Beck was walking leisurely along the beach, warm soft send under his bare feet. It wasn't any beach he knew. The sun was shining; small waves gently caressed the pearly white sand. Weather was perfect for catching some rays, but the beach was empty with no one in sight. No, that was not totally true. In the distance he could see someone lie on a yellow beach towel. Slowly Beck approached the figure. It was Tori in a bright red two-piece swimsuit. But that was not Tori he saw every day at school, the one who hauled her books from one class to another, often dropping one of them, or the one who squeezed her pimple on Robbie's video blog. No, this was the girl who sang to pay for their dinner at the fancy restaurant; she looked like she stepped off a cover of a magazine. She smiled and wordlessly gave him a bottle of sunscreen lotion. She lay prone on the towel, flipping her hair away, revealing her shoulders and fine sculpted neck. Beck put the lotion on his hands and reached for Tori's shoulders. Absentmindedly he observed that his hands were slightly shaking. Finally his palms made contact with her shoulders. The skin under his fingers felt warm, soft and smooth as a finest silk. When Beck's hands moved between her shoulder blades Tori began to purr like a satisfied cat. That sound made Beck's blood boil, he got goose bumps covering his arms and his heart began pounding deafeningly in his ears. Just as he began sliding his hands towards Tori's slim waist, his head began spinning, his eyes lost focus and felt that he was falling, and falling, and falling…
Beck woke up on the floor beside his bed, sweaty and out of breath, with the bedcover tangled in his feet. The clock beside the bed showed that it was half hour too early to get up for school. But Beck couldn't possibly go back to sleep. He got up and headed straight to the shower. Water washed over him and he began to calm down.
'What is going on with me? Why am I having these dreams?' Beck asked himself while the water washed away the sweat and the sleep from him. 'Why am I dreaming of Tori's gentle arms and her brilliant smile. I can't be falling for her! That is impossible, ridiculous! No girl has ever come between me and Jade. Never!' He shook his head.
Still, he couldn't deny that ever since that girl had come into his life things have been different. Until now Beck thought that it was simply the pleasure of companionship with a nice girl who didn't instantly try to hit on him. He did like her, liked spending time with her, liked watching her stumble, while trying to find her way into this new world. Talking with her about all sorts of things, like his embarrassing love for Katy Perry's songs. Jade had half-jokingly threatened to broke up with him if she catches him listening to "that floosy" again. And he likes that mixture of charisma and talent, that undefinable 'It', that exudes from her.
'But that is it! Isn't it? It couldn't…' The sound of his phone receiving a message brought him back from his thoughts. It was Jade.
'I'm late!' He'll have to buy coffee after he picks Jade up. Beck picked up his keys and jumped in the car. Jade waited for him impatiently.
"You are late, and I don't see any coffee." He smiled apologetically. Jade looked at him more carefully.
"Beck, are you alright? You look a bit haggard. Did you sleep okay?" She asked, putting her cool palm on his forehead. Seeing her that concerned for him, made him feel very guilty.
"I'm alright; just didn't sleep very well tonight, nothing a cup of strong coffee won't cure." His guilt gave birth to an idea, a seemingly perfect solution to his problem.
"Jade, do you have any plans for tonight?"
"No, my evening is wide open. Why?"
"Let me take you on a date, a real date, dinner, movie, the whole thing."
"What's the occasion?"
"Just want to take my beautiful girlfriend out on a date." They arrived at school and headed inside hand in hand. Before they entered Jade turned to him and said:
"Okay then. It's a date" she smiled. "I may even put on one of my fancy dresses."
The guilt returned in full force.