AN: Hiiiii! Sorry for the delay... I've been trying, honest! :(
Well, I don't have much to say today, so, without further ado, here's the next chapter! :)
Tori
The light bulb's flickering noises overhead wake me up. I blink several times as I attempt to adjust my eyes and bring my mind into a full conscious state. My eyes beginning to focus as I groggily take in my surroundings.
Black. All I see is black.
I scrunch up my face in confusion and try to push myself up just to have my movements limited by the fact that I'm all tangled up in something. Something warm and soft.
And it's moving.
My eyes widen and I'm about to cry out when, somewhere within this tangled mess I find myself in, I feel something that seems a lot like a hand cover my own and press it against a soft warm surface that rises and drops at a steady pace.
I realize I'm not tangled in something, but actually in someone.
Jade.
The memories from last night gradually flood my hazy mind. Jade and I had been talking, and then she had started crying, so I had held her until she fell asleep and then I guess I had fallen asleep as well. Somehow we ended up even more interlaced in each other than we had been. From our locked legs to our overlapping hair. Her back is still pressed against my front, with my left arm draped across her stomach. Her fingers, from the hand I felt earlier,are intertwined with my own and pressed against her chest. My right arm is curled under her, working as a pillow and completely numb, while my face is pressed against the back of her head, which explains why I only see black. Judging by the beating of her heart on my hand, and the way her breath steadily feathers my arm, I can tell she's still sound asleep. I don't want to wake her, and I'm certain that trying to pull apart from our intricate embrace will do just that, so I decide to remain still until she awakens on her own. I let my body relax as my mind goes over last night's events.
God, I had never seen Jade like that. Sure I'd seen her cry before. Like when she had come to my house with a broken kite and begged me to help her get Beck back. But even that time wasn't anywhere near as bad as this had been. It was as though all her walls, all her defenses, all her restraints, had suddenly collapsed, leaving her completely exposed, not only to me but to herself as well. She seemed just as shocked as I had been to realize how hurt and broken she really was.
I find myself pulling her closer as I recall how pained her expression had been when she talked about her father. Just thinking about it makes me feel angry all over again. Even through the brief interaction I had with him the time he attended her play I could tell he wasn't the most loving and caring of fathers. His expression so cold and distant. Jade had been trying so hard to impress him and even admitting that he had thought her play was excellent seemed forced and insincere. I bet it was things like that that led her to do what she did with that Gavin guy… I close my eyes as I feel my heart clenching in my chest. The fact that she felt the need to put herself through that just to spite him, to get his attention through those means since nothing else had worked.
It's not fair. He's the reason she built all those walls around herself. He's the reason she doesn't let anybody see her true self. He's the reason she's so broken… And it's just not fair! Nobody should have to feel so dejected and worthless by anyone! Much less their own parent! He's the one who doesn't deserve her. He's the one who's too blind to see how utterly amazing she is. How beautiful she is inside and out. And the fact that deep beneath her seemingly hard and confident exterior, lay infinite doubts and insecurities just pisses me off even more. I wonder where her mom is in all this? Does she make up for her father? Or is she just as bad, if not worse? The thought makes my skin crawl.
