A/N: Thanks for the reivews. Here's the next chapter.
How's It Going To Be
Chapter 3: Illusions Or Reality?
By Dcm3387
The alarm blared, causing Tori to wake up the next morning. She yawned and turned over in the bed, leaning up and rubbing her eyes. She looked around, realizing Hunter hadn't come home. Pulling the sheets off, she stepped into her slippers and walked around the bed. Turning, she saw a small black box on her dresser. Grabbing it, she opened it, her eyes went wide at the beautiful diamond on display. Slowly putting her fingers on it, she looked up and walked over to Hunter's dresser drawers. She went through each drawer, noticing each of them were empty. She ran her hands through her hair and sighed deeply, placing the ring back down and heading into the bathroom.
After a bit of cleaning up, she shuffled her feet out of her room and grabbed a blue blouse, sticking it on over her white T-shirt. She then walked out of the room and into Van's, where she smiled and looked over his crib.
"Morning sweetie." She said in a sweet voice, "You ready to go grocery shopping?"
She picked him up, Van began to cry a bit as she tried to hush him. She turned, grabbing a few things from a drawer and exiting out of his room and downstairs. The place was silence, the only footsteps were her own. She placed Van on the kitchen counter and began to dress him for the wintery weather outside. Suddenly the front door opened up, and a footstep walked inside. Tori leaned on the counter, glancing to get a better look at the front door.
"Hello?" She called out.
Hunter appeared, he gave a small wave as he entered the kitchen, "Hey, I came to get the rest of my stuff."
Tori bit her lips, she pushed off the counter and towards him, "Hunter. I'm sorry if I was a bit sudden yesterday." She tried to apologize, "I know you must-"
"It's okay." He interuptted her, "I'll move on."
"I will always love you." She smiled, "I'm just not ready yet."
"Well, then I shall wait in till you are." He turned, "Now, if you excuse me. I got a bit of packing to do."
"Take the ring." She reminded him.
He stopped at the foot of the stairs, pausing. She watched as he looked away, before bolting up the stairs. She walked back into the kitchen where she grabbed Van and her keys. Heading to the front door, she looked up the steps for a sec, hearing Hunter grabbing a few things. She then turned and exited outside.
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Cam had woken up about an hour ago, he was finishing cleaning up in the bathroom. Dressing in one of his green button shirts, he exited the bathroom and looked around. He rubbed his eyes a bit before sticking his glasses on and heading into the living room. He grabbed his briefcase and his jacket, turning to the door. A loud crash came from the kitchen, Cam closed his eyes and sighed. He dropped his stuff, turned and walked into the kitchen room. Looking around, a brunette popped out from behind the counter.
"It's okay." Amber smiled, "I was just making breakfast."
"I thought you left." He grinned and took a seat at a nearby stool, "I was just on my way out."
She grinned and turned to place a pan on the stove, "Not without breakfast, you aren't." She chuckled a bit, "I had a great time last night."
"Well you were dressing in a very.." He couldn't even finish his sentence, "Anyway, I thought you had a board meeting in New Jersey."
"I did." She nodded her head a little, "But... I canceled it." She then stopped and turned to him, "So when are you going to tell the others that we had hooked up?" She placed her hands on her hips.
"I was going to last night, but a few events happened." He sighed, "So I will today."
"I'm going by the graveyard." She changed the subject quickly as she walked towards the refrigerator and pulled out some eggs, "You coming along?"
"Can't. I have a -" He leaned on the counter, noticing as she was frowning, "Or I might be late." He knew he had to be there no matter what, "Enough about our plans. Whip me something delicious."
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Tori had pulled up at the mall, she smiled and unbuckled her seatbelt. There was a few things she had to return, she needed the money for other things. Grabbing a bag full of returned goodies, she unbuckled Van's seatbelt and pulled him out of the baby seat. She held onto him tightly, walking to the entrance of the mall. The place was a lot warmer then outside, and the place was some what busy. She placed Van on the ground and held his hand as the two of them walked along, passing a few stores.
"Over here Van." She smiled as she stopped at the Candle Store, "I just have to return these unused candles."
She walked inside and towards the register. She waited in the return line, bitting her lips and glancing around. Looking behind her, she saw a familiar man starring down at a few picture frames. He had curly hair brunette hair and was wearing a motocross jersey. She let go of Van and tried to walk towards him, a group of people passed in front of her. As they cleared away, Tori looked to see that the man was gone. Was she seeing things? She then turned to find that Van had scurried off while she was looking.
"Oh no!" She cried out and ran to grab her bag and out of the store to find her son, "Van!? Van where are you?"
She looked around frantically in the crowded mall, when suddenly a male voice caught her attention.
"Is this your kid?" He spoke.
She stopped and spun around, her hair flail back and she starred into the man's face. Her jaw dropped a bit, as she starred at him silently. He was holding onto Van with his hand, giving a strange look back. He bit his lips and glanced around a bit.
"Okay.."
He had short curly brunette hair, and a smile just like Dustin's. His lower jaw was a little ruff, she could tell he shaves a lot. He was wearing a grey hooded sweater and a yellow undershirt, along with beige pants. He stood only a few inches taller then Tori.
"Thank you." She smiled, snapping back to reality, "I don't know what I would do if I had lost him."
"No problem." He laughed, handing him over to her, "These guys always seam to be finding me." She just smiled, not keeping her eyes off him, "I'm sorry. You keep looking at me as if I'm familiar. Have we met?"
She shook her head, brushing her hair back, "Oh no. You just look so familiar." She explained, "You remind me of a best friend. My name is Tori by the way."
" Richard." He responded, "My friends just call me Ricky."
"Well, Richard. Thank you again, I really should get going."
She smiled, blushing a bit before grabbing Van's hand and turning. Ricky scratched his head, before taking a step forward and stopping her.
"Hey listen." He began to speak up again, "If your not too busy or something, maybe you wanna hang out? Get to know each other."
"I can't." She gave a sadden response.
"You're right." He too felt disappointed, "I mean you have a kid, you're provably married."
"No, I meant I can't tonight. I have no one to watch Van." She laughed a bit, trying to explain herself.
"Oh." Glimmers of hope struck him, "Well, take him along. I like kids, I'd like to get to know you both at the same time."
"I would love to, then." She smiled sweetly, she dug through her bag for a pen and grabbed his hand, "Give me a call later tonight."
She finished writing her number, then turned to walk off. She glanced back, seeing Ricky wave. A feeling hit her, he reminded her so much of Dustin. She picked up Van and held him tightly as she walked out of the mall and towards her car. Not carring that she didn't exchanged her candles for money, she just stuff the things in the back of her baby blue Van. After strapping Van into the back baby seat, she walked up to the driver side and climbed in. Closing the door, she stopped and turned to see a card incased in an envelope on the passenger seat. Grabbing it, she looked up to see a streak past her windshield. Bursting out of the car, she turned to see what it was. The streak had disappeared, it was the same familiar streak she saw at the grave yard last night. Opening the letter, she saw a snowy field picture on the front. Opening it, she read what was on it.
I will always love you
There was no name, or anyway to tell who it was, but it was incased in a yellow envelope. Looking around for one last time, she climbed back into the van and turned the engine on, and drove off.
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Shane and Blake were already wide awake, the two of them were just sitting around, eating breakfast and watching some T.V. It was just silence between the two, as they watched some random news show that they didn't really understand, but were pretending to rid the awkward silence. The door opened and Hunter dragged a whole bunch of stuff in. He dropped at on the floor and walked over to the others on the couch.
"What are you watching." He leaned on the back of it.
Shane looked up, "I have no idea. Something about a tiger escaped the zoo." He shrugged, "I wasn't paying attention."
Blake turned and got a better look at his older brother, "So, how did it go with Tori?"
He shrugged, "Guess I can get my money back for this." He looked at the ring, "Oh well."
"Maybe it's for the best." He smiled, trying to be supportive, "Anyway, I have to get to work. Winter makes me poorer then any other season!"
"That's cause you can't race." Shane stood up, "Ah well. I'm out of here."
"Where you heading." Hunter asked, "Isn't your first class is next month?"
He shrugged, "Yeah, so?"
"That must suck, you're the only one left in college." Blake muffled a bit, "I mean, Tori graduated two years ago. Or was it a year? Anyway, what's up with your school system?"
"I started a year late there." He explained, "It's a 4 year college."
A knock on the door, caught the boys attention. Hunter took a few steps back and turned to open the door. Amber walked in, smiling at everyone.
"Hey boys." She surprised them with her sudden cheerfulness, "Who's ready to go have some fun?"
"Amber. What are you doing here?" Blake titled his head, "Thought you weren't coming down."
"Well, things changed." She responded, "I ran into Cam last night." She ran and grabbed them, "Come on guys. Were going to visit my brother."
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An hour later, Tori had to make one last stop, she parked the car on the side of the street and climbed out. Leaving Van in the car, she crossed the street and towards a small coffee shop. Walking inside, she dropped her keys. Turning, she saw Ricky picking them up and handing them to her.
"Are you following me?" He smiled a bit, laughing.
Tori blushed, brushing back her hair, "Oh, I was just getting some coffee. To take home."
"Nothing smells better then a freshly roasted hazelnut coffee."
"Yeah." She turned and walked into the line, Ricky followed, "I never seen you come here before."
"Funny, I can say the same thing." Ricky laughed, putting his hands in his pocket, "I just moved back here. I use to live in Angel Grove for a few years. Decided to come back here, see if I can find anything to spark some idea."
"What do you do?"
"I draw." He pointed at the line, she was next, "Better order your coffee."
Tori nodded and took a step forward, making a few orders. After a few minutes, she stepped aside, grabbing what she ordered and waiting for Ricky. Tori turned to see a familiar brunette walking by. He was wearing a yellow motocross jersey. She dropped her coffee bag and ran out and into the cold. Turning, the man was gone. She rubbed her head, this was the second time she was seeing things. On top of that, she meets a man that almost looks like Dustin, and finds a strange Christmas card in her car. The whole thing was confusing her.
"Are you all right?" Ricky's voice echoed as he stepped out of the store, "You rushed out quickly."
She turned, "I keep seeing someone I know." She looked into his eyes, his eyes reminded so much of Dustin's, she sighed deeply, "I must be going crazy." She whispered.
"If it's any constellation." He snickered, "I already think your crazy."
"Yeah, apparently I leave an insane first impression. And even a second one too."
"I like it."
She laughed and shook her head, "You are unreal. I know you, for like what? A total of an hour, and you already seen my insane side. I better stick around to see what kind of person you are."
"I'm looking forward to it." He grinned and nodded to her, "If you don't mind me, I have to get going. See you later tonight?"
"Most defiantly."
She watched as the look-alike Dustin walked off, turning and waving before heading towards his car. She sighed, she began to have this feeling she once had along time ago. It was a good feeling, a feeling that maybe everything will be all right. She just smiled brightly and turned to head towards her own car.
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End Chapter.
A/N: Dun dun dun.. Will Tori fall in love with a man that reminds her so much of Dustin? Why is she seeing Dustin's face in different parts of the city? Is he still alive? What is exactly going on between Cam and Amber? What will happen next!? Find out in the next chapter! lol, read and review.
