Thursday,

August 22nd, 2013

She cringed at the sharp sounds that continuously flowed out of the boy's mouth, sounds, that could definitely make glass shatter if they were just a little higher. His voice painfully scratched at her eardrums, goose bumps rose on her skin, but definitely not in enjoyment. She risked a look to the right, her eyes taking in the almost horrified expression on Andre's face as he leaned back and almost cowered away from the singing boy. When a particular high note came up in the song and the boy tried his best to hit it, Tori couldn't help but close her eyes as a ringing noise appeared in her ears.

"O-Okay, that's enough!" The painful noises stopped suddenly and Tori snapped her eyes back open, turning to her left to see Helen, her face crumpled in discomfort. "That was… not good."

Tori slowly looked at the boy, just in time to see the expectant smile slip from his face. He looked confused, his shoulders slumping and his eyes - which were partly covered by the thick mob of brunette hair - flicking restlessly between the four people sitting in front of him. "What do you mean?"

Helen pushed out an exaggerated sigh, waving her hand towards Tori. "Ms. Vega, would you?"

"Oh… well…" Tori straightened up, a little taken off guard by the principal's request, and sucked in a breath. "It was… interesting," she started, glancing at Andre for a short moment to send him a glare when he snorted, "But… what you did wasn't really… singing, per se, it was… screaming." The boy's face fell even more. "It wasn't good. I'm sorry."

Helen nodded, looking unimpressed, and quickly turned her head to the left, where a coconut milk slurping man was sitting. "Sikowitz?"

The acting teacher took one last loud slurp out of the straw stuck in the coconut and released a satisfied gasp, before starting to speak. "Martin," he started, leaning back in his seat, only to be interrupted.

"My name is Bryan."

"Oh. I like Martin better." He took another sip out of the coconut, then stared at the round object in his hand for a few seconds before furrowing his eyebrows and snapping his head back up. "What was I saying now?"

An impatient sigh rushed out of Helen's mouth. "Long story short: you and this school? No. You can go home. Bye bye!"

The boy – Bryan – huffed and stalked out of the room without another word. "Well, that was the last one," Helen said with a quick look at the audition list, "We're done for today."

Not hesitating one second, the short woman shot up from her seat and hurried out of the auditorium, calling after her shoulder for the last one who left to switch the light off before she walked out and let the heavy black door fall shut behind her. "Well, that was somethin'," Andre sighed as he rubbed his forehead.

"Ah, yes," Sikowitz spoke up, "As Confucius once said: It does not matter how slow you go, as long as you don't stop."

Tori and Andre exchanged a look before both of them curiously looked at the older teacher. "What… does that have to do with anything?"

Sikowitz turned to Tori and released the straw from his mouth. "Nothing. I just wanted to leave you two with some wise words before I go." Tori shot him an amused smile and watched the acting teacher hop to his feet and skip out of the door.

"You ready to go too?"

"Oh yeah, sure." They both got up and gathered their things before making their way out, Andre holding the door open for Tori before switching the lights off and following Tori into the hall. "Hey, wanna go and get some coffee?"

Andre shrugged his shoulders and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Sure." He opened his mouth to say something else but stopped suddenly, looking at something past Tori. "Can we help you?" Tori frowned and turned to look who Andre was talking to, only to freeze, her eyebrows creasing and lips parting.

"Ryder?"

His dark figure was leaning against the wall and his mouth was forming a lopsided smile, one, Tori found really charming once. Now it just made her sick. "Hey Tori." He pushed himself off the wall and strode over to where she was standing, hands casually stuffed in the pockets of his black jeans.

"Oh, you two… know each other?" Andre confusedly looked between the two, his eyes staying on Tori when she turned her attention towards him. "Um yeah." She paused. "Listen, could we get the coffee some other time?"

Andre's eyebrows shot up but he slowly nodded. "Sure thing. See ya tomorrow then."

He looked at Ryder one last time before turning around, leaving Tori alone with him. She sighed and when she was sure Andre was gone, she turned to Ryder. "What are you doing here?" she asked slowly, internally rolling her eyes when that sickly sweet smile only got wider.

"I don't think that's the right way to greet your ex-boyfriend, is it?"

"Really?" She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, leaning back a bit. "What would you prefer?"

Without missing a beat, he opened his arms wide and waited for Tori to step forward. But the brunette just squinted at him unbelievingly before letting her arms fall to her side and walked past him. The heavy thump thump of footsteps behind her told Tori that he tried to keep up with her fast pace as she steered for the exit. "Tori, wait."

A gentle hand came to rest on her arm, making her stop suddenly, despite everything in her head telling her not to. She looked up then, at his handsome face which was, at the moment, contorted in a remorseful manner. "Don't you want to know why I'm here?"

She did. The confusion and curiosity of why he was here was really nagging at her but she wouldn't give him the impression that she cared. She didn't, not anymore. "I couldn't care less."

Her move of getting away was stopped, once again, by his hand. "I came here to see you, Tor," he explained softly, his head tilting to the side as his eyes pleaded with her, "I've missed you. So much."

Even if she wanted to, Tori didn't think she would have been able to stop the snort to come out. "Oh please," she scoffed while shrugging off his hand, "You couldn't have thought of something different to say? At least be more creative, if you already have to spoil my day."

"Tori." He sounded taken aback by Tori's tone, by her words, and surprise marked his face. What did he think how this meeting would go? That Tori would fall into his arms as soon as she saw him? "Look, I know I'm not your most favorite person but-"

"But?"

"But I was once, wasn't I? I want to become that person to you again." His blue eyes stared at her so expectantly that Tori felt almost obligated to do and say whatever he wanted her to say, but then she remembered who exactly was standing in front of her. He cheated on her. And as many times as he said that he was sorry in the past, Tori knew that he really hadn't meant it. He would do it all over again, if he got the chance, Tori was sure of it.

"There's no chance in hell for you to become that person again." Again, she walked away from him and this time she at least made it up to the main exit until she felt his hand on her arm again. His touch suddenly made her incredibly angry; she whirled around and roughly yanked her arm back, glaring at him. "Would you just stop touching me? God!" With more force than needed, Tori pushed against the door and stormed into the parking lot of the school, aware of the annoyingly persistent man still following her.

"I just want another chance with you," he suddenly yelled out and caused Tori to stop dead in her tracks. Not believing what she just heard, the brunette slowly turned around. Ryder sighed, shook his head and again, stared at her remorsefully. "It's the truth. I really miss you. I know I made a mistake and I wish I could turn back time and undo what I did." Liar. "I was stupid. I was an idiot for letting go of such an amazing woman like you. I took you for granted and that was a mistake."

He fell quiet then, waiting for a reaction, but all he got was a blank stare. At last, Tori put on a smile and stepped closer to him. "You know what?" She roamed his face and almost scoffed at the smile that reappeared on his lips. "You're still an idiot."

"No, I-… Just go out with me? Grab some coffee?"

"No, I don't want to."

"But why?"

Tori's face took on an almost comical form of incredulity. "Uh, hello? You cheated on me."

"Yeah, I know but I changed. That's why I'm here, I want to show you that I'm different now and that you can trust me."

"What do you really want?" Tori suddenly asked and curiously looked at him. "I mean, we broke up two years ago and you mean to tell me that you came all the way from L.A. just because you suddenly realized you miss me?"

"You don't believe me," he stated gravely, nodding his head and convincingly playing the act of the guy who was just misunderstood.

"Of course I don't believe you!"

"But you can! I'm telling the truth, can't you see?" He suddenly grabbed her arms and bent his knees to be at eyelevel with Tori. His eyes darted back and forth between hers in an almost desperate way. "Please just give me one more chance to make it up to you."

Despite the fact that everything inside of her was struggling against it and she really didn't even have feelings for Ryder anymore, Tori did contemplate giving him a chance, if only just for a short moment. What harm could it do to just go out with him for coffee? There weren't any strings attached, she was free to go whenever she pleased and maybe she would be able to see if this entire 'I miss you' thing was really just an act or if it was actually true. But what then? What would happen after that coffee? Truth to be told, she didn't even want him to make it up to her at all, she just didn't want to see him anymore, not even as a friend. "I'm sorry, Ryder," she said, more softly this time, "It's over. Once and for all."

Defeated, his hands fell from her arms and he straightened up. Tori didn't bother to say anything else, just turned around and walked to her car, when Ryder's voice reached her ears again. "Is there someone else?" She stopped again, rolled her eyes and then turned around to see him standing where she left him. "That's it right? That's why you don't want me back."

Tori released an impatient sigh. "You're really not as irresistible as you think you are. I'm not dating anyone; I just don't want to be with you." She frowned and added, "And even if there was someone… it really wouldn't be any of your business."

This time, she actually made it to her car.

…

Something changed between them.

Something, whatever it was, shifted, the air suddenly felt different between and all around them. It was as if the huge wall that stood high between Jade and everyone else suddenly cracked, not completely broken down yet, but there was a gaping hole now, right in the middle of it. Maybe it wasn't visible for everyone though.

Just Tori… Tori could see it.

The way she talked to her, the way she let her talk to her and just listened without any complaints, and the fact that this was the first time Jade didn't want to crawl into a hole and die on the day of Lia's death, showed Jade just how good Tori really seemed to be for her. Whatever it was – how understanding she was, that she managed to cheer her up like no one else really could, or just her general upbeat character – struck a chord with Jade, in the best way it possibly could.

Crouching down in front of the grey stone, Jade felt like an eternity had passed since she last was here. Flowers were blooming in vibrant colors all around the grave though, honoring her memory and her spirit that was just as colorful when she was alive.

"I miss you."

Jade smiled, her eyes running over the golden cursive writing of her fiancée's name. Her voice bounced off the walls in her head, saying that she misses her too, her smiling face and flying blonde hair burned as a clear image into her pupils. It may have been four years but Jade's memories were still as fresh as they could be. She would never forget her, she couldn't. "Sorry I didn't bring any flowers," she said, lips still forming a smile, "But this was rather spontaneous. I wasn't here in a long time."

Jade frowned and looked at her clasped hands. "I hope you can forgive me for that," she chuckled a little and looked back up. "I'm always… thinking about you." The all too familiar sting of tears arouse in her eyes and a shaky breath fought its way through her lips. "I don't really know how I survived so long without you. It's so… so hard, Amelia. God, you have no idea."

"But… there's Tori. She and Robbie went to high school together and she moved here last year, not really far away from-"She stopped suddenly, a smile replacing the frown on her face. "I don't really have to tell you that, do I? I mean if it's really true what you told me, you know, that people don't just vanish after death… then you probably know all that has happened, don't you?"

The noise of gravel scrunching brought Jade's eyes to lift from Amelia's stone to see an old woman walking by, wisps of gray hair escaping her messy ponytail and a bright red rose in her hand. After looking more closely, Jade recognized her from earlier visits to Amelia's grave. Almost every time she was here, Jade saw her, every time a red rose in her hand and every time that serene smile on her lips. "Would you look at that," Jade mumbled quietly, watching the woman walk down the path. "It's her again. She probably comes here every day. Who do you think she's visiting?"

Bringing her gaze back to the stone, Jade let her knees sink to the floor and placed her hands on her thighs, not really caring if her jeans got dirt on them. "Maybe her husband," she kept musing, "What do you think, hm?" Absentmindedly, she lifted her hand and reached out, her forefinger and thumb gently pinching a petal of a red flower. "I should probably come more often too. I don't know why I don't do it, to be honest." She frowned and shook her head. "Anyways. Tori. She's um… she's really helping me, Lia. I mean, she's always there, listening and… You would have liked her, I think. I'm actually pretty sure of it."

"It's the first time since you left that I actually feel… like I belong here." She retracted her hand, her eyes looking up again and looking at Lia's name almost in confusion. "Do you know what I mean?" A quiet laugh slipped out of her mouth. "I don't even know what I mean. It's just that… she's not forcing anything on me. I like that. I don't have to pretend that I'm okay when I'm with her. She understands and doesn't make me feel like… like it's wrong to not be okay."

She smiled then, realizing just how much Tori meant to her. Starting out as that really clumsy and hilariously awkward woman, Jade would have never thought that she would have such a huge influence on her life. So quickly, her view on Tori had changed; instead of looking at her and seeing 'Robbie's old best friend from high school', Jade now knew Tori had become her friend. A friend Jade didn't even know she was looking for.

"But enough of me now. What about you, met Elvis yet?"