Chapter 11
Tori walked out of the bathroom, running her fingers through her wet hair. She smelt coffee coming from the kitchen and followed the scent. She heard the sound of Jared's deep laughter rumbling into the hall.
She walked through the doorway to see Beck staring at his reflection on a big metal spoon. Jared was doubled over, laughing breathlessly, when he straightened up Tori saw a tattoo across his chest, she couldn't get a good look at it but saw the word 'adventure'.
"Tori…Tori…look at Beck's…ear" Jared spluttered between laughs. Confused, Tori pulled the spoon away from Beck's horrified face and looked at his right ear. Up at the top, in the cartilage, sat a silver hoop, straight through Beck's ear.
Tori couldn't hold in her laugh as Beck scowled at her. "I can't believe you got your ear pierced!" Tori giggled as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his lips to get rid of the scowl.
"Yeah, well Jared got a tattoo!" Beck accused, Tori spun to face Jared with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, so that's new?" she gestured at his chest, where she could now read 'to live would be an awfully big adventure'.
"You do realise that's from a kid's book right?" Jared's eyes widened.
"I-uh-I-its-I was drunk, I take no responsibility for my actions." Tori laughed again, at both of them.
"I'm gonna remember this next time you guys want me to join you on a night out." She chuckled, "But at least Beck can just take his earring out." Jared contemplated this for a few seconds, rubbing his chin with his fingers.
"He could, that would be the wimpy thing to do." Jared probed. Beck looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you calling me a wimp, Duncan?" Beck and Jared squared up to each other, Tori just blew out a breath and set about cooking some bacon, ignoring the testosterone diffusing from them.
"I sure am, Oliver." Jared retorted, "I bet you won't keep that earring in till, hmm, halloween."
"And if I do?" Beck tilted his head, daringly.
"I'll do Gangnam Style in front of everyone at your Halloween party."
"That's only 3 weeks away, I can keep an earring in that long." Beck remarked, Tori tutted however.
"My friend, you know Kayleigh right?" They both nodded, "She has an earring up there and she complains about it hurting all the time."
Beck frowned but quickly recovered, "Whatever, don't you guys have a music recital today?" he said as he reached for Tori's bacon sandwich.
"Yeah, we should probably get going soon," she slapped his hand away from her breakfast, "make your own." She muttered.
Jared smirked at them, wishing he had a cute relationship like that. He then shook his head and told himself to 'stop being a girl'.
"Come on then, Toto. We don't have all day to eat bacon, places to be, audiences to wow."
"Toto?" Beck asked, Jared merely shrugged.
"I just wasn't feeling 'Tori'"
"I should hope not." Beck mumbled, Jared heard and winked at him, Tori simply rolled her eyes.
"You," she pointed to Beck, "stop being vulgar, and you," she pointed at Jared, "don't name me after a dog."
"Let me just put a shirt on and we'll go." Jared said, patting Tori on the head as went past. With a groan, Tori smoothed her hair back down.
"You're coming to watch, right?" Tori asked Beck, he nodded.
"Are Trina and Chad coming too?" they were pretty much a package deal at the moment. Tori shrugged.
"I don't know."
"Come on, Toto." Tori rolled her eyes, kissing Beck on the cheek she headed for the door to meet Jared.
"Hey." Tori called as she spotted Kat stood in front of the stage, Kat waved her over.
"Hey, you know I got my tattoo last night? Well you'll never guess who I saw at the parlour. Beck and Jared Duncan!"
Tori nodded, "Yeah, Jared now has a Peter Pan quote on his chest and Beck has an earring, fun times right?" they both laughed and sat together on the front row of seats in facing the stage.
"You ready to sing?" Tori nodded.
"Yeah, you finally decided what you're gonna sing?" Kat sighed.
"Originally I wanted to do Beautiful War, Kings of Leon, but some guy has supposedly put it down already, which sucks cause I love that song."
"So what have you actually decided on?"
"All I Want, it's an ADTR song." Tori chuckled to herself.
"What? Why is that funny?" Kat asked, desperately hoping that wouldn't be the reaction of the rest of the audience.
"Nothing really, it's just that last week Jared was singing that when he made breakfast one morning."
"First of all, why was Jared making breakfast in your apartment? And secondly, who knew that caveman would know good music?"
Tori was about to reply when Kat cut her off, "Oh, speak of the devil." Across the room, Jared was walking towards them, pushing his fingers through his hair. He smiled at Tori when he spotted her.
"Hey Toto, who's your friend?" he looked down at Kat's red converse and chuckled, "Of course, it's Dorothy herself."
Kat snorted at his remark and met his eyes defiantly, "The name's Kat actually. What's up, only got 29 seconds to get back to Mars?"
"Ooh, original, though I'm more of a Killers fan myself." Kat tried to hide how impressed she was, though Jared still saw it and lifted his mouth into a smug smirk.
"Well this has been fun, but I better go prepare. See you later, babe." Kat stood up from her seat.
"Yeah, catch you later, babe." Jared mocked.
Kat rolled her eyes, "I was talking to Tori." with that she turned and strode away. Tori observed Jared as he watched after her.
Jared was about to go on stage when he spotted Kat in front of a mirror, he looked her up and down. She wore a short black dress with fishnets and purple Doc Marten's, from this angle he could see a silver nose ring.
He sauntered over, leaning his arm on the wall next to the mirror, "Well aren't you the Girl All The Bad Guys Want today?"
Kat flicked her black hair over her shoulder and faced him, "Hasn't your spaceship left yet?"
Jared laughed to himself and looked at her again, her eyes were a startling green beneath all the eyeliner. "Maybe you could come with me tonight and we could fire it up?"
Kat rolled her eyes, "Nah, I'm not much of a 30 Seconds to Mars fan either, aren't you meant to be on stage now?"
Jared nodded, "Aren't you gonna wish me luck?"
Kat smirked, "Break a leg," she told him as he walked away, "literally." Jared blew her a kiss and continued towards the stage, a few seconds later his music started and Kat's mouth dropped open.
"Bite your tongue
Don't make a scene, dear
Everybody's been here least once before
We've been here more
Your heart breaks
Rolls down the window
I've seen it all go, come back around
And I've heard the sound
The tip of your tongue
The top of your lungs is doing my head in
I say, "Love, love don't mean nothing
Unless there's something worth fighting for."
It's a beautiful war
When I hold
The warmth of your body
There is nobody that I'd rather hold
Shattered and cold
The tip of your tongue
The top of your lungs is making me crazy
I say, "Love, love don't mean nothing
Unless there's something worth fighting for."
It's a beautiful war
I say, "Love, love – it don't mean nothing
Unless there's something worth fighting for."
It's a beautiful war
It's a beautiful war
It's a beautiful war
I say, "Love, love..."
I say, "Love, love don't mean nothing
Unless there's something worth fighting for."
I say, "Love, love don't mean nothing
Unless there's something worth fighting for."
It's a beautiful war
It's a beautiful war
It's a beautiful war
It's a beautiful war"
So I was supposed to be revising but whatever...
Hope you guys enjoyed this, tell me what you think of Kat and Jared? And did anyone get the Bowling For Soup reference?
(I don't own Beautiful War by Kings of Leon)
-Dom