Jaded Eyes (Jori)

16: Three of Each

"Don't"

"Whatever your brain is telling you, ignore it. Please."

Tori had just got done crying, and now Jade says this. How she had tears left to cry, was beyond her.

Jade sat down next to her and let Tori sob into her chest. Tori's uneven breathing made Jade alarmed, but she knew that in this moment uneven breathing was permitted. Jade ran her fingers through the long strands of Tori's hair, and softly caressed her head.

Gentle. Still. Unmoving.

Tori gulps in air as best as she could trying so hard to breathe.

"Breathe with my hand," Jade spoke softly into Tori's ear.

Jade's hand went down Tori's back and Tori breathed out. When Jade went up, Tori breathed in. Slowly guiding her hand along the spine of the unstable girl.

Tori's breathing evened out. Now, her nose and eyes were problems. So stuffy from crying and her eyes were drying from the salt in each tear. Tori pulled down her sleeve over her hand, and started to reach up to dry her eyes.

Jade beat her to it.

Jade guided her four fingers beneath Tori's ear and her thumb was left to wipe each fallen tear. Jade's face was closer than it was at the library table.

Eye contact was not quite met as Jade was looking at the lines the tears had made on her cheeks, but it was more intimate than Tori was comfortable with.

If this had occurred under any other circumstances, Tori would've kissed Jade. Again. But, she has Beck and she couldn't compare.

Jade, however, didn't give a fuck about the circumstances and leaned in fast.

Too fast.

She completely missed Tori's lips and instead kissed her eye. Mortified, Jade leans back to rest on her hands.

Tori just giggles and leans back in to connect their lips.

The butterflies in each girls' stomach were massive, and had too much energy to bear. Jade's hands quickly find the back of Tori's neck and pull her in closer.

Tori's arms wrap around Jade's waist.

Tori slows the kiss and breathes out, "Beck..."

"Shut up."

Jade pulls her back into her lips wanting to show her every ounce of her feelings. She has never felt this way before. Never felt this emotion of complete bliss yet absolute terror. These emotions swirl into one, like a large ice cream cone mixed with each flavor satisfyingly balanced.

Tori could feel everything Jade was thinking and vice versa. The utter rawness between them was extraordinarily calm. It felt like every single pair of opposite words at once just colliding into battle.

Soft, but rough.
Warm, but cool.
Fast, but loving.

Each kiss was a whole paragraph of words wanting so desperately to be spoken, yet the need for verbal communication was scarce.

Finally, Jade pulled away, out of breath. What could she say?

Tori had no words as well, and instead let her forehead linger against the aggressor's. Jade was a passionate person. It only makes sense that her love was passionate as well.

"So... now what?" Tori spoke first.

"Well, Cat brought a picnic basket. Wanna steal it?" Jade suggests.

"Wait, Cat's here?"

—

"You drink it just like water! You say it taste like candy!" Cat screams from inside the car, louder than the radio.

—

"Yeah, she drove me here."

"And she brought a picnic basket full of food?"

"Yeah, I think she thought me and her we're gonna be hiking these trails."

Tori lets out a laugh. "Wait a minute. How'd you know I was here? I didn't tell anyone."

"I saw your insta post. This is my favorite spot when I need to release my emotions. I recognized the lake immediately." Jade spoke, a little nervous because now that she says her actions out loud, they seem a little creepy.

Tori just thought it was sweet. "You don't follow me on Instagram. Were you stalking my page?"

"Absolutely not! I would never do something that violated the privacy of-"

Tori cuts her off with a quick peck.

"That's sweet. Creepy, for sure, but I'm glad you did it. So, what about this basket?"

"I'm thinking we sneak down to the parking lot and open the back door, snatch it, and run."

"I'm in."

—

Jade and Tori are now crouched behind Cat's car. Jade turns to Tori and motions for her to distract Cat.

Tori walks over to the driver's window and knocks on the door.

"AHHH!! Don't do that, I could've gone nonconscious! What do you want?" Cat says, annoyed.

"I was just wondering if-" Tori abruptly stops once she hears Jade yell.

"RUN!"

Tori took off after Jade, who was a much faster runner than she would've thought. Once she caught up with her, they kept running until the reached the ledge again.

Jade sets down the basket, and sits herself down as well. Tori follows suit, but with a bit more heavy breathing.

"Let's eat!"

"How are you not exhausted from that?" Tori questions between breaths.

"I work out." Jade nonchalantly replies.

"Well that explains it." Tori responds with a laugh.

Jade opens up the basket, and finds three ham and cheddar cheese sandwiches, three bottles of water, and three sets of plastic silverware.

"Why would she bring three of everything  if she thought it was just you and her coming here?" Tori asks.

Jade ponders for a moment. "She knew. She knew you were here. Somehow, she knew before I even got in the car." Jade says, amazed by the attention to detail that her little friend could have.

"Now I feel bad for taking the basket." Tori says with guilt behind her tongue.

"Do you wanna go grab her? Bring her back, and have her eat with us here?" Jade questions.

"I do. Let's go."

—

"So you really though you guys could just do that and everything would be fine?" Cat snaps at the two girls sitting very close to each other.

"Well... yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what we thought." Jade answers.

"I'm so sorry, Cat" Tori apologizes. "We just wanted to play a prank on you."

"Stealing food is never a prank." Cat retorts.

"Totally fair. Ham and cheese sandwich?"

"Well I did make them, now didn't I?" Cat snatches the offered sandwich from Tori's hand.

Jade and Tori give each other a look that would be impossible for a third wheel to miss.

"I knew it! I knew it! I knew y'all would happen!!" Cat exclaims.

Tori just blushes while Jade bites into the sandwich and says, "I have no idea what you're talking about."