Postgrad Partners

4 Years to the Day

One look at the first photo brought Jade back to how nervous Tori was on the day of that shoot, and how it took her almost half an hour (and more than a few whispered comfort songs) to calm her down and look as naturally happy as they ended up looking in the final shots. It helped that the photographer was considerate and made them both feel like they were in a calm, professional shoot, not an exploitative, paparazzi shoot. They both had a taste of that long ago, and they never wanted that again.

Jade continued scrolling through her feed, realizing how little she actually posted over the past few years. She chalked it up to being so busy with classes and theater work and shrugged it off. Seeing the highlights of those years, however, still brought a smile to her face with each significant holiday, project, and trip she and Tori had together. Even if she had the chance to tell 18-year-old Jade that she would spend the next 4 years living with, working with, and dating Tori Vega...maybe she'd be relieved to know her feelings would be reciprocated. Sighing in relief herself, she closed her phone and stowed it back in her pocket as her pot of hot tea arrived.

Jade had barely poured herself a cup when she heard the front door chime and two small blurs that resembled Cat and Tara were skittering from the entrance to the restroom. Jade could only laugh to herself until she turned back to the entrance, where Tori came in and spotted her at the table immediately.

"Hey~" Tori half-waved to her girlfriend as she walked over to the table. A quick glance showed Jade that she was holding her bag a little tighter than normal.

"Hey, yourself~" Jade turned in her seat and pulled the chair next to her out with her boot, "You worried about getting robbed or something?"

"N-No!" Tori tried laughing off the obvious nerves with a brush of her hair, "I just...felt cold tonight. That's all!"

"Well, if that's the case..." Jade smirked, leaning closer to her, "I know just the thing to get you warm~" She crooked her eyebrows toward Tori, making her blush for a moment before simply pushing the pot of tea to her, "You're lucky you got here right when the drinks did~"

"Oh, you..." Tori sighed at Jade's self-satisfied grin as she poured herself a cup of tea. "I hope you weren't waiting too long."

"Not at all. In fact, I just got here," Jade picked up her cup, but hearing her words triggered something in her mind. Tori caught Jade's flinch, and the two of them recalled an eerily similar moment from what seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Were you just thinking about...?"

"Yeah...you, too?"

"Yeah..." Tori chuckled and took a calm sip from her cup, "It's kind of...funny, huh?"

"Funny how?" Jade crooked an eyebrow up again, but this time with genuine confusion.

"Oh, just that we're here together, at a karaoke restaurant, about to watch our friends sing a new song..." Tori chuckled again and poured herself another cup of tea, "Like God has a sense of humor or something, right?"

"If there's a joke, I'm not getting it," Jade frowned, "You're squirreling on me, Vega. What's going on?"

Seeing that Jade wasn't looking as amused as she'd hoped, Tori set her cup down and took her girlfriend's hand, "Jade, you know why I was a little late getting here, right?"

"Yeah," Jade nodded shortly, "My mom was helping you finish your exit papers with Neutronium, so now you don't work for them anymore."

"R-Right, yeah..." Tori made a brief smile that quickly faded, "But, I mean, you already knew I was doing that for a while."

"You're not having second thoughts about it, are you? You said you were thinking about this since graduation; something about wanting a fresh start after college?"