Chapter 7- Jealousy, a Threat, and Punch

Circling the parking lot to find a spot, Beck's eyes caught sight of Danny's car and he found himself staring at it. Next to his car was a vacant spot; one of the only few left in the rapidly filling Hollywood Arts parking lot. He slowed down and angled his car in to park there. He inwardly sighed with relief when he saw that Danny and Tori were already inside. Either way, he knew he would see them sooner or later that night. The school was not that huge. Meanwhile, Trina's eyes lit up at the sight of the bright lights of the celebration occurring where they usually had lunch. She was already bobbing along to the beat of the music playing outside. She barely waited for her date to turn off the car before tugging on his arm to hurry up.

"Coming, coming," he assured her.

They both got out and walked across the parking lot into the kickback. A majority of the students had already arrived, and were standing in groups and socializing. The ones that were not talking in these groups were dancing with their dates or checking out the snack and drink table. Upon entering, Beck saw Jade and Andre standing together next to the wall. It would seem like they were dates, but in reality they were just two single friends that met up at the party, so it was not awkward to walk over and join them.

"Hey Beck," Andre greeted. A little less enthusiastically, he added, "Hey, Trina."

"Yeah, hi," Jade remarked. She glanced at Trina and scowled, but Trina was too distracted to notice.

"Remember those weird sausages Sikowitz was giving to us last year?" Andre asked. "Well, this year he upgraded to burgers. I'm afraid to try one."

"I really don't blame you," Beck agreed. "But how bad can they be?"

"Ha, probably not as bad as a microwaved turkey," joked Andre, causing him and Beck to smirk.

"Never speak of it," Trina cut in. She smiled. "Well, that was before things became different."

She relished in the moment by clinging on to his bicep like a leech. He looked at the ground in slight embarrassment and let them continue on with their conversation. They talked about funny posts on The Slap, rumors about other students, and about things going on in their lives for a while, and it was quite enjoyable. What Beck wasn't aware of was how he was scanning the area for Tori and or Danny the whole time out of the corner of his eye. They were still nowhere to be found. If they were off somewhere alone…What would they be doing? He was so desperate to know, but yet he didn't just in case of what he might see, which then led to him wanting to find out again.

"I'm going to go get a drink real fast," he excused himself. "Anyone else want anything?"

"Get me lemonade," Trina requested.

"And get me a…"

He rushed off before he could hear what Jade wanted, but dating for over two years allowed him to know that she would want an ice water with a lemon wedge. He started in the direction of the snack table, then veered off into the crowd. He hastily scanned every individual person for Tori. She did not seem to be here.

The school building was open, but students were supposed to stay outside. Beck knew he was beyond jealous when he went inside in pursuit of Tori. His gait changed drastically when he saw Danny standing by the rail of the staircase. He was by himself. When he saw Beck, he put his phone in his pocket and walked down to the bottom stair to meet him.

"I had a feeling you would be here," Danny said.

Beck ignored his comment. "Um…where is Tori?"

"She is in the bathroom," he answered. There was nothing friendly about Danny's usually elated voice. "But you can't talk to her. You will have to answer to me instead."

"And why is that? I can talk to Tori if I want to."

Danny strayed closer to Beck. The tension between them increased tenfold with every step he got closer. They were like two of the same magnet trying with all their might to repel away from each other. Danny stopped so there was just enough distance between them that they couldn't touch.

"I know you have feelings for Tori. I know you came out here looking for her, but I will tell you, you have done enough to hurt her feelings. She is mine for the night, and you need to stay out of her way. Got that?"

"You don't know enough about anything to be telling me what to do," Beck refused resentfully.

"I know you better not aggravate me."

Beck was definitely not the type of person that wanted to fight, but conceding to Danny was unthinkable. However, before it came to that, Tori walked out of the bathroom. Instantly both of them pretended there was nothing going on between them. Being so dishonest to Tori felt wrong, but then Beck remembered how she currently felt about him and what she did to get her message across.

"So, what's going on over here?" She approached suspiciously. Beck exhaled slowly and tried not to look at her. The blue dress! Why did she have to wear that lovely dress?

"Nothing," he lied. "I was just going."

"Yeah, it's nothing," Danny promised Tori.

The two of them stood together like a perfect team. Beck was outnumbered and outmatched, so he disgracefully fled the school out the doors. He had a huge headache. The kickback seemed like a dream since he was so absorbed in Danny's threat to him. How helpless that threat made him feel. What made him feel the most hopeless was that there was nothing in his power he could do to fix things with Tori. She ruined their relationship first and then he responded accordingly.

Beck slogged over to the table, grabbed the drinks, and then returned to his friends. He said something about how swamped the table was to prevent any questions about what took him so long.

"Lemonade is my favorite," Trina said, taking a sip. "How did you know?"

"Because you said you wanted it," he replied simply.

"And do you know what I want now?"

"Um, no?"

Please don't do anything spontaneous!

"I say we move to the beat. Let's dance."

He went with the flow by agreeing to dance with Trina. The two of them went out on the floor with the other people and started shuffling around. They matched move for move. He occasionally spun Trina around whenever the song called for it. It wasn't a bad time. Trina's excessive moving around made up for his lack of dancing skills. The music was good, too. Cat and Robbie moved to the dance floor as well, and he thought they were quite fitting together. If he looked further off into the distance, he could see Tori and Danny. He selfishly hoped the DJ would avoid the slow songs a while longer. As if by fate, the next song to come on began with a piano playing half notes. The slow song he had been dreading was here. Couples began to pair up, holding each other affectionately. He had to do the same to Trina, so he held her closely. She acted like she was the princess in a fairytale. She was so happy, yet he could only think about Tori. He tried to keep his glances at her a secret from Trina as to not ruin her night. Danny was holding her sides while she had her arms draped around his neck. That image burned anger into his brain. Even when he looked away he could still see them laced around each other.

Trina pulled back for a moment and said, "Beck? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I just need to grab another drink."

He returned to the drink table. He leaned over the punch bowl and stared at his reflection in the water for a while. He felt his normal calm cool return to him, grabbed some punch to convince Trina that was what he was doing, and whirled around to bring it back when he collided right into Tori! The punch left his cup and was all over the front of her dress in seconds. She gasped with horror after the incident.

"Oh gosh, Tori, I did not mean to…Um, want me to help clean it?"

She glared at him with pure annoyance. "No, not really."

Danny raced over to her. "What happened?"

"Beck annihilated my dress with artificial fruit drink," she snapped bitterly.

Beck winced at how blamefully she answered back. Danny glared at him in a "You are so dead for this" way.

"What is the matter with you?" Danny yelled at Beck.

"Nothing, it was just an accident," he swore. "I'm sorry, Tori."

She looked down at her dress. She experimentally touched the soaked part of her dress and pulled her hand away with disgust. Danny insisted he had a thick towel in his car that he could get for her, and he ran off to fetch his car. Tori watched him go. She sighed again and walked off.

Beck set down his empty glass and followed her. He could not keep this prolonging any longer. Seeing Tori's vulnerability after he ruined her dress made it clear to him that he had to apologize again. Not just for the dress, but for everything that had happened recently. He cared about her more than anything in the world, and he could not let a stupid fight ruin that. He could not let those magical feelings he felt the night of the Platinum Music Awards be nothing but memories.

"Tori, can you listen to me?" he called after her.

"Not really!" she snapped. "I gotta go shiver since your icy liquid seeped all the way through."

"I don't want to fight anymore, Tori," he sputtered. "It feels awful, and I miss being there for you. I miss being your friend."

She stopped. "Friends trust each other, and you didn't trust be when I told you the truth."

"What truth?"

"The truth about Danny and I dating. We were not. Trina posted that to get to you and you believed it…"

Beck wished someone would dump punch all over him for being so stupid. So Tori was telling the truth… Why did he ever doubt her? She never lied to him before, and all of it was a huge misunderstanding.

"I…am such an idiot," he sighed. "Can you forgive me?"

She took a moment to answer. Finally, she said, "This isn't worth ruining our friendship over, after all we have been through since knowing each other. I just want some time to be alone right now."

He stood there, then decided he could not let her slip away. He held her shoulders as if she would vanish if he didn't keep her there.

"You don't have to be alone anymore. Would it change your mind if I told you I loved you?"

The skin under her arms grew hot. He could feel her heart rate increasing to match his own.

"I don't know," she answered. "I just don't know."

She looked so gorgeous to him, even with the stained purple dress, the worried look, and while refusing him. Wasn't there anything more he could say to change her mind? He knew he was not strong with words, so he concluded by releasing his grip on Tori. When he did, she did not move away immediately. When she finally grasped that she was free, she backed away, turned around, and walked towards the parking lot.

He thought Tori turned her head slightly to look back at him, but he couldn't be sure he just imagined it.