When Worlds Collide
Disclaimer: I own nothing
A/N:
Chapter 9 (Heartbreaker)
"If you're intrigued by the Civil War, we have an extensive memorabilia collections down that hall." Tori pointed down a hallway, standing behind a cash register and smiling as a customer of the antique store thanked her and went on to check out the items.
In the corner of her eyes she saw Sinjin watching her, the look of pride in his eyes filled her with a sense of accomplishment she'd not felt for some time. "You've been doing well today, I'm impressed." He scratched his chin and smirked. "Who would have thought you'd have such a knack for customer service?"
"I'm just doing what I can. Thank you, Sinjin, for helping me out." She folded her arms and mustered a meek smile. "Even if Courtney might have twisted your arm." He laughed an waved his hand through the air.
"No arm twisting necessary, you had only to ask. Besides she said you were in need." Sinjin furrowed his brow and frowned. "I hope everything is okay. Courtney didn't tell me much, she said it wasn't her place to talk about." She appreciated Courtney's respect for the situation; it warmed her heart to see her friend hadn't changed too much.
"Yeah, Mom's looking for work." She swept her hair over her ear and sighed. "Dad's gone, Trina's gone. It's a mess right now."
"I'm sorry to hear that. If you need anything, let me know." He walked around the counter and moved to a wall where he straightened a portrait that had been hanging crooked. Tori latched her fingers together and bowed her head, her shoulders drooped and she closed her eyes. "Have you been in touch with your friends still?"
"My friends?" She ran her hand over her shoulder and bit her lip. There was no way to answer that question, especially since she'd been avoiding the topic of her friends out of respect for him and for Courtney. "I um…It's hard. I'm no longer anything like them-or well I was never really like them, I just-"
"You think they're going to care that you're not a part of the popular crowd?" His voice fell flat and his eyes filled with a disappointment that gutted her. "Are you still worried about being popular? Tori, being popular isn't that important."
"No, I mean what I'm into." She rubbed her arm and looked away. "They don't care about anything but acting, dancing and singing. They have to have that spotlight cast on them."
"What makes you say that?" Sinjin raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Have you taken the time to figure out their interests?"
"They've always pushed those things, it's all they've ever shown interest in."
"Maybe they did that because you showed interests in those activities? Rather than do things you didn't appear interested in, they did the things they felt a mutual connection was." She blinked twice, unsure how to take the suggestions. "I hope you do decide to talk to them, they're still your friends one way or another and you should take all the support you can get."
"I don't know what to say to them. Sinjin, do you know how long I've gone-"
"You need to learn to be comfortable being yourself, but you can figure out how to do that. It's hard enough to do it alone, even harder with what's going on at home…don't burn your bridges now because you're afraid." She winced and quickly grabbed a rag from under the counter to begin wiping the surface, hoping to distract herself. "You know what?"
"What?"
"I heard from someone that they left Hollywood Arts." Her eyes widened and she twisted her head to him. "Yeah, HA didn't have some of the things they were interested in." The rag squished between her fingers and she slowly approached Sinjin, curious and skeptical at the same time. "I'm really not sure why exactly, but I guess the dancing and singing wasn't enough for them."
She raised her hand under her chin and closed her eyebrows together. She was worried about her friends now, or at the very least curious where they transferred to. "I wonder why they gave up Hollywood Arts." Sinjin shrugged.
"You could ask them. You know, take an interest. I think Andre and Robbie stayed." She wasn't so sure about bringing it up to her friends; if they wanted to tell her about their transferring away from Hollywood Arts, then they would.
"Oh, you know…Ian still has your Gwent deck." Her heart skipped and she raised her eyebrows as a sly grin spread across his face. "Are you going to talk to the guy, let him know you're back? My sister may have said she wouldn't tell him herself, but she only has so much patience."
"I-I want to, but I'm afraid."
"That's what she said. She told me you wouldn't let her know why you're afraid to talk to him."
She stammered and turned from him. "I'm just not ready." Sinjin's face dropped and he shook his head slowly. There was an unreadable emotion in his eyes, and looking at him gave her a deep feeling of guilt. "Don't look at me like that."
"You really should talk to him. I won't push, but I will say it's important."
Elsewhere, the sound of a hard smacking into brown leather echoed into the air. "Strike two! Come on, man!" Beck struck the ground with his aluminum bat, pushing dust and dirt into the air as he withheld the urge to shout at Andre. Andre tossed the ball forward and pat his shoulder. "Don't let him get to you. He's lookin' like he's going in for the kill. You got this, man. You got this."
Beck rolled his shoulders twice, puffing himself up and cracking his neck from left to right. Standing on the mound in front of him was Ian, smirking as he held the baseball with a firm grip. "Got to swing better than that if you want to get on the team, Beck."
Behind Ian, standing at the second base plate was Robbie, crouched and grasping his knees firmly. "Do we have need for a catcher right now? I mean we're already fairly short on players." Beck moved the bat to his shoulder and turned sideways. "Well?"
"I'll bat next," Andre replied, "I suppose the batter could just run and grab it. I mean, this is all for fun and practice, right?" Beck nodded and glanced at Ian, who had a deathly serious expression on his face. He was glad when Ian invited them out to the park so he could get a few practice sessions in, but Ian seemed positively determined to make this as challenging as he could. Granted, that was necessary because a real game would be ten times worse. "Make it fly, Beck."
"Oh I will." Beck narrowed his eyes and twisted his hands on the bat's grip. Ian readied the ball and Beck focused on it. He slicked his tongue across his lips and waited as Ian pulled his hand back. "Okay…"
Ian threw the ball, making it a curve ball. Smoothly, Beck swung his bat down, meeting the ball with a loud crack and launching it into the air. Ian twisted around, whistling as the ball flew over the gated fence.
"It's a home run!" Beck tossed the bat down and ran for fist as Robbie rushed to third. "Keep going, man, keep going!" He laughed as the wind sailed through his hair and rippled his shirt. Ian moved his hands to his waist, nodding and chuckling as Beck struck the home plate.
"Not bad." Ian walked up to him and the group made their way to the benches nearby. "Honestly, I think you've got what it takes. Just have to be prepared for almost anything." Beck grabbed a water bottle from the bleachers and uncapped it.
"Thanks." He brought the bottle to his lips and looked towards his two best friends with a smile. Ian leaned back against a pole, crossed his arms and studied the three men closely.
"I've been wondering something." Beck hummed contemplatively and lowered the bottle with a sigh. "You and your girlfriend. How long have you been together? I won't lie and say I haven't heard stories from Sinjin."
"He talks about us?" Beck coughed on the water and quickly brushed off the thought. It shouldn't be a surprise, he knew enough about that. "But yeah, we've been together several years now. It was kind of on and off again a few times, but we're in it for sure now. Our friend has even had to help us out from time to time, odd as it was."
Ian snapped his fingers and uncurled his arm. "Forgive me, but is this the same friend that Sinjin says caused some sort of a rift between the two of you?" Beck frowned and glanced sideways. He had to wonder why Sinjin spoke so much about him to other people. He had to have his reason for it.
"Yeah. Tori." He breathed in sharp and looked away just as a flicker of emotion shot through Ian's eyes. "I um, I was a bit stupid before as well. There was even a time when Jade and I were broken up, I was kind of on the rebound and well…"
Ian's finger twitched and his brow started to furrow. "What happened?" Beck ran his hand through his hair and sighed as he slid it off his sweaty neck.
"Nothing. I knew better, but I started to kiss her once. I'm not sure what came over me, but she moved away-not wanting to hurt Jade like that." Ian's nostrils opened for a moment. The man swiped at a nearby water bottle and took a quick swig out of it. "There's nothing between me and her, at least not now. It's just friendship. Jade is everything to me."
"I had someone like that." Ian lowered the water bottle, his eyelids sinking halfway and his lips parting to allow a small breath of air out. "I'd do anything for her." Beck sat on the bench holding his water bottle between his knees and looking at Ian with interest and sorrow. "We never had an official relationship, but I think it was obvious we liked one another." Ian chuckled and shook his head. "I finally asked her out so we could finally be something more than friends."
"And?"
"She said yes." Ian took another swig of his drink. Robbie and Andre sat beside Beck, with Robbie leaning forward and perching his right hand firmly on his leg while Andre swayed back and crossed his arms. "But next thing I know, she's gone." Ian extended his hand, sweeping it through the air. "I had it all planned. We were going to go to this science exhibit, follow up with a trip to the LA zoo and then spend some time at the park. I was going to go all out, let her how exactly how I felt."
"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"
"She left." Ian shrugged and his eyes darkened as he looked upon the three men. "She made friends with other people and never looked back. I kept waiting for her to call. Courtney even, her best friend since childhood, never heard from her."
Beck cringed and the other two men looked away in pain. "I'm sorry to hear that." There had to be a reason for this girl to just drop everything. Ian didn't seem the type to fall for people that were shallow, so surely there was a reason for what she had done. "I'm sure she didn't mean anything hateful by it…this is the same girl you talked about when we met?"
"Yeah."
"The one that you said met some popular people and, oh-" He closed his eyes, realizing what had taken place. "I'm sure this girl didn't mean to cast aside everyone, she got caught up in an entirely different world."
"Maybe so." Ian's face tensed and his hands balled up. "But enough about her, let's continue practice. If you want to get on that team, you've got to play harder, but have fun as well."
"Okay." Beck capped his bottle and set it back on the bench. He rose up and stretched for a bit. "Let's pick up where we left off, then." He looked to Andre, smiling gently. "You're up, man."
Thoughts?
