Summary: Tori Vega finds herself backed against the wall after a drunken one night stand with Beck Oliver, having to deal with a bitchy on/off girlfriend, the new mean girls, and an unplanned pregnancy. Life's about to get real interesting for Tori but the question is, can she handle it? — rewrite to "A New Life's Beginning"
Crossover: Victorious x The Clique
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𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕟𝕖: 𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕤𝕒𝕕𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤
Tori Vega lounged across the sofa in her family's living room with A/C unit on full blast and the flat screen TV tuned to her favorite drama series, Freeform's PLL: The Perfectionists—she planned on catching up the entire season in one night; between schoolwork and the big musical Tori had only managed to squeeze in the pilot and maybe the first seven minutes of the second episode when it originally aired. Her favorite light blue plush blanket was swaddled around her body, and a glass of red wine sat on the cherry wood coffee table—barely touched. It was the last few weeks of summer and while all her friends were at a bonfire down by the pier, Tori chose to stay home. The last couple months had been filled with hanging out at the beach, sleepovers with Cat, and working on new songs with Andre. Tonight was just about being in the company of nobody but herself—her parents were gone for the weekend celebrating their anniversary and Trina was out on a date with a guy supposedly from Northridge.
She was in the middle of the seventh episode, fawning over Sofia Carson's outfits and the guy who plays Dylan Walker's talent when it comes to the cello, when she heard her phone ping! from across the room—it had been almost dead when she first started the show hours ago, and she'd completely forgotten about it on the charger. It was probably just her mom or dad checking in, but going unanswered would cause her mom to worry and frantically try to get in touch with her, or worse: come home early. Unraveling herself out of the blanket cocoon, Tori slid off the couch after pausing the episode and crawled over to where she plugged her phone in. To her surprise, it wasn't a text from her parents, or even Trina, but the one person she'd been avoiding for almost the entire summer.
ʙᴇᴄᴋ ᴏʟɪᴠᴇʀ: ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ʀ ᴜ
Tori let out a small sigh, dropping to sitting on her knees and pushing her hair back away from her face. She had more or less blocked out all things Beck from her mind after their last encounter—a week after school ended Trina had thrown a pool party, Jade had just broken up with Beck for the umpteenth time so he'd all but drowned in liquor and beer by the end of the night. Too incoherent to drive, an equally drunk Tori helped Beck upstairs to the guest bedroom around 4 a.m., where Beck thanked her with a small kiss that quickly spun out of control. Tori woke up before Beck, no more than two hours later, and went for a run—she couldn't face him, not when she wasn't even sure if he remembered it. Obviously it wouldn't mean anything to him, he'd just gotten dumped and Tori would be nothing but a rebound. By the time she came back, luckily Beck was gone and she could freely help Trina clean up without the awkwardness of seeing him—but of course her older sister pestered about where she'd disappeared to, why Beck had been in their guest room, and so on. Tori had been dodging his calls, ignoring his texts, and finding every opportunity to not interact with him whenever he joined them at the beach. How could she, when not even a month after they'd slept together Beck and Jade were solidly back together?
Ping.
Another text chimed in.
ʙᴇᴄᴋ ᴏʟɪᴠᴇʀ: ʀ ᴜ ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ 2 ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏɴғɪʀᴇ ? ᴜʀ ᴍɪssɪɴɢ ᴀ ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ sᴛᴏʀʏ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴄᴀᴛs ʙʀᴏ ᴏɴ ᴀɴ ᴀɪʀᴘʟᴀɴᴇ ʟᴏʟ
Tori frowned, but tapped to open the thread, and composed her reply.
ᴛᴏʀɪ ᴠᴇɢᴀ: ɴᴏ. sᴛᴀʏɪɴɢ ɪɴ 2ɴɪᴛᴇ, ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ɢᴏ 2 ʙᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴀ ғᴇᴡ. ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ ᴅᴀʏ 2ᴍ. sᴏʀʀʏ. ᴛᴛʏʟ.
Tori pressed send, and crawled back over to the sofa to resume watching her show on Hulu, wrapping herself back to being a human burrito. She aimed the remote to pressing play and reached for her untouched glass of wine with her free hand, lifting it to her lips to take a long, slow sip.
She'd gone through three glasses of wine by the time she finished the tenth (final) episode of The Perfectionists, it was impossible for Tori to fully pay attention—but she'd gotten the gist—now that Beck was front and center on her mind. She was thinking about why Beck decided to text her, why he wanted to know where she was—if she was coming to the bonfire. Did he specifically want to see her, or was he just asking to be friendly because he thought she was missing out?
I'm gonna need another drink, Tori bemused—thinking about him made her upset, it made her thoughts drift back to that night, and it made her want to hate him for feeling upset over something so stupid.
She backed out of Hulu and turned on Tubi, putting on Fear—starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Wahlberg—before jumping off the couch to raid her parents' liquor cabinet for something stronger, but in order to get through this night with so much alcohol potent in her veins she was going to need something greasy to snack on. She'd scored a bottle of Watermelon flavored Bacardi; she was in the middle of multitasking—ordering a pizza through DoorDash and pouring herself a large fountain glass of Bacardi—when the doorbell rang. She glanced at her phone, the order wasn't even placed yet, so she knew it wasn't her pizza being delivered, and the time only said 9:30 p.m., so Trina shouldn't be home yet. She'd specifically told Tori that she wouldn't be back until well after midnight, but the younger Vega sister didn't want to assume things had gone poorly—plus, why would she ring the doorbell to her own home? Unless she forgot her keys, again. . .
The door bell sounded again as Tori topped off her glass, screwing on the cap and replacing it back in the cabinet.
"Coming!" Tori hollered, gripping the fountain glass firmly as she padded back into the living room and swinging the front door open. "Oh!" She yelped in surprise, her eyes adjusting to see none other than Beck Oliver standing on her porch. "Um, hi."
He chuckled softly, "Hey."
"What are you doing here?" She straightened her posture, propping her shoulder against the doorframe and lifting her glass—she took a rather large gulp, the straight alcohol burning her throat on the way down.
"I was on my way home from the bonfire so I thought I'd check on you—make sure you're okay, you know?" Beck said, and it was so earnest that Tori could've believed him, except that he lived in the completely opposite direction.
But she didn't comment, instead she tilted her glass towards him in an awkward toast type of way. "Well, thanks."
"I thought you'd be sleeping by now, so I—"
"If you thought I was gonna be sleeping, it'd be pretty dumb of you to swing by, don't you think?" She interrupted, trying not to feel too bad for sounding so harsh. It's the alcohol, she silently blamed. "Obviously I wouldn't answer the door, so coming out of your way to see me would have been pointless."
"But you're not sleeping and you did answer the door," Beck smiled cheekily; in the dim porch lighting Tori noticed that his cheeks were flushed and there was no truck parked in front of her house. Was he walking home?
"Where's your truck?" Tori asked; it was better than coming up with a way to answer his previous comment.
Beck gave her a knowing grin, but he shrugged—it wasn't until he leaned forward that she could smell the beer on his breath. And then his nose scrunched up in that cute way of his, as if he could tell what she was drinking. But the look on his face was somber: his arm propped above his head while he leaned on the exterior of the Vega's home. "Did I do something wrong, Tori?"
The question took her aback, but he could only be referring to the fact that she refused to even look in his direction the entire summer. She swallowed hard, and, of course, lied. "No. Why?"
"You've been acting like I'm a parasite." Beck said, and maybe Tori was imagining it but it sounded like he was genuinely hurt by her actions. To be fair, she and Beck had gotten extremely close over the last year, so she could understand why he took it so personally that she suddenly wanted nothing to do with him. And at the same time, he could at least try to see where she was coming from. If he even remembered.
"I—uh, Beck... do you—do you wanna come inside?" Tori fumbled, slowly tightening her grip on the glass and stepping aside for him to enter the house. This was not a conversation to have in her doorway. Not when there was a lot of ground to cover and Tori needed to get it off her chest before she suffocated. She missed having Beck as a friend, she won't lie about that, and she needed to know where they stood.
"Sure," he said softly, relaxing his arm and stepping over the threshold—he followed Tori to the sofa, where the TV rolled a scene where Reese and Mark were at some carnival. "I love this movie," he nodded approvingly at the screen.
"Beck, do you remember the night of Trina's pool party?" Tori asked, settling herself comfortably in her blankets to create a barrier between her and Beck, as he took a seat beside her.
"Sure I do, it was a lot of fun," he grinned in that charismatic way of his, looking so relaxed and genuine and happy. "Why?"
Tori took another huge gulp of Bacardi, and then another, before clearing her throat. "I was just curious..."
"About?"
"What it meant for you." She burrowed herself deeper into her blanket, making sure that Beck was unable to see her face.
"Excuse me?" He was leaning forward, peering inside her blanket to force her to look at him. "It was a party, I was just trying to enjoy myself because Jade broke up with me." It was obvious that Beck was confused, he didn't know what she meant at all. And Tori wanted to slap herself in the face, then Beck. "Isn't the point of parties? To get drunk and be free and have fun?" He stared at her, trying to understand what she was getting at, seemingly knowing that they were nowhere near on the same page. Embarrassment flooded through Tori like a tsunami, and there was that familiar burning sensation behind her eyes—Beck didn't know they slept together, which could be her own fault because she'd escaped long before he woke up, but the amount of alcohol he consumed could also play a huge factor. "Tor, ar—are you okay?"
"What? Yeah, I'm fine." She blinked as hard, as fast, as she could without making herself look like a movie projector. She willed those tears to stay back, long enough for her to excuse herself to the bathroom. Why was this so hard on her, anyway?
Beck frowned, reaching out to push the blankets down so he could see Tori's face. He looked crushed. "Oh, man... Tori, am I missing something here?"
"No." She said too quickly, turning away so she wouldn't have to look at him.
And then, the unexpected happened: Beck started laughing. Tori's blood boiled.
But before Tori could snap at him, she felt his fingers brush over her chin before he gripped at her jaw and forced him to look at her—not aggressively, but enough that she wouldn't hurt her neck. "Tori, I'm fucking with you. I'm sorry, I didn't know it would get you upset!"
"What?" She forced a cough, covering it quickly with another long slurp of Bacardi.
"I know what you're talking about, and yes I remember—is that why you haven't talked to me all summer? Because we slept together?" Beck released her head, and Tori shifted her body to face him.
She couldn't believe him, but maybe she deserved it.
"Kinda, yeah." Tori admitted. "It seemed like a big deal, I mean we've been friends for so long and I felt really bad about just running off before you woke up."
"I was wondering why I woke up naked in your guest bedroom." Beck laughed good-naturedly.
Tori took a deep breath, mentally flipping a coin on whether or not she should tell him what was really bothering her about the whole situation—and decided to go with it. "Was I just a rebound for Jade?"
Beck looked as if he'd been slapped in the face, and in a way, he probably had. "What?"
"Did sleeping with me mean anything or was I just a rebound because Jade broke up with you?" She asked, forcing herself to take another drink, fully aware of her trembling hand.
Beck was quiet for a moment, the wheels in his brain turning as he thought over the events—sleeping with Tori, and then getting back together with his ex-girlfriend no more than three weeks later. "No." He finally said, a beat later. "Of course not." He didn't have to say it, but she knew he meant that she wasn't a rebound. She could tell by the look in his eyes.
"Sure seemed that way." She mumbled, leaning forward to put her glass on the coffee table and swaddling back up to the point where she could barely move.
"I—shit, Tori, is that why you stopped talking to me? I'm so sorry." Beck blurted out, sounding like he couldn't believe he had done such a thing. She could hear how much he hated that he didn't realize it, that that is what hurt Tori. "I—I thought you regretted sleeping together, that's why you weren't there in the morning, so I didn't say anything, but I've been wanting to talk about it all summer."
"I don't regret it," she informed softly.
"Good, neither do I." Beck said.
It took Tori a moment to realize what was happening next, the world seemed to move in slow motion, and time didn't exist—Beck was moving the blankets again, exposing her face, her décolletage. One hand rested to brushing his thumb across her high cheekbone, a secret smile on his face, with a look of wonder in his eyes—as if she could read his thoughts, before she could stop herself, Tori was pressing her lips to his. He tasted like beer, she had a silky combination of Merlot and Bacardi. He deepened the kiss, moving his free hand to tangling his fingers to threading roughly through Tori's hair. Her response was hungry, fierce—passionate. She kicked away her blankets, freeing herself from the comforting prison, and slid onto Beck's lap, straddling his waist. Both hands cupped at the sides of his face; their bodies pressed together as much as possible to keep out any space between them. Her hips pushed and rocked, he bucked up, both of them softly groaning into the other's mouth.
Soon clothes began to peal away, the underwear included.
Beck threw Tori down against the sofa, grinning down at her, his eyes traveling as if he was memorizing every dip, plane, and contour of Tori's naked body.
"You're so beautiful." Beck whispered, resting his hand on the armrest to hold himself up above her. She couldn't think of anything to say, so she let her body speak for her, and she reached up to kiss him again.
