"Bianca, you see your daddy?" Jade cooed, turning her daughter around so she could see Beck. "Say hi daddy!"
The three of them were currently in New York City. Beck was there doing an interview with Robin Roberts for Good Morning America, and Jade and Bianca tagged along.
Beck looked up from his seat, "Hi Bianca." He held out his arms and Bianca practically jumped out of her mother's arms and into her dad's. He kissed her forehead. "Hi."
"You really want to do this?" Jade asked. Beck was really going to go on national television to talk about this huge scandal. She thought it was the dumbest thing on earth.
"Yes, Jade he really is." Rayna said, joining Beck's side. She gave Jade a once over and smiled tightly.
Jade didn't bother returning the smile. She knew Rayna did not like her. She blamed her for this whole fucked up situation.
"I just think it's stupid."
Rayna rolled her eyes, "Well Jade, not everyone has the same blasé attitude as you. And besides, Beck has fans who look up to him and are owed an apology."
"Whatever." You couldn't have paid Jade to go on national television and do this. The only person who was owed an apology was Tori, and even apologizing to her was hard for Jade.
A stage manager with a headset and a clipboard walked up to the group and smiled at Beck. "You're on in 5."
"Thank you." Beck got out of his chair.
"I can walk you to the stage if you want to."
"That'd be great actually." He handed Bianca back to Jade. "See you guys later."
Beck followed the stage manager onto the set where there were two seats.
"You'll be sitting here. Robin should be here in a second."
"All right."
The stage manager walked away and Beck sat down. He was feeling a bit nervous. In a few moments, he'd be on national television talking about his infidelity and love child. He didn't even know what type of questions he was going to be asked so it's not like he could mentally prepare himself.
"Beck?" Beck looked up and saw Robin standing up in front of him.
"Hi." Beck stood up to formally greet the woman.
"Nice to meet you." Robin extended her hand. Beck gave it a firm shake.
"Likewise."
Robin sat down, "You ready for this?"
"I'm as ready as I'm going to be."
"Nervous?"
"A little bit."
Robin sat down. Beck followed. "Once you start talking, it gets a bit easier. It's like you forget the cameras are there."
"Let's hope that I forget soon."
The stage manager's loud voice could be heard around set, "And we're on in 3...2...1!" She pointed to Robin.
"And we're back! Here with me now is actor, Beck Oliver. Hi Beck."
"Hi Robin."
"Now recently you have been in the news and media a lot. You are involved in a cheating scandal with your ex-girlfriend, Jade, and as a result, you fathered a child."
"Yes, that is true."
"Now Jade is the other woman in this situation. She's your ex. Do you think there is a reason as to why you cheated with her? Because there are plenty of women out there."
Beck shrugged, "Robin, to be honest, I don't think I can give you an answer. Maybe it was kismet."
"Kismet? That's how you would describe it?"
"Yeah."
"You've gotten a lot of backlash for this. Is there anything you would like to say to the people."
"I can't sit here and try to excuse my behavior, or justify it. It'd be pointless to blame anyone but myself for this. What I did was wrong. It was stupid and selfish. I'm sorry if I hurt or upset anyone who was unfortunately a causality of this chaos. I did not have the intent to hurt anyone."
"Your daughter, Bianca, is one of those casualties, right?"
"Right. Things don't really get to me, or Jade. We have thick skin and we can defend ourselves against people. Bianca is a 7 month old baby. She can't defend herself to the adults out there that think it is okay to attack her. It's disgusting actually. Bianca is innocent. She did not ask to be born into this situation. Jade and I were the ones who screwed up, not her. So for the people who are mad, they should not be mad at Bianca."
"What compelled you to tell Tori about all of this?" Robin asked.
"I did not like the idea of Bianca being my dirty little secret. I didn't want to have to sneak out of my house just to see my daughter. I felt like I owed it to Tori to tell her and she deserved the truth."
"How did she take it?"
"Not well. Not well at all."
"And how did you react after you found out that Tori made all of this public?"
"I think I was mostly in shock. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. But I was also felt a bit overwhelmed. Jade and I knew what the repercussions were, but like I said earlier, Bianca is also taking a lot of heat and that hurt the most."
"Are you and Tori still together?"
"No."
"Have you talked to her recently?"
"It's been a few weeks since I've talked to Tori. She doesn't want to talk to me right now, which is understandable."
"Are you with Jade?"
Beck shook his head, "No. Right now we are just two people who are still learning how to be parents."
"How is it, being a dad?"
"Great." Beck's face lit up, "Bianca is the best baby ever. She's so calm and cool. She's funny. She loves to laugh and smile."
"How is Jade as a mother?"
"Jade is amazing." Beck said truthfully. "When she loves someone, she gives them 100 percent of everything she has in her and its like she has given Bianca even more than that. She loves Bianca more than anything in the world and she loves being her mother. I really admire her parenting." And it was the truth. Considering how cold and mean Jade was in their high school years, he never pictured her having children. She was the most loving person on earth when she was around Bianca. But she was still Jade. She could still go for the jugular and tear you to shreds if needed. "She's a mama bear."
Robin smiled, "Mama bears are the best."
"They are."
"How do you think I did on the interview?" Beck asked, taking Bianca out of her stroller and putting her on his lap. "Was I okay?"
The three of them were situated in Serendipity 3, a restaurant that Jade had been itching to go to ever since they stepped out of JFK airport.
Jade grabbed her frozen hot chocolate and scooped some of the whipped cream off the top with her spoon. She put it in her mouth and gave Beck a nod. "Relax, I think you did a good job."
"Really?"
"I mean, as well as someone who's involved in a scandal can do."
Beck chuckled, "There had to be a condition on the compliment?"
"Yeah. I can't just had out compliments all willy nilly."
Beck looked out of the window. New York City was so busy. People shopping, having lunch, kids with their nannies, people hailing cabs. The hustle and bustle seemed overwhelming. And that was saying something considering he lived in Los Angeles.
Beck turned back to Jade, "Do you miss it out here?"
"Yeah, I do. I think it's one of the best cities ever."
"But..."
"But I'm a California girl. Nothing beats L.A."
"Do you ever see yourself coming back here?"
"Actually, that's what I want to talk to you about." Jade said. "I'm renting out my condo."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'm going to be in Los Angeles. Permanently. I have all of my family out there." She shrugged. "And you and Bianca have gotten so close. I don't see any reason as to why she has to live on both sides of the country."
Beck couldn't help but smile, "This is the greatest news I've heard all day."
"Glad I could be the one to give it to you."
Beck pulled Bianca in closer to him, "Do you like the sound of that? You're going to be living in Los Angeles now." Bianca smiled. "She likes the idea."
"Good."
Beck grabbed a spoon and got some of the hot chocolate, "What's so great about this stuff anyway?"
"It's really good."
"I think you're exaggerating." Beck put the spoon in his mouth.
"Well?"
"Okay you were right. It's really good."
"I'm always right."
"You're so humble." Bianca reached up and tried to grab Beck's spoon. He moved it out of her reach. "Sorry. You can't have any of this. Mommy will kill me if I give you some."
Jade smiled, "And don't think for a second that I won't."
"Can you tell them that I'll have their song ready hopefully by Wednesday?" André asked his assistant, Nina as they walked into his studio.
"I can do that."
"I'll just have to lock myself in this studio was a coffee machine, my piano, and a notebook until its done."
"I think you can do it."
"Thanks Nina."
"You're welcome, Mr. Harris.
André opened the door to his studio and was surprised to see Tori sitting in there.
"Tori!" André exclaimed. "Hello."
"Hi." Tori greeted.
"I'll leave you two alone, Mr. Harris." Nina said, turning around and walking out.
André took a few tentative steps forward. "Hey you. You look...different."
Tori didn't have on any makeup. Her eyes were bloodshot, her clothes were wrinkled, and a cigarette was hanging loosely from her fingers. Tori rolled her eyes at the lame greeting. "Hey."
"I see you're smoking. When did that start?"
"Recently."
"You know, that's not really good for your image. Little girls and boys look up to you. And don't get me started on your health. You can get cancer or bronchitis. Did you know smoking can lead to wrinkles? I'll have-"
"Shut up!" Tori cut in. "Shut up and stop acting like you care about me."
André frowned, "What do you mean? Of course I care about you, Tor."
"You knew." Tori said.
"Excuse me?"
"You knew that Beck cheated on me. You knew that he was Bianca's father this entire time and you didn't say a word."
"Tori-"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Jade is my friend and she asked me not to tell anyone."
"So your friendship with her is more important than ours?"
"Tori, don't say that. You know that's not true."
"It is true! You let me make a fool out of myself for over a year. You let me stay in a relationship with Beck knowing that he had sex with Jade and that she was having his baby. You didn't think that I needed to know that?"
"I did."
"Well why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't my business to tell you. Last time I checked, I wasn't Beck or Jade. I can't go out dispensing information about their lives, Tori! And you think I like this?"
"Yes, I do. I think you enjoy being Jade's confidant."
"No, it's not fun. It's stressful. It's like I have a huge burden on my shoulders. It hurt not telling you and I begged Jade numerous times to come clean."
"It didn't hurt enough because you let about 15 months go by."
"Tori, I'm sorry. I never wanted you to get hurt."
"Are you in love with Jade?" Tori asked.
That question caught André off guard, "No, I'm not in love with her."
"Really? Because you jump through a lot of hoops for her."
"Tori she's my best friend."
"I thought that was me." Tori replied, softly. "If the roles were reversed, and I was in Jade's position, would you have told her?"
"I don't know."
"I think you would. You tell Jade everything." Tori stood up, "You and I used to do everything together. We were two peas in a pod. I don't know what happened. Maybe you feel a strong sense of loyalty to Jade because you've known her longer. Or because at one point at time, you had feelings for her. It just sucks to know that our friendship didn't mean that much to you."
"Tori, that's not what I'm saying."
"I should go."
André grabbed Tori's arm, "You don't have to leave."
"No, I got what I needed from this conversation."
Tori's cell phone rang. André let go of her so she could reach it. She dug into her purse and pulled out her phone.
"Who is it?"
"My manager." Tori answered her cell and put it to her ear. "Hi Kim."
"We have some problems."
"What?"
"Pepsi is dropping you. They're getting their lawyers to dissolve your contract as we speak."
Tori's heart dropped to her stomach. Her pulse quickened and her breathing became rapid. "Excuse me?"
"No one likes a bully, Tori and people are now saying that you said vicious and malicious things about Beck's daughter."
"Who?"
"Someone said that you were at a restaurant with your mother and you went on some tangent about Bianca."
Tori rubbed her temples. She remembered that night. Her and her mother went to dinner and of course Beck and Jade were brought up. "They're dropping me?"
"Yes. I've also gotten emails from Sears, and Wahoo Punch. They're pissed."
"They're overreacting."
"You can't go out in public and bash a baby. Do it in the privacy of your own home next time."
"Kim, this is the last thing I can handle right now. I am at my wit's end."
"All right. I'll call you later, okay?"
"Okay." Tori hung up. She let out a deep sigh.
André's brows burrowed in confusion, "What's the matter?"
Before Tori could even answer, her phone rang again. She answered this time, without looking at the caller ID. "What?"
"Tori, it's Jade."
"Jade, you are the last person I want to talk to."
"But what I have to say is really important."
"What is it?"
"My father is wealthy and very powerful. Do you know what that means?"
"No."
"It means that he has a lot of rich and powerful friends. Friends that are CEOs of company such as Sears and PepsiCo."
"Jade are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"First I had someone follow you to that restaurant so they could record you."
"You had me followed?"
"Yes. Then I had my dad take that recording to his friends. All he had to do was tell them how mean you were being to his poor daughter and you are thrown out like yesterday's trash. Just like that." She snaps. "You mess with me, I mess with you. But I gotta be honest, I've really outdone myself this time." Jade laughed. "I don't know how you'll top this."
"I hate you."
"That's too bad. I was hoping we could be friends."
"Not a chance."
"Aw shucks."
Tori was about to reply when she heard a voice. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. "Are you with Beck?"
"Yeah."
"Isn't Beck is New York?"
"Yes. I got to go. I keep forgetting that it's 3 hours ahead out here. And I want to get some sleep before Beck and I are woken up in the middle of the night by Bianca. Bye!" She hung up.
Tori squeezed her phone so tight that she thought her knuckles were going to turn white permanently. She then hurled it all the wall with all of her might before storming out of the studio.
André softly shook his head, "What did you do, West?"
