Grease sentai

Revelations

"So what have you guys been up to?" Tori and the others had found a nice place in the back of the mansion away from all the kids. Jade's children were more than capable of handling the party, and Cat's son was supervising all of them so that the adults could have their time in private. They were all seated on a red sectional that took up two long walls. Jade and Beck were on the middle cushion, Beck's arm around her shoulders. Cat sat to Jade's right, and Tori on Beck's left. Even still, Tori wasn't sure how comfortable she was with this meeting. There was something that just wasn't sitting right with her, and she had no idea what that was. Maybe it was the fact that neither Robbie nor Andre wanted to show up?

She didn't want to talk about her own life, though she knew it was going to happen. Recently, she'd rejected the antidepressants, but was beginning to experience the withdrawal of coming off them. She knew they weren't necessary and did not wish to be dependent upon them, so she had her dad and Andre trash them.

"Oh you know, we're here and there," Jade replied happily. Tori was almost envious, Jade and Beck got everything they ever wanted. To top it off, they had an extremely happy marriage, or at least, Jade upped it as so. The only negative thing she heard was that Beck gambled constantly. "Being a celebrity and the wife of a celebrity really leaves room to expand!" Jade leaned forward, sipping her wine and grinning. "Socializing is no problem!"

"I can't say I've ever imagined you to socialize," Cat remarked. Jade sank back into the couch, smirking once again as she sipped her wine. "You hardly seemed the type to be concerned with other people growing up."

"Hardly the type? Cat, are you still loco?" Cat rolled her eyes and Tori raised up an eyebrow. How could Jade suggest that of Cat? Then again, the woman not only ran off the father of her baby for no good reason, but she hardly spoke, seemingly hiding so much behind those bloodshot eyes of hers. "Think about it. Me, learning the secrets of everyone that comes to my parties, and you think I'm not the type? If you know secrets, you know details of someone's innermost life, and with that knowledge, you have power. There's a reason Beck is so successful."

Beck laughed, pointing towards Jade with a proud grin, "If it wasn't for this woman right here and her parties, I wouldn't be such a famous actor. She would throw parties, invite all the important people and share in gossip with them or their wives, and so on. Using that, she'd get me into a movie or a show. Or even a commercial."

Tori frowned at this, she never really imagined Beck and Jade going so far as blackmailing their way through Hollywood. "So you blackmailed your way to success?"

"It's the only way to get up in movies, Tori." He breathed in and lifted his shoulders, "In this business, it's cutthroat. You either know someone and move up, or you stay where you are. Someone like you couldn't survive this business because you don't know how to be aggressive, how to be assertive..." Years ago, she would take offense to that statement. She'd argue and fight to defend herself, but now, she could hardly do it. Besides, who was she to deny there was truth in that? She herself saw Andre attempt to rise up in ranks, and fall so miserably.

"I guess you're right."

Cat's eyes flickered over to her and her lips fell into a scowl, "Now why the hell are you always agreeing? Always you agree with them, are you still so concerned about being accepted?"

"No..." She had her reasons. Closing her eyes, she remembered the first time Andre began drinking. What led him to the ruin and the mistakes that riddled their marriage.

"Andre could never get accepted by any record companies," Tori muttered. Jade, Beck and Cat were all eyeing her with concern, seeing the pain in her eyes after the memory played through her head. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, because it's true, you do have to know somebody to be someone. Either that, or you have to step on people to get up...I couldn't do something like that, and after Trina left, I just...I couldn't do it." Her chest trembled as a shaky breath exited her lungs. Jade reached over, patting her shoulder.