Hollywood Arts, Here I Am

Chapter 10: Tori's New Boyfriend

About a few months later, Andre and I were going strong! We've only fought once, but that was only over production stuff.

Production? I hear you asking. Yes, Andre and I have made a decision to produce an album together. He'll be working on the tracks, and he told me to work my talent. We also agreed to work on lyrics together!

Anyway, we were at lunch when Tori excitedly ran up with a guy.

"Heyyyyy!" she smiled.

I quietly nodded, immediately suspicious of this guy.

"You guys remember Flynn, right? From class?" she asked, gesturing to this guy.

I nodded, still quiet. I immediately interlocked my fingers with Andre's out of anxiety. He shot me a look as I opened my notes app and started taking notes over Flynn and his behaviors.

"So, Flynn, where are you from?" Beck asked.

I raised a brow at Flynn's answer, "Oh, I transferred from another country."

It seemed like after every question we asked, Flynn didn't want anyone to know about him. I could feel Andre reading over my shoulder, then lean close to my ear.

"You think he's sus?" he asked.

I looked at Andre, blinking three times. He leaned close to my ear again.

"You don't trust him?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Tori asked.

"Nothing." I lied, "Just some aspects of a project."

She gave me a questioning look before shrugging and turning to talk to Flynn some more. Beck and Jade glanced to us and gave me a slight nod.

"Jade, meet me in the restroom?" I asked, quietly.

"Yeah, give me a few minutes." she replied.

I stood up, slowly, and kissed Andre, "I'll be back."

"Don't be too long, pretty thang." Andre smirked.

I playfully rolled my eyes and kissed his cheek, "Cute."

I began to walk away from the table, immediately hearing Jade stand up and follow behind. Smirking to myself, I quickly made my way to the women's restroom and waited by the sink for Jade, splashing some water on my face to relax and ground myself. I heard the door open.

"So I'm not the only one suspicious of Tori's new boy?" Jade's voice asked.

"No, you're not."

"So, what do we do?" Jade asked.

"Stay suspicious of him, don't believe him but pretend you actually give a shit."

"So what I normally do?"

"Exact-...OW!" I feigned hurt.

"Not with you! I meant Tori and Trina, people that don't have an impact on my life."

I chuckled, "I was messing with you, but yes, exactly how you act."

******************

When we made our way back to our table, Andre's face lit up at the sight of me. I smiled in return, leaning down by his ear before I sat down.

"Stay sus of Flynn, but don't look like you are sus of him." I whispered, then kissing his cheek to make it look like I just whispered something [REDACTED] into his ear.

Andre smirked, playing along, "You left me all lonely, my Sky."

I blushed, playfully flipping off Jade as she laughed. Sitting back down, I stealthily pulled my notes back up and reviewed them.

*Refuses to talk about previous residency
*Will not talk about previous school
*Brings up family
*Intimidating aura
*Says he's an actor, possible manipulator?

Andre leaned over my shoulder as I put down more observations.

"I like that idea." he acted like I was writing down ideas for our project.

"You think?"

"Yeah."

I smiled and leaned on his shoulder, putting my phone away. Making sure the fingerprint was enabled.

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Tori and Flynn walked off, heading to class early. Once they were out of sight, we all sighed.

"That dude is sus as shit." I groaned.

"Agreed." Andre, Beck and Jade all nodded.

"Who do you think he is?" Jade asked.

"Wouldn't it be surprising if he was some serial killer?" I asked.

"Well, we would know if he was. There would be announcements everywhere." Beck countered.

"Fair point."

The bell rang, so we all groaned and stood up. I kissed Andre goodbye as Jade and I walked to our next class.

"You and Andre won't keep your hands off each other." she smirked as she teased me.

"What of it? I love him."

"I know. I know." she squeezed my bicep, "I'm happy that you're happy."

***********************

After my final class, I walked out of class to find Flynn flirting with another girl who looked nothing like Tori. I hid around the corner, trying to listen to their conversation.

"Come on, why not one date?" he asked this girl.

"Cause you're dating Tori Vega, and she doesn't tolerate cheaters." this girl defended.

"But I'm no Rider Daniels, sweet thing."

I audibly gagged, silencing the conversation. I quickly ran off, noting that conversation in my evidence.

********************

Once I got home, I went up to my room to work on my album. Lyrics were storming through my head, so I had to write everything down before I forgot.

After about 30 minutes of furious writing, my phone went off, the text tone I set for Andre echoing throughout the empty house. I picked it up to see that he wanted to call me.

Smiling, I pressed the button to call him, and immediately, he picked up. We talked for a while before he asked if I could come to his place. Something in his voice sounded like it was urgent.

"What's going on?" I asked him.

Before I got an answer, I could hear Andre's grandma.

"ANDRE! I CAN'T SLEEP!"

"Skyla, please, you know she loves to hear you sing." Andre begged.

I smiled, "Yeah, I'll be over shortly."

**********************

After helping Andre's grandma fall asleep, Andre and I were sitting on the couch in her living room. His arm around my shoulder, my head on his shoulder as we watched reruns of comedy specials. Gabriel Iglesias, Jeff Dunham, the Blue Collar Tour, John Mulany, etc. I couldn't stop grinning every time Andre chuckled or busted out with a full on belly laugh.

Every now and again, his grandma would wake up from nightmares, but I always helped her through it, helping her fall back asleep and reassure her that she was safe.

"Thank you, baby." she said to me as I calmed her down from her third nightmare that night, "And thank you for making my Andre happy."

I smiled, "Thank you for raising such a great man."

She shyly smiled as she fell asleep. As I walked back out to sit by Andre again, I could see him smiling brighter than usual.

"What?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh, nothing." he smiled to me, "I just kinda overheard you and my grandma."

I blushed, "Really?"

He nodded, pulling me next to him, colliding his lips with mine.

I love him, so much.