Tightrope

Chapter Twenty Two

Just after ten o'clock Tuesday night, Tori returned to her hotel room after the second of that week's five shows. She immediately pulled her laptop out of her suitcase and took a seat on the bed, ready for the video-chat date she was already five minutes late for. While the computer started up, she fixed her makeup in the mirror, though she knew no amount of makeup would stop Jade from playfully insulting her appearance. She had just barely signed on before her laptop started ringing, signaling that someone was calling. When she answered, Jade's face popped up on the screen, in front of what was clearly Tori's own living room.

"Are you in my apartment?"

"No complaints. You gave me a key." Tori only smiled and shook her head. She should've expected it.

"You look pretty." Even with the bad video quality, Tori could tell that Jade's face was turning red, as it always did when she complimented her that way. Jade's reaction was precisely the reason that she did it so often. It gave the girl more happiness than she knew what to do with.

"You look tired." Close enough, Tori thought to herself, rolling her eyes.

"I am. I've been up since 5:30 this morning. Hopefully my next single will be successful enough that I'll be able to pay my bills without driving all over the place, singing to small groups of people who'd much rather be anywhere else."

"It's better than playing for tips on a street corner."

"That it is. I get a lot of the same people though..." She shuddered, thinking back to the creeps that had hit on her after the show earlier that evening. "I'm starting to feel like I might sell a lot more albums if I just give in and performed naked."

"You better not." Jade's face was completely emotionless, and Tori wasn't sure if she was serious or not, so she awkwardly tried to play it off with a smile.

"I was kidding. I'm saving my birthday suit specifically for someone else." Jade didn't move an inch. "You."

"Yeah, I get it."

"It was a joke, Jade. Come on. What's with you tonight?" She noticed when Jade leaned back a little that the actress was drinking something out of Tori's favorite mug. She sighed, set the mug back down beside her computer, and forced a smile.

"I'm sorry. I'm really tired too. I haven't been able to sleep much in my own apartment because of my new neighbor, so I came over here, but your couch is really not that comfortable and-"

"You slept on my couch? If you're gonna sneak into my apartment while I'm not there you should sleep in my bed."

"Oh, uh...I don't-" She obviously felt awkward about it, and Tori understood why she might be, though she still thought it was ridiculous. If Jade was comfortable sleeping in Tori's apartment at all without her knowledge, she shouldn't have any qualms about sleeping in her bed.

"Jade. Sleep in my bed tonight. It's fine. Besides, I don't want you to be tired and grumpy when I come home." She winked, and Jade's face instantly went red once again. Before she could say anything though, a knock came from Tori's end, drawing the singer's attention from her computer. She excused herself and got up to answer the door, while Jade leaned back in the desk chair and took another sip of coffee from the purple mug she'd been nursing for nearly half an hour. It was cold by now, but that didn't change the effectiveness of the caffeine she'd been craving all day. She could only just barely hear the rumbling sound of a man's voice, being picked up by Tori's computer. Tori kept laughing about whatever it was he was saying, and with each giggle, Jade found herself squeezing the coffee mug even harder, until it slipped out of her hands and fell, clattering on the hardwood. The paranoid caffeine addict crouched down to pick it up immediately, relieved that it hadn't broken. She rushed the mug to the kitchen and placed it in the sink, snatching a roll of paper towels off the countertop so she could clean up the mess before Tori returned.