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Jade wasn’t a big party person.
She hated being around people and especially hated being around people she didn’t even like. But it was the first night of spring break and it was senior year, so she figured why not go to the last big party of the year. The rest of the group was going to be there, so she decided to go too.
Only Beck attached himself to Meredith’s lips as soon as they got there (typical). Then Robbie was able to use Rex to talk to girls (how that puppet wasn’t a repellent was truly a mystery). And then Cat and Andre wandered out somewhere to the backyard (Jade was pretty sure they were into each other and had been for nearly a year already). So, that left Jade with Tori.
It was fine. Jade would never admit it out loud, mostly because it was amusing to her, but she and Tori were friends now. Obviously she still got a kick out of pushing Tori’s buttons more frequently than anyone else’s –– it was just too easy to rile Tori up –– but, yeah, in Jade’s head, they were friends.
So, there she was, drinking in the kitchen with Tori, away from most of the people Jade couldn’t stand and would never talk to during school hours. Jade could feel herself start to make the narrow turn from buzzed to drunk and that was not what she wanted. And, by the look of Tori’s sour face after taking a sip of beer that was mostly foam, Jade was pretty sure Tori was done too, though for a different reason.
“This is disgusting,” Tori needlessly complained.
Jade rolled her eyes. “Then why are you drinking it?” Come to think of it, she was pretty sure she’d never seen Tori drink beer before. She’d witnessed Tori take shots of tequila and vodka (on Jade’s eighteenth birthday), and sip on a margarita (on Tori’s eighteenth birthday), but never beer.
“I couldn't find another one of those spiked lemonades,” Tori replied sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders.
Jade huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes again, a lot more good natured than just a few seconds prior. “I’m not drinking anymore,” she informed Tori. As if to prove her point, she grabbed a cold water bottle from the refrigerator. “If I show up drunk, my mom’s gonna kill me.”
“Yeah, I’m done too. I’m starting to get a little hot,” Tori replied while reaching for a water bottle herself. She was sure her cheeks were flushed because the rest of her body was starting to feel warm. But it felt nice. “Do you wanna go outside?”
Jade peeked out behind her. The backyard was nearly as full as the living room was, probably because it finally stopped raining about an hour before the party started. She shook her head, sighing. “Let’s just go upstairs. We’ll open a window.”
“Okay,” Tori quietly agreed. When Jade grabbed her by the wrist with her free hand to lead her upstairs, Tori felt her heart flutter deep in her chest and it was definitely not because of the alcohol.
Tori wasn’t even sure when she started to like Jade, but it hit her like a ton of bricks when realized she did. She discovered it over the Winter holiday break while the gang, sans Beck (because he was in Canada), hung out at Tori’s. They were having a poker night which then turned into a movie marathon. On their second movie of the night, Andre, Cat, and Robbie drifted off to sleep. Jade invited herself to rummage through Tori’s freezer and found a pint of ice cream, not caring that Trina’s name was on it. Tori joined her and they split it. That was when her big realization came –– when she was sharing some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream with Jade.
Tori was brought back to reality when she realized Jade let go of her wrist, causing Tori to almost run into a very drunk classmate. She was about to squeak out an apology, but the guy spoke up first.
“Are you two gonna get some?” he slurred and then pointed to the room on the left. “‘Cause that room is free.”
Jade scoffed, “Shut up.” She went into the room anyway and Tori quickly followed her and locked it. “Man, that is so dumb.” Neither one of them bothered to turn on the light, so the moon peeking through the blinds and random lava lamp on the nightstand were the only sources of light.
“Yeah,” Tori agreed. She would never admit it to Jade, but the guy’s suggestion didn’t sound exactly awful to Tori. She didn’t want those thoughts to go further though and opened her water bottle while Jade opened up a window that was right next to the bed.
“Hey, has Andre told you anything about Cat?” Jade wondered, her eyes lurking around the backyard, trying to find her friends.
Tori looked alongside her while she started sipping her water. “No,” she truthfully replied. “Every time I ask him he gets all…weird.”
“Cat won’t tell me anything either,” Jade scoffed. Whatever. Maybe they didn’t want to jinx anything. Or maybe they were just being chickens about it. Jade went with the latter.
“Oh, look, look!” Tori exclaimed, grabbing Jade’s arm to turn her towards her direction. She was really glad Jade never made it a point to tell Tori not to touch her. Andre and Cat were sitting on one of the pool chairs, kissing .
“Finally,” Jade muttered. After a few seconds, she made herself comfortable and sat down on the bed. She twisted the cap off of her water bottle and began drinking it, closing her eyes as she felt it go down her throat. She felt the bed dip, obviously a sign that Tori took the spot next to her. “I miss having a boyfriend,” Jade quietly confessed after a few minutes of silence.
Tori coughed instantly, choking on her water. “I’m okay,” she insisted through coughs. “Wrong pipe.”
“Jesus, Vega. If you can’t even drink water properly, how are you going to graduate high school in two months?”
“Ha ha,” Tori grumbled sarcastically. But, ugh, she couldn’t believe Jade said that. Did that mean she still had feelings for Beck? Tori didn’t even know that was possible anymore considering she and Beck broke up a long time ago and he’d been dating Meredith for a little over a year now. “You…miss Beck?”
“No, not him,” Jade mumbled, setting the bottle on the nightstand. She exhaled and laid back on the mattress, eyes still shut. “Just having a significant other, I guess.”
“Oh,” Tori replied. She couldn’t really relate. Her relationship with Danny was her longest and they didn’t even last an entire year together. She broke up with him because she started questioning if she even liked guys in that way. And, a few months after the whole Ryder thing, Tori came to the conclusion that she was more annoyed about being used rather than her heart breaking, and, yeah, she didn’t like guys at all. “Yeah, it’s…lonely,” she lightly replied, earning a chuckle from Jade.
“Have you ever had a girlfriend?”
“No.”
“I wouldn’t date a girl who doesn’t know how to drink water either.”
Tori snorted. “Have you ever had a girlfriend?” She actually wanted to know, but she was pretty confident that the answer was no. If Tori’s math was correct, Jade and Beck started dating when they were in eighth grade. (During sophomore year, Jade mentioned something about being together for a year and eleven months, not two years.)
“Nah,” Jade confirmed her assumption. “I had a tiny fling last summer with some girl from Briarwood though. Only lasted a week.”
Oh. Tori was a little jealous now. She couldn’t help it. But, her curiosity got the best of her. “What happened?”
“She said something about an experiment.”
Tori turned to face Jade and gasped, “No!”
“It’s not a soap opera, Tori. You don’t have to be so dramatic,” Jade laughed, looking back at her.
“It’s still a shitty thing to say,” Tori insisted, but Jade still shrugged it off. Obviously, though, she agreed or else the fling would’ve continued.
“She kinda looked like you,” Jade admitted quietly while closing her eyes again. She wished she kept it to herself. Tori, in her opinion, was much prettier, but the resemblance was there. What Jade did keep to herself was that the resemblance was the reason Jade decided to take a chance on the other girl in the first place.
Tori grinned like an idiot. Thank God it was dark in there and that Jade had her eyes shut. “Did she?” she kept her tone neutral to hide her obvious. Not so jealous anymore.
“Yeah,” Jade confirmed. “You’re a lot more annoying though.”
“Jade!” Tori whined. Jade just burst out laughing.
Another bout of silence filled the room, a lot longer than the first time. Despite the water actually doing its job, Jade chose to blame the alcohol for her upcoming word vomit –– it was better than actual vomit. “I was only a bitch to you ‘cause I thought you liked Beck.”
Tori chuckled. “Yeah, I didn’t think it was a coincidence you backed off a ton when I came out.”
“Yeah,” Jade huffed out a small laugh.
“I always knew we’d be great friends.” Tori knew that was one button she could always push. It was something Jade always refused to admit, but, in Tori’s mind, they definitely were friends.
“We are not friends,” Jade weakly argued.
“If you say so.” Tori decided to also lay down. Then she started to feel dizzy. Not because of the alcohol, but because of how close she ended up next to Jade. Their knees and lower half of their legs lightly grazed each other and Tori could smell Jade’s eucalyptus scented shampoo; she found it to be a lot more intoxicating than any of the alcohol she drank.
“Comfy?” Jade teased.
“Sorry,” Tori mumbled, embarrassed, and scooted a couple of inches away. She was a little sad when she couldn’t smell Jade’s shampoo anymore.
The two of them nursed on their water for a few more minutes until they both finally finished. “You wanna get out of here or do you still need to cool down?” Jade asked. She was starting to feel normal again and that would be probably more acceptable than being (almost) drunk to her mom if she stayed up to wait for Jade.
“I’m okay,” Tori replied. She followed Jade out of the room and, eventually, outside. “Oh, shit,” she muttered once she checked the time on her phone.
“What?”
“I’m already out too late.”
Jade rolled her eyes. “Aren’t your parents in Santa Barbara again? Who cares?”
“Yeah, but Trina came down because her spring break is the same time as ours,” Tori explained, frowning. “She’ll definitely rat me out.”
“Trina is the worst,” Jade commented and Tori immediately chimed in, in agreement. “Just give her, like, twenty bucks to keep her mouth shut. That’s what I do with my brother.”
“Knowing Trina, she’ll ask me for forty.”
“Then start at five,” Jade suggested, earning a laugh from Tori as they started walking.
Luckily, the party was only two blocks from Jade’s house and five blocks from Tori’s, so they felt safe walking home late at night (and Tori wouldn’t be too late). Tori found it amusing how she and Jade only lived a few blocks from each other and never saw each other until she transferred to Hollywood Arts. They trekked slowly in the direction of Jade’s house in silence, skirting around puddles, and Jade eventually pulled her phone out and started quietly playing music. Tori recognized it as Green Day, but she wasn’t familiar with the song.
“I can…walk you down,” Tori quietly offered. Jade lived a little over halfway down the street and, typically, Jade was driving, so Tori wasn’t sure if she should be courteous and made sure she actually got home safely. (Ugh, not that it mattered since she’d been drinking, but Tori really needed to muster up the courage to try again for her license; she felt a lot more embarrassed about not having it now that she was eighteen and graduating in a couple of months.)
“Sure,” Jade easily agreed. She started fishing for her keys in the left pocket of her jeans when they got to the front gate of her house. When she couldn’t see, Tori pulled out her phone and turned the flashlight on to give Jade a better look. “Thanks,” she mumbled. Then, “Fuck.”
“What?” Tori couldn’t mask her concern, but she toned it down.
“I don’t have the key for the stupid gate,” Jade groaned. “I let my brother borrow it yesterday and I forgot to loop it back on here.”
“Why don’t you text him? Or your mom?”
“My mom’s in bed.” Jade shook her head. She noticed the lights in her house were off when they were walking up to it. Apparently, her brother was never going to be an option. She really didn’t want him in her room. “I’m just gonna climb it,” she decided.
“What? What if you––”
“Relax, I’ve done it plenty of times,” Jade assured.
“Okay, but I’m staying here in case you fall,” Tori said. Jade snorted and mumbled whatever . And, okay, maybe Jade had done it plenty of times because she scaled up the fence like a pro.
“See, no big deal,” Jade taunted as she swooped one leg over the other side, essentially straddling the fence.
Tori smiled up at her. She felt the blood rush to her face again and it wasn’t because of the hard lemonades she’d downed earlier. Jade was looking down smugly at Tori and stayed up there for a couple of more seconds, as if to prove a point. Then, when Jade finally climbed back down the other side, Tori couldn’t help herself. “I like you,” she blurted out.
“What?” Jade tilted her head to the side.
Tori coughed awkwardly and could feel the tips of her ears on fire. “I like you,” she repeated. “Like, more than a friend, or whatever we are.” Tori added the last part quickly before Jade could once again remind her they weren’t friends.
Jade said nothing. Not verbally, nor with her face. She was uncharacteristically blank and quiet. Usually, Jade intimidated Tori when she looked at her and said nothing. This time was different. Even after being blunt and vulnerable about her feelings, Tori felt comfortable with Jade.
Then the gate squeaked and Tori had to move out of the way to not get hit by it. “Say that again,” Jade demanded gently.
“I like you, Jade.”
Jade grabbed Tori by the waist, pulled her in, and eagerly brought their lips together. This was not how she expected the night to end and, for once, she was happy word vomit existed, especially when it wasn’t coming from her. She felt Tori smile and that was enough to make Jade smile, so the kiss was ruined and they pulled apart, but Jade couldn’t find it in her to care.
“How much money will Trina want if you don’t go back home until tomorrow morning?”