The Party I
Instead on the next day, the party happened the next Friday. Despite Jade's protests that it was stupid to blow half of they paychecks throwing party for people she barely tolerated, Tori prevailed and instead of a small celebration for the six friends her place they threw a big party for probably half of their year at Nozu. Despite the fact that they were organizing the party all three of them seemed to have come without a date. A fact he pointed out to Jade when they ran into each other at the bar.
"There are no decent single guys left in Hollywood Arts. At least not brave enough ask me out." Jade replied with a shrug. She looked very good in a black dress and black tights that showed off her figure especially well.
"More like desperate enough." For the life of him he couldn't say what exactly made him say this.
"I don't see your date either." Her acerbic reply came without any delay. Before they could continue down the well-worn-out path of one of their arguments Tori showed up to get a drink.
"Do you two have to argue every time you are together?" Beck could feel the barely restrained annoyance in her voice.
"I don't see your date, Vega." Within a blink of an eye, Jade switched targets.
"I came with André." Tori's answer sounded somewhat defensively. "We came as friends." She continued after seeing Jade's questioning look. Beck choose to ignore the feeling of displeasure and then relieve brought by Tori's last two sentences. "I didn't have time to find a date because someone left me to organize the party by myself." She emphasized this with a pointed look at Jade.
"I don't organize parties." Jade replied as if that was self-evident and anyone with a brain should have known it. "I did my job by giving you my share of the money." She added as the only hint of apology or explanation and walked away.
"What is it with you two?" She turned to Beck. "Why does she have to be so contentious?" He felt embarrassed and couldn't meet her eyes.
"Truth to be told this time I provoked her." He admitted reluctantly.
"Why?" Tori looked at him with surprise.
"I don't know. For some reason every time I and she end up close I become irritable and argumentative. It's like I can't help it." Beck judiciously didn't mention the odd rush he felt when arguing with Jade, or the lingering frustration afterwards.
"Strange, I thought that you two would've settled down after the brake up." To his surprise Beck could definitely feel a hint of disappointment in her voice. Before he could process this observation his attention was caught by something across the room. Some guy was chatting up Jade.
"I thought so too." It was why he had broken up with Jade after all. He snuck another peek at Jade and the guy. This time she caught him staring and her eyes got that all too familiar malicious glint. She smiled to the guy she was talking to, took him by the hand and they both headed to the dance floor.
"It's like bickering with each other is a habit for you two." Tori's words brought his attention back to her. There was something true in them, but he didn't want to deal with the complicated mess that was his relationship with Jade. He didn't want to do it now and he didn't want to do it with Tori.
"This is turning into a way too serious conversation for a party." Beck told her lightheartedly, reinforcing it with one of his most charming smiles. She didn't seem to buy it, but was willing to let it go for now. "Let's dance instead." He extended a hand in invitation. After a second of hesitation Tori slipped her hand in his and they moved to the group of dancing teens.
On the way over he saw Rex flirting shamelessly with two girls at the same time, while Robbie looked forlornly at Cat, who was giggling flirtatiously at the jokes of some very interested boy. It wasn't a nice thing to think, bur knowing that someone else's love life was more screwed up than his was kind of comforting. When they got to the dance floor, Beck nodded to André who was already there with some cute girl who he remembered seeing in singing class. Tori and he began moving in synch with the fast beats of the music. The remnant of the bad irritation he was feeling since his encounter with Jade dissipated quickly while he was watching Tori dance before him. It was hard to be in any kind of bad mood with such a lovely site. Her lithe body swayed and twisted in time with the rhythm. Again Beck was struck by how effortlessly beautiful his friend was. Tori was dressed in tight black jeans and loose purple sparkling top. Her face, now pleasantly flushed by the exertion, had almost no make-up, as far as he could see. Sometimes, when struck by these observations he had wondered what it would be like to date Tori. Usually he had quickly dismissed these thoughts before, but now he allowed them to linger. On the face of it Tori was kind, smart, friendly, talented and of course devastatingly gorgeous – a dream girlfriend. And yet she was remarkably unlucky when it came to romance. Before he could continue that line of thought the fast dance beat was replaced by a slow song.
After a short, uncomfortable pause Beck slipped his hands around Tori. The two proceeded slowly to spin with the melody. He could feel her body gradually relaxing in his embrace. Beck had never slow-danced with her before. It felt very good. His enjoyment of this unexpectedly intimate moment was interrupted when he saw Jade who was still dancing with the same guy only a few feet away. She was dancing much closer to her partner than he was to Tori. Their bodies were touching. Jade saw him looking and slowly slipped her partner's hands down her waist until they rested only millimeters away from her ass. Beck could feel irritation and even anger welling up in him. His shoulders tensed up. Tori, whose hands rested on them, looked at him inquiringly. He smiled at her reassuringly, tried to shake off the unwelcomed negative feelings and return to enjoying his moment with Tori. As much as he wanted to he couldn't do it. He just couldn't quite get the site of the guy's hands so close to his ex's ass out of his mind. For a second he thought about pulling the same trick on Jade, but he knew he could never use Tori like that. After the song ended Tori was called away by frantically gesticulating Cat and he moved to the bar to get a drink. There he was joined by André and Robbie.
