Final Project

IV.

It was close to two in the morning and Beck didn't see sleep anywhere in sight. He was staring up at the ceiling of his RV, hardly any light in his house-on-wheels except from the red glow of the clock on his desk. He turned his head to the side, barely seeing the silhouette of his girlfriend lying next to him. He sighed, almost wishing (and feeling bad for doing so) that she wasn't there.

Beck knew, even before him and Jade left the parking lot, that their argument was far from over. He also knew, however, that their relationship was far from over. Therefore, it was no surprise to him when Jade continued to accuse him of taking Tori's side, nor was it a surprise to him when he began to comfort her when she started to cry. And it didn't surprise him when she began apologizing while pushing him to the bed, and he wasn't surprised when they relieved their passion and frustration through sex.

Sighing, he grabbed his phone off his desk to check the time, even though his clock was pretty clear. He clicked on his contacts and the first name on his list was Andre. Not knowing what else to do, he clicked on his name to message him.

Beck: You up?

Beck waited about two minutes before assuming the answer was no. Even though it was Saturday (well, Sunday morning technically), he wouldn't have been surprised if everyone else was asleep. He scrolled through his contacts, coming across Cat (who was probably sleeping like a baby), Robbie (it was probably about five hours past his bedtime), and Tori. Even though Beck felt like he needed to talk with Andre (just for guy time, to tell him his crappy night, to let him know he had nothing to worry about, to assure him he would look after Tori), he kind of felt that he owed Tori another apology. He clicked on her name.

Beck: You up?

Almost immediately, he got a response:

Tori: Yeah, what's up?

Beck: Can I call?

Tori: Give me two minutes.

Perfect amount of time for Beck to slowly get off the bed without disturbing Jade, find his jeans and pull them on as quietly as he could, and tiptoe outside of his RV.

Over at Tori's house, Tori had been slumped on the couch watching a show on TV that she couldn't even hear. Andre had come over after they all left KaraOKAAAAY and they ended up watching a movie. They snuggled for awhile, and before Tori knew it, Andre was fast asleep. It didn't come so easily to her.

So when Beck texted her at two in the morning, she was pretty surprised someone else was up. Tori had to carefully remove herself from Andre's arms to get up and head out to the patio so she could talk with Beck without disturbing her boyfriend.

As soon as she closed the sliding door, her phone began to vibrate. She answered.

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself. What are you doing up so late?"

She leaned against the railing, "I dunno, I tried to go to sleep. Andre's inside, passed out."

"Ah, you wore him out, huh?" Beck joked, his unseen grin contagious enough to make Tori grin, too.

"Haha, yeah, sure…something like that. Anyway, what's up?"

Beck ran a hand through his hair, walking a little further away from his RV, "I just wanted to apologize again for Jade. Her insecurities can cause her to do—."

Tori stopped him, "Beck, you don't have to keep apologizing for her…I know how Jade is. I'm used to it."

"It shouldn't be something you have to get used to though, you know? I mean, she still thinks that after two years I still have feelings for you."

"Oh…" his last comment threw her off guard. Did Jade know Beck had feelings for Tori? She never really thought about it, but she guessed it would make sense that Beck told Jade about what happened before the music awards. She told Andre, so why not?

"Yeah, I know, crazy, right? But that's just how Jade thinks. You're lucky you have someone like Andre that doesn't freak out over stuff like this."

Tori sat down on one of the patio chairs, "Yeah, pretty lucky," she forced a laugh.

Beck narrowed his eyes at her sudden change in tone, "Tori…Andre is cool with everything, right?"

Tori shook her head, almost wanting to slap herself to get out of whatever rut she felt like she fell into, "No—I mean yes! Yeah, Andre's cool. He's more jealous that you get to spend the next month with me and he doesn't, but that's about it."

Beck chuckled, "At least that sounds normal." He paused, waiting for Tori to say something, but when she didn't, he continued, "So we'll be on the plane in about twenty-four hours."

Tori remembered looking at the plane ticket the school gave her, saying that the flight was scheduled to take off at 2:25 AM Monday morning. The envelope the ticket was in also contained a special student ID that was meant to be her voucher to get everything free in the hotel that was sponsoring the trip; so the room was free and all the meals inside the hotel were free. The envelope also included a credit card that contained eighty-thousand yen, which was about one-thousand US dollars. This was so they could view the city and its attractions so the student could get a good feel of the culture. She figured she would bring some of her own cash, too.

"I just can't wait to get this thing started already," she commented.

"Yeah, well, we'll make sure everything that happened tonight doesn't affect how good of a time we're gonna have," he paused again before saying the next part quickly, "I'm glad we got paired together, Tori."

This caught her attention again. She felt her face heat up as she gave a nervous laugh, "I'm sure you would've been happier if you got paired with Jade."

"Ehhh...I wouldn't say that exactly."

Tori stuck her fingers in her hair, starting to wonder why they were having this conversation. Wait…this conversation isn't even bad! Jade's been acting like…well, Jade, so of course he felt he needed to apologize. And because she's been acting like that, you know that's why he's glad he didn't get paired with her. So don't go asking—

"Why?" Tori clenched her eyes shut and slapped her forehead. Shoulda just let it go…

"She's just…overly picky, so I might not have gotten to do a lot of what I wanted without her complaining," he began explaining, taking a quick glance back at his RV to make sure Jade wasn't eavesdropping, "Plus, I think it'll be good for us to spend some time apart…you know, get some diversity under our belts."

Diversity? What the hell is he talking about…? Am I overanalyzing this?

She felt her skin tighten with goose bumps when Beck laughed lowly in her ear, "I don't even know what the hell I'm talking about. I should get back inside before she wakes up to find me gone."

Guess they made up okay. Tori thought bitterly, but then quickly caught herself and had to question what was wrong with her head.

"Yeah…same here," she responded while looking inside the doors. Andre looked nowhere close to waking up.

"All right, Tor. I'll see you at the airport tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

And that was that. She clicked end on her phone and sat it down on the patio table. She slumped in her chair and stared up at the dark sky. She couldn't even see stars anymore. She wished she was tired because she knew the next few days were going to be nonstop. There was still packing to do, last minute moments with Andre, getting to the airport at that ridiculous hour, and then being on the plane for eleven-and-a-half hours.

Eleven-and-a-half hours…

That's how long she was going to be sitting next to Beck. But why was she even worrying about that small amount of time? She was going to be next to him for the next month! Well…more like three weeks, but that was practically a month anyway.

She stood up quickly when it felt like her brain was about to explode. She walked to the glass doors and put her palm gently on the glass as she peered in at Andre's sleeping form. Tori knew she was going to miss him like crazy; he treated her like a princess, what girl wouldn't miss that?

Not only was he her boyfriend, he was her best friend. She admitted that after they had made the decision to start dating, she was feeling very worried that they made a mistake. Friends stay friends forever, but relationships (especially in high school) don't always last. They didn't even hook up on romantic terms…they were more like each other's rebounds. Rebounds aren't supposed to work, are they? They're only meant to help you get over the initial pain.

And it did. Their relationship helped her get over two years of initial pain.

"I mean, she still thinks that after two years I still have feelings for you…"

His words rang through her head. So what happened? That's what she wanted to ask. What about even having feelings for her after a week? But she couldn't ask him that. She knew what the answer was: she was Beck's rebound. Even if she would have kissed him that day…they wouldn't have lasted.

Would they?

Tori clenched her fists. Stop thinking about it! Now is definitely not the time!

Grabbing her phone, she walked back inside before tossing it on the counter. She went over to the couch and sat down beside Andre and stared at him for a long moment. She thought about seducing him awake; end their last night together with a bang (haha).

But she was unsure if she would be able to finish what she started. Her mind was going back and forth as it was, so what would happen if they were past the point of no return but decided to return anyway? That…well, that just wouldn't be very nice for Andre.

Yet at the same time, she wanted to just get it over with. But why? Why did having sex for the first time have to be something to just "get over with"? Isn't it meant to be special? They say you always remember your first time, so it must have some sort of impact.

Still, why couldn't she bring herself to do it? She loved Andre and after these last two years, had made plans on staying with him forever. So why not?

Tori must have been staring at him pretty hard, because his eyes began twitching before they slowly opened, trying to bring her into focus.

"Hey, Tor," he said groggily, yawning and stretching, "What time is it?"

"About two-thirty. I just…" she blinked a few times as she watched him rub his eyes. She looked around quickly before spotting a blanket. Quickly, she reached over and grabbed it, "I just got cold and wanted a blanket." She held out half for him, "Wanna share?"

He smiled sleepily at her, "Sure, Baby Girl." They got comfortable against each other again, and Tori sighed deeply when she knew Andre fell back to sleep and she chickened out.

Over at Becks, he tried to crawl back into bed without disturbing Jade, but as soon as he laid down, the bed made an annoyingly loud creak that woke her up.

"Mm, what you doing?" She asked, reaching her hand over to place it on his bare chest.

"Just had to use the bathroom," he lied, figuring that was the easiest way to go, "Go back to sleep."

She scooted closer to him and began to run her fingernails up and down his abdomen, her hand going lower and lower each time, "But I'm awake now. You gotta wear me out again."

Beck sighed inwardly as Jade rolled herself on top of him and put her lips to his neck.

()()()()()()()()()()

I stayed up way too late writing this! I PROMISE GUYS! Next chapter….next chapter they'll be in Japan. We're gettin' there! Thanks for all your reviews and for sticking with me! Remember, if you have any ideas you would like me to include, don't hesitate to say so. Also, I'm not feeling the title for this story anymore…actually, I never really did but didn't know what else to call it. Any ideas?