I'm having difficulty with the next chapter of Masquerade...stubborn thing just doesn't want to be written. I know what's supposed to happen, it just won't.

As of late, I have been listening to The Killers and Panic! and there were a few songs that were similar-ish and I thought they'd make a great angsty Jori fic. This story's gonna be pretty short and I'm in a very writey mood, so it should be done within a week or two. I'm sorry this chapter doesn't reach my 2000 word minimum :(

The song for chapter 1 is Mr Brightside by The Killers. You can listen to it or not, I don't care. I usually try not to incorporate songs into my stories as I feel it's like forcing my musical tastes on my readers, but this idea was too good to pass up.

It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss

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It happened again last night. We keep coming back to hurt ourselves, time after time. I tell her we should stop. She agrees, but then arrives at my window not three days later saying she couldn't help herself. We sleep together then, everytime. It's addictive, she's addictive, and if she hadn't come back to me, I know I'd just go after her instead. Everything about her, I've grown to know and love it by now. Her body is familiar against the palms of my hands, her moans, my name spilling from her lips, her hand fitting perfectly against all of me.

On weekends she would stay, curled up against me. I kind of love that. It lets me know I mean something. She's always reluctant to part from me, so on the days we have off, we milk time for all it's worth. Sometimes we talk, about trivial unimportant things, we never let it get serious and dampen the afterglow. But then her phone would buzz with a message from Beck and she would leave, albiet unwillingly, and I would let her go, because she doesn't belong to me.

I'm only half-listening to André as he babbles at my locker about his grandmother locked him out again. My attention is focused on the exchange currently underway between Beck and Jade. From the looks of it they're fighting again. I can only imagine what it's about. Jade probably over reacted to something and Beck's making a big deal out of it. They argue over such silly little things I wonder why Beck hasn't left her yet, as I so hoped he would. I know why Jade won't break it off.

I'm lost in my thoughts and so I don't notice when Jade come storming over to me, Beck in tow.

"Janitor's closet, now!" she snarled. I followed without remark. I always ended up being dragged into these things anyway. She practically flung Beck into it and I went in quickly, hoping to avoid the same treatment. Jade slammed the door behind us.

"Vega, tell him where I was last night." Oh, this. We had a story.

"She was at my house, talking about stuff."

"Stuff?" Beck said, his jaw setting, "what kind of stuff?"

"Girl stuff," I tried.

"What were you talking about, Jade?" he addressed his girlfriend now. I could see in her expression she was already extremley agitated.

"I thought I might've been pregnant, okay?" she yelled at him. I know she didn't, but saying she might have been send another little stabbing reminder through my heart that, not only was she still with Beck, she was still, on occasion, screwing him. His face paled so quickly that I almost laughed.

"You're not right?" he stuttered. Jade just rolled her eyes in response. Beck nodded, still a little shaken,

"But wait we always use-"

"I'm not sure I want to hear this!" I yelled and attempted to slip out, but Jade grabbed the fabric of my shirt to stop me.

"Condoms break, Beck. I was just making sure. I missed my period and I felt sick a lot. It's probably stress. I wasn't even going to tell you." Beck nodded again, a habit that was starting to get on my nerves, before he made his way over to the door.

"I'm just going to...head to class. I'll see you later," he stated before ducking out and closing the door behind him. Jade still had a hold on the back of my shirt. I moved my hand to brush hers off, and instead she grabbed my wrist and pulled me against her. She ducked her head and tried to catch my lips, but I turned my head to the side and she ended up pecking my cheek. She sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"You're still sleeping with Beck," I mumbled as I buried my face into the crook of her neck. She sighed again, and I could feel her shoulders rise and fall against me. She released my arm and started tracing invisible patterns on my back, "why?" I voice mostly to the empty air of the room.

"Because I love Beck, Tori. I like you, a lot. I should only have one of you, but I want both."

"That's selfish."

"That's me, Vega. I've been deprived of so much already in my life, as much as I want you, I can't give up Beck." I placed a kiss on the hallow of her collarbone and rose my head up to meet her eyes. They were hooded and withdrawn, I couldn't see anything she didn't want me to.

"Jade, there's nothing I want more right now than you. I blame that on my messed-up hormones. That's probably all it is for you too," I paused to push myself away from her, "I know I've said it before, but I think we should quit this," I told her for the hundreth time. Again, as always, she nodded in agreement, placed a light parting kiss on my lips and left the closet.

Four days. We lasted four days this time. A record for us, and most surprising because I expceceted her the first day, as she was still fairly peeved off at Beck. But she came knocking at my window four days after, whispering how they'd been the hardest four days of her life before falling into bed with me.

But this time the clothes stay on.

It was a Saturday, so when we woke up, we didn't do anything. We were still wrapped up in each other. Silent, unmoving, I could feel her breathing against me. Her mascara from yesterday, usually so carefully tended to, had run down her face and stained it. I closed my eyes around noon, enjoying the sensation that was Jade and I. She must've thought I'd fallen asleep because she slipped out again once her phone rang. I heard her conversing in hushed tones with whomever was on the other end.

"Alright Beck, meet you there."

My mind went to and remained in the worst possible situations for the rest of the day.

XXXXX

Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his—chest

XXXXX

The next time I saw Jade was Monday. She didn't even acknowledge my presence When I ask her a question, 'how was your weekend,' she tells me to shut up. Her and Beck, they seem to be doing great now, and he announces they've decided to spend the summer between graduation and college travelling in his R.V. No prizes for guessing what I assume they'll really be doing.

Every few days leading up to summer though, she comes. Sometimes we just lay. Others something more. I still don't know what's happening, and it's tearing me up, how much I wish it was Jade-and-Tori instead of Beck-and-Jade. The envy is forever making me sick.

They days after graduation, the day before Back and Jade are set to leave, I confront her. I march up to her door, pausing momentarily to realise it's the first time in almost a year I've been at her house. She answers the door, her hair pulled back, and she in sweats and an oversized shirt that I notice with a stab belongs to Beck. She's confused, and lets me in, telling me she was in the middle of packing and I cut her off.

"What are you doing?"

"I told you, I've been-"

"What are you doing with Beck?" She stops, her lips set into a line. She grabs my arm and leads me over to the couch to sit down.

"Vega, he's my boyfriend, and you're my," she paused to think of a word.

"Booty call?" Jade flinched at my harsh tone, "Jade, I'm getting tired of this. I know you can be a gank, but you're just being a downright selfish bitch. And all this time, I've just let you use me. I've been waiting, for you. No boyfriend, or girlfriend or any other secret paramour. I'm getting sick of waiting."

Jade was silent for a long time after that. I was going to say something else but she got her words out first.

"I...never asked you to wait Tori," she said, before rising and making her way upstairs to her bedroom. I assumed I wasn't invited.

XXXXX

I just can't look its killing me