Chapter Six
"Did I do something wrong?" Alex asked, cornering Beck in the hallway three days later. He had barely said a word to her outside of rehearsals, and since she wasn't very close to the others in the group and Jade had been busy all week, Alex had been feeling really lonely, something she didn't even know she could feel anymore.
"Well in scene two your line is actually-" Beck began, but Alex narrowed her eyes and cut him off.
"You know that's not what I meant," she said, lowering her voice as some other people walked past them on the way out of rehearsals. Sikowitz had let them out early that day so he could attend some sort of fresh market sale downtown. Alex had made sure to let everyone in their friend group leave ahead of her, and luckily, Beck had also been slow to leave. "Why aren't you talking to me?"
"We are talking right now," he said, being deliberately obtuse.
"Beck," she said tiredly, brushing her hair out of her face. His expression fell for a moment, and then suddenly he was bored again.
"Alex," he replied, and she stared up at him.
"Please talk to me," she said, her voice very close to begging.
"You said you didn't want to talk," he said, sliding his hands into his pockets and looking over her head.
"Yeah, about-" She cut herself off as someone else walked by, then suddenly she understood, and the hope that had nearly crushed her before as it died, jumped into her throat again. "Do you… want to talk about it?"
"There's nothing to talk about," he said, shrugging, but she could see his fists tighten, and she understood he was angry, though she wasn't sure why.
"Beck, I said I didn't want to talk about it because I thought you were going to say it was a mistake," Alex said, meeting his eyes so he could see that she wasn't lying. "I thought you were going to tell me you regretted it, and I really didn't want to hear that."
"No regrets," he said immediately, frowning. "I wasn't going to say that it was a mistake." Alex's heart pounded in her ears at the words.
"What were you going to say?" Alex asked, frozen in place. He hesitated, ran a hand through his hair, and sighed.
"It's nothing," Beck said. "It wasn't important."
"Are you sure?" Alex asked, her heart sinking again. She felt like an idiot.
"I'm sure," he said, smiling his easy smile, and suddenly everything was okay.
"So… you aren't mad at me anymore?" Alex asked, wanting to be sure.
"I was never mad at you," Beck said, throwing an arm over her shoulder to steer her towards the parking lot.
"I'm not going to make you explain," Alex said, relaxing under his arm. "But I think that was a lie."
"It might have been," he said, chuckling. "But we're good."
"Good," Alex said, sighing. "So what are your plans for tonight?"
"I have a non-date with Tori," Beck said, chuckling.
"A what?" Alex asked, stamping down the surge of jealousy at the words 'date' and Tori' in the same sentence.
"Tori thinks that if its just me and her hanging out it will be too much like a date," Beck said, shrugging. "So we are going on an opposite date to prove that we can hang out together without it being like a date."
"Oh," Alex said. "I think I followed that," she said, trying to make her words light. "So where are you going?"
"I dunno yet," he said. "Somewhere terrible."
"Well good luck with that," Alex said, taking a step towards her car just as Sinjin rounded the corner on his bike and sped out of the parking lot. Alex and Beck both stared after him, then turned to each other and shrugged.
"See you tomorrow," Beck called, then got into his car. Alex waited in the drivers seat of her car until he had left the parking lot, then pulled out her phone and dialed Jade.
"Hey Jade, how do you feel about a little stalking?" Alex asked, pulling out of her parking spot.
"Who are we stalking?" Jade asked over the phone, and Alex heard a laugh in the background.
"Are you with Cat?" Alex asked.
"Hi Alex" Cat called through the phone, and Alex rolled her eyes. "We are already on a mission-"
"Shut up," Jade hissed at the other girl.
"Oops," Cat said, giggling.
"What are you doing?" Alex asked, curious now.
"Oh, you know, just driving around," Jade said, and Alex frowned.
"You're following Beck aren't you?" She guessed. There was no other reason Jade would be so secretive.
"How did you know?" Cat asked, giggling again. "I wasn't allowed to tell you. Or Jade. Oops."
"Beck told me he was going out with Tori," Alex said, ignoring the other girl.
"It's not a date!" Cat called, laughing.
"Where are you?" Alex asked, turning off the highway onto her road.
"At my house," Jade said.
"I'll meet you there in five," Alex said, then hung up the phone.
When she pulled into her driveway, she spotted Jade and Cat, both sitting in the front seat of Jade's mom's car. Alex opened the passenger side door and squeezed in, shoving Cat into the middle of the bench seat.
"So where are they?" Jade asked, starting the car without looking at Alex.
Jade had said she didn't want to be the reason that Beck was alone, but Alex knew that her dislike towards Tori was making her jealous over their little non-date. Alex didn't mind because it meant she was't the only one who wanted to follow them, but she wondered for the hundredth time if Jade was truly over Beck.
"I don't know," Alex said, shrugging.
"Cat?" Jade asked, pulling out onto the road.
"I'm not allowed to tell," Cat said, giggling again.
"Let's get some ice cream," Alex suggested, catching Jade's eye. They both new that ice cream, or candy, was the best way to bribe the younger girl.
"Yay!" Cat said, clapping. "I love ice cream."
"Great," Alex said, watching Jade pull into an ice cream store parking lot.
The sun had set by the time they were back in the car, pulling onto the freeway. Jade waited a bit, glancing at Cat.
"Well?" She finally asked, looking at the red head who was happily licking her ice cream. Cat looked over at her with wide eyes.
"Thank you for the ice cream cone," Cat said obediently. Alex leaned forward over the back of the seat between them.
"I bought you the ice cream so you'd tell me where Tori and Beck are," Jade said in exasperation.
"I don't know where they are!" Cat whined. Alex sat back in her seat with a huff. Jade rolled down Cat's window, then grabbed her ice cream and threw it out, making the car behind them swerve and honk. Cat gaped at her, then stared sadly at her empty cone.
"I feel like you did that on purpose," she said, her voice upset.
"I will buy you another one if you call Tori and find out where she and Beck are," Jade said, keeping her eyes on the road as she drove towards the city.
"If you want to know so bad why don't you call Tori?" Cat asked, turning in her seat.
"Because she won't tell me if I-" Jade began, but then she stopped and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Okay," she said, pulling over to the side of the road.
"We stopped," Cat said, her brows drawn in worry. "Am I in trouble?"
"Gimme your phone," Jade demanded, holding her hand out for it. Cat dug it out and handed it over. "Restrain her," Jade ordered Alex, and before Cat could escape, Alex wrapped an arm around her face, covering her mouth as Jade dialed Tori's number. Cat let out a little squeak, trying to get away, but Alex didn't move.
"Hiiii!" Jade said in a very good imitation of Cat. Cat turned to look at her with another squeak. "Are you and Beck having fun?" She asked, then listened for a moment as Cat began to struggle again. Jade let out a slightly mocking, but scarily accurate Cat laugh. "So where're you guys right now? Melrose and Lebraya, okaaaay." She paused again, then said "Byeee!"
Alex released Cat, who sat back in her seat, pouting as Jade hung up the phone.
"Melrose and Lebraya here we come," Jade said, merging back into traffic. Cat stared at her incredulously.
"You didn't sound anything like me," Cat said, and Alex chuckled.
"Tori believed it was you," Jade said, shrugging.
"You didn't get my laugh right," Cat said, pouting as she stared back into her empty ice cream cone.
"Yeah I did," Jade said, smirking. "You go ahahahaha."
"That's exactly how you laugh Cat," Alex said, patting the other girl on top of the head.
"I don't laugh like that," she denied, frowning.
"Puppies wearing sunglasses," Jade said in a deadpan tone.
"Ahaha ahaha, dangit," Cat said, realizing she did laugh exactly like that.
"What did they say they were doing?" Alex asked after a couple moments.
"They were at a food truck," Jade said.
"A food truck on Melrose?" Alex asked, naming the part of town that was famous for their cheap, fried food. "Gross."
"I know," Jade said, shaking her head, then growling as the cars in front of them put on the brakes. "God, I hate being stuck in traffic," she said as they came to an almost crawl. "We're going to be late, and we're going to miss Beck and Tori." She pressed the horn down for a few seconds even though it had no effect on how fast they were going.
"Hooooonk!" Cat called, the giggled and looked back at Alex. "I honked, just like the car."
"I heard," Alex said, patting her head again.
"Oh, let's think about all the different kinds of honks there are," Cat said, grinning over at Jade. "I like the one that's like 'meep meep', you know, like how the bird does it in that cartoon."
"The roadrunner?" Jade asked, gripping the wheel tightly.
"No, I didn't like him," Cat said, leaning back in her seat to look out the window. "He was always so mean to that dog."
"That dog, is a coyote," Jade said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh my god, was that racist?" Cat asked, upset for a few seconds, then she went back to looking out the window. Jade pressed on the horn again. A few minutes later, the traffic started to move again.
"Don't you just love how dogs hang their head out the window and lick the wind?" Cat asked, looking over at Jade. Jade ignored her, so Cat turned back to her window, rolled it down, then stuck her head out, panting like a dog.
"Put your head back in the car before I roll up the window and cut it off," Jade ordered angrily. Cat pouted, but did as she was told, sitting back in her seat.
"My head's back in the car," she said, looking at Jade sadly.
"Now, call Tori and find out where Beck's taking her," Jade demanded.
"Bossy," Cat murmured softly.
"What?" Jade asked, obviously having heard.
"I'm calling Tori," Cat said, lifting her phone to her face. "Hiiiii," she said into the phone a moment later, though it sounded sad. "Um, where are you and Beck going?" She listened for a moment. "Um, what, that's so crazy," she held the phone to her chest and looked at Jade in fright. "She's suspicious." Jade grabbed the phone.
"Hiiii Tori," she said, using her Cat voice. "Um, my brother locked me in the closet so I'm really bored and I was just want to know what you guys are doing ahahahaha."
"That's so disrespectful," Cat said, crossing her arms in a pout.
"Oh fun!" Jade said into the phone. "Where is this animal hospital? Aaah Sherman Oaks that's so cool. Ahh! Here comes my brother. Okay byeee!" She hung up the phone, handing it back to Cat.
"So?" Alex asked, leaning forward again.
"Go online and look up animal shelters in Sherman Oaks, right now," Jade ordered Cat.
"Well there's one on Woodman, but it closes at six on the weekends so they're probably going to Petmergency which is on Moorpark, just west of Clearwater," Cat said, playing with a strand of her hair.
"How do you know so much about pet hospitals?" Alex asked after a pause. Cat shrugged.
"My brother has a turtle with special problems," she said, then turned back to the window, completely missing the looks Alex and Jade were giving her.
They drove for another ten minutes before finding the street the animal hospital was on. Jade pulled into a parking spot and Alex was surprised at how crowded it was so late in the day. Jade rushed to the building, Alex and Cat following behind.
Jade burst into the building just as Tori was turning in her seat to talk to a little girl across the room angrily. Alex hesitated before following Jade inside. Beck was dressed in sweats and a t-shirt, but he still looked amazing.
"And there they are," Jade said, coming to a stop in the middle of the room. Beck stood to face her as everyone in the room looked up at her.
"Oh man," Tori said, looking fed up.
"Jade," Beck said, surprised. "Alex."
"Things are about to get real," A man holding a glass cage said. Tori stood to face Jade too, ignoring him.
"Wow, Tori and Beck are here," Cat said, acting surprised to see them. "Who'd'a thunk that they'd be- I mean, what a coincidence, aw who'm I kiddin'," she said, walking off to watch from afar. Beck looked at Alex for a moment, eyebrow raised in question. She shrugged, nodding towards Jade to make him think it was all Jade's idea to be here. She would probably tell him why she was there too if he asked, but she didn't think he would. As she looked away from him, she caught Tori's eye. She looked almost… self satisfied to see Alex there.
"Wait," a middle aged black woman said, sliding over a chair closer to Tori and Beck. "That's Jade?"
"Yeah," Tori said, nodding.
"And that's Alex?" She asked, pointing to Alex. Tori nodded.
"Look, guys, I can explain why Beck and I are-" Tori began, but another guy cut her off.
"Oh come on," he said. "How're you gonna explain that you're out on a date with her ex-boyfriend?"
"It's not a date," Beck said, lifting his hands in exasperation, as though they had already explained this to him. Jade just stood there, listening. Alex stood behind her, wishing she wasn't here now. It had been wrong of her to want to spy on them. Jade had said once that Beck had tried to kiss Tori, but she had refused because he was Jade's ex, there was no way that Tori would agree to date him after that. She wasn't mean. Tori was watching her when Alex looked up again, as though she knew something Alex didn't know. Alex narrowed her eyes, not liking the expression, and Tori looked back to Jade.
"They broke up," the black woman said, pointing to Beck and Jade. "Beck has every right to go out with whoever he wants."
"Not really going out," Tori repeated to the woman.
"Hey Beck," the little girl piped up in a sly voice. "Which one of them do you think is prettier?" She asked. Tori glared at her for a moment, then turned to Beck with an eyebrow raised. Jade too turned to look at him, and when he noticed they were actually waiting for an answer, he looked up at Alex, panicked.
"Why don't you go check your mom's pulse," he said to the girl, who turned to the woman beside her who was sleeping against the wall. Alex chuckled, and Tori turned back to her again, mouth twitching up in the corner.
"You have no right to be mad at us cuz Beck and I are only-" Tori said, turning to Jade, who was standing silently. Tori's voice was pleading.
"I'm not," Jade said, interrupting her. Tori paused, surprised, and glanced over at Alex again for some reason. Alex crossed her arms and leaned back against the door as Jade shifted so she was half turned toward Alex and half toward Tori.
"You're not?" Tori asked, confused.
"I'm not mad," Jade repeated, fiddling with her keys as everyone in the waiting room looked surprised.
"Careful," Cat said, jumping to her feet. "It's a trick."
"It's not a trick," Jade said, her face serious. "I… I thought I was mad. But now that I'm here, what- what do I have to be mad about?" She raised her hands, giving a chuckle. "We broke up, we're all friends, kinda. I mean, any of us should be able to hang out with whoever we want."
"Still thinking its a trick," Cat said softly from her seat.
"It's not," Jade insisted.
"You're really okay?" Beck asked, coming to stand in front of Jade, looking down at her.
"Yeah," she said, nodding.
"That's… that's pretty cool," Beck said, giving her a half smile. Alex squeezed her arms tighter around her middle. She wasn't sure that she had seen Beck and Jade interact directly before, and there was definitely still a lingering sense of feelings between them. Both of them had told her, at separate times, that they weren't in love with each other anymore, but that was hard to believe at the moment.
Alex watched them smile at each other for a moment, then turned and snuck out the door to wait outside.
"So what are you doing for the rest of the night?" Jade asked as they drove up their street.
"I'm going on a run," Alex said shortly, looking out the window.
"Why?" Cat asked from the back seat.
"Because I want to," Alex muttered. She was not in the mood to socialize at all, she just wanted to go on a run, clear her mind, and obsess over what had happened in the last hour. "Why, did you have something planned?" She asked Jade, still not looking at her.
"Your sister got that new horror movie that just came out," Jade said. "We saw her earlier. She invited us to watch it with her."
"Tonight?" Alex asked. "Are you guys staying over?"
"Ooooh a sleepover?" Cat asked, then giggled. "I like sleepovers."
"Then stay over," Alex said, shrugging. "I'm still going on a run. Do whatever you want."
"Yay!" Cat said, clapping her hands as Jade parked her moms car in it's usual spot in the driveway.
Alex left them to change into her running clothes and warn Grace that the others were coming over, then she left the house before they got there.
She ran faster than she usually would, wanting to give her muscles a good workout. The longer she ran the better she could think.
She really wanted to know what Beck had meant to say on Tuesday when she had cut him off. He had said it didn't matter, but he had looked so serious when they were in the janitors closet.
As she ran along her street and turned on to the jogging path that ran parallel to the highway, her mind turned to how upset she had been the last week. She felt emotionally worn out, which wasn't uncommon after she drank too much, but when Beck had walked out of the closet looking so angry and she had been sure he was going to tell her their one night together was something that would never happen again, her heart had physically hurt. She had actually cried, something she tried not to do ever, especially at school. Maybe it was just because she had been so tired that day, and hungover, but somehow she didn't think so.
She pushed herself harder, continuing up the freeway. It was really hard to admit, even if it was just to herself in her head, but her feelings for Beck were long past a crush now. She loved him. She had always loved him in some way, as a friend, a best friend, but this was different.
The thought of him made her feel lighter, his smile made her stomach flip over, and the relief she had felt when he had said that he wasn't mad at her was like a physical weight being lifted off her shoulders. Something as simple as making eye contact with him for a few moments had made her heart beat faster. The way he said her name made her feel short of breath.
The idea of not being with him made her want to curl up in a ball on her bed and never get out of it.
She turned onto another road subconsciously, following the route she drove to school every morning. As she was running past the school parking lot she spotted Beck's car turning in to it from the other direction, and she stopped, walking slowly into the shadows at the end of the parking lot. Tori and Beck both climbed out of the car.
"Thanks for driving me here," Tori said, shutting her door as Alex crept further into the lot. "I can't believe I forgot my backpack. Do you think the doors are unlocked?"
"Maybe," Beck said, walking up to tug on one of them. They didn't open. "Well, Sikowitz's windows are always unlocked."
"Good idea," Tori said, starting around the side of the building. Alex waited till they rounded the corner, then crept silently into the courtyard where they ate lunch, following them across it to their improv classroom windows. Tori climbed inside it, then Beck did. Alex waited for them to leave, not sure she would be able to follow them inside the school, there were too many safety lights in the halls to blend into the shadows. After a few moments, she heard them coming back and she darted into the courtyard, then halfway up the spiral stairs so that she was well hidden.
"You won't tell her will you?" Beck was saying, walking beside Tori who now had her backpack slung over her shoulder.
"Of course not," Tori said, shaking her head. "But you should. She definitely likes you."
"I don't think so," Beck said, shrugging.
"Trust me, she does," Tori said, chuckling.
"What do you know?" Beck asked, catching on to something. "Come on, spill Vega."
"Oh no," Tori said, laughing. "I'm not getting into the middle of this."
"You suck," he said, laughing too.
Alex waited until they were out of hearing range, then stood, feeling her heart sinking again. Beck liked someone. Someone Tori knew well enough to know that she liked him back. Tori talked to a lot of people in the school though, so it was hard to narrow down who she might be talking about now.
"Is someone there?" Someone called, and Alex nearly fell down the stairs in shock. She climbed the rest of the way up to the platform, ignoring the pressure in her chest that hadn't been there a moment ago.
"Andre?" She asked, spotting the boy who was wearing some sort of crazy giant green, pear shaped costume. "Robbie?"
"Oh thank god!" Andre cried, waving his arms through the holes in the pear designated for that. "I thought we were going to die up here. Alone. Dressed like fruits."
"What the hell?" Alex asked, walking over to them.
"We fell over and couldn't get up," Robbie explained, wriggling around to show her that he was really stuck.
"So you need help up?" Alex asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"Yes please," he said, holding a hand out for her to lift him.
"Did you hear any of that conversation?" She asked, hoping to blackmail them into silence about her presence there.
"What conversation?" Andre cried, waving his arms around. "Get us up, woman."
"Okay," Alex said, reaching a hand out to grab his arm, then dropping it, making him fall back to the floor. "One condition."
"Anything!" They both shouted, and she chuckled evilly.
"Don't mention I was here at this time," she said. "Don't tell anyone you saw me tonight."
"We won't!" Robbie said. "I swear it!"
"I swear too!" Andre said. "Now please get us up!"
She sighed, then helped them back to their feet and watched them hurry to try to shed their pear shaped outer layers. Soon they were standing in all black, skin tight suits.
"So, what are you doing here?" Andre asked after dusting himself off.
"I was running," Alex said, gesturing to her outfit and rolling her eyes. "And I stopped by to get something I left in my locker, then I thought I heard something so I came up here."
"Running?" He asked, looking her over. "Damn girl, we must be at least ten miles from your house."
"Yeah, so?" She said, crossing her arms, then she frowned. "Wait, how do you know where I live?"
"We know where Jade lives," Robbie said, shrugging as he hopped from foot to foot. "And you live right by her, she said."
"What's wrong with you?" Alex asked, watching him jump around.
"I really need to pee," he said, his voice high.
"Then go, idiot," she said, pointing to the stairs. "Sikowitz's windows aren't locked." They both thanked her, then quickly ran off. She shook her head, kicking aside the pear costumes to walk down the staircase and begin her run back to her house.
When she got back the others were all asleep on the couch, which she thought was a miracle seeing as how the horror movie they had been watching was on a looping title screen where the main girl was screaming and getting chased by something in the woods. Alex flipped the TV off, then went up the stairs to her own room.