Chapter Text
It was a sunny Sunday afternoon, and Becks and Tori had decided to get ice cream; there was a cute parlor that opened down the street that Tori had been dying to visit, and today was the perfect time to try it out.
Stepping out of the car, Tori breathed in the fresh scent of sugary goodness only to be smacked in the face by the bitter scent of jealousy incarnate before her, standing the one and only jade west. A swirling mix of rose and lemon sorbet, an aroma of coffee and dark chocolate.
"Jade, what are you doing here?" Beck slammed the door to his car as he approached the girl in black, crossing his arms as he stared daggers into her. "We talked about this," Beck said, Jade pulled him out of earshot from Tori.
"Uhh, no, you told me to shove off when I told you I don't want you hanging out with Tori."
"Hey, we're not dating anymore. You don't get to dictate every person I am or ant allowed to hang out with!"
"Ok, first off, you know why I don't- wait, did you say ant?"
Beck looked at Jade, confused. "No?"
"No yah you said, 'who I am or ant allowed to hang with'"
"Ok, whatever, enough with the ant thing, will you please leave us alone?"
Jade shuffled in place a bit, looking over toward Tori, who was now awkwardly staring at her phone as she stood a few feet away from them. Jade let out a huff.
No." Jade's eyes went back to Beck's "No?!" Beck's expression was desperate "the fuck you mean no?! You can't just barge in on my date?"
"Oh, so it is a date?"
"You know what I mean, Jade." Tired of their little game, grabbing Beck's arm, she pulled him towards Tori<
"Tori! Hey, you wouldn't mind if I got ice cream with you guys, right?" Tori looked up from her phone, surprise washing over her expression. "Of course not!" Tori said happily, "Great!" Jade said in a slightly sarcastic tone before locking arms with Tori and walking inside, not before turning around and giving a look to Beck.
"Jesus Christ, what have I gotten myself into?"
Coming up to the counter, Jade let go of Tori's arm, placing her elbow on the counter, searching for a flavor
"Yo Tori, what are you getting?" Jade propped herself up a little higher on her elbows to look Tori in the eyes. "Hmm, I don't know, I'm thinking strawberry." Tori looked hard at the board; she had forgotten her glasses at home and had forgotten to put her contacts in that morning.
"Strawberry sounds good, ooh, but chocolate also sounds good; ugh, there are too many options." She stood back up straight. "Why don't you just get coffee flavor like usual?" Beck suggested as he walked up behind them. "Oooh wait, Imma get that," Tori said, reaching into her purse for her wallet. "Hey, order me one too, oh, and here, use my card," she said, handing her credit card to Tori. "Are you sure?" "Yeah ofc, that's why I'm handing it to you, dumbass"
As Tori paid for the ice cream, Jade stepped back toward Beck. "You know you're not slick, right?" Beck said, still staring towards the register where Tori stood. "Well, maybe I'm tired of being slick," Jade said, smoothing one hand through her hair. "If I don't shoot my shot now, she'll end up with a loser like you." Beck's eyes caught fire at the insult, "Hey! You dated this loser for 3 years."
"Yeah, why do you think I'm trying to save Tori from that suffering?!"
Tori received the ice cream from the lady behind the register before turning around to find the two fighting. Tori never understood why Jade got so jealous of her and Beck; she made it pretty clear she wasn't into him, and yet this happened fairly often.
She and Beck would be doing something together, Jade would show up out of the blue and spend all her time keeping Tori away from Beck. Not that Tori minded.
Something Tori would never admit to anyone was that she was always excited to see Jade when she showed up out of the blue. Spending time with Beck was fun and all but she always caught herself disappointed when Jade didn't show up to butt in
Tori approached with the ice cream in hand, Jade and Beck's bickering subsiding for a moment as Jade received her ice cream. "I'm gonna go order mine; just go wait for me at the tables outside." Beck gave Jade a harsh but knowing look as he went to order his ice cream. "Kay, see yah," her hand snaked around Tori's as she yanked her outside, "Jade! Careful with the ice cream!"
They sat down outside at a cute little table with a blue and white umbrella. There were only two seats, but Tori pulled a third one up for when Beck arrived with his ice cream. "Hey, I thought you didn't like ice cream?" Tori said, spooning a big dollop into her mouth, "I don't really, but if getting ice cream means I get to hang out with you, then I'll scarf down a few bites." She put her hand on Tori's, blue eyes meeting brown
"Plus, it's not the taste I dislike, coffee ice cream is bomb." She chuckled, and Tori softly laughed as well. She loved seeing jade like this, her softer side peeking through, even if it was just an act to keep her away from Beck, she'd give anything to live in that smile. Just as Tori raised the spoon in her hand for another bite, an annoyingly familiar face sat down in the chair designated for Beck.
"Hellooo ladies," Robbie sat with the back of the chair facing his chest, "What're you two up to? Jade gave Robbie an angry-annoyed look before replying, "We were trying to eat ice cream in peace before a muffin-haired nitwit sat down at our table." She was now staring daggers into him; Robbie stood up from the table, raising his hands into the air.
"Hey, wait, this is a two-seated table; why are there three chairs?" Tori grabbed Jade's hand, squeezing it hard, causing her to wince. "Beck's inside ordering his ice cream; he should be out any minute." Robbie eyed them down suspiciously. "Wait, so this isn't a dat-" Tori shot up abruptly, red flushing into her cheeks as she dragged Robbie away from the table. "We'll be right back."
"How do you know?" Tori said angrily, pointing her finger at Robbie's face. "How do I know what?"
"I think you know what I'm asking if you know."
"And what if I don't know what you think you know, I know?"
"Robbie, I do not have time for this. How do you know?" "What? That you like jade?"
Tori's face fell harder as fear crept into her system. "Who. Told. You." She said through gritted teeth, "Uhh, no one? You're pretty obvious about your feelings."
"I AM NOT," Tori shouted. Beck laid a hand on Tori's shoulder from behind.
"You am not what?" Beck paused, "Are not," Robbie interjected, "Yeah, I know."
"Yeah, but you said I am not. "I know what I said. Can everyone please stop correcting how I speak today?" "Will both of you please shut up?" Tori whined
"Sorry"
"Sorry," they said in unison. "You're not what?" Beck asked again softly,
"Obvious about her feelings for Jade." Tori turned back around to stare daggers into Robbie. "Oh no, definitely," Beck said bluntly. Tori turned to face him now, concern mixed with confusion that came out in a small whine. "Oh, don't act like every time you see her, you don't lose any sense of a backbone. "But I-"
"Oh, and don't get me started on the puppy dog eyes; sometimes I feel like you only come on these dates 'cause you know Jade will crash them."
Tori sighed, crouching down into a ball on the floor. "I mean, you're not entirely wrong," her voice comes out muffled as she cradles her face in the crook of her elbows.
"Man, and I really thought you enjoyed hanging out with me." Beck brought his hand up to his chest, his voice mockingly hurt. "Nooo, I do, I do, I promise. I guess I just also really like hanging out with Jade; everyone gets like that with the people they like." A flush of red crept back into Tori's face "And I know it's kind of selfish since she's only here to keep me away from you and-" "Wow hold on" Beck said crouching down to her level "Jade couldn't give a shit about who I hang out with, as long if it's not Melanie, if she's here to hang out with you then she's doing it because it's you." Tori looked up at Beck. "You think so?" Her eyes were droopy like a sad puppy. "Oh, Tori, you have no idea."
Jade leaned against the corner wall, listening as they conversed by the trash bins
Had she heard that right?
Tori liked her?
She shook the idea from her mind, rubbing her face a bit to try and smudge away the blush she felt creeping in. Jade walked up to the group, masking the doapy smile she had just worn with a cold, calculated look.
"Hey Vega, finally find where you belong." Jade had panicked, Regretting the words as they fell out of her mouth only to find peace when Tori chuckled at the remark. "You wanna get out of here?" She said, placing her hand on her hips. "I think your ice cream melted anyway." Tori stood up with the help of Beck and walked over to Jade, who grabbed Tori's hand. "There's somewhere I wanna take you." "Ok"