Rebound (jade x tori)

night

Still Tori's pov

 After school I drove me and her straight to my house. It was just us, as my parents had to take Trina to see some concert that I had said I did not want to attend with Trina there also. They'd all be out the entire weekend. Just me and Jade, living in my house, the whole weekend. She didn't bring anything with her; I can tell she doesn't have the energy or the will to be able to go into her house alone and get stuff. 

 It was like six by the time we actually got home, as we had rehearsals and stuff after school. So Jade walked in the door, dropped her bag and collapsed facedown on one of the circular red couches surrounding my room. I sit next to her, rubbing her back, letting her know I'm there. She manages to sit up, and I grab the remote and scoot back over to her. She wraps her arms around my shoulders, and I snuggle against her side, closing my eyes. I feel safe now. 

 I never imagined that Jade could be this affectionate, I guess it's just to the right people. Like Beck. She always let him touch her. And now I realize that other than him I'm the only one she ever let touch her. I can't believe I almost lost her, I think, scrunching my eyes shut and trying to snuggle closer to her at the thought. 

 "You okay?" she said, sounding concerned at how vulnerable I was acting. I turn my head on her shoulder to look up and into her shining emerald eyes. For the first time, I notice the small flecks of gold and aqua floating through them like crumpled shards of flaky gold leaf and ocean. "Yeah, I just... I almost lost you." 

 Her face softens the way it does only for me. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I really am. I just thought I had no one left." "You have me," I whispered. "You always will, I won't give up on you like he did." Both of us knew who I meant by 'he'. She nodded. "Okay, I won't kill myself," she promised. I gave her a weak smile. "Promise?" I said in a small voice. 

 She smiled. "Promise." 

 Suddenly the door opened, and Cat bounced in, and then stopped, eyes looking at us curiously. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt!" she said cheerfully, and then bounced back out, locking the door behind her before we could tell her that she wasn't interrupting a single thing. Or maybe she was. Was she?

 Nah. 

 To convince myself of this, I decide to wiggle out, maybe falling off the couch in the process, to go see what we had to eat. We, of course, as Trina felt it necessary to take almost everything with her, had only cereal. Maybe I could get Jade to come with me to the store tomorrow. "Hey, you okay with cereal?" I called to her.

 "Anything, I haven't eaten for two days," she called back, and I realized she was right, so I poured her a little more than mine and took them out. She rolled off the couch to grab hers but fell on the floor too, so I smiled and sat down on the floor next to her with the remote, and we ate bowls of cereal on the floor while doing a run of Harry Potter. 

 At around one in the morning, Jade fell asleep on my shoulder. I didn't know how long it had been since she'd had real sleep, so this seemed reasonable. I smiled when she collapsed against me, and managed to pick her up bridal style. I was taller than her, so this was a little easier than it would have been had I been her height. I think she woke up when I started carrying her up the stairs, but she smiled and rested her head on my chest, letting me lay her on one side of my bed and laying down next to her. 

 We faced each other, and I could see her eyes meeting mine. "Hey, by the way, I'm pretty sure I have some black clothes somewhere, if you want to change tomorrow morning," I whispered. I knew she smiled, somehow, whether I could sense it or hear it in her voice or my eyes could make it out in the darkness. 

 "Thanks," she whispered. 

 "For what?" 

 She pauses. "For everything." 

 I smile. "Night." 

 "Night." 

 I know she's laying awake. Her eyes are dark, mellow, ringed with sadness. The circles under them tell the secrets she's been trying to hide. The sadness isn't the kind that was there when Beck broke up with her last time, the kind when she didn't get into a play she really wanted to get into, the kind when she saw Cat breaking down after I kissed her boyfriend (long story) and held Cat close and told her it was okay.

 This was a new kind of sadness, the kind that meant the problem, this time, couldn't be fixed, or it would take a long time. But I promised myself that that entire long time, or maybe forever, I would be there with her. I'd stand with her in the fire, and if she was crying I'd cry too and if she was upbeat and acted like nothing happened I'd follow her lead, and if she was angry, I'd help her punch something. 

 Because right now, I feel like being there with her, even if it's wordless, is already making her better. I know that she wants to smash something, something delicate, like a window or a vase or a table and point at the broken pieces and scream, this is what I look like, so I'll glue the window back together, I'll fix the vase, I'll do whatever it takes. 

 I know right now, she looks like she wants to scream and fall on her knees and shriek at the top of her lungs like some dramatic romance disney movie. I know she wants to burn every picture of Beck, everything he's touched, and I know she wants Beck to call her, to laugh and say he was joking, and it's a prank, and he doesn't love Percy, he loves her and he will forever until they're old and wrinkly like raisins. 

 So if she does any of that, I will with her. I'll be there. Forever.