The digital click on her dashboard informs her that it's fifteen minutes past seven, which gives her just fifteen minutes to drive the remaining two miles to the restaurant. Tori check through her side mirror to ensure that no cars are close and quickly switches lanes. Stepping down on the gas pedal, she urges herself to drive faster so as to make it on time.
It's Beck's 27th birthday and he has invited his family and closest friends to celebrate with him over dinner. For the last several hours, Tori has anxiously been counting down the hours for this dinner. It's the first time since their breakup over a year ago that she's going to see his family and undoubtedly, will receive the inevitable third degree from his mother about why their relationship ended. It's not like she can tell her that her son is a cheater, at least not on his birthday. Perhaps she won't even have to sit by her. Since she's running late, she will probably have to sit at the end of the table and avoid any uncomfortable conversations.
Ten minutes later, her phone rings and she reaches over to turn on the speaker function.
"Hello?" she answers as she sets the phone down on her lap and focuses on the road ahead, trying to get to the restaurant as quickly as possible.
"Tor, are you there yet?" comes Robbie's voice.
"No, I'm about ten minutes away. Where are you?" she asks, a bit relieved that she is not the only person running late.
"I took a wrong turn and am trying to get back on a main road. Will you tell Beck I'm going to be a bit late. I tried calling his phone but he didn't answer" Robbie replies in frustration.
"Sure, I'll let him know. See you there" Tori says. As he hangs up and the line goes dead, she lets out a deep sigh. She hopes this night goes smoothly. Things between her and Beck have been going great since Andre's wedding two weeks prior. They have spent nearly every day together, either just spending time at his house (which for Tori is beginning to feel like home once again), or going out to eat or to the movies. She went along with him to work functions and has spent hours watching him working on set. They are slowly getting back to the restoring their relationship and it would be a shame to have the painful memories brought up again by his family who may have questions.
Determined to not let this spoil the evening, Tori shakes the thought out of her mind and drives the remaining distance to her destination.
A little over ten minutes later, she pulls up to the restaurant and waits for the valet to take her keys and give her the ticket. She takes a moment before entering the restaurant to smooth down her dress and check that her hair isn't unruly. She takes a deep breath and begins walking through the entrance door.
She is soon emerged by the darkness of the place which is illuminated by an array of lights and three large chandeliers in the center. He sweet aroma of flowers instantly fills her nostrils and, from where she stands, she can see bouquets upon bouquets of white and red roses. The romanticism of the place eases her anxiety and makes her excited to see Beck. She takes a few steps towards the hostess' podium. It takes a few seconds for the hostess to show up and when she does, Tori is caught off guard.
Standing just a foot or two away from her is a short, petite girl. The dim lights reflect perfectly against her olive skin and her bright red hair is nearly pulled back in a pony tail, held by a big, black bow.
"Cat?" Tori says, her eyes wide with shock.
Cat looks up, finally noticing Tori and her mouth drops open. "Tori! Oh my gosh, Tori how are you?" the girl asks excitedly, and a bit too loud.
"I'm great. I can't believe this, I haven't seen you in years. How are you?" Tori asks, walking over to her friend from high school and throwing her arms around her. Immediately, Cat reciprocates and the two girls embrace each other. After a few seconds, they let go and smile broadly.
"I'm great. This is so amazing, look at you," exclaims Cat as she looks at Tori up and down, "you look so pretty."
"Aw, thank you Cat. I can't believe this, it's been so long. Has Beck seen you? He should be here" Tori replies.
"He is? I just started my shift so I probably missed him. You guys are still together, I knew you would make it" Cat says which makes Tori's smile falter a bit.
"We're not exactly "together" together. We're sort of working it out, it's a long story" she says.
"Oh...Well, I'm sure you guys will be okay. You were always perfect for each other."
Tori smiles and notices that there is a small line beginning to fall behind her. She remembers that she is in a restaurant and already running fairly late to dinner. "I should probably go find my seat, but please come find us when you can. It's Beck's birthday and I'm sure he would be so happy to see you" Tori exclaims.
"Okay, I'll definitely stop by your table" Cat replies and quickly looks up Beck's table and points Tori towards it.
Once she walks away from her friend, it take Tori mere seconds to spot Beck and his party. The long table is in an isolated corner, small flower centerpieces and candles fill the center of it and two lamps are hanging above it. She spots Beck sitting on a chair in the center, his mother on his left side and an empty chair on his right. She recognizes a few people, Parker and Michael among them and a few of his co-workers.
She slowly makes her way to the table and before she can make it all the way, Beck raises his head and makes eye contact with her. She watches as his smile widens and he stands up from his chair. Everyone else turns their head to her direction and suddenly, she feels herself blush. She takes the remaining few steps and politely greets everyone there. She receives a few waves or head nods from most people, but it's Beck's mother who makes a bigger spectacle of her arrival.
"Tori, sweetheart, I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up. Better late than never though, right?" she exclaims as Tori carefully makes her way to the empty chair next to Beck.
"I'm really sorry, I always underestimate L.A traffic" she responds.
Beck smiles as she takes a seat and he follows suit. "You look beautiful" he leans over and whispers in her ear. Tori turns to face him and smiles.
"That's what Beck was telling us," his mother continues, interrupting the intimate moment shared between them, "he told us you wouldn't miss this."
"Well he was right. I told him I would come" Tori replies.
"Oh, well you know people don't always keep their word" his mother says which makes Tori look back at Beck. He simply shakes his head and mouths "ignore her" to which Tori quickly nods. As much as she tries, Tori can never quite understand Beck's mother. Even during the five years they were together, she could never figure out if the lady liked her or just put up with her for her son's sake. Tori was glad for the civility, though the underhand jabs sometimes got to her.
"Anyway," Beck quickly jumps in to change the subject, "I was just telling Parker here that the show is looking for a new writer and since he's been trying to break into the business, I can put in a good word with the producer."
"That's fantastic" Tori exclaims, genuinely happy for her friend. For a few years now, Parker has been sending scripts out to production companies in the hopes of getting hired. He will undoubtedly be grateful for the opportunity and can finally share his talent with others.
"It would be great. I always have scripts on hand if they want to read my work" Parker chimes in, excited for the discussion. As the conversation continues and several people put in their two cents about the art of writing and how difficult it is to be in the business, Beck slow grabs a hold of Tori's hand under the table and slowly caresses the back of it with the pad of his thumb. She smiles at him and playfully squeezes his hand.
"Thank you for being here" he says loud enough for her to hear.
"I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Happy birthday" she replies and turns to face him. She places a quick kiss on his cheek and then brings her other hand to his face to wipe away the excess lip gloss from his cheek.
"Oh, Robbie told me to tell you he's going to be a bit late. He took a wrong turn somewhere" Tori tells him and Beck simply nods his head. The two turn their attention back to the other members of the party and they listen as his mother goes on about how proud she is of Beck and how much he has changed her life.
"You are such an amazing man and I could not be happier for all your accomplishments. I couldn't have asked for a better son and I am just glad that you are happy and found someone to share your life with" she finishes as a few tears roll down her face. Beck hesitantly lets go of Tori's hand and hugs his mother. Tori smiles at the sweet moment between mother and son. However, hearing his mother talk about her being someone he can share his life with makes her feel a bit unsettled again. Sure they have been back on good terms and perhaps their relationship is back to where it used to be, but it's not something they have discussed and surely before she gets that title back, they should figure out what's going on between them.
Almost as though he has heard her thoughts, Beck turns back to look at her and says "we can talk about that some time" and once again grabs hold of her hand. She nods and decides to let it go and not worry so much about it right now. They'll have the opportunity to sit down and define their relationship some other time.
Shortly after, as they beginning placing their dinner orders, Robbie walks towards the table, his face pale and his eyes wide.
"Robbie, you made it" says Tori who notices him first. She quickly realizes that something is off with her friend and tugs at Beck's sleeve to make him see.
"What's going on Rob?" Beck asks once he's noticed his friend's off behavior.
"She...here...there" Robbie stammers and points towards the entrance of the restaurant. Everyone at the table turns to the direction he is pointing, curiously wanting to see what it is that has the young man so shaken up.
"What's he talking about?" Beck's mother asks loudly, her view obstructed by waiters walking around.
"Who's here?" Beck asks, also unable to spot who his friend is talking about.
"You mean Cat?" starts Tori, looking up at her friend. Robbie nods his head and looks back towards the entrance.
"Wait, Cat's here? Cat Valentine?" Beck asks bewildered.
"Yeah, she's the hostess. I told her to stop by later to surprise you" Tori replies, unsure of why Robbie is reacting the way he is about having seen Cat.
"Shit" Beck whispers and he then urges Robbie to sit down. Slowly, his friend obliges but he can not keep his attention on anything but the hostess table where he hopes he can spot the red haired girl once again.
"What's going on?" Tori whispers to him, her eyes never leaving Robbie.
Beck leans over to her and quietly informs her that Robbie and Cat dated and she walked out on him.
Stunned, Tori brings her hands up to her mouth and shakes her head. "I had no idea" she finally says and can see why her friend is reacting as he is. She suddenly feels guilty for inviting Cat to say hello.
"Did you see you Rob?" Beck asks.
"Yes, she saw me and ran the other way. Damn it I haven't seen her since she walked out and now she runs away as if I'm the one who screwed up. Well, she owes me an explanation" Robbie demands angrily.
"This might not be the best place for that" Parker quickly adds, hoping to calm down the man sitting next to him.
"Like hell it isn't" Robbie replies and turns his attention to Beck for the first time. "Happy birthday by the way."
Beck smirks, amused by how appropriate Robbie manages to be despite his erratic state. "Thanks buddy" he replies.
As an awkwardness befalls the table, their waiter comes over and takes Robbie's order. Tori takes the chance to look around the restaurant and sees if she spots Cat, but she doesn't. The bright red hair is nowhere to be seen.
"Excuse me, I'll be right back" she announces, mostly to Beck, and rises from the table towards the ladies' room. If she's learned anything in all the years of having female friends, it's that if you want to avoid someone, specifically a boy, the bathroom is the place to go.
She quickly spots the white swinging doors and once she enters the small room, a blast of light engulfs her and it takes her eyes a few seconds to adjust to it. As soon as she can see clearly again, she looks around the room and sees a few women primping themselves by the mirror. One of them kept shifting her weight from foot to foot as her high stilettos clearly pinched her toes.
"Cat?" Tori calls out, causing the women to turn their attention to her. Ignoring their curious looks, Tori walks further back calling out her friend's name.
After about a minute, one of the stall doors opens and out comes out Cat Valentine. Her black uniform is a contradicting contrast against her hair and bright pink lipstick. Her subtle make up is now smudged and her mascara is running down her face along with a few tears.
"Aw Cat, come here" Tori says as she wraps her arms around her friend to comfort her. Regardless of how much time has passed since they last saw each other, Tori still feels overprotected over the younger girl. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea about you and Robbie. I would have warned you if I did" she continues, feeling horrible for not being able to give her a heads up.
Cat takes a step back and looks down to the floor. "It's not your fault Tori. You guys didn't know and I didn't know he would be here. I'm sorry if I ruined your night or Beck's night."
Tori shakes her head from side to side and raises her hands up to stop her. "You haven't ruined anything."
Cat sighs heavily and throws her head back. "I can't believe this is happening. I haven't seen him since...well...it's been a while. I didn't think I'd run into him like this. Is he mad at me?" she asks, looking back down at Tori.
"He's not happy" she replies softly, not wanting to further upset her friend.
"I can't blame him."
"Cat, what happened between you guys?" Tori asks.
"He didn't tell you?"
"Honestly, I had no idea you guys were even together until just now. I think Beck knows, but he's never told me" Tori says.
"We started dating after freshman year and were together for a while...three years or so. It started off as a fling you know? Just a way to pass the summer before going back to school, but when it was time to go back...it was hard to let go. I don't know why we never told anyone, but we eventually moved in together and it was pretty serious. It was good, until I came home one day and found this ring...this tiny diamond ring hidden in the closet and I freaked out."
"He proposed?" Tori asks, shocked at how serious and secretive this relationship was. How had she not known? She did go home every summer and holidays and spent time with both of them. How could she not have noticed? As she asks herself the questions, however, she knows how. She was too busy being preoccupied with her relationship (or break up) with Beck to care about anyone but herself. She couldn't see what was right in front of her because she was too busy with her own life.
"No! I was twenty-one, there was no way I could be engaged, no matter how much I cared for him. But I knew, that if I gave him the chance to ask I wouldn't be able to say no to him. I didn't want to disappoint him...so I left. I packed up some of my things and just never looked back."
"Oh Cat" is all Tori can say.
"I know I'm a horrible person and I regret just walking out on him like that, but Tori..." she trails off, unable to find a justification for her actions. She can come up with some lame excuse about how it her decision ultimately worked out in her favor, but as she looks around, she can't say that it did. Despite all the dreams she had during her youth, she ended up as a struggling actress, having to play hostess at a restaurant to pay her bills.
"You don't owe me any explanations and I'm not judging you okay? Trust me, we've all made mistakes" Tori says.
Cat gives her friend a small smile and nods her head. She glances over by the mirror where only one lady remains adjusting her make up. She is, not so subtly, eavesdropping on their conversation. Once she sees Cat looking at her, she closes her compact and heads out.
"I should get back to work" Cat says hesitantly.
"Robbie's looking for you" Tori informs her. If she couldn't give her a heads up before, she will now.
"Can you try and talk to him? I can't have a scene here, I will lose my job. Tell him if he wants to speak to me, I will give him my number before he leaves and he can call."
"Okay, I'll tell him" Tori assures her. Cat nods thankfully and slowly walks out of the bathroom.
Tori looks after her friend until the door stops swinging. She walks towards the large mirror the ladies were looking in to adjust her own make up. To think, her biggest worry was making it on time. Now, she has to try and contain Robbie all night and pray that Beck's birthday isn't ruined. As she swipes the gloss one last time over her lips, she straightens her posture and mentally prepares herself for what could be a difficult night.
She walks back out to the restaurant and towards the long table in the corner. Before retaking her seat, she stops in front of Robbie and leans over to whisper Cat's instructions in his ear. She notices his shoulders stiffen at first, but then he submits and nods his head in agreement. Tori takes a second to look her friend in the eyes and offer him a smile, which he slowly returns. Once she is sure that Robbie will wait until the end of the night to confront Cat, she straightens up and walks to reclaim her seat next to Beck.
"Everything okay?" he asks as soon as she sits.
"Everything is fine" she tells him and reaches down to grab his hand. Seeing the uncertainty on his face, she squeezes his hand once again and smiles. "Relax birthday boy, let's just have fun" she says and yet again leans over and kisses his cheek.
Soon after, the waiter brings around their dishes and the group begin digging in. While Tori catches Robbie looking towards the entrance a few times, she is determined to make this night about Beck and enjoy being able to celebrate another birthday with him, especially since the last one was not so great between them.
"You should try this, you'll like it" he turns to tell her and before she can ask to taste it, Beck has cut up a small piece of his pasta dish and brings it up to her mouth. Feeling a bit giddy at the fact that he is feeding her, she bites down on his fork and tastes his dish.
"So good" she happily exclaims once she's swallowed it. He nods his head and for the remainder of dinner, he continued feeding her food off his plate and taking some off of hers.
The night dwindles and the small group gets ready to go.
"Well sweetie, I'm going to get going. An old lady like me shouldn't be out this late at night. Happy birthday" Beck's mother says as she rises from her seat next to him. "Tori, it was very nice seeing you" she continues. Tori tries her best to display a genuine smile and watches as the older woman hugs her son, bids farewell to everyone else and walks towards the restaurant.
"We should get going as well" says Parker as he, Michael and a few of Beck's co-workers rise. Beck stands up from his chair and shakes hands with the lot of them, thanking them for coming.
After several minutes, the only people left are Tori, Beck and Robbie who is lazily picking at a few morsels on his plate.
"So...Robbie" Tori says trying to get her friend's attention. He slowly looks up at her and then at Beck.
"I know what you're going to say, but it's harder to go up there than I thought" he exclaims and looks back down at his plate.
"You'll regret not doing it" Beck replies, trying to talk some sense into his friend. "You've been waiting for this moment for a long time."
Robbie sighs and scoffs loudly. "I kept picturing what it would be like, running into her again. I had a whole speech ready to tell her off...and now, I can't say any of those things."
"Maybe that's a good thing. You can both sit down and actually talk about what happened" Tori chimes in.
"Yeah, I guess" Robbie replies. After playing with his food a bit longer, he finally puts down his fork and stands up from his chair. "I'll see you guys around" he says and slowly begins walking towards the entrance. His friends watch as his steps falter and his shoulders rise and fall abruptly. After what seems like an eternity, but is just a few seconds, they see him reach the spot where Cat is standing.
They both awkwardly avoid eye contact and after an even more awkward and forced greeting, Cat hands him a piece of paper which he grabs before nodding his head and walking out of the restaurant.
As the doors close behind Robbie, Tori lets out a sigh of relief and sits back. She suddenly feels Beck's arm drape across her shoulder and she leans her head against it.
"Did you have a good birthday?" she asks him and smiles when he nods. "Good" she says.
"Thanks again for coming" he says.
"You're welcome. I'm sorry I didn't get you a present, but-" she says before he interrupts her.
"I don't need a present. Just you being here is enough" he replies, pulling her closer to him.
"I'm glad, but as I was saying, I didn't get you a present because I thought..." her voice starts trailing off and she starts fiddling with her thumbs. Beck looks down curiously, awaiting the remainder of her comment. "You thought..?" he asks.
"I thought that maybe, I could, um...come back home...with you" she finally says, her voice barely audible.
Taken aback, Beck sits back a bit and his mouth hangs open for a bit. Tori slowly raises her head to look at him and laughs at his reaction.
"Really Tor?" he is finally able to articulate.
"Really. Just for tonight and maybe, if it goes alright, we can take it from there" she says, quickly adding that she isn't ready to move back in indefinitely just yet.
"Oh, okay" he says. She notices the slight hint of disappointment in his voice but he quickly recovers and puts a big smile on.
"It's the best birthday gift I've gotten in a long time" he says.
Tori looks into his eyes and, seeing how happy he truly is at the moment, she leans closer to him and presses her lips onto his. For just a minute, the two forget their surrounding and are wrapped up in the intimacy of a moment they have been waiting for since their last kiss the day of Andre's wedding.
"Happy birthday" she whispers once she pulls away. Beck smiles and places one quick peck on her lips before helping her up from her chair and leading her away from the table, towards the exit.
Before they leave, Tori walks over to where Cat is to bid farewell to her friend. She grabs a small piece of paper and a pen and jots down her number. "Please call me" she pleads the younger woman, who nods and embraces her friend for the last time that night. Once the girls pull away, Beck walks over to Cat. "It's really great to see you again" he says and hugs her as well.
Once the three of them say their good byes, Tori walks over to the valet and hands him her ticket.
"Don't you have a ticket?" she asks Beck once she notices that he hasn't given one to the valet.
"No, I didn't drive here" he says, a smirk appearing on his face.
"How exactly did you expect to get home then?" she asks.
"Well, not to say that I expected you coming home with me, but I sure hoped you would" he replied as he crossed his arms across his chest.
Tori narrows her eyes and shakes her head from side to side. "You, Beck Oliver, are very sneaky" she says.
He shrugs his shoulders innocently and winks at her. Tori laughs and a few seconds later, the valet pulls up with her car. Once he hands her the keys, Tori turns to Beck and holds them up for him. "Take me home?" she asks.
He reaches over to grab the keys from her and as he does, he leans down and kisses her once more. Hearing her call his place (their place) home once again, is everything he's been waiting for since the day she left.
"Gladly" he replies and walks over to hold the door open for her.