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When Jade snaps it's a sharp crack of the whip. Everybody pays attention. While her immediate friend group is used to it by now, she does admittedly still have an unsettling energy during one of her moods.
When Beck snaps it's like thunder and lightning. He bottles it all up and unleashes with a booming power. The first time Jade ever lays witness to this is when she's on the other end of his wrath. They've been fighting since lunch but he's her ride home so she starts off the drive with the silent treatment, waiting to see what he'll say.
"Listen, can we just forget about this? It's clearly making us both upset so let's put it to the side at least for right now," he reasons. His tone is straight to the point and it makes her roll her eyes. He's always seen as the level headed one in the relationship and she's sick of it. Her feelings are valid regardless if anyone else agrees with her or not.
"You're the one who's being ridiculous," she pipes back. "All you had to do was tell those girls you were busy Tuesday night but no you're rescheduling our date, on our anniversary to work on a script alone with two other girls."
"And how many times do I have to apologize for it before it goes through your head?!" I'm human, I make mistakes, can we just accept that and move on?" His voice rises with each question. His hands start to visibly shake and he pulls over to park in front of a nearby residence.
"Why do you always make it seem like everything is my fault all the time? This is my least favorite part about being in a relationship with you, Jade. I'm so tired of being the punching bag. You do realize how much that affects me as a person right?" He continues, shifting gears to park and turning to get a good look at her.
She's got goosebumps under her black long-sleeved shirt. Enough to make even the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She's never been spoken to like this before, not by him. It's unsettling and she doesn't know whether to just sit there and take it or fight back harder. She opts for the latter.
"So then it's always my fault?! I'm being overly irrational and jealous, is that it? I'm allowed to have feelings too, Beck. And they're hurt, to say the least."
He grits his teeth and groans. "Will you listen to what you're saying right now? You're twisting my words just like you always do. It's not like that at all but you clearly only hear what you want to hear. What is it going to take for me to prove myself to you? I can't take this back and forth anymore!" He knows he's overdoing it but the words just won't stop coming out.
"You make me feel like I'm going crazy! I swear to God I can't sleep sometimes because I'm too busy thinking about what I'm doing wrong, why you seem to hate me so much!"
Jade finally cuts him off. She reaches a hand out to steady his own. Her piercing gaze meets his to drive what she's about to say home. If he's the one to be there to calm her down she's not gonna pass up the opportunity to do the same. "Don't you dare look at me and tell me what I'm feeling. That I hate you. You so know that's not the case. I get jealous because I care about you, too much."
He breaks eye contact and looks down at their hands. "I didn't know you felt this way but God Beck you can't just bottle shit up like this. Look at you, I don't even recognize you right now." She doesn't mean for it to come out the way it does but his sigh encourages her to try again.
"Look I don't need you to prove yourself like a signed affidavit or anything like that I just want to know that you care about me and about us." You let these girls walk all over you and then only when I come to scare them away do you admit they were making you uncomfortable. Stand up for yourself for once, that's how I'll know you care. They're all over you like hyenas and you sit there and take it. That's what messes with my head," she confesses.
This is their first heart to heart like this. Usually, they just duke it out until they get tired of fighting and make up. It's… weird to say the least. Beck looks up from their hands, uses his other to fix his hair. He's not really sure where to go from here. "So… what do we do now?" He asks, lacing his fingers with hers. The small gesture runs warmth up her fingertips and straight to her heart.
"I don't know. I guess we just, both try something different? We definitely need to communicate better apparently. Ugh, this sounds like something Lane would say," she replies, rubbing her thumb over his knuckle. He chuckles lightly, "yeah and I don't think we should be taking any kind of advice from a guy who's been divorced twice."
"You don't say," Jade smirks back. "But hey let's not ever do this again, okay?" She clarifies. Beck nods back, pulling his hand back from hers and shifting gears back into drive. "So, about that ride home…"