Behind The Scenes

Freak the Freak Out

Beck lengthens his strides as he tries to catch up to Jade. She's determined to get into Hollywood Arts as soon as possible, and he knows why. She's been avoiding this conversation all morning. "Jade! Aren't you going to say something? You can't ignore me!"

Jade pushes the front doors open as she yells, "Not the place!" Beck watches as she walks over to her locker, barking at the couple making out next to it. He sighs and walks over to his own locker.

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Beck glances at his phone as he waits for Jade to get out of the bathroom. She's been redoing her makeup for the last twenty minutes, but he doesn't want to say anything. With all the disappearing in the middle of the night, she's pretty cranky. He's pretty cranky too, actually.

He doesn't like waking up in the middle of the night to find his girlfriend missing. He doesn't like that it's becoming a routine for them. He still doesn't know where she goes or why because she refuses to tell him. Refuses to even have the conversation. He tries not to push her as a general rule. He knows that when she's ready she'll tell him, but he's getting sick of waiting for this explanation.

"Babe? Cat-" He calls out as he reads Cat's texts him asking when they're picking her up.

"In a minute!"

Beck rolls his eyes. He thinks that if he loved her less, this would be easier to let go. But he doesn't, so he has to remind himself to be patient.

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Once they get home from Karaoke Dokie, Jade is exhausted. She kicks off her boots and collapses onto the bed. Beck waits to see if she'll find a second wind to change and wash her face. She doesn't though, so Beck goes into the bathroom and grabs a couple of her makeup remover wipes and walks back over to her. "Babe."

Jade groans, "Go away."

Beck takes her hands and pulls her into a sitting position. He hands her the wipes when it looks like she's going to stay sitting by herself. "You have to take off your makeup and get into pajamas, okay?" Beck doesn't wait for a response as he turns to his dresser. He grabs her black pj pants and her favorite black tank top to sleep in. When he turns around Jade is placing her used wipes on the ledge above his bed. "These?"

Jade nods and reaches for the clothing in his hands. Beck places them beside her instead and pulls her up next to him. He pulls at the zipper located on the side of her dress and then pulls the dress up and over her head. He figures that she can pull off her tights and slip into her pjs on her own, so he heads back to his dresser to get his own pjs.

Once he's changed, he turns around and Jade is already asleep on his side of the bed. He can't help the slight smile that overtakes his lips. He really does love her. And more than anything he wants her to be there when he wakes up in the morning.

He grabs the wipes off the ledge and throws them away before turning off the light and climbing into bed. He nudges Jade until she's on her side of the bed and then puts his arm around her waist.

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Beck slowly opens and closes his eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness. He can't feel Jade beside him, but he can hear her. He forces his eyes to stay open and looks around. Jade is sitting on the floor in front of his bed. It doesn't sound like she's crying, but rather...choking?

"Babe?" Even with the little amount of light from the windows above his bed, he can see her shake her head. He sits up and moves closer to the edge of the bed. "Jade, what's wrong?" He can see her chest rapidly rising and falling. He thinks maybe she's having a panic attack. He slides off the bed and kneels in front of her. She's holding her head in her hands preventing him from seeing her face, so he gently takes her hands in his and pulls them away. Now that he can see her face, he can make out the tear tracks. "Did you have a nightmare?"

Jade shakes her head. "I'm sorry," she croaks.

"No, no. Don't be sorry." He doesn't know what to do. This has never happened before. "What's wrong?"

She shakes her head again and her breathing gets faster. Beck tries to ignore his fear that she'll pass out. "I can't breathe," she raps out.

"Okay. Okay," Beck mutters. He gives her hands a squeeze before laying them flat against his chest, right above his heart. "Keep your eyes on me." He takes a deep breath and holds it for a few seconds before letting it out.

After a few minutes of her trying to match his breathing, he's not worried she's going to pass out. However, she still can't take a deep breath. "We're going to go outside, okay?" He can't imagine this small, stuffy RV is helping anything, so they might as well try outside. She nods her head, but it seems disjointed.

He helps her stand up and walk over to the door. The door opens after a minute of fiddling with the handle and he helps her down the steps. She walks a couple feet ahead of him and collapses onto her knees, still fighting for air. He sits in front of her and tries to exaggerate his breathing again.

After twenty or so minutes, Jade's breathing has finally slowed down. It's not exactly even, but Beck will take what he can get. "Do you want to try to go back inside?" Jade shakily nods her head, so Beck helps her up. They take slow, but steady steps back to the RV. Jade collapses onto the bed immediately. Beck climbs in with her and hesitantly wraps his arm around her. "Is this okay?" She told him once in the heat of an argument that his arms around her and his skin against hers was suffocating. He learned later that it was dependent on her anxiety.

Jade nods and pulls his arm closer. "I love you," she whispers.

Beck kisses her shoulder. "It's going to be okay. I'm not going anywhere."