Tori lied down on her bed, her energy completely drained by the chemotherapy. She expected it to be this way, but there was no way she could prepare for this. She closed her eyes, trying to subdue the headache that had slowly risen. It didn't help. Even with her eyes closed, she felt the pressure inside her head. Her eyes seemed to be ready to pop out every second. She opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. She felt as if the whole room was spinning out of the sudden. She tried to remember the consequences of the chemo. Fatigue? Check. Headache? Check. Dizziness? Check. Nausea?
Just as she remembered the last one, her stomach decided to tell her himself. She put a hand on her mouth and tried to run towards the toiled, but she was too weak. She moved her hand and let her stomach empty itself on the floor. After she threw up at least three times, she collapsed back on the bed, feeling the headache grow weaker by the moment. Then footsteps were heard, getting louder every moment. Tori turned her head to see a shocked Trina standing by her door.
"Tori? What happened?" The older Vega asked, trying to walk towards her sister's bed without stepping into the vomit.
"I came back from therapy a few minutes ago. I didn't make it to the toilet. Sorry. I'll clean it up." Tori weakly said, trying to get up before she felt strong hands push her back down.
"I'll take care of it. You rest. You look awful." Trina told her while gently holding her hand on her sister's head. She still had to get used to bald Tori, but she wouldn't mention it. Nobody did. A shocked expression the first time she saw it? Yes, everyone had that. Talking about it or anything? No way.
"You don't have to…"
"Geez, sis. Can't you let someone else do the work for once? Get some sleep or watch TV." Trina told her while she reached for the remote and placed it in Tori's hand. She placed a gentle kiss on her cheek before leaving the room to get everything necessary to clean the mess.
Tori turned the TV on, but could barely see what was on. She was too exhausted to focus. Gently closing her eyes, she turned so she was lying on her side while she heard Trina walk in and place some things on the floor, probably a bucket or something similar. The sound of rubbing slowly faded as she fell asleep.
In the meantime, Beck was still driving through the city, cursing like a sailor at the horrible traffic. He finally arrived at his destination half an hour later. He got out of his car and walked towards the door. After he knocked, a man who was in mid forties opened the door.
"Oh, hello Beck. Robbie is upstairs. Do you want me to call him?" Mr. Shapiro asked.
"Thanks, but you don't have to. I'll go upstairs. I need to talk to him." Beck simply said. Mr. Shapiro nodded and stepped aside for Beck to come in. Beck walked upstairs and stood in front of his friend's room. He took a deep breath and told himself to stay calm. He knocked on the door twice.
"It's open." He heard him yell before he opened the door. Robbie, who was sitting in front of his computer, turned and a surprised expression appeared on his face when he spotted who was standing by the door.
"Beck! What a surprise. What's up?" he asked him cheerfully, but once he saw the grim expression on Beck's face, he knew that something was up.
"What is wrong with you?" Beck asked him, shaking his head.
"What?" Robbie asked back in a confused tone.
"Tori has been in the hospital for two weeks, and you haven't visited her. You haven't sent her a message to ask how she is. You haven't even cared enough to ask any of us about her. What the fuck is wrong with you?" Beck asked again, the intensity in his voice rising by every word. The room stayed silent, Beck waiting for an answer while Rob looked down, not daring to look at his friend.
"Why do you care?" He asked all of the sudden, still avoiding eye contact.
"Why I care?" Beck repeated with a laugh in the end. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Right now he wanted to punch the glasses of Rob's face, but decided to keep his cool. He wasn't worth the trouble. "I care because she is your friend, or at least she still sees you as her friend. I care because once things went south, you chickened out!" Beck yelled the last part out. Rob walked towards his bed and picked Rex up. Beck felt the anger rise in his stomach. You better be careful with the words you choose to put into the puppets mouth Beck thought.
"I just didn't find the time." Robbie said in a neutral tone.
"You didn't find the time? Excuse me, but what exactly have you been doing? You didn't hang out with anyone of us at least. What was so important that you couldn't even ask about Tori one damn time, Rob?"
"Cool down, Beck. Why are you chizzing out like this?" Robbie said through Rex. Beck gave that puppet a dead-glare. Jade would be proud of him now.
"I don't know what happened to you. I would understand if you acted this way if Jade was the one who is sick. I know how she always threats you. I wouldn't say a word in that situation, no matter how wrong that is. But with Tori? After everything she has done for you?"
"What has she done for me?" Robbie spat all of the sudden. "What has she done for me? I was there for the surgery! I tried to help out, but all everyone did was scream at me! I wanted to help, but what could I do? Tell me Beck, what could I possibly do to help?"
Beck stood there, looking at his friend in disbelief.
"So the only reason you are acting like this, is because you feel helpless?" Beck asked him.
"Yes. I can't do anything, so why bother?"
"You think me and the others can do something? Do you think we don't feel helpless ourselves? I just sat with Tori while she had chemotherapy. It was her first session, and I wanted to be the moral support. Her father had to work because someone needs to pay the hospital bills. Trina and her mother couldn't go with her because they knew that they would break down themselves once they saw Tori in pain, so I volunteered. I wanted to be the good one, the strong one. And do you know what I did? I made her cry, because I asked her why the hell she was still thinking about the others before herself, because she defended you, who abandoned her the moment things got though!"
Silence filled the room for a few minutes. Beck was waiting for an answer, but Rob simply stood there, avoiding Beck's glare.
"And about your question, what she had done for you; how about the time she donated blood because you had a toy car stuck up your ass? How about the time she convinced a whole hospital to act as if Rex had survived, because you still can't live without that stupid puppet? How about when she saved our asses in the restaurant because you ordered a whole bowl of caviar? She even forgave you for that stupid Robarazzi thing you had going. Do you need anything more? I could go on."
"Are you done?" Robbie simply said. Beck shook his head in disbelief.
"You really are a piece of work man. Really great. Do you know what the worst part is? After everything, Tori is still going to defend you."
"Why are you letting him talk to you like this Rob?" Rex asked. Beck snapped the puppet out of Robbie's hand and smashed in on the ground, breaking him into pieces.
"Rex!" Rob cried out.
"If you have anything to tell me, tell me!" Beck spat, waiting for anything. He wanted to know the reason why one of his best friends has turned into a rat, why he didn't seem to care.
Robbie stood silent, kneeling next to the shattered Rex. He didn't say anything.
"You really are a rat, do you know that?" Beck said before turning around and leaving. He said goodbye to Mr. Shapiro and got into his car. He reversed out of their driveway and sped off. He needed to cool down.
A few hours later, Tori had woken up. She looked around her room to find that the carpet was clean again and that Trina had placed a blanket over her while she was asleep. Tori felt better. The headache was now barely noticeable, but she was still tired. She slowly got up and dragged herself towards the toilet. She splashed some cold water on her face, hoping that it would refresh her. It didn't do much, but she was awake again. After walking back to her room and falling back in her bed, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs again. Thinking it was Trina, she didn't pay much attention.
"Hey, girl." The sound of Andre's voice made her spin quickly. She looked at the door to see him standing there, his arms crossed. She hadn't seen him for a few days, and he hadn't seen her without her hair. She noticed that the bandana had fallen off, so she quickly snatched it and put it on again. He didn't look weirdly at her. He didn't acknowledge the fact that her beautiful, long, brown hair was gone. To him, it didn't matter. She still was the most beautiful girl in the world in his eyes.
"Hey, didn't expect you." Tori weakly said.
"Yeah, sorry about not checking on you earlier, I had to take care of my grandma. I figured you also needed some time for yourself." He honestly said before walking towards the bed and sitting down on the edge of it. "You look tired."
"Oh, I am. I had chemo today."
"I know. Was Beck with you?"
"Yeah, he was. I don't know how I would have made it if he hadn't been there."
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there myself."
"You don't have to apologize. You had more important things to do." Those words stabbed him in the chest. He knew that she meant no malice with them. That those were simply poorly chosen words, but they still hurt. She didn't know that there was nothing more important to him that her.
"I promise I'll be there the next time."
"Thank you. How are you?"
"Me? I'm fine. Why?" Andre asked in a surprised tone.
"I know you are under a lot of stress because of me and everything else." Tori simply said. Andre let out a small chuckle.
"Little miss Tori Vega, always worrying about the others. I'm fine; don't waste your worry on me. You better focus on becoming healthy again. I got a few new songs I want us to sing together."
"Heh, Beck said the exact same thing, about me worrying about the others."
"Really? What did he say about it?"
Tori looked away for a moment, remembering the outburst he had. Andre immediately noticed it.
"He got a bit angry about me caring about others more than myself, especially caring about Robbie, even though I haven't seen him or heard from him since I had surgery." Tori said while a single tear slid down her cheek. Andre gently cupped that cheek in his hand and wiped away the tear, turning her head so she would look at him.
"I don't know what's wrong with Rob, but as soon as I see him, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind."
"No, don't do that. He probably has his reasons."
"Tori, I know you care about him, about all of us. But look at it from our view. In my eyes, he did something nobody does to a person he cares about, and that is abandoning you once things got tough."
Tori was silent for a while, thinking about Andre's words and what Beck had told her before. She knew that they were right, but she still didn't want to believe that one of her closest friends didn't care because things weren't fine anymore.
"At least I got you guys." Tori said all of the sudden, raising her arms and wrapping them around Andre. He leaned down and hugged her close to him.
"Don't worry, I'll always be here for you, and so are Beck, Cat and Jade."
"I know." Tori side while another single tear slid down her cheek.
