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"Oh my god, is that a Hemsworth?" Trina craned her neck forward and wedged it in between the gap in the seat. "Quick, mom, what lot was he going to?"
"I don't know, honey," their mom shrugged, and turned around. "He disappeared around behind the food truck."
"Chiz!" Trina moaned. "Stupid food truck. We need to get a better angle. I need to take a look behind there when we get inside."
"Now Trina," their dad shook his head. "Remember our deal. No wandering off until after Tori's ceremony finishes. Then -"
"You don't know where I got to, I'm on my own, yeah, yeah," Trina rolled her eyes.
"This is your sister's big day," he finished, catching her eyes in the rear view mirror and Tori rolled her eyes in turn, long used to Trina's antics.
Their sedan finally lurched forward to the security gate, and David handed over their IDs and the invite for the graduation ceremony to the guard, who checked everything fastidiously against his list, before finally handing them back and waving them through with directions to head to parking lot three.
"Yay!" Trina said excitedly, clapping her hands repeatedly. "Oh, this is so perfect!"
"Thaaaanks, Trin," Tori rolled her eyes, but had a hard time containing her own excitement as she also craned her neck for a glimpse of anything exciting as they made their way to the lot.
Hollywood Arts had never been a traditional school in a lot of ways. That included its complete and utter lack of any sort gymnasium, theater, athletic field, parking lot or any other facility large enough to accommodate the entire graduating class, their parents, siblings, grandparents and anyone else they might invite. Chiz, Tori thought to herself, they didn't even have an athletic field period, and unless you counted a couple of empty rooms with mirrored walls and barre, they didn't exactly have a "gym" either. And while they certainly had a couple of theaters, none of them was big enough to fit everyone in - the Black Box only had a capacity of around thirty six, and it was one of the larger ones.
And while the Asphalt Café was a nice place to eat lunch and have school dances, it required keeping a large part of the parking lot clear to work that way, since it overspilled onto the lot. Which not only wasn't realistic with how many people they expected to show up for the graduation ceremony, it also wasn't exactly the best foot forward, most professional looking presentation that they might be hoping for.
Which is how, Robbie had explained, the board had come up with the plan for where to actually hold the graduation ceremony ages ago. They had called in some favors, and, in an attempt to remind parents just why the astronomical tuitions they paid were worth paying, had convinced Altamont Studios to host the ceremony on one of their empty lots every year.
Access was strictly controlled, of course, and Tori had had to register her family in advance for who she wanted to bring, all of their names, but now they were past the gate of one of the most august and historic studios in all of Hollywood - heck, Tori recognized some of these buildings from her History of Hollywood class she had taken.
---
Tori gave her mom one last hug and grabbed the bag containing her gown and mortarboard, before splitting off from her family to let them find the family seating while she went to the staging area. She quickly got dressed, giving her makeup one last check in the mirrors in the dressing room that had been set aside for the graduates to prep in. With a smile to herself in the mirror, she made her way out to the rows of seating laid out across the soundstage, unable to stop herself from checking out the half decorated theater. She stopped along the way, to talk to her friends, her seat near the back of the room thanks to her name being at the back of the alphabet. She passed by Andre in the H row first, stopping to give him a hug and a quick chat before continuing onwards, to find Beck and Robbie, stopping to say hi to them as well on her way.
Finally, she made it to the V row and gave Cat an enthusiastic hug, before sliding in next to her, waiting for the ceremony to start, holding her hand and chatting about their plans for the summer.
Before she realized it, the rows had all filled up with her friends and classmates, and the seating around the edges with their friends and families, and the faculty was standing on stage, preparing to start reading out names. Tori sat up straighter, giving Cat's hand a squeeze, as the speeches began. She paid close attention, feeling her eyes start to well up with tears, and quickly reached her free hand up to dab them away, careful not to smudge her makeup.
It was really happening, they had done it. After years of hard work, they were finally here, graduating. Moving on to bigger things. Going to different places. Far more than most schools, Hollywood Arts had a much more diverse path of of trajectories for its graduates; continuing on to college, of course, but also staying in Los Angeles and working on movies and television shows in a variety of roles, going to New York and Broadway, Nashville to work in the country music industry, to do stand up, to cruise ships, to fashion shows to do modeling around the world.
In the weeks leading up to graduation, the staff had put a map of the world up in the main hallway, and encouraged all the seniors to put a pin in to it with where they were going and what they were doing, and it had been astounding to Tori just how many places everyone was splitting off to. The staff had given a smaller version of the final version of that map to everyone, a reminder that they would always have friends no matter where they went. But it had also been a bittersweet gift to Tori, a reminder that they'd almost certainly never again all be in the same place after today, at least not until their reunion in a decade. She would miss everyone; it felt like the end of an era.
Finally, the speeches were over, and the names began to be called, and she clapped for everyone, from Becky Adams (who she had met briefly as part of that whole fiasco with Ryder) onwards, some louder than others. She and Cat stomped their heels and whistled and clapped loudly when it was their friends' turns to be called up; first Andre, then Beck, then Robbie.
Until, finally, it was time for their row to stand and make their way forward to the edge of the platform at the front of the room. Tori fidgeted nervously, adjusting the fall of the gown on her body, making sure it was nice and symmetrical on her shoulders, the sleeves even, picking at a piece of lint she was sure she was the only one who could see.
"Catarina Valentine!" Principal Helen called out, beckoning her up to the stage and Tori gave out a whoop of delight from her place just off stage, and Cat spun, giving her a wink and a smile, before ascending the stairs in front of her, to accept her diploma.
Tori didn't have too long to celebrate, as she had to step forward, though, steeling her shoulders and preparing for her name next.
"Victoria Vega!" she heard the principal call out, and ascended the stairs, a wild smile on her face. She had no proof, but it felt to her like the cheers for her name were the loudest yet - coming from every single part of the audience, it sounded like. She strode across the stage, smiling and waving out at the crowd, stopping to shake the hands of Lane and Sikowitz and accept their congratulations, before finally reaching Helen and repeating the ritual, this time taking her diploma as well. She smiled at the photographer just to the front of the stage, and crossed her tassel to the far side, before descending, hearing the principal call "Alberto Velasquez" behind her as she took the steps on the far side.
The familiar rush of performing on stage, her heart beating fast, pounding in her chest, accompanied her, as she started making her way along the front of the room and down the far aisle, to begin the circuit all the way back around the outside of the graduates to her seat.
She hadn't made it there though, only halfway down the rows, when another name being shouted out stopped her in her tracks.
"Jade West!"
Tori froze, and knew she wasn't the only one, based on how still and quiet the room had gotten. She spun around, turning to face the stage, seeing her friend ascend the stairs and cross, solemnly shaking Lane's and Sikowitz's hand.
Tori's eyes went wide, and she raised her fingers to her lips, letting out a wide wolf whistle. As if that was the signal that they had been waiting for, a smattering of applause burst forth from half a dozen other places, all their friends. Tori let out a howl and started clapping her hands enthusiastically, not caring that she was disrupting the flow of the ceremony by not continuing to circle to her seat, wanting to celebrate her friend, instead. Jade blushed, slightly, clearly not expecting the reaction she had received, and quickly shook the principal's hand, before making her way off the stage, and Tori finally continued on, walking to her seat at last.
---
Tori stripped off her gown and tucked it and her mortarboard back in the garment bag, but didn't move from the dressing room, looking around for her target, for Jade. Spotting her in a corner of the room, she crossed over, with swift strides.
"Hey, you," Tori said, swallowing nervously.
"Hey," Jade said, pausing, before turning around to face her.
"How are you doing?" Tori asked her, cautiously. "I haven't seen you in ages. I didn't - I didn't realize you were going to be here."
"I almost didn't come," Jade shrugged, before running her hand through her hair and looking away. "Didn't think anyone would want me here."
"Are you kidding?" Tori told her, taking a step forward. "I wanted you here. I've wanted you here. I've wanted to be there. But you wouldn't let me."
"Tori," Jade sighed exasperated. She took a look around the still crowded dressing room, students milling around and signing each other's yearbooks. "You didn't - let's not do this here?"
"Then where, Jade?" Tori shrugged.
"Yo, Tori!" she heard from behind her, and turned around. Striding toward them confidently was Zeke, her friend from R&B vocals. "Never got the chance to get you to sign my yearbook."
He handed it over, and Tori flipped it open, starting to scrawl a message on a page that still had some room in it.
"You coming to the party?" he asked, while she wrote.
"Yeah," Tori worried her lip. "I had planned on it, but, umm, well -"
She paused, glancing over to Jade. Jade rolled her eyes, though.
"Fine, I'll go - wait, do we need tickets, or something?" Jade asked him.
"Nah," he shrugged. "It's not official or anything. One of the kids, Fiona, her dad -"
"Yeah, I remember her," Jade nodded.
"Well, he has that massive yacht?" Zeke shrugged. "So she convinced him to let her borrow it for the day. We're gonna take it out into the bay a little later in the evening, but for the afternoon, it's staying docked up in the harbor, so people can go out to dinner with their families and then show up late? There's going to be drinks and music and stuff. Should be fun."
"I haven't been to a party in a while," Tori confessed to Jade, still looking down at the yearbook. "And I was going to miss everyone, so. Felt like the chance to see everyone one last time?"
"Fiiine," Jade rolled her eyes. "I'll go."
"Really?" Tori looked up from the yearbook. "We don't have to."
"You wanted to talk," Jade shrugged.
"Honestly," Zeke turned to her. "I think a lot of people will be glad to see you there."
"Oh really?" Jade snorted, as Tori finally finished writing, and handed the yearbook back to him.
"Really," he nodded, accepting it and then offered it out to her. "Would you sign my yearbook too? I know it's been a while since we had class together, but, I still remember what you said freshman year in our jazz class."
Jade blushed, but accepted the yearbook and started signing it, while Tori smiled on watching.
---
Tori walked up the gangplank onto the yacht, staring around her. It was as massive as she had been promised, and strung up with fairy lights along every railing. There were carts spaced out periodically, filled with hors d'oeuvres and drinks (the non-alcoholic kind, at least for now, it seemed), and all sorts of entertainment in every space - couches for chatting, ping-pong, air hockey and and other game tables, and karaoke machines, that she could see from her brief inspection.
As she walked around, she kept getting stopped by what seemed to be every third person to say hello and catch up with her. She had always been an extrovert, wanting to make friends with everyone she met, kind and generous to a fault. She loved people, and this was exactly why she had come to this party; to get to see everyone, one last time, before they all split their own ways. She felt nostalgic and missed them already.
But now, knowing that Jade was here, waiting for her, every single conversation felt like a chore, a hurdle to pass to get to the conversation she wanted to be having, needed to be having. She felt anxious, skipping ahead through the barest of pleasantries, so that she could get to Jade as fast as possible.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she spotted her, once again hiding out against the corner of a room, near the railing of the ship, as far aft as she could get, nursing a ginger ale, and made her way over determinedly.
"Jade!" she said, exasperated. "There you are."
"Haven't really been going anywhere," Jade rolled her eyes. "Just standing here."
Tori hesitated, not sure where to start. There had been so much that had happened between the two of them, so much that she wanted to say. However, before she could say anything, she felt a shadow start to fall over them, as footsteps approached from behind them.
"What are you doing here?" a female voice called out, and she saw Jade tense up, as she turned around to see three of the more popular girls in school standing there, cornering them. "You're not exactly welcome here."
"Lay off, Kelsey," Tori said, exhausted. "She has as much right as anyone to be here. She graduated, didn't she? And this party is for graduates."
"She got kicked out, didn't she?" Kelsey argued. "That shouldn't really apply to people who got kicked out."
"I didn't get kicked out," Jade explained tiredly.
"She didn't," Tori protested. "How could she have graduated if she was kicked out? Seriously."
"Well," Kelsey stood up straighter. "She still isn't welcome here. Her kind isn't."
"Is there a problem here?" a redhead asked, walking over, and Tori vaguely recognized Fiona, whose dad owned the boat, and she stood up a little straighter.
"Yeah," Kelsey said, before Tori could say anything. "Look what riff-raff snuck onboard."
"Jade," Fiona nodded at her shortly. "Congratulations on graduating. How'd you pull that off?"
"I already had all my core classes that I needed," Jade shrugged. "Just needed some more classes to have enough credits. They let me take some final exams instead of the classes to test out, so I spent the last few weeks studying and passing some of the easier classes."
"Nice," Fiona shrugged. "I'm glad you were able to turn things around."
"Well?" Kelsey asked her. "Aren't you going to kick her off the boat?"
"Give it a rest, Kels," Fiona shook her head. "Jenny was a friend of mine."
Tori's shoulders relaxed as she let go of the tension she was carrying. Fiona gave Jade and Tori a nod of acknowledgement, and then put a hand on Kelsey's back, steering her away from them, her friends falling into step behind her.
They stood there in silence for a few moments, before Tori finally found her voice.
"So, is that where you've been?" she asked, quietly. "Taking your tests? Not avoiding me?"
"I - yeah," Jade admitted. "I mean, I really was busy. I had to cram an entire semester worth of exams into like just a couple of weeks."
"But you were avoiding me, also," Tori stated, confidently.
"Maybe," Jade admitted.
"I don't get it," Tori said, exasperated. "What did I do? I didn't do anything! I have tried to be there for you at every opportunity."
"You -" Jade started, but Tori stepped in close, cutting her off.
"I showed up!" Tori continued, on a roll now. "I did, right? I mean, I was there every week for you. I was there at your trial, and I came by the prison every week afterwards during visitors' hours, I was the only one who kept coming back after the first couple weeks, but you wouldn't let me in. What did I, what did I do wrong, Jade? I thought we were friends. Why wouldn't you talk to me?"
The whole miserable affair came flooding back to her. Sitting in the back of the courtroom, in her nicest clothes, in silence, watching Jade get sentenced, while she could do nothing. Going to the prison, week after week, sitting through the miserable routine of signing the visitor's log and sitting in the dismal, gray room at the cold, steel table for ten minutes before being told that Jade wasn't coming to see her and she had to leave. Sitting in her car, crying, week after week, after not seeing her best friend, yet again.
"I didn't want you there," Jade threw her hand up, exasperated.
"Because we're not friends," Tori rocked back on her heel, stunned.
"No," Jade rolled her eyes. "Because you don't need me dragging you down. You'd already gotten your contract, remember? You got it the week before the whole stupid party. That's what we were going out to celebrate. After today, everyone here, we're all going our separate ways. Everyone is going out there, trying to break into the industry, trying to make it. Somehow, someway, somewhere. But you, you idiot, you already have. You've got a contract with a recording label sitting there, waiting for you. Soon as today is over, you start working on your first album. When do you start your studio sessions? Tomorrow? Next week?"
"They have me booked for some time with a couple of songwriters all next week," Tori admitted, bashfully, tucking her hair behind her ear. "They want to see who I work well with? I already have some stuff I wrote by myself, and that I wrote with Andre, but they want to try me out with some other writers to get me some more experienced voices in the industry on the album. Give me a chance to work with different people."
"You've already made it," Jade repeated, her voice quiet, but firm. "The last thing that you need right now, is to have a bunch of paparazzi following you around to a women's prison, and logs of your name on the visitor records. You don't need me around you, weighing you down, threatening your career before it even starts."
"That's not your choice," Tori stated firmly. "It's my life. It should be my choice who I'm friends with. I don't care what people think. Besides, it's not like I haven't been in prison myself!"
"Tori," Jade said, exasperated, before her eyes flicked over her shoulder for a moment. "Yerba doesn't count. Nobody even knows that happened. All they're going to see is you being friends with a violent criminal convicted of assault with a deadly weapon."
"It was a bogus conviction," Tori shook her head. "I should know, I've heard about plenty of cases from my dad. You had an iron-clad defense."
"Yeah, well, the jury didn't think so," Jade shrugged, defeated. "And that's all anybody will see in the news, if the story gets out there."
Tori's shoulders slumped, remembering back to the fateful party. She had been riding on cloud nine, having just gotten the offer from Elusive Ritz Records, and it had felt like the best night of her life. When Andre had suggested the party, it had seemed like a great idea - everyone was going to be there, not just from Hollywood Arts, but from all the schools. She'd be able to catch up with some of her old Sherwood friends, there would be girl from Northridge for Rex and Robbie to hit on.
She hadn't been in the room when it had happened, had only heard about it second hand - had only heard how Jade had seen the boy from Northridge, Travis, they later learned, slip something into Jenny's drink from across the kitchen. She'd been too far away, the house too packed, to be able to stop Jenny from drinking it, too far away to get there before Travis had wrapped an arm around her shoulder and walked her off to a bedroom to "help her sleep it off". But she'd gotten there in time to stop anything else from happening.
And stop it, she had. When Travis hadn't been inclined to let her take Jenny home, and tried to push her out of the room, she'd pushed him back. With the pair of scissors she kept tucked in her waistband, right into his thigh.
Unfortunately for Jade, his dad had been rich and well connected, and the jury had bought into Travis' lawyer's "good family" and "good grades" and "terrible misunderstanding" defense and found her guilty, even though she'd been defending herself and Jenny both; it had simply been her word against his, with Jenny too out of it to speak in her defense.
"I don't care," Tori finally whispered. "I don't care what they think."
"Well, I do," Jade said, more firmly, her gaze darting back and forth from Tori to focus behind her and then back. "It could cost you your recording contract. I'm not going to be responsible for torpedoing your life, Tori."
"You're my friend, though, Jade. My best friend. If I can't hang out with you, if I can't spend time with you - what, what is the point of all this?" Tori threw her hands up helplessly. "What is the point of making it, if I can't celebrate it with the people I care about?"
"Tori -" Jade started, but Tori could see her wavering.
"No," Tori shook her head, more firmly. "If you're moving away to pursue your dream, and we can't hang out anymore as a result, then fine, I get that. Andre's going off to Atlanta to work in the music scene there, and Robbie is heading up to New York City, and Beck is going overseas, okay, fine, I get that they're going away, and we won't be able to see each other as much anymore. But you're right here, Jade. We're both still right here."
She reached out, grabbing Jade's hand, to punctuate her words, squeezing it, the way she'd been wanting to do for months, ever since she'd last been able to touch Jade before her court date, back in the fall.
"You're not going anywhere, right?" Tori asked her.
"No," Jade admitted. "Not really."
"So, we have time," Tori said, squeezing her hand again. "We can catch up. What are you doing? You were talking about getting into directing, maybe? Doing some short films, last time we talked?"
"Yeah, right," Jade snorted. "Who's going to want to hire me? Work with me? Face it, Tori, that's not going to happen."
"Jade -" Tori tried to protest, but Jade just shook her head.
"No, I mean, maybe someday I'll get there," Jade said, dejectedly, eyes flicking around. "But not right now. Who wants to work with an ex-con? The entry level jobs are going to be impossible to get, if I want to try to work my way up inside the studios, and I just don't have the resources to do my own independent projects right now, the money, the equipment, the contacts."
She turned away from Tori and stepped towards the edge of the yacht, leaning against the railing, looking up into the yellow of the evening sky, as the sun started to hang low.
"I got out of there," she said, her voice so low, that Tori had to step up and lean on the railing next to her to be able to hear her. "I got out, but sometimes it feels like I didn't. When I was inside, it was all the same, every day. Wake up, look up at the same off-white ceiling that never changed. Go to the same places, eat the same foods, all at the same times. And since I've been out, I've been kind of stuck in the same routine. Doing the same classwork, day after day, trying to get all the exams done that I needed to, to be able to graduate."
She paused to take a sip of her drink, staring wistfully up at the sky. "And even though I was dreaming about looking up at the sky, about not having to stare up at that stupid prison ceiling anymore, now that I'm out, it just kind of feels the same. Every day, it's the same sky. No rain, no clouds, just empty clear sky, day after day. And then at night, no stars, just the yellow glow of all the city lights. It feels … hollow. Like it never changes."
"Jade," Tori said, her voice cracking, halfway through the word. She wasn't sure what else she should say to that though, what else she could say. They lapsed into silence for a few moments.
Tori's mind raced, before finally, she nodded to herself decisively.
"Come on, let's grab something to eat," Tori stated.
"Sure," Jade shrugged, following her over to the nearest buffet table. Tori quickly loaded up a plate with way more food than Jade, collecting some funny looks from the other girl. When Jade went to head back to the stern of the ship, Tori shook her head.
"Nope," Tori said, grabbing another plate to cover hers with. "Come on, we're heading out."
"Out?" Jade scrunched her nose up. "Out where?"
"They're taking off soon," Tori nodded up towards the setting sun, and gestured around at the ship, which had been getting more and more crowded over the past few hours. A lot of their class had gone out to dinner with their families to celebrate after the ceremony, and were slowly filtering their way onto the yacht as time passed, and it had slowly been filling up, getting more crowded. Tori stepped in closer to Jade and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I've seen the way you've been itching and glancing around more and more as time has been passing. You don't like the crowds, right? Not ready for them yet?"
"I - yeah," Jade admitted.
"So, come on," Tori shrugged. "We came, we partied with everyone, we were here, we got to say hi to the people that mattered, we got some food, now let's get out of here."
"Where are we gonna go?" Jade asked, helplessly, but her gaze was already looking around nervously at the milling bodies.
"I have a place in mind," Tori assured her. "But I don't have my car, my parents drove me to the ceremony. Do you have yours?"
"Yeah," Jade admitted, cautiously.
"Great!" Tori nodded. "I'm driving."
"You don't know how to drive," Jade protested, as Tori started walking towards the gangplank, carefully balancing her haul of food.
"Well, if you hadn't ignored me for the past like seven months, you'd know a lot more about what's going on in my life," Tori smiled at her over her shoulder. "I passed my test."
---
The stereo blasted out the latest pop hit, that Tori sung along to, while Jade just shook her head, annoyed, as they slowly made their way through the LA traffic.
"Come on, Jade, you need to learn this stuff, this is crucial information that happened while you were away," Tori assured her.
"Somehow I doubt that 'together we fizz and pop, you're so sweet and sour fizzy' qualifies as crucial information I missed in prison," Jade snorted, snagging a taquito and eating it.
"Mm, pass me one," Tori requested, opening her mouth wide, to which Jade only rolled her eyes. But at Tori's continued puppy dog eyes, she finally broke down and fed her a taquito as well. "Delicious!"
"Where are we going anyway?" Jade asked, looking around them. "We're not going anywhere near the route back to my place, or yours, or any of our normal hang outs …"
"It's a surprise!" Tori told her with a beaming smile on her face. "But seriously, I thought about what you said."
"Oh? And what did I say?" Jade asked her.
"Well, first of all," Tori ticked off on her finger as traffic slowed to a crawl once again. "You feel trapped in your life. Like it's all still a routine, right?"
"Yeah," Jade admitted, slowly.
"Well, we have to get you back out there," Tori shrugged. "Doing things. Living life. Karaoke. Glow-in-the-dark mini golf. Bowling. Go to some plays. Have some fun. You're done with school, with your tests now, so, you have time to spend doing stuff."
"Those are all date activities, Tori," Jade snorted, digging out another random appetizer, staring at it, trying to decide what it was, before giving up and taking a bite. "Who would I go with? Beck and I broke up back at the start of senior year, remember?"
"I'll go with you!" Tori volunteered herself, immediately.
"You'll -" Jade sputtered. "You'll go with me?"
"What?" Tori shrugged, keeping her attention firmly fixed on the road ahead, where it was finally opening up and letting her start making some real progress.
"Sounded like you were asking me out on a date," Jade muttered.
"I, I kind of was?" Tori said, hopefully. "I, umm. I had been working up the courage to ask you out for a while. Before. Before."
She stopped talking, letting Jade process, and reached down, to the plate she had turned into a cornucopia in the cupholder, and grabbed an egg roll from inside, before chewing on it nervously, waiting for Jade to say something, anything, to her confession.
"You were?" Jade asked, stunned.
"Yeah?" Tori confessed, again. "I mean. And then you were arrested and sent to jail, and I figured, I would go there and tell you, worked up the courage to drive there and tell you, and sat in the parking lot, hyping myself up to go inside and confess and -"
"Shit," Jade banged her head against the seat back. "And you kept coming back?"
"Well, yeah," Tori shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I like you."
"Even after, after all that? After I never let you in?" Jade turned to her, incredulous.
"You were going through a lot," Tori defended her.
"And didn't come find you when I got out?" Jade continued, even more incredulous.
"You needed to get your classwork done to graduate," Tori turned to face her, the raw vulnerability showing on her face.
"Tori, just -" Jade fisted her hands in the hem of her dress. "Pull the car over, okay?"
"O-okay," Tori agreed, throwing the hazard lights on, and quickly pulling the car over into the next parking lot she saw.
She parked the car, and turned to face Jade, nerves tearing up her stomach, but before she could say anything, Jade's hands had grabbed her face, pulling her in close, and she was pressing a kiss against her lips. Tori's eyes went wide, and she let out a stunned, shocked gasp, just enough for Jade to deepen the kiss, swipe her tongue across her lips.
Tori was forced backwards in her seat by Jade's aggressive moves, and she quickly twisted her legs under her, trying to find a position where she was able to have some purchase and not collapse against the door.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Jade let her up.
"Whoa," Tori breathed out, stunned. She sat there, catching her breath, before finally levering herself back upright. "You, you mean?"
"Yeah, you dork," Jade rolled her eyes. "If you really still want me, after everything I put you through …"
"Well," Tori nodded to herself. "Well, then. That, that. Umm. That makes the next suggestion I was going to make a lot easier."
"What was your next suggestion?" Jade asked, suddenly curious.
"I'm still living at home," Tori started, carefully. "But my debut album, we're starting on it next week? It, it won't take long. And by the time it's done, I should be able to afford my own place. I was going to suggest … it might help you if you move in with me? I'm buying a new place anyway, so we can look for somewhere with good views of the sky so you get the sun in the morning, so it doesn't feel as much like a cell? And you can paint the ceiling whatever color you want, anything but off-white. And originally I was going to say you could have your own room, but, well, if we're together, then -"
Before she could finish her explanation, Jade leaned forward and pressed another kiss against her lips. "Really?"
"I mean," Tori shrugged, nervously. "Not every problem can be solved with money? But I'll have some soon, that's just the reality of, of what we all do, what we all have been dreaming of? And getting a window facing the east or a ceiling painted, that's a pretty cheap problem to solve?"
"It's not the money, you dork," Jade rolled her eyes. "It's the thought behind it. You're thinking of me, of how best to help me."
"Oh, well," Tori shrugged. "That's easy. I think about you all of the time."
"Keep that up, and we'll be sitting in this parking lot kissing forever, instead of getting to whatever your surprise is," Jade snorted.
"Well, that doesn't sound bad," Tori giggled, taking another taquito. "But yeah, we should get going if we're going to get there in time."
She started the car up again, and began to drive back out of the parking lot, continuing onto the route she had been on before.
"Okay, now I feel like I should be checking the backseat for a shovel," Jade teased her. "You're taking me straight out of the city."
"This is your car, Jade," Tori rolled her eyes. "If there's a shovel back there, it's yours."
"Where are we even going?" Jade asked, as the last vestiges of the city started to fall away, and the traffic cleared up even faster now, with nowhere left to go in front of them.
"The Hollywood sign?" Jade guessed.
"Please," Tori scoffed. "We're not tourists."
"Then I have no idea where we're going," Jade shook her head.
"You'll see," Tori teased her, reaching out to pat her leg. But before she could take her hand back, Jade grabbed it, threading her fingers through hers, holding on. A shy, bashful smile worked its way onto Tori's face at the casual, simple gesture. They continued driving, up into the hills surrounding Los Angeles, as the sun continued to set, slowly, hand in hand.
"I did have one other idea for how to help, but, it's a bit of a bigger one," Tori admitted cautiously.
"Oh?" Jade asked her.
"Yeah," Tori nodded. "You said that you didn't think you'd be able to start doing some of your independent films just yet, because you didn't have the money, the people, or the equipment?"
"Yeah," Jade admitted, hesitantly.
"Well, like I said before, I might have some money soon," Tori started, and bit her lip. "Which kind of solves the first of those problems, depending on how much it is? But for the second two - well, maybe Hollywood Arts could be talked into letting you borrow some stuff over the weekends? I know Sikowitz and Lane were both not that thrilled with what happened to you, they might be willing to loan you some cameras or lights or props or stuff."
"That … that might work," Jade admitted. "For the equipment. But I'm not thrilled about the whole money thing."
"Well, if you are borrowing the equipment from school, how much money will you really need?" Tori shrugged. "It might not be that much, all told."
"There's still the whole matter of, you know, actors and crew?" Jade countered.
"I had an idea for that, too," Tori confessed, and freed her hand from Jade's, reaching back, into the back seat, to pick up the little booklet tucked inside her yearbook that she had brought with her, and passed it to Jade. "Here. See? Everyone in our graduating class."
It was Tori's copy of the map and contact information from their graduating class.
"I talked to a lot of people while you were in prison," she continued. "A lot of them were like Fiona and Zeke. They really appreciated what you did, and want to help you. And a lot of our class is staying right here in LA. I know they'd be more than willing to show up and hold a camera or act in a short film. Especially considering a lot of them are trying to break into the industry, too. Adding a credit to their reels never hurts, right?"
Jade sat there, staring at the directory, thoughtfully.
"Anyway, if we can convince people to help out for free or cheap with the equipment and crew, yeah, I mean, maybe putting one of your ideas on film would be not that expensive?" Tori rambled. "We'd have to sit down and run the numbers, and talk to some people, but, I don't think your dreams are that unachievable, Jade. I believe in them. I believe in you."
Jade reached out, grabbing her hand again, squeezing, and Tori looked over, giving her a shy smile.
"We're here, by the way," Tori said, pulling Jade's car to a stop, and turning it to park.
"What - Tori, I was joking about the shovel, before," Jade looked around in confusion. "We're in the middle of a field."
"Ah, but not just any field," Tori countered. "It's a park. Come on."
Tori gave Jade's hand a squeeze and let go, getting out of the car, walking around to sit on the hood of the car, the heat of the engine bleeding through keeping her warm despite the cool of the summer night, waiting for Jade to join her.
"I give up," Jade shrugged, sitting down on the hood next to Tori. "What's the point of all of this?"
Tori just smirked, and grabbed Jade's shoulders, leaning backwards, until they were both laying down on the hood of the car. Their heads rested against the glass of the windshield, their hair splaying out wildly in all directions.
"Look," Tori pointed, straight up.
At the stars.
At some point in their drive, night had properly fallen, and the lights in the valley below had come on, filling it with the sodium yellow glow that was ubiquitous everywhere in LA that you went.
"You said that it felt like no matter where you went, when, it always felt like it was the same, like time never changed," Tori explained. "Because the glow of the lights, they stopped you from seeing the sky? Well, up here in the hills, it's the one place you can see the sky at night. We can see the stars up here."
"Tori," Jade breathed out, her voice full of awe.
"My family and I, we used to come up here when I was little, all the time," Tori explained. "I love the stars, that's how I knew about this park. We'd pack up a telescope in the back of the car, and come up here and look at constellations. I like to think … I know that our class, our friends, they're all going all these different places now. We're all on different journeys now. But I like to think that, even if we're all in these different places on the map, all in different places in the world, that the same stars up there are all going to be looking down on us. That none of us are alone, no matter how much it feels that way, sometimes."
Tori paused to breathe, and reached out blindly in the dark to squeeze Jade's hand.
"I know it can be hard to feel like you're free, like the world is changing, and things have meaning," Tori told her. "When it all looks the same, down there. But anytime you want, we can come up here, I promise you. And I'll be right here, with you. Either down there, or up here. I don't care what happens, Jade."
She twisted her head, towards Jade, waiting for her to turn and face her as well, and leaned in, pressing a kiss against her. She was about to continue when a motion out of the corner of her eye caught her vision, and she twisted her head back, looking up at the stars.
"Jade, look," she urged, awe in her voice, squeezing her hand. "The stars are falling on us. On all of us."
Jade twisted her head up as well, just in time to see the meteors start burning up in the atmosphere above them.
"Wow," Jade breathed out.
"I forgot," Tori chuckled to herself. "The Arietids. I had an alert for them in my feed. They were tonight."
"It's a meteor shower?" Jade asked her, and Tori nodded, sliding her body over on the car to squeeze in against Jade.
"Yeah," Tori said. "Every year. But it's a good omen, right? On graduation?"
"Yeah," Jade nodded her head in agreement, her hair brushing against Tori's head.
"This is real?" Tori asked her, her voice barely a whisper, as the lights flashed by overhead. "It just, I've been dreaming about this for so long, and I thought you'd never actually feel the same way about me as I felt about you."
"Yeah, Tori," Jade admitted. "This is real."
"Good," Tori smiled into the dark.
They lay there, staring up at the stars above, the occasional flash of a meteor whizzing by overhead, while below them, the city sprawled out and their friends and classmates celebrated more publicly. The heat of the engine slowly cooled beneath them, leaving them both chilled in the cool summer night, but neither made any effort to move from where they lay.