Tightrope

Chapter Seventeen

With the opportunity to finish her shower in peace, Jade took her time, mostly to avoid talking to Tori again for as long as she could, but partly because it was fun to invade the girl's space and she knew it must be killing her, having to wait for so long to tell her on-again friend off. When Jade finally did leave the bathroom, she found Tori in the hall, lying sprawled out on the floor in a way that suggested she'd been out there for the whole time. They made eye contact and neither girl moved for at least a full sixty seconds. Time trickled by - or maybe even stopped - until Jade chose to be the first to speak.

"What, were you waiting out here hoping to sneak a peek up my towel or something?" She was grateful she'd changed in the bathroom, because if she'd actually still been in a towel, Tori certainly could have seen up it from the spot where she was lying.

"No," The angry musician growled, pushing herself up into a seated position, "I was actually sitting out here thinking of all the different ways I could kill you."

"Well, what'd you come up with?" Tori didn't find Jade's enthusiasm very funny, and continued to glare at her, unable to find words to express how humiliated she was.

"Okay, seriously, what's the point of having a boyfriend that you don't want to sleep with?" Jade sighed, disappointed with herself as she sat down and motioned for Tori to open up to her. "You don't want to be with him anymore, do you? I was only helping you."

"Yeah, I wouldn't really call that helping." The desire to commit murder suddenly gone, Tori now turned to look at Jade, wondering how she could possibly feel so comfortable talking to her after all they'd gone through together. "...I just, I really don't want to hurt him. He's a good person, Jade. He's the first boyfriend I've ever had who actually truly loves and respects me, and I've wasted his time. I've embarrassed him, and I've hurt him, and I've kept him from finding someone who is...better for him." She paused to compose herself, and Jade awkwardly reached out to comfort her in the best way she knew how. "Maybe he's not that..." An upward glance revealed a reddened face, "well, bad at...you know..."

"God, Tori, we're adults, not sixth graders. You can say it." With a laugh, Jade watched Tori's face as she grew more embarrassed and less upset. "So he put his you-know-what you-know-where and-"

"You don't have to explain how it works! I know, okay?" Tori sounded agitated, and sensing that it wasn't the best time to tease her, Jade placed her hand on Tori's back and tried to express with her face what she couldn't say with her mouth, before Tori interrupted. "This is just...I can't believe we're talking about this right now. I haven't seen you in months and now you're...and I'm... Anyway, things with Noah just...aren't working out. I tried. I tried a lot, I just, It wasn't even close to satisfying, and I thought that...it must be him, because, I mean..." She went silent for a few seconds as Jade subconsciously rubbed her back, completely unaware of how intimate this moment had become. "Well, now I'm thinking it was all me. I mean, you can't really...if you're notattracted to someone...can you?"

"Don't look at me." Jade shrugged, retrieving her arm from behind Tori's back. Clasping her hands together, she set them in her lap and sighed, before spitting out a bit of unusually sincere advice. "Just dump him. You need to be honest. It's really not that hard, trust me. Sure, if he really does love you...you'll be the cause of a lot of pain for him..." Her voice faded out and she started to smile, but she quickly realized she'd been talking and continued. "If you don't tell him soon, though, it'll hurt a lot more in the end. Trust me, it doesn't feel good to know that you're the one who loves more." With a nod, Tori accepted Jade's advice, though she'd known deep down that she had to do exactly what she'd just been told. Venting to Jade about all the scrambled thoughts in her head had only been helping her get to the point where she could rip the bandaid off quickly.