Rebound (jade x tori)

tears

a/n 

ive just finished writing the kiss scene out of context soooooo be waiting 

Jade's Pov

 I don't know why she's hugging me. Well, I do, because I'm breaking down. But even if I'm breaking down why will she hug me? I hated her. I treated her so ass, and she's hugging me and letting me cry all over her. If the roles were reversed I wouldn't have done this for her. Because I'm a bad person. Which is why Beck cheated-he found someone better. 

 A muffled sob escapes me at that thought. I'm a bad person. I'm horrible. I'm fucked up. I sob harder, and she holds me tighter, resting her head on mine. I feel safe in her arms, which is something that shouldn't be happening, but I feel safer than I did with Beck. It's weird. It's probably because I've never had an actual female friend-you know, to gossip and stay up with. I have Cat. I love her, don't get me wrong, but she's... not quite there. 

 I have to ask her this. I have to make sure she's okay because why the hell is she hugging me, she must be broken too to be hugging someone as shitty as I am. I pull back, but she keeps her arms around me, so I rest my bleeding hands on her collarbone, her chocolate eyes on me. I flick my own eyes up to meet hers. "Are you okay?" I ask softly. 

 Her face softens. "Jade, I already told you, I'm fine. Don't worry about me." "Why are you... staying with me?" I asked her. "You could be in class right now, or anywhere else. Why are you standing here and hugging me?" 

 She looked at me like she couldn't believe I was asking this. Like the answer was obvious. She says, "because you got yourself beat up to protect me, and your boyfriend cheated, and you're bleeding and hurt and I don't know, I kind of see it as us getting even if I get you through this." She breaks away to get the medical stuff off the floor and sink, so I throw one hand up, closing my eyes briefly as I try to think up an excuse. 

 "It wasn't... for you, I would've... done it for anyone," I say. It's true. Or at least that's what I'm going to promise myself. She smiles, coming over to me. "I know, that's one of the things I like about you." How does she compliment me so easily? I have ZERO social skills, especially when it comes to accepting compliments, so I just go on and say matter-of-factly as if this settled it all, "I just wanted to beat someone up. It made me feel better. I still do want to." 

 She takes one of my bleeding hands in hers and begins wrapping it. I watch, trying to hold in the pain. Once or twice a gasp of sudden pain escapes me and I hate it, but she says softly, "I know it hurts, I'm sorry. Just hold on. You're strong." And when she's done, she's wrapped my hand in a bandage thing that looked like a fingerless glove. And she brings it up to her mouth and kisses it softly when she's done and then she moves on to the other one.

 I roll my eyes and avoid hers, looking over the stalls and such. "Don't do that," I say, looking back to her, because I can't think how else to say it. Her lips are soft, soothing on my aching hand. It might have made me feel a little better, though I'd rather impale myself than say so. 

 But she looks me dead in the eye and takes the same hand and does it again, just to spite me, and I want to pull back, I know I should, but I don't. I can't. I meet her eyes, and she meets mine, and our faces are like three inches away, both of us not daring to breathe, until we're about to go into cardiac arrest so we both look in opposite directions and break the trance. 

 She grabs my other hand and does the same, kissing it gently when she's done, and then she looks up at me and sees that I'm crying again, tears spilling out of my eyes. She closes her eyes and makes a sad, sympathetic face for a split second, and then we hug again. The tears are from my shoulder and she knows it. Well, inside my head I'm still screaming in agony and pain from what Beck did. 

 "We should go to the nurse's office," Tori offered. I raised my head, searching her for some kind of pain with They could fix your shoulder, I'm sure." 

 "No-Tori-I'm fine, I don't need to go there-we've got like twenty minutes left of Sikowitz's, come on..." but I'm crying again, harder, because then I'd have to look at Beck and pretend that I'm okay again. Like it didn't matter. Like he didn't cheat-and not only did he cheat, he cheated with a guy. 

 She looks at me for a moment, and then she reaches out, and she cups my face, and she wipes the tears away, and I practically collapse into her chest, wrapping my arms around her. Hugging her now. "Are you okay?" I ask her softly, pulling back to look into her eyes. "He didn't hurt you, did he? If he did I have four guns, thirteen knives, four FBI tracking beacons and my room used to be a poison and venom science lab." 

 She smiled. "For the last time, Jade, I'm fine, okay? But like I said, I'm not going to give up on you. I'm going to make sure you don't do anything stupid. No rebounds after Beck, no killing anyone unless they deserve it, and no locking yourself in rooms with weapons in them alone."

 Tears filled my eyes again. "I'm going to be a little late after school, I've got to grab all my stuff and get it in my car. I'll... I'll sleep there." She gave me a questioning look. "Don't you and your mom live in your house? And your dad?" she asked. I start crying harder, tears overflowing and spilling down my cheeks. "My dad left. Forever ago. I never saw him again except when he came to that one play however long ago that was. He hates me, I'm sure. And my... my mom is hard as stone. That's where I get it from. When we're hurt-me by her, and her by my father-we lock up so no one else can get in and hurt us again. She's never home either. So I can't be there alone. It-okay, B-" 

 I fail to say his name, and look away, pursing my lips against the sob that threatens to escape them. Tori puts her hands on my shoulders reassuringly, waiting for me to go on. "H-his trailer is really small," I went on. "So h-he basically lived at my place. Especially because my mom was barely there. H-he stayed in my d-dad's old room. H-he was always there. I don't want to face the house alone, not with all h-his stuff still everywhere, and h-his smell, and h-his room and all of the pictures of-of us-" my voice falters and dies. 

 She hugs me. "Here is what we shall do," she whispers in my ear, head bent to nestle in my good shoulder next to mine. "You will spend the weekend at my place. it's Thursday, right? So get all your stuff together, and stay at my place the whole weekend and on Monday we'll talk to Lane and because he's a counselor we'll figure out what to do for you. And if you need more time at my house I will bribe my parents into doing it if I have to kill Trina so you can take her room." 

 "Or I could kill Trina," I offer, my voice no longer shaking. My hands, draped around her neck, flip up for a moment in my offer. "I would absolutely love to, you have no idea how much burning hate I have for that bitch." She smiles. "Mhm, how about we get back to the last ten minutes of class so nobody knows what's going on. We'll say we went to Nozu to get food for lunch and it was super crowded, okay?" 

 I nod, and she murmurs in a lower, more protecting voice, "I'm going to hold your hand. Whenever you feel like you're about to cry, squeeze and I'll break something and run out and Sikowitz will send you after me, okay?" I nodded, and she grabbed one of my bandaged hands, intertwining our fingers as we walked to class.