Final Project

XIV.

The room was dark except for the dim glow of the TV. They had decided to move the TV over a bit in the living room so that it was facing the bed. They found a movie that had subtitles, but because of the distance between the bed and the TV, they could hardly read it. Watching TV wasn't really the main point anyway, since all they wanted to do was cuddle.

Beck was sitting up against the headboard and Tori's head was on his shoulder. They were wrapped in each other's arms, but Tori had fallen asleep long ago. Probably from all the excitement of performing mixed with crying; those things can wear a girl out.

But Beck, once again, was having a hard time falling asleep. He just couldn't stop thinking about the whole night. And where it had landed them. And he just couldn't grasp the reality of the pact they had made.

He was selfish for asking her to do such a thing, for one. He saw how much it was hurting her to go behind Andre's back…but he just couldn't let her go. Not after finally getting the courage to kiss her. But he wasn't the only one…Tori was being selfish, too. Being selfish against Andre to stay with him even though she wanted to be with Beck, and selfish to Beck for only making him the other man while Andre maintained the boyfriend status.

And due to all that…it in return made him terrified to break up with Jade. If he did, she would no doubt suspect that it was because he was hooking up with Tori. And Jade was spiteful…he knew she would tell Andre all about it. And if Andre found out from Jade who found out from Beck…then Tori would hate him. And then where would they all be? All four of them would end up hating each other!

All this because he couldn't resist Tori…he wondered if he should wish that they never got paired together. If it wasn't for this final project, the temptation would have never existed…

He takes that back. The temptation to be with Tori has always been there. But he was able to control that desire because they kept their distinct distance from one another. If they did hang out, it was never alone. At least one other person was there.

But not now…and even if that other person happens to be Shiori now, what's she gonna do? She doesn't know the rest of their friends. Who knows if they'll even talk to her again after they leave Japan. And besides, she seemed like a trustworthy person. And she wanted them together from the get go anyway.

Tori moved slightly, causing her head to fall against his chest. It didn't look too comfortable, so Beck scooted himself and her down so that they were lying down. He grabbed the remote from the end table and shut the TV off, darkness filling the room. And he knew it would be daylight soon.

He ran his hand absently through her hair, her one arm slumped over his stomach as her head remained on his chest. He would do anything to have this moment every night…

Tori woke up the next morning…or maybe the next afternoon…when she heard her computer blooping. Her eyes opened, and she felt Beck's warm body against hers, but she didn't even budge to try to get it. Whoever it was, she didn't feel confident that she would be able to look in their eyes and not express what was going on in her life. People could always tell when she was happy, upset, angry…she was a very expressive person. But she knew…that if she wanted to keep this up with Beck, she was going to have to kick in her acting abilities.

But she wasn't ready for that yet.

"Your computer's noisy…" Beck mumbled after the blooping stopped. His one arm was still around her, but his other hand covered his eyes to block out the light in the room.

Tori smiled despite herself and lifted her head so it was next to his, "I know, I gotta fix that." She stared at him for a long moment, still getting used to waking up next to him. His hair was a mess, and it kind of reminded her of the time the two of them had that sleepover at Sikowitz's. To this day, she is still shocked that Jade never came back looking for him that night.

Scooting closer, she kissed him softly on his cheek. This caused him to smile and uncover one eye to see her, "'Morning, Beautiful."

"'Morning," she whispered back, finding his morning look remarkable. How was it that a guy could look this good just waking up? She didn't know many people that could pull it off.

"What's on the agenda today?" he asked, flopping his hand to his side and closing his eyes again.

"Umm…I dunno. It's Sunday so nothing big is probably going on," he didn't respond to this, but as she continued to look at him, she knew she wanted to do something special with him. She wanted to get out and explore more things with him…things that she never experienced with anyone else. She propped herself up on an elbow, "Let's just take a cab and go somewhere."

He opened his eyes and smiled again, "We're just gonna tell the driver 'take us somewhere'?" When she nodded, he shook his head, "He wouldn't even understand us."

"We'll figure it out, c'mon!" Tori urged, sitting up more now and getting excited about their possible adventure.

"And how would we get back?"

"If we have problems communicating how to get back here, we'll call Shiori and have her talk to the cab driver."

"Hm…smart," Beck commented, then nodded, "Let's do it."

"Great!" Tori jumped out of bed to get ready for the day. Beck was glad she was in such a good mood and it motivated him to get up after only having about five hours of sleep.

Somehow or another, telling the cab driver to take them "somewhere" worked out beautifully. It must have sounded similar to something he was familiar with because the man gave them an OK sign and proceeded to take them to their destination.

They ended up in a city called Kamakura. They knew this because there were surprisingly some signs in English (though a bit off from perfect English, like "Welcom to wonder Kamakura!"). Beck was glad he brought his camera along, for there was a lot to see there. They went to a shrine area known as the Great Buddha where they had a laugh upon seeing a sign that said "Best Known Monument in World: Floating Torii." It was a shrine that was in the water, but Beck had to take Tori's picture in front of the Torii (and yes, they really got a good laugh out of it).

Beck took a close-up picture of them kissing when they were on top of a cliff, overlooking all the shrines that were about fifty feet below them. He took a picture of them standing in front of a shrine, though all that came out was the two of them. He was trying to look serious, and Tori was trying to be funny, but it came out looking sexy with her hair covering one of her eyes (story profile pic!).

They managed to get some other people to take their picture, and of course, they took turns taking pictures of one another. Tori was happy that she would be able to have so many memories saved, and wanted to buy a photo album specially for their trip.

At one point, they found a huge Buddha statue depicted in yogic meditation. In front of it was a huge group of people doing yoga. Tori dragged Beck over to the group, but they stayed in the back to participate. They didn't even have mats, but they didn't care…the grass was pretty soft anyway. Every time one of them got into a balancing pose, and was doing pretty well at it, the other would playfully knock him or her over. They were trying not to laugh too loud, and were thankful that everyone else was in their own state of peace and didn't notice.

They found a small home-type restaurant where they served only soup and hot tea. But it was the best of either they ever had. They looked through the huge zen garden, amazed at all the swirls in the sand. They had to step on small, round rocks so as not to disrupt the sand patterns, and this eventually turned into a pond full of koi. The whole surrounding area was covered with bonsai trees.

They spent the whole day there, and when it reached eight o-clock, they decided to try to catch a cab back to the hotel. Well, they were able to hail a cab, but the driver didn't understand them. And when they tried calling Shiori, she didn't answer.

"Figures…" Tori said in a defeated tone, "The one time we truly need her and she's not around."

"Eh, guess we should have called her sooner," he said, but was otherwise unfazed by their luck, "C'mon, we'll just look around a little more and if anything, we'll just get a hotel here for the night."

"You mean…one room?" Tori asked, but instantly wanted to slap herself in the face.

Beck laughed at her, "I don't see a reason why we should have to waste money on two rooms. Unless…" he pulled her up against him, pressing his hand into her lower back, "You don't want to spend the night with me…"

Butterflies came awake in her stomach as he said those words…with that look in his eyes…and in an instant she became an excited, nervous wreck. They would be alone…and she knew that it would be truly alone, because there wouldn't even be laptops to distract them.

And as it turned out, getting a hotel in Kamakura was what they had to do. They didn't want to risk a cab driver taking them somewhere else they didn't even know, and then trying to navigate their way around that city in the dark. But they were pretty relieved when it wasn't that hard to communicate with the receptionists, letting them know that they just wanted one room for one night.

But…silly, silly them…once they felt secure in having a place to stay the night, they went right back out again. They found a nice, pretty fancy restaurant down the street with live, classy music. That night, a band of three men were playing, one on the piano, one playing the violin, and the third singing. They felt a bit underdressed, but no one seemed to care.

"I'll just act like I'm wearing a fancy dress!" Tori remarked, fluffing her hair dramatically, "And my hair's done nicely, and I'm wearing dark red lipstick."

Beck smirked at her, "Or a ping pong uniform…"

Knowing what he was referring to, she smacked him playfully in his arm, "And really cute fishnets."

Somehow, this caused them to reminisce. They ended up talking about everything from her being in a soda machine to spy on them to singing karaoke with the iCarly crew.

They had started out sitting on opposite sides of the table from each other, both having their own booth. But as the night went on, they clasped hands from across the table, and then Beck finally made his way to the other side to sit next to her. He had his arm around her as they talked softly about their day and what they could do tomorrow.

Near midnight, the manager came to them and politely indicated that they were closing up. The band was packing up their equipment and waiters were placing chairs on top of tables to begin vacuuming.

Beck and Tori walked through the restaurant with their arms around each other, ready to head in for the night anyway. But when they stepped outside, the noise that filled their ears made them look at each other and crack up laughing.

It was pouring again. Very similar to how it was the night before, where they could hardly see five feet in front of them.

"I guess when it rains here, it pours," Beck said, grinning down at Tori.

She grinned back with a mischievous look, "Ready?"

"Race ya!" And with that, Beck took off into the rain, running down the street.

"No fair!" Tori yelled, covering her head like that was supposed to help as she ran after him. She wasn't even paying attention to how far ahead he was, let alone notice him sneak behind a corner so that he could jump out and scare her when she reached him.

She screamed in terror and delight, picking up her pace when he started to run after her.

Neither of them had ever felt so alive.

It wasn't until they walked into their hotel room that her heart sank, "Oh no…"

"What?" Beck asked, worried as he looked around the room, thinking that sometime was wrong.

She turned to him, "We're soaked!...and we didn't bring any extra clothes!"

Beck shrugged, hardly seeing this as a big deal, "I'm sure there's a hairdryer in the bathroom." He clicked on the light in there and nodded as he waved his arm at it, "There, see? We'll just blow dry them and then they should be okay by morning."

Tori bent her arms so her hands were wrapped around the back of her neck. Does he not get that he's saying we'll be naked all night!

And as Beck stared at her, he could instantly feel her discomfort. And as much as he hated what he was about to say, he cared more about her ease than his hormones, "Hey, Tori…don't worry about it. It's just me. And if it makes you feel any better, I'll sleep on the couch and you can have the bed."

Slight relief came into her eyes, yet at the same time, she felt that disappointment. How is it that this man can always make me feel such conflicting emotions? "Okay…I mean, I don't want to put you on the couch, it's just—."

He stopped her, "It's fine, Tor. I understand."

I don't think you do… She thought as she watched him walk over to the window on the other side of the room. It was a whole different view from their normal hotel, even though the rain was making it hard to really see. Crossing her arms over her chest, she walked over to him, "I can explain wh—."

Beck chuckled softly, "You don't have to explain anything, Tori. Why you so held up on it?"

"I dunno, it's just…" she looked down, wanting to tell him so bad but being way too shy to even mention it. But when he lifted her chin and kissed her, her body relaxed and she wanted to confess…

"Now," Beck began as he broke the kiss, "Go get out of those clothes before you freeze," when she nodded and walked to the bathroom, he said, "Hey, throw me a towel for my hair."

She laughed and threw a towel at him, "You and your hair."

"You know you love it," he teased as he caught the towel and scratched it over his head.

Tori walked in the bathroom and closed the door softly. She looked at herself in the mirror and was shocked at how scared she looked. And when you're soaked and scared, it can look like a scene from a horror movie. Slowly, mostly because her clothes were once again like second skin, she began peeling off layers of clothing. She thought about at least keeping her bra on until she got under the covers, but when she wrapped a towel around herself, her bra straps that showed made her cringe. And even when she took her straps off her shoulders, it was still obvious that she was wearing a bra.

AAahhhh! Why am I worrying about something so STUPID! When I step out, I'll just ask Beck not look at me…simple, right? So why does it feel like my heart's about to pound out of my chest…

She finally just took the bra off. She looked a lot better with just the towel on, but it was completely obvious to her, just by looking at herself in the mirror, how nervous she was. But then she sucked in a deep breath and held her head up high. She went over her plan of action in her head…

Okay…first, open the door…second, walk briskly to the bed…third, crawl under the covers.

Simple, right? She took a few more deep breaths before finally reaching for the doorknob and yanking the door open.

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

Oh no! The first real cliffhanger of the story! That totally sucks, right! Okay, well…I kinda did it on purpose and kinda not. I still feel bad about uploading the wrong chapter last time and wanted to get this one out for you guys. So if you would be so kind as to give me some feedback on the real chapter for those of you who reviewed the wrong chapter to let me know my mistake. I'd really appreciate it. But the real reason for me saying this is that I wanted to post another chapter, and it's getting super late and this seemed like a pretty good place to stop.

However, I would also like for you guys to give me your opinions of what you want to happen. I usually try to make everyone happy and if you tell me you want something specific, I'll try my best to do it. BandxGeek123321, I'll try to add a Cat scene soon…Tori needs to call her back anyway. And BigStuOU has been asking me to add certain things in, like keeping you guys up to date on what day it is for Beck and Tori. Anyway, this is where the rest of you can come in. So tell me…

What do YOU want to happen?