Emotional Support

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When the credits rolled on the second episode in a row of the military crime drama Jade learned about from Tara, she got up to stretch and take their plates of TV dinner to the sink. Once she was out of sight, Tori sighed to herself and sat with her knees up to her chest, resigning herself to a mental conversation with herself. While she had actually been enjoying the show with Jade, something had been lingering on the back of her mind that the newfound silence was allowing her to focus on. This thought was something Tori had believed settled a long time ago, but lately, she was second-guessing herself a lot to the point that it wasn't as settled after all.

"Babe?" Tori called over to the kitchen after loosening her posture, "When you're done with the dishes, could we...talk for a minute?"

Jade turned toward her as she finished rinsing food crumbs off of her plate and set it on the drying rack. Her eyebrow raised curiously as she noticed Tori had a more serious tone of voice than usual. "Sure...just a sec." After wiping her hands dry, Jade joined Tori back on the couch, leaning her side against the cushion to face her girlfriend with a smile, "What's up, babe?"

Tori flashed a quick smile at Jade's sincere smile, then took a deep breath before phrasing her question, "First, I'm really sorry that this is sudden, but...when did you know you were bi, Jade?"

Jade blinked in surprise at the question, thinking it came out of nowhere, but cleared her throat as she thought of her answer, "Um...I'm not really sure, actually. I mean, no slight to you, but it was probably before I felt this way about you now. I just didn't feel a distinction when it came to people I found attractive; it didn't matter to me that they were a guy or a girl, because I still liked something about them that much. I couldn't tell you if it was while I was with Beck or before that, though. We were together for a long time, after all..."

Tori simply nodded to her answer, not even feeling slighted by how long Jade's last relationship was, and pulled her knees up to her chest again, wearing a frown.

"Where's this coming from, Tori?" Jade placed a hand on one of Tori's knees, out of concern, "I mean, I don't mind talking about it, but didn't you say you were okay with you being...queer?"

"'Queer'..." Tori scoffed at the word, "I think I'm just using that word as an excuse because I'm regretting calling myself a lesbian when I should probably be bi, like you, since I liked boys—even if they were all jerks in the end."

"Hey..." Jade moved in closer and pulled Tori toward her in a light hug, "Don't get so caught up in that. You're still figuring yourself out, and...maybe some things just aren't clear for you yet, but you'll get there someday!"

"When, though?!" Tori tore away from Jade, her tone rising from solemn to upset, "I didn't worry about it in the interview today because I focused on my music career, but what if my next interview's with a queer-focused magazine or something? What'll I say then? If I don't say anything, then they'll just make their own answers; like that I'm 'sort of a lesbian because all the guys I dated sucked, but this girl I'm dating now isn't a total trainwreck' or some chizz like that?"

"Tori!" Jade snapped, slightly offended by the remark, "That's not really what you think, is it?!"

"Wha...no! No, I didn't mean that! The lady at the magazine just said..." Tori came down from her tirade, realizing her mistake a little too late as she saw Jade get up from the couch, "Jade! I'm sorry!"

"Yeah, I hope you are!" Jade shook her head, turning away from Tori toward her bedroom door, "Look...I want to help you with this, because maybe I'm still figuring things out, too, but maybe I'm not the one you should talk to—at least, not right now."

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