This chapter has a flashback. It will be written in italics.
Here we go.
There are so many places I love to be. I love to be in an ice cream shop. I love to be in a movie theater. I love to be in bed. But most of all, I love being in bed with Tori. And it doesn't necessarily have to be in the way you'd think. I just love being near her… like I am now.
"How was your day at school?" Tori asks.
"I guess it was okay. I mean… nothing really happened." I say.
"You seemed a little off in Sikowitz's class."
"Did I?"
"Yeah, are you sure there's nothing wrong? We're best friends, remember? We can tell each other anything." She squeezes me.
"Yes, I know this, Tori. I was just thinking." I said.
"What were you thinking about? You seemed really… like, out in space."
I don't think I'm ready to tell her what I was thinking about: asking her out. In due time… but not now. I'm just scared to tell her how I feel. I'm scared how she'll react. I'm scared of how it's going to affect us. I know she likes me and I feel like she'll be happy, but I really don't know.
"Um… I was uh, just thinking about Nona. Thinking about the will and stuff. I'm going to have to deal with my parents when we go over it. I'm really dreading it. That was probably what you were seeing." I explain.
"Ah, I see." She says.
"How was your day? You know, mine was actually really good. I was in my French class and Mr. Truax made himself some coffee. Then he took a drink of it and spilled it all over himself. He said it burned. It was so hilarious." She laughs.
"You found that funny?" She nods. "You've been hanging around Jade too much." I laugh, too.
"What can I say, you know? I have a mean side."
"And I really don't understand why you take French." I say.
"Because… I can already speak Spanish." She says.
"Say I forgot to clean my room." I say, challenging her.
"Umm… puedo ir al baño por mí mismo." She says.
"No… just… no. That means 'I can go to the bathroom all by myself.'."
"How do you know?" She asks, defensively.
"I speak Spanish fluently."
"No you don't. You're taking Latin."
"Tus labios ... Quiero besarlos. Yo quiero estar con usted durante mucho tiempo. Believe me now?" I ask.
"What did you say? That was beautiful."
"I said that you're my best friend. I hope we stay in contact for a long time." I smile.
What I really said was, "your lips… I want to kiss them. I want to be with you for a long time." Little does she know.
"Oh. Well someday, why don't you teach me how to speak Spanish?" She grins.
"I may." I snuggle into her, trying to make myself more comfortable. I'm kinda having a hard time with seeing how this… cuddling like this still means we're friends. We've never been this close. I believe the time to tell her how I feel is dawning.
Suddenly, my phone rings. Remember when I dropped my phone over the weekend I was sick? Well… I have a flip phone now. It's awful. I hate texting on it. I hate it so much. I answer it.
"Cat, everyone is coming over to play poker." Jade's voice is one I can't mistake.
"Hey, Jadey. You realize it's like ten o'clock, right?" I ask.
"Maybe you should ask me is a different voice. Maybe impersonate Yoda… then ask me." She says. Why not? I have a good Yoda impersonation.
I clear my throat. "Hey, Jadey." Queue Yoda voice. "You realize ten o'clock, it is, right?"
"Eh, I care a little bit more. Not a whole lot, but I care. Don't tell anyone. Gotta keep up appearances. And yes, Cat, I realize it's ten o'clock. But Andre drove us all the way to the store and we bought a bunch of Reese's Pieces to play with."
"But, Jade, Tori and I are tired." I whine.
"Do you think I care about how Tori feels? I mean, I know you do, being all lovey dovey on her all the time, but do I?" She asks.
Wait… did she just say what I think she said? I think she did. How the hell does she know? What did Trina tell her?
"No, you don't." I say, shakily.
"And don't you forget it. Look Cat, we'll be there in about thirty minutes, so if you're in bed with your girlfriend, I suggest you get up." Then the line went dead. So bye, see you in a minute, nothing. But I'm very scared as to how she knows about my feelings towards Tori.
"What did Jade want?" I jump as the sound of her voice. She laughs. "Feeling jumpy?"
"Maybe a little. I'm just a little sleepy, that's all." I play it off. "That was just Jade saying that she and the rest of the group was coming over to play poker."
"Oh, man!" She says, disappointed. "Why didn't you say no?"
"Who tells Jade no?" I ask.
"Me."
"Okay… let me rephrase. Who tells Jade no and doesn't get the shit- crap smacked out of them?" Whoops… a mean word slipped out.
"Did I just hear you say a bad word?" She asks with a devious smile.
"You didn't hear nothing." I say, sternly.
"I think I did."
"You didn't hear shit. Shit, somebody stop me!" By this time, Tori cracking up. It's not funny, though.
"Where is all that coming from?" She's laughing hysterically. "I've never known you to say things like that… repeatedly, anyway."
"It doesn't happen very often. I just go through those little things every now and then. Just so happens that you haven't been around to hear them." I say. "Could we just get back to what we were talking about, please?"
"What were we talking about, again?" She asks.
"I asked if you knew of anyone who has told Jade no and not gotten the crap beaten out of them."
"Oh, well… me. I know she plays with me mentally but she's never really beaten me. She's kicked me multiple times but she's never gone full force. I actually still think I have that boot print on my kidney." She laughs.
"She's violent, but I think we all love her. And you know… I think she loves us, too." I say.
"I wouldn't say that. I think she hates me. She may love you guys, but I know she hates me."
"Well… even if she does, you're going to have to deal with her for the night. There's going to be a big poker game tonight. Jade said she already bought the candy and that they'd all be here soon. So we'd better get up, wouldn't you say?" I ask.
"I would say." She smiles.
We step out of bed and she walks into her bathroom. Taking the hint that it was time to leave so she could change, I exit her bedroom and enter the guest room. I guess I could just start calling it my room. It basically is. This is my home now, so this will be my room from now on.
I go into my bathroom and start running the water in the bath tub. I need to wash my hair really, really bad. It's starting to lose its red shiny color. It's more of a dull red right now. It needs to be bright and I need to look my best for the poker game. I need to remember to not skip over three when I'm counting.
I strip of my tank top and throw it on the floor, leaving me only in a bra and my pajama bottoms. I get down onto my knees and run my hair under the faucet. Then I grab my shampoo and conditioner mix that Beck recommended to me and pour some on my hands, rubbing it thoroughly into my hair.
Once my hair has been lathered completely, I put my head back under the faucet, rinsing out all of the suds. Trying not to make a mess by dripping water everywhere, I reach behind me and get a towel to wrap my head with.
With my hair drying, I exit the bathroom and enter my closet to pick out my outfit. Yes, the closet is a bit small. Although it's still a walk in closet, it's still smaller than the one I had at my old home. It'll do, though.
Like my old closet, I had a special place for everything. My high heels went in the corner. My high heel boots went in the other corner. My flats went beside my high heels, and my tennis shoes went beside by high heel boots. My sweaters when by my summer dresses and my skinny jeans went beside them. My t-shirts went beside the skinny jeans and my Nike work out gear went beside the t-shirts.
I picked one of my sweaters: the one with the big giant cupcake on it. It's one of my baggier ones. With it, I chose to wear some skinny jeans with a pair of red flats for my shoes. I thought it looked good together. I hope I can look as good as Tori, though. Who am I kidding? It's not possible.
Now that my outfit is picked out, I figure it's time to dry my hair. I re-enter the bathroom and take the towel off my head. I turn on the hair dryer and start running a brush through my hair as it gets dryer. I hate fixing my hair, but when it's done, it's well worth it. I finish by putting subtle curls in, as well as a bow.
I put on my outfit and look in the mirror. Tori likes this? I'm really surprised. There's nothing special here. I shrug and exit my room. Entering Tori's room, I hear a loud banging noise coming from the bathroom. It sounds like she fell.
I run into her bathroom and see her lying on the ground naked. I'm not going to horndog here just because I'm seeing her nude. She actually needs help.
"Oh, god, Cat. What are you doing in here?! I'm naked!" She yells.
"I don't care! I heard you fall and I'm not going to say, 'oh, you're naked and I don't want to see your boobs, so I can't help you'. Here's a towel." I throw a towel to her from under the sink and she quickly wraps it around her.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
"Yeah, I just slipped on some water. My stupid hair was really dripping. Thanks for helping me." She smiles.
"No problem. And don't worry… I wasn't ogling you or anything." I joke, although, I wasn't completely opposed to seeing her like that. Cat, Cat… don't horndog.
"I would assume you weren't." She laughs. "I'm almost ready. I know what I'm going to wear, so why don't you let me finish drying of and get dressed?"
"Okay, sounds like a plan. I'll see you in a minute, Tori." I smile and exit the room.
I run downstairs, still feeling flustered from what I saw in the bathroom. I reach the bottom of the stair case and see Tori's parents near the door. They're carrying some luggage.
"Going somewhere?" I ask.
"Yes, Cat, we're going to Panama City Beach in Florida. We won't be back for a week or so. Will you and Tori be okay here by yourselves?" Mrs. Vega asks.
"Of course. Have you told Tori about this?" I ask.
"Nope." Mr. Vega says. Simple enough.
"Would you mind telling her for us? We'd really appreciate it." Mrs. Vega says, smiling.
"No problem, you guys. Have fun on your trip." They wave to me and then they're gone.
I run back upstairs to Tori's room where she is sitting on her bed, fully clothed and hair dried, playing on her phone.
"Oh, hey." She says, looking up from the screen.
"Hey, um… your parents are gone." I say.
"Where did they go?"
"Panama City Beach. They told me to run that by you."
"Oh, okay." She says, calmly. I'd flip out if my parents went on a vacation like that without me.
"Did you know?" I ask.
"No."
"And you're not upset they didn't tell you… why?"
"Because they leave without telling me where they're going all the time. I usually have to call to see where they are because they never tell me. I'm used to it. Don't worry about it." She says.
"Okay, I guess." I shrug.
"Andre just texted me and said that they were on my street, so they should be here any minute." She says, standing up and walking out of the room. I follow her.
The door bell rings and that tells us know that they're here. Tori opens the door and lets them all in. Andre is carrying three big things of candy while Jade carries two cases of beer and a bottle of vodka.
"WOOHOO! We're gonna party!" She screams.
"But Jade, we're only seventeen." Tori protests.
"So? Who's here to stop us from drinking?" Jade asks, eyebrow arched.
"No one, but we're underage!"
"Since when does she have any respect for rules?" Andre asks.
"He's got a point." Beck adds.
"You know you're going to have one." Jade smirks.
"Fine. Give me a beer." Tori says. Jade throws me one and I quickly open it and take a drink. Although it doesn't taste good… at all, I continue drinking.
Beck, Andre, and Robbie get the poker table set up, get six chairs up to the table and everyone sits down. Tori and I divide up all the candy evenly and Jade puts the case of beer on the island in the center of the kitchen.
"Who wants to deal first?" Beck asks, taking a drink of his beer.
"I'll go." Andre says. Jade passes him the deck of cards and he names his game. "Seven card straight, everyone."
"So did anyone ever tell you guys about who Cat got to appear at her Nona's funeral?" Tori asks the group. They all shake their heads no. "Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr." Everyone gasps.
"Damn, Cat, you got some connections." Jade says.
"Cat, why didn't you let me know they were going to be there?! I do an awesome cover of 'Come Together'. I could've played it for them." Andre says.
"I'm sorry. I was just a little more focused on the death of my grandmother than on your stupid Beatles cover." I snap. He shifts in his seat. I was a little rude. "I'm sorry. That came out wrong. I just wasn't thinking about anything else but Nona."
"I get it Cat. It's okay." He says.
"Why did you have them come to her funeral?" Robbie asks.
"Nona and a friend met them in the sixties." I answer.
"How did you contact them?" Beck asks.
"I actually reached Paul McCartney through Sikowitz."
"Would you mind telling the story?" Jade asks.
"Sure."
I walked into the front entrance of Hollywood Arts on the Tuesday before the funeral, trying my best to maintain a positive attitude about life. Although I was struggling, I managed to put a smile on my face and think about happy thoughts.
I approached my gum covered locker and took out my Geometry textbook, ready for Coach Rivas's class. Although I hate Geometry, Coach Rivas makes it a little bit easier.
On my way to Coach Rivas's room, Sikowitz runs by me. I continue walking and soon enough, the wacky man was right beside me taking multiple sips from his coconut.
"Hello, my little redheaded pupil." He greets me.
"Hi!" I say.
"You seem off today, Cat. May I ask is there's anything wrong?"
"Oh… it's nothing. My Nona just died the other day. I'm just still really upset. The funeral is on Thursday."
"Oh yes. Was that the one with all the stories?" I nod. "She was an odd one. But she seemed nice enough."
"Yeah… her last story was about when her and a friend met Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr backstage after a Beatles concert." I say.
"It's funny, actually. I ran into Paul McCartney on Sunday." He laughs.
"Are you serious?! How?"
"Well, when I talked to him, he told me he was on a coconut milk kick. That certainly peaked my interest in him. I knew he was a Beatle and I knew he was famous, but I didn't care about that at the time. I was thinking about that coconut he was holding." He says.
"Wow. That sounds like it was quite the experience. Meeting Paul McCartney… I just wish Nona had the opportunity to meet him again before she passed away." I frown.
Sikowitz puts his finger to his chin as if he's thinking about something. He looks me directly in the eye and then turns his back to me. He's weird sometimes. He turns again to face me.
"Cat, I may be able to get you into contact with Paul McCartney. Would you like him to come to her funeral?" He asks. What a silly question.
"Sikowitz! Would you do that for me? Would you get Paul McCartney to do that for me?! It would mean so much!" I yell. I hug his neck.
"And if you're lucky, he may get good old Ringo to come with him. You just never know." He takes out his flip phone and looks through his contact list. "Ah, here it is." I take out my pink Pear Phone and create a new contact.
"Okay, go ahead." I say. He begins giving me the number.
"848-631-0099." He closes his phone and puts it in his pocket.
"Sikowitz, thank you so much. This would mean so much to my Nona. You have no idea how much this is appreciated." I smile and hug him again.
"It's no problem, Cat. I'd do anything for you kids. You all are so very special, so very talented. It's the least I could do to repay you for your efforts in my class." He says, hugging me back.
"I just feel like I can't thank you enough for giving me this number."
"No need to thank me. Go call him and try to make Thursday as easy as possible for yourself. Do you promise?" He asks.
"I promise, Sikowitz." I smile.
"Now go." He says, pushing me towards Coach Rivas's room. "Go and learn something."
"Okay, I will. Thanks again, Sikowitz!"
He waves to me and goes on about his business. School would be a much better place if the teachers were more like him.
Everyone was glued in on what I was saying. It wasn't that interesting of a story. It was just a conversation with Sikowitz.
"So that's how I got in touch with Paul McCartney." I say.
"And how'd that conversation go?" Tori asks.
"He was at Nona's funeral, wasn't he?" She nods.
Now that story time was over, I suggested that we continue on with poker. I take a drink of beer, although it tastes awful.
"What do you guys say we spice the poker game up?" Jade asks.
"Could you elaborate on that?" Andre asks.
"I don't know." Jade was getting drunk. "Maybe we could play some strip poker or something. What do you think, Beck?" She asks.
"It's up to the rest of the group, I suppose. I don't mind losing a few layers." He answers.
Although I feel self-conscious about my body, I nod my head and agree to play. The reason I feel that way is because all my old boyfriends used to say "You have itty-bitty tits" and "you've got a flat ass". And maybe that's true, but all I know is that I'm attracting someone who is much more beautiful than any girl they'll ever date… her name is Tori.
Andre deals. I take a look at my cards and I feel pretty confident about my hand. So I bet four blues and two reds. All but two people drop fold. The two people left are me and Jade.
"What do you have, Jade?" I smirk. "Do I sense a layer being removed?" I laugh.
"I don't know. But I have two pairs; eights over sixes. What do you have?" She asks.
"Three of a kind." I laugh.
"Control yourselves, boys." Jade jokes, pulling her shirt off. Andre and Robbie's eyes go wide, but Beck seems unfazed.
"I don't have to control myself, do I?" Beck asks.
"For a little while." She answers.
Tori wins the next few hands… and of course… she wants me to remove something. So… I do her a favor and take off my sweater. The pink polka dot bra is revealed. She blushes slightly, but she seems okay. I am. I'm fine right now. I'm being very calm about this. It's not a big deal. She's seen me in my bra before.
As the game progresses, everyone is basically stripped down to nothing. I'm in my underwear, Tori is as well. Jade is missing her bra, Beck is in his boxers, and Robbie and Andre are minus shirts.
"It's down to you and Tori, Cat. What do you have? Can you beat her?" Jade asks, slurring her words.
I lay my cards down on the table and show her my full house. Her face goes white. She's about to lose her bra. And she knows it.
"You got me." She says, void of any emotion except nervousness.
"Take 'em out, Vega!" Jade yells.
Tori sits still for a minute. She doesn't seem to even take a breath. But she soon stands up, turns around and says, "I'm sorry. I can't do this." She runs upstairs and I hear her door shut.
"Wonder what her problem is." Andre says.
"Who knows?" Beck takes a drink of beer.
I stand up and head for the stairs. "I'll see what's up."
"Tell her she owes us a strip show!" Jade yells as I climb the stairs. I roll my eyes.
I knock on the door of Tori's room and I slowly enter. She's in her bathroom. I peak inside and see her sitting on the edge of her bathtub, still in her underwear. I sit beside her.
"What's all this about Tori? What's wrong?" I ask.
"You wouldn't understand, Cat." She stands up and looks in the mirror.
"Humor me." I say.
She exhales loudly. "Have you ever, like… wanted something so badly that you'd do anything to get it. Dumb question… of course you have. But let me ask this: have you ever realized that you'll never be able to get something but you keep trying your hardest to get it even though you know it's not doing any good?"
"Yeah… I'm sure that's happened to me."
"Well that's basically what I'm going through right now. I just… I want this person… but I don't think I'll ever get them because they'll never like me back. It's impossible."
I guess that person is me.
"And it hurts… it hurts to see them with somebody else besides me. It makes me feel like no matter what happens, I'll never even be considered as a possible girlfriend. And if I do risk it and tell this person, it could affect our friendship for forever. And I don't want to ruin anything."
"Why don't you tell me who this person is?" This is it. We're so close.
"See, I just can't do that, Cat." She says, shaking her head.
"And why is that?" I know good and well why.
"Because… because… I don't know. You know this person and I don't want anything to slip out. You know how you are with secrets. I just… it's not that I don't want to tell you, it's that I can't. Because by the end of the day on Monday, everyone in the school will know how I feel."
"I can understand that. But Tori… I'm your best friend." I say.
"And that's the biggest reason why I can't tell you." She wipes her eye. She's crying. This must be eating her alive.
"That should be the biggest reason why you should tell me." I touch her hand and she pulls it away.
"Cat… I…"
"Tori, you can tell me. I won't judge you, shut you out, be mad at you, or anything. Just say it."
"It's… you." She's looking directly in my eyes.
And there it is. This is something I've been waiting for her to say for two weeks. Just wait until she finds out I like her back. I want to see the look on her face.
"I know." I say.
"Wait, you know? How did you know?" She asks.
"I heard Trina say you had a crush on Red. So that kinda… let me know." I snicker.
She nods.
"But hey…" I say.
"Yeah?" She thinks our friendship is over. But honestly, it's barely begun.
"I feel the same way." It takes her a minute to put two and two together. She looks at me like I'm crazy.
"Are you serious?"
"As a heart attack." I smile.
We look each other in the eyes and soon enough, I feel her warm breath hit my lip. I look at her bottom lip, letting her know I want to kiss her. She leans further in and presses her soft, cushiony lips to mine. Her hand is grabbing the back of my head, pulling me closer to her.
"I can't believe it." She says as we pull apart for air.
"Well, believe it." She kisses me again and smiles. Bliss. Pure… bliss.
So?! They finally let their feelings out! Are you guys happy?! I hope you are. This chapter was fun to write. But it was very challenging as well. I hope you all liked it.
Now guys… since school comes first, I'm going to have to slow down my productivity when writing. I won't be able to spit out 2,500 words a night for a little while. I'm thinking I may try to update every Friday or Saturday, but that's about the only time I can do it.
But anyway… hope you all liked it… I'm out.
