Not long after Nora took Tara back with her to the hotel, a quick knock on the front door shook Jade out of her daze while she was washing the dishes. After drying her hands, she quickly made for the door and opened it promptly; revealing Tara looking nervous as she smoothed her hair back.
"Hey!" Tara half-waved, looking past Jade for a moment, "I'm so sorry! I forgot my music player in the bathroom! Do you think I could...?"
"Oh, shoot! I can't believe I didn't check..." Jade bit her lip and looked back to the bathroom door, hearing the shower still running, "But Tori's in there taking a shower right now..."
"I-It's okay! I can wait..." Tara stepped inside, closing the door behind her, "I mean, your mom and I can wait! She's just in the car calling someone named Piper, I think."
"Yeah, that's her girlfriend," Jade chuckled, leading Tara to take a seat on the couch. "Maybe you're better off not being subject to hearing that."
"Well, would it be worse for me or you?" Tara plopped on the couch next to Jade, almost in the same positions they were in mere hours ago, "I mean, she's your mom!"
"Point taken," Jade made a vomiting gesture and shook her head, "Let's drop that, okay? You wanna play a quick round of Overwatch, or we can watch an episode of this musical show I think you might like?"
"Actually..." Tara looked down for a moment, then pulled down her oversized shirt to expose her shoulder to Jade, "I was thinking we could...pick up where we left off? Before we were so rudely interrupted?"
Jade's face flushed red in an instant, staring at Tara biting her lip and fluttering her eyes at her. "T-Tara, we talked about this! Tori's in the next room, for god's sake!"
"Don't worry," Tara shamelessly grinned and leaned forward, "I can work fast~" She didn't wait for Jade to argue as she crashed their lips together and pushed her down against the couch, hands pressed against her shoulders.
Jade gasped into their kiss, but didn't resist the advance. Instead, she reached for Tara's waist under her shirt, feeling how tight the short stack's abs felt as she squeezed.
The fear of Tori's shower finishing or Nora coming in to check on Tara didn't enter Jade's thoughts. All she could think about was how she was everything she needs that she never knew she wanted. The thought replayed again and again until she felt herself roll off the couch.
Jade hit the floor with a loud thud, throwing her out of sleep and back to reality, where her senses were bombarded with soreness in her elbows that took the brunt of the fall and the song "She Is" by The Fray playing from Tori's laptop.
"Jade!" Tori paused the music and dashed from the dining table to the couch, picking Jade up by her shoulders, "Are you okay?! Did you just roll in your sleep?!"
Groaning from the pain and shaking off the drowsiness, Jade replied, "I'm fine. Just had a weird dream, I think..."
"Was it the one where Cat switches bodies with you and does a music video for that magical fairy cartoon she likes?"
Jade almost totally sobered upon hearing that oddly-specific question, "You have that dream, too? But...no, it wasn't that—I mean, I don't remember! What time is it?"
"It's almost 9:00 PM," Tori glanced at the clock display on the TV, "You said you were tired after finishing your diner leftovers and just passed out on the couch for a few hours. Maybe that made you have a bad dream?"
"I didn't say it was...I mean..." Jade stuttered and sat back up on the floor, "Anyway! Were you still working on covers? I'm sorry I couldn't help like you wanted..."
Tori laughed and shook her head, "No, no, it's fine! Your mom and Piper gave me some suggestions when we were out today, so I'm listening to a few before I try singing them myself!" She took Jade's hands and stood up together with her, "Come on, maybe you'll recognize a few of them!"
"W-Wait," Jade stayed in place as she dusted herself off, piecing together her dream to herself, "Did Tara...or my mom forget anything here? Her music player, maybe? Tara said it helps her sleep."
Tori looked back at the kitchen counter and then to the bathroom, shaking her head, "No, I don't think so. They would have called or texted if they did. Now, come on! I think there's a Joan Jett song you'll really like~"
Jade sighed and followed her to the dining table. Once they sat down next to each other, she placed her hand on the back of Tori's neck and pulled her in for a sudden, but lingering kiss.
Tori let out a surprised hum, but she closed her eyes, kissing her back for a few seconds before pulling back to her laptop. "Not that I didn't like that, but...what was the occasion?"
"I need a reason to kiss my girlfriend?" Jade smirked, but then looked aside and shifted her chair closer to Tori, "Just wanted to make sure I wasn't still dreaming, that's all."
"And what's the verdict?" Tori asked as she pulled up another song to play.
"The fact that I'm still here with you...is a dream come true~" Jade blushed as she answered, to which Tori laughed out loud.
"Oh my god! You would wring my neck if I said something so cheesy!" Tori pulled Jade into a quick hug to contain herself, "But hey, it's true. Now let's listen to some classic rock, shall we?"
Jade nodded and sat back in her chair as Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" filled the living room. She watched Tori skimming over the lyrics of the song intently, then looked aside to the kitchen and the rest of the room, wishing she'd gotten Belgian cocoa with the groceries today.
Meanwhile...
A dull thud on the carpeted floor brought Nora out of her sleep in the middle of the night. Pulling off her sleep mask, she looked over at the other bed and noticed the covers trailing over the side.
"Tara?" Nora called, flipping the light switch over the whole room and making her way to the far side where Tara had apparently fallen off the bed and onto the floor. "Are you okay?"
Tara groaned as she got up and sat back on the bed. Holding her head, she answered, "I'm fine. Just...had a dream, that's all."
"What kind of dream?" Nora sat next to her, gently rubbing her head where she assumed she landed, "Bad memories of your foster home? Of sleeping in the theater?"
"N-No..." Tara swallowed, her face warming a bit, "Um, you don't happen to wear earplugs along with that mask, do you?"
Nora looked at her for a moment, trying to catch what she was implying. "I don't under—oh...OH! Tara, it's okay! You don't need to tell me if you don't want to!"
"Are you sure?" Tara bit her lip nervously, "Because it was about your dau—"
"Tara!" Nora cupped her hand over Tara's mouth before she could finish, "I said you don't need to tell me, okay?" Tara nodded and Nora removed her hand.
The two each grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-fridge and sat together while deciding who would break the silence first.
"You...seem to be taking my crush on your daughter rather well," Tara gulped as she replaced the cap on her bottle.
Nora chuckled in reply, "Well, it was quite a shock the first time I learned my daughter was someone's 'gay awakening', if that's what the kids call it these days...but now, I'm not quite as surprised."
Tara blushed again, trying to cool herself down with another sip of water, "Your daughter...Jade...she's been surprisingly nice to me—well, with the occasional jab here and there, but even she's surprised about it, too."
"I think I might know why," Nora took another drink, closing her eyes as she reminisced. "You've probably noticed how close Jade is with her girlfriend, Tori? Well, they weren't always like that. In fact, the day they met, Jade poured iced coffee on that girl's head just for being in physical contact with her boyfriend at the time—and that was just the tip of the iceberg! She couldn't stand someone being as talented and successful as her, and getting lead roles and good grades so much more easily in comparison. To Jade, Tori was a rival and nothing else; 'girlfriends' was the last thing she thought they'd ever be...until these past couple weeks.
"After Jade graduated, she broke up with her boyfriend...again, and she was doing a bit of soul-searching. Being the stubborn, standoffish 'grunch' she was at school probably wasn't going to fly outside of it, and her friends were slowly softening the walls she had built around herself. By the time she talked to me again after so many years of just grunts and snarky jabs, she was already changing, and I was just happy to have my daughter again." Nora smiled, finishing her water bottle and lightly tossing it into a bin.
"Sounds like she had some good friends," Tara flashed a smile, "And she and Tori must have done quite a lot to go from hating each other to...dating each other."
"Oh, they did," Nora continued, pulling something up on her tablet and passing it to Tara. "This is an interview Tori did with my girlfriend not too long ago. The video down there was kind of the catalyst for it." She pressed the Play button on the embedded video, showing Tori and Jade singing "Take on Me" at Nichijou and looking "quite playful" and "flirty", as some of the comments stated.
Tara stared at the video longingly, then scrolled through the article as the audio kept playing, "So Tori is a real singer? Like she works for a record company and everything?"
"Well, she just started, but yes!" Nora nodded, "In fact, it's the same company I'm working for as a lawyer. Tori performed the opening number for an awards show the company's CEO was producing, and then she was offered a record deal here after she graduated."
Tara stopped scrolling and fixated on a photo of Tori from her high school social profile. "Lucky girl..."
"You know," Nora sat next to her, taking the tablet and scrolling down to another photo of Tori and Jade with their Hollywood Arts friends. "You're not too different from them. From what Jade said, you've got a lot of talent, and with some training and the right friends at your side, maybe you could make something of it, too."
"You really think so?" Tara laughed a bit, looking at the group photo, "I guess I could, but I think I just want to think about getting a good night's rest for tomorrow before I think about anything else." She closed the tablet and returned it to Nora before giving her a quick hug. "But thank you...Ms. West."
Nora returned the hug, rubbing Tara's back sweetly, "Oh, you can call me Nora, dear. You're not my daughter...or dating my daughter, anyway."
Tara laughed as she backed away to her bed and slipped under the covers, straightening them from her earlier tumble. "Maybe I should be calling you Fairy Godmother, with all you and Jade have done for me~"
Nora blushed a bit as she heard that, "Well, this isn't all for free. I'm sure you'll be on your feet in no time, and I'll do whatever I can to help you get there." She switched the lights off and settled back into her bed, "Good night, Tara."
"Good night, Nora," Tara smiled, placing her earbuds back in and playing a soft tune to ease her back to sleep.