West & Vega: The Untold Jori

Homecoming

It was time to say goodbye.

Unlike the trip to New York, our return flights weren't all departing from the same airport. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and a lot of people were flying home. We met up one last time at Sam and Cat's apartment. We had lunch, we sat around, we listened to Cat talk about the Saturday night performance of her show, and she listened to everything that had happened to us. Dice and Goomer were the first to depart for John F. Kennedy. They managed to get an earlier flight back to LA than we did, with an airline I had never heard of and didn't fully trust. I thanked them both for their help; we couldn't have done what we did without them.

The Seattle crew were the next to depart, heading for LaGuardia. Sam and Carly bade each other yet another tearful farewell. They were getting really good at those. There was still some really weird tension between Freddie and Sam, but they put it aside. Andre and Robbie went with them; Andre would be returning to work with PeazyB and Robbie was to catch a connecting flight from Seattle to Vegas. I made sure to thank them all again as well. Without the strength of numbers, dealing with Fawn might not have gone as well as it did.

Beck was the last, outside of Tori and Me. When the time came, I walked him to the door of Sam and Cat's apartment and stepped out into the hallway. The awkwardness was thick, and we both felt it. We weren't together anymore. Nothing was pressing between us to keep in touch, at least not in that sense. The thought made me sad and maybe a little scared.

"So...this was an interesting trip," he said.

"Just a bit."

"It feels like it was a whole lot longer than just three days."

Oh, did it ever. Felt more like a month. "Well, we had a lot of stuff to cram in, I guess," I said.

The silence sat there, weighing down on us.

"I don't want to lose you," I said. "As a friend, I mean. Our history...it's deep, and it means a lot to me."

Beck smiled. "You'll never lose me," he said. "I'll love you until the day I stop breathing. As a friend, if that's what it has to be. A very angry, violent-tempered friend. Although I think I might actually be more afraid of Tori now. Man, this was a weird trip."

"I love weird things."

"I know. And I love that about you."

He embraced me then, and for the first time that trip, I felt something in his arms. I felt warmth and affection for him. Platonic affection...but it was better than the emptiness I'd felt before. I knew in my heart I had made the right decision, and he seemed okay with it too.

"Call me sometime," I said.

"You call me. I wanna know what happens with your meeting tomorrow."

"I promise."

"Try not to kick too much ass out there."

"That I can't promise."

He chuckled and turned from me. I watched as he disappeared down the hall and the corner stole him from my sight. My heart ached a little for what had been lost and for all the changes, but that's normal. It's part of growing and moving on. Knowing that didn't soothe the ache, but it gave me hope that one day in the future, only the ache would fade from memory, leaving just the good things behind.

I went back into the apartment. Tori sat on the couch, chatting with Cat. When she saw me come in, her smile grew and my heart raced. I still had a hard time accepting what had happened between us. I was stubborn and very, very resistant to change. But I was getting used to this new reality, and the more I did, the more I liked it.