Tori comes home from her semester in France (refer to Chapter 17), and reconciling with Jade doesn't go exactly as planned.

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"It's your fault, Jade!"

"Like hell it is!"

"It was your damn idea!"

"How the fuck was I supposed to know that you buy super glue instead of a normal maple syrup! It's not supposed to be this sticky!"

"The real Canadian one is!"

"Why the fuck would anyone buy syrup from Canada?!"

"I didn't buy it, my Aunt sent it to me!"

"What is she even doing up there?"

"She's Canadian!"

"What?! So you're Canadian, too?!"

"Half-Canadian, and how is this even relevant to our situation?!"

"God, this is Beck all over again. I can't believe you never told me! I thought you were Hispanic!"

"I'm half-Latina! Half! I said that, like, a thousand times!"

"And yet you failed to mention that the other half was a hockey?!"

"That doesn't even make any sense. Now shut up and untie me!"

"If I move, you lose like twenty percent of your skin, Vega."

I huffed in defeat.

This is fucked up.

This is beyond fucked up. In fact, this is beyond everything, and I have no idea how the hell did we end in this mess. By 'mess', I mean a literal sticky syrupy Canadian mess.

You see, I realized a long time ago that Jade is seriously whipped. Like, 'I'll carry you around bridal style all day and massage your feet' whipped. Or 'I'll run you a hot bath and make you dinner and we don't have to do anything but cuddle' whipped.

The best/worst part is? So am I.

Which, consequently, means that pretty much anything we ask for, we get in a flash and with a red ribbon.

Now, let me tell you another thing. I'm not really into food play. Yes, I did spray Jade with whipped cream all over back when we were friends with benefits, and yes, she did go down on me while I was covered in cream, and not entirely my own, and yes, it was amazing and messy and delicious… What was I talking about?

Right. The food play.

So, it was fun while it lasted, but I was kinda sticky and itchy afterwards. Not to mention a weird and absolutely wrong sensation of whipped cream being inside me. I'm not gonna elaborate, but that was just… wrong.

But Jade? Turns out Jade likes bringing food into our naked fun, and I admit, it was fun letting her eat a trail of strawberries off me stomach.

Then, she had to go and spoil everything, including our skin and chances of living our lives without scars by snatching a bottle of maple syrup and pouring it all over me.

Well, not all over me. More like the front. Which is the most painful part. I don't think I'll be able to ever use my nipples for anything. Yup, that settles it. Jade will be the one carrying our future children because no way in hell I'm experiencing this kind of nipple clams again.

And if you still hadn't figured it out, let me explain further. She poured syrup down my front, and got stuck to me while we were making out.

Oh, but there's more. Since we apparently were trying to mold our bodies together, we're fully stuck starting from our boobs and ending with our lower stomachs. But that's not the worst part. We can't move without it causing us severe pain.

But… yup, still not the worst part. Are you ready to fully realize just how bad the situation is?

We're stuck together, completely naked, with Jade standing between my spread legs as I sit on my kitchen counter, with the door open again.

I knew I should've slapped Jade's hands away and locked the door first. But you have to understand – we haven't been together in months. Months. That's seriously some kinda record for us.

(Currently, I'm also thinking about signing us up for sex rehab because there's no way normal people have sex so much without being addicts.)

God, this whole scene looks ridiculous. Us, naked, stuck, with candles and petals around. Too bad we didn't get to enjoy the romantic dinner Jade prepared for us since we pretty much jumped each other as soon as we made it through the door.

Sex rehab it is.

"Ay dios mio! Jade! Stop moving!"

She grinned despite the situation.

"I missed you screaming my name. Granted, I imagined you'd be screaming that under different circumstances."

"It's not funny," I hissed at her. She visibly fought an urge to shrug.

"You gotta admit, it's a little bit funny."

"I'm gonna kill you," I told her with a serious expression. "As soon as we're out of this mess, I'm gonna kill you. I don't know how, but I'll figure it out."

"Aw, baby, you know just the right words to make me feel so, so loved," she murmured. "Just look at the bright side. We're literally stuck together, and I didn't even have to buy a ridiculously overpriced ring for us to do it."

Something in her voice made me look at her face.

"Not that I wouldn't still buy it, I mean," she continued, looking anywhere but at me as she swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. "I just didn't have to use it." Then, her eyes went wide. "I didn't – I didn't mean that I have it to use it! I just-"

"Jade, breathe," I giggled, some of my mortified uneasiness fading away as I sensed her discomfort. "It was just a joke. I'm not about to suddenly start picturing us getting married. Relax."

She nodded as carefully as she could. Something was wrong. If anything, her nervousness grew stronger, and I didn't like it. So I rushed to put her at ease.

"Baby," I gently said, making her glance up at me as the corners of her mouth twitched upwards. She would never admit it to anyone else, and she rather begrudgingly revealed that to me, but she absolutely loves it when I call her 'baby'. She said it made her feel adored. And mine. Both of those things were a big yes in my book. "Stop worrying, please. I love you, and I know you love me, and that's enough for me right now. You don't have to promise me anything, because I trust you with our future and with my heart, okay? Besides, marriage is overrated – ouch, Jade!" She snapped her head to look at me, causing unwanted friction. And yes, never in a million years would I have thought that any friction between me and Jade would be 'unwanted'.

"You think marriage is overrated?"

Frankly, I didn't. I might not be the girliest girl, but I was still a girl in love, and I did fantasize about Jade meeting me at the altar, but I also didn't want to freak her out to the point of her running away and taking a piece of me with her. Literally.

So I decided to do what any relatively sane girl in her twenties would do. Lie my ass off.

"Sure!" Alright, maybe tone down the enthusiasm a bit. "I mean, we're young and there are so many possibilities waiting for us. We haven't even been to New York, or tasted real Swiss chocolate, or met, I don't know, Taylor Swift!" By the way Jade's eyebrows rose higher and higher, I knew I was getting lamer and lamer. "Look, what I mean is that… We have a whole new life ahead of us. We haven't even graduated yet. There's no need to rush into anything you're not comfortable with, Jade," I finish gently.

She bit her lower lip, an unreadable expression on her face as she nodded.

"Yeah. Okay."

"Okay," I said back, smiling. "Good thing you didn't buy that ring, then, huh?" I nudged her – well, more like gingerly poked her shoulder since I was still constricted in my movements.

"Uh… Um… I kinda… did."

What?!

"W-What?!"

All my thoughts left me at once.

"I was… I just missed you so much, Tori," she desperately whispered, looking at me. "When you were in France, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Seriously. I never thought I'd be saying this ridiculous, sappy, cheesy line, but I actually felt like I couldn't breathe without you. And I realized that I don't want to feel like that ever again," she shook her head, letting out a sigh. "I don't ever want to be away from you. And that's why I… That's why I bought the ring."

She bought the ring.

She bought the ring.

"You were gonna… Oh God. You were gonna pr-"

"I was gonna propose," she interrupted me.

Oh my God.

"Jade, I, oh God," I stuttered. And there I was practically trash-talking about marriage. Way to go, Tori. Just, slow clap it out. "This is… What I meant…"

"You don't have to say anything," she interjected once again. "You don't have to… I'm just telling you this because I don't want any secrets or half-truths between us. But you don't have to agree to this. In fact, you know what, let's just-"

"Yes."

"…Tori?"

"Yes," I breathed out, my voice thick with unshed tears. "Jade…I'm saying yes."

Her face was suddenly filled with so much hope, and I couldn't stop the tears now even if I tried.

"I love you so much," she whispered, leaning in and capturing my lips. A content sigh escaped me as we kissed tenderly, tasting salt from my tears.

"I love you too."

We kissed more, painful situation completely forgotten as our lips slid together. I'm engaged. I'm going to marry Jade. The thought sent jolts through my body, revving me up as I leaned into her, a breathy moan escaping me as her tongue teased its way past my lips.

And then, we were torn back to a rather uncomfortable and sticky reality when things got too intense for our current predicament.

"Damn," she laughed suddenly. "Leave it to us to fuck up a proposal so thoroughly."

"Well now I'm thinking it was your plan all along," I teased her. "Gluing yourself to me so I wouldn't be able to run away when you popped the question."

"Well, technically, I didn't ask you," she smirked right back.

"Whatever," I muttered, poking my annoying girlfriend. No. Fiancé.

"So, soon-to-be Mrs. Victoria West," Jade drawled, wiggling her eyebrows. "How about we cringe and wince and cry our way through tearing ourselves apart and then take a shower together?"

"Only if we get to have 'just got engaged' sex all night long…"

"I could be down with that…"

Once again, things got out of hand, and once again, we were reminded that we needed to do something about the whole syrup thing first.

"And- hey! Why am I taking your name? I think Jade Vega sounds way cooler."

"Uh, no it doesn't. 'Victoria West' is sexy."

"Uh, so is 'Jade Vega', honey."

"I still think you should consider becoming a West, sweety."

"Sure, darling, as soon as-"

"Oh my God!"

God. Fucking. Dammit.

The door.

"Hi Tori, hi Jade! You have a pretty butt, Tori! Doesn't she have a pretty butt, Robbie?"

"Cat, stop looking at them! Come here so I can put my hand over your eyes like I did with mine."

"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my-"

"Andre, quit it, just turn around and don't look."

"I don't think I can, man!"

"Hey! Everybody shut up!"

The voices stopped as my fiancé shouted at our friends, her arms wrapping protectively – and strategically – around me, shielding my mentioned butt from their eyes. I just hid my face in the crook of her neck, mortified.

"Everyone but Cat get the fuck out. Now!"

"Uh, s-sure, Jade, we'll, um, be b-back later," Andre stuttered, grabbing the boys and hightailing it out of the house.

I'm never living this down.

"Cat, spray us with water."

"Oh, so that's what water sports are about?"

"Sweet Jesus- no, Cat, just do as I say! We're covered in syrup and we're stuck."

We were humiliated in front of our friends, then drenched in ice cold water, our boobs and stomachs were angry red and tender, and Cat became weirdly fascinated with my butt. My day couldn't be any more perfect than this.

Also? The way the diamond in my ring reflected the sun right onto Jade's face was absolutely fascinating.