Disclaimer: Do not own Victorious.

It turns out she doesn't like tacos. With intensity she can't describe to Beck. It's something about the synthetic tasting cheese joining the runny ground beef all gently held in by a slightly stale but still sort of crunchy taco shell that just makes her innards stir in a way she describes as "not fun." So she hands over her crumbled mess of tortilla to Beck, who eats it with a ferocity she can only resemble to a wild pack of hyenas feasting on the first kill of the night. It's rather alarming, and she asks Beck if he has eaten at all today, and he nonchalantly says he ate a burrito about an hour and a half before he came to the café. Cat watches him eat six tacos with rapt and unfaltering attention, and when he's done she cannot keep the look of sheer awe and horror off her face. Upon seeing said face, and the unwavering judgmental look in her eyes for the remainder of the time they spend together, Beck decides that his love for Chipotle does not have to be shared with his little and very vegetarian friend. Ever again.

But besides coming to the grave realization that Cat hates Mexican food, Beck spends the early hours of his day with her. He's engrossed in her airy laugh and finding any excuse to brush arms, legs, hands. He just wants to always touch her, and when he's picking at invisible things in her hair he decides to walk her home. They make it about twenty two feet outside.

"There is no way we're walking to your place, unless you happen to have another handle of vodka in your purse."

"No, but I have something better." She pulls out knit lilac gloves that have little smiling kittens with little ears and little whiskers on each fingertip. She hands them to him.

"I have officially lost all of my masculinity. I think I'm prettier than you with these on. This is really my color."

Cat gives him a confused look, shakes her head no then smiling says. "No, your color would be a deep dark blue. Something like that dress I made for you that one time…"

He laughs really hard but has no retort, and calls a cab. The drive to her apartment building is quiet. They get to her apartment building quickly, and before he can say anything she's already outside her door looking through her purse for what he assumes is her keys. He asks the taxi driver to wait until she's inside, and when she is, she hollers a goodbye and closes the door without looking back at him. He's driving off but he hears the faint and high pitched "we should do this again sometime!"

She half means it. He knows.


He calls her the next morning hoping she hasn't changed her number, and when he hears her groggy, "hellooooo?" he convinces her to come out to an un-Mexican lunch with him. She says she'll go, and she makes it very clear that it's only because she really needs her gloves back. Her brother had knitted them for her, and it was the first thing he had given her that he hadn't later eaten. He tries to not feel too smug when she doesn't just hang up on him after deciding what diner they're going to go, and then he unsuccessfully tries to suppress his inflated ego when he hears the hesitance in her voice when he needs to tell her to stop talking or they were going to end up catching lunch instead of breakfast.

Beck smiles as he hangs up the phone. He hums a happy tune while he's showering. Dances a little too. He sings loudly enough to wake his roommate as he makes his bed. He doesn't give two shits. He makes himself a coffee while whistling some Bob Marley. He has a skip to his step as he hurries down the stairs. Opens the door and smells the pure New York air. Beck helps an old lady cross the street. The old lady tells him to fuck off. He laughs and thinks the elderly of New York need to get laid. He opens the door to his destination, winks at the hostess, flips his hair and puts his smoldering eyes to work. The girl gives him a booth seat. He sits down and orders another coffee. "Black, no sugar. Thanks love."

And he waits.

He's thinking about where Cat could be, when he realizes he's about fifteen minutes early. Damn. Well, he's an idiot. He's about to ask for some toast when he feels his back pocket vibrate.

Jade's calling. Hmmm. It was officially the longest she hadn't communicated with him. Since he ever knew her. Three whole days.

"Jade."

"Beck."

"What're you doing?"

"About to get some breakfast with a friend. You'll never guess who."

"I hate guessing and I don't care enough."

"I know."

"Eh."

"Three."

"Three what?"

"Three whole days you haven't called me and a month since the last time we had sex."

"Rawrrr, someone woke up on the naughty side of the bed."

"No, just stating facts."

"Miss me?"

"Sort of. What's his name?"

"Who?"

"The new guy you must be fucking."

"You make me sound like a slut. But his name is Andre."

"Jade West. Does this Andre have anything to do with our dear friend from California?"

"What would you say if I said yes?"

"I'd be surprised that the both of you didn't tell me anything about liking each other."

"Well it's clearly more of a recent situation."

"You never cease to surprise me."

"Well someone's got to keep you on your toes."

"Someone is."

"Three days and you've already replaced me as your one female friend?"

"You've clearly replaced me."

"No one can replace you."

"Jadeeee…"

"Okay, okay. So whiny. So who's the new chick?"

And for some unexplained reason…

"Some girl I met at a café by my dorm. She's amazing."

"She better be if she's the second girl you've been interested since leaving the best thing that ever happened to you."

"Tori was barely a love interest. More of a desperate rebound on my part. Plus, her and that Danny kid always had that thing."

"Well I want to meet this girl."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you scare people."

"Whatever. Have to go. Talk in three days."

"Is this our new thing? Every three days?"

"Like I said, someone has to keep you on your new toes, so maybe not. I'm not going to let some new girl beat me."

"You're intolerable."

"Bye Beckett Patel."

"I hate you Jadelynn."

All of a sudden, he doesn't feel as transparent as his old high school locker.


Cat's never gotten ready this early in the morning. She had gotten a grand total of 45 minutes of sleep, and she was beginning to think that Beck was sabotaging her sleep schedule on purpose to coerce her into going to these little outings with him. Then again, it wasn't like she was shooing him away as of late. Part of her also wasn't complaining at having to see his pretty face all the time. Even as a friend. A very tall, dark and handsome friend. And during her shower breakdown she had desperately considered recruiting him to fix her. She laughed as she pictured Beck hot gluing the broken pieces of her glittery bedazzled heart. She decided to stop thinking. Hopping on one foot as she tried to put on a ballet slipper on the other, she rushed to the door, already a good five minutes late. She opened her door and rammed into a hard chest that housed a familiar scent of pine, and sturdy hands that kept her from falling backwards.

Her poor, broken, glittery heart.

The chest and hands were attached to non-other but Andre Harris.

A/N: Review, it makes me happy. Thank you to my lovely reviewers, you make my day errday.