AN - One shot, my take on why Robbie and Tori have a lunch date in How Trina Got In, the whole she helped him rub his memaw's feet was too weird.
"That was a lot of fun Cat, best idea to date," exclaimed Andre as he stood beside his locker with Beck and Cat. His gaze went up the stairs and saw his bouncy latina friend, his smile slowly fell when he noticed she was carrying yet another instrument.
"Hola friends the party bus got me in the mood to try another instrument because it's a requirement and all," she said holding up the saxophone as if it was a rare prize. Her friends smiled weakly nodding as she put the instrument to her lips and blew, producing a high pitched shriek dipping high and low for a few seconds before dropping it down.
"Well?" she asked hopefully.
"Well it wasn't..." started Andre as he threw his hand in the air, "Look over there!" he shouted and when she did he took off. Cat also looked for what he had pointed at and Beck just sighed walking after his friend. Turning back Tori frowned and looked at her redhead friend.
"Was it that bad?"
"Yeah, but you're pretty," Cat said trying to comfort her which earned a small smile from Tori.
Once the bell rang Cat skipped off to class and Tori turned to see Robbie watching her with an amused look in his eyes, Rex clutched to his stomach.
"Oh hey Robbie, I didn't see you there."
"Yeah I came in when I heard the sound of a dying cat."
"Was I really that bad?" she stomped and pouted.
"Want me to teach you?" he asked softly. She paused, normally her friends told her not to play around them, none of them had offered to help.
"You play?"
"Yeah, I play the guitar, piano and well the saxophone. It could be like that time I tutored you for your Tech Theater Test, you did really well afterwards." he said his free hand going up to cover Rex's mouth, knowing that he was going to state something about how depressed he'd gotten when Tori's score had beaten his own. Tori saw that and cocked an eyebrow.
"Rex looks like he wants to say something," she pointed out. He shrugged.
"So do you want to be tutored?" The final bell cut him off and they took off for Sikowitz's class as they ran off together Tori looked sideways at her friend and smiled.
"Let's do it"
Blushing a little Robbie just realized what he offered to do, spend time with Tori Vega which would be amazing since it would just be him and her. He kept reminding himself it was just to learn new things, in any other circumstance she wouldn't want to spend time alone with him. Sinking into his seat for class he got lost in thoughts as Tori and Jade did a scene on stage.
Having arrived earlier then Tori Robbie set Rex down on the piano bench and picked up a black case from where most of the instruments were stored. Setting it down he opened it up and began taking the pieces out, cleaning each one and finally putting the saxophone together again.
"Why do you torture yourself like this Rob?" came a rare comment from Rex as it was full of concern instead of vileness.
"I don't know what you mean." Robbie replied ignoring that nagging feeling.
"You'd rather spend a few hours with your crush, knowing that like before she'll surpass you and leave you in the dust."
"Shut up Rex," he spat out putting the saxophone to his lips and playing it for a few moments to make sure it was ready. The deep, beautiful music floated through the air as Tori came in holding her own. She paused, amazed at the sound which was drastically different then her own, before slowly walking up to where Robbie was playing, his eyes closed. Once he finished Tori found herself clapping, realizing that he wasn't alone Robbie jumped up and stumbled back.
"That was awesome, much better then when I try," she said awestruck, "And you're going to teach me how to do that?"
"Yeah," he said taking a deep breath and letting it out, "Okay first things first let me see your saxophone, there's a few different types so let's see which you have." Taking it from her hands he examined it.
"Did you pick this one yourself or just take one? That doesn't matter you have a tenor saxophone here. First things first," he started and Tori listened to everything he said. Two hours later Tori was sitting on the edge of the stage as Robbie came back in tossing her a water bottle. She took it and drank greedily.
"That's harder then it looks," she said once she was done with the water, recapping it and setting it aside.
"I studied for a few years to get really good but it's actually a pretty easy instrument and you're doing great. Better then great actually, you keep practicing and you'll be jazzing it up in the halls by the end of the week." She smiled at that, watching him as he carefully took apart and put away his instrument before moving onto hers.
"If that's okay, I want to clean it up for you," he offered but she shook her head.
"No way, it's covered in my spit and all gross," she said blushing a little. Robbie pulled back, caught off guard by her reddening. It must be the thought of someone else touching something that had her spit on it because girls don't blush like that for Robbie Shapiro. After saying their goodbyes Tori rose and left the theater leaving Robbie and Rex behind. Watching her go Robbie sat back down at the piano besides Rex pressing a few keys.
"Think she'll practice at home?" Robbie asked.
"Just to show off to the others, probably tell them she practiced for a few minutes then got it down instead of got help from a loser like you," stated Rex with a laugh.
Sighing Robbie began playing the piano, a sad haunting song.
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Opening the doors from the parking lot Robbie wasn't really surprised to see people dancing in the halls as Tori sat on the top of the stairs belting out a song on the saxophone. Walking through the crowd he noticed the gang dancing about around their lockers, even Jade was moving her head back and forth to the music. Coming up to his locker he opened it and put Rex inside before he could comment loudly about how naturally talented Tori was. Once the music came to an end everyone applauded her and she rose, bowing and thanking everyone. Heading to her friends she noticed Robbie and flashed him a big smile.
"Wow that was amazing," exclaimed Cat.
"It wasn't as horrible as normal," stated Jade which was as good as they were going to get from her.
"What happened chickta?" asked Andre.
"I had such an amazing tutor, after he showed me the basics I practiced all night. That's the only song I know though."
"Was it that senior Billy Late? He plays like every instrument," mused Cat but Tori shook her head.
"Nope, it was Robbie," she exclaimed but the others just looked at her dumbly. Before anyone could say anything else the bell rang and they took off towards class. Robbie stayed back and caught Tori's arm.
"They actually didn't know that I played," he said looking at the ground as he spoke.
"That's a shame, you play the best I've ever heard," she said reaching out and taking his hand leading him into the janitor's closet as the bell rang again. He stumbled and was shocked to find himself in such close quarters with Tori.
"You need to have more confidence Mister Shapiro," she stated firmly, "In fact once I get better at the saxophone we should have a mini-concert of sorts."
"Wait, what?" he started but she wouldn't let him talk.
"Yeah like what Andre and I normally do, it wouldn't be fair if they wouldn't let anyone else do it. So give me a week to get ready, well you should come over to my house so we can practice every night okay? I'm going to talk to Sikowitz after school and see about booking the Asphalt Cafe for Friday or Saturday whichever we can get."
"Tori that sounds stressful, I don't think I could," tried Robbie but Tori wasn't having any of that.
"Dueling saxophones, or something like that, maybe sax on the beach or something like that," she said more to herself then to Robbie who looked really flustered especially at her names for their performance. Slowly backing up his fingers reaching for the doorknob he stopped as Tori stepped closer to him.
"Are you okay with this Robbie? I'm not forcing you into doing anything you don't want to, I mean if you don't want this just tell me okay?"
"It's not that Tori I just get nervous when I have to perform, not act but play music. I'm a decent actor but when it comes to this it's harder because if any mistakes happen it's on me. I guess I'm just scared," he admitted. Stepping back Tori crossed her legs and leaned back a little.
"I believe in you Robbie, please do this for me?"
"Okay," he said quickly before he could come out of her gaze and she smiled brightly. Opening the door and heading outside Tori went off to class.
"Come on Robbie, we're going to be super late if you stay in there." Feeling the blush creep up his cheeks Robbie followed after her.
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It was Saturday night before the concert Robbie was sitting behind the main stage, cleaning his saxophone. Thinking back on the past week he couldn't believe everything that had happened it seemed like a crazy dream, one that he was kind of hoping he'd wake up from sooner then later. The first few nights were mechanical, Robbie coming over to practice with Tori, bolting as soon as he could but then he started to really relax around her and by the fourth night they were laughing and joking together. Though he was content hanging out with Tori he was still nervous about this performance and almost wanted to back down if it wasn't for what happened the night before.
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The past week with Robbie had been amazing for Tori as well, not only was he a great teacher but someone she had begun to feel herself with. No matter how she acted Robbie wouldn't judge her and she liked that about him. He was nice, kind, cared for his friends, loyal, cute and that was it, the fourth night Tori realized she was crushing on Robbie hard. Luckily when it came to girls actually liking him Robbie was clueless so Tori was happy for that. When Robbie was playing his saxophone Tori watched him with a dreamy look in her eyes, why didn't she see this before she could never know but she felt herself falling for him.
The day before the big concert Tori was getting ready for when Robbie comes over, setting out a few drinks as well as some snacks. Since they were ready for the concert there was only a few details for them to go over, such as if they were going to wear matching outfits and little things like that. A knock on the door caused Tori to jump a little before going over and opening the door, she felt her heart skip a beat when she saw him there. Robbie had taken the time to dress up for the occasion, he was wearing a gray sweater with the collar of his white button up shirt coming up from under it and dark slacks.
"Hey there?" he started first in a good mood but becoming more confused seeing her reaction to him, "Too much? I knew it was too much, I told Rex it was too much."
"No!" she cried out, "I mean no, you just surprised me, you look really good. I mean you clean up quite nice Mister Shapiro."
Now both of them were blushing as he came in. Sitting down across from her on the couch they went over the last few details. Robbie was going to wear a nice suit and tie, while Tori was going with an elegant black dress. They were performing Helena by My Chemical Romance only done with saxophones, so their clothing choice made sense. Reaching for his saxophone case Tori reached over and stopped him.
"I think we've done enough practicing for now Robbie, I wanted to ask you what you've been thinking about these past few days. I mean we've been having fun right?"
"Yeah it's been really great."
"I was wondering what you thought about me."
"Tori you're amazing, last week Rex was telling me that you're a natural at this and he was right."
"Thank you Robbie but I meant about me, what do you think about me?"
Robbie looked down nervously moving his foot across the ground, blushing a little bit.
"I like you a lot Tori."
"I like you too Robbie, a lot more then I thought I would"
"What do you mean?" Robbie asked looking up into Tori's eyes.
"I mean, do you want to go to lunch sometime?"
"Yes! I mean yes I'd love to do that." he exclaimed and she smiled widely.
"Okay, how about Monday for lunch we'll go to Nozu's"
"Sounds great."
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Tori came over and grabbed Robbie's hand in hers, she was surprised that it felt so natural to do this, pulling him up and over to where the instruments were resting. Picking up the microphone she looked back at him one more time smiling at him as he put the saxophone to his lips.
"As you all know I recently needed to learn an instrument as a requirement and a lot of you guys know how bad I was at it. Recently I decided to try to learn the saxophone and a great friend of mine decided to help me out so I wanted to show you all what I've learned. Thank you."
Stepping back she picked up her saxophone and put it to her lips as another student behind them started up on the guitar for the first cords and when the music got intense they started to play.
