Here's chapter 16! Sorry for the delay on this one - have been very busy! Enjoy!
One time in elementary school, Tori was assigned with a task to write about the start to her perfect day. She could remember her detailed descriptions of PB sandwiches for breakfast, pillow fights with her sister and a movie marathon with her friends, all before midday. Now 16, she still hadn't experienced that, but she figured that starting her day by seeing Beck Oliver in his underwear wasn't such a bad replacement. Although she couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of the half-naked socialite draped over his shoulder.
"Dude! Care to explain?" Tori exclaimed as she arrived at the lunch table, pointing her phone towards Beck.
"Oh." He laughed nervously, brushing off the picture of him in his boxers on the BuzzFinger homepage.
"Oh? That's you. And Alyssa Vaughn. Together. On the BuzzFinger homepage."
"Alyssa Vaughn?" Andre asked excitedly. "The one from that reality show? Man, how'd you manage that? She's so hot I bet the sun has to wear glasses looking at her."
Beck shrugged. "I told you guys I was doing a shoot."
The shoot in question had not gone how Beck had expected.
Alyssa had been hazy on the details, save for the time and place he should be there and the general gist of how he would be greeted and who by, so when he walked up to the building, he did so with an entirely open mind.
Fifteen minutes later, he was sat in a make up chair, with multiple perfume-drenched women tousling his hair and powdering his face. Just as he was beginning to doubt his modelling capabilities on the basis of the violent itch at the base of his nose from all the products he was being abused with, the door swung open and in sauntered the familiar form of the girl from Subway. Alyssa Vaughn.
"Hey Beck, how's it going?" She asked casually, falling gracefully into the chair next to him.
"Good, yeah, just getting used to how everything works." Beck replied with a smile.
Alyssa beamed, twirling an already-curled strand of hair around a perfectly manicured nail. "So, are you excited?"
"About what?
"The shoot, silly!" She giggled. "This is your first modelling experience, right?"
"Right." Beck blushed. He really needed to start acting like less of an amateur if he was to get anywhere today.
"You'll be fine, don't worry." Alyssa assured him and he nodded. "I've done so many and I'm right here with you to help."
"Thanks." Beck said genuinely.
"Don't mention it! I'm here for you, I promise. There's no need to be nervous - it'll all go so smoothly, you'll see."
"I hope so." Beck replied, nervously. He was really hoping to make a good impression, and potentially gain some contacts in the industry. There was nothing better for Toby than a father with a steady supply of work coming his way.
"Honestly, I was exactly the same on my first shoot. I was like ten and my daddy took me to this set to film a Barbie commercial and I was just so nervous, but it was fine. I had so much fun and I've done so much modelling since. You shouldn't worry so much about making a good impression. To be honest, you've either got it or you don't, and, trust me, we've both got it."
"Thanks." Beck chuckled, as a stylist swiped some more gel in his hair.
"Soo, how was your day?" Alyssa asked, moving on the conversation with a bright smile.
"Oh, nothing special." Beck laughed. "I'm still at school, you know, so just class and more class."
"Aw, that sucks." Alyssa pouted. "Honestly, let me know if you want to skip at any point - I'm sure my dad can sort something." She added, with complete sincerity.
Beck just laughed along, dumbfounded at the power this girl's father seemed to have.
"It's such a waste of time to be in school, especially when you could be in places like this, getting real experience." Alyssa announced firmly.
"To be fair, I go to a performing arts school, so we do a lot of cool stuff." Beck replied, sticking up for his school which he really did like.
"Oh, no way. What school?"
"Hollywood Arts."
"You go to Hollywood Arts? I always see that place when I'm driving to the beach. It looks like the kids there have a great time."
"We do, yeah." Beck smiled. "It's what I wanna do... it doesn't even feel like school."
"I love that." Alyssa beamed. "What do you want to do then?"
"Well, in an ideal world I'd love to be an actor but... you know how it is." He said, trailing off slightly.
Alyssa looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Y'know." Beck shrugged. "It's such a hard industry to get into."
Alyssa furrowed her brow. "Is it? I've done some acting before. Auditions aren't that hard to get."
Beck's better judgement decided against pointing out the obvious and instead he settled for a joke. "Hey, feel free to send some my way then."
"Okay."
Well that wasn't the reaction he was expecting.
"Oh, no, I was joking." Beck laughed awkwardly.
"Oh. I wasn't."
Now it was Beck's turn to look confused.
"I'm serious. If you want an audition for something, just let me know. My dad knows people; he can make something happen."
"Are you serious?" Beck asked, earning a scolding from the hair stylist whose hand was knocked as he eagerly leant forward in his chair.
"Of course." Alyssa laughed, her voice like syrup. "Hey, if you want to talk about it properly we could go for coffee after the shoot? I know a great place.
Beck almost accepted before remembering his parental duties; he'd already told Jade that he'd be round to look after Toby later on. Shoot.
"Ah, I'd love to but I've already agreed to go see my girlfriend straight after." He replied, failing to mention the baby that was in fact the main reason for the visit.
Alyssa's surprise was palpable to everyone in the room. Everyone except Beck, that was. The make up artists raised their eyebrows, the hair stylist almost messed up Beck's most prized feature and Alyssa herself almost spat out the water she was lazily sloshing around her mouth. Beck however? None the wiser.
"Oh. Right. Another time then maybe." Alyssa said, hastily collecting herself.
"Yeah." Beck replied, stars already in his eyes.
"So..." Alyssa began, with regained composure. "How long have you been with your girlfriend for?"
The question was innocent but if either of the pair had been paying attention to any of the other occupants in the room they would've seen knowing looks and stifled smirks.
"Oh, two years." Beck grinned, oblivious to the strangeness of the shift in conversation.
"That's cool." Alyssa replied awkwardly. "What's her name."
"Jade." Beck replied with a smile. The name was as pretty coming out of his mouth as the girl herself.
Alyssa nodded. "So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" She sidestepped fairly obviously.
"Oh, er, no actually." Beck replied, playing into the stilted conversation. "Caught me red handed. Only child." He laughed.
"Me too." Alyssa smiled.
"Hey, we're both freaks of nature then." Beck joked. Alyssa grinned widely. Conversation restored.
"Okay, Beck, Alyssa, we're gonna need you guys on set now." Called a runner from the doorway.
"Oh, I'm not ready yet." Beck blushed, acutely aware that he was dressed in no more than the branded underwear and robe he'd been instructed to change into before heading into the make up room.
"Yeah you are." The man replied, furrowing his brow.
In confusion, Beck turned to Alyssa, but she looked entirely composed despite the fact that she was also in a similar state of undress.
"I need to get changed." Beck explained, but the man simply shook his head.
"You're wearing the stuff they gave you right?" He asked and Beck nodded. "Then you're changed. Right, we're on a schedule here so you two follow me."
At this, Alyssa calmly rose from her chair and walked towards the man, taking a moment to glance behind at Beck who, unwilling to do something wrong, timidly followed.
The trio walked out into the corridor, and Beck immediately felt the draft. Unfortunately, however, the corridor was not the target location, and they continued walking, towards a large, well-lit room at the end which, much to Beck's dismay, was full of people. Looking around, he became acutely aware that he had stumbled into a teenage boy's wet dream. The ratio of immaculately sculpted female bodies to him was about 4:1 and they were all wearing little more than him. One of the assistants motioned for him to take off the robe before she took his arm and ushered him in front of the camera, Alyssa sidling in next to him moments later. He looked from the blonde waiting to be called on his right to his new acquaintance on the left, but they might as well not have even been in the room. There was only one thing on his mind:
Jade was going to absolutely murder him.
"That was the shoot?" Tori asked, amazed.
"Yeah."
"Your shoot was an underwear commercial with Alyssa Vaughn and you didn't think to mention that?"
"I didn't know it was going to be an underwear commercial." Beck replied meekly.
"Wait, so let me get this straight. You did a shoot where you're posing half-naked with one of the hottest girls in LA..." Andre asked, pausing for clarification, to which Beck only raised his eyebrows. "...and Jade, the scariest girl in LA, was fine with it."
Beck chewed his lip nervously. "She didn't really, um, know."
Tori and Andre shared a look of pure fear.
"You didn't tell her? Oh god, we need to prepare for Hurricane Jade." Tori panicked.
"Relax, you guys. Jade will be cool. We had a talk last week and she's gonna chill out a bit." Beck said, with an air of confidence that didn't feel wholly authentic.
"Well, I hope you're right, because she's heading this way right now."
At this, Beck's eyes shot up, as did Tori's, fearing the wrath of the terrifying girl. It had only been a week since she'd experienced it firsthand and she wasn't exactly dying to be a participant once again.
And Jade looked truly deadly.
Her eyes seem to blaze with fire, her hair crowning her like Medusa's snakes, as she marched with unmistakable purpose up to her unfortunate boyfriend.
Tori wasn't sure whether she could watch.
"What the fuck is this?" Jade pointed at her phone, mirroring Tori's earlier question with far more venom.
"My shoot." Beck mumbled.
"You told me you were modelling, not starring in a porno!" Jade spat back furiously, lightning bolts flying in all directions with every syllable.
"It wasn't a porno, Jade! It was an underwear shoot. Hundreds of models do it!" Beck shouted back in exasperation.
"You didn't have to be one of them!"
"I thought we talked about this? You said you understood why I was doing this!"
"That was before I found out you were doing this with half your clothes off!"
Beck placed his head in his hands as Jade steamed above him.
"Did you sleep with her?" She asked suddenly, and Tori's eyes widened, concerned that she might have front row seats to the world's first ever verbal castration if Beck didn't choose his next words carefully.
"Jade." Beck warned.
"It's a yes or no question, Beck. Did you or did you not sleep with her?"
"Of course I didn't! In case you've forgotten, I have a girlfriend! I'm not a cheat, Jade!"
"How am I supposed to know that? When you lie and lie and lie-"
"I didn't know! All I knew is that it was a modelling shoot and they were paying me, and god forbid I chose to try to earn some money for our kid! One of us has to!"
Jade gritted her teeth furiously. "Okay, if you think I'm so useless then maybe I'm not good enough to be your girlfriend anymore."
"Jade-"
"No, for once in your life would you listen to me? We're done Beck." She spat, turning and walking away.
"Jesus Christ, Jade. You're being ridiculous!" He called after her.
"Why do you care? I'm not your girlfriend anymore!" She yelled back, catching the attention of the entire female population of Hollywood Arts. They turned to Beck like vultures with their eyes fixed on their prey. Tori sincerely hoped she didn't look like that.
Beck sighed and stood up. "I better go sort her out." He said, collecting up his things. Tori watched with a bittersweet feeling as he trudged after the girl who seemed determined to break his heart. Tori couldn't help but feel that he must be a masochist to keep running after her.
"Hey, you wanna make a bet?" Andre asked, regaining her attention.
"What?"
"I'm saying three days." He replied. "The breakup."
"You don't think it's for good?"
"Nah. They're like magnets - as much as they push each other away, they'll always find their way back together."
Tori bit her lip as she watched her friend disappear into the distance after the girl who seemed to hurt him so much. She'd always been pretty good at science and she could remember learning about magnets. Sure, they attracted, but only when the right sides were facing each other, on the same page per se.
She wasn't sure that Beck and Jade ever seemed to be on the same page.