[Tori] You'll Never Know If You Don't Try

[Joel Carter Foster]

‘ Dude, I really ..REALLY don’t think this is a good idea,” Justin called out after Joel as he followed him after Joel got out of the escalade and made his way towards the school, nudging his sunglasses up further on his nose with his knuckle. “ It’s all god man” he said as he adjusted the way his pants fit against his hip. He was back in New York because they were doing a benefit concert with some of the artists from Taboo to sort of help raise money for victims and their families from the school shooting at his old stomping grounds. But this school he had never been to before. But Victoria sure as hell went there. After getting a hold of Renner, finding out who the nurse was and then finding out what school her daughter attended, it was really just a matter of showing up. Joel opened the door and stepped inside, waving to a few girls who were late for class, wandering around the hallways. He smiled to himself, pushing his glasses up onto the top of his head as he went into the administrative offices. “Hey, I was wondering if you could help point me in the right direction..” he said before he smiled down at the receptionist behind her desk. Surely they didn’t just tell visitors what students were in which classroom, but after a bit of talking, little winks and grins, she was pretty much in the palm of his hand. “ Thank you so much.” he said to her looking down at the school map to find the classroom she was talking about before he turned to Justin and patted him on the shoulder as he moved past him to head to the classroom. ‘ We could be at rehearsal. Or recording.’ Justin said, seemingly still trying to get Joel to come to his senses.

“ I’ve been rehearsing all week. And I have nothing to record right now. Boyfriend just got sent to Renner for any advice he might have,” Joel said distractedly, looking down the hallways until he found the right one and made his way. ‘ Clearly she doesn’t want to talk to you’ Justin said, following after him hastly. “ She doesn’t have to,” Joel said with an indifferent shrug of his shoulder. Joel stood in front of the door, coughing to himself quietly before he licked his lips and opened the door. “ Hey..” he said as he came into the classroom, “ Sorry to interrupt.” he said, giving a small wave to someone as he walked to the front of the classroom where he stopped by the teacher, turning to look at him before he offered him his hand to shake, “ Joel Foster, nice to meet you” he said, giving it a firm shake before he looked back out over the classroom. He scanned each of their faces until his eyes finally rested on hers. He stood there still, hands in his front pocket, keeping his eyes locked on hers as he tried to force himself to breathe in and out. It was her. He must have been staring at her dead on for what felt like ages, finally he cleared his throat and looked around the classroom before he quietly made his way towards her. “ I have been.. thinking about you. Since New Years Eve.” he said as he stood in front of her desk. “ No name.. no number… you didn’t really give me much hope,” he said as stared down at her. “ Why?” he asked, shaking his head slightly out of confusion. “ Is it because I’m Joel Foster?” he asked, looking up and realized that Justin had followed him in along with a few other people from his team. He looked over at the window, spotting the SUV’s that he had brought with him before he looked down at her. “ It’s because I’m Joel Foster..” he answered for himself. “ Well…” he said quietly, bringing his hand up to the back of his neck and held it there, thinking of how to remedy the situation he had gotten himself into. Joel looked back down at her, blonde hair just as beautiful as ever. “ ….. Let’s start over” he said, placing his hands down on her desk. “ I work too much. I’m gone all the time. There’s things about me that I keep hidden from people that I would consider close to me. I’m not saying I’ll be good at it.. or that I’ll always make the right call. But I am saying that I would like to take you out… to dinner. “ he said, watching her carefully before he straightened up again, offering his hand out to her. “ Hi… I’m Joel..”

Outfit

[Victoria Jean Taylor]

Tori slammed her notebook shut and covered it with her forearms, laughing as her best friend Alexis tried to pry the notebook from her grasps. "Let me see, you always let me read," Alexis said, pouting at her. "I'm not done yet," Tori laughed, "You can read it when I'm done, promise." That was how things usually went. Tori wrote, Alexis read it and told her what she thought. Best friend, built in critic. Tori was determined to be a great novelist. She wasn't good at math, but she had a way with words on paper. Words out of her mouth were sometimes a different story. Give her a pen and paper, she could paint an entirely different world. That was what she did. Mostly she just wrote short stories, trying to paint a complete picture, working on creating clear scenes. She'd only get better by practicing anyways. Plus Alexis was an avid reader and gave no hesitation to constructive criticism. Right now she was writing a short story about a guy in his twenties, sharing his apartment with his pet cat who was some sort of wild hybrid. Basically a guy living in fear of the animal. Humorous, but familiar. Tori had a cat at home the size of a small labrador. She had some sort of idea of what breed he was, quite possibly a savannah cat... but Tori hadn't gone out and bought a hybrid cat. No way. That cat was wandering the neighborhood terrorizing people, its owner seemingly abandoned it. Probably because they didn't understand how to handle him. And for some weird as hell reason, that cat liked Tori. So she named him Sylvaticus and took him home. It was like having a predatory dog in the house or something. Syd for short, was big like a dog, and preyed on people like a wild cat. He was quite inspiring for writing though.

Class had started and Alexis waited until Tori was finished writing, taking class time as prime time to get writing finished. Tori was mid sentence when Alexis starting tapping her on the shoulder frantically, "What?" Tori whispered, leaning over but not looking up from her paper. But Alexis wasn't answering, and the entire room had grown quiet except for frantic whispering among her classmates. Tori looked up, seeing the reason for the class coming to a halt. Joel Foster was standing in their classroom, looking right at her. She hadn't seen him since he was in the hospital. And even so she'd not told a soul that she'd seen him there either. She did not want to come off as a psycho stalker fan and though her intentions were good, she knew what people would think. But she had reasons. She'd saw him in LA at his concert. She'd seen him running her direction. And she knew he'd seen her see him. maybe she felt a bit... responsible?... for his accident. If he'd hadn't been trying to get to her he wouldn't have run into the street. Before that, the last time she'd saw Joel was New Year's Eve. He'd been completely charming. And adorable. And she hadn't told him her name. Why? Mostly because he was Joel Foster. And there was a chance she was just another girl. And he traveled, wouldn't be around a lot. And mostly because the thought of him liking her seemed to good to be true. Maybe it was just a natural reflex to not get her own hopes up.

She'd tried not to think about it, because him knowing she'd seen him in the hospital was borderline mortifying, he must think she was such a stalker... it didn't help that her mom was his nurse. And she always brought her mom lunch on Tuesday's and Thursday's. She was there anyways... and she felt so horrible for what happened with the accident, she couldn't help but feel like she should make it up to him. It was easier when he was unconscious. because now, obviously, Joel was awake and ready to take on the world, and she was terrified of what he'd say if he knew. Think she was creepy. Or a stalker. Crazy. Get a restraining order on her. As much as she wanted to like him, the thought of what he'd think if he knew blew any chance she'd have. Which was why she'd told herself from the get go not to get attached to the idea of him. It was just too good to be true. Had to be.

Tori watched him, setting her pen down on her desk in front of her, not letting her eyes leave his. Why was he here? Had that tall rocker guy told Joel she'd been at the hospital? Was he here to tell her to leave him alone? She heard him speak, saying he'd thought about her. She wanted to tell him she had too, thought about him since they met, wondering if not giving him her name or number was the worst part. Maybe she was wrong, maybe it would have been different. She didn't know. She was sort of at a loss for words, but he was right. It was because he was Joel Foster. Not that he had a stigma, that wasn't it, it was just that he was a pop star, he had so much better things to do then have a relationship long distance with some girl back home. She'd seen him in interviews, he was really kind of anti girlfriend in a way. Of course he'd been cute with Dani Cooper, but that came out to not be a true relationship. He just seemed too work driven. She didn't want to get her hopes up and then come to find out he just simply was too work driven to put any effort in. he just confused her a lot. She decided the bottom line was that she just didn't know him. Anyone could make assumptions based on interviews, or pictures in tabloids, or what you perceive his life to be life. But Tori didn't know Joel. And even now, as he asked her if they could start over she realized she really, really didn't know him. He was so shockingly willing to start over. Maybe that was a good place to start. Especially if he was going to track her down at her school. That was why, when he'd gotten around to asking her to dinner, she thought he had a point. He wasn't going to be around much, and he was neck deep in his work, but he wanted to go to dinner. There was no way she really could say no, nor did she want to. Tori placed her hand in his, smiling a little, "Hi, I'm Victoria. And I would love to go to dinner sometime."