Disclaimer: Power Rangers does not belong to me.


Chapter 7: Distraction

It was the same track where less than 24 hours ago he'd won his seventh, straight race, but yesterday now felt like a lifetime away for Blake Bradley. He hadn't worried when he woke up that morning about the three interviews he was scheduled for, his appointment with the engineer to order new bike parts or the hours he would have to put in examining fuel mixes. Being with Tori Hanson made Blake obliviously happy, and ironically, it was tearing him apart.

Blake had left Tori sleeping at the motel that morning, where he had smiled blissfully at the site of her peaceful, angelic face. Neither of them had gotten much sleep during the night. He was needed early at the track and figured she'd rather sleep than be bored by motocross business.

Besides, Blake needed some time to think.

"Boy, that Tori is fine!" Blake had thought to himself yesterday upon seeing her; the same reaction he had experienced the first time they'd met. After months of missing Tori while he was on tour, Blake finally couldn't take it and had used all his saving to buy her a plane ticket out to see him. Being around Tori again was intoxicating: her spirit, her smile, her sexiness. She could easily be the girl of his dreams; the one he could fall in love with.

The only probably was that Blake already had another love: motocross. He sighed, thinking about how yesterday his bike almost wasn't prepped properly for his race because he was so enraptured in the excitement of seeing Tori again. She was a distraction from his dream of becoming the tour's top motocross rider.

Yet Tori's visit – their night together – had changed everything. With Tori in his life again, Blake didn't know if he ever wanted to let her go.

Blake now wasn't sure what his dream was or what he wanted, but he knew couldn't give both Tori and motocross racing together the attention they each deserved. He realized eventually he was going to have to make a choice between the person and sport he cared about.

Blake's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the trailer door. Standing in the entrance was Tori, brightening the room like a ray of sunshine. Carrying the Beary Merry Christmas teddy bears, she bounced over to Blake wearing the biggest smile on her face.

"Hey there," cooed Tori, making the Mrs. Clause bear give Blake a kiss on the nose. "Where'd you go this morning?"

"I had a lot of things to do at the track," replied Blake, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. "I didn't get all the stuff done I needed to yesterday 'cause you were here."

"What, are the bikes going to be jealous you were spending time with me?" teased Tori.

"Well, you certainly are much more beautiful than them," murmured Blake before pulling her into a passionate kiss. The couple was soon interrupted by Tori's cell phone ringing.

"It's Marah again," said Tori exasperated. "This is the third she's called me just the morning. She's having a breakdown because she thinks Dustin forgot that today's her birthday."

"That airhead," said Blake, shaking his head. "Can't anybody reach Dustin?"

"No," said Tori frustrated. "He turned his cell phone off."

"Dustin's going to be in trouble," groaned Blake. "Tell Marah Happy Birthday from me, and that you'll be home this evening to pick up the pieces."

Tori went outside to call the birthday girl back, brushing past Trish coming into the trailer. "So that's Tori?" the trophy girl asked annoyed. "The one who you haven't stopped talking about these past months."

"She's only here till this afternoon," muttered Blake. "What's it to you?"

"Have you told her about us?" questioned Trish with an air of deceitfulness

"You wouldn't!" growled Blake, shooting up from his seat.

"Oh I don't know," toyed Trish. "From one woman to another, I think the fact you invited your ex-girlfriend out on the motocross tour would be of interest to Little Miss Innocence outside? Or is that not the case anymore after last night?"

"That's none of your business," snapped Blake.

"Ohmygosh, you did sleep with her," laughed Trish maliciously. "What are you going to do? Quit the tour for Tori? Go back to perfect Blue Bay Harbor with her, move into a perfect little apartment and live a perfectly boring life?"

Blake opened his mouth, but at that moment he noticed Tori standing in the doorway. From her trembling lip and teary eyes, Blake could tell she had heard everything. Blake felt sick.

"See later doll," hissed Trish, brushing her arms over Blake's body as she headed for the door. "By the way Tori, if you're wondering why Blakey boy here was so good in bed last night, it's 'cause he learned everything from me."

"She's evil," pleaded Blake walking over to Tori desperately, wrapping her in a hug.

"I know, but she had a point Blake," said Tori, breaking out of the embrace and looking him directly in the eye. "When are you coming home?"

"I don't know," responded Blake quietly, not meeting her piercing gaze. "If I took a break now, I'd loose all the momentum I've built up on the tour."

"But you've been gone four months," implored Tori urgently. "Don't the people at home matter to you?"

"Of course they do," said Blake sharply. "You matter to me," he said softening his tone and caressing her face.

"Well what if I came out and visited you again in the next few weeks?" asked Tori, beginning to feel desperate. "I have some money saved up."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," said Blake decidedly, crossing him arms and looking down. "I have a lot of important races coming up."

"So you don't want me out here to keep you company, but Trish is ok?" questioned Tori angrily.

"Trish was responsible for hooking me up with my first motocross bike back before I moved to Blue Bay Harbor," explained Blake anxiously. "She was looking for a job this fall, and I felt like I needed to help her."

"Or you just needed someone to keep your bed warm," said Tori sarcastically.

"Trish and I broke up long before I came to Blue Bay Harbor," assured Blake firmly. "There's never been anything between us since." Blake and Tori starred at each other in hurtful silence.

"Why didn't at least ask me if I would come on tour with you?" Tori finally questioned.

"Your dream was to teach at the Wind Ninja Academy," said Blake. "I didn't want to take that away from you."

"Yes, but you could have at least asked me," repeated Tori.

"I didn't want to do that," muttered Blake.

"What?" responded Tori shocked, certain she had not heard right.

"It's a distraction having you out here," exploded Blake emotionally. "I'm so into you, I can't focus on anything else, especially motocross. I barely finished first in my race yesterday and kept my winning streak alive!"

"You don't really want to be with me!" yelled Tori heatedly. "You just invited me out here to sleep with me!"

"You know that's not true!" shouted Blake furiously. "I'm only twenty years old! How am I supposed to know what I want?"

Tori's mouth dropped, and a tear rolled down her check. "Tor, I'm so sorry," said Blake softly, putting his hands on her shoulders. "That's not how it sounded. I invited you out here 'cause I couldn't take how much I missed you. The lifestyle out here gets old fast, and I just wanted to be around the girl I cared about most. I just don't know how to balance my feelings for you with my career. I wish I could come up with some sort of compromise."

Tori had stopped listening. All she could picture was Blake and Trish in bed together. Tori felt anger flowing through her veins over all the time she had spent pining for Blake. She wanted to wound him as much as he was hurting her right now.

"If you really cared about me, you would give up motocross racing completely and come home!" shouted Tori fiercely, throwing the Santa Clause bear at him.

Blake stepped back stunned, and immediately Tori knew that she had gone too far. "Blake, I didn't mean that," began Tori desperately.

"No I think you did," said Blake bitterly. He grabbed his jacket and marched toward the door. "If you really cared about me, you wouldn't have asked me that," said Blake turning around; his voice choked with emotion.

Tori felt tears start to stream down her face as Blake ran out of the trailer. Sinking into the couch, Tori buried her face in her hands and began to sob. "How could I have been so unsupportive?" she thought to herself distraughtly. Tori then heard vindictive laughter. Her blood-shot eyes looked up to behold Trish.

"You really screwed up girl," taunted Trish. "I've never seen a boy so love-sick as Blake when he talked about you, which was basically twenty-four hours a day."

Tori felt like she'd hit rock bottom. Blake in the trailer was trying to express honestly how much he cared for her, and she had responded with complete insensitivity in refusing to find any middle ground. Suddenly Tori felt as dirty as the racetrack world she had heartlessly tried to pull Blake away from.

A/N: Sorry guys, the course of true love does not always run smooth!

I chose not to go for the easier approach of having Tori walk in on Trish kissing Blake, because I wanted to explore issues surrounding the long-distance relationship Tori and Blake would have had to endure if they had indeed remained a couple up till the Ninja Storm/Dino Thunder team-up.

Shout-out to jean for forcing me to think about what Blake's past relationship history could have been in the context of this story. ('Cause I wasn't going to address it originally!)