Stuck With Me [Victorious]

Gifts

December 24th.

Jade makes a quick and early Christmas Eve dinner for herself and Tori, and as soon as its over Tori's has her coat on and is out of the front door before Jade can even ask her how the meal was.

Jade does the dishes all by herself, and can't help but feel slightly rejected by Tori's quick departure. She washes the last of the soap suds off her arms and flops down on the coach, sorting through the CDs on the table in front of her and putting on one of Tori's favorite Christmas mixes.

Feeling slightly more comforted by the presence of something so Tori, Jade picks up her phone and starts calling her friends back in California. She starts with Sikowitz, wanting to be able to use the excuse that she has other people to call without lying to her old teacher. Jade always likes having a fallback plan in case Sikowitz starts rambling about coconuts.

She calls Beck next, offering him a somewhat short Merry Christmas, still remembering his violent denial when she'd first told him she was going out with Tori. Then Jade calls Andre, then Cat and Robbie, and even calls Tori's parents. Jade's forced to lie to all of them that Tori will call them later because she's out Christmas shopping, which, Jade thinks as she hangs up on Mr. Vega, is probably exactly what Tori's doing.

Realizing she should be working on her presents too, Jade vanishes into their bedroom and takes out the box of craft supplies she's using to make one of her gifts for Tori. She works on that: its a bracelet, and when its done, it should say Make It Shine, with the words Tori Vega in a smaller print just underneath it.

Jade's so caught up in making her little knots and beads that the sound of the lock on the door turning startles her into sliding off of the couch. Realizing that its definitely Tori coming home, Jade frantically tosses everything into the box and dashes into the bedroom, tossing it into the bottom of her closet. Running back into the living room, Jade tumbles over the back of the couch and lands on the cushions, taking a moment to arrange herself just as Tori swings the front door open.

"Hey, Jade... Are you playing Christmas music?"

Jade flushes and scrambles for the remote, turning it off.

Tori grins at the action, dropping her bags on the floor. "Sorry about running out earlier," Tori says. "Can I make it up to you with a movie? Is it too late for a movie? Jade, what time is it?"

Jade checks her watch and smirks. She clears her throat, and sings, "December twenty-forth, nine p.m., Eastern Standard Time. From here on in, I shoot without a script. See of anything-"

"Okay, okay Jade," Tori says, unravelling her scarf. "Do you want to watch Rent?"

Jade leaps out of her seat and gets the Rent DVD, but her mind's on a little box under a coat at the bottom of her closet, and a certain brunette.