>UNLIKELY DRAMA< {Victorious}

1. Beck and Giles

UNLIKELY DRAMA

1. Beck and Giles
🎤 Tori Vega 🎤

My voice unrolls across the audience as everyone claps their hands along to the song. As I finish the chorus, my husband Giles - the guitarist - steps forward and speeds through an intense solo, knocking notes high and low as the fans scream and clap along. We repeat the chorus one more time and then finish. I step forward as the band starts clearing up, getting ready for the next singers.

"Hello everybody, I'm Tori Vega and you just heard the song Firestyle by The Nite Club!" More screams and a few begging for an encore. I bashfully denied. "Sorry but we've got a lot of other bands playing tonight and we don't have time for another song. Thank you for being here and goodnight!"

I retreat off stage, backing out as the next band strides on stage from the other side, setting up their equipment. It's an up-and-coming boy band called Gophers. After a few sound checks and retuning their guitars, the boys start singing and wow they sound amazing. Their voices sting through the air, mesmerising the audience.

"They're really good," I say to my beloved husband as he hooks his arm through mine.

"Not as good as you, T," he says and he smiles and kisses me on the cheek.

"Yeah, but they're still good," I insist and look over at Giles.

"Not as good as you," he says again and his gaze grows hard and slightly more intense. He's very competitive - he doesn't even let me talk to other band members in case they try and sabotage us or trick me. "Come on, Angel is waiting at home for us. I'll bet the nanny's had enough of her by now."

Angel Alice Dawn Vega is mine and Giles' daughter. Her middle names were chosen because that was the name of my grandmother (her full name) while Giles chose Angel because of his sister whose middle name is Angel (but Alison Angel Andrews is definitely the opposite of an Angel).

Giles grabs his guitar and I help carry one of the speakers as the band carries all the equipment out to our tour bus. On the side there is an enormous image of my face with the band standing a long ways behind, mid-song. If I had known how self-conscious I would be about an enormous, embarrassing picture of me on an equally enormous, embarrassing tour bus, I probably would've become an accountant or a scientist or something other than a singer songwriter.

Giles takes the speaker from me and puts it into the hidden compartment with the rest of the equipment before the driver shuts it. Then the band files up the steps winding round into the coach. I stand outside, staring anxiously at the huge picture.

"It's harder than we expected, isn't it?" a voice comments from behind me. I whip around, shocked.

"Beck?" I cry and his big, familiar brown eyes meet mine and his smile is that same, half-cocked smirk that I remember from our years together at Hollywood Arts. Squealing, I run towards him, stumbling in my dumb high heels, and embrace him tightly. "Ohmigod! I can't believe it! It's been forever!"

"I know," Beck chuckles and after a moment wraps his arms around me too.

I release him after a few long moments and stand back, grinning stupidly at the sight of my old friend - and maybe romantic interest. "What are you doing here?"

He chuckles again and crosses his arms, leaning back onto his heels and looking at me with those warm, friendly eyes he has always looked at me with. "One of my friends got some tickets for this concert. I didn't realise you'd be here until I looked up the programme online. I'm so glad to see you, Tori."

"Me too!" I beam and then pause, scrunching my brow in a frown. "I mean...I'm pleased to see you...Like you're pleased to see me...Not I'm pleased to see me..."

He laughs and ruffles my hair. "You're just as awkward as ever, eh?"

"Get your hands off her," Giles snarls from behind me. We both turn our attention to my husband who is standing there with his feet planted apart and his arms entwined tightly across his chest. Beck retreats one step and does his usual sarcastic raising of the hands. "Who are you?"

"I'm Beck Oliver, who are you?"

"I'm Giles Andrews, I'm T's husband," Giles snaps and reaches out, grabbing my wrist and yanking me back to his side. "We have a kid."

Beck seems unfazed, looking to me and grinning. "You're married too? Guess who I married." I shrug, clueless. "Cat. Remember Cat Valentine? We're married now! We have twins. How old's your kid?"

Giles seems shocked, loosening his grip slightly on my wrist so I'm able to free myself and step forward again. "She's called Angel and she's six."

"We have two boys: Kyle and Jesse III," Beck says cheerfully.

I raise an eyebrow. "Who picked those names?"

Beck laughs. "I chose Kyle. Jesse is the name of Cat's cousin and uncle and she likes the number three so..."

"I thought she forgot the number three," I remind him, frowning.

He laughs again. Apparently his life is still fun and games or maybe he's just good at disguising it. "Yeah well, sometimes she does called him 'Four' but hey."

We stand there for a few moments just thinking back to the good old days. Beck's hair is still long but there is a streak of dyed red hair running through the dark brown. "What's that?" I ask, pointing it out, and Beck's fingers run up and curl around it. It's the same electric colour as Cat's hair used to be. I wonder if it's still red.

"I dyed it red for Cat," Beck says with a small, far away smile. "This way I'll always have a bit of her with me." When I stare at him, worried, he laughs. "Don't worry, she's fine, it's just that I'm an actor so I'm away a lot."

"Oh wow, has your career hit it off yet?"

For a moment, Beck looks as though he's about to say something but then he seems to notice something behind me because he stops himself, clears his throat and tucks his hands into his jeans' pockets. "How about we catch up some other time? You should see Cat again."

"And Angel could meet Kyle and Jesse!" I add eagerly and he chuckles but this time it's forced.

"Sure." He keeps looking over my shoulder anxiously and when I turn around I notice Giles is giving him a glare. "So is your number still the same?"

"Yeah, my personal phone has the same SIM and number," I say softly. "You?"

"I'll text you the number," he says quickly. "See you Tori. I'd better get home. I've got a few months off work and the kids'll be waiting for me to read them a bedtime story."

I nod and watch sadly as he hurries away, heading for a gorgeous dark blue Maserati. Then I turn around and Giles grins, taking my hand and hurrying me up the steps of the coach.

"Who was that guy?" Giles asks and I smile shyly.

"We went to the same school," I say.

Nodding, Giles leaves it there and I sit down, glumly taking out my phone, half-expecting a text.

Just as I'm about to turn the phone off, it dings and a text blinks to life:

Hey Tori. Thought I'd forget huh? Here's my number. ;)

I grin and switch off my phone, sitting back for the ride, looking forward to see my daughter after a long, eventful night.