Disclaimer: See last chapter
:}
"Okay, what the holy hell is this?" Tori asked as she made her way into the home she'd been sharing with Jade West, her paramour of over two years.
"Oh, hi?" Robbie Shapiro greeted. "Trina asked me to help make up the place. Looks good, doesn't it? Plus, this year, we have a few rent boys to do the heavy lifting."
"DUDE!" Trina screeched. "Rent boy is British slang for a make prostitute. We just hired some Task Bunnies to help with the heavy lifting, maybe come up with some of the decorating ideas." The girl walked into view, wearing a fashionable but functional track suit, ideal for the days labors. "Why don't you head out and supervise the outside. It's past time they started setting up the outside decorations we got."
"Kay kay." The boy chirped, before heading out the door.
"I wouldn't be caught dead with rent boys." Trina griped. "They cost far to much per hour. I get almost the same satisfaction with this lot, and at a fraction of the cost."
"And has jade seen this yet?" Tori wondered.
"Nope, she took that byproduct of her relationship with Beck to visit his parents." The older girl explained. "Um, Beck's, not Ryan's, though if Beck is there, guessing he'd be doing that too…"
Tori made a face. 'Eight years out of Hollywood Arts, and Jade and Beck, no longer a couple. Guessing the harsh realities of Hollywood broke everyone a little. Just glad I sold my talent, never my soul, to Mason, cause I have the huge house, the money to pay this group of strangers to decorate my home. Plus, who the fuck would have dreamed that Trina could manage money. Guessing figuring out how to afford the chiz she loved, back in High School, gave her an insight into investing and chiz, cause she makes me loads of money. More then tripled what I gave her to invest, in just a couple of years. Fuck… Even mason uses her skills. Man set her up with Dillon Archer just cause… And of course, she lives down the street from me…'
It was all the Latina could do to reach back, offering to employ some of her former classmates. Robbie shocked her by being almost as good a songwriter as Andre. 'Just never, NEVER leave the lyrics to him.' Tori had incorporated the boy into her backup band, and co-wrote most of her hits with him. Unfortunately, that was it for the Hollywood success stories, or as Sikowitz once explained it, the record number of from one class to make it big in Hollywood.
Andre was a local legend, nor rich, not poor, but happy having settled down into making music. He wound up hooked up with Cat, who decided she'd rather work with kids then use that insane talent of hers. Cat still sang, with Andre's band, when she felt like it, but instead now taught music at a local elementary school. They were waiting for her to get a more secure deal, what with the schools PTA paying her, before they started having kids of their own. 'Personally, I think, attending Ryan's birth put her off a bit. Jade was, from the video, loud…'
Beck had given up on acting, working in an office, and slowly making his way up as a sales person, selling plastic and rubber solutions for Sinjin's families company. Comfortably middle class, the slow death of his Hollywood dreams didn't hurt him nearly as much as they did Jade, who found being a mother loads more work then expected.
'Jade…' Tori thought, as she watched the workers continue to transform her living room into the set of a holiday special. 'Took a minute for her to become a decent mother. Her own childhood, it scared her, made her one of those "Never again" parents, who may just spoil their kids, except she doesn't want that either. No, I've never seen anyone study being a mother more then she did, to the point where she wasn't that hurt when she found out Beck had been seduced by some chick…' The memory of how hurt Jade had been wasn't something Tori wanted to have. 'His reaction, however, blaming her, that nearly destroyed her. Started out affair, cause she needed some place to stay, and Cat didn't have the room. Rob, he directed her to me, just after my previous disaster of a relationship had imploded. So, there I was, bunkered in to survive the bad press, and I have this cranky, hurt house guest who was fighting for custody of her kid, cause she'd dedicated her last couple of years to being a good mother instead of getting a job and helping pay for, I don't know, cause child care, so expensive, she'd have basically been paying for that.'
In the end, Tori seduced the goth out of self preservation, figuring that jade might be tolerable if she was getting laid, and her own love life had always been a touch worse then a loveless relationship with her one time bully. 'Should have known, Trina on board, meaning things are not going the way I'd planned.'
"So, does jade know…" It was a dangerous question. "I mean last year, she insisted on keeping things small…"
"Last year, she was a divorcee with small child, living under your roof, and wasn't sure if fucking you was payment, or solace." Trina said. "NO, I'm here, doing your home up, cause she asked me to. Wants to surprise Ryan now that he's old enough to enjoy the full Christmas effect."
"He's four." Tori reminded her sister.
"Thus old enough to think of Santa as someone other then a fat perv who's lap he's supposed to sit upon." The older girl said. "Thinking me and Dillon should consider having one of those…"
"So, she's finally embraced my money, huh?' Tori sounded less then thrilled.
"Tori, I think this is a good sign." Trina assured her sister. "After all, you did propose, over Thanksgiving, and she hasn't given you an answer yet, so…"
Tori grunted. "This is gonna be an annual thing, isn't it?"
"I think it's called Christmas." Trina joked, and turned back to overseeing the transformation of the house.
:}
Just another holiday chapter.
