each other's backs. Tori twirled one of Jade's curls around her finger, while picking her head up to rest it on the other girl's cheek.
"I never want tonight to end." Tori whispered.
"Me neither."
Tori kisses Jade full on her lips before continuing.
"And the evening is still not over yet; there's more."
"Still teasing that surprise, I see." Jade responded.
"Yeah, and you'll love it. Trust me."
They stayed for two more songs before moving to the next phase of their date. Tori and Jade bid their friends goodbye before making their way to Jade's car, and Tori told her where to go. Finally they found the street Beck told Tori about, and she pointed for Jade to park on the end. Tori picked up the small tote bag at her feet as they exited the car, and led Jade up the hill. They reached the top by the edge of the fence, and Tori pulled a blanket out of her bag, laying it out for them to sit on.
"What's all this?" Jade asked, taking a seat on the ground.
"I thought we'd take in a show." Tori told her.
Jade leaned over, able to see the banner on stage from where they were sitting that read "Sweet Children", earning a smile from her as she sat back up to face Tori.
"Wow, I didn't even know they were playing here. How did you find out about this?"
"I had a little help from Andre and Beck. I did really try to get tickets, but they were sold out. I hope this is okay."
"Oh, it's perfect. We can see everything from here. Thank you, Baby." Jade said, taking Tori's hand, laying a kiss on her lips. She looked Tori in the eyes before continuing.
"Listen, I'm sorry about being so shy with kissing you at school. I just didn't want us to be another gossip column on The Slap. Nobody needs to know our business."
"I get it." Tori nodded.
"I never meant to make you doubt that you're everything to me. I promise to never let you forget it again." Jade told her, while Tori leaned in to kiss her.
Jade brushed Tori's hair away from her face, as she reached in her purse, pulling out a black box with pink ribbon tied around the outside, turning to hand it to Tori.
"Here, this is for you."
Tori took the box from her with a giggle.
"What'd you do?" Tori asked, taking the ribbon off as Jade watched, waiting for her reaction.
Tori got the ribbon off, opening the box, and pulling out a floating locket necklace that Jade had made for her. She held it in her hand, looking at the charms inside that included a treble clef, amethyst stones for her birthday, and a few charms of some blue flowers, all floating in purple glitter. Tori smiled brightly, turning toward Jade to put it on.
"It's beautiful," Tori said, clipping it behind her neck. "How does it look?"
"Perfect."
Tori looked down admiring her gift, grazing her fingers over the pendant, and smiling back up at Jade.
"I love it so much, Baby. Thank you." She said, kissing her girl before pulling out her gift.
"I have something for you, too."
Jade reached into the gift bag pulling out a smaller velvet bag, opening it up to a surprise she wasn't expecting. She pulled out the necklace inside, looking at a familiar pendant. It was Tori's pendant she wore to school many times that was black with rusted gold flower petals around the outside. Jade looked at Tori in disbelief, and a smile spread across her face.
"Tori, is this the necklace from your grandmother?"
"Yeah, she got it from my grandfather after she got married. She said it was from her "someone special", and she gave it to me after he died. I thought I'd give it to my "someone special." Plus, I always thought it would look good on you." Tori said, with a smile.
Jade pulled Tori in for a kiss, wrapping her arms around her shoulders, not wanting to let her go. They kept their kiss going for what seemed like twenty minutes before Jade rested her head on Tori's shoulder, whispering in her ear.
"You're my "someone special" too. I love you so much."
"I love you, too."
Tori kissed her once more before helping Jade put the necklace on. She trailed a finger down the chain, admiring it on her, while Jade held it close to her chest. Jade tucked Tori's hair behind her ear, while grazing her thumb over her cheek. Tori relaxed into her hand slowly blinking her eyes.
"Tonight has been absolutely perfect. I don't know how we can top it next year." Jade said.
"Well we have many years ahead of us to try."
"I hope so." Jade said, kissing Tori once more.
The show was soon starting, and Tori and Jade watched with their arms linked the whole time. This Valentine's celebration was everything they wanted it to be, even if there were a few hiccups along the way. Admittedly, Jade liked watching the show better this way. They didn't have to deal with people in the crowd bumping into them or someone standing up, blocking their view. Jade could just enjoy the music with the one person she loved most in the world. She looked forward to making more memories like this with Tori, and continue to feel as loved as she does right now.