Final Project

XXII.

"Oh my God, I win!"

Oh man…

After the crowd cleared and everyone in Shi-chan's got what they wanted from Tori, Beck and her were able to sit down and really begin putting together their slideshow. Beck didn't even consider it, but as soon as he turned on his laptop and got connected to the coffee shop's wifi, his name came up as available for video chat.

And then it all happened so fast. His laptop just got done loading everything, he was about to click an icon, when a box came up and he accidentally hit "accept" instead. And before he knew it, Cat's face was on his screen.

"We all thought you guys died!"

Beck looked up from his laptop, catching eyes with Tori who sat across the table from him. Her eyes were wide and she mouthed very quietly, "Why'd you answer?!"

He could only shrug briefly before Cat made him focus on her: "Beck! Why won't you pay attention to me…?" She twirled a piece of her hair around her finger and pouted out her lower lip, making Beck think of a small child trying to get her parents attention.

Sighing, he replied, "Tori and I have been really busy preparing for our performance, and we're trying to put something together right n—."

"Tori's there, too?!" Cat yelled excitedly, waving her hand eagerly, "Let me see her!"

Beck looked up at Tori again, giving her a look that said "let's just get this over with." Tori rolled her eyes before standing up and moving her chair right next to Beck's so that Cat would be able to see her in the webcam.

"Hey, Cat."

"Tori! You're alive, too!" The red-head was completely ecstatic, laughing her loud, a bit annoying laugh, when she instantly got serious, "Why have you been avoiding me?"

Tori's shoulders slumped when she saw the bruised innocence in Cat's eyes, "I haven't. Like Beck said, we've been prepa—."

"Oooo, you got some 'splainin' to do, Lucy!" Cat said, using the accent of Ricky Ricardo while shaking her finger at the screen disapprovingly.

Tori and Beck glanced at each other in confusion before Tori smiled uncomfortably, "Umm…what are you talking about?"

Cat giggled, "I was quoting a line from I Love Lucy. But don't worry! Your name's not really Lucy."

Tori raised an eyebrow, not even wanting to say anything to egg her on.

But then Cat got serious again, "No, but seriously…Andre's really upset that you haven't talked to him."

Tori felt her face pale and her heart sink into her stomach. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing was coming out. Beck saw that she was too trapped within her own confusion to say anything, so spoke up: "How's Jade been?"

"Oh, Jade's upset, too! But you know…she always is," Cat bounced as she smiled her "airhead smile." She then leaned closer to the screen, "She even put all of us on Mission Report!" Cat screamed the last words and put her hands on her hips to give herself a dramatic super hero look.

"Umm…Mission what?" Beck asked.

Cat returned to normal, "Mission Report. She said whoever talks to you guys first needs to report back to her so she could…"handle it"," Cat curved her fingers to denote quotation marks. Her eyes suddenly got wide, "Uh-oh! I forgot to do that!"

When Beck and Tori saw that she was about to see if Jade was around to inform them of her discovery, the two jumped forward and yelled loudly, "NO!"

Cat froze, her eyes huge and her mouth hanging open, like she just got caught stealing a cookie.

"But she told me…" Cat's voice became meek.

"Just…just let me handle it, okay?" Beck said, running a hand through his hair in frustration. Though he was somewhat relieved it wasn't Jade that caught him on video chat first, dealing with Cat was turning into a nuisance.

Cat started biting at her fingernails, "I dunno…Jade'll hurt me if I—."

"Just…!" Beck yelled, a bit more harshly than he intended, but he quickly calmed himself down, "let me handle it…"

Cat sighed noisily, "Fine!" Her attention turned back to Tori to see her looking down at the keyboard. Cat's expression went to that of pity, "Tori, don't worry…Andre's not mad upset, he's just…sad upset." She smiled as if that was any better.

Tori looked up slowly, not even able to fake a smile. She only kind of heard Beck tell Cat that they had to get back to homework to quickly end the call with her. As soon as Cat's face was no longer on the screen, Beck quickly disconnected from the internet.

He looked over at her to see her elbow resting on the table with her hand in her hair like she wanted to rip it out. She said it a very detached tone: "It was wrong of us to ignore them for so long…"

Not even bothering to respond, Beck got out his camera and hooked it up to his computer to start uploading pictures. He took a large gulp of his coffee, watching as the multitude of pictures flashed on his screen one by one as they became part of a new system.

Tori maintained her position, staring at the screen though her eyes were far from focused, "We probably made everything worse by ignoring them…"

Still, Beck said nothing, continuing to drink his coffee to help bite his tongue.

So Tori continued detachedly, "We should have just said something from the beginning and—."

"That's what I suggested, Tori," Beck suddenly spoke up. He was just as upset about everything, but honestly was in no mood to talk about it. Figures…when I don't want to, that's when she does. "But you're the one that insisted we keep it secret because you couldn't bear to break it to Andre."

And he realized after he said it that he shouldn't have said it at all, let alone in the tone he used. He didn't mean to make it sound like he was accusing her of this whole thing being her fault. But…well, if she would have agreed to discuss everything out sooner with him, then maybe they could have reached a better conclusion than where their love story was heading.

Tori's hands dropped to her lap as she stared at him, but he couldn't tell if it was a disapproving look, a sullen look, or an angry look. But when he opened his mouth to begin apologizing, she held up her hand to stop him, "Don't. You're right. It is all my fault."

He sighed, "That's not what I was saying, Tor…"

"Yes, it was," she disagreed, taking only a moment to push her hair behind her ear before standing up abruptly, "But I'm gonna fix it." She went around the table and grabbed her bag before practically jogging out of the coffee shop.

Shiori watched her leave, turning her eyes back to Beck worriedly. She had question marks in her eyes, but all Beck could do was shrug in defeat and look back to his computer to see that all the pictures transferred over. He could only assume that Tori was going back to the hotel to talk to Andre, and to keep himself from going insane, he was going to get started on this damn slideshow.

Tori couldn't recall having her mind settle on a single thought the whole way back to the hotel. Her mind was either blank or had way too much shit mingled together. Sad when that happens, because next thing you know, you're about to face what you were trying to prepare for, and realize you couldn't have been less prepared.

The loud blooping of her laptop as she called Andre was deafening to her. What am I gonna say?! "Oh, hey Andre! Long time no talk! So I've been having THEE BEST time with Beck!"

Yeah…no. But she let it ring for a full two minutes before she ended the call, the loud, annoying sound becoming unbearable. Maybe he wasn't in…she looked at the time on her computer to see that it was 1:32 PM. Which meant it was 1:32 AM his time. Which meant he was asleep.

Sighing, she stood up to maybe head back to Shi-chan's, but froze in place when the blooping restarted and she saw that Andre was calling her back.

She slowly sat back down, closing her eyes as she took in a long breath to try to keep herself calm. With shaky hands, she scrolled the mouse over to click "accept". And in an instant, Tori and Andre were face to face (so to speak).

"Tori!" Andre yelled, and it was quite apparent that he just rolled out of bed although his eyes were wide and alert.

Tori forced a smile to tug up her lips, "Hey, you."

Then he smiled, and it was a relieved sort of gesture, "Oh man, Baby Girl, I'm so glad you're all right. I was really getting worried about you."

"Heh…yeah, well…been busy," was her lame excuse.

"I bet. I saw that you released that duet with Shiori."

She cocked her head to the side, "You did? How?"

"Internet. News travels fast that way," Andre joked as he said it like it was something she was unfamiliar with, "And news usually comes with pictures. There's quite a few pictures of Shiori at Club Dragon last Saturday…"

Tori blinked quickly a few times as she felt her heart rate increase. There were people taking pictures there…? She tried to keep her smile, "Yep, she's making quite a name for herself."

She suddenly jumped when the blooping started again as a request box came up on the screen.

Call from: Jade

Tori swallowed hard but closed out the request.

"Who was that?" Andre asked.

Folding in her lips, she debated on lying to him, but decided that she did enough of that already, "Jade."

A message then came up on her screen:

Jade: BITCH!

"You know she's been just as worried as I've been…" Andre started, watching Tori type something.

Tori: I'm talking to Andre right now!

"It's not like you to just disappear for a whole week without at least letting me know in advance…"

Jade: Where's Beck!

"And quite truthfully…I really began thinking something was going on between you and…"

Tori: Not here.

"And it's not just because of what Jade was putting into my head. Tor…I saw a picture…and I think it might have been you, but…I'm not really sure…"

Jade: Go. Get. Him.

"Tori, do you have something you want to tell me?"

Tori: No.

"No." Of course, this was not really the answer she was planning on giving him, but she happened to read her message aloud when she went to respond to Andre. She licked her lips nervously, "I mean…I dunno. A lot has happened and—."

"Hey, Jade just sent me a message telling me to make you go get her boyfriend," Andre interrupted.

Tori sighed, "I already told her no. Beck's not even here."

Andre shrugged, "Whatever. Anyway, go on. A lot has happened and…?"

"And…yeah, things happened…" God, she sounded so lame.

Andre's eyebrows furrowed as confusion and anxiety flashed in his eyes, "Tori…did anything happen between you and Beck?"

And thus…the moment of truth. Her whole world paused, and so did his. And even though they were on complete opposite sides of the world, they could hear each other's heartbeats in the thick silence. She opened her mouth, only to close it again, really wishing she would have rehearsed this first.

"Please, Tori…" he pleaded, his face coming closer to the screen to give her an even clearer image of all his desolation, "As your best friend…just tell me." And the first thing she noticed was how he pulled the best friend card as opposed to the boyfriend card. Who could lie to their best friend?

But seeing him almost falling apart at just the thought of her and Beck together…she couldn't even imagine how he'd be if she actually affirmed it. She knew how emotional he could get, and wondered how he would be able to handle it over in Argentina all by himself. Who would he have to talk to about it? He's always came to her…when the record guy turned him down, when he thought he was in love with Jade, when he wanted to break it off with Hope…so if she was the cause of his distress, what would he do?

Blood rushed to her ears and all she could hear was her pulse. She felt like she was underwater. She couldn't breathe and the only image that crossed her mind was the night she and Beck spent together as she let out: "I know what it may look like, but there's nothing going on."

Andre's forehead dropped to his keyboard as if he just passed out and Tori tried to peer down her screen as if that would help her see him better, "Andre?! You okay?"

"You have no idea…" came his mumbled response before he picked up his head to show his face again. He had a huge smile on his face but his eyes looked red, "how relieved I am to hear you say that, Baby Girl."

Tori felt a strain in her own eyes and knew they were probably turning just as red as his, "You mean you…you believe me?" Just like that?

His smile faded a bit, "I shouldn't?"

"No, no! That's not what I meant…" a tear slipped from Tori's right eye before she could stop it, though she swiped at it as fast as she could, "I just thought…" she trailed off.

"Look, Tori, I know how the paparazzi can make stuff look, all right? Remember when we starred in "The Wood"? How they made it look like you and Beck were sneaking around?"

Oh God, those creep directors predicted the future…!

"I love you so much, Tori. You have no idea."

And then another tear slipped down…followed by another…and then before she knew it, tears streaked her face like rain on a window.

"Aw, Baby Girl…don't cry, you'll make me cry," he chuckled shortly, but she could tell he was hardly joking.

She knew he thought she was crying because he trusted her so much. And she was indeed crying for that reason. But mainly because he had no reason to trust her so much. Yet she knew…deep down, she truly knew…that Andre knew she was lying to him. It was beyond obvious, and if it wasn't for her being involved in this predicament, she would have shook him and told him to open his eyes…that the girl he was so in love with was not as innocent and sweet as he thought.

But man, was love blinding. When hearts were on the line, it always feels so much better to ignore the truth if it kept you from falling apart.

And that's what Tori was doing. She was ignoring the truth to keep from falling apart.

And that's what Andre was doing. He was ignoring the truth to keep from falling apart.

And after that…what else is there to do?

"I can't wait to see you in a few days. I miss holding you…" Andre said, serious as could be, a gleam shining in his eyes, "We need to get back to where we belong."

It took all her strength just to try to pull her lips up into a smile, but in the end, she only frowned deeper. She opened her mouth to respond, but only a small crack emitted.

"I might have a special surprise for you when we get back," he smirked, nodding his head, "Bet you're excited now, huh?"

Again she tried to force her lips up but it just wasn't happening. A loud sob escaped from her mouth and she quickly covered it with her hand. She felt her whole face tense up before a cloud of tears blurred her vision.

Andre suddenly looked extremely concerned, "Baby Girl, what is it…?"

She shook her head as the tears dripped down her cheeks, falling off her chin, or sliding down her neck, or finding their way onto her lips, the salty taste making her cringe. The only thing she could manage to get out was, "Let me call you later."

"Tori, no, wait!" But she already closed the chat before he could say anymore.

"Damn it!" Andre screamed as he stood up and smacked his chair away from him, not even taking notice as his toppled across the room. He raked his hands into his dreadlocks, pacing back and forth in front of his computer. When he saw that she wasn't calling back, he picked up the next closest thing to him, his notebook full of songs, and threw it across the room. All the loose papers from multiple revisions or when he wrote songs on something else came flying out.

He took a few deep breaths in and out, the dark side of his mind telling him to let out his frustration more by ripping up all those pages and throwing more things. But his artistic side was telling him to go pick up the notebook and write out that frustration. He chose the latter.

Beck was still sitting in the coffee shop when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Tori: Nothing.

He stared at the text in confusion, wondering if she sent something before that to explain the one word. Or maybe she meant the text to be for someone else. But the only other person in her phone was Shiori. He looked up to see Shiori behind the counter, busy making coffees for a huge group of people that just walked in. It didn't even look like she had time to check her phone.

Beck: Nothing what?

Tori: Nothing. That's what I deserve.

His heart skipped a beat upon seeing this, and he quickly stood up to begin putting all of his stuff away. He texted her back as he was on his way out the door.

Beck: I'll be there in 5 minutes.

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

Wow, my reviewers came back! And with power! You made me wanna write this chapter tonight/this morning for you guys! Sorry there was no fluff in this one...though many of you have been begging for the drama to begin. Here we go!

Hey, did anyone else see the Youtube video titled "Victoria Loves Avan to Death." It's based off of the interview she gives on the Season 2 disk set when she talks about her best friend, Avan. Well, this video actually made some happy tears come to my eyes. It's so adorable how awesome they are together. And I think Avan sings a but in the video too, but I'm not positive it's him or not. Anyway, go check it out and tell me if you like it, too! I'm sure you will! =)