A/N: Hi, everyone. Posting this story without an inkling of knowing how active the Victorious community is on this site. I am a frequent writer in the Pretty Little Liars section, but with Victorious being posted on Netflix a few weeks ago, I was inspired by some of the characters.

Don't want to make this too long. Unsure if this will stand alone or turn into a full story. Let me know your thoughts.

Uncertainty had always been a longtime companion of mine. Words wavered between the whimper of my lips. Thoughts trickled through the recesses of my mind trying to toss their way silently forward. Choices caught themselves between the creases of my palms climbing callously up my extremities to become actions, inherently cautious in nature.

Whether a simple manifestation of my anxiety or a symptom of something bigger, I consistently struggled to speak my mind. To come to a decision and stick with it resolutely. To step forward with conviction. That is until I met Jade West.

There was something about her candor that felt effortless. She spoke her mind without hesitation, as though the thought had originated on the tip of her tongue. She came off as arrogant, catty, and some might even say vile. But through my eyes, she held a power I never knew could be obtained. Her decisiveness was a mystery to me.

It made me want her even more.

I always felt as though our relationship could fade as quickly as the flame was lit. Ignited with a piece of flint growing dull. Kindled between two hearts of pine which, once sturdy, could soon go up in smoke. Illuminated by each other's eyes and the sparks inspired by our touch.

At first, my understanding of Jade was through whispers. Hushed undertones of apprehension regarding the façade she draped over herself for protection. People's voices tended to quiver when recalling the way she fought through the halls. They clutched to her black clothing, army boots, and resting bitch face to make a determination of her interior.

But no one spoke of her beauty. No one prepared me for the perplexing nature of her piercing eyes. How they seemingly flowed from blue to green to hazel to grey and back again depending on the amount of light shining within her. No one conveyed the energy encased in her mesmerizing smile. No one noted how her long black hair framed her face in layers, hiding a small scar just on the underside of her jaw bone by her chin.

And no one told me that there was a chance I would fall in love. Before my thoughts, words, or actions could tell me otherwise.

She plopped down in the seat next to me in Geometry without a second thought that first day of school. Though we knew each other through acquaintances, she remained someone in my life that I had never formally been introduced to. As I glanced beside me, I noticed the slight irritation from a new piercing on her left eyebrow before I entirely took in that she was seated next to me.

"Can I help you?" she muttered, catching my eye.

I jumped at her tone, snapping my head back forward to retract all previous eye contact "Nope! Not at all."

She sighed next to me and reached across her body with her right hand extended for me to take hold, "We've never actually met, have we?"

Reaching for her palm, I smiled nervously as we regained eye contact, "Mhm. I'm friends with Andre, Robbie, and –"

"Cat," she finished, still gripping her hand in mine, "Jade. Tori, right?"

Nodding more than the average human being, I agreed, "Yeah, Vega. Tori Vega."

I watched as her lips mumbled my last name under her breath before meeting my eyes once more, "Well, nice to meet you." Her face slowly turned from a smile into impenetrable confusion, "Hey, Tori? You there?"

My eyes snapped back to reality as I realized that I was still shaking her hand, trapping our introduction between us in hopes that the moment wouldn't fade, "Right! Right. So sorry. Must be first day jitters, you know?" I gasped, pulling my hand away, wiping it onto my blue jeans as she chuckled next to me before I, for some unknown reason, kept talking, "You too. You know, meeting you? Nice. It was nice."

She blushed, smiling onto her desk, "Whatever you say, Vega. I'm trying that whole uh, what's the phrase…" Pausing to hold her hands in air quotes, she continued, "New year, new me bullshit. How am I doing so far? You intimidated? Ready to run away?"

My eyes still held wide open from embarrassment, I continued stumbling over my words, "Well, I guess all of the above…"

"Fuck." She stomped her boot while pulling out her notebook and pen for class.

I reached out my hand for her upper arm before I could catch myself, "No, it's not that." My words recaptured her eyes. I decided right then that the nuanced subtlety behind them would be a feeling I would forever seek, "I'm just surprised." A long pause lingered again between us, "I mean, you're beautif –"

I coughed, seizing the end of the word from mid-air in hopes that it had yet to reach her ears. She quickly raised her eyebrows in recognition, "Oh, flattered. Are you always this forward?"

"Only when I'm nervous." My hands withdrew into my lap, searching around the classroom for any indication that class was about to begin. "I think that class might be about to –"

"We have three minutes… humor me?" Her eyes drooped as her mouth turned to a pout, shooting heartache straight through my chest. "You should give me the chance to make you nervous more often then."

"Wait. Really?"

"Sure." she shrugged, "We're friends with the same people for a reason. Let's grab sushi sometime. My treat."

"Is this another part of your 'New Year, New Me' plan?"

She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, highlighting the blue streaks hiding in the layers, "Does my answer determine yours?"

"No, I just –"

She laughed out loud, sending shivers down my spine, "I'm fucking with you, Vega." She chucked again, "You're cute when you're nervous. But no, you were never a part of my plan."

Silence fell between us as the bell rang and continued until a pause within our teacher's introduction.

"That was a yes from you?" Jade whispered. And though her question would indicate that I needed to reply, she answered for me, "Good. It's a date, and I'll pick you up Friday at 7."

Our conversations each morning that week were brief but hovered over the barrier between new friendship and flirtation. It made it difficult to read how our date would go. So when I opened the door Friday evening to find Jade dressed in a short black dress paired with a black belt and chunky bracelet, I audibly gasped.

"You like it; I hoped you would." She nodded confidently though her hands clutched together in front of her indicated some nerves. "You ready to go? Do I need to meet anyone to make sure they know I'm not a serial killer or anything?" She joked before processing the look on my face, "I'm not!" Her hands raised up from their clutched position, "Sorry."

"Something tells me that you might be the nervous one tonight, Jade." I replied, leaning forward to kiss her cheek in reassurance, "And no, we're fine. We can save introductions for the second date, okay?"

She nodded as I grasped her hand, closing the door behind me, "You look great tonight, by the way, Vega."

"I appreciate it, really. I'm excited." I replied as we reached the front of the house.

"Question." She paused on the sidewalk, "Would you be pissed if I didn't open the door and shit for you? I'm all for chivalry, but I don't want you to think that I think you can't take care of yourself. I'd hate to start tonight off on a bad – "

"Jade?" I asked, stepping back toward her, "Whatever you feel like doing tonight, that's fine with me. I would never turn down generosity."

"Noted." She paused, walking to my door to open it.

Being acquaintances before this week, it made our first date go by incredibly smoothly. We learned about the other's audition process to get into Hollywood Arts, family life, future plans, and present day without any lapses. Jade was boldly enigmatic one-on-one. She enjoyed telling just enough to be revealing without giving too much of herself away. I quickly accepted the fact there would always be more for me to learn about her, attempting to center myself in the fact that I was sitting across from the first person that had ever taken my breath away.

As dinner was wrapping up, she asked, "So, anything else that's been circling your thoughts that you haven't been able to ask or do?" Her smirk said it all. But when she mentioned it, my thoughts immediately hopped to a task I had completely forgotten about.

"Actually, yeah! Do you want to go to the bathroom?"

"Now?!" she asked, puzzled by my enthusiasm, "Can I pay the check first?"

"Of course, yeah. Meet me there?" I stood, allowing my hand to linger across her back as I walked behind her.

"Sure. Be right there!"

A few minutes later, Jade half jogged into the restroom, groaning at the sight she found, "What the fuck is this?" She laughed, walking toward the triage station I had laid out on the bathroom counter.

"So, I brought all of this stuff because, Jade, your piercing is not looking good." Jade stepped backward, gasping as I kept speaking, "I didn't want to bring it up at school."

"But the Nozu bathroom is the right place?" she shook her head, a smile appearing from ear to ear.

"Well, look. I brought everything I needed in my purse. I disinfected the counter, laid out the gauze, and have everything ready. Come and sit, please." I nodded emphatically, patting the counter to usher her to sit on the marble countertop.

"As long as they don't try to kick us out…"

"With you by my side, I'd like to see them try," I stated confidently, even though this entire date still had me shaking. "So, what are you using to treat this? It always looks just a little more irritated than it should."

"This is so embarrassing, Tori."

"Oh, shush. Answer the question."

"Rubbing alcohol? Is something wrong with that?" she asked accusatorily.

"I guess not?" I shrugged, "I've never had a piercing."

"Then why the fuck are you the one giving me advice?"

Putting a glove onto my left hand, I paused to place my right hand on her cheek, "You don't have to listen. I thought you may want to accept my generosity as a thank you for this evening."

I watched as the touch of my hand made every concern of hers fade, "No. It's fine." She smiled.

"Great! I did some research and asked my sister, and from what I can tell, this is the best cure-all." I stated while I began to mix water and salt into a shot glass. "Distilled water. Sea salt. Cleaned shot glass. Stir vigorously. Now, put your eyebrow and forehead over the top of this."

"What?"

"Just listen, please!" I exclaimed as I ushered her forehead over the 1-ounce container. "Okay, push against it to create a seal, and then sit up for me."

She sat up with a frustrated smirk tracing her lips, "How do I look?"

"Stunning. As you have the entire evening. More importantly, how does it feel?"

She winced briefly, "Oh, it stings."

"That means it's working. Now, we wait until the stinging stops." I paused, moving the remaining triage items to my left to make room for myself on the bathroom counter.

Once situated, I placed my head on her shoulder as she began talking, "You do this on all your dates, Vega?"

"I saved this, especially for you."

"Goody." She facetiously replied, before continuing, "It feels better. Can I take this stupid shot glass off my forehead now?"

"One second, let me get step two ready!"

"Step Two?" she openly sighed.

"It's the last one, promise." I turned away to gather a Q-Tip with some rubbing alcohol on the tip before facing her once more, "Okay, you can remove it now."

Leaning back up to me with saltwater dripping down the left side of her face, I snatched gauze from behind me to catch it on her cheek, "Sorry about that." I collected the remnants of water as I lingered closely near my date, working my way back up toward her eye. I delicately used the Q-Tip to clean around the edges of the piercing.

"Thank you for doing this. I'm not sure anyone else in my life would have." Her voice faded, leaving me an opening that I chose not to walk through tonight.

"Of course. Expect it from now on." I reassured, making direct eye contact with her. Using my purple latex gloves, I lightly pulled at the skin around her eye to ensure all possible irritation had been cleared.

She looked away from me as I remained inches from her face, inspecting every aspect of her piercing, "You know I meant what I said on Monday, Tori…"

Leaning away for the first time, I hopped off the counter to collect all of the remnants from my medical services and placed them in the trash behind us. I only began speaking while in the process of removing one of my gloves, "And what was that?"

"You. I mean, this was never a part of any plan."

Her fingers laced with my free hand as she finished her sentence, pulling me back closer to her. The force caused me to look up at her emerald eyes, which speckled with gold under the florescent lighting. My thoughts scattered. I opened my mouth to form words, but the small bite she gave her lower lip sent them all out of focus. Attempting to connect my spiraling thoughts and words with actions, I wracked my brain for my next step as she settled the curve my hips in between her legs. Was I meant to reply right now? Would it be okay to place my other latex glove against her cheek to provide her with more affection? Was I supposed to kiss her? The gears shifted in my head, attempting to make sense of all the input incoming from three inches in front of me.

As her lips cascaded into mine, all of my thoughts and words and actions left whatever space they were occupying. I may have been unsure of everything existing between us. But fortunately for me, certainty had always been a longtime companion of hers.

A/N: Would love to hear your thoughts and any input you may have on this becoming a story or not. I can't wait to see how this is received.

Can't wait to become a part of a new community on this site. Thanks for your support. If interested, please go check out some of my other stuff. I wrote on this site back when I was 15/16 and came back about 2 years ago, so there are plenty of cringy stories on my page mixed in with my more recent stuff. Enjoy.

If you enjoyed, please Read. Review. Favorite. Pass Along.

Until next time,

- secretpen28