The Only Exception | Jori

two.

Tori and her friends all made it to the colorful and loud restaurant. The six (seven including Robbie's puppet) all chattered away as they waited on their food.

"So Robbie, how's your early birthday treating you?" Tori asked the boy across the table.

"Good! I got a hug from Cat." He smiled, causing the redhead to giggle and squeal.

"It was my birthday gift to him!" Cat explained. "It was so gross!" She giggled before taking a sip of her soda.

The group laughed along and continued chatting for a bit as their sushi arrived at the table. The waitress looked a bit familiar to the six, then it hit Tori.

"Meredith?" Tori questioned.

The name made eyes prick up at the waitress. A pair of blue ones seemed to widen more than the rest.

The waitress giggled, "Hey guys!" She laughed, "I thought I recognized your table." Her eyes found a certain boy's and locked with his. This didn't go unnoticed to the rest of the group. They could already tell this was going to be a problem.

Tori looked at Jade. It was clear that she was already fuming. Even though her and Beck had broken up and Jade had no intention of ever getting back with the boy, the name still drew red flags for the girl. She had always hated her. Back in junior year, when Jade and Beck were broken up, Beck tried to go out with Meredith and it ended up being a big problem for the two even though Beck ultimately chose Jade.

Beck chuckled awkwardly, he was quite aware of the anger that was radiating off of his ex. "We're surprised to see you here too."

"Yeah, I just got a part-time job here. I just figured that I could use the experience." The small girl explained.

"Oh? Your acting career is down in the dumps already?" Jade spat. "What a shame." She smirked.

Everyone tensed at her words. Tori thought she should try to redirect the conversation elsewhere but Meredith spoke up again.

"Actually it's just getting started, I just thought I shouldn't rely on it too much you know? An acting career is kind of risky, at least for me." She explained with a shrug.

Meredith was a sweet girl, it was clear Jade wasn't getting under her skin and she had no intention of fighting with the goth girl. But that wasn't Jade's plan.

Jade narrowed her eyes at the smaller girl. She knew she shouldn't be jealous, and she wasn't. But she couldn't help at being angry at Beck for even trying to start things with this girl. She was the total opposite of what Jade was and maybe that's why Beck felt as if he could actually talk with her and peruse some sort of relationship in the first place.

Tori was sitting next to Jade, she turned to the girl and noticed that Jade was clenching her fist, her knuckles turning white and hands trembling. Tori winced, she knew that Jade was most likely breaking skin with her nails. The tan girl chewed on her lip before taking one of Jade's fist into her own hand, she pried her fingers away from her now red palm. Jade grew stiff as Tori took her other fist and did the same. She ran her thumb across Jade's palm, feeling the small indents and slightly broken skin. She frowned before turning the girl's hands downwards so that her hands were now faced down on the table.

Tori knew it was a risky move to even touch the girl while she was fuming over the waitress who was now making small talk with Beck, but she couldn't help but make sure that Jade wasn't hurting herself. As for Jade, she was frozen staring at Tori, eyes curious and jaw continuously clenching and unclenching.

Tori didn't know what the girl was thinking, she was unreadable. Tori met eyes with Jade and offered a shy smile in which Jade simply turned away from Tori and aggressively grabbed her water cup. She sipped on the water for a few long moments as if she was trying to avoid talking.