This week has been pretty normal at school, actually. It's Wednesday morning and Jade performs in two nights. We're all meeting together over here again in about two hours for our project and its upcoming due date. Jade has been rather distant from me lately, but I'm trying to respect that she's going through a lot right now and is figuring out how to cope with her emotions. I just wish I could help her do that.
I'm a bit nervous as far as Trina being here while Jade is over. I don't know what to expect. I told Trina ahead of time what time everyone's coming and to stay out of the house so we can get a lot done, but who knows what time she'll be back.
I hear a knock at the door and check the time. It's only 3:00, we're not meeting until 5.
I open the door and there's Jade. I haven't spoken to her face to face for longer than a couple minutes here and there this week. Surely we text a bit but it's not the same. She comes in and looks around; Her aura appears anxious.
"Trina and my parents aren't here, don't worry."
She relaxes and we sit on the couch. She looks at me and smiles. "Your eyes are beautiful," she says, looking directly into them. I grin humbly and blush a bit, looking down bashfully. She puts a finger on my chin, lifting it up. Her hand caresses my face and she pulls me in for a sweet kiss, and I feel my heart melting. I'm not used to kissing her, but it's so easy to do. Her lips are soft and she smells like vanilla cherry. She pulls back for a moment and looks at me again.
"Hey, Vega." She says softly.
"Hey, Jade."
"People aren't going to be here for a while, you know." As she speaks, she traces her finger from my forehead down my nose, my lips, my chin, and lastly to my chest.
My heart beats fast. "I don't want to rush into anything." I say, as she softly kisses my neck and my lips turn upright.
"Don't worry," she says with her lips still pressed against my skin, "I can go as slow as you want." She places one hand on my stomach under my top, and I feel my stomach drop as it starts to move upwards. "We have all the time in the world, darling." I slightly pull away, just enough for her to stop and look at my funny. "What's the problem?"
I look at her and gulp softly. Despite the fact that we're both head over heels for the other, she's still extremely intimidating. "I just don't want things to go so fast. I mean, I'm definitely not ready for us to have sex, and-"
"Whoaaaa, Tori. Slow your roll there," she sits upright and looks at me. "I'm not ready for that either... Okay well I am, but not right this minute. Not here, not now. I just thought we could make-out for a while before everyone starts piling in." She smirks.
I sigh with relief before smirking back at her. "Oh, so you wanna sleep with me, do ya?" I tease.
"Watch yourself, Vega. Don't tempt me." She chuckles and winks before kissing me again. She gets on my lap and straddles my hips, but this time it's nothing more than just that. To my surprise, on Jade's behalf, it's actually a fairly PG session. Just then an alert on my phone goes off and we immediately jump apart.
"Damn, am I ever going to be able to kiss you without that happening?" She jokes with hints of seriousness in her tone. I shrug and smile.
I check my phone and relay the message to her that everyone's carpooling in Beck's RV and will be here shortly. We decide to turn on the TV and grab some sodas to make it as nonchalant as possible, as if we were only hanging the whole time (not that anyone would think otherwise anyway).
The doorbell rings and I shout "it's open!"
The whole gang piles in and we dive right into our project. Camera angles, lighting, filming, sets, costumes, the whole package: it's all tying together smoothly. We film scene after scene, take after take, time and time again until we're all satisfied with our material. We decide that the final scene of the day will be where Jade's character, Veronica, tells my character Magdalena, that she's been giving me the roses all along. The only thing is, Jade says she's going to improvise her character's explanation of everything because she wants it to be a more natural delivery, meanwhile I have scripted lines, so reasonably we all are slightly worried that it won't work out well. Nevertheless, we decide to let Jade improvise her little surprise and hope for the best.
This scene is taking place right after Magdalena and her boyfriend Victor (Beck's character) got back from one of their many couples' therapy sessions, but it was a lot worse than usual and things went downhill fast. Immediately following their arrival back home, Victor leaves to blow off steam and Magdalena calls her dearest friend Veronica and pleads for her company. The lights are dim and our characters sit on the couch where Jade and I were prior to our friends' arrival.
"And... ACTION!" Robbie shouts.
"I'm just so frustrated," I exclaim.
She puts a hand on my shoulder. "I know you are, Lena. It's okay."
I grin. "You know, you're the only one who's ever called me Lena." We both smile at each other. "I love it when you do."
"Me too." There's a long (scripted) pause before Jade/Veronica breaks it. "So talk to me. What are you thinking right now?"
My character babbles on for a bit. "... It's like, whoever is sending me all of these roses actually cares more about me than my own boyfriend. It's as if... I don't know. I know I don't know who it is sending these roses to me, but I feel butterflies whenever I receive one. I think I'm falling for someone that I don't even know." There's a slight pause before I shake my head. "I'm sorry, I know that sounds crazy," I nervously laugh.
"No, it doesn't. Not at all."
I shake my head and look down. "I feel crazy."
She puts her hand on the side of my face. "Hey, listen to me." We make eye contact. "The only thing crazy about you is me."
She pulls out a black rose from her bag and my character gets a shocked glaze in her eyes. "I knew you were special the moment I met you," she says, but I know this is Jade talking, not Veronica. "Once we started to get to know each other... I just... I couldn't stop thinking of you." She shakes her head, as though she's wrong for feeling this way. "I was ashamed. After all, you are Victor's girl, and I felt guilty that all I wanted to do was show you what it's like to be loved correctly. For wanting to shower you with affection and gifts. For fantasizing of your lips on my own. I..."
She stands up and walks a few steps away, and I follow her, though her back is to me.
"Please," she pleads, "please don't hate me or be afraid. I sent you those roses because I wanted to show you my love without you running off... but mainly, I sent you them because they reminded me of you."
That's exactly what Jade told me the first time we were together and I found all of those photos of black roses, and I remember she never elaborated on them. "Why?" I ask curiously.
She turns to face me, taking a few steps towards me. "Usually a black rose symbolizes death or grief... sadness even... but that's not how I interpret it." A tear pokes out from the corner of her eye. "For a long time, all I was ever able to see was darkness. Everything was dark. It was like, even rainbows were black and white. Everything was so lifeless and dull, it sucked away all the good from my life. Then one day I saw this black rose and I thought to myself, wow, that's a color I've never seen before. The crazy thing is, black isn't what I saw. What I saw was a colorful light I'd never seen before. I wanted to capture this flower in a photo, so that's exactly what I did. I was so hypnotized by its beauty that when I looked back at the photo later on and realized it was black, I was filled with shock but also relief. I finally was able to see the light in something so dark."
I shake my head. "I don't understand. How does this remind you of me?"
"Oh darling," she steps closer. "The black rose brought light into my life for the first time in a very, very long time. It was the only thing that registered in my brain as color. Then I met you. You had the same magical light as that flower. You brought joy back into my life, just as that rose had done." We both have tears sliding down our faces.
She looks deeper into my eyes "Lena," she says, choked up. "You are my black rose."
I am speechless, but I don't have time to think because just then Jade cups my cheek with her hand and kisses me with so much emotion and passion. I kiss her back intensely, and the warmth of our lips connecting is hot enough to start a fire. I place my hand on her lower back and she kisses me harder, tears streaming from both of us now. This is nothing but love.
"CUT!" Robbie hollers, and once again, we jump apart. The moment has (again) been cut short, like every other moment we've had thus far.
Everyone starts applauding and we both wipe our eyes and smile shyly.
"That was AMAZING!" Robbie exclaims with excitement.
"Hell yeah, I don't think we even need to do another take." Andre says, equally as excited.
Cat is grinning from ear to ear but also seems a little teared up from our performance, which really was just us having an actual conversation. "You guysssss!" She squeals as she runs over and gives us both a hug, which we of course return.
Beck looks at us both in awe. Everyone goes quiet, and Jade and I look back at him. "That was... wow... how on Earth... you guys that was brilliant. I'm so proud." He smiles and gives us both a hug as well, which turns into one giant group hug.
It feels so nice to have their support, even though none of them (except Cat) realize that what they just witnessed was real.
Another ten minutes or so pass before everyone leaves. Well, almost everyone. Jade obviously stays back, and just like that it's only the two of us again.
"So..." she starts. "What did you think about that?"
I smile at her. "I'm more than honored to be your black rose."
She smiles back shyly and gives me a hug. We stand there in each other's grasp for what feels like forever, but it's the most comfortable place to be. It's the only place I want to be.
Jade softly says my name. "Yes, Jade?" I reply back to her.
She looks into my eyes. "I love you."
I smile, and she mimics me. "I love you, too."