title: you're coming home
words: 1949
i can't live without you, i can't live without you, baby
highway don't care
tim mcgraw featuring taylor swift
Her hair is the brown when he sees her after all of those years. It used to be the color of red velvet cupcakes, and he doesn't want to tell her that brown doesn't suit her.
/
She's driving away, the rain is etching on her skin like a tattoo. The top is down on her convertible, but she hardly thinks that matters. She's already soaking wet, and her newly dyed hair is dripping red like blood on her seat.
She wonders if her phone is dead and if she ever finds it in herself to care about getting it fixed, how many missed calls will there be from Beck? She turns up the radio, trying to drown out her thoughts of him and how much she loves him and how much she hates him, too.
/
"Your hair," he says, unable to stop himself.
She brings a hand up to her hairline, suddenly self conscious. "Beck," she says, because he's back after five years, and she never thought he'd come back. Not after all those things they said, everything they did. She can't believe he's really standing there.
"You don't like it." she says softly. She wonders if he even heard it, but she can see him look up with wide eyes. And then she wonders why she even cares what he thinks.
"It doesn't suit you," he whispers, and then he selfishly wonders who's going to talk first.
/
The radio can't block out anything. Not when all she can physically feel them wash over her, covering her completely like the rain.
It was raining when they met. She had just dyed her hair that red velvet cupcake color and she's just walked out of her house and to that old playground next to her house because she always did like the rain.
He was sitting on a swing, wearing a black hoodie with earphones in and an iPod in his pocket. She wondered if he even knew it was raining. She sat on the swing next to him and he finally looked up.
"It's raining," she had said.
He looked up at her curiously, and took one earbud out. "It's raining," she said again.
And that's when he finally looked up and pulled back the hood of his sweatshirt. The first thing she notices about him is his eyes—startling brown eyes that seemed to be miles deep. And then she takes in the rest of him: brown shaggy hair, angular features, and a sly smile that she can't look away from.
"Yeah," he says. "I like rain." And he starts swinging back and forth and so does she. It's sort of like a game—high, higher, highest.
And in the fall after that summer they both start at Hollywood Arts and he's the only friend she's got.
/
"It does now," she says, twirling her naturally brown hair around her finger. He shakes his head and opens his mouth to speak, but she cuts him off. "It suits me now, Beck."
He takes a sip of his drink and relishes the fact that it burns going down. He wishes he had something to say, but he keeps thinking about the way they were, because, really? He hasn't seen her since she walked out of his RV and drove out of his life.
/
At Hollywood Arts, they kind of went through the first few days clinging on each other. Within the first few weeks, they meet Andre Harris, Robbie Shapiro, newcomer Tori Vega, and… Jade West—sarcastic, mean, dark. (Jade is everything that Cat is not.)
Jade lured him in with her sparkling wit and dry humor and he didn't look back, until, well, until Cat… until the summer before they went their desperate ways.
/
She thinks the lights are too bright, and that after five years apart, all they're doing is highlighting flaws and missed opportunities. She takes a sip of her own drink—a glass of red wine—and wonders how many times she dyed her hair that same color.
She wonders why he thinks that it doesn't suit her. He doesn't know her anymore. Maybe he never did. She finishes the rest of her glass.
She walks over toward the bar, over to Tori, who insisted they all come to the reunion in the first place. Cat's never hated her more. She's Tori Vega, in a new romantic comedy that made millions in the box office the opening weekend, as compared to Cat, who's only going to be in an off-Broadway show. There's a ring on Tori's finger, and Cat wonders who it is. But it's Tori Vega, so she'll find out any second.
"Cat! Have you heard about—" And Cat downs another glass of red wine while Tori blurs her mind with visions of success and love and lust and diamonds and everything that Cat doesn't have.
/
Beck and Jade break up in April of their senior year. Beck is relieved, Jade is furious. Cat doesn't know what to think. She's been in love with Beck for two years, and each time he kissed Jade she fell harder and her stomach twisted into a knot, sinking her further under the red hair and bubbly personality that has always been there, but it never really came out until she had a reason to hide.
Not that being in love with Beck is something that she's ashamed of, of course. It's just something that she wants hidden, something that she likes to keep to herself.
So when she's sitting in Beck's RV sitting cross-legged on his bed and he's tossing her pieces of popcorn that she can't quite catch in her mouth, she can't shake the feeling that this feels…right.
"Beck," she giggles, "I can't catch them! You try," and she throws a piece and it lands on his tongue like it's supposed to.
She throws up another and she leans in to catch it for herself. Beck sees his opportunity and bends forward to catch it, too. Seconds later—
"Cat," he breathes, his breath hot on her face.
Her heart is pounding in her chest faster than she ever thought possible. Her voice cracks as she replies with a weak: "Beck."
And so she presses her lips up against his and she can't help but feel the fireworks that she's been waiting for two whole years. She pulls away from him and she whispers, "I love you, Beck," and he smiles and she feels like everything has just fallen into place. Cat Valentine has never felt happier in her life.
/
"That's great, Tori," she interrupts, and Cat sneaks away, unsure of what or who she's looking for. She inevitably runs in to Robbie, and she can't help but feel bad when he tells her that he thinks she was the one that got away. Maybe she was.
She passes Andre who has a girl on each arm and Cat wonders briefly if he'll bring them both home tonight before the thought passes and she bumps into Jade.
Jade tells her that living in New York is the greatest thing that's ever happened to her, and since Cat is going to be in that off-Broadway play and be in New York for a while, too, maybe they could hang out?
And then Jade says, "I think Beck is looking for you," before she leaves Cat with memories of what used to be.
/
"Beck's looking for you," Tori says to Cat one day, three weeks later.
Cat giggles, looking over at Tori, hoping she doesn't catch on. "Oh," she says, trying to pretend that she suddenly has chills and all she can think about is the way his fingertips feel on her skin and when he kisses her against a wall…. Yeah, she has chills. "Okay."
She wonders briefly why Beck didn't call her, but she shrugs it off as Tori says, "Let's make cookies." She pushes Beck to the back of her mind, but the thoughts of him are always there.
/
Cat wonders how many more drinks she can take, really. It makes the memories more real, so why the hell is she doing this to herself?, she thinks.
(Part of her wants to relive it one more time before he confronts her.)
/
She knocks on the door to the RV and he opens the door, grinning ear to ear. "Hi Cat." He looks like he hasn't slept in days. His eyes are bloodshot and his hair is mussed.
"What happened, Beck? You look… exhausted."
Beck grins. "I've been pacing the RV for three days, Cat. I… come in."
Cat eyes him, suddenly nervous. He's never acted like this before. And why wouldn't he call her himself…?
"Let's watch a movie," he says, tripping over his words.
Cat grins. "Cinderella," she says excitedly. She loves the fact that Beck has an extensive Disney movie collection.
Beck smiles and puts it in the VCR and presses play. It starts to rain, and Cat feels at home. Beck pauses the movie in the middle, right before Cinderella sees the pink dress the mice and birds have fixed for her.
"Let's get married."
/
Cat sets her drink down and sits down at a table. Beck will find her. She waits.
Sure enough, Beck pulls out the chair across from her and sits down five minutes later. She studies him carefully. It's been five long years, and he spent half of them as a supporting actor in various films. Never the lead role. He'd been offered amazing parts, took some, turned better ones down. She's curious as to why but now isn't the time.
"Cat," he says, and she gets those chills like she used to. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you that."
She looks at him with her wide eyes. She's suddenly confused—why is he apologizing?
"No, Beck," she starts, and she sees a sort of half smile forming on his lips. "I was scared. I wanted to, I really did. But we were so young. I literally sobbed the whole way home after you asked. I loved you so much."
"And I loved you more than you could ever realize. That's why I asked at all. Because I loved you, Cat Valentine. I still do."
Cat giggles blushes. "I'm…still in love with you, too, Beck. I never stopped, really. I stayed up crying for weeks after I left. But I couldn't go back. I couldn't say no because I wanted to so badly."
"But you left without telling me anything. That was the worst fight we've ever had. But I knew that you'd come back. Even if it was…like this."
"You mean against my will because Tori dragged us all to this damn thing?"
"Exactly." And his smile is perfect, really. No wonder she fell for him seven years ago.
"I think we should try again," Cat says, even though every part of her wants to say yes right now and marry him as soon as she possibly can, because she's so in love with him. She has no idea if he's taken the offer back. Maybe he has someone else, but part of her knows that's not the case.
"I think… that's an amazing idea." And when he kisses her, Cat gets the chills like she used to, and he's kissing her harder than she expected and she loves it almost as much as she loves him.
And he whispers, "I love you, Cat Valentine."
And then she says, "Yes, Beck Oliver, I'll marry you, if the offer still stands," and smiles against his lips.
And he stares straight into her eyes when he says, "The offer was never taken away."
notes: reviews would be appreciated, especially if you're going to favorite.