Chapter Text
"It's because you suck at it."
Tori stared at her, jaw set squarely.
"No, you do!" It was a weak comeback. And Jade said as much.
"it's not like you'd know", Tori added, foolishly, trying to save her own skin.
"Oh?" Jade's voice was smooth, yet carried something dangerous with it.
The two of them had been hanging out in Tori's room, working on a mutual project together.
Now, Jade put her pearpad down.
"You can't just say that I suck at kissing. It's not fair." Tori was half-aware that she was shoveling her own grave, but she couldn't back down all the same. It's not like Jade would-
As quick as lightning, Jade was standing over her, a hand on the back of the desk chair Tori was in, the other hand cupping her face, as she gently pressed her lips onto Tori's, stepped back, smirked, and then placed herself back onto the bed, lying there as if nothing had happened.
"See? Bad at kissing."
Tori's brain came up with a blank.
She blinked rapidly, trying to reload whatever she was supposed to be thinking about, yet the only thing she could see, in the brief moments her eyes were closed, was a blinding white that overshadowed every possible thought within her brain.
What?
Slowly, the sequence of events began to process. What the actual heck even was that?
Even so, still trying to win the battle, she murmured "That's hardly fair. Wasn't even a real one."
She could still see Jade's green eyes stare at her, the seconds before she had put her lips onto Tori's. She hadn't expected her to be so gentle. So caring, almost. Something warm coiled itself around her stomach.
She blinked, and saw Jade stare at her, one eyebrow raised. "Is this a challenge?", it said. "Do you want more?"
Tori only glowered at her, tore her gaze back down onto the piece of paper that held the assignment.
They were supposed to learn about Romeo and Juliet. About the structure of the play and the significance of the different scenes. The text focused on the balcony scene. On the kiss betwen Romeo and Juliet. The one that had even sparked their ongoing conversation.
Ongoing, as their friendgroup had begun to tease Tori about her lack of kissing partners, which she had accidentally revealed at a recent, and drunk, get-together.
It hadn't even been something she had wanted to tell them. They had just played truth or dare, and she had been drunk enough, to not think about the fact that all her friends would never let her live this down.
Specifically, that she both hadn't been with anyone since the ex-boyfriend from her previous school, and hadn't made out with anyone since either.
Great. Just. Great.
---
"You should really get out more, you know that?" It was lunch break, and André had apparently decided that this was the perfect moment to begin the teasing.
She made clear what she thought of that with a look that could kill kittens (which she would obviously never use on them), and munched on one of her fries.
"Yeah. Even Sikowitz said you needed to relax.", Cat said with a grin. "And he's usually right."
She directed a less violent glare at Cat, knowing that her friend wouldn't be able to deal with the hatred, even if it was mostly for show.
"Is he? Not last I checked..." Beck, whose fixed place next to Jade had moved after their breakup last year, had decided to come to her rescue. "Though relaxing might be a good idea."
She scrunched up her nose. Betrayal.
"Yeah Tori, relax a little! Don't you know a little smooch never hurt nobody."
Of course they hadn't forgotten. And of course Jade had to vocalised it:
"Was your last kiss really three years ago?"
'No. It was last week. Because of you', She almost fired back, but didn't want to give her the win. It's not like that was a real kiss anyways. Just a press of lips. Nothing major. Nothing at all, really.
"Why do you even care?"
Jade and her had begun to slowly become friends, more or less, but old habits die hard and they still took equal pleasure out of winning their own little battles in who can annoy the other the most.
"And besides. I'm fine. I don't need to make out with someone to be happy."
The table was quiet after her outburst, until André chimed in:
"While that's true, I haven't seen you do anything outside of school work within the last month. We're simply trying to look out for you. Well, each in their own ways."
he nodded towards Jade at the end, who returned a smile far too bright to be sincere.
Tori averted her eyes. He was right. But it was not like there had been anything happening outside of school to begin with.
"I don't know..."
"I have an idea!", Cat popped up. "There's a party at a friend's house this weekend. We should all go."
---
Plans were made, the week came to a close, and then Tori found herself at the party.
It was loud, the drinks were good, the company and music enjoyable. And then, Jade tugged her by her wrist up the stairs into a room and shut the door.
She blinked and Tori was pushed against the wall, lips connected, hands on her face.
She didn't know what was happening, brain full of alcohol and all, but in this moment she enjoyed it and in this moment, that was all that mattered.
So, Tori joined in on the kiss. It was a mess at first.
But then Tori deepened it and when Jade bit on her lower lip the world exploded and she could only see stars.
Her hands grabbed the back of Tori's neck and kept her there. Firmly in place, anchoring her to reality before the night's sky took her away.
Once she heard Jade hiss in what would be a mix of pleasure and pain, she registered the position her hands were in.
One of them had buried itself in Jade's hair, tugging on it in reflex, the other was around Jade's waist, pulling her in closer.
Jade jade jade. Everything she felt, heard, and tasted was jade. Right up until she realised where, who and with whome she was, and apruptly stiffened.
Jade let go. It somehow surprised her, even though it shouldn't have.
There was a big pause, where both of them just breathed heavily. Jade stared directly at her, while Tori avoided eye contact. The sudden lack of contact made her shiver slightly.
Shit. This was a party. They had brought her here to relax, celebrate. And, a fact she was very aware of right now: to make out with people. People, apparently, being Jade.
What the fuck was happening with her life?
"So... What's your assesment?"
Turning this whole situation into a joke was the only out she could see, so she took it.
Jade just stared at her, chest heaving up and down, eyes closing slightly, then opening again. "I think you're... Okay."
Tori huffed. "Okay!? Oh come on!I was way better than okay!"
Jade, who was now leaning against the wall beside her, chuckled slightly, looking like she wanted to say something, but then didn't.
Tori took the time to look around their surroundings, now that her senses were returning. They were still in the partyhouse, or at least she thinks they were due to the blaring music that was dampened by the closed door. She hoped one of them remembered to lock it. She couldn't deal with someone barging in now. Not before she could process whatever was currently going on.
"I guess you might need more practice then."
Even though Jade had said that, clearly insinuating, neither of them moved. The situation was too fragile, too unsure.
Tori just gave her an annoyed look, trying to not focus too much on Jade while doing so.
Alcohol does wonderful things when it was in your bloodstream, one of which was bring up thoughts she didn't want to look at. Or, in this case, who she enjoyed looking at.
Jade had always been pretty in her eyes, of course she was, yet now it mixed with the intensity of their previous situation.
And sliding down the wall to sit on the floor was all she could do to not take her up on what had clearly been an invitation for more.
She shook her head and the room swam a little. "I think, I'm good for now."
Jade joined her in the seating position. Their legs were touching, and it was all her brain could focus on. How come this was such a big deal now, after they had been even closer before. It shouldn't matter in contrast.
They sat there for a while, looking into the distance, breathing slowly. Then, Jade stood up, and Tori knew exactly what she was doing, when she walked around the room with a smirk on her face. Oooh no she doesn't.
"Jade..."
"What?" her voice channeled pure innocence.
"I know what you're planning to do. Don't do it."
Tori protested, though it was of no use. Jade had already put her eyes on something.
"I'm not planning anything..." Jade smiled at her sweetly, and then turned back around, scanning all the items in the room.
There weren't many. It didn't look very lived in. The bed was well-made, any drawers or closets closed... They had probably gone into a guest room. Good, actually. That way, Jade would only steal things that weren't of much sentimental value.
Which, as she glanced at her, was apparently a decorative candle? Hm. Not something she would've expected.
"Well. I'm gonna dip", Jade announced into the room, though very clearly directed at her, "the party is lame anyways."
She wiggled her fingers at Tori's direction, turned towards the door, and left.
And with that, she was gone. Tori suddenly felt cold.
This entire situation was beyond weird.
She stayed there, on the floor, lost in thought, until she got interrupted by two people who very much looked like they were going to bone, so she left in a hurry before they noticed she was there, and closed the door.
She couldn't find it in her to return downstairs to her friends. Her brain was a mess and she just wanted to sleep it off. So, she called Trina and waited for her to arrive outside.
The drive back was quiet, well, on her side anyways. Trina complained about being left out and not invited to the party.
Tori let her talk, and looked out the window into the dark sky filled with stars.
---
Stars, is exactly what she saw too, when she woke up and everything was way too bright for her own good.
Groaning, she got herself into a seating position, and squinted, her eyes slowly and painfully adjusting to the light.
When her stomach didn't churn anymore and the room had come to a standstill, she dared to stand up and go downstairs to get a glass of water.
Trina, of course, was already there, ignoring Tori in favor of staring at her phone and scrolling through whatever website she was currently on, probably The Slap.
Tori decided to also check her phone, where the first thing to greet her strained eyes was the group chat André had made in her first year at the school, to fully accept her into the friendgroup.
It had at least a hundred messages that weren't there the night before. Not being in the mood to read all of them, she skimmed the most of it and got the following picture: her friends had assumed she had gone home with a hookup. Jade was playing along. And she definitely did not want to deal with this now.
Instead of giving their theories a proper acknowledgement, she just typed that she was at home and okay, then closed the app and began to eat breakfast.