Chapter Text
Jade West and Tori Vega hate each other.
It’s no secret in the Hollywood Arts community. The interactions between the two girls had been continuously hostile since they first met three long years ago: all it took was two cups of coffee spilled at the wrong — or, as some dare say, right — time for the great war to begin. Two precise shots fired back and forth in the span of ten minutes, and hell is unleashed.
Of course, it wasn’t just the coffee. It might have started that way, but things escalated quickly on their own. Sabotaging, catfights, an occasional death threat here and there. One, two, three. Rinse, and repeat. It’s a dance they know well.
Jade hates Tori. Tori hates Jade.
Everyone knows it. They know it. It’s just how it is.
So imagine Tori’s surprise when she found herself crammed up inside a dimly lit closet at a party, pinned against the wall by none other than the bane of her existence, Jade fucking West, in the flesh. Being kissed by that little she-devil with blue streaks in her hair was definitely not in her senior year bingo card, or in any bingo card for that matter. In every situation, Tori would rather drink piss than have anything to do with Jade other than their typical mutual hatred. But, as she slowly realized it, having a heated argument while being absolutely hammered at a party was not just any situation. It was an intricate scenario that required the most logical and rational course of actions her inebriated brain could think of.
So, logically, they fucked.
Funnily enough, all it took was two cups of the cheapest vodka known to man for that to happen.
-*-
To Tori’s despair, the nightmare didn’t come to an end as she came pitifully around Jade’s fingers.
Although things went peacefully quiet after that fateful encounter in the closet, the brunette was confused. She was happy about not having to face her blue-eyed sleep paralysis demon and was dutifully avoiding dealing with whatever happened, but she couldn’t quite get over the ever-present feeling of confusion within her. It was well within reason to want some answers after the worst lapse of judgment she had ever had, but she also just didn’t want to open that can of worms maybe ever.
Thankfully (or not), Jade was nowhere to be seen in the following days. She managed to not show up to any of the classes they shared. Her commitment to avoid Tori like the plague was actually admirable.
Things were still the same by Friday night when Tori went dining at Nozu with Cat and Andre. The neon lights flickered above, casting a colorful glow over the tables, while Cat was cheerfully telling another weird story involving her brother with Andre nodding along, absolutely horrified. Tori, however, was only half-listening, her mind wandering to the same subject she firmly intended not to think of.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the parking lot. No, not just any figure — the forbidden subject herself. Her heart skipped a beat (in anger obviously) as she recognized Jade West, heading toward her car. Her expression was as brooding and, well, her, as ever. Tori's curiosity, unfortunately for everyone involved, got the best of her.
“I’ll be right back,” Tori said abruptly, standing up from the table. She accidentally knocked over her can of Wahoo Punch in the process, but she was too preoccupied to care.
“Where are you going?” Cat asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
“I, uh, I need to talk to Trina,” Tori replied, forcing a somewhat reassuring grin. “I’ll be back in a minute, okay?”
Without waiting for a response, she nearly bolted out of the restaurant and into the parking lot. She spotted Jade unlocking her car, her movements quick and precise. Tori's pulse quickened as she approached, her mind racing with a mixture of apprehension and determination.
“Jade,” Tori called out, her voice steady despite feeling like she was about to throw up the temakis she had just eaten.
Jade turned, her blue eyes narrowing as she saw Tori. For a split second, it seemed like she was taken aback. “What do you want, Vega?” She snapped, her tone casually venomous as always. Tori took a deep breath.
“We need to talk about what happened,” she stated as firmly as she could, stepping closer.
Jade rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest. “I told you, it never happened. Just let it die.”
“Well, I fucking can’t,” Tori insisted, taking another step forward. The glare the other woman gave her was probably enough to warrant an arrest for attempted murder. “Do you really think I can just let ‘fucking with my sworn enemy’ die?” She protested, exasperated.
“If I did it, so can you,” Jade snarked with a mocking smile. Her irritation was physically palpable at that point, like enough for someone to accidentally trip on it if they weren’t paying attention to where they were going. But, to Tori’s surprise — and, strangely, relief —, she didn’t move away. Instead, that blue-eyed nightmare in human form stood her ground, her gaze locked tight with Tori’s. The brunette clenched her fists.
Jade’s lips curled into a smirk at that. “Aw, did little Vega get her feelings hurt?”
“You’re impossible, you know that?” Tori grunted, infuriated.
She immediately regretted her wording choice as soon as she saw a dangerously wicked glint in those blue eyes. “Yet here you are,” Jade rebutted, her smirk widening. “Can’t get enough, can you?”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Tori shot back. “You’re not that irresistible.”
“Not that irresistible, huh?” Jade laughed. A sharp, mocking sound that made Tori’s cheeks flush in frustration. “Keep telling yourself that, Vega. Maybe one day you’ll believe it.”
“Ugh, why do you always have to be so goddamn difficult?”
“Because it’s fun watching you squirm,” Jade replied simply like it was the most obvious answer, her blue eyes locked into Tori’s. “Admit it, you love the chase.”
“Chase?” Tori scoffed, stepping even closer. The audacity of that bitch rivaled that of a mediocre white man. “You’re the one running away.”
“Running? Hardly,” Jade said, her voice dropping to a low, challenging tone. “I’m right here, aren’t I?”
The tension between them was just as palpable as their unwavering hatred for one another, a charged silence hanging in the air. However, at that moment, there was something else going on, unspoken yet intense, poised to break free at any moment.
“You’re infuriating,” Tori muttered, taking another step forward until she was mere inches away from Jade.
“And you’re the human version of a wet sock, so whatever,” Jade retorted with a smirk, her gaze defiant and resolute.
Despite their words, neither moved away. The magnetic pull between them was undeniable, even if it was tangled up in their mutual animosity. For a moment, they just stood there, caught in the strange, volatile chemistry that always seemed to spark whenever they were near each other. Tori didn’t know why — truly, she did not know why —, but she felt an inexplicable pull toward Jade, a magnetic force she couldn’t resist even if every cell in her body told her to.
Before she knew it, they were close enough to feel each other’s breath. Tori’s heart was pounding in her chest, her mind and any rational thought she desperately needed to have in that moment was long gone. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Jade’s; intense, dripping with hate, frustration, and something else — fear, want, both —, drawing her in like a moth to a fucking bonfire.
Then, without any warning whatsoever, Jade’s lips crashed against hers. It was fierce, passionate, primal in a way. Tori responded instinctively, her hands reaching up to grasp Jade’s shoulders, pulling her closer. She pinned Jade against the car, their bodies pressed together, and every caution she could possibly have unceremoniously flew out the window.
Jade’s hands gripped Tori’s waist, their kiss deepening, growing more and more intense. The taste of each other was intoxicating, a heady mix of anger and passion. Tori’s mind was a blur, lost in the sensation of Jade’s lips, Jade’s touch. Why have a rational, developed brain if it won’t work rationally when you need it?
With a swift movement, Jade opened the back door of her car, pulling Tori inside by the hem of her jeans. They tumbled in, the leather seats creaking under their weight as they wildly wandered all over each other. Tori found herself on top of her sworn enemy, kissing her like some sort of lifeline in the cramped space of the backseat, while Jade's perfectly manicured hand tangled in Tori's hair, pulling her impossibly closer. The sharp, biting edge of their usual requited loathing was still there, Tori could tell; it was just beneath the surface, under something urgent and desperate that neither of them wanted to admit, but also couldn’t resist even if they tried.
Well, good thing they weren’t trying then.
Jade's hands left Tori’s hair to instead roam all over her back, sending shivers down her spine. There was absolutely nothing gentle about this encounter; it was reckless and unrestrained like wildfire, and the feeling of Jade’s fingers on Tori’s skin burned just as much. Breathless, they finally pulled apart as the blue-eyed woman repositioned herself to be on top, straddling the other’s lap. She quickly took off her shirt while Tori’s hands devoutly trailed her thighs and ass, eliciting an unexpected moan from Jade.
Look, Tori wasn’t deaf. She knew Jade was one hell of a singer (probably the best she’d ever met if she were being honest), but no song that woman could sing would ever come close to the utterly entrancing melody of that sound. Tori would do anything to hear it again. Anything.
Fortunately for her, she didn’t have to do much to get what she wanted. The moment she unclasped Jade’s bra and took her lips to her neck, leaving a trail of ardent kisses from her chin to her chest, she could hear it. The sweetest of symphonies soundly resonating in the auditorium of a car backseat, performed by none other than her greatest annoyance. Tori, the self-proclaimed maestro, conducted the orchestra with lingering lips and wandering hands, knowing exactly where to touch to find the right notes. Her fingers danced on Jade’s figure, purposeful and determined in their way to unbutton her jeans and finally bridge the gap between their bodies.
“Fuck, Vega,” Jade panted in Tori’s ear as she pressed two digits inside, her hands holding onto the brunette for dear life. Music.
Their breaths mingled in the confined space, heavy and ragged, as the world outside the car seemed to vanish from existence. Jade’s hips rocked back and forth, desperately seeking her climax, while Tori’s hand picked up pace in between her thighs. Manicured nails dug into Tori’s shoulders, causing her to arch into the touch. A crescendo of the sweetest notes, building up to a nearly overwhelming intensity and the release they chased after so frantically.
As they moved in perfect synchrony, the boundaries between them blurred, the lines of rivalry dissolving into something far more complex than they’d like to admit. Their eyes met for a fleeting moment and Tori's heart raced; she saw a flash of something unguarded in Jade's eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. Their lips found each other again, becoming more and more desperate as the finale approached, culminating in a virtuosic melody of pure, unbridled euphoria.
But just as briskly as it had started, the symphony came to an end. Jade suddenly pulled away, her demeanor shifting back to the icy, bitchy exterior she usually wore. Without a word, she pushed Tori out of the car, leaving her standing in the parking lot, dazed and breathless. She put on her shirt as quickly as she took it off and moved to the driver’s seat, her movements abrupt and final.
“This never happened,” she declared firmly without a second glance before starting the engine.
Jade didn't look back as she drove away, the car’s tail lights fading into the darkness. Tori stood alone in the dimly lit parking lot, a storm of emotions swirling inside her. Despite the intensity of her feelings, she felt an inexplicable emptiness, a longing for something she couldn't — and shouldn't — have. If having intimate encounters with the girl who was supposed to be her enemy wasn’t in her senior year bingo, neither was yearning for said enemy.
Tori played with her necklace, a self-soothing recurring habit she had every time she was anxious, and decided to unpack those feelings another time as she had to go back inside the restaurant. She cringed at herself for getting distracted and keeping her friends waiting for so long. She took a deep breath, doing her best to keep her composure (which meant not looking like she had just fucked the bane of her existence in the backseat of her car) before reentering the restaurant to rejoin her friends.
As she sat back down at the table, Andre looked at her with concern. “Are you okay, Tori? Is everything alright with Trina?” He asked, his brow furrowed. “You were gone for quite a while.”
“Yeah, we’re fine. It was nothing,” she replied through a grin that didn’t quite reach her eyes, her mind still tangled in the memory of Jade’s touch. Still confused by it, still hating the guts of the person it belonged to.
Still weirdly, antagonistically, inevitably drawn to it.
-*-
Tori sat in her bedroom, staring blankly at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was still slightly damp from the shower, and she couldn't help but notice the slight tremor in her hands as she brushed through the tangled strands. She had been replaying the scene in the parking lot over and over in her mind, the taste of Jade's lips still fresh, the feel of Jade's body against hers still vivid. She knew she should be focusing on anything else, but every time she closed her eyes, she was back in that moment, in the backseat of Jade's car.
Fuck, she was a mess.
She sighed, dropping the brush onto her vanity table with a clatter. The confusion she felt was overwhelming, a mix of anger, desire, and something she couldn't quite identify. She hated Jade, she reminded herself, but that didn't seem to hold the same weight it once did. Not after everything that had happened.
A soft knock on her door pulled her out of her thoughts. "Tori? Are you okay?" It was Trina's voice, full of concern (or, in this case, as full of concern as she could be, given that it was Trina).
"Yeah, I'm fine," Tori replied, forcing a smile as she opened the door.
Her sister gave her a look. “I don’t believe you, sis. You’re not acting nearly as, well, you, as you would.” She sat on the bed and invited Tori to do the same, smiling reassuringly. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Tori hesitated. How could she possibly explain what was going on in her head? "Just...a lot on my mind," she said, trying (and failing) to sound casual.
Trina still wasn’t convinced but decided not to press, which Tori was thankful for. She definitely wasn’t in the mood for a conversation at the moment. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here, okay?"
"Thanks, Trin. I appreciate it," Tori said, giving her big sister a quick hug. As Trina walked away, Tori's thoughts drifted back to Jade. She thought about her snarky attitude, her insufferable behavior, her irritating bantering, then about her blue eyes, her perfect thighs, her soft lips. As the thoughts of Jade slowly consumed her whole, Tori kept circling back to the same question, pondering over and over again:
What am I supposed to do now?