One Last Time

Confessions and Cocoa

As soon as Jade followed inside the house, Tori shut the door and locked it with a deep breath. Jade took out her key fob and locked her car before breaking the silence, "Tori...are you..."

Tori cut her off like Jade had before with a sudden kiss on her lips and hands cupping her face. Jade wanted to stop it, but overwhelmed by the feeling, her hands instead went up to weave through Tori's hair. As she felt Tori lead her to the couch and start to pull down her jacket, an alarm in Jade's mind went off and she broke the kiss immediately, hands going back down to Tori's shoulders to push her off.

"Tori, stop! Think for a second, okay?! What do you want? To start making out here on the couch and have a one night stand while some sappy love song plays in the background? Well, I don't want that! Just...just take a minute to breathe first!"

Tori's head was too wracked to respond. She started muttering, then bordering on hyperventilating until Jade pulled her into a quiet, gentle hug. Thrown off by Jade's unusual display of affection, Tori's breathing slowed back to normal as she returned the hug and rested her head against Jade. "I...I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." Tori breathed into Jade's shoulder.

"It's...okay," Jade nervously rubbed Tori's back, mirroring a time she did the same years ago. "Let's just get something to calm down. You have tea or something?"

"I have Belgian cocoa! I made that the last time when Andre had a crush on yuhhhh..." Tori started toward the kitchen, but her mind caught up with her mouth as she tripped on her words.

"Okay, first, you know that cocoa will keep us awake, right? And second, Andre had a what?" Jade raised her eyebrow curiously.

"Cocoa, coming right up!" Tori's face lit back up as she yanked open the cupboard.

***

A few minutes of brewing hot water later, Tori and Jade sat next to each other at the dining table, each holding a mug of fresh cocoa while nervously searching for the right words to start conversation again.

"So..." Jade knew her next words were on brand for her, but she hesitated nonetheless before deciding to say, "Are you that frisky with every person who kisses you or just me?"

Tori's face lit up again as she knew she had to explain herself, "I...I'm not always like that! I was just caught by surprise when you kissed me like that. I mean, it was a nice kiss! I just...didn't expect it, you know?"

"That was kind of the idea," Jade blushed this time, already thinking back to that magical moment, "But I meant it, you know? All of it; everything I said in the car. I have feelings for you, Ve...Tori."

Jade had often called Tori by her first and last name interchangeably to the point that she responded to either one, but the way she said her first name now felt different; like the sound of her name was a kiss in itself. Taking a quick sip of her cocoa, Tori looked at Jade's reddened cheeks, then her piercing blue-green eyes to reply, "You really do? But...why? I mean, I know with everything we talked about, we're certainly friends now! I just didn't know you liked..."

"Do you mean liking other girls?" Jade bit her lip a bit nervously, "Or you, specifically? Either way, you're the first girl I've really liked like this. And yeah, I do see you as a friend now. Like I said before, you're incredibly hard-working, you don't ever stop caring about your friends and your family, and I admire that about you. It's just...not all I admire about you."

"Oh," Tori took a long sip, unable to take her eyes off of Jade and her continually blushing face, "Well...why now? I know you said it's because tonight might be the last chance you have, but we've known each other for so long. When did you start feeling this way?"