Final Project
XXV.
After the tragic incident of Andre catching Beck and Tori kissing, they decided to focus purely on their final project. They had less than a week to put it together and there was nothing else that could distract them from dreading what was awaiting them back in California. And after spending the rest of the day trying to reach Jade again, to no avail, they figured that she wasn't going to answer them any longer.
Tori wasn't sure if Andre would try to talk to her before they met up again, but she kept her computer open with the sound as loud as it could go. She even felt nervous about going to the bathroom in fear that that would be the time he would call.
Beck saw and felt her anxiety increase as the hours passed and felt almost helpless. There was nothing he was going to be able to do to cheer her up until she made up with Andre. Or at least talked to him once more. And truthfully…he hated it. He despised this whole thing.
They were both single now. No denying that. But because of the way it was presented to their exes, there was no way they could move on with each other freely and with no regrets. He still couldn't call Tori his girlfriend. And he wished he could blame Jade for that. But truth was, it was his and Tori's fault for being so careless. Not just with kissing in front of her laptop when she was calling Andre, but with everything.
He should have forced her to talk about them. About Andre. Let her know that he couldn't do anything with her until she broke it off with Andre. He could've sworn he tried that, though…and the possible result scared him too much to really go through with it: he was scared of giving Tori that ultimatum. He was scared that if he said "me or him" that she would pick him. Not because she loved Andre more, but because she would have felt pressured by Beck.
Either way, they couldn't go back in time and what was done was done.
But it was so hard being so close to her as they looked through their pictures and videos to put together their project. Her voice was lower…slower…sadder. He often saw a blurriness in her eyes that made him want to pull her into him, but every time he reached out to her, she shook him off and reminded him that they had to focus on their project.
They were both free but never felt more trapped.
When nighttime came, Beck politely asked if Tori wanted him to spend the night with her. She declined. Said she needed some time to herself. He could do nothing but say he understood.
And for the first time since they've been together, they weren't together.
It made Beck think about his plans he made the day Tori sang him that song at Shi-chan's. Shiori gave him some awesome ideas on how to give Tori the best night of her life, and he knew that there would be no better way to end their trip in Japan. But now…now he wasn't so sure he should go through with them. He didn't want to push Tori any more than he already had, and he was almost positive she wasn't in the mood for romance.
So he texted Shiori to inform her that he was cancelling and that she should stop pulling whatever strings she was pulling to get the reservations set up. Of course, she wanted to know why. But there were no words to describe why. So he never texted her back.
Tori couldn't even sleep that night. She kept her laptop on her bed, lying in the spot that Beck would normally occupy. Her desktop wallpaper was a snapshot of her locker at Hollywood Arts. She photo enhanced it a bit to really make the words glitter, but every time she thought about what "Make It Shine" really meant, her heart ached all the more. It was, after all, not only the first thing that tied her to Hollywood Arts, but the first thing that tied her to Andre. To everyone. She was only friends with everyone because of Andre.
And though she wished she didn't regret everything she had with Andre, she did. If she wouldn't have acted so irrationally that day, she wouldn't have practically begged him to date her. And if she didn't beg him, he never would have chased after her, they would have remained simple friends, and he could be rooting for her now instead of hating her.
And yes, she was kind of mad at Beck. He was the one that was irrational this time…telling Jade before he really thought about the consequences. Whatever Jade planned, it definitely involved hurting Tori, and she did a damn fine job this time.
Guess they all just had to see how this one would work out…
"Morning, Beautiful," Beck greeted her the next morning when he knocked on her door.
"Hey…" she dryly responded, her hair a mess and bags under her eyes.
He cleared his throat as he stepped into her room, closing the door gently behind him as he watched her drag her feet back to her bed. Running a hand through his hair, he tried to speak with as much gentleness as he could muster, assuming he was about to step into some lava, "Talk to Andre yet?"
Tori shook her head, "No…and I doubt it's gonna happen. So could you please…not bring it up? Please?" she looked up at him beseechingly, defeat clearing written in her eyes.
"Sorry," he mumbled out quickly, his face heating when he suddenly felt nervous and trapped. He had no idea what to talk to her about then. He was scared to love on her, he was scared to bring up Andre, or Jade, or anyone back home, and he was scared to bring up their final project. It seemed like the last thing she wanted to do was work on homework.
She cast her eyes to the floor, not wanting to see how hurt he was. But Beck was turned away from her by now anyway, stepping down into the living room area. He called back to her without turning around, "So how did you want to learn a Japanese song before we go back? Just listen to one over and over, or have Shiori help you?"
Tori flinched at his words, feeling like she didn't have the energy to learn a new language. Still, she knew they had to work on this in order to pass high school and she didn't want to be the reason they both failed, "I suppose Shiori would be more helpful…"
"Great. I'll text her to see if she can come over today," Beck answered, whipping out his phone.
She lay back on the bed, "I'm not sure I feel up to it today…"
"That may be something you have to work through," Beck countered immediately, not even looking up from his phone as he said it.
Tori only closed her eyes, "You think I'm weak."
Beck shot his head up to her at this, having just hit the send button. He didn't hear any questioning in her voice. It was like she was stating a fact she had no idea about, "I don't think that, Tor. What gave you that idea?"
"I just feel it," she inhaled deeply before letting out a long breath, "I just feel so…"
He waited for her to finish, but when it became clear that she wasn't going to, he sighed and walked over to her, "Tori, I know that you're hurting right now. And it's okay to…I would be more worried if you weren't upset over this whole thing."
She tried to grin at his teasing words, and that gave him more confidence.
He sat down beside her, turning his body so he could look at her as she lay on the bed, her messy hair fluffed out around her head. She stared back at him, begging him with her eyes to say something to make her feel better. He reached down and caressed his hand over her cheek, "Look, I know that you can't truly be happy until you find some closure. I just don't want you beating yourself up too hard."
Before she could respond, Beck's phone dinged to inform him of a text message. When he looked at it, he nodded, "Shiori said she could be over in a few hours."
Tori nodded also, placing her hand over top of his, "Thanks for being supportive, Beck. I…I love you."
This finally brought a genuine smile to both their faces, "And I love you, too." He leaned down to place the softest chaste kiss on her lips before standing up, "So let's try to get some more of this done. That way we won't have to wait until last minute."
"Right," she agreed, taking his hand that he offered to her.
Like Shiori said, she came over a few hours later. The two girls searched through dozens of songs before finding one that Shiori loved and that Tori thought she could do without too many issues. It was called "Love is a Thrill, Shock, Suspense" by Aiuchi Rina. The song was upbeat but seemed to have deep underlying meaning to it, and the more they practiced it, the better Tori's accent was sounding. Studying the English words with their translations seemed to help, and it made her want to do half the song in her native tongue to give it diversity.
Beck noticed how Tori kept glancing at her laptop throughout the day to see if Andre was calling her. He hated knowing that Andre wasn't going to…but he didn't have the heart to tell Tori that. If she believed that any guy could forgive his girlfriend of two years after what just happened, then she was obviously in denial.
"Okay, again," Shiori urged Tori when she noticed she was drifting off.
Tori snapped her eyes back to her friend, nodding when she heard the music start, watching the Japanese words flash across the screen.
"Koi wa thrill, shock, suspense! Mienai chikara tayori ni..."
Suddenly, Tori's laptop started blooping, and this caused poor Shiori to be pushed out of the way unexpectedly as Tori dived into her bedroom to see who was calling.
"Ohh…" she groaned out when she saw the name.
"Who is it?" Beck asked, pausing his computer to see what was going to happen.
"Cat," Tori answered, running her finger over the mouse to click accept to then see Cat's face appear on the screen.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Cat yelled happily, waving erratically at Tori.
Tori tried to force a smile, "Hey, Cat, what's up?"
"Did you know Beck and Jade broke up?" she got right to the point.
Tori shot her head over to Beck, raising an eyebrow as he stood up from his seat. She turned back to Cat slowly, "Yeah…how'd you know? You talk to Jade?"
Cat shook her head, "No, Jade updated her status on The Slap. Says she's single."
Nodding slowly, Tori reluctantly asked, "Um…did she say anything on any of her posts?"
"Um…" Cat seemed to be checking as she chatted with Tori, "Yes! It says here…" Cat cleared her throat like she was about to give a long, proper speech, "Liars, Tramps, and Whores, oh my."
To hear such words come out of Cat's mouth, and so blandly at that, would have normally been comical. But just knowing those nasty words were meant for her, Tori couldn't find any humor in it. Everyone on Jade's friend list will soon be asking what she meant, and she doubted that Jade will disagree to elaborate.
"Did something happen over there, Tori?" Cat asked innocently, her eyes big as she twirled her hair around her index finger.
Sighing, Tori pulled up her desk chair to look at her sweet friend. She almost hated having to talk about it, but if word was going to get around anyway, Cat most certainly should be one of the first to know everything, "Yes. Beck and I hooked up here and…we broke up with Jade and Andre yesterday…"
Tori almost expected Cat to clap excitedly, but the redhead's eyes remained downcast, "But no one else's status changed besides Jade's."
She nodded, "Well, the rest of us hadn't really thought about going that far to—."
"And I can't get ahold of Andre," Cat interrupted, "Robbie tried, too. Is he okay?"
Tori had to close her eyes as she felt that familiar hot sting. Hearing the hurt and concern in Cat's voice seemed to multiply the hurt and concern within herself, and the fact that she didn't have an answer only made it worse.
She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and knew without looking that it was Beck.
"He's hurt pretty bad right now, Cat, but he'll be fine. He just needs some time…" Beck's voice came out low and comforting.
Cat stared at the two of them in silence for a moment before offering a smile, "You guys are cute together."
"That's what I've been saying!" Shiori suddenly cut in, coming into view of the camera, "Hi, Kitty! I think you're the one Tori's been comparing me to."
"Hahaha, she called me Kitty!" Cat exclaimed, her mind instantly going from one subject to the next without any bumps, "What's your name?"
"Shiori. But you can call me Shi-chan."
"Ha! Like a sheep!"
Tori had to stand up from her chair and move herself back into the living room. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't get into the two carefree girls' conversation. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to gather her feelings, only tensing up when she felt Beck's arms circle around her from behind.
"Don't worry, Tor…he's fine. He just doesn't want to talk to anyone right now, and that seems pretty understandable, right?" Beck asked, his lips moving against the side of her head as he spoke.
"It is, it's just…" she sighed and leaned back into him, enjoying the feeling of his body pressed against hers, "I hope he doesn't do anything stupid. I know how much his emotions drive him…"
Beck didn't respond to this, just held her a bit tighter, pressing kisses to her temple. They both closed their eyes to get lost in the moment, even if it was only for a few seconds, hardly taking notice to the nonsensical chatter taking place in the other room.
They had no idea how long they stayed like that, but they both jumped apart when Shiori came back to them, "What a sweet girl!"
"Oh, she hung up…?" Tori asked, glancing back at her screen to make sure it was still on in case anyone else called.
"Yeah, she had to go. So you guys ready for tomorrow night?" Shiori asked.
Tori and Beck looked at each other quizzically before Beck asked, "What's tomorrow night?"
"Why, the plans you made for Tori, remember?" Shiori winked at the two of them, sitting down in front of Beck's computer to look through what they've put together so far.
Tori's heart dropped into her stomach when she thought about leaving her room. She turned to Beck, looking sorrowful that she had to decline, "Oh Beck, that's so sweet of you, but—."
"No, no…Shiori, I texted you last night canceling those, remember?" Beck prodded, letting Tori know that he had no intentions of making her do anything she didn't want to.
"Yes, but I don't recall you giving me a reason why. And I don't do stuff without reasons," Shiori grinned to the side at them, clicking on some of the pictures of Tori and Beck, "You guys are just adorable together!"
Beck sighed, not wishing to argue with Shiori, "Okay…look, Tor, I just wanted to do something special for you before we left, so I asked Shiori and…but unexpected things happened, and I don't want you to think that—."
"You planned something special…for me?" Tori asked, her eyes glittering with a small spark of hope that hadn't been there in the last few days.
"Well…yeah, why wouldn't I?" Beck took her hands, his hope rising that she would suddenly want to see his surprise, "When will we ever get a chance to be in Japan again?"
"True…" she agreed, looking down at their hands and thinking of how they looked so perfect together. She threaded their fingers together, loving how they all slipped right into place and how Beck always rubbed the back of her hand gently with his fingertips.
She still felt worried and terrible about everything, and her guilt was really pulling its weight around inside of her. But what he said truly made her realize how short of a time they had left in Japan. Before they knew it, they'd be back in California and may or may not ever come to Japan again. Alone or with each other. So even though her conscience was telling her it was wrong to want to have one more round of fun before they left, she couldn't help her curiosity.
She smiled at Beck, "I wanna see my surprise…"
()()()()()()()()()
Hello everyone! Got another update out, yea! Not too much happened unfortunately...and it's kinda on the short side, but I remember that I promised you guys another fluffy chapter, so I'm leading up to it! I wanted to get this chapter out in celebration of the new Victorious episode airing this Saturday called "Opposite Date." From what I've heard and seen, looks like it could be a Jandre and BORI episode! However this episode turns out, I'm really glad Beck and Tori are getting more screen time together again! So so so excited for it...
Thanks for reading and reviewing all you great peoples out there!