A Jori Story:Coffee Shop Confessions

Chapter 7

Tori stood under the shower,the scalding hot water caressing her skin and threatening to peel it off.She was numb inside.She walked out of the shower and got dressed,waiting for the others to come over.Her clock showed 10 minutes to 8 so she got downstairs and collapsed onto the sofa, staring up at the ceiling.She didn't try kissing Jade,that was a first.But all she could think about at that very moment was the smell of Jade's peppermint breath,her calming vanilla and mint scent.Her ocean-teal eyes.Those fucking gorgeous eyes.Tori didn't know how to react when Jade came over,that is,if Jade bothered to.

Her doorbell rang,shaking Tori out of whatever thoughts she was having.Standing up,she walked over to the door and yanked it open to see the entire gang standing there.They walked in one by one and sat down.Jade,however,walked in and acted like the fact they almost kissed was non-existent."Hey,Vega.Do you have a bathroom?"Tori was about to blurt out that she knew where the bathroom was when something in Jade's eyes told her she needed to talk to Tori, urgently."Sure.Follow me,"and Jade followed Tori upstairs.As soon as they got up there,Jade pushed Tori into her own room and latched the door quickly behind them.

"Jade what are you-,"but she didn't get to finish because Jade furiously whisper-shouted at Tori, cutting her off. "That didn't happen.Got it?"Tori felt her heart shattering silently in her chest but she nodded anyway."I never tried to kiss you.That never happened."Tori nodded again,clenching her fists to hold back oncoming tears,threatening to spill.Jade herself was in hysterics,not knowing what to do after she tried to kiss her friend,her queer friend,and telling her to forget whatever happened.Every second she stood there reminding Tori it never happened,she wanted even more to kiss the brunette."That didn't happen.It was in the heat of the moment and-"

"Yeah,Jade I fucking get that you're disgusted by the idea of kissing me now will you leave me the fuck alone?"Jade was a little taken by surprise at Tori's sudden outburst and the tone in her voice just made Jade want to wrap her arms around Tori even more.She stepped forward to comfort the brunette and saw heavy tears in Tori's eyes when she said,"Stop.Don't make it worse."She stopped in her tracks and turned around to leave the room with guilt overtaking every single emotion in her chest.Tori can't know how badly Jade longed for the Latina.God,Tori can't know about this.

When Jade left the room,Tori slid down the wall she was leaning against and buried her head in between her knees.She finally realized that Jade didn't like her back at all,not even a bit.And that little piece of information devastated her entire being.New waves of tears built up in her eyes and she sat sobbing in silence on the tile.She heard a knock at the door and opened it to see Andre standing there."What did Jade do to you?,"he asked,taking in Tori's leaky nose and puffy red eyes that refused to stop sending tears down her cheeks.

Andre walked in and shut the door quietly behind him."What happened,chica?"Tori said nothing and wiped the tears streaming down her face on her jacket sleeve.She promised herself she wouldn't tell anyone but Andre was her best friend and face it,she wasn't very good at keeping promises."Andre,I'm crushing on Jade."Andre's face went from disbelief to shock."Jade of all people?"He reached over and wrapped Tori in his arms."We almost kissed before you guys came but,my phone rang and she stopped cause she must have realized how 'gross' that would have been."

Andre rubbed Tori's back,comforting her."Jade doesn't think you're gross,Tori.She loves Beck and just doesn't wanna do anything that would hurt him."Tori nearly scoffed but had to hold in because she wasn't in the mood of explaining or covering up.Jade had bumped into Andre on the way down to the living room.She was suddenly set into worry mode of what Tori might have told him but didn't wanna say anything.Instead,she got downstairs and broke the casual banter going on with the loud click clack of her heels.She didn't mean to hurt Tori.Her intentions were to solely remind Tori that there were no feelings involved in the 'near-kiss'.