Just A Stage Kiss

Chapter 18

POV: Tori

"I want the strawberry! No! I want the vanilla!"

We were stood at the counter of the local Freezy Queen waiting for Cat as she tried to decide which flavour of ice cream she wanted the most from the giant menu behind the desk. The cashier was drumming his fingers impatiently on the table top, his elbow resting just by, propping up his head. He shot me a wink when he caught me watching him, to which I gave a small smile.

"Oh! I want the chocolate too!" Cat whined, grabbing my sleeve and tugging at it to get my attention. "Tori! Which one shall I have?"

"Get the combo." Jade said in an irritable voice; I knew the employee was getting on her nerves with his constant drumming and sighing. She pointed up at the far side of the menu "Look, right there. Chocolate, strawberry and vanilla all in one, then you don't have to pick."

"Yay!" Cat exclaimed, clapping. "I'll take that one, please!" She grinned brightly at the cashier as she handed over her money.

Jared- according to the name tag hanging off his shirt- pushed away from where he was resting, his eyes lingering on me for a moment before he turned away and slouched off the retrieve our frozen treats, including cookie dough for me and mint choc chip for Jade. I heard Jade give a small growl, her eyes narrowed as she watched his retreating back.

"What's wrong?" I asked in a quiet voice, shuffling past Cat, who was stood between the two of us, so I could get to Jade. I placed my hand next to hers on the counter and unsurely, yet softly, ran my thumb over hers and was glad to see her smile at the comforting gesture.

A waved of butterflies invaded my stomach at this and I wanted nothing more than to just hold her hand properly, but instead, she shook her head as Jared made his way back to us and handed over our ice cream cones with an added, cocky grin at me. Jade didn't miss this and she quickly grabbed my wrist, dragging me off to the table furthest away from the teenage employee. When I turned back to check if Cat was following, I caught him watching me as we went, apparently Jade did too as she flipped him off.

"I don't like that guy." She grumbled the instant we sat down. She'd practically pushed me into the seat in the corner and plopped herself beside me so I could no longer see the desk, or be seen by anyone over there.

"But he gave us ice cream!" Cat said innocently, indicating the cone in her hand, ice cream already starting to dribble down the side.

"That's his job, Cat." Jade replied, with a bit more acid in her tone than I think she was meant to put. Thankfully Cat was too busy catching the melting cream with her finger to notice. "He's lucky I'm in a good mood, otherwise I would've knocked his teeth out." She took a rather violent bite of her treat after that.

"He was just drumming his fingers on the counter." I tried to reason, not understanding why Jade was so worked up all of a sudden.

"He was not 'just drumming his fingers on the counter'!" Jade hissed, repeating what I'd said in the accent she used to mock me. "He was practically drooling all over you, Tori, how could you not see that!"

She slumped back in her plastic seat, moodily licking at her ice cream cone. I watched her for a second, confused, before it suddenly hit me- was Jade jealous? I'd seen her jealous a thousand times whenever a girl got too close to Beck, but I never imagined that a trivial little thing like that would set her off, especially when it involved me. I was still getting used to the fact I could now call the girl beside me my girlfriend and, for some reason, it made me happy that she felt strongly enough to get annoyed over something so little.

"You've got nothing to worry about." I said in an undertone, reaching out to take her hand that lay across her stomach. Her sulking quickly changed to a smile when I laced our fingers together, it made my heart skip a beat.