Nothing to Be Nervous About

A CatxJade drabble.

Written for alltimelow777's CatJade Challenge!

Prompt: iPod.

Rated K+ for girl on girl kissing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious nor do I own the invention of the iPod.

Cat thinks that Jade's iPod is boring. It's silver and she keeps it in a plain black pleather case. It's an ugly, ratty old case that's cracking on the side. Where the pleather has torn off completely, Jade has scrawled her name several times in black Sharpie. When you press 'play,' the loud and pulsating sounds of screamo are released at deafening decibels. Cat doesn't understand why anyone would want to listen to screamo or heavy metal. She can't decipher what they're saying and it all sounds like the same angry, violent jargon. Cat can't see why Jade wouldn't want to listen to something a little bit happier. In fact, she thinks that if Jade listened to music that was more pleasant rather than the harsh yelling she listened to now, she might have a more positive attitude and outlook on life. Cat believes that screamo and heavy metal only succeed in making her girlfriend much more aggravated.

So when Jade leaves her house one night after a movie marathon, Cat is thrilled to find the scratched iPod in the deteriorating pleather case in the crack between the cushions. The first thing she does is throw the case in the garbage. Then she plugs the iPod into her computer and deletes every single song. She replaces it with all of her own music; the kind that makes you want to dance and smile because the world is such a beautiful place.

When the iPod finishes syncing, she digs into the back of her closet to find an old shoe box decorated with bright paint and sparkly glitter glue. Inside she finds her sticker collection. She sticks pretty colored flowers, hearts and smiley faces to Jade's formerly-boring iPod and uses an array of permanent colored felt pens to color the white headphones.

When all is said and done, she holds it at an arms distance and inspects it from afar. She frowns as she realizes that something is missing. Trifling through her sticker collection once more, she finds a fancy label sticker with stars and swirls and sticks it smack-dab in the middle on the back of Jade's iPod. Using her favourite pink marker, she writes 'I,' draws a heart and then adds the letter 'U.' In the corner of the label she draws a little cat so that Jade will know who wrote it, not that she'd suspect anyone else.

Finally satisfied, she puts it on her bedside table just in time to answer the phone that's actually been ringing for quite awhile now.

"Hello!" she says cheerfully.

"Cat, have you seen my iPod?" It's Jade's frustrated voice that echoes back to her.

Cat doesn't like to lie to her girlfriend, but she can't tell Jade she has and re-decorated her iPod; it would ruin the surprise.

"I'm sorry Jade, but I haven't seen it. Where was the last place you saw it?" Cat says innocently. It sure pays off to be an actress, Cat thinks.

"I was positive I had it at your place, but now I'm not so sure. I'll keep looking but thanks anyway, Cat."

"No problem. I'll keep an eye out for it. I hope you find it, Jade!"

The dial tone signals that Jade has hung up.

The next day when Cat spots Jade in the hall, she hugs her from behind, being sure to tuck the new and improved iPod safely into Jade's sweater pocket. Then she worms her way around to face her girlfriend and presses her lips tenderly to hers. Jade is still aggravated; Cat can tell. They talk for a little while before splitting up and going to their respective classes.

Cat and Jade don't see each other until lunch. By then, Cat knows that Jade must have noticed the iPod in her pocket. She wishes she could have been there to see Jade's face when she saw it, more or less when she turned it on. She admits she's a bit nervous to see how Jade will react when they meet each other at lunch but as she walks into the cafeteria, she realizes she has nothing to be nervous about. Jade might have removed all the hearts and smiley faces and flowers, but there's still one sticker on the back reading "I Love You," and the colourful headphones are in Jade's ears as she's bopping her head gently to the music.

So what do you think?