My little Valentine [Victorious] [Cade]

My little Valentine

Cat’s been up for five hours and she still hasn’t been able to find the flower she’s looking for.

               I mean, seriously! This is Los Angeles! It shouldn’t be this hard to find a bouquet of black roses.

               Of course, the sentiment would probably go unappreciated by Jade, Cat thinks glumly, trudging out of what feels like the fiftieth flower shop she’s been in so far today. Cat’s been friends with Jade since elementary school: she’s seen her cut up cards from all her classmates and turn down any and all of Beck’s attempts to take her out on a fancy Valentine’s Day excursion. Jade probably wouldn’t care if Cat got her anything. If anything, Jade would only get mad.

               Cat knew this perfectly well, but she was Cat Valentine, and it was her job to exude love and happiness, especially when it came to her grumpy girlfriend. She felt compelled to do something. The plan had been to buy Jade lunch from her favorite restaurant and order a cup of Jade’s favorite coffee from her favorite café. Cat had thought it was the perfect plan to show Jade some appreciation without getting all sentimental on the pale girl. Tori had approved of the plan too: it was Tori, who’d finally gotten her license, who had been supposed to skip out on third period to go pick up Jade’s food.

               But Jade hadn’t shown. Cat had spent Friday morning, February 13th, sitting in front of Jade’s locker, waiting for her girlfriend to show up and give her a bright beaming smile like she did every morning, but Jade had never come, and Cat had sat there waiting in the hallway so long that she was late for class. Tori and Andre had both volunteered to go out of their way throughout the day to cross paths with Jade, except they didn’t, and Jade hadn’t texted Cat, and Cat hadn’t been able to find her anywhere.

               Cat totally didn’t spend the night before Valentine’s Day crying in Tori’s bedroom because her simple, affectionate plan had fallen through and Jade would never even know.

               So on Valentine’s Day itself, Cat had woken Tori up (the first thing she thought that morning is that it should have been Jade waking up next to her), and gone searching for an alternative gift for Jade.

               Cat liked calling this one “The Black Rose Project”.

               Or, “Mission: Impossible”.

               “I got Beck to drive by Jade’s house,” is what Tori says as soon as she picks up Cat’s call.

               “Huh?” Cat asks, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk.

               “Her car was there,” Tori says. “That means she is too.”

               “Oh,” Cat replies, starting to walk again and scanning the street for another flower shop. “That’s good, I guess.”

               “How goes the search for the black rose?”

               “Bad,” Cat sighs. She stops again, recognizing a café across the street. She walks over, slumping down into one of the chairs outside. “This is hopeless, Tori. It’s noon on Valentine’s Day. No one has flowers anymore, let alone roses. Let alone black roses. I couldn’t even find her favorite chocolate anywhere either.”

               “Oh, come on, Cat, it can’t be that-“

               Tori’s cut off by a loud screeching sound that has Cat moving her phone away from her ear. “Tori?” she asks, concerned.