Imprisoned Love

Imperfections

Jade's POV:

Things are getting way too confusing right now. I keep telling myself that I love Beck, and he's the perfect guy for me, but a part of my mind is always focused on Vega. When I first thought of my plan, I thought it was perfect, as there's no way in hell I would ever fall for Vega.. but now I'm really starting to regret getting closer to her. She's just so beautiful, and her smile makes me feel so warm inside. We've only been going out for a week, and I'm already head over heels for this girl.

Pathetic.

It didn't take me long to realise that I was slowly falling for Vega. As much as I tried to deny it at first, my feelings were only growing stronger. There was a time where I hated Vega's voice soo much that it made me wanna slam my tongue in a car door.. but now, her voice is so soothing and I never want her to shut up. I used to hate guys who treated Vega well because I never wanted to see her happy.. but now, I hate guys who treat her well, because I'm scared she'll leave me for someone better. And most of all, I can't believe I've never noticed how attractive Tori is. Her long, wavy brown hair flows perfectly down her shoulders, her high cheekbones that blush a deep red when she's nervous or flustered, and her lips.. her soft, cherry lips. I could kiss them forever. Her chocolate brown eyes that light up like a kid on Christmas day, and her warm, welcoming smile that makes me feel like a hormonal teenage boy.

Ughh. She's got me whipped.

I'm in deep thought all throughout the car ride home from the beach. Vega goes straight to my room, and plops herself onto my bed. She looks so relieved and happy, and I smile at her.

"You look happy" I say, and take off my boots to lie down next to her.

She thanks me for getting along with Ryan, and I apologise again.

I swear, I'm apologising waayy too much lately.

As we talk, I can't help but to stare down at Vega's lips.. I really want to kiss her right now.

Jade! You love Beck, and he loves you. Stop confusing yourself by getting close with Vega.

She bites her lips, and I quickly get up and away from her, telling her that we should go down for dinner. Vega tries to hold my hand as we go downstairs, but I refuse to hold hers. I can't keep leading myself on like this. I gotta start distancing myself from her. We can act in school, but we don't need to when we're alone. When we get to the dinner table, I force myself to never look up at Vega, and I even sit far away from her at the table. I can feel her stare burning the side of my head.. but I still don't pay attention to her. As much as I really want to..

I'm not even that hungry anymore. All of this confusion between Beck and Vega has made me lose my appetite. Vega, Tyler and my mom are engrossed in their conversation, and I'm stuck thinking about how much I like both Vega and Beck. Vega told me that Beck still has feelings for me, and if Vega and I keep flirting when we're around him, he's bound to ask me out sooner or later. But, what if I don't want to be with him anymore? What if I'm bored of our relationship? I mean he's a great guy, really.. but.. I dunno.. I guess I just don't feel the same feelings as I used to towards him.. but maybe it's just because I'm away from him at the moment. Maybe..

UGHH. What the f**k is happening to me?

"Jade?" Crystal calls, with a concerned look and I realise I zoned out lost in my thoughts. I look over at Vega and see her beautiful, worry-filled eyes. I quickly look away and get up off my chair.

You can't feel like this towards Vega, Jade. She's Tori freaking Vega! The girl you hate.

But I don't think I really hate her anymore..

Jade!

I shake my head from the thoughts, and quickly get out of the kitchen, and run up to my room. I can't be in the same room as her, or else I'll fall for her. Ugh. What the f**k have I gotten myself into?

I decide to go outside to my balcony so that I can breathe in the fresh air, and clear my head. I'm sure I'm just overreacting. The thing with Vega, it's probably just some small crush.. I'll get over it. I just gotta focus on getting Beck back quicker so that I don't have to be around Vega for much longer. We can go back to the way things were.. when I was with Beck, and I hated Vega..

But I don't hate Vega.. I like her, and not as a friend.

Fuck.

I hear timid footsteps, and I sigh, knowing it's the very girl I have a tiny crush on. I really don't wanna talk to her right now. Mostly because, I don't even know how I'm feeling, and I don't think I can lie to Vega. I really just need space and time, so I ask her for it. She looked pretty upset by it, but when I said please, she nodded her head. The hardest part was when she leaned in to peck my lips, and I had to force my head to turn so that she'd kiss my cheek instead. I know that a simple peck could turn into a make out session, and right now, it wouldn't be the best idea to be making out with Vega.

Thankfully, she really does give me space for about an hour, and I try to think about everything. I realise that it's pointless to think about stuff here, so I decide to grab a leather jacket, and go to 'my spot'. It's my thinking place, and I usually go there when I need to escape the reality, and just let go of everything. When I go downstairs to tell my mom, Vega perks up, but I don't look at her. I really want to talk to her.. but I can't. Not yet.

I stuff my hands in my pocket, and start walking towards the woods. I walk up the steep hill, and use my flashlight to see where I'm going as it's gotten pretty dark now. When I finally reach my spot, at the top of the hill, where there's no trees, or bushes, just plain grass, I lie down. I place my linked hands underneath my head, and I look up at the stars, as I breathe in the cool breeze.

I've been going out with Beck for about a year now.. he's always been the one that could comfort me, and sometimes make me less mad. He's the hottest guy in school, yet he's so loyal. My previous ex was also the hottest guy of my old school.. but he.. well he wasn't so loyal. And that's why I was so scared to date Beck. Girls are constantly swarmed around him. Girls who aren't as complicated as me. But he never even bothered to pay attention to them.. because his eyes were always on me. He knew abut my ex, and he never once broke his promise. He promised me, on our first date, that he would never cheat on me, no matter what the circumstances. I obviously didn't believe him and scoffed at him. But he proved otherwise. As much as I doubted him, he really never did break his promise. He's just.. amazing, and I f****d everything up by dumping him.

And now look what's happened. I choose Vega to be my fake girlfriend, mostly because I knew that she's the most annoying girl I know, and that I'd never fall for someone like her. But as I get to know her more, she makes me feel these emotions, that I've never felt before.. not even for Beck. At first, I thought I could make her do everything I say, so I cut her to show her who's boss.. but Vega didn't do anything. She didn't even shout at me. All she did, was comfort me, and change me. And Jade West does not change for anyone.

Ughh.

I lay down, thinking for a while until I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and I take it out to see that it's Vega asking if I'm okay. She's so sweet when she's concerned about me. Beck usually never bothers asking, since he knows that I won't reply, and plus he's sick of me shouting at him and blaming him for everything. But Vega doesn't seem to give a s**t about all of that. All she cares about, is seeing if I'm okay. I slightly smile, and decide that I should probably start getting back home.

After all that thinking, I realise I'm no closer to a solution as I was before. It's all just too confusing at the moment. Maybe, I just need some time, and this whole Vega crush will slowly disappear. Beck was always the one. I just gotta keep telling myself that, and I need to keep some distance away from Vega, which is gonna be pretty impossible considering that we're supposedly girlfriends right now.

I open the front door, and quietly make my way upstairs. When I reach my room, I see Vega cuddled up under the covers. She looks so peaceful and beautiful right now..

Jade..

I get changed into my pyjamas and get under the covers. Vega's on her side, curled up into a little ball, and I can't help but to smile at her cuteness. I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, and cup her cheek.

"Oh Tori. You're making me so confused right now, without even trying." I sigh, and kiss her forehead, before turning around and shutting my eyes.

Chiz. What am I gonna tell her tomorrow morning?

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I wake up to a shift in the bed, and I turn around to see Vega trying to get out of bed, which is pretty hard to do as I'm cuddled into her side.

"Sorry." she whispers, sheepishly.

I sit up and smile at her.

Since when did I smile this early?

"What time is it?" I ask her, and she checks her phone.

"Eight" she says, and I groan, dropping my head back into my pillow. She tries to get up, but I don't let her as I clutch onto her side.

"It's Sunday. Can't we just stay in bed all day." I ask her, and she chuckles.

"C'mon Jade. We need to have breakfast" she tells me, trying to get up again, but I hold her tighter. She struggles for a while before finally giving up, and getting under the covers again. I smirk in victory, and hold her close, as she plays with a strand of my hair.

After some silence, Vega breaks it by speaking out her thoughts.

"Jade.. about yesterday.." she starts, and I sigh, knowing this conversation is bound to happen sooner or later. She sits up, leaning against the headboard, and I do the same, looking into her eyes.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I just want you to know that I'll always listen to your side of things, and try to understand. I get it if you want to break up with me and-"

"Woah, wait a sec. Why would you think that I want to break up with you?" I interrupt her, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't you hate me?" Vega asks, and I almost laugh at how wrong she is.

It's the complete opposite, Vega.

"Hate is a pretty strong word Vega" I tell her with a smirk, but she still seems pretty confused.

"But yesterday.. you didn't want me around and.. I guess, I just thought you wanted to break up with me so that you can get back together with Beck.." she says sadly, and I melt at her sweet tone.

"Vega" I say, lifting up her chin. "I just needed space to think about some things. I don't hate you, Tori. I used to, but definitely not anymore" I tell her sincerely, and her mood lightens up in an instant.

She's so cute.

"Is that what you were worried about?" I ask her, and she nods. I smile at her shyness, and I cup her cheek. "Sorry Vega, but you're stuck with me for a little while longer" I joke, and she laughs.

Ah. That laugh is music to my ears.

"So whatcha wanna do today?" she asks, sounding more like her cheery self. I think about it, and an idea pops up into my head.

"Ooo, there's a nice restaurant nearby. We could go there if you want." I tell her, biting my lip slightly.

"Aww, is the big bad Jade West asking me out on a date?" she jokes, playfully elbowing me.

"Maybe she is" I boldly say, and she stops smirking and starts to blush. And then I burst out laughing. That was quick to make her nervous.

"Shut up" she says, throwing a pillow at me. Quite hard actually.

Oh. It's on Vega.

I have a mischievous smirk on my face, as I grab a pillow. She's quick to know what I'm about to do so she quickly tries to run away from me, around the room.

"Vega! Come back here!" I laugh, as I chase her around the room with a pillow in my hand. She screams and jumps onto the bed, and grabs a pillow herself. We fight with our pillows for a while until I whack her legs hard, causing her to fall on my bed, and before she can get back up, I climb on top of her. I pin her arms over her head, and she's laughing the whole time.

God, I love that laugh.

Jade! I love Beck.. I love Beck..

Ugh. Why isn't that working anymore?

I stare down at a happy Vega underneath me, as she struggles to get free. Our faces are inches apart, and our chests are touching.

"Do you surrender, Vega?" I tease her, but she shakes her head with a smirk.

"Never!" she shouts with a smile, and I have to fight the urge to kiss her right now.

Beck's the one for me.. not Vega. But why do I feel like that's about to change..

I then remove my hands from her wrists, and tickle her waist. She squirms underneath me, and I can't help but to think about how her duey is rubbing up against mine.

Fuck. That feels good. Don't moan.. don't moan..

"Jade!.. Stop.. tickling.. me" Vega says in between laughs, as she tries to get me off of her, but I only press down further.

"Say that I'm the hottest person you know" I tell her with a smirk, as she keeps on laughing.

"Jade!" she says, while laughing, and I start to tickle all up her sides, and she looks as if she's about to piss herself coz she's laughing so much.

"Say it" I push, and she gives up after a while.

"Okay, okay! Jade, you're the.. hottest person I know" she says, and I stop tickling her, as I shoot her one of my proud looks.

"Gee thanks Tori. I guess I'm just so irresistible, aren't I?" I gloat, and she suddenly tackles me, catching me by surprise, and turns us around, so that now she's on top and I'm underneath. Her hair' falls over her left shoulder, and she starts to lean in dangerously closer. Our faces are millimetres apart, and then..

Her fingers find my sides, as she starts tickling me this time. Except, I don't have tickles, so I just stare at her with a triumphant look as she desperately tries to make me squirm and laugh underneath her. She gives up and glares at me.

"Ugh, you don't have tickles? That sucks." she pouts, and I laugh at her.

"Sorry babe." I tell her with a shrug, and she shakes her head with a smile. It goes quiet, and that's when we both realise the position we're in. Vega's on my thighs, and her face is really close to mine, so much so that our noses are practically touching. She's got her hands on my waist, and I've got mine on her back, as I balance her. She looks down at my lips very quickly before looking back up at my eyes.

Don't kiss her Jade. This is all just a stupid crush. You love Beck, remember?

Ugh. f**k it! I don't give a s**t at this point.. so I lean in closer and capture Vega's lips. She responds quickly as she squeezes my waist, letting her hands explore my sides. I run a hand through her hair, and I lick her lips to deepen the kiss. She grants it eventually, but not after a while of teasing first. Our tongues dance around, and we make out for a few minutes.

I can do this all day.

We finally pull away for air, and I expect her to look away nervously, but instead, she looks me into my eyes.

"We make a pretty believable couple, right?" she asks, and I smirk up at her, while nodding my head.

"A pretty cute couple" I say, and she smiles as she looks into my eyes, hers full of lust.

We stare into each other's eyes for a while longer, and then she starts to get off me.

"On second thoughts, I don't wanna go anywhere today." I tell her, pulling her back onto me. She stumbles and falls, surprised, and her boobs press up against mine, which almost causes me to get wet. She tries to get up a bit, but she ends up rubbing her boobs all over me.

Fuckk.

She then fixes her position as she straddles me.

"Cute. But we gotta go Jade" she says, but I grunt back at her. "C'mon, Jade" she pushes, and I shake my head at her, keeping my hands firmly on her back, not letting her go.

"Vegaa, I wanna stay here and make out some more" I tell her, and she blushes.

"But the restaurant.." she whines.

"Who cares about the stupid restaurant" I complain.

"I do. Pleaassee" she pouts, and I have to close my eyes so that my answer stays no. Her puppy dog eyes are probably gonna cause me to give in, so I'll just not look into her eyes. Simple. "Jade. I don't wanna do this again" she says, her tone deflating a little, but I still refuse to open my eyes. "Please.. I really wanna go on a proper date with you" she says, and my eyes open, as I see her blush profusely.

I raise an eyebrow at her, and she tries to cover it up quickly. "Chiz. I wasn't supposed to say that out loud" Vega says, as she hides her face in her hands. I have to try sooo hard not to laugh, coz honestly, it's just too cute.

"Aww, baby. That's so cuteee" I tease, and she mutters for me to shut up into her hands. I try to remove her hands away from her face, but she won't let go. "Okay, I'm sorry. Just look at me" I chuckle, but she still won't look at me. "If it makes you feel any better, then I really wanna go on a date with you too babe." I tell her, and she finally drops her hands, with a sigh.

"Ugh, that's so embarrassing" she says, and I smile at her.

"It's actually really cute" I tell her sincerely, and she rolls her eyes with a small smile.

"Yeah, but you're never gonna let this go, are you?"

"Not a chance in hell" I tell her, with a smirk. "Now c'mon. We should get ready" I say, and she gets off me, giving me a hand to help me up. I'm actually looking forward to taking Vega on a proper date this time. The last time I took her out, was after I showed her the screenshot, and she obviously wasn't too keen about it.

What about Beck? Don't mess everything up Jade.

One date with Vega can't change anything, right? It's only eating at a fancy restaurant together. What's the worst that could happen?

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Tori's POV:

After our pillow fight and intense make out session this morning, I finally get off of Jade. She goes to the bathroom real quick, and when she comes back, I go in. I sigh as I look up at my red face in the mirror.

You just had to sound desperate about going on a date with your fake girlfriend, didn't ya?

"Vega?" I hear Jade call from her room.

"Yeah?"

"I booked a reservation at 12." she shouts through the door, and I slightly smile at the thought of her putting effort into a fake date. I mean, we don't have to go out on a date. We're not exactly together, and no one's around us.. so does that mean Jade kinda likes me?

I shake my head at the thought. There's no way she likes me. She likes Beck.. no, loves. I can't compete with that. She hates me..

I splash my face with water, and walk out the door. Jade's on her bed, looking at her phone. As soon as she looks up at me, she gives me a small smile.

"Hey" I whisper, getting nervous all of a sudden.

Seriously, Tori? Hey?

She chuckles at me and pats the space on the bed beside her, to which I sit down quickly. She tucks some hair behind my ear.

God, I love it so much when she does that.

"Hey" she whispers back with a smile, looking deeply into my eyes. "You're really cute when you're nervous, you know?" she says, and I roll my eyes playfully.

"Yeah, right. You're probably gonna make fun of me for the rest of my life" I say, and she smirks.

"Well that's true.." she starts, and I smack her arm, to which she just laughs. "But what's also true.. is the fact that you look really cute when you're nervous" she says sincerely in a serious tone, and I gulp.

She doesn't like you Tori. She loves Beck.. not you.

"Thanks Jade" I mumble, getting a tiny bit sad at the thought of her getting back together with Beck. She notices it, and dips her eyebrows in confusion. I try to cover it up.

"So.. dress casual or fancy?" I ask, hoping she doesn't ask me about my sudden sad tone.

I can't help it. The thought of Jade going back to Beck makes me feel like a sad puppy.

Jade studies my face for a second, but then answers my question by saying fancy. I realise I've no fancy clothes with me.. only sweatpants and t-shirts.

"Need some clothes?" she voices my thoughts, and I nod gratefully as she passes me her purple shiny dress. "You can go take a shower if you want. I'll go after." she says, as she passes me the dress, and I nod. I grab a towel, and walk into the bathroom, starting to strip myself down.

As I'm in the shower, I start humming and singing to the song 'Gold', until I hear a knock at the door.

"Vega! I left my phone in there! Can I come and get it?" she shouts through the noise of the shower.

"Yeah!" I shout back, thankful that I didn't lock the door. I hear the door click open, and I can just about make out Jade's figure walk across the bathroom, through the shower curtain. I shrug, and go back to washing my hair, and singing, keeping my eyes closed. I thought Jade was gone, but her voice startles me when she speaks up.

"You have a lovely voice" she says, and I can practically hear her smirk.

I open the shower curtain a little, and pop out my head to smile at her.

"Thanks. You're still here?" I ask.

"I got distracted" is all she says, and then she starts to walk away. I finish up my shower, and wrap a towel around me. I'm towel drying my hair as I walk out the door, when..

"AGHHH!" Jade jumps up in front of me, from beside the door and I scream at the top of my lungs. Jade starts laughing and I put my hand to my chest.. and that's when I realise..

OH.. MY.. GOD..

My freaking towel fell when I jumped! I flush a bright red and freeze for a second before running back into the bathroom. I lock the door, and slide down it, bringing my knees up to my chest.

Jade.. just saw me naked..

"Vega?" I hear her soft voice, along with a small knock on the door. I don't open it obviously. I'm too embarrassed to look at her right now. She's probably gonna laugh at me, and tell the whole school about how my towel fell when she scared me. That's definitely something Jade West would do. She'd go out of her way just to make my life miserable.

Uggh. Can I just crawl under a rock and die.

I bang the back of my head against the door lightly shutting my eyes tight..

"Vega.. I'm sorry. I just wanted to scare you.." Jade quietly says.

Huh. She doesn't have a teasing tone.. Is she really sorry though?

I don't respond, and instead get up.

Man up Tori. She's your fake girlfriend.. I guess it's not the end of the world if she sees you naked. Besides, at least she's not laughing right now.

I take a deep breath, and slightly open the door, and extend my hand.

"Can I have my towel?" I ask her weakly, face still behind the door. I know she knows that I'm pretty upset about all of this, so hopefully she can just hand me the stupid towel and I can ignore her for the rest of the day until the shame is gone. I wait impatiently for the towel, but she doesn't hand it over, so I let out a frustrated sigh and show my face to her. I don't look into her eyes, instead I look down, at the towel that dropped.

Freaking towel that doesn't stay upright. Ugh.

"Vega.." Jade says, making me look back up at her, and I see that she has a slight smile on her face. Why the chiz is she smiling right now? Oh, right.. I dropped my towel and she's probably trying not to laugh. "What's wrong baby?" she asks, with a smug look on her face.

Is she freaking serious!? What's wrong!?

"Jade, I'm not in the mood, so just hand me the stupid towel!!" I scream at her, and she smirks.

"Jeez Vega, relax. I'm just messing with you. We're both girls, and we're technically girlfriends.. so you don't have to feel so embarrassed by it" she laughs, but deep down I know that this is her way of reassuring me. She hands me the towel, and I quickly shut the door to wrap it around myself. I walk out the bathroom, refusing to look at her face, still feeling really embarrassed and a tiny bit mad at her for scaring me in the first place.

I sit down on the bed, and bury my face into a pillow. I'm assuming Jade's gone to take a shower, but I realise she's still in the room when I hear her let out a sigh.

She walks towards me, and places her hand on my back, and I get up from the pillow, glaring at her a bit. Her face doesn't falter, and she just looks at me confused.

"Baby.. I said I was sorry" she says, and I narrow my eyes at her, flaring my nostrils. She just shoots her hands up in the air in mock surrender, and gets up to go to the bathroom. I bury my face back into the pillow and take a deep breath.

Jade's out of the shower pretty quick, and I don't bother looking up at her when she chuckles a little.

"You're still upset baby?" she asks, and I start to get mad at how casual she is about this.

"Jade. Just leave me alone!" I shout at her, through the pillow, and she walks up to me to sit beside me. She places her hand on my arched back again, and she rubs small circles on it.

"What about the reservation?" she asks. Ugh. I forgot about our date.

"I don't wanna go anymore" I whine, and she pats my back softly. I thought she was gonna be a little mad at me, but I guess not.

"Babe, just look at me" she simply says, and I decide to remove my face from the pillow and look into her eyes. She cups both my cheeks with her hands, and she leans in so that our foreheads are touching. "You don't have to feel embarrassed about being naked in front of me Tori. I'm not gonna laugh at you or tease you. You're my girlfriend, and girlfriends are comfortable around each other, right?" she says, and I weakly nod my head. I only notice now that Jade's in a towel as well, since she did just come out of the shower. I don't even realise that I was checking her out, until I look up at her face to see a smirk planted on her beautiful lips.

"Like what ya see, Vega?" she asks, smugly, and I quickly look away from her.

"Promise me you won't ever speak of this again" I finally speak up. She smiles widely, and nods before promising me. She then leans in to peck my lips and I make sure to pull away this time, just so that we don't end up making out again.

However, I wouldn't mind it..

I'm about to get up to get changed, but then Jade pulls me back down and brings her lips to my ear.

"For real though.. you have a banging body, babe" she whispers into my ear, and I blush a bright red and playfully smack her away. She shrugs and says, "What? It's true" and I laugh at her, while getting up to grab my dress from the desk.

"Whatever weirdo. I'm gonna go get changed" I tell her, and go to the bathroom. I change into Jade's purple dress, and smile one last time when I admire myself in the mirror. The dress smells so much like Jade, and I love it..

Stop being weird Tori.

I return to the room, and see that Jade's putting on some make up at her desk. She sees me through the mirror, and automatically stops applying her mascara. She stares at me for a few seconds through the mirror, and I feel a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

"Like what ya see, Jade?" I repeat, and she blushes and goes back to her make up.

Wow. I made Jade West blush!

I sit down on the bed and see that it's almost 10. I go through i********: for a few minutes and then I get bored so I just look around the room. Jade's room is really big, but it's pretty plain at the same time. The walls are all white, and her bed has simple white covers. I honestly expected a lot more black.

"You okay, babe? You've gotten really quiet." Jade suddenly speaks up, and I see that she's almost finished with her make up.

I love it when she calls me pet names. It's so freaking sweet.

"Yeah, I was just looking around" I tell her.

She nods her head and goes back to her make up. I keep looking around until Jade's balcony catches my eye. I decide to get up and walk outside for some fresh air, and as I stand there, all of my thoughts seem to just fly away. It's so calming outside looking at the fields and watching the light waves at the lake. I take in a deep breath of the cool air, and close my eyes. I stand here for a few minutes, until I feel arms wrap around my waist, and a head on my shoulder. A smile instantly comes to my face as I lean back into her embrace.

"This is such a nice place to relax" I tell her in a soothing voice.

"It is. I usually come out here when I'm really mad or need some heavy alone time" she says, and my mind reels back to yesterday. I'm trying to give her space and not ask her about it, but I can't help but to be curious.

"So.." I start, and she hums into my neck, making me shiver a little. "Are you excited about getting back together with Beck?" I ask her, trying really hard to hide the sadness in my voice. She stays quiet for a second, and her grip loosens from my waist.

"I guess" she says unsurely, before gripping my waist again, tightly. I place my hands over hers to reassure her a little, but I can't help but to wish that this wasn't all fake. I wish she was actually hugging me because she liked me.

"Why'd you ask?" She says after a while of silence, and I gulp.

"Umm.. just wondering. Since we're probably not gonna be together for much longer coz I'm sure Beck still likes you" I say sadly, and I'm sure she picked up on it.

"Yeah" she says so quietly, that it nearly comes off as a whisper.

"Can I ask you a question?" I say timidly, wondering if I should ask her the question that's been playing on my mind for so long now.

"Sure" she says in a weak tone, and I spin around so that I can face her. I want to see her eyes when she answers my question. It's the only way that I can tell if she's telling the truth or not..

"Why.. did you pick me to be your fake girlfriend. I mean, yeah I know about the whole blackmail thing.. but there's so many other people that would do it.. so why me?" I ask her nervously, and she shuffles a bit, getting nervous herself.

"Umm.." she starts, and I take her hand and squeeze it in reassurance. I know she gets a bit more calm when I do it. "The real reason?" She asks me and I nod my head, never leaving her ocean blue eyes.

"I.. um.. picked you.. because I knew that you were the only person I'd never actually fall for during the whole plan. You were one of the most annoying people I knew, and it was easy since I had something on you." She says, trying to joke about it at the end, but I can feel my heart break. I drop her hand, and stare at her eyes, hoping that she's lying, but she's not. She's telling the truth..

Of course that's why she picked me. And here I am thinking that she actually liked me. But nope. She just hates me so much that she'll never ever like me. Why am I such an i***t sometimes!?

"O-Oh." I stutter, and she definitely sees the sadness in my face.

"Vega.." she says softly, but I brush her off. It's time I started controlling my emotions around her. Jade just proved to me that she never liked me. That she chose me because I'm someone who she wouldn't even consider dating. I'm just a piece of chiz in her eyes.

"We should- we should go downstairs" I sigh, and walk away from her despite her calling my name a bunch of times. Why must I be so chizzin' oblivious sometimes?

I walk downstairs, without waiting for Jade and see Crystal and Tyler already up. They're outside in the back garden playing some football. I hear Jade call my name again, and I practically run outside. I do not want to deal with her right now.. I just need some space for a few moments until I can recollect my thoughts, and come to the acceptance of Jade not liking me back.

"Morning guys!" I say chirpily, and they stop playing and greet me with smiles on their faces.

"So you're finally downstairs. We heard shouting and giggling coming from Jade's room. You guys are really loud." Crystal says with a wink, and Tyler giggles. My eyes widen at what they must have thought had happened.

"Oh, no! We were just having a pillow fight" I quickly say, and their mouths form an 'o' shape.

"Well that's way less fun" Tyler mutters, and Crystal playfully elbows him, to which I just laugh at.

"Vega, finally.." Jade pants, as she runs up to me. I can tell she's been looking everywhere for me. "Can we ju-"

"So Tyler, need a cheerleader to support your game?" I cut her off as I don't wanna even look at her after what she told me. Tyler nods brightly, but Crystal looks a bit suspicious at me cutting her off. I decide to act professionally, and continue our improv.

"You wanna join baby?" I ask Jade. It sounds endearing to Crystal or Tyler, but I know Jade knows that it's very much forced, and my smile isn't reaching my eyes. She doesn't answer my question, and instead pulls me roughly to a side.

"Vega, what the hell has gotten into you?" she whisper shouts, and I roll my eyes at her.

"Nothing babe." I say, emphasising 'babe' to make it sound so fake. She raises an eyebrow and is about to ask me again, but I run away from her hold. Thankfully, Jade doesn't try again, so she grunts and goes back inside. I notice Crystal looking a bit confused at that, but I try to just focus on Tyler for now. They play a couple of rounds, and I do my cheer that I did in like 8th grade.

"So Tori, why're you dressed up so nicely" Crystal asks.

"Oh, Jade's taking me out on a date at a fancy restaurant" I tell her, feeling pretty upset that it isn't even a real date. It's just her using me so that she can get back together with Beck.

"Aw that's sweet of her. She doesn't usually do much kind gestures." Crystal smiles, and I don't know what to feel anymore.

Ugh. Why is she killing me?

"Yeah.. it is. We actually should probably get going, since she booked a reservation at 12" I tell them, and they nod with smiles on their faces.

"Okay, have fun on your date!" Crystal calls, and I shoot her a quick smile before running back inside.

As I walk back inside, I realise that Jade's not downstairs. She must be in her room..

Okay Tori. Remember, no matter how sweet and pretty she is.. she will never like you and she said so herself.

After giving myself a harsh pep talk, I go up to her room. I knock on the door, and she doesn't respond so I walk in. She's sitting on her bed, with her face down, and she's looking sadder than ever.

Keep your acting professional Tori. You can be her friend, but nothing more than that when you're alone with her..

I timidly walk up to her, and sit beside her on her bed. Neither of us say anything, and she still hasn't looked up from her twiddling hands. I know I should probably say something, but honestly I don't even know what to say. I'm just too hurt to comfort her right now..

We stay like this for about 5 minutes, but I swear it felt like years. The only sound was coming from the ticking clock. I decide to sack up and just talk to her.

"Um.. we should probably be getting to the restaurant" I say, and she doesn't look up or say anything. Jeez, she looks pretty depressed right now. And all I did was ignore her for about an hour because she told me that she'd never fall for someone like me.

She stays quiet for a bit longer, and then I hear her take a deep breath. She stands up, and she looks into my eyes for the first time. As I look up into her eyes, I see the same conflicting emotions I saw yesterday. Confusion, hurt, sadness..

She goes to grab her bag and I do the same, until we both walk out the door, not even looking at each other.

This is gonna be a long date..