I heard it from a friend of a friend
He didn't mean it when he took those vows
You've been stayin' with your mama, a couple weeks now
Been asking everybody about me
Another year gone by, another year of being painfully single. Sure, there have been the odd press set-ups and pity dates but nothing remotely serious. The longest one lasted, ooh, about a month before we broke up (she left me for someone richer, better-looking and more famous than me – I should have known from the first date to be honest). So here I was, back at home, back in the same old cafe in Hollywood, same sofa, another fresh script in my bag. I settled down and started reading it. I got a few pages in, and it looked pretty good. It was a horror movie, a clean break from everything I'd done before, and my character was supposed to start out as a good guy, but get slowly darker as the movie went on.
Feeling someone sit beside me, I didn't look up, but just muttered something about there being a free seat at the next table.
"Oh, I know, but my friends dared me to come and sit beside the famous Beck Oliver." A familiar voice replied, and my head shot up to meet Jade's shining eyes.
"Hey!" I smiled, pulling her into a hug. "How are you doing? I haven't seen you in months!" I exclaimed.
"I know, too busy for us little people." She laughed, and before I knew it, Andre, Cat, Robbie and Sinjin had crowded round the table. "I thought we might find you here. We tried your apartment but you weren't there. I even checked your bedroom. Nice place by the way." I started to ask how she had managed to get into my apartment, but thought it better not to. All I know is that for as long as I've known her, I've known she has ways and means of managing to do whatever she wants, and she's never changed.
We must have sat there for about an hour, drinking coffee after coffee, just catching up with everything that had happened since we had last seen each other (which was about eight or nine months before), then all of a sudden, Jade got this wild look in her eye, one I'd seen many times before. I never knew what was going to come after she got it, but usually I didn't want to hear it.
"So, how's your love life?" She asked, and I shrugged.
"Oh, you know, non-existent as usual." I confessed.
"Really? Well, you know that I've been talking to your old buddy, Tori." My ears pricked up at her name. Yes, I am pathetic, it has been that long and her name still gives me shivers. "Turns out the whole fairytale happy ever after wedding wasn't all it was cracked up to be." I stared at her. "Turns out Mr High-Flying wonderboy was sleeping with his secretary, and he just wanted Tori to be a pretty piece on his arm at all these fancy parties. She's moved back in with her mom. She's asked about you a few times." She finished, and my mouth dropped open. I glanced at the others for some kind of confirmation, but their faces were all pretty much mirroring Jade's words. Excusing myself, I grabbed my bag, left a twenty on the table and ran out of there.
Her mom's house was only a few blocks away, but I took a cab there, knowing that if I walked, I'd get halfway and realise how crazy I actually was. That realisation only came when stood at the front door and lifted my hand to ring the doorbell. My heart thumping, my finger made contact with the button, and I pressed it before listening to the commotion behind the door. It seemed to take an eternity for someone to come, and the door opened slowly.
"Beck!" The figure behind the door exclaimed. "How are you? Come in!"
"Thanks Mrs Vega." I replied, following her into the living room. "Is-"
"Tori! You have a visitor!" She called upstairs, and before I knew what I was saying, I'd said "Don't worry, I'll go." And bounded up the stairs two at a time. Stopping on the landing, we both froze when we saw each other and stared silently for a moment. I knew I had to be the first to talk, but honestly, I didn't know what to say.