I Will Always Love You

Chapter Sixteen: Chemistry

Tori Vega

Cat Valentine was the most creative, mentally insane person I'd ever met. And (I love her with my heart and soul) but I've met Jade. She has enough mental issues to fill a pool.

"I love you," Cat blurted out. My heart race sped up to nearly one-trillion beats a second, my eyes widened so much I knew I must've looked like a cartoon character, and for some reason the hole in my heart Jade used to fill up felt a little less empty.

"You... You what?" I played with my hands nervously. This was Cat, so she could just mean it a friendly way and stuff, but when both of your are bi/gay, when a girl tells you they love you, your automatic response is romance... and usually 'I love you too."

"I love you," Cat looked straight into my eyes and repeated herself. Oh God! What was I supposed to say now? I hadn't even told Jade I loved her yet. Cat was beautiful. Based on beauty, if Jade hadn't been around I would've asked Cat out. She was funny and loving and caring and she made me feel loved. But I'm with Jade... maybe. And it wouldn't be fair to Cat if I dated her well I was still in love with Jade. Jesus Fucking Christ what was I supposed to say?

"Um..." Holy crap I'm on the verge of hyperventilating. Oh my God! Why can't I just pass out right about now?

Just as I was about to forcibly make myself pass out just to get out of this uncomfortable situation, she continued, "That's what our song should be about," Cat said. "About being in love." When she said that my heart rate slowed and everything went back to normal, including the whole in my heart.

"Oh... um... yeah," I stumbled out, eager to get off this topic and forget about this exchange entirely, especially about the butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

"So..." she said, hugging a Hello Kitty to her chest.

"Do you have a piano?"

"Yup," she said, popping the 'P' in the cutest way possible. Her eyes sparkled as she tugged on my hand and lead me back downstairs. Her house was weird. It kind of made me crinkle my nose. There were un-swallowed pills lying all around and quite a few pieces of furniture were broken. They also kept a baseball bat in every room... Cat told me it was for her brother, which made me extremely nervous.

We walked into a small room with a beautiful, black baby grand. My breath hitched in my throat, I may not be able to play an instrument for my life, but I could still appreciate the instrument's beauty. Sheet music was scattered all over the floor and there were two music stands, one that obviously used daily and another that didn't look like it'd been used in years. "This piano is so gorgeous," I murmured in awe, running my hand on the smooth, perfectly polished wood.

"Let's go!" She said suddenly and randomly. She grabbed my hand and sat me down at the piano with her.

"So how should we start?" I questioned. She started playing a string of notes. At first I thought she just chose them erratically, the same way a child presses notes on piano and the most awful sounds in the world come out. Instead hers came out exquisitely; if you had told me Cat had this kind of talent I would never have believed you. This was one of those things you had to hear to believe. She played with such a simplistic, but passionate, technique. It was childish, much like her, but with an unknown lingering sense of maturity right on the horizon.

"That was amazing Cat. I didn't know you were so talented. Does anybody else know about this?"

"Of course silly," Cat giggled. "Jadey knows. Beck knows. And my brother knows. My brother's my usual audience... as long as he's taken his sedation meds."

Sedation Meds? I don't think I want to know... ever. "Well that was beautiful."

"I just came up with that now," said Cat innocently. I wondered if she knew what talent lay at her fingertips.

"Well I think we should use that for the basis of our song," I replied. I couldn't just let such a memorable melody go by forgotten, heard only once and never played again.

"Kay, Kay," replied Cat, nodding her head.

For the next hour and a half we worked on the melody, tweaking every once in a while. Cat even taught me how to play a simple accompaniment on the piano with her. I was absolutely dreadful at it. The only thing I could play was the Jeopardy theme song, but it wasn't even recognizable when I played it.

"It's okay Tor, your not so terrible," said Cat encouragingly. I might've even believed her, if she hadn't been giggling the whole time she said it.

"No, I suck," I replied bitterly.

"Suck is a bad word," reprimanded Cat. "Anyways, you could never suck."

"Thanks Cat," I replied, nudging her shoulder. I looked at my wristwatch. Shit! "Can you give me a ride to the hospital? I'm going to be late."

"Not a problem," replied Cat. As we walked out the door I noticed there wasn't' as much pep in her step as before.

Jade West

Twenty Minutes Late. It wasn't that I was really looking forward to seeing Tori, it's just that I'd gotten used to it. Used to her. I barely knew her, but her presence always seemed to calm me.

Ten minutes later she rushed in. "Sorry I'm late," she said quickly and out of breath. I rolled my eyes. She barely had to run five feet; if she was this breathless she really needed to hit the gym.

"Not a problem. It's not like you have to come everyday," I replied. Although I have to admit, not out loud, that it's nice to have her here everyday from three to as long as she could stay.

"I like to come Jade," she said earnestly. "So what are you doing?"

"Homework," I replied dryly.

"I've told you time and time again, you shouldn't be watching TV when you work. It's distracting," she said charmingly, turning off the TV.

I groaned. "Come on Tor. That was a new episode of Criminal Minds."

"Well then you can watch it later on Hulu," she said. "Now show me what you're working on, maybe I can help."

"Science," she deadpanned.

"Pass it over. I'm actually pretty good at this." Jade pashed the sheet of paper over and I must say, it was really easy.

Complete the following chemical equation.

Chlorine + Sodium bromide:

"Okay, so let's say there's this girl and guy who were dating. The girl was called Sodium and the guy was called Bromine. Together, they were Sodium bromide. However, one day, there was another person in the picture. That person was called Chlorine. One day, the three of them were put together in a room. After spending some time together, Sodium realized that she felt more connected with Chlorine than with Bromine. It was as if Sodium and Chlorine had a stronger bond and were match-made in heaven. In the end, Sodium broke up with Bromine and got together with Chlorine because she could not deny the attraction any longer. So what happens?"

"Sodium Chloride?" I questioned.

"Exactly," she responded with a pleased smile. It was a quirky way to put it, but rather clever. I wonder why she'd said it that way though...

"Cool. Want to do the rest for me?"

She laughed a melodic laugh, "No Jade. I can't do all the work."

"You wouldn't. I just did the last problem. That's not all the work. You'd only be doing like... 9/10 of the work," I shrugged.

She glanced down at the paper. "I see math also isn't your strong subject," she teased.

"Fine. Whatever," I grumbled. Surprisingly the rest of the page was easy, something about Tori's method seemed to just click and everything was so much simpler.

When I finally finished I had her look it over. "Good job, Jade," she said with a dazzling smile. Before I knew what was happening she gave me a peck on the cheek. I saw her cheeks flush crimson almost instantly, but she continued on as if nothing had happened. I refused to be cliché, but my hand had a mind of its own as it brushed against cheek, savoring the strange, tingly feeling.