Final Project

VIII.

"I'm almost done writing another song, so I'll perform it for you tomorrow night when we talk," Andre told Tori as they were nearing the end of their conversation. Japan was twelve hours ahead of Argentina, and it was going on nine o-clock, PM for Tori, AM for Andre. Andre said he got paired up with a dude named Rob, and they planned on starting their day around 9:30.

"You get up so early to talk to me," Tori commented at one point.

"You're worth it, Baby Girl."

If anything, his words always made her smile.

"Can't wait," Tori responded to his song performance statement, "Is it about me?"

They grinned at each other as he said: "You know it."

"Okay, well, you have fun today. Tell me all about it later," Tori told him, flipping all her hair over her right shoulder. She was lying on her stomach on her bed with her upper body propped up on her elbows.

Andre seemed entranced by her for a moment, "Definitely. Stay beautiful. Goodnight, Baby Girl. I love you."

She put her folded hands up to her cheek and rested her head on them, trying to look cute for him, "Love you, too, Andre. Goodnight."

As soon as she closed her laptop, she flipped over on her back and pulled out her phone.

Tori: Hey sorry it took so long! Ready to eat?

Beck: Perfect timing.

She was about to text back asking what was so perfect about it when she heard a knock on her door. Rolling off her bed, she ran over to the door on her tiptoes and opened it.

Beck was standing there holding up two bags, "I come bearing gifts."

The smell coming from the bags indicated that he brought food.

"Mm, I'm starving!" She said, as she took one bag and stepped out of the way for him to come in, "But I thought we were gonna go out to eat."

"Well, I noticed a couple of places across the street and thought I'd surprise you. I bought a movie, too, so we could do dinner and a movie."

Tori jumped down the couple steps that lead into her living room/dining room, putting the food on the low table, "Japanese movie?"

"Yeah, it's called "Panty Mask." When Tori shot him a weird look, Beck shrugged and looked at the pictures on the back of the DVD, "From what I can see, it's about a super heroine that wear's leather panties on her face."

Tori put her hand on her hip, "Why in the world would you get that?"

Beck held it out to her, "Because America wouldn't make anything like this. We want to see what their movies are like, right?"

Tori took the movie and chuckled at the ridiculous pictures, "I guess, but couldn't you have just gotten "Godzilla?"

"Done way too many times," Beck took back the DVD and went to the TV to figure out how to work it, "Besides, we might get a pretty good laugh from this."

Tori shook her head and got the food out of the bag for them to get ready for their dinner and a movie…get-together (for it was certainly not a date!), "Men…"

"Hey!" Beck countered, popping in the DVD and then taking the bowl full of kimchi ramen that Tori handed to him, "This movie might prove that us men have good taste."

They sat down on the couch and Tori said slowly, "We'll see…."

As it turned out, the movie, if anything, was very amusing. It was about an old western town that was totally populated by cute girls and nuns who killed off the entire male population. And by the end of the movie, when there was a complete music finale of "Ten Little Indians," Beck and Tori were laughing at the oddity of it all and kept asking, "Why?"

As the credits were rolling, they both sat back against the couch trying to catch their breath. Beck was sitting against the left side of the couch, turned sideways with his one leg folded up on the cushion, and Tori was more in the middle of the couch, slumped down with her hands on her stomach from laughing so much.

"You think we can do that for our performance for school?" Tori asked, grinning over at him.

"What, wear leather bikinis and panties on our faces?" Beck laughed.

Tori threw her head back in more laughter, just imagining it, "I'm sure we'll get an A just because they won't know what to think."

Beck grinned while watching her, glad that she had the sense of humor to enjoy such a movie so much. He knew Jade would have turned the movie off within the first two minutes and insist they watch "Ringu" instead. This led him to imagine Jade coming out of the computer screen all creepy-like, like how the girl did in "The Ring."

"I'm thinking of breaking up with Jade."

And thus, the random statement that ruins the moment.

Tori immediately stopped laughing and looked at him disbelievingly, "What? Why?"

Beck rubbed his forehead and put his elbow on the back of the couch, "Because she—."

Tori suddenly sat up straight and held at her hands to tell him to stop, "No way, Beck, you can't break up with her while you're here!"

"Well, I was gonna go back to my room and do it…"

"No!" She turned toward him, "I mean in Japan! If you do, then she's going to think it's because of me, and that!..." Tori shook her head and crossed her arms like she was cold, "that's not what I need her thinking."

Beck stared at her, seeing how worried she looked, "But Tor, you know it's not—."

"It doesn't matter what I know," poking herself in the chest with her thumb, "And you know very well that Jade will blame me for it!"

Beck sighed and sat forward, burying his face in his hands, "And that's part of the reason I want to break up with her. It's only about what she wants to believe, whether it's true or not."

Seeing how tore up he was from this, her shoulders slumped and she squeezed her hands between her knees, "I'm sorry…I should be more supportive."

"No…" Beck shook his head and lifted his face from his hands, "You don't have to be anything…and I don't even know why I brought it up to you."

Tori bit her bottom lip and continued to feel terrible about her initial reaction. She didn't mean to only think about herself in this situation; it was Beck's relationship, not hers. And even though she knew she would still feel the effects of it somehow, she had to think more about Beck's feelings.

"Hey," she said to make him look at her, "was Jade acting like this before the final project pairings were listed?"

Beck thought about it for a moment before tilting his hand back and forth, "Ehh…kinda. I mean, not this bad, you know? But she still definitely had her Jade-moments."

Tori tried to offer a small smile, "Well, it must not have been that bad if you only recently thought about breaking up with her."

He leaned back against the couch again, looking almost defeated, "No, I have my own set of reasons why I didn't break up with her before…"

Her mouth formed to ask the question "why?" But she stopped herself. She remembered the night he called before they left for Japan, and how she asked "why?" against her will. She had to refrain. If he didn't tell her on his own, he probably didn't want her to know…right? I mean, guys don't do that, do they? Pry people to ask questions so they can talk…only girls do that.

Beck had been looking at her from his peripheral vision the whole time, however. He saw her pause with her mouth slightly open and knew what she wanted to ask.

He closed his eyes, "You wanna know why?"

Tori blinked, feeling her heart rate increase with each passing second. Why? Why? WHY? She tossed the question around in her head like she wanted to scream it. She wanted to know why she was so scared to ask it; she wanted to know why to his reasons; she wanted to know why he wanted her to know….she wanted to know why—why—why he went back to Jade so quickly after…

"Why?" The question came out of her mouth in almost a whisper.

He didn't open his eyes. She watched him swallow hard, his Adam's apple going up and back down. Her eyes became so entranced on his throat that she almost forgot what they were talking about. She couldn't help but think of how gorgeous he looked sitting there, with his neck exposed, his soft hair hanging to his neck, and his body…how it looked so good in the clothes he was wearing…his normal outfit, just a pair of jeans and a grey wife-beater under a plaid unbuttoned shirt…

And then Tori's computer beeped, indicating that someone was messaging her. She looked over the couch at the computer that was still sitting on her bed. She wasn't sure if she wanted to throw it out the window or be glad it broke her from her trance.

When she looked back at Beck, he was already looking at her, "You gotta get that?"

"Um…yeah," she pulled out her phone and checked the time, "It's already after midnight…"

Beck nodded but paused a long moment before forcing himself to stand, "I guess I'll get going."

Tori stood up and followed him up the steps and to her door. She watched him open it, Tori grabbing a hold of it to keep it from closing, when he turned around one last time.

"See you in the morning?"

She folded her lips in and nodded her head, knowing that she should say something, but her throat couldn't sound out anything at the moment.

Forcing a small smile, Beck nodded once also, but continued to linger in the doorway. He didn't know what else he expected, he just knew he didn't want to go back to his room, even now. Tori also didn't know what else to expect, but she didn't want him to rush any more than he wanted to.

He ran his hand back through his hair and looked her right in the eyes, causing Tori to blush and throw her eyes to the floor in a hurry. He sighed quietly, apologized (she wasn't sure why), then finally walked down the hall toward his room.

Tori closed her door with ease, leaning her back against the door with her palms pressed against it, too. She had no idea what just happened, but it left her feeling more confused than she's felt in two years. She could tell that Beck was torn between what to do, and she didn't like seeing him like that. It reminded her of the night that Beck and Jade broke up at her house, and how he looked sad, but satisfied.

Her computer beeped again, and she practically dragged herself over to her bed to see who was messaging her.

It was Cat.

Cat: Toooorrrrriiii! Put your face on the screen and talk to me!

Cat: Hellllooooo!

Though any other time she would have been more than happy to talk to her best friend, she just wasn't in the mood to talk period. She couldn't find the right words to describe anything at the moment. She just wanted to get ready for bed and pass out.

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

Hello everyone! Guess what? Today's my birthday! Yay, I'm 25 and that means my insurance will go down. I had this chapter pre-written, so don't worry, I didn't take time out of my day. I do have tons of homework that I'm doing, and thought I'd break for a moment to post this.

I wanted to again thank everyone…the 109 of you that put this story on alert, the 58 of you that have it on your favorites list, and about the 15 of you that review every chapter pretty regularly. ^_^ You guys are awesome.