Final Project
XI.
"Shiori, you remind me of my Cat!" Tori told Shiori from the backseat of her car. Of course, Tori was referring to Cat, not an animal, but thought it was funny that Shiori didn't know that. She giggled quietly.
"Aw, thanks, Tori-chan!" Shiori said, and Beck, who was sitting by Tori in the backseat, couldn't tell if she actually took it as a compliment or was just humoring Tori.
Tori turned to him, "She remind you of Cat, too?"
Beck smiled, at least glad that she was having a fun time in her state of mind, "Yeah, kinda. But you're sounding more like Cat right now than she is."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tori exclaimed very dramatically, but she couldn't keep a straight face for long before she started cracking up.
Beck laughed a bit with her, letting her take his hand into hers, "Very good impersonation."
"Let me read your palm."
As she was seriously studying Beck's palm, Shiori smiled from the driver's seat, "See anything interesting in Beck's future?"
Tori gasped and pointed at a random spot on his hand. It was funnier because it was so dark in the car, that Beck didn't think she could see anything, "I see…I see a movie! Yeah, it says here that you're gonna be the handsomest actor ever and be married with three wives."
Beck raised an eyebrow, "Wow, three wives?"
Tori laughed at her mistake, tossing her head back against the seat, "I meant three kids!"
"You're so silly, Tori-chan!" Shiori laughed also, pulling around a corner, "Okay, we're here. Oh, are you guys still in for tomorrow night? I'll be performing at Club Dragon, remember?"
"Fo' sho'!" Tori exclaimed dramatically, then hiccupped, "Let me hear a sneak-peak, Miss Tokyo!"
Shiori cleared her throat and began singing a Japanese song. Even the pitch in her voice reminded Tori and Beck of Cat. Tori waved her hands in the air, or at least as far as they would raise in the car, snapping her fingers with the beat of Shiori's voice.
"That was so amazing!" Tori told her when she was done, leaning forward so she could actually see her before she got out of the car, "Will there be other performances?"
"Only you!" Shiori announced, pinching one of Tori's cheekbones.
"I can't wait!" Tori said, obviously not thinking about what Shiori just told her. It was then that she realized that Beck had gotten out of the car already and came around to her side to help her out, "Aw, what a gentleman!"
He smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist before closing the car door. They both waved at Shiori as she drove away. When they entered the hotel, Tori started, "So, what—!" But she quickly snapped her hand over her mouth when she realized how loud her voice was for the quiet lobby, "So, what do you wanna do now?"
Beck looked at her, "You mean you're not tired?"
She psch-ed, "No way! Why, are you?"
They walked in the elevator that was already waiting for them on the first floor. He shook his head, "No, I was just making sure you're okay."
"Great! So I was thinking…let's go up to the very top floor and see what we see…because we obviously won't be seeing what someone else sees, ha!" They both laughed at her pretty bad joke.
Since Beck had already pressed the third floor button before she said anything, it stopped there but Tori got off anyway, "I think I'm gonna change out of this kimono, though. It's too restricting!"
Walking behind her to her door, he noticed the long zipper that went from her neck to her lower back, "Do you need help?"
She looked at him with wide eyes, like she just had an epiphany, "Oh my God, yes! How'd you know?" But she didn't wait for him to answer, for she opened the door and walked inside, assuming Beck would just follow…which he did.
Walking to her bed, she picked up her pajamas that she had on the night before and pressed them to her chest. Then she looked over her shoulder at him, "Okay, undo me."
Beck stared at her, wondering why his palms got so sweaty all of a sudden. He continuously rubbed his fingers against them, hoping to get some of the moisture to go away. Once he thought he was pretty safe, he reached up and grabbed her zipper. Slowly, probably a lot slower than he needed to go, he unzipped her kimono. Every inch of skin that he exposed made him want to touch her more and more…her skin looked so soft and he wanted to know for sure…
"Thanks!" She yelled suddenly when she felt him finish. She turned around and went into the bathroom to get changed. And Beck…Beck was left standing there, wondering if she broke the moment intentionally or if it was still just her mind going a hundred miles per second like it was doing in the car.
To his greater surprise, the bathroom door opened within about ten seconds. She didn't come out, however, but yelled from inside: "So what did you think about that festival?"
"Um…" he wasn't sure if he should look in or not, but opted to do it since she did, in fact, open the door. When he peeked in, he saw her taking all her make-up off, looking more and more like the original Tori that he knew, "Probably the best festival I've ever been to."
"You know!" She looked at him through the mirror, "I feel the same way! I shoulda kept that floating lantern though…would have made a good memoir…"
"Yeah, but then your wish wouldn't come true."
"Aw, Beck…" She actually turned to him this time with a smile, before continuing to remove the rest of her make-up, "You're such a romantic."
"Heh…" He ran his hand through his hair, romantic being the last word he expected to hear tonight after how their last conversation went.
"All right, let's go!" Tori announced, dropping the last tissue paper in the trashcan. She stopped when she noticed that he was still wearing his two-piece kimono, "You wanna get changed, too?"
Beck looked down at himself, "Nah, this feels pretty comfortable."
Tori giggled as she headed out her door, "Good, 'cause I like you in it!"
Beck tried to smile as he followed her, but felt really confused. Tori didn't sound like she was drunk, or tipsy, or buzzed, or anything…but her words were words that she wouldn't normally say, so he was wondering exactly what was going on in her head. Was the alcohol only affecting her mentally, but not physically? If that was the case, she would be dangerous around alcohol…
They stepped into the elevator again and Tori pressed the highest button, which was 20, as she bounced from foot to foot, "This is so exciting!"
Beck chuckled at how excited she was, but he had to admit that once they reached the 20th floor, he was pretty excited, too. The Ryumeikan actually had a lounge on the top floor. There was a small bar to their right, able to sit about twenty people, but only 3 were there (not sitting together), with a huge amount of drinks behind the bar. The bartender was drying out of the wine glasses with a soft towel, wearing a suit like he was a butler. They smiled at him as they walked by, turning a small corner to see six lounge chairs, every two separated by a small end table, sitting in front of a huge window overlooking Tokyo.
"Oh, wow…" Tori said as she walked to the window, "The view from our rooms doesn't even compare to this."
"That's for sure," Beck agreed, looking out also to see that they were at eye level, if not above, to some of the surrounding buildings.
Tori turned to the chairs, grabbing one by the arms and scooting back to get it closer to the window; "Let's relax, shall we?"
Beck also pulled a chair up to the window, placing it right next to Tori's. They were both silent for a minute, before Tori began: "You know…I wonder…if I got a pretty good running start…do you think I could jump from here to the next building?"
Looking out into the night sky, Beck estimated that the next building over was probably at least three-hundred feet. But he shrugged anyway, "Maybe."
Tori thought about it some more, before nodded in agreement, "Yeah, maybe someday."
Even though Beck appeared to be looking outside, his peripheral vision was all on her. Does she even remember anything from earlier right now? He didn't really want to bring it up, and yet at the same time he did, but he never seen Tori look as hurt and angry as she did before she ran away from him. He truly upset her, and he knew Tori wasn't one to get easily upset, unlike some girls he knew…
"Look, Tor, I want to apologize for earlier…"
"No, you were right," she answered immediately, "I'm a liar."
Not expecting her to get to the point like that, he snapped his eyes toward her, "What?"
"You asked me if I would rather regret doing something or regret never doing something. My answer was a lie," she turned toward him now and smiled, "But you already knew that, huh?"
"Um…no, I mean, yeah…well, I dunno, I got confused when you answered the way you did," he admitted to her, "You sounded pretty convincing."
"That's 'cause I get acting lessons from the best," she grinned as she poked him in his arm.
He tried to return the grin, "So why did you lie then?"
She shrugged, "Seemed easier at the time."
"Why was it easier?"
Tori groaned loudly and hid her face in her hands as she swayed back and forth for a moment, "Why, why, why, why, why…why!"
Beck stared at her suspiciously at first, wondering what the hell had gotten into her. When she looked up, she saw this look, and laughed gently, "Sorry…I've been having so many why questions in my head these last few days that…actually, the last few years…that I'm beginning to wish why never existed."
Beck thought about the specific time frame she mentioned, and wondered why she chose to say few years instead. But when he asked, "Why?" and she shot him a glance that clearly said, "Really?" they both shared a pretty good laugh at the ironic humor of it.
When their laughing died down, he gave her a serious look again, "Seriously, Tor…if you had so many why questions for that long, why not just ask me then?"
She grinned playfully, "And how do you know you're the one I need to direct them to?"
He shrugged, "Am I?
Tori sighed, "Yeah."
"Great, so why?"
"Why what?"
"Why didn't you tell me you liked Andre?"
Tori stared at him, and there was something deep inside her that wanted to just tell him everything. And actually, that's what she planned on doing. It was probably the liquid courage…that thing rocks.
Smiling, she nudged him good-naturedly, "You tell me first." When Beck looked confused, she explained, "A couple of nights ago when I asked you why you didn't break up with Jade…you never answered."
"Ah…well, I guess since you asked first, it's only fair that I answer first," His smile was short-lived as he sat forward to stare out the window some more as he tried to collect his thoughts. His heart was pounding and his hands were sweaty again, just thinking about what he was about to tell her. Finally, he turned back to her, seeing her staring at him intently.
"So I'm not always thinking about someone else that I can't have," he spilt from his mouth, the words having an impact on both of them so much, that he was suddenly afraid to stop. "That first week after…after the Platinum Music Awards…I was…you know, going insane!" He brought both of his hands up by his head and shook them to really exaggerate what he was saying, "I liked you so much…I had for a while, even before Jade and I broke up. And that's what made it so easy to get over her. And I waited…a pretty long time to try to make a move on you. But when you started acting all goofy, dressing in those ridiculous outfits…I knew that wasn't you. I know how Hollywood works, but I didn't want you to fall into its trap. You're too awesome for that. And honestly…I wasn't even planning on trying to kiss you that day. But I noticed that you wanted to kiss me, too, so I knew I had to try again. But…that's when you turned me down.
"And I never could quite grasp your reason for not kissing me. I mean, I know Jade wouldn't like us dating, but I liked you so much that I just didn't care about anyone else except you and I. So after a week of practically ripping my brains out, I figured out that I must not make you that happy that you were choosing someone else's feelings over your own personal happiness.
"And Jade…Jade asked me to take her back, and I felt like I had to because being alone every night…wanting you to be beside me so bad…was worse than being next to someone else. And then when I found out you were dating Andre…I knew I had to keep Jade, because…" He stopped here and looked at her again, but she was only looking out at the city, "Because I thought I would never have you."
And as he finished with the line he began with, her eyes fell on his, and there was a moment that made her wonder if it was the alcohol that was making this whole thing sound sadder than it actually was…but it was sad. She had absolutely no idea that he went through all that just because she said she couldn't kiss a "friend's" ex-boyfriend.
She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, "Like I said before, I didn't lie to you that day. I didn't do it because of Jade. I didn't tell you I liked Andre because…I didn't. We didn't start dating until after I saw you and Jade got back together. He knew I was upset all day…and when we got home, I told him everything that had happened," Tori sighed and squeezed her hands between her knees, looking up to the ceiling. She couldn't believe she was telling him all this, "I told him that I was upset that you got back with Jade so quick and he…" Thinking about it ahead of time, she smiled suddenly and looked back at Beck, "He said that you probably got back with Jade because you couldn't have me."
Beck also smiled at the coincidence, "Smart guy."
"Yeah…but anyway, it led to me saying that I needed to get over you and he needed to get over Jade, so why not just date? And so…we did and he—."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Beck stopped her suddenly, scooting to the edge of his seat, "Andre likes Jade?"
Tori slapped her hand over her mouth and mumbled, "Oh shit…!" Her eyes were wide as she spilled Andre's secret from years ago that she promised she never would…especially to Beck.
Despite the outcome of where this conversation went, Beck had to smirk in amusement, "No, no…now you have to tell me that story!"
Sighing, realizing that she was trapped, Tori dropped her hand again, "It was when I had to take that Tech Theater exam and was too busy to help Andre with a song he had to write and perform…so you mentioned that Jade would help him, remember?"
Beck nodded, "Yeah, I remember that."
"Well…I guess she sang for him and he got a crush on her. That song he sang for his performance?...yeah, that was for Jade," Tori finished, folding in her lips and nodding like "yep, that pretty much sums it all up."
"Wow…" Beck said, blinking in astonishment, "I would have never known."
"Andre didn't want you to…he knew it was wrong to li—."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Beck did all over again, making Tori giggle at how excited he was over every detail she was telling him, "So you guys used each other to get over…me and Jade?"
Tori hadn't realized it, but she had, in fact, just admitted her feelings to him. She only nodded. He looked from her, to the floor, from the floor, to the window, paused, then looked back at her, "Did it work?"
That she was not expecting. She stood up quickly, almost too quickly, and it felt like all of her blood flow dropped from her brain to her feet. It made her feel dizzy again…and this time, even slightly tipsy. Yeah, people usually don't tell newbies that alcohol can sneak up on you at the least opportune times.
"You know, maybe I am getting pretty tired. Let's head back down," she tripped over the foot of the chair, but caught herself before she fell. Embarrassed by her clumsiness, she picked up her pace toward the elevators, although the floor was beginning to look all three-dimensional and crazy.
"Tori, wait!" Beck yelled for her, chasing after her for the second time that night. He caught up to her as soon as she reached the elevator, "Why are you always running when things get—."
"Why are you acting like any of this is going to change anything?" She asked, crossing her arms to try to help keep her balance a little better, "And why are you asking so many why questions?"
"What? You just asked the last two why questions and I didn't even—."
"I just don't understand why"—and despite herself and the situation, she laughed at the damn word that she said again—"why you need to know that! I think I already told you more than I should've."
The elevator dinged and the doors opened up for them to step inside.
"I won't tell Andre you told me all that," Beck told her as they headed back down to their floor.
"Thanks," she said dryly, yet sincerely. She was looking at the floor, swaying softly back and forth so as to try to get her brain to go down with the elevator. Beck watched her and he could tell that she was feeling slightly woozy.
"You feeling okay? I didn't mean to get you upset again, I was just—."
"No, I know…you were just curious," Tori smiled up at him, but then pointed to something behind him, "Hey, look at the cool drawing someone did."
Beck looked behind him but only saw some sort of directions that he couldn't read, but it looked like it was talking about what to do in case the elevator got stuck.
The doors opened up and Tori stepped off quickly and stopped in front of her room. Her arms were still crossed and her head was down. Beck slowly walked over to her and he saw that her shoulders started shaking like she was crying, but her hair was covering her face.
"Hey…Tor, you all right?" He asked gently.
She shook for a few more seconds before looking up at him and letting out a few audible laughs. She wore a huge, amused smile on her lips, "I left my key in my room."
Beck looked quickly at the door as he remembered the scene from earlier when he unzipped her kimono. She must have put it down somewhere and forgot to grab it before they left again.
He returned her smile, "My room then?"
She shrugged but casually turned to head toward his room, "Guess so."
Beck took his key out of his pocket hurriedly, only to drop it, but he picked it back up before Tori could see. He stood beside her as he stuck the key in the slot and swiftly pulled it out, turning the handle and letting her inside first.
Tori looked around, "Hm, looks just like mine but reversed."
He grinned when he recognized those words as his own, but before he could respond, his laptop started going off with a video chat request.
"What the hell? I'm going to disconnect that damn thing," Beck said angrily. Why couldn't people just leave him and Tori alone, seriously!
"I'll get it!" Tori announced as she followed the sound. Beck had put his laptop down on the dining room table, the one that's directly across from the living room couch and TV.
"Tori, wait! What are you doing, what if it's—."
"It's Jade!" Tori announced, way too enthusiastically for such an answer. She went back behind the laptop but moved her finger over the mouse, "I'm gonna answer it…" She smiled mischievously over her shoulder at him, "You better get in front of it before I do or she might suspect something…"
"Tori!...Tori, c'mon," Beck ran toward the laptop when he saw her finger about to press down to accept, "I can't belie—Hey, Babe!" He quickly switched roles as he sat on his knees in front of his laptop, his girlfriend's face appearing in front of him.
"Hey…why do you sound out of breath?" Jade asked inquisitively.
"I was just…I was just coming in the door. I just came back from that festival I told you about, and I heard you calling," he half lied, trying to get his nerves to calm down.
"Oh," Jade seemed to like that answer, "Well, let me tell you about this museum I went to today," Jade started, which was typical…even if he brought up something he did, she would still talk about what she did.
He was just getting his breath back when he happened to look over his laptop for a moment to see what Tori was doing…and his breath got caught in his throat again. She was by the huge window that overlooked the city, dancing. But it wasn't a funny dance, nor a hyper dance, and not even just swaying. She had her eyes closed and her hands were clasped above her head; her hips were moving back and forth in a way that made her look like she was in her own world, dancing to a glamorous beat that was all hers. She would slowly move her head back and forth from shoulder to shoulder, her hair swaying in a gentle motion, sometimes covering her face when she tilted her head down.
It was the most exotic thing he'd ever seen…
"Beck? Beck, are you listening?" Jade interrupted when she saw that he wasn't even looking at her.
"Um…" he noticed that his voice cracked, and he blinked, trying to get himself out of the trance Tori put him in, "Yeah, go on."
She eyed him skeptically, "What did I just say?"
"Um…" he said again, and usually, he was pretty good at this game. Even when he was hardly listening to her, and she would ask him to repeat what she said, he could do it. But this time…he had to admit to himself, he didn't have a clue what she said. "Listen, Jade, that festival really wore me out. I'm gonna take a shower, all right?"
"What?" She asked harshly, "We just started talking, don't you think you could at least give me ten minutes?"
Beck's eyes peaked back over his laptop, spotting Tori dancing still. His stomach jumped into his throat, "How about I just call you back when I'm done, okay?"
"Well, why not just—," and even though he knew he would hear about it later, Beck ended the call.
Standing up, he began to slowly walk over to her, feeling like he was getting closer to some mysterious creature that he had never seen before. His heart was pounding out of his chest when he reached the window, clearly seeing her calm face due to the warm lights from the city.
Without even opening her eyes, she somehow knew he was standing there and said, "You hear that music?"
This time, Beck listened, but didn't hear anything. He figured it might have been another one of her hallucinations, "I don't hear it."
"Listen," she stopped moving as if that would help him hear better. Her eyes slowly opened, and he never saw such innocence and purity sparkling in her eyes. "It's everywhere."
She's so beautiful…He thought as he stepped toward her, wanting her now more than ever.
She smiled up at him and threw herself against him, her cheek pressing tightly against his chest. They both wrapped their arms around each other, Beck breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, running his hand through her soft tresses. He was sure that she felt his heart beating wildly, but was glad that she could get a sense of how he was feeling…confused, crazy, scared, happy…
Beck pressed his lips on the top of her head, trailing feather soft kisses to her forehead, kissing beside her eye, her cheek…but was met with her hair again when she turned away.
His heart sunk, "Tori…"
She mumbled something incoherent and he had to ask her a few times to repeat what she said. Finally, she stepped slightly away from him, even though he was still holding her tightly…he didn't want her running away again…and looked up at him, "We promised…"
He didn't pretend like he didn't know what she was talking about, because he knew very well that she meant their promises to Andre and Jade that nothing would happen between them while they were in Japan. But damn…was it really their fault that they were this attracted to each other?
He suddenly remembered a question he asked her earlier that she left unanswered. He still wanted to know: "Did it work?"
She looked out at the city again, her hands resting on his upper arms. It really felt like she was in a dream; her mind was getting fuzzy and she never imagined she would have ever gotten the chance to be standing here with Beck like this.
Finally, she answered, "No one could ever make it work."
Beck's grip tightened on her; it was the best answer she could have ever given him, "Tori, can I kiss you?"
Though her gaze turned back to him, she was staring down at his chest as she thought about his question. It's so wrong…It's so wrong...we made promises, we both have someone else, we'd be going against them if we…She looked up into his eyes and her heart jumped into her mouth as it made her say: "Just once…but you gotta promise not to tell…"
As long as her answer wasn't "no," Beck didn't care what she said. He murmured out a promise before cupping her cheek and pressing his lips to hers.
Finally! Finally! As their thoughts settled on this word, Beck tightened his one arm around her when he felt her go weak in the knees. Her hands clenched onto his shoulders as she felt that overwhelming sensation that she'd never experienced before…their lips knew how to move against each other, pressing and sliding, opening and closing…
Tori moaned softly into the kiss, sighing quietly every time she thought they were about to break away, only for one or the other to start it all over again. But when she began to feel a sensation in the pit of her stomach that she had never, ever felt, she knew they had to stop. Whether this feeling was something that went along with the alcohol, or a guilty feeling for doing something she wasn't supposed to, or that excited feeling one gets when they found the best thing ever…she wasn't sure, but it still caught her attention.
She gently pulled her lips from his, opening her eyes slowly to see his were still closed. She put her hand on his cheek, and his hand was still on hers, and that's when he looked at her. The feeling she had in her stomach intensified ten-fold when she saw this look in his eyes…the look of…
"Tori, you don't know how long…"
She smiled tenderly and shook her head, "Don't talk about it, Beck." He closed his mouth and allowed her to lead him to his bed. She let go of his hand as she climbed onto it, going to the very edge and facing away from the rest of the bed, a pillow clasped against his chest.
He grabbed his shorts that he usually slept in and quickly changed out of his kimono that had suddenly got way too hot and put on his shorts. He climbed onto his bed as well, staring up into the darkness for a moment. How am I going to keep that promise after…that?
He turned his head to the side to stare at the back of her. He still wondered how much the alcohol factored into everything that happened tonight. Swallowing roughly, he scooted himself closer to her so he could wrap his arm around her and at least be able to hold her all night.
()()()()()()()
Sooo…..how did you guys like THIS chapter, neeehhhh? ^_^ Truthfully, this chapter came out of left field. I was not expecting this to happen, so I'm as shocked as you guys are. Go figure. So what's gonna happen next? Haha, your guess is pretty much as good as mine!