A/N: Hey guys! I must warn you that I am terrible at writing romance, but I needed to establish Ryan somehow (I hate it when random characters just pop out of nowhere and act like they are main characters). That part is so bad, I won't be insulted if you skip it altogether.
Also, flamestoembers asked why it's ace when it should be arch (arch= arch in back). Just in case anyone else is wondering, it's supposed to be ace. I guess it makes more sense to me since I know what's going to happen (or maybe it only makes sense in my head). So yes, if there is anything else you see that is off, please tell me! Enjoy :)
An Ace in the Back } Chapter One
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It was perfection.
Tori Vega at the top of her game. Vega's album goes platinum. Tori Vega's tour sold out within minutes. Tori Vega: the new tween idol.
Utter perfection.
"This is the life," Tori smiled.
"How cliché," one of her new friends Leah sneered.
"I think I've earned it," Tori teased. "Ah, I'm famous! A toast to me!" Everyone at the table raised their glasses and toasted her. Throughout the entire dinner, Tori couldn't stop smiling. At 19 years of age, she was already an international superstar. Her sophomore album had gone platinum and she was going to tour North America in a few months.
To celebrate her success, her management had rented out an entire restaurant for her. All of her family and friends from the industry and Hollywood Arts here (except for Jade and Beck, who had disappeared after graduation). Tori hated to be cliché, but this was probably one of the best days of her life. After a round of drinks and a ton of laughs, André cleared his throat. Tori turned her attention to him. "So what are you going to do now?" he asked. The question caught her off-guard. She hadn't really thought of it.
"The life of a popstar is really short you know," Trina chimed. She received a barrage of death glares. "What? All I'm saying is that Tori needs to keep working otherwise she'll end up a two-album wonder."
"A two-album wonder?" Cat asked.
"Yeah, a one-hit-wonder but with two-hit albums," Trina replied.
"Who wants some cake?" Tori asked excitedly. The conversation was quickly exchanged for drooling over the large cake being brought over to their table, and Tori was grateful. As she took a generous bite out of the treat, she vowed to not worry about her status or her figure or how many albums she sold. Just breathe. Be happy.
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2 months after the celebration, Tori was back in the recording studio working on her third album. She wanted to get started on it now because she knew she'd be too exhausted to write a full album after the tour, but she didn't want to waste time. Like Trina said that day, the life of pop star was really short; she wanted to do as much as she could before she was no longer relevant.
Her manager had assigned to a new producer, Ryan Livingston. Back when she was at Hollywood Arts, he was one of the biggest musicians and had a legion of groupies that redefined what it meant to be celebrity-obsessed. After a few weeks of awkward introductions, signing of papers, and 'get to know you' dinners, the two of them could finally get to the music.
Tori was seated lounging on a green beanie bag chair and watched as Ryan sorted the recording gear around the room. When she had first met him, she thought he'd be an arrogant ass, but he was actually pretty decent. More than decent. She was in full-on crush mode.
Tori tried her best not to notice how cute Ryan looked in his red flannel shirt and stupid backwards hat. He wasn't the type of guy she usually went after; they were usually tanned and muscular (and cheaters and liars). With his sleeves rolled up, she inspected his arms. Ryan's colourful tattoos stood out on his pale skin.
"Like what you see?" Ryan stuck out his tongue at Tori and she blushed. Why must I start daydreaming when I see a cute guy?
"So what do you want to write about? Family? Friendship?" he flipped through one of his many boxes of recording junk and managed to pull out a pair of pens and 2 sheets of paper. He handed her Tori one of each then began to tap the rhythm of their song with the pen as Tori pondered.
"Love," she finally said. Ryan raised his eyebrows slightly and made a face.
"Interesting… not."
"What?"
"Never mind. Let's do this," he said. After an hour or two of figuring out the melodies and the overall mood of the song, they decided to start writing the lyrics.
"Okay, how about 'I love you so much, oh baby. The yingie to my yang…'"
Tori snorted. "That was so freaking cheesy."
"Hey, my girlfriend loves my music," he replied.
"Melissa," Tori said with slight distain. She was glad Ryan didn't seem to notice her tone of voice as he seemed to be in a trance of his own.
Without any warning, Ryan turned towards Tori and planted a hard kiss on her lips. They broke apart briefly.
"I don't want her," he breathed. An image of Melissa briefly flashed in Tori's mind, but she pushed it away and leaned in for another kiss.
;
The night after she gave her virginity to him, Ryan rolled over in their hotel room bed and looked Tori right in the eye. Maybe he wants to do it again, she thought. She wasn't sure how to react so she raised an eyebrow flirtatiously. His face remained serious.
"I love you," he whispered. She smiled at him but he kept watching her expectantly.
"What?" she asked. He took her hands with his own and kissed them.
"Don't you love me?"
"Kind of," Tori replied. Instead of being reacting negatively, he simply cocked his head sideways and grinned.
"Then I'll make you fall in love with me," his tone of voice was filled with confidence, which shocked Tori. Too good to be true, nobody can be this amazingly perfect.
"How does someone get so confident?" she asked.
"I don't know. After pretending I was for so long, I just am now. Fake it 'till you make it, right?" Tori nodded; she knew that philosophy all too well.
"Sleep time," she mumbled. "Good night."
"I love you."
"You already said that."
"Just making sure you know."
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Her inbox was flooded with messages one morning. Most of them were the usual: her parents calling to see how she was doing, Cat telling her a completely pointless story, her other friend Leah congratulating her on her new boyfriend, Trina asking her famous sister to let her record a demo -
"Wait, what?" Tori dropped her spoon in her bowl of cereal and raced to the answering machine to replay the message.
Hey Tori. Congrats on your new boyfriend, though I'm a bit insulted that you didn't call to tell me. Anywho, I've got to go. See ya!
"How did she find out?" she asked aloud. How in the world could Leah possibly know about her and Ryan when she was halfway around the world – realization dawned on Tori and she sprinted into her living room to turn on the TV.
"- Hollywood's hottest new couple, pop star Tori Vega and rocker-turned-producer Ryan Livingston."
Photos of them over the last 6 months flooded the screen- eating dinner, kissing, hugging, paying for a hotel room -
"Shit," she hissed. How could this happen to her? This was supposed to remain a secret (If she had to be honest with herself, she hadn't really thought their relationship through properly. She had believed that they could just be together and live happily, but Tori could literally see now that it was naïve thinking. She was famous now; there was no privacy).
"Nonononononono," Tori began pacing frantically around her apartment. As if on cue, her phone began ringing like crazy. Probably her management. Or her friends. Or Trina. The shrill noise made Tori's head throb. She was about to unplug the phone when the tone sounded and the brief message was left:
Fucking bitch.
Tori knew she was in for it.
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I promise, I didn't know you guys were serious," Tori pleaded. Melissa continued to pace around the dimly lit room in the record studio. After her freak out, Tori decided the best thing to do was go apologize to Mel before any other (potentially worse) rumours came out. I'm sorry for kissing your boyfriend. I'm sorry for having sex with your boyfriend. I'm sorry for falling in love with your boyfriend. Tori had practiced what she would say a hundred times but Melissa was not reacting favourably.
"Are you for real Tori? Haven't you… how… what the hell!" she shrieked, throwing a water bottle at Tori's head. Luckily, Tori was able to dodge it.
"Please forgive me Mel." Tori hated how desperate her voice sounded, but she couldn't help it. She could not have people thinking she was vicious; she didn't mean to make Melissa angry. Her thoughts were interrupted when Melissa cleared her throat.
"Tell me."
"Tell you what?" Tori questioned.
"That is was a mistake and you wish you could take it back." Tori opened her mouth to speak, then decided to close it. She didn't regret it; being with Ryan was one of the best things that had ever happened to her. She didn't have to jump through hoops to please him, she didn't have to worry about him using her for something, and mostly importantly, he loved her and didn't compare her to girlfriends in his past.
"Go on," Melissa stepped up to Tori and glared up at her. Tori hated to admit it, but she really intimidated her though Tori probably could have taken her with her eyes closed. Despite her diminutive frame, there was just something about those eyes of hers, a fire… Melissa could not be sane.
When Tori failed to respond, Melissa spat out, "You stupid bitch!" and turned for the door.
"Mel wait!"
"Go to fucking hell." And with that, she was gone.
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"Tor, why are you so upset? You barely even know her." Ryan asked the following evening. Tori shrugged and dropped onto his couch.
"I just hate it when people are angry with me," she sighed. Ryan sat next to Tori and slung his arm around her.
"Just forget about it. Mel doesn't matter anymore," he said. Tori couldn't help but smile in triumph. She finally had everything she wanted.
"Good," she replied. As she rested her head on his shoulder, Tori couldn't help but feel she was peaking. Nothing can stay perfect for this long. She shook the thought of her head and snuggled closer to Ryan.
Perfect can last forever. She was going to prove it.
