Disclaimer: I receive nothing for this little story since I don't own the copyrights to any of the characters from the television show Victorious. They are owned by Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon. This is purely a work of fiction from my slightly unbalanced mind. I also don't own any of the businesses or music used in this tale. (Tho I did slightly alter the lyrics of one of Tori Vega's songs as you'll see in chapter 14.)
There are 19 total chapters so sit back and enjoy the ride.
Premise: Tori Vega and a few other friends get invited out to a small town in southwestern Colorado for a little rest and relaxation one year after finishing high school and starting their careers. The only problem is they don't know who sent the offer or what's in store for them if they do accept the invitation.
Xxxxxx
Tori's Vacay
Chapter 1
The Invitation
Xxxxxx
Victoria 'Tori' Vega was very interested in the e-mail she'd received but she knew the prudent thing to do would be to delete right off the bat. It sounded kinda... spam-ish.
But it also sounded extremely intriguing.
Tori had graduated from high school a little less than one year ago and her singing career was well on it's way, having just finished her first U.S./Canada tour after her surprisingly successful opening number at the Platinum Music Awards the previous year.
Mason Thornesmith, the owner of Neutronium Records and Executive Producer of the PMAs, absolutely loved the rousing reception Tori had received at the music awards show and immediately signed the virtually unknown Hollywood Arts High School senior to a five year deal. But he also decided to abandon the 'hoopla' he'd tried to create with the young girl wearing bizarre outfits and acting like the proverbial 'Bad Girl/Spoiled Diva'. Thornesmith had decided to play her career straight because of the huge success of the awards show and immediately had her in the recording studio as much as possible outside of school to get her first album out as quickly as possible. (Re-recording most of the songs she and André Harris had written over the years in high school for the inaugural album.)
And it'd all paid off.
In spades!
Tori's first album had gone double platinum in less than a month from its debut and was still selling extremely well, and tickets for her concerts were also in high demand to the point that they sold out in less than a half hour after going on sale.
But the young pop star now had a little over a month free to rest and relax or do whatever she wanted before she needed to start working on her second album with André Harris and then head off on a world tour. (Her high school friend had decided to strictly work on writing music independently and not perform at all. That way André could assist all of his friends with their musical careers and still get paid handsomely.)
So Tori thought she could use a little vacation away from the glitz and glamor of the music industry. (Not to mention the often boring fifteen to eighteen hour [or longer] rides on a tour bus to the next venue where she would perform; That's if she wasn't jetting off to the next city. Those long, boring bus rides always brought to mind the old Bob Seger tune, Turn The Page. "You've been riding sixteen hours and there's nothing much to do. You don't feel like writing you just wish the trip was through.")
She'd been planning to get together with André soon to start on a few new songs for the next album but he was busy with his girlfriend, Hope Quincy. The blow to the head from a falling sign during an earthquake at her sushi birthday party caused a major shift in Hope's personality and she was now a sweet, loving, devoted girlfriend to André, not the spoiled rich brat she'd been when Tori had first met her. Hope and André were even starting to talk about getting married, so Tori really didn't want to disturb them until it was necessary.
Her other friends were doing well, too. Cat Valentine occasionally freelanced as either a makeup artist or costume designer on movies or TV shows when she wasn't out on her own singing tour. Jade West had jumped into a successful movie career in Hollywood right after graduation and Beck Oliver was up in Vancouver Canada taping the second season of an extremely successful TV show.
Robbie Shapiro was the only one of Tori's close high school friends who wasn't faring so well. He'd gotten into a major argument with Rex, his ventriloquist puppet/alter ego, in a fancy restaurant after the puppet had made a lewd pass at one of the waitresses and was now being psychoanalyzed and treated at a hospital for the insane. (Robbie persisted in insisting that Rex was real and his alter ego was giving him nightmares once again.)
So the e-mail with an invitation to stay at a small horse ranch out in the middle of 'Nowhere Colorado', in the western foothills of the Rocky Mountains, sounded very appealing; You know, being out in the great outdoors and getting away from it all, maybe learning how to ride a horse for the first time. Tori knew she had the free time and the opportunity sounded too good to be true. Plus, she'd never really been out of the big city and spent any length of time in the country, so this sounded like the perfect opportunity.
The downside of the invitation was that she didn't know the person who had invited her. She was asked to come alone, no bodyguards or handlers or other types of hangers-on, and that certain concessions were to be met. What those concessions were, the e-mail didn't say. It only said to respond if she were interested and all pertinent information would be relayed in the next e-mail or video chat.
Tori was up in the air about whether to respond or not. The guy (and it was a man who'd sent the e-mail; He'd sent along a few pics of himself) was quite handsome, appearing to be only a few years older than her nineteen year old self, so she wasn't too concerned about him being some kind of middle-aged stalking perv or obsessed fan. (Although those possibilities were still conceivable.) He'd also sent along a few photos of the ranch. It appeared to be nestled in a beautiful canyon set far away from civilization, but the house seemed to be something akin to any of the nicer Hollywood Hills two story homes she'd seen in passing, complete with a gorgeous pool and fabulous kitchen. From this scant information Tori got the distinct impression that he was a gentleman who just wanted to give her an opportunity to relax for a bit after the grueling tour she'd just finished and see the countryside like he'd mentioned in the e-mail.
Tori checked her day planner for the third time since receiving the e-mail to make sure she didn't have any prior commitments for the upcoming weeks before she zipped off a reply stating she was interested but wouldn't commit until she got a lot more information.
Not one minute after she sent the e-mail, she received a request for a live video chat from the guy.
Curious, Tori accepted the chat and came face-to-face (virtually speaking, that is) with the handsome person in question. He flashed a winning smile and said, "Good Morning Miss Vega. Thank you for answering my message so promptly."
"Promptly?" Tori curiously laughed. "I spent, like, an hour thinking about whether I should respond or not. I wouldn't call that prompt, Mister, um... You only signed the first message with your initials: P.B.."
"Oh, please excuse my manners. That's a habit I got into when corresponding with some of my friends. My name is Paul Bowman and I'd suppose you'd like to know a little more about me."
"That would help a lot," Tori anxiously chuckled, though trying not to appear too nervous.
"Well, let's see," Paul said, rubbing his hairy chin in thought. "I'm twenty-three years old and have been called a perfect gentleman by a few people. I'm a few inches over six feet tall and a solid two hundred ten pounds. As you can see, I have red hair, mustache and goatee... and brown eyes. As for my profession; I'm a semiretired multi-millionaire who used to work in your industry before my inheritance and some of the investments I've made kicked in. I own the ranch outright, just over one hundred-twenty acres, and I also own a beach front house south of Tampa Bay, Florida. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"
"Um," Tori paused. That was a lot of information he'd just given her and not much time to process it. The guy seemed to be honest but there were a couple major things she wanted to know so she asked, "Why me? I mean why the invitation?"
"Ah," Paul chuckled, "right to the point. To be honest, I know what it's like for a young lady like yourself to work in the television, film and music industry; The personal toll you have to pay to become and stay a star. I just thought it'd be nice to offer the new young stars of today a respite from the industry and, maybe, show them what a normal lifestyle can be like. That's not to say my lifestyle is normal, as you'll discover when I tell you about one of my little... house rules I insist upon."
"Yeah, about those rules," Tori warily begged. "What exactly are they?" That was the other major sticking point she needed to find out before making any kind of a decision.
"Well for one thing, you're to leave all technology behind in L.A.," Paul swiftly relayed. "I think young folk nowadays are too dependent on their cellphones and computers, like they need to be in constant touch with their friends and parents or else the world will end. Most kids feel the need to update their blogs two, three, four times or more each day. Do you think that's really necessary?"
"Now I don't," Tori laughed, thinking back to an incident at school a few years ago. "Not after Sikowitz, one of my teachers at Hollywood Arts, made us go for a week without them. But my manager thinks it's necessary to keep the fans entertained and interested in my career. He wants to keep me in the public's eye, so to speak."
"That's understandable," Paul nodded in agreement, "but I don't think it's entirely necessary. I know young people have a shorter attention span nowadays but I don't think it's short enough to forget you in a week or two. I'll tell you what. Just to ease your mind a bit you can bring along your cellphone so you can tweet once or twice a day. We don't get very good reception here in the canyon but you might feel more at ease if you had it with you all the time." He smirked, which looked absolutely adorable to the new pop star, and joked, "I'll even call the police myself if you think I'm coming on to you and you feel threatened."
"Okay," Tori laughed, more at ease after his hopefully supposed jest. "Um... So what other rules are there?"
"Well," the guy let out a huge, resigned breath like he was getting ready to drop a bombshell or something. "I guess there isn't a tactful way to say this, but here it goes. As I said earlier, my lifestyle isn't normal so I've designated the entire ranch as a clothing free zone."
"A clothing... free..." Tori had to really think about that for a few seconds before she realized what he was talking about. She suddenly noticed that Paul wasn't wearing a shirt while they'd been chatting, only seeing his head, shoulders and upper part of his torso in the picture, and wondered if he wasn't wearing any pants or underwear, either. "Whoa! You walk around totally naked?!" The deep tan he was sporting suggested he probably did. (At least shirt-wise.)
Paul had the common courtesy to blush a bit as he replied, "Yes, I'm a practicing Nudist. I've found the lifestyle to be quite natural... No pun intended."
"I... I really don't know what to say about that."
"What is there to say," Paul nonchalantly shrugged, coming out of the slight embarrassment from his confession to her about his lifestyle. "It's just the way I live. There have been quite a few medical studies that show the Sun is an excellent source of vitamin C and D, things your body needs, so it's a healthier way to live. Plus I like the feel of a gentle breeze flowing around my entire body. It's quite invigorating."
"I never thought about it that way," Tori almost mumbled, thinking about a former middle school friend whose parents enjoyed a similar outlook. They would occasionally head to a secluded beach that was clothing optional, but they spent the rest of the time properly clothed and generally kept their visits a secret from their friends. Her schoolmate rarely join her parents in their outings but she'd never said anything against it either. Tori mentally shook her head to focus on the person she was talking to and said, "Well, um, it's something to think about."
"You can take all the time you need to think it over," Paul said, pleased that she hadn't outright dismissed his proposal. To assuage any of her qualms, he mentioned, "I've also sent an invitation to two of your friends from school, and also to two of the three teens in Seattle that I believe you know from the internet. If you'd like, why not discuss it with them?"
"Wait-what?" Tori gasped. "Who else did you invite?"
"I've sent the same invitation to Miss Jadelyn West, Miss Catarina Valentine, Miss Carlotta Shay and Miss Samantha Puckett. You may have seen the last two ladies on the web show iCarly and I believe you've met them too, at one time. You're the first I've received a response from."
"Ummm, yeah. Okay," Tori absently replied, really being thrown for a loop. While she was now good friends with two of the four teens mentioned, (the high school rivalry between her and Jade had ended right after graduation and they both headed out on their singing and acting careers, respectively,) she wasn't sure if she was ready to get naked with any of them. Of course she'd had gym class with Cat and Jade but they usually avoided each other in the showers and locker room. Tori had met Carly Shay and Sam Puckett once at a party at Kenan Thompson's house and they'd gotten along fairly well after humiliating and dumping her then boyfriend, Steven Carson, live on the iCarly web show.
"Um, can I get back to you after I talk to them?" Tori asked, then winced when she suddenly remembered he'd suggested just that very thing.
A pleasant smile arose as Paul Bowman replied, "As I said before, take all the time you need. It's an open invitation that you can take up whenever you feel the need to get away from the music industry."
"Thanks," Tori laughed in relief, now knowing she wasn't the only one in this situation. "I'll get back to you in a day or two."
"I look forward to hearing from you, Miss Vega."
Tori immediately shut down the web chat, picked up her cellphone and speed-dialed a number. While she was a little uneasy and unsure about the nudity part of the proposal, she was still intrigued with the whole getting-away-from-it-all deal. For some unfathomable reason, she'd taken an immediate liking to the affable Paul Bowman and wanted to meet him in person, and the thought of getting out in the great outdoors was also extremely appealing.
She was brought out of her musing when she heard a very cheerful, high-pitched squeal, "Hey Tori. What's up?" over the phone.
"Hey Cat," Tori answered with a broad smile. It was always great to talk to her redheaded friend. To all who knew her, Catarina 'Cat' Valentine appear to be a ditzy, naive, child-like girl. But she was also quick-witted and seemed to have a uncanny sense about judging someone's personality, and had been a very good friend all throughout her stint at Hollywood Arts. (Even with the brief falling out they'd had over a former boyfriend of hers, Danny.) "I was just wondering if you got an invitation from someone in Colorado to go out for a small vacation and enjoy the scenery."
"Oh yeah," Cat answered as if she suddenly remembered it, also taken slightly aback by the out-of-left-field question. "I got it but I didn't know what to think about it. So you got the invite too?"
"Yes I did," Tori said, matter-of-factly. "And I just web-chatted with the guy. He seems pleasant enough but there were a few caveats to the invitation."
"Caveats? Like in caveat emptor: Let the buyer beware?"
"Yeah," Tori jovially laughed, glad that Cat was smart enough to get her meaning. "It seems he's a practicing Nudist and he's designated the ranch as a clothing free zone."
"Oh wow," Cat marveled and perked up at that information. "I've always wanted to visit a nudist camp. I found out there's one up in Topanga Canyon but my manager doesn't want me to go there 'cause it might tarnish my image." Because of Tori's contract with Mason Thornesmith after the Platinum Music Awards show and with a few other gigs where Cat had sang backup for her, the redhead had also been given a shot at musical stardom and was due to go back out on tour in four or five weeks after just finishing a few shows in the Midwest.
"You want to go there and be naked with a strange man?" Tori begged in shock. This was obviously something they had never talked about before and she was stunned that the sweet, innocent girl would be willing to try it.
"Well, yeah," Cat simply stated with an unseen (over the phone) nonchalant shrug as if it were a given. "I'm a bit of a closet nudist myself but it's not something I've told anyone about; Not even my family. It just seems like something I'd like to try."
"Yes, it does sound intriguing," Tori murmured to herself, but loud enough for Cat to hear over the cellphone. She thought back to all of the different outfits Cat had worn throughout high school and could understand how the petite redhead might like to shed the very short denim shorts and strappy tops she normally wore. (Not to mention the short dresses with plenty of leg, shoulder and cleavage showing.) Plus, Cat always seemed to have a perpetual tan going on no matter what time of year it was.
"So, are you interested in accepting the invite?"
"I'm thinking... yes," Tori verbally decided after mulling it over for a second or two.
"I'd like to go, too," Cat enthused. "Tell me all about the guy."
Xxxxxx
After making the phone call a conference call with Jade West and telling her other girl friend all about the conversation she'd had with Paul Bowman, it was decided that they'd all like to accept the invitation. The only problem was that Jade had just started shooting a movie, her first starring role after two minor roles in two other films, so she couldn't go at that time.
The girls discussed going later in the year when the three of them could all attend together but they couldn't find even a week that they all had off at the same time. Only Tori and Cat weren't busy during the coming weeks so they decided to attend together.
Jade said her good-byes since she was needed back on the set in a few minutes, and Tori sent an e-mail to Paul stating that she and Cat would like to fly out. She also zipped off an e-mail to Carly Shay to see if she and her blonde co-host would be interested in meeting up at the ranch. As the sayings go, 'the more the merrier' and 'there's strength in numbers'. If it was a hoax or come-on then the four of them could gang up on Mr. Bowman. If not, then she and Cat could get better acquainted with the two web-celebs and have a good time.
Xxxxxx
The next morning, Tori Vega was awoken by her cellphone ringing. She groggily answered and was shocked to semi consciousness by a high-pitched squeal of delight, "Tori! He contacted me and arranged tickets and everything!"
"Cat?" Tori recognized the voice but she was still a little too out of it to make any sense of what her friend was telling her. "What are you talking about. What time is it anyway?"
"It's eight-thirty. Oh! Did I wake you?"
"Um, yeah." Tori glanced over to try and focus on her alarm clock. It was only eight-thirty in the morning. When she'd been out on tour she'd gotten into the habit of going to bed late and sleeping in since her shows started around eight o'clock at night and there usually was a little get-together with some of the fans afterward. (And then it'd be a couple of hours to come down from the adrenaline rush from the concert and meeting her public before she could fall asleep.) Now Tori preferred sleeping in just so she wouldn't have to change her sleep pattern for when she went back out on tour. She knew Cat was a morning person so the redhead had probably already been up for at least an hour or two. Tori scratched the back of her head and yawned. She was finally awake enough to ask, "Now, who called and what kinda tickets are you talking about?"
"I've been web chatting with Paul Bowman," Cat slowly stated, finally remembering that her half Latina friend wasn't a morning person and had just woke up. "He agreed for us to visit over the next two weeks, at least. We have plane tickets waiting for us at the airport for a ten-thirty flight so you need to get out of bed, like now."
"Two hours!?" That bit if information fully woke Tori up. She quickly sat up in bed like a prairie dog popping up out of its hole at the news. "That's not enough time to pack and get to the airport!"
"Paul said to pack light," Cat giggled her patented little giggle that Tori had heard a million time over the years. "We only need to bring along a few different outfits in case we go into town, but definitely something sturdy to wear on our feet. He mentioned that there are a few hiking trails in the area and we'll need them when we ride the horses. Oh, and you'll need a pair of sandals or flip flops for the pool area."
"I guess we won't need much to wear if the place is a clothing free zone," Tori genially laughed as she got out of bed and started rummaging around in her closet for something to wear on the plane. "Ummm, how am I supposed to get to the airport?" She was still a little out of it but managed to strip out of her night wear and throw on a pair of comfortable skinny jeans and long sleeved hoody, along with a pair of strappy sandals, for the flight.
"An airport shuttle bus is picking me up in ten minutes and we'll be by your house to pick you up in twenty."
"I'll be ready," Tori said as she grabbed the large brown shoulder tote she'd used as a school backpack and started tossing her makeup and a few pairs of shorts, panties, tank tops and t-shirts into it. She also packed another pair of skinny jeans, just in case, along with her pair of purple high-top tennis shoes. "I'll see you in a bit." Tori tucked the phone into a pants pocket and glanced around the room to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything before she headed to her bathroom for her toiletries and then raced downstairs for a quick breakfast.
She'd briefly considered bringing along the myriad of rings, bracelets and necklaces she had collected over the years, sometimes wearing up to seven or eight bracelets at a time around her right wrist and two or three rings on her fingers of one hand, but she had recently been thinking about only wearing the jewelry while on stage to separate her personal life from her professional one. Her stage persona required her makeup, apparel and jewelry to be flashy, just like her music, but she wanted her normal everyday life to be toned down so she wouldn't get all big-headed about her rising fame. Like many music stars before her, she thought that could only lead to debauchery, drinking, drugs and disaster, so she left all of her jewelry behind.
Xxxxxx
"No, it just suddenly came up," Tori Vega said via her cellphone to Mason Thornesmith as she and Cat Valentine rode in the back seat of the shuttle bus to L.A.X. (Los Angeles International Airport) "We're not supposed to start on the new album for a few weeks and this wonderful opportunity came up to get away from it all in western Colorado with some friends." Tori knew that was a partial lie, she only knew Cat and hadn't heard back from the two girls from Seattle, but it made the trip sound legit. She listened to her manager for a minute before replying, "Yes, I'll let you know if I need anything and I'll have my PearPhone if anything comes up. Don't worry, I've already started writing songs for the next album and I'll be back in L.A. in a couple of weeks. Yeah, bye."
"Managers," Cat giggled as she watched Tori put her cellphone back in her pocket. "I had the same conversation with my manager on the way over to pick you up." (While Cat had signed with Neutronium Records, Mason wasn't handling her career. He had one of his other minions managing it.)
"I wouldn't doubt it," Tori huffed before she became pensive. She begged, "But are we doing the right thing? I mean what do we really know about this guy?"
"Actually, not much," Cat answered, also a bit wary. "I tried to look Paul Bowman up on the web but there were waaaaay too many Paul Bowmans to search through so I couldn't find out anything about him specifically. He doesn't have a Splash Face or Twitter© account so I couldn't find out his likes or dislikes, either. But when I talked to him this morning I got the impression that he's a really nice guy."
"Yeah," Tori sighed in resignation as she sat back in her seat, "that's the impression I got when I talked to him yesterday." Tori thanked the heavens that Cat had that almost sixth sense about people and that they both thought Paul was okay.
"So what's the problem?" the magenta-hue haired girl asked as the shuttle bus entered the L.A.X. area and she pulled out a small tube that looked like a breath freshening spray from her pink backpack, but slightly larger, and showed it to her friend. "If he tries anything funny we mace him and catch the first plane home."
Tori was slightly shocked to see what Cat had in her hand. The label implied it was a mint flavored breath spray but the brand name, Mace My Breath Fresh, sounded a bit peculiar. Toni leaned over to her friend and whispered, "You can't take mace on an airplane."
Cat put it back in her backpack and hushed with a wicked grin, "I've never been stopped before at the security check point. They always think it's a tube of breath spray or lip gloss since that's what it looks like when they x-ray my bag."
"Well okay then," Tori returned the slightly evil smile feeling a bit better about the whole situation as the vehicle pulled up to their terminal. "But you're gonna have to tell me where you got that so I can buy one."
"Oh, you can have this one, I have lots more," Cat perked up, dug back into her carry-on and handed the small tube to her, then dug around in her bag again before coming out with two more tubes just like the first.
Tori smirked to the clever redhead when she saw one of the mace vials was supposedly Pina Colada flavored and the other was Strawberry/Kiwi.
The brunette singer was quickly brought out of her thoughts as they were getting out of the shuttle bus when Cat randomly asked, "Say Tori, if you choke a Smurf, what color does he turn?"
