Beck Oliver hated parties. Really he did, but he supposed being a Hollywood Arts socialite meant he was expected to make an appearance at one every so often. It hadn't been that bad when he was dating Jade. She enjoyed parties enough for the both of them, and tipsy Jade was oddly affectionate. Sadly, he hadn't seen affectionate Jade for a very long time. In fact, Jade had shifted from exhibiting utter loathing directed towards him, to complete indifference. Beck wasn't sure which one was worse.
"You really hurt her, Beck." Cat had desolately explained when he had once complained to her about Jade's apparent disinterest in him. "She's trying to get over you."
That had really sucked. Beck didn't want Jade to get over him. Heck, he couldn't even go one minute without thinking of her. Tori had suggested he try going out with other girls (tried it, didn't work), Robbie had suggested he get involved with more school activities (Jade was the creative one), Andre had just sighed bemusedly and told Beck to join him at a party on Friday night.
So that is why Beck finds himself at 11:00pm in Northridge at a house party of some guy he doesn't even know. Turns out this guy was a big deal at his school, and 'anyone who's anyone' was going to be there. Consequently, Beck shouldn't have found himself so surprised when the front door swung open and Jade strutted in, followed by a giggling Cat.
Cat squeals excitedly as she immediately spots the boys, tugging on Jade's arm to look over at them.
Jade's eyes finally meet Beck's. She scowls and flips him off before making a beeline for the drinks table.
Beck has to hold in a groan as he watches her go. Jade was wearing possibly the shortest skirt he'd ever seen her in. He thinks he might have seen it once on Cat before which could possibly explain its indecent length. Thankfully she had on sheer black stockings, probably because it was basically minus 1000 outside. The worst (best) part of her outfit was the low-cut red midriff Jade had on. Red. She hardly wore colours.
Beck excuses himself from Cat and Andre's presence and slumps over to the corner of the room, wanting to watch Jade without being disturbed. He was perfectly content to stalk his ex-girlfriend from afar, watching her down drink and after from those horrible, plastic, red cups, and dance loosely with a few strangers (since when did she let other people touch her?).
At one point in the night she disappears from his sight, and Beck's left to brood silently. Andre finally joins him on the couch.
"You're a buzz kill," Andre informs him with a roll of his eyes. "Are you seriously just going to sit here all night? I brought you here to have fun. Go mingle."
"I don't want to mingle." Beck pouts.
The pair sit in silence for a second till Beck is unable to restrain himself and cries,
"Jade was wearing red, man. RED."
Andre cracks up.
"Yeah, I saw."
"Do you know where she is right now?" Beck inquiries.
Andre's smile fades to a frown.
"Yeah. She was in the kitchen mixing drinks."
Andre glances around nervously, almost scared that Jade would viciously appear with a fork knife to destroy him on the spot before continuing, "Look Beck, she seems kind of out of it. Cat mentioned something about Jade being on a dangerous path to self-destruction since you guys, yunno, broke up. I think she needs to go home."
Beck's confused by Andre's words, then considers how many drinks he had witnessed Jade down in the last hour. Quickly he stands up (Andre follows from afar), and strides towards the kitchen where the first sight he witnesses is Jade throwing her head back and downing a shot of vodka. She then looks at her empty shot glass, shrugs, pours herself another, and downs it in one gulp. Beck winces.
