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Jade noticed Tori sitting alone in the front row of the Blackbox theater. None of their other friends had arrived yet, so Jade decided to take the opportunity. Sikowitz had planned a lesson involving body language today and needed lots of space. Jade was eager for class, for once, knowing exactly the effect her own body language could have on Tori.
“Hi,” Jade offered indifferently, approaching the other. Tori flinched in her chair, turning to see the blue eyes of the other already studying her.
“Oh, hey Jade,” Tori’s voice sounded with hesitation. She eyed the broody girl as she sat down in the seat next to where she was. “Uhh—“
“What?” Jade asked, holding the vowel as the pitch of her voice rose and fell quickly. This was her similar technique when mocking how Tori speaks.
Brown eyes glanced to the floor, suddenly too afraid of looking into Jade’s any longer. “Uh, well you usually sit next to—“
“I want to sit next to you ,” Jade almost whispered, leaning in slightly. As soon as her hand gripped Tori’s thigh, a gasp escaped Tori’s mouth. Jade was expecting a frightened gasp, not a questionable one. She glanced up at Tori’s face to find the older girl’s lips slightly parted, and a vertical line rising up her head between her eyebrows. Both equally surprised at the event, Jade snapped her hand away while scowling at Tori, who was still staring at the spot Jade had touched her in. Jade’s eyes watched define collarbones as Tori’s chest rose and fell, clearly giving away her heavy breathing as her lips pressed together in a thin line.
“Um, I—“
The pale girl interrupted. “Did you... like th-“
“No! You scared me,” Tori interrupted, whispering as if it would hide the undeniable reaction she had to Jade’s digits brushing against the warm skin of her inner thigh.
Jade smirked, “Sounded like you liked it, Vega-“
“Stop!” Tori’s whining voice surfaced, having a similar effect on Jade as her fingers closing around the other’s leg had on Tori.
A voice from behind them broke the tension. “How come every time I’m going to pair you two together you’re already fighting!”
Sikowitz appeared on stage, crossing his arms and furrowing his brow at the two. Tori was furious at Jade, how she had to make everything awkward and suggestive all the time. She almost wondered if Jade enjoyed knowing if Tori had liked that.
“No. Don’t pair us. Why do you keep doing this to me?” Jade spoke through her teeth.
The teacher grinned and crossed his arms. “If you can convince me you two love each other by acting, you’d be the best actresses this school has ever seen.”
Tori’s eyes sparkled as she fixed her posture. “Really?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “No, but you’d be pretty darn close.”
Jade scoffed, pushing her knees apart and leaning back in her chair. “That’s easy.”
Tori winced as she turned to her partner, “Oh, I don’t know-“
“Trust me,” she urged with a low and gravelly voice.
Tori sighed as she crossed her legs and folded her arms across her stomach. Beck sat on the other side of Tori, giving her a shoulder a nudge as he said hi. Jade rolled and crossed her eyes as her cheeks puffed, letting out a long exhale. She wanted to claim Tori, barking Leave her alone , but had gotten pretty good at biting her tongue around the rest of their friends by now.
“There’s the bell! Tori and Jade, you’re up!”
Both girls grunted and stood from their seats lazily and made their way to the stage. Jade cracked her knuckles, prompting an eye roll from Tori.
Sikowitz began with a scenario. “You two are a young married couple living alone on a farm. who just saw your lives flash before your eyes after surviving what would have been a fatal horse accident-“
“ Horse accident?” Jade grunted.
Tori wasn’t concerned with that part. “Couple? Seriously, what’s with all of these couple prompts-”
“SHUSH! Your horse was spooked by something. The scene begins after you have stopped the horse from rearing. You hop off and demonstrate relief and kindness after realizing you could have both suffered severe injury.”
Tori threw her head back and groaned. Jade was distracted by a sound escaping Tori’s mouth for a second time today. “Is this really the best scenario you could have thought up?”
“SHUSH! Strike two. The key is convincing body language. You know, a warm embrace, fondling each other’s face. All things I’m sure you two have shared—“
Tori’s scoffing interrupted him as she remembered every situation Jade has hurt her in all at once. “Not quite—“
“STRIKE THREE! Zip it, Tori-“
“But, I just-“ a raised eyebrow from Sikowitz got Tori to shut her mouth before he continued.
“This is not a scenario where you can rely on dialogue to save you. So, no more chatter, the horse is rearing as we speak!” Sikowitz scurried awkwardly back to his seat with his coconut. Cat giggled from the audience after attempting a horse noise.
Tori led Jade to a bench on the stage and sat facing stage right, one leg on each side of the bench.
“Um… now what?”
Sikowitz ripped his lips from the straw in his coconut. “ACTION!”
Jade reached her hands out frantically and wrapped around Tori’s neck. Tori shrieked as Jade’s fingers crushed her windpipes.
“Oh my God! Are you okay!?”
Tori wanted nothing more than to turn around and smack Jade across the face, but remembered back to the time when she didn’t break character longer than anybody else. She didn’t want to falter on that title now. “Yes, but please let go, you’re hurting me.”
“Oh, sorry darling,” Jade exhaled while finally releasing her hands.
Tori felt warmth burning on her cheeks and hoped any blushing wasn’t obvious. She turned to throw both legs over the same side of the bench. “Come on, let me help you down,” she said between deep breaths.
Placing both hands on Jade’s hips caused a peculiar sound from her. Tori froze, now hesitating with her hands and easing off her touch. That was the exact same breathy noise that she had made when Jade touched her thigh, she realized. Now, she might understand a bit better why Jade reacted how she did. Am I reading into it? Am I only interpreting it like this because Jade did? Did she do it on purpose so I would think this way?
Tori quickly debunked the last question in her head, realizing if Jade hadn’t authentically reacted, she would have smirked in her signature way. Instead, Tori was staring at wide eyes, and absolutely no sign of amusement written across her face.
“What happened? I thought I was going to fall and hit my head!” Jade snapped them both back into the moment after a few seconds of silence. Something about her vulnerable voice made Tori’s heart flutter. The stage was the only place she heard a non-threatening sounding voice from Jade; with a protagonist character, all of her inflections and voices were this clear, alluring, sing-songy stage voice being Tori’s favorite.
Perhaps this new tone got the best of her emotions, because Tori pulled Jade in for a sincerely tight hug before responding to her question. Sikowitz gasped silently in the background. Jade sighed into the other, letting her shoulders fall in relief. Realizing there was another moment of silence, Tori tapped back into her own mind while realizing one of her hands was slowly running down Jade’s back along her soft hair.
“I think the thunder scared her, that’s all. I’m really sorry-”
Jade pulled away quickly and aggressively. “Well, if you had only given me a helmet to wear maybe I wouldn’t have almost died!”
Tori looked down, cursing Jade for turning this into a fight when it was supposed to be a heartfelt scene. So much for the sweet voice. “ I have never had a problem with Dale, you know that,” Tori pleaded, reaching for Jade’s arm. She used her other hand to bring one of Jade’s into her own. “She calmed down eventually. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Jade smiled, bringing her body closer to Tori’s again. She rested her head on Tori’s shoulder, sighing again, her hand still wrapped in the other’s. “You’ve always known how to make sure I end up safe at the end of the day.”
Tori’s heart stopped as her vision went black, almost like tunnel vision. Most of the room had seemed to go dark after Jade had spoken that sentence. What she failed to sort out in the two seconds between dialogue was how those words had such pull on her heart strings when Tori knew damn well that Jade would never truly feel that way about her. She would say something completely opposite of that and shatter her heart for the millionth time. Jade would continue to enjoy the company of every person on the planet more than Tori’s, despite how much Tori really did wish to be the reason Jade felt safe in every aspect.
What seemed like two seconds to Tori was a long, terribly uncomfortable ten seconds in reality. Noticing something was misshapen with Tori, Jade gave Tori’s hands a squeeze to keep the dialogue going.
Snapping herself back yet again, Tori looked into Jade’s eyes after several seconds of burning a hole through the side exit door with her still eyes. Somehow, those deep blue ethereal eyes were still calm, even loving.
“... And I always will,” Tori finally managed, her voice shaky and soft.
She couldn’t stop herself from what happened next. Tori was fully immersed in the scene, her own revealing emotions, and did not even think twice about it. She had no time to think before pressing her lips to Jade’s forehead and feeling the girl shift below her.
Little did Tori know, Jade was melting as every inch of her body caught fire.
There was a sniffle, followed by small sobs sounding from the back row. Everyone turned, even Jade who was holding back tears, and Tori who had the sudden urge to Jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.
Sikowitz began clapping after wiping tears from his eyes. “Tori Vega! You went so far as to even kiss this- this terrifying creature on the head!”
Jade aggressively let go of Tori’s hands and resorted back to her default cold and uninterested face. She didn’t mind when friends said she was terrifying, but absolutely hated it when teachers did. They’re already authoritative over her, they don’t need to point out what they saw as invalid in front of her and everyone else.
Tori’s heart fell, her mind scrambling to punish itself for how it could have possibly caused this to happen. As Jade reacted to Sikowitz, Tori read the other’s angry body language as something she had caused herself.
Cat giggled, which ultimately broke the tension in the room after Sikowitz’s strange meltdown. “You’re so sweet, Tori!”
Unable to respond, her eyes hit the floor as she ran out the double doors. She wasn’t going to sit next to Jade again, not after that.
“Where is the wonderful actress going!?” Sikowitz hopped out of her chair.
Jade was already on top of the situation. “I got it,” she called back to her emotional teacher. She grabbed her water bottle in her backpack before pushing out the door Tori flew through seconds ago.
Her recent acting partner was sitting on the floor below her locker, knees up to her head as her arms rested on top. Her face pressed into her arms as she counted - breathing in for four, out for seven. Jade waited a moment to listen for crying, but didn’t hear anything. Knowing she could potentially startle the girl, Jade took stronger footsteps so Tori would hear her before she was too close.
Tori’s head snapped up, as expected. “Fuck-“
“Tori Vega,” Jade began as she began to sit down next to the other. “Did I just hear you swear?”
She sighed and took the water bottle Jade offered her. “Yes, you did. I only do when I am very angry.”
Jade scowled as she watched Tori take a sip. “Why are you angry?”
“I’m angry with myself ! What the hell did I just do?” Tori wasn’t sure why she was comfortable talking through this with the girl whose forehead she just kissed.
Jade shrugged. “Exactly what Sikowitz told you to do. Why are you so upset?”
Brown eyes revealed themselves again to Jade’s, who for once, was giving Tori her undivided attention. The brunette couldn’t even find the answer to that question herself. “I was scared that you would be mad at me.”
With a scowl on her face, Jade stood up and held her hand out. “I’m not.” She stuck her hand out for Tori to take. As Tori slowly slipped her hand into Jade’s, she imagined how the warmth of her skin melted the other’s cool digits.
“That doesn’t make any fucking sense. Why aren’t you-” Tori grumbled once she was standing. Her words were interrupted by the warmth of Jade’s lips on her cheek. Tori made another sound, slightly different than what had happened during the thigh-touching incident. A louder gasp, this time actually voiced instead of a breathy whisper. The kiss was brief, allowing Tori some time to remain calm as best as she possibly could. Since she first met this girl, all Tori wanted was for Jade to be nice to her. She didn’t think she would jump from being food poisoned to forehead and cheek kisses with her in three week’s time. She also didn’t understand why both ends made Tori equally upset.
“It’s not a big deal,” Jade whispered after pulling back. She smiled warmly and squeezed Tori’s hand that she hadn’t let go of. “If I had known it would upset you this much I would have started doing this a looong time ago.”
For the first time, Tori appreciated and smiled at a rude comment from Jade West.