The Unlikely Love Doctor
Beck was sitting behind the small folding table which he was using as a desk. He was trying to study. After he caught himself reading the same page for the fifth time he slammed the book shut. He would like to blame his inability to concentrate on Consuela – the cleaning lady that came once a week to tidy up his RV, but he knew that the noise she made while cleaning was not the reason for his lack of concentration. It has been a bad day of a bad week, and it wasn't even Friday. First some paparazzi took a picture of him. Normally for a mere student in Hollywood Arts this would have been great. But the photo was with the young and very hot billionaire heiress Alyssa Vaughn. Jade did NOT take it well. When she saw it she threw a rock at Beck. There was a small dent on the side of his RV to bear witness to this. All his explanations and assurances fell in deaf ears. Jade didn't want to hear.
The truth was that he had met Alyssa a couple of weeks ago in his yoga class. She had forgotten her phone, he had returned it to her, and that was it. Both of them had been somewhat surprised that the other one hadn't tried to flirt. The next time they struck up a conversation. She found him funny. He found the older girl smart and engaging. They had become fast friends and began exchanging text messages. That was all, but Jade didn't see it that way. She freaked out and broke up with him, right there, in the school hallway.
He felt angry, after almost two years together, two years during which he had been nothing but faithful, Jade broke up with him over several innocent friendly text messages. He'd been willing to show them to her, but she didn't want to see them. The next day, on the way back from yoga his car broke down. Alyssa had offered to drop him off to school. He knew how it would look, but accepted her offer anyway. He'd been too pissed off at Jade to care about her reaction. It had the effect he expected. Jade had been going around school like a storm cloud all day, inflicting her foil mood on anyone unlucky enough to cross her way. And finally today she had cornered him at school and demanded, demanded to get back together. Beck had refused. It had been worth it even just to see her shocked and dismayed expression. It wasn't every day that someone said no to Jade West. He wasn't sure he had done the right thing. He just knew that he still loved Jade but was way too angry with her to take her back.
The sound of the bell of his RV pulled him out of these thoughts. He left Consuela to answer it. He had to get rid of two girls already. They had come, separately of course, to try and hit on him. They hadn't done it at school out of fear of Jade. As if he would be tempted by such an offer! Just because Jade had dumped him and he was angry with her didn't mean that the feelings he has for her had just disappeared! It was a surprise to hear Tori's voice. Beck smirked when he heard her insist that he should stop pretending to be an elderly Hispanic woman. He couldn't help but crack a smile at her expression when Consuela opened the door of the RV. Beck invited her in and while explaining his unusual living arrangements he couldn't help but wonder why she had come to see him. Was it possible she was here for the same thing as the two girls from earlier? He quickly dismissed the thought as ridiculous. She wasn't the type of girl to sneak around. He looked her over – she definitely wasn't dolled up like the girls from before. Dressed simply in jeans, t-shirt and a sweater, she looked like a friend, not girl ready for a hook up. And yet his eyes couldn't help but slide up her long slender denim covered legs. Unlike with the other girls, or even Alyssa, he could feel a temptation. It was ludicrous and wrong – Jade had been the only girl he had loved for two years and still was, but the notion of dating Tori didn't seem bizarre or unthinkable, like it did with every other girl. It was strangely comforting to know that he could feel genuine attraction for someone other than Jade. While absorbed by these thoughts Beck almost missed her question.
"Hey man, why don't you get back together with Jade?" Tori asked in her funny 'boy voice'. He thought he didn't hear her right.
"I should get back together with Jade?" Beck couldn't quite understand why Tori would ask him to get back with Jade. That, frankly was the last thing he expected to hear from her. Even after their bonding after the mess with the stage fight, the two of them only barely tolerated each other.
"Uh-huh." Well, obviously he didn't misheard.
"Why?" The question evidently caught Tori unprepared.
"Cause…" She seemed to be desperately trying to come up with some answer. "She's, you know, awesome." Even she seemed unconvinced. It was obvious that Jade had put her up to it. Beck didn't know what his ex-girlfriend had said to make her do this, but it wasn't going to work. Not this time.
"Guess what." He got up and faced her. He felt determined.
"What?" She asked guardedly.
"I'm glad Jade and I broke up!" It felt good saying it. It wasn't entirely true, but it felt almost empowering.
"Why?" He could see the shock and puzzlement in her eyes.
"Cause I can't remember the last time she did one nice thing for me." Beck felt as if a weight was lifted from his chest. He loved Jade; he loved her very much, but her constant negativity was weighting down on their relationship. There were moments when it felt like their relationship was the best thing in his life but a heavy chore he had taken upon himself. The scary thing was that these moments were becoming more and more frequent.
"Oh come on, didn't you just had a birthday? She didn't get you anything for your birthday?" He smiled bitterly. It was admirable that Tori was trying to help Jade get back with him, a mission he couldn't understand why she had taken. But by now she should have known Jade better.
"She got me a can of lemonade." He got a little bitter satisfaction from her shocked silence. She should have been there to see his expression when his girlfriend of more than an year had given him a can of lemonade for his sixteenth birthday.
"Really, Jade gave you a can of lemonade?" Yep, his face had looked something like that.
"Yes, she did." Tori threw up her arms helplessly. She sat on his bed and sighed in defeat. It seemed she wouldn't be able to help Jade after all.
"I don't know what to say." Beck couldn't help but smile affectionately at her sincere regret. It was nice of her to genuinely try to help Jade despite their differences.
"Why are you even here, pleading on her behalf?" His question seemed to surprise her. He didn't know whether it was because she didn't know why she was helping Jade, or because she was surprised that he was asking her that. He was hoping for the first.
"She came at my house, crying and desperate, carrying a broken kite." Tori told him the whole story of how she got roped into helping Jade.
"She did?" Beck couldn't believe that Jade would show so much vulnerability, especially to someone she so openly disliked.
"Yes, I couldn't believe it myself, but a broken kite and a pillow stained by her tear-smeared mascara back home are proof that it really did happen. Plus, I was there when she dumped you and although it's irrational I can't help but feel a little responsible." She sighed, leaned back and looked him in the eyes. "I just couldn't help it, I felt sorry for her. Jade looked so desperate to get you back. Are you sure you don't want to get back together with Jade? You two seemed so in love."
"It is very nice of you to try to help, Tori. It's true, we were in love. I still love Jade." He held up his hand to stop the question Tori seemed impatient to ask. "But we also had problems. You know that Jade is not the warmest person. She can be petty, rude, possessive, unnecessarily jealous, and even cruel. I love her but her dark moods sometimes drive me crazy."
"If she is so bad why did you began dating her? Why did you stay with her for two years?" Beck sat next to her, smiled wistfully and sighed.
"It may seem shallow but at first she was a challenge. She was the only girl in Hollywood Arts who wasn't openly crushing on me, well her and Cat." Tori cocked her eyebrow at him and smirked. "Later I find out that she had these arguably rare moments in which she could be genuinely warm and affectionate. Since they were rare they seemed much more precious." Tori's lips now formed a soft, almost wishful smile. "I have this fear that if I follow my heart and take her back but she doesn't change I will end up still loving her but I just won't be able to stand her anymore."
"And I thought I had conflicting feelings about my ex." Tori joked, trying to lift the melancholic mood. "I hope things work out for you two. If you ever need someone to talk to, beside André, you can always talk to me." For the next hour they just talked. He poured his frustrations with Jade. How she had driven away most of his old friends with her attitude. How he hadn't minded at the time, figuring that if they could be so easily driven off they weren't such a good friends anyway. How nevertheless it still irked him. How he missed her but was still too mad at her to take her back. Tori commiserated with him telling her stories of romantic disasters.
"It's dark outside. Let me drive you back home." He told her glancing at his clock.
"Thanks Beck." They both climbed in his car and he drove off.
"Listen Tori, I know why I continued to endure Jade's dark moods, but why are you trying so hard to be her friend? The best you can hope for it hostile tolerance." He asked her on the way. The question has been bothering since she came.
"I don't know. I guess I'm not used to being hated." She shrugged. "At my old school people either liked me or mostly didn't pay attention to me. I found out I don't like being hated."
"I know Jade. She doesn't like girls who she feels threaten her. And you really make her feel threatened." Beck faced Tori and shook his head. "I don't know whether it's your looks, the way you so quickly became friends with the few people she can stand enough to be around with. Or maybe it is that she sees you as competitor for what she sees as the top spot in Hollywood Arts. I just don't think there is anything you can do to win her over."
"That does not mean I shouldn't try." Behind her sweet smile Beck could see determination.
"I can only wish you good luck." He parked the car in front of Vega's house. Tor4i got out but before she got in she turned to face him.
"Thanks Beck. And I promise Jade wouldn't scare me off of being your friend."