Ambiance

AU

Chapter Seven

In the few cliché movies Jade West has watched in her lifetime (not acted in them, of course, because that's not Jade's type of thing), girls call up their girlfriends when they get dumped and then cry into their bowls of ice cream while watching chick flicks. (And admittedly Jade hasn't been dumped, but it sure feels like it.) But this is different, somehow; Beck is different, and so she stocks up on Ben and Jerry's and curls up in her bed, the TV blasting her favorite movie – The Scissoring, of course. After a while it starts to remind her of Beck, and if she's being truthful, she'd like to avoid him for as long as possible. So she turns her TV off and just sleeps and eats for what feels like days.

Danny is the first one to venture in to her hideaway. "Jade," he says. "I've been calling you for like two days; why haven't you picked up the phone?"

"Didn't feel like it," Jade mutters into her pillow.

"Like heck you didn't," Danny tells her sharply. "This movie is everything, Jade; you can't just give it up because you 'don't feel like it'."

"I'm not giving up the movie; I'm just not answering my phone," Jade says, her voice sounding more annoyed than she would like. She buries her head back in her pillow, trying to ignore what Danny is saying. The words blur together – movie and promotion and career and Beck – wait, what?

"What?" she mumbles, propping herself up on her elbows and staring at him.

"Had a feeling that would get your attention," Danny replies with a sigh. "Did something happen between you and Beck?"

"No," Jade retorts. Her cheeks go red, much to her disdain.

"Yeah, could you be more obvious?" Danny chuckles. "Two pieces of advice for you, Jade. First, don't let word of this get out. No need for paparazzi to get involved. Act normal, whatever. I know you're a very capable actress. And second…" He trails off, smiling. "Go call Beck if you miss him so much."

Sighing, she leans back. "Surely he doesn't miss me. He hasn't called or anything, and I mean, if he missed me, he'd probably try to get in touch with me, right?"

"Not like you've called him," Danny is quick to remind her. "Just call him, Jade." He sets the phone down in her lap and smiles. "I need you on your top game for the next little bit before promotion starts, and if that requires Beck Oliver being in your life, then so be it. I just need Jade West back."

Jade smiles back lamely, then glances down at the phone in her hands. Hesitantly, she glances over the keypad, then sets it down, deciding she'll call him later.

/

"Beck, seriously." The door opens and Andre slips in, followed closely by Jamie. He honestly can't blame them; he has been holed up in his room for quite a while, just staring at the ceiling and contemplating everything that had happened, that had been happening, over the past few weeks. Despite the fact that his heart feels like it's been like, shattered or something, he doesn't regret anything that happened. It still seems surreal, though – how could he fall in love with Jade West? And how could she not want to be with him? Half of the girls in the world would give anything just for a date with him! It sounds conceited, he knows, but he does have a right to be conceited, right? Andre's voice breaks his train of thought again. "I'm sure the ceiling isn't all that interesting."

"The ceiling is offended by that remark," Beck remarks wryly, turning over to glance at Andre and Jamie. "Why are you here?"

"Well, lemme see," Jamie says brightly. "You've only just been in bed for like, three days straight. I think we have a right to be here, don't you agree, Andre?"

"I'm gonna have to say yes," Andre agrees. "Seriously, dude? You're a heartbreaker, not some guy who gets in bed and cries his eyes out over a girl he's known all of a few weeks. And I mean, Jade's great, Jade's awesome, I know. I've met her too. But in the end, no girl is worth this much pain. You're Beck Oliver. Get your head back in the game. There's a lot of stuff you gotta get done."

"Yeah, I know," Beck replies gruffly. "I'll… I'm sorry. I'll do better. Swear it."

"Promise?" Jamie questions, putting her hands on her tiny hips in a failed attempt at looking intimidating – after all, she is like five foot one.

"Yeah, I – hang on!" His phone starts buzzing, and Beck grabs it, his hands shaking already. He swears he nearly sees a heart attack when he sees the words Jade West glowing on the screen. "I – it's Jade," he stammers. "I'm sorry, but can you get out? I gotta take this."

Andre and Jamie both shake their heads, but they leave anyway, and Beck swears there's a hint of a smile on both of their faces even as they leave.

He hesitates for just a moment before flipping open his phone. There's so much he wants to say, and yet somehow he can't manage to say a word. For a moment, he just stares at the phone, and then suddenly she's speaking. "Beck?"

"Jade," he breathes out, and quickly he realizes that even hearing her voice is overwhelming.

"Oh," she says simply.

The two of them are silent for a moment, just listening to each other's breathing. Beck cracks first. "I miss you," he mumbles, pressing the phone close as if it'll somehow make her come closer.

"Miss you too," she replies simply. "A lot."

"Me too," he breathes out. "Can we just – can you just…" He trails off, unsure of what exactly he's trying to say. "I can't wait a month and a half to see you, okay?"

"Where are you?" she inquires, cutting straight to the point as always, skipping all of the sappy stuff.

"At my house…" Beck trails off, feeling slightly confused. Where else would he be? At a party, blasting music and dancing with random girls that he doesn't care about in the least? As if.

"In LA?" she questions quickly, and he thinks he's beginning to understand.

"Yeah," he answers, a smile flitting across his face. "Are you in LA?"

"Yeah, but… I'm kinda out right now," came Jade's response. She sounded oddly hesitant for someone who had just professed to missing him a lot just a few minutes ago. "I'm on my way to a signing."

Ah. That would explain it.

"Tell me where you'll be," he says, smiling slightly despite himself at the possibility of going to see Jade again. Of course, it's a risk, practically everything in their business is, but he's sure he can pass it off as a friend coming to see a friend, so long as he doesn't like, kiss her in front of half of the population of the world. He is an actor, though, he does have some semblance of self-control. "I'm coming."

"I'm at the Golden Mall – you know where that is, right?" Jade questions.

"Of course," Beck responds immediately, cupping the phone in his hand. "Be there in like, ten minutes, all right? Don't go anywhere."

Jade snorts into the phone, something that oddly enough, Beck finds to be adorably unladylike. "As if. Hurry up before I murder the whole crowd. I'm sure that they'll all be annoying."

"Yeah, maybe you're annoying," Beck shoots back, smiling softly as he remembers her torturing him before they'd finally learned to get along – and, well, his lame attempts at revenge.

"Maybe you're ugly," she shoots back at once, but he can tell that she's merely teasing.

"Maybe you have a stupid face," he retorts, deciding that it's probably best to stick to childish insults.

"Careful, now," is Jade's response. "Keep insulting me and I might just have to slip a little hair dye into that precious shampoo of yours. I can just see you showing up at our first promo shoot with your hair a brilliant shade of pink."

"You'd just love that, wouldn't you?" he answers, slightly amused. "Well, I've got news for you, West. I still have that video of you confessing to vandalizing my room saved. So you dye my hair, and that little video gets out, baby."

"Wouldn't that be something?" Jade says, a hint of defeat coloring her tone. He has a feeling that she doesn't like to be defeated, and that feeling grows all the more as she hastily continues, "Look, as much as I'm 'enjoying our conversation', I gotta go. We just pulled up at the Mall. Get here quick."

"All right," he tells her. "I'll be there soon."

"You better," she informs him in a slightly icy tone before hanging up. Staring at his phone, he shakes his head and absently wonders how he'd ever become interested in this strange girl.

He slips open the door to his room, deciding it's probably best not to alert Andre or Jamie to the fact that he's going to meet up with Jade; however, he quickly realizes that isn't an option. Both of them are standing directly outside of his room, their arms crossed.

"And where exactly do you think you're going?" Andre questions, looking like he is trying very hard not to smile.

Beck sighs, grabbing his keys off the table and staring defiantly at the two of them. "I'm going to meet up with Jade, duh."

"On the other side of town?" Jamie asks with a giggle.

"Well, yeah, that's where she is," Beck tells her, scratching the back of his head. Now that he thinks about it, it does seem a bit curious, but he has been missing her more than he thought imaginable, and the only thing really to do is to drive to the other side of town to see her. "I've gotta go; Jade's waiting on me, and you know how she gets. She's like, the most impatient person in the world."

"Have fun," Andre says, winking in a suggestive way that makes Beck scurry quickly out the door.

As he leaves, he hears Jamie say, "Who would've thought?"

"I knew it," Andre answers proudly. "I mean, I figured it would happen eventually. Their personalities – they just work really well together. They just thought they hated each other because it was better than facing the truth."

Rolling his eyes, Beck heads out the door.

/

"I'm like, your biggest fan," the little girl in front of Jade squeals. Jade resists the urge to roll her eyes – she's only heard this fifty million times today from fifty million different people. Instead, she hastily scribbles a signature onto the girl's picture and offers her a small smile.

"Thanks for your support," Jade tells her, albeit a bit mechanically. "You're a great fan!" She raises her eyebrow as the little girl skips off, apparently not seeming to notice that anything was up. The next girl in line steps up, and Jade groans upon noticing that she's wearing a Beck Oliver t-shirt. Seriously?

"Oh em gee!" The girl squeals, jumping up and down. "You're so pretty in real life! Like, really! And also I can't wait to see Shattering Reflections! I mean, you and Beck are legit so adorbs together. But if you weren't, I'd definitely snatch him up. That boy is fine."

She bites her lip and tries not to sigh, wishing the girl would shut up already. She's well aware of how 'fine' Beck Oliver is, thanks. However, she is aware of the consequences of saying such a thing to a fan, so she just smiles and says, "Thanks. We're excited for the new movie too! Hope you attend the premiere; it will be loads of fun, and both Beck and I will be there."

"Heck yeah we will," comes a voice behind her. Startled, she turns around and finds herself looking up at Beck Oliver. The fangirl nearly has a mental breakdown right there and then, and Jade swears she's about to do the same. "Sorry guys, I think it's time Jade gets a break. She'll be back in a few, okay?"

The whole crowd nods in agreement – who can say no to Beck Oliver? – so he grabs her hand, helping her up to her feet. She hisses "idiot" in his ear as he pulls her off, but he just grins at her.

As soon as they find an empty corner outside the door to the mall, she attacks him, pulling him close and kissing him roughly. He makes a noise of amusement, but offers no real protest – not that she thought he would, anyway. Quickly, he pulls her close, wrapping his arms around her body like he never wants to let her go. It's nice, she decides, really nice.

Once she pulls away, she smiles. "You're unbelievable."

"Look who's talking," he chuckles, reaching forward to tuck one of her strands of hair behind her ear. "You know, I've missed you a lot."

"Yeah, I've missed you too, Mr. Bigshot Actor," she retorts, trying to make sense of her thoughts. "So what have you been doing? Lying around, bathing in your money?"

Lightly, he presses a kiss to her lips. "Well, you got the first part right," he tells her. "But unfortunately I haven't exactly figured out how to invent a tub full of money, so I'm stuck with my normal tub for now."

"Normal's boring," she informs him.

"Isn't that the truth?" He laughs, then pulls back a bit, standing a fair distance away from her and staring at her in a way that makes her more than slightly uncomfortable. It's not a perverted stare, she decides, more like she's the only thing in the world that matters, and that feeling – the feeling of having someone actually care about her – is unfathomable to her.

"So, um," she mutters, glancing down, "what exactly do you want to do about us?"

"Well, as of late I've decided that I don't want the press involved in my relationships," he tells her brightly, placing one of his hands on her shoulder. "So if you actually do want to be with me, let's keep it to ourselves, hm? Secretly dating or whatever. Though I should tell you that Jamie and Andre already sort of know."

"Course I want to be with you, idiot," she says, looking back up at him. "I wouldn't have told you to come if I didn't. And yeah, figures. Danny knows, or at least he thinks he does."

"Then we're good," Beck whispers, smiling down at her.

"Oh, we're so good," Jade affirms, leaning forward and kissing him again.

After a minute or two, Beck pulls away, much to Jade's dismay. He grins at her. "I know we need to, ahem, catch up, but you've got a signing to finish up. And it would be more than slightly suspicious if we took forever out here, eh?"

"You sound like a Canadian," Jade grumbles, frowning at her – at her boyfriend. The word is foreign even to her own ears, but she decides that she kind of likes it. Yes, she could get used to thinking of Beck Oliver as her boyfriend.

"I am a Canadian," Beck replies, arching an eyebrow at her. "Seriously, you didn't know that? Only every single magazine in the world publishes articles about my secret Canadian background. Except it's not really a secret, but whatever floats their boats."

This confounds Jade. She stands there for a moment, pondering this, before saying, "Ew, I hate Canada. And also I hate teen magazines, so I don't read them."

"Well, I would've thought that you might read them if you were on the cover," Beck teases, elbowing her lightly. "I mean, you're young and you're an amazing actress. No wonder you're on the cover of like, every girls' magazine in the world."

"I am not, shut up," Jade hisses, elbowing him back (though it's not quite as light). "You're just sucking up to me because you forgot to mention the fact that you're Canadian."

"I am not," he mutters, linking her elbow with his and walking forward, pulling them both into the mall. Everyone, of course, stops and stares at them, but he tips his hat like an actual gentleman and keeps walking, conversing with Jade like all of this is totally natural.

One girl runs up to them. "Oh my gosh! You're Beck Oliver and Jade West!"

"Yes, thank you," Jade mutters sarcastically. "I had no clue."

With a small chuckle, Beck smiles over at her, and then turns back to the girl. "Yeah, we are."

"I thought you hated each other," the girl tells them, looking bewildered. Jade can't imagine why – is this the chiz that the teen magazines are spreading about her lately? Honestly.

"No, not really," Beck answers the girl confidently. "Jade is – she's great, really. We're very close, and no, we don't hate each other at all."

"Yeah, and I tolerate him," Jade said with a laugh, glancing over at him. "Beck's not so bad once you get to know him, really."

"Oh," the girl replies, her eyes wide. "Well, that's cool." Then she walks off quickly, looking starstruck. Jade tries not to laugh.

Beck grins over at her. "I wasn't too obvious, right?"

"Not at all," she mutters, then starts walking again, dragging him with her. Once they get back to the signing, everyone is still standing in line, staring at them – at how close they are together. Jade sneers at them, hoping they'll back off. She doesn't want to have to tell them ten million times that they aren't actually dating.

Beck leans over and whispers in her ear, "Meet me at my house once the signing is over. Here's the address." He slips a paper into her hands, and once again she's amazed at how impeccably he thinks things through. There's a hint of a smile on his face as he leaves, bidding the crowd adieu, and she transitions easily into greeting fans and answering the eons of questions they have about her relationship with Beck.

Suddenly the signing seems more durable.

/

Andre opens the door for her. She stands for a moment in shock, then raises her eyebrow. "Um, hi."

"Oh, I figured you'd be coming over," Andre says with a chuckle, moving to the side that she can come in and calling "Beck, dude, your girlfriend's here" up the stairs. He then turns to her. "So how have you been, Jade?"

She feels more than a little bit awkward, but she tells him, "Um, I've been fine," anyway and then follows it up with, "So are you and Beck roommates now or what?"

"Yep," Andre answers, popping the 'p'. At last, Beck enters the room, looking slightly disheveled but thrilled to see her anyway. Not seeming to care much about Andre, he grabs her and kisses her passionately, at least until Andre clears his throat. Blushing a bit, Jade jerks away from Beck and glares at Andre, who throws his hands up and exits the foyer.

Beck just smiles slyly at her. In response, she hisses, "So since when are you and Andre roommates or whatever?"

"Since he needed a place to stay and I'm apparently a rich guy," Beck replied, shrugging. "What, have you got an issue?"

"No, as long as you two aren't secretly having an affair," Jade responded teasingly. "Anyway, sorry to kill the mood or whatever, but I've got to go to the bathroom. Mind directing me there, Mr. Moneybags? Oh, and please don't tell me you have gold-plated toilet seats."

"Only in my dreams, darling," Beck told her, grabbing her hand. It was the first time she'd really held his hand, and although it's sort of an odd circumstance, it still sends tingles down her spine. He pulls her to a door and waves his hand like he's some sort of prince. "Here you go, princess. Just don't put anything in my shampoo, kay?"

"Don't call me princess," she retorts, frowning and trying not to promise anything, because she doesn't want to be a liar. As soon as he leaves, she unscrews the lid to the shampoo that is quite obviously his (Sexy Hair, honestly) and dumps a bunch of pink hair dye in it. Then she flushes the toilet, in case he's like eavesdropping or something, which would admittedly be very close but she wouldn't put it past him. After washing her hands quickly, she exits the bathroom and makes her way back downstairs. Beck's on the couch, watching some random Nickelodeon show. She plops down beside him.

"How old are you again?" she teases, watching as Spongebob comes on the screen.

"Eighteen," he replies, his voice obviously trying (and failing) to sound all macho.

"I don't think it's possible to sound macho while watching Spongebob," Jade informs him. He rolls his eyes at her but slips his arm around her anyway, and she snuggles into it.

"Spongebob is a quality show," he tells her quietly, kissing the top of her head. "You have no taste whatsoever."

"I have more taste than you do, hipster," she mumbles, smirking up at him.

"Too far," he whispers, grabbing her and tickling her. Protesting loudly, she hits him lightly and squirms, trying to get away, but even still she can't contain her giggles. He seems to take that as a strange sort of motivation and continues.

Then all of a sudden Andre is standing in the doorway, raising his eyebrows. "Having fun, there?" he inquires, shooting them a quick wink before retreating to the kitchen.

Jade scowls. "I'm going to murder him one of these days, just you watch."

"That's considered illegal in some countries," Beck points out. "Oh, and slightly rude."

/

The next day, he invites her over again, but it seems that he'd had the bright idea of showering just before she got there, because by the time she gets there, he's fuming. "Jade!" he hisses, shaking out his head of pink hair. "What the heck is this?"

"Looks good on you," she teases, tweaking one of his shockingly pink hairs. "Seriously, I think you could rock this look. Start a pink revolution."

Beck scowls at her, and then glances back in the mirror. "I look like a Teletubbie," he moans.

"There's no pink Teletubbie," Jade points out. "More like… a princess fairy. It's cute."

He directs his glare at her. "I really hate you sometimes," he says, growling. "I'm assuming that this doesn't wash out with cold water, huh? Seeing as you're gaining a lot of amusement from this."

"It's temporary," she assumes him. "As in, after a few weeks it'll fade away kind of temporary."

This just makes his frown grow bigger. "I'm going to look like this when we start our promotion stuff?" he asks helplessly, staring at his pink reflection in the mirror.

"Like I said, you look great anyway," Jade tells him, grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, who knows. Maybe I'll put in pink hair extensions and we can match."

"I'll get back at you for this, I swear," he hisses, but instead of storming off to plot his revenge like he once would've, he leans over and kisses her roughly. She decides that she likes this 'revenge' a whole lot better.

/

Most of Beck's time before the promotion tour starts is spent with Jade. All of a sudden, they've become oddly inseparable. They watch movies together (though Jade enjoys commenting on every little thing, sort of like his own personal commentary) and at night she usually just ends up sleeping on his couch, because, as she tells him constantly, her apartment is big and lonely. Not like she's scared or anything.

But sometimes he looks at her, his beautiful girlfriend, and wonders why he has to hide the fact that he's dating this gorgeous girl. It just doesn't seem fair, really.

The day before promotion starts, she reveals that her roommate's coming back from filming and she has to go pick her up from the airport. Her roommate, she tells him, is the Disney star Cat Valentine, who Beck has worked with occasionally and finds to be very nice, if a bit odd. He can't help but smile, which just makes her smack him on the arm and tell him to shut up.

There's a lot more to her than meets the eye, he decides, and he likes learning about her.

However, that night, he's left by himself, and he finds himself worrying – what if they accidentally give something away? What if promotion doesn't go well? What if their movie is a flop?

Their movie won't flop, Beck decides, it just can't. And with that, he dozes off to sleep.

/

A/N: SO THERE'S A BUNCH OF TEETH-ROTTING FLUFF TO MAKE UP FOR THE ANGST BUCKET LAST CHAPTER. I've been having tons of people bugging me about updating this fic, but I just didn't get around to it till now. This is for you guys. Hope it didn't suck.

Thank you all for your brilliant reviews, by the way. They mean the world to me. Keep it up, huh? Maybe I'll update a bit faster ;)