Choreography
Chapter 4
Trina barely slept a wink thanks to Andre, and because of her fatigue, she decided to forgo her more outlandish clothing and settled on a pair of jeans, a blouse, and ballet flats. She only put on a bit of foundation and eyeliner since anything more seemed impossible in her current state, and she'd probably only end up making herself look like a clown. It was all she could work up the energy to put on and even getting to her room door took a huge amount of effort.
Tori stared at her as she came down the stairs, eyebrows raised curiously. "Awfully low key today, aren't you?"
"Well, even I can't look amazing everyday," Trina shrugged, yawning towards the end of her sentence. She grabbed her bag off of the couch and slung it over her shoulder, heading towards the door. "You drive, I'd just kill us both."
Tori frowned but complied, grabbing the keys off of the counter top and following her out. The frown stayed on her face the entire drive to school, and even after she arrived she couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling in her chest that she was missing something.
Trina was different, and after thinking about it, she realized that Andre was different, too. She'd chalked up their recent distance from her to the video, but maybe there was something more going on and she'd just been too naive to notice. Not that she was complaining. Trina was nicer, quieter, and seemed happier than she had been only two weeks ago, but she still wanted to know why and fully intended to find out what was going on.
Her sister walked off as soon as they arrived at school, putting a large wrench into her plan of grilling her for information. Luckily she spotted another friend who might know something, and she quickly moved to approach her.
"Jade!" she called, walking up to the taller girl. Jade closed her locker and sped off, forcing Tori to break out into a jog to grab her arm. "Jade!"
"Oh, hey, Tori. I didn't see you there," she drawled, sarcasm heavy in her voice.
Tori ignored her sarcasm and took a deep breath, amazed that such a small amount of running had tired her out. She really needed to exercise more. "Has Beck mentioned anything about Trina and Andre?"
Jade smirked and turned all the way around to look at her, finally interested in what she had to say. "Aw, is Tori a wittle jeawous?"
The brunette frowned. "It's not that, I'm just concerned." Even to her own ears she sounded jealous, but that couldn't have been what she was feeling. She loved Andre, sure, but not like that. She also loved her sister, and the last thing she wanted was for them to unintentionally hurt each other.
Andre was a great guy overall, but when it came to girls, he could be a little...jerky. Not intentionally as far she knew, but he always felt like he had to act like a player to keep girls interested in him, using smooth lines and 'cool' mannerisms that just weren't who he really was. Because of this, no girl was ever able to really get close to him and he ultimately ended up getting bored and breaking up with them.
Trina, well...Trina was a mess. She seemed to attract the worst types of guys, and the good guys she did occasionally go on a date with she quickly lost interest in claiming they were too 'boring' or worse, not hot enough enough. She didn't seem to want an actual good guy and only cared about how they would affect her social status.
In a rare moment of empathy, Jade gave Tori the absolute least comforting smile she could manage. "Don't worry, they're big kids now. I'm pretty sure that they can take care of themselves." With that, she turned on her heel and walked towards her first class, not giving her 'friend' the chance to say anything else.
While the words had been short and to the point, Tori had to admit that Jade was right. It really was none of her business, and they were both older than her and could make their own decisions. None of that answered the one question she couldn't find an answer to:
Why did she care so much?
The dance studio was empty, giving Trina Vega much needed isolation to gather her thoughts. She still had around half an hour before Andre was supposed to show up for practice, and to put it mildly, she was freaking out. Would he want to immediately talk about what had happened the day before? Demand an answer to his feelings? He hadn't asked her anything about the kiss despite them eating lunch together, and she had to admit that she was grateful for that.
After a long night of tossing and turning, she'd chosen to forget about it for the time being. It was impossible for her to concentrate on dancing or anything else for that matter when she was thinking about him, but she knew his patience could only last so long. She didn't know what else to do, so she decided to do the only thing that ever calmed her down when she was stressed.
Choosing a song from her iPod, she closed her eyes to get familiar with the beat again. She started out slow, making large, sweeping gestures. By the time the chorus kicked in she wasn't even thinking about moves anymore, simply allowing her body to move in time with the music. Dancing was therapeutic for her. When she was moving her body, everything else shut down.
Unbeknownst to her, Andre was watching from the doorway. She was doing things he hadn't even seen before. If he was remembering what he'd learned in his History of Dance class correctly, she was using a style known as interpretive dance-a style that wasn't new by any means, and was often thought to be one of the first ever invented. It was a style that was usually used to convey emotion or tell a story, and she must have been doing a good job since he could clearly see her emotions in each movement. He didn't know how, but he could feel her confusion, anger, and sadness through her dancing. Oddly enough, he could also feel her conflicting emotions of joy and love.
He watched her for another few minutes, staying as still as he could so that she wouldn't notice him staring at her. When the song ended, he decided to be the first to extend the olive branch. It was his fault things were so awkward in the first place. "Man, I still can't get over how good you are," he called, slowly walking into the room. "Is there any kind of dancing that you can't do?"
Trina jumped slightly, not expecting anyone to be watching her. When she saw who it was she smiled, albeit embarrassedly. "That's nothing, I was just letting off some steam."
Andre swallowed at that, feeling guilty that he was mostly likely the cause of her frustration. "Didn't look like nothing. Seriously, is there any dance you can't do?"
She hummed in thought, eyes rolling towards the ceiling. "I've never been very good at ballet, and twerking is actually kind of hard to do correctly."
Andre choked back a laugh. "Twerking? Isn't that just shaking your butt? How hard could that be?" He furrowed his eyebrows when she sighed exaggeratedly and walked over to the stereo in the corner. "What're you doing?" he asked, also walking closer to see. He leaned over her shoulder and watched as she shuffled through her library of music, smirking appraisingly at her taste. Finally, she stopped on a familiar track, one that he remembered well from middle school. It was a rap song, and a rather...dirty one at that. He was no stranger to this type of music, but he didn't know why she was choosing now of all times to listen to it.
At least until the music started and she started to dance.
Andre stared wide eyed as her ass popped, gyrated, and jerked and in perfect rhythm with the beat. She'd obviously practiced this before, and he felt mildly jealous of the last guy who'd gotten to see this. It was mesmerizing, and all he could do was gawk stupidly. He felt like a snake while she was the snake charmer. It amazed him that he could find something so simple so...sexy.
He was more than a little thankful that she was wearing sweatpants as just the idea of her in anything less might have actually stopped his heart. He'd always sort of thought she had a nice ass, but when it was put on display like it was...fuck. It was taking so much effort not to reach out and grab it–or worse.
All things considered, he thought he was doing a pretty good job of not getting too excited-at least until she turned and made eye contact with him. Her gaze electrified him, and though her body was still moving to the music, it was her light brown eyes that held his attention.
He didn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed that the song ended when it did, but he did know that he had to take a seat or else she'd see just how much he liked her performance. "Damn, girl, you could kill a man with that," he breathed, trying to smile through the desire he felt for her.
"You look pretty alive to me," she joked, looking a little flushed and out of breath. "Maybe I should try it again?"
Andre stared up at her in shocked silence. He knew what he was feeling towards her at that moment was nothing but pure, unadulterated lust. He had real feelings for her, sure, but at the moment the only thing he could think about was shoving her up against the nearest wall. "It's not nice to tease," he finally said, half of a smirk popping up on his face despite the warning look in his eye.
She stepped closer, invading his personal bubble, and her voice dropped into a whisper. "I'm not a nice girl."
At that, something in him snapped. He slowly got to his feet until he was towering over her, looking down into her challenging eyes. She was daring him to make his move, and who the hell was he to not rise to her expectations? Growling slightly he shoved his lips against hers, and right afterwards, her arms slipped around his neck to pull his head down a little more. He backed her towards the mirrored wall until she was flush against him and trapped her there with his arms. He could feel every part of her, and she him.
He'd kissed his fair share of girls over the years, but not like this. There was nothing innocent nor pure about what they were doing, and if they weren't careful...
Eyes snapping open, Andre broke away and grabbed his head, grimacing as if in immense pain. "Why did you do that?"
Trina frowned, still a little breathless from their kiss. "Do what? You kissed me."
Andre shook his head, trying to gain control of himself again. He never let himself get that worked up and was always careful to make sure that the girl he was with wasn't being pressured into something she didn't want to do. It scared him that he hadn't even thought about what her feelings were while he was kissing her, too concerned with fulfilling his own needs to pay attention to hers. "I thought you were just gonna ignore my feelings after you didn't say nothing about it all day," he mumbled, finally able to look at her again.
She let out a quiet breath through her nose, unsure of how to explain herself to him. "I needed time to think about what this would mean. I needed to make sure you actually liked me and that I wasn't just some consolation prize for Tori."
His expression darkened slightly. She wasn't the first person who had misunderstood his friendship with Tori, but he'd hoped that she of all people would see it for just that–a friendship. "And?"
"And I realized that the only thing that really mattered was how I felt about you."
Noticing how uncomfortable Trina looked after basically admitting her feelings towards him, Andre smirked. He took a step closer to her, maintaining eye contact the entire time. "How do you feel about me?"
She shot him an annoyed look, a little upset that he was trying to force her to say something he obviously already knew. Well, if that was what he wanted, then fine. "I like you."
He felt his chest tighten, and the only way he could keep himself from smiling was by biting the inside of his cheek. "Why?"
"Andre!" she yelled, punching him on the shoulder.
He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "Sorry, I'm just a little happy. I thought I was the only one who felt this way." Now that both of their feelings were out there, he didn't really know what to say next. "So, are we like, together now?"
Trina frowned. "I don't know, you're a sophomore," she said, unable to stop a smirk of her own from slipping onto her face when he laughed at the reference to the first time they'd met. Her face quickly took on a more serious expression. "I think we should talk more about it after we finish the video. We're both being run ragged right now."
Andre nodded, running a hand through his dreads. He couldn't argue with that. It wouldn't exactly be wise to start something serious while things were so crazy, but he wasn't sure if he could actually stay away from her that long. "Yeah, waiting to talk about it is probably the best idea," he mumbled, trying not to look as disappointed as he felt.
The older girl's smile widened. "But we don't have to talk at all right now." He was confused for a second–at least until she practically attacked him, lips pressing themselves insistently against his own. It was his turn to be shoved against the mirror, the only difference being that she wasn't going to let him go until she was satisfied.
Neither of them noticed the pair of angry brown eyes staring at them through the window of the dance studio.
For Trina, the next week was one of the busiest in her life. When she wasn't rehearsing or doing homework, she and Andre were finding little pockets of time to make out in empty classrooms or broom closets. Most of the time they'd be in his car, finding abandoned parks or secluded shopping areas where they wouldn't be bothered. Both felt it'd be best if they kept things on the downlow for the time being; they wanted to have some sort of a foundation before letting the entire school know that they were a whole heck of a lot more than friends.
She had to admit that sneaking around was a little exciting. The only ones who knew of their arrangement were Beck and Jade, and that was because they'd stumbled upon them while trying to get some quality time of their own in.
The only real problem was her sister. She'd noticed Tori's growing annoyance with her and Andre but decided not to acknowledge it or let him know just yet. As long as she wasn't actively trying to sabotage their relationship that she hopefully knew nothing about, she really didn't care how Tori felt as selfish as it sounded. She had better and more important things to think about, like where they were going to make out next or how she could make him whimper again like she'd done the night before.
Speaking of her sister, they were just arriving at Hollywood Arts. Tori had been driving them lately since not only was Trina too tired to do it, but Tori was just an all around better and safer driver. "Thanks, see you at the shoot," Trina said absentmindedly, hopping out of the car before it'd even stopped.
"Seriously, what's been going on with you lately? You just thanked me!"
Trina ignored her sister's incredulous stare in favor of checking her phone for messages. In the time it'd taken her to get out of the car and into the parking lot, she'd gotten a new message from Andre. She quickly banged out a reply, her fingers a blur on her PearPhone.
Andre: Today's gonna be awesome. You excited?
Trina: You know it :)
Her smile must have been large as Tori edged closer and tried to see her phone. "Who are you texting? You look like mom whenever she texts to dad's partner."
Feeling a little embarrassed that she'd been caught grinning so widely, Trina scoffed. "None of your business." She pocketed her phone and headed for the door of the school. "Let's go, we're going to be late." Still looking at her suspiciously, Tori followed.
The moment they walked through the doors of Hollywood Arts, a strange pressure descended upon them. She wasn't the most popular girl in school, sure, but it was like everyone was actively avoiding her. She caught a few whispers and glances her way, and she couldn't figure out what had changed between yesterday and today.
"What's going on?" Trina asked, separating herself from her little sister and walking up to Beck.
The taller boy smiled humorlessly. "Nothing, just some stupid high school drama. You know how it is."
Unwilling to let him get off so easily, Trina stepped in front of him. "Like what?"
Beck sighed. "Look, I've gotta go, Trina. Seriously, don't worry about it. Concentrate on the video, alright?" He pat her lightly on the shoulder and walked off to his first class, leaving her with more questions than answers.
It was a strange day after that at Hollywood Arts. No one seemed to want to meet her eyes, and the moment she walked into a room, the volume dropped to a whisper. She was used to being somewhat of a pariah, but not like this. The most confusing thing was that she'd seen Lindsey smiling smugly at her with her friends, looking far too pleased with herself.
After such a tense and uncomfortable morning, she was relieved when her second class was over so that she could head straight to the school's film studio. Everyone who was working on Andre's video was allowed to miss their afternoon classes to film–hence the reason so many people were eager to help out.
On her way to her locker, a dancer she recognized from the auditions bumped into her hard enough to make her drop her books. When the girl didn't try to help her or even mutter out an apology, she glared after the bitch. She wanted so badly to chase after her and really give her something to be upset with her about, and the only reason she didn't was because they were shooting in less than an hour. Hollywood Arts had a zero tolerance policy on fighting, and she couldn't risk a week's detention over something so stupid and petty. Andre was counting on her, and she'd be damned if she let him down.
"Let me help you with that," a girl said, bending down to pick up a few of her books.
Trina grabbed the Algebra book from the girls hands, relieved that at least someone in the school wasn't being a total wazzbag. "Thanks."
"No problem. Anything for the slut sleeping her way to the top."
Trina snapped her head up, only to see that it was Lindsey smirking wickedly back at her. She grit her teeth and swallowed the bile rising in her throat. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, don't try to play innocent. Everyone knows about you and Andre hooking up. I thought it was strange that you became the lead dancer over me."
The brunette closed her eyes to stem her anger. At the very least that explained the whispers. "I'm the lead because I'm a better dancer."
A sharp bark of laughter erupted from the blonde's throat, and she leaned back on her heels to stare at Trina incredulously. "Do you honestly believe that? God, I knew you were stupid, but this is ridiculous. In case you somehow misunderstood what I just said, let me explain it in a way that even you can understand: Andre picked you because he wanted to fuck you."
Trina clenched her fist. She was going to hit her. As much as she wanted to shoot this video and as much as she didn't want to let Andre down, she was going to cave to cave the bitch's face in if it was the last thing she ever did. All of the logic in the world couldn't stop her, and it felt like someone else was controlling her body as she raised her fist. She saw Lindsey's eyes widen as she too realized what was about to happen.
Jade roughly pulled the girl to her feet, a mere second before Trina was going to throw her punch. "Don't you have somewhere to be? Maybe a street corner to stand on?"
The blonde glared at Jade but quickly withered under the goth's much more piercing gaze. She'd heard about the things Jade had done to her enemies, and she didn't particularly want to piss off a girl who regularly carried a pair of large scissors around with her and made movies about death and violence. To maintain at least a shred of her dignity, Lindsay walked off in a huff, shooting them both one last glare.
Trina barely noticed the girl leave. She was visibly shaking with rage, struggling to calm herself down by thinking of things that made her happy. Words usually never got to her like this. People had been talking smack about her for years, but this time it'd actually angered her.
"Calm down, Vega. If you let trash like that get to you, you'll never make it in the music industry." Jade said, holding out her hand to help the girl up.
She took a few more deep breaths and accepted the offered hand. Her blood pressure was spiking to the point where she could feel little beads of sweat begin to pop up on her forehead. She hadn't been this angry in awhile. "Thanks, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't stopped me. If I could replace her with another dancer, I would."
Jade nodded, giving her a somewhat sympathetic frown. "Well, we can't have you ruining this video for Andre. You're actually not doing a terrible job for once."
Trina laughed a little, already feeling better. From Jade, that was a real compliment. "Well, thanks again. Are you coming to the shoot?"
The taller girl sighed dramatically. "I guess I'd better since my boyfriend's directing it and all. Let's go." Without waiting to see if she was ready Jade strode off, forcing Trina to quickly shove her things in her locker and catch up.
"Why are you being nice to me?" she asked after matching Jade's pace.
Jade frowned. "Well, you're a whole lot less annoying when you're not hitting on my boyfriend."
By the time they arrived at the shoot things were already in full swing. There was a definite excitement in the air as students milled around, setting up props and equipment at the direction of Sinjin, Robbie, and Beck. The principal had even shown up as it was a pretty huge deal for the school as well, and she could see him standing in a corner talking to Lane. The girls split up to find their respective 'boyfriends,' barely giving each other a parting glance. They weren't really friends, but their relationship was a lot better than it had been.
"Trina!" a voice called from behind her, and she turned to see Andre waving her over. Against her will a smile instantly popped onto her face, and she jogged over to meet him. Without even think about it she wrapped her arms him and hugged him, sighing softly when he returned it. All of the murderous rage and bitter resentment she'd just been feeling was melted off of her by Andre's warmth. She didn't really want to let go when, but any longer and it might've crossed the lines from a friendly hug into a...well, a hug that might raise a few eyebrows. Especially with the rumors flying around about them.
"Nervous?" she asked, noting the way he kept playing with his tie after they'd separated.
"A little. This is a big deal for us."
"Us?" Trina repeated. It made her heart skip a beat the way he thought about the both of them as one.
He looked a little surprised himself that he'd said it but quickly recovered. "Yeah, well, I mean you choreographed this thing. It can really help your dancing career."
She frowned at the way he stressed the word dancing, but decided to overlook it. She couldn't deny that she enjoyed dancing more than both acting and singing put together, but she still wasn't willing to give up on her goal of being a triple threat. "True. I'm going to go get changed." She felt his eyes on her as she walked away, and she couldn't stop herself from putting just a little extra sway into her hips. She knew how he felt, because she was feeling it too.
It didn't take her long to get into her first outfit since it was a short, blue sequined dress and a pair of high top sneakers. Their wardrobe designer had done an amazing job with their outfits, and though she always thought she looked good, now she thought she looked fucking amazing. By the time she arrived back on set, everything was in place and Robbie and Sinjin were setting up and testing the lights.
She quickly found Andre giving orders to a few freshmen and walked over to him. "When do we start shooting?"
Andre turned around and opened his mouth to answer, but the words seemed to get stuck in his throat. She saw his eyes run down her body with unhidden interest, and it made her smile more than it should have that he obviously liked what he saw if the way he was licking his lips was any indication.
"Now," Beck interrupted, walking over with Sinjin in tow. Sinjin was currently fiddling with what looked like an over-sized television remote, and like usual, he was mumbling weirdly to himself. "We're going to start with the chorus. It's the harder dance, so getting it out of the way first is probably a good idea."
Trina nodded, agreeing with him. Even if they ran out of time or storage space on just the group number, they could always re-shoot the parts with just the two of them later without having to worry about scheduling another studio day and getting all of the dancers back together.
She quickly gathered up the dancers–even Lindsey, though it was difficult to speak to her without wanting to break her nose–and put them in position. They went through a set of quick warm up stretches, ran through the sequence a couple of times for a refresher, and after she was confident that they had it down, nodded towards Beck as a sign to get things started.
It wasn't necessary for the set to be quiet since they were only recording video, so without bothering to ask for complete silence, he motioned for Robbie to start the camera. "Rolling," Robbie said holding up a finger, after about five seconds, he pointed at Sinjin to lower the lights.
"Action!" Beck shouted, motioning for the girl manning the audio equipment to start the song.
Music boomed from the speakers a few seconds before the chorus. Trina and Andre looked at each other, smiled and began to dance.
An hour later, Trina plopped down tiredly into a large pink beanbag, glad to finally have a break after near nonstop dancing. They'd gone through the group number almost twenty times and from four different angles, pretty much ensuring that they wouldn't have to do any re-shoots. At first glance the footage had looked amazing, and that was before the color correction and special effects they were planning to add.
"You were great," Andre said, handing her a bottle of water. Smiling gratefully, Trina took it and snapped it open in one movement, thirstily downing half of it in one go.
"Thanks, you too." She shuffled over so that he could sit down next to her. It wasn't really made for two people, so they were practically on top of each other when he squeezed onto the cushion with her. Even though they were both a little sweaty, she didn't mind. His arm slipped around behind her and she leaned her head back onto it, glad for the support. It felt a little too good just sitting with him. Unfortunately they were in full view of pretty much everyone, and being conscious of how they might look to the casual observer she turned her head to stare at him. "Andre..."
"Hm?" he said around his own bottle of water, finishing it off and setting it down next to him.
He didn't seem to even notice their proximity, so she decided to shrug it off. Guys had a tendency to stretch themselves out on whatever surface they happened to be lying on, anyway. She leaned her head into him a little more, exhaling as she fully relaxed. It alarmed her that she was allowing herself to let her guard down so much around a guy-and in public, no less-but he was really comfortable. After a few seconds, she felt his arm lower and wrap around her hips, lightly pulling her closer to him.
"Don't you two look cozy," Tori commented, walking up with a cup of coffee in hand.
Andre shrugged. "We're just chilling."
Trina was a little grateful that he'd answered instead of her since she really didn't know how to explain their current position.
A skeptical look passed across her sister's face. "Right. Andre, can I talk to you?"
He glanced at Trina curiously before shrugging and standing up.
She found that she immediately missed his presence, and the beanbag that had been just right for her before now felt three times too large.
Her eyes followed Tori as she lead him out of the emergency exit door to go outside. She didn't know how long she stared at that spot waiting for them to reappear, but it gave her more than enough time to think the worst.
Finally the door opened and an angry looking Andre appeared followed by a confused Tori. Her heart leapt into her throat as multiple scenarios ran through her mind. Rather than return to his seat with her, Andre walked over to talk to Beck, pulling him away from a couple of stage hands who'd been quite obviously flirting with him. They spoke lowly to each other for a couple of minutes and then Beck glanced over in her direction. She quickly averted her gaze to make it seem like she wasn't obsessively watching them, and by the time she looked back over, Andre had already disappeared.
Trina looked around the room for him, but he wasn't anywhere to be found-which was strange since he was the star of the video.
"Looking for Andre?" Beck asked, walking up to her.
"Where is he?"
"He went back out to get some air," he said, nodding towards the emergency exit. "You should go talk to him." He held his hand out to her, and after a couple of seconds, Trina took it and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.
Normally, she'd have freaked out over Beck touching her, but for some reason it barely registered. She headed straight towards the door leading to the back of the school, pushing past a freshman who was standing dumbly in the middle of her path. The sun was bright outside of the dark studio, and she used her hand to shield her eyes so that she could actually see something. She caught a glimpse of the shiny blue tie he'd been wearing and quickly walked over to meet him.
"Hey Andre," she said, leaning on the brick wall next to him.
He looked surprised and a little reluctant to see her. "Hey."
"What's wrong?" she asked, urging him to talk to her. A thought occurred to her, and she leaned a little closer. "Is it something Tori said?"
When his face took on an uncomfortable expression, she knew she'd hit the nail right on the head. She pretty much knew what had happened, and even though it should've angered her, it only made her sad. Sad because she knew what was going to happen next, and sad because she couldn't even get upset about it. It wasn't even a shock, really. Of course Tori would get nervous about the time they were spending together and finally make her move.
"Sort of. Do you...do you really like me?"
Trina blinked and then laughed. She hadn't been expecting that question. "Do you really want me to stroke your ego more?" When he didn't smile back, she reached her hand out to grab his. "What's wrong?" she repeated.
Andre let out a breath through his nose. "First of all, before I say this, I believe you over everyone. Okay?" When she nodded, he ran a hand through his twists. "There's an ugly rumor going around that the only reason you got the lead role was because you...well, seduced me."
"What? I didn't even kiss you until way after you said I was the lead!" she exclaimed, the anger she'd felt earlier begin to bubble up inside of her chest again.
"I know, and that's why I don't believe it. Didn't believe it. I can tell when someone's using me."
She felt herself calm down a little at his words, relieved that he realized how full of shit the rumor was. "So why are you so upset?"
"Why am I so upset? Why aren't you upset? Someone's dragging your reputation through the mud!"
She paused to think about that. He had a point there. "I guess it's because I thought something else was going on."
Her relieved expression piqued his curiosity, and he pushed off of the wall to look straight at her. "What did you think it was?"
"It's stupid. I thought Tori...I thought she told you she liked you," she mumbled before awkwardly laughing it off.
She saw the annoyed expression pass across his face and figured it'd be a good time to take her leave. "Well...see you inside." She started to walk towards the door, but she wasn't expecting his strong hand to grab her wrist and turn her around to face him again. Her eyes were wide as he gripped her around the waist and planted a bone chilling kiss on her, and it wasn't long before she was putting her all into the kiss just like he was.
She felt his lips nip gently at her neck, her entire body warming under his talented mouth. She tried to stay quiet lest someone heard them, but a groan slipped out of her throat despite her best efforts. She swore she felt him smile against her skin, and a second later, he repeated the action on the other side of her neck. If they weren't in the middle of shooting a very important music video she'd have let him continue, but the last thing she wanted to do was get too distracted to finish. She pulled back and kissed him one more time on the lips, beaming at how happy she felt at that moment. She hadn't lost him to Tori, and if his words were to be believed, she never would. "Why do you like me?" she suddenly asked.
Andre smirked. "You mean besides how beautiful and talented you are?"
Trina laughed. "Well, that's obvious, but why else?"
"I gotta admit, I asked myself the same question a million times. It's the weirdest thing. Suddenly, I just...saw you," he said a bit uncomfortably, looking more unsure of himself than she'd ever seen him.
"Saw me?"
"Yeah, like, you don't let anyone get in the way of your dreams. I wanted what you had–that ability to roll with the punches and do what makes you happy."
Trina laughed again, humorlessly this time. "There's nothing impressive about that."
"Are you kidding? If someone said that I sucked, I'd fall apart. I need people to constantly tell me that I'm good, or talented, or going places. If even one stranger says I'm not good enough, I dwell on it for weeks. I'm not as strong as you are, Trina, so when I'm with you, I feel like you're sharing some of that strength to me. The only thing that matters is what you think." He let out a frustrated breath, annoyed that he couldn't get his feelings across correctly. "I know it sounds selfish, but it's not like that. You just make me want to be a better artist. A better man. I feel like I don't have to be Andre Harris, the super talented singer and songwriter, to get your attention. I've never felt that with anyone before I got to know you."
She felt her eyes sting, and her throat tightened to the point where she could barely swallow. If he got down on one knee right at that moment, she couldn't say for sure that she wouldn't marry him. "Super talented singer and songwriter? Awfully full of yourself, aren't you?" she joked.
He chuckled loudly at that. "See? That right there. That's why I lo–like you."
Both of them had heard his slip up, but neither of them chose to comment on it. Andre because he was too embarrassed to speak, and Trina because her mouth was too dry to form words. She couldn't be sure, but it'd definitely sounded like he was about to say that he loved her-which was a far cry from how she'd thought this conversation would go.
When Tori had first pulled him away to talk, she was certain that things between them had ended before they'd even really started, but here she was. Here they were.
She didn't love him. That much she knew. But she liked him, he liked her, and for right now, that was good enough.
AN: We're almost done! Long chapter that was almost two, but five is a good round number to end on.