Better Than Revenge [Chapters 1-15 Rewritten]

Chapter 9: Retail Slut

Chapter 9: Retail Slut

After listening to Tori panic over Nick's aloofness for an hour, I was ready to burst. The only thing that seemed to distract her was shopping, and you better believe I went for it.

Tori's problem was the same one I'd been hearing for days: she didn't understand why Nick hadn't asked her out on a date yet. They texted each other a lot, but the closest he'd come to asking her out was saying they needed to "hang out sometime."

It was better than guys who asked you to come over and "chill" but not by much.

My advice was to just ask him out herself, but of course, she refused. Personally, I thought it was the most logical solution to her problem. But was she going to do it? Of course not. Tori preferred sitting in our hotel room, anxiously awaiting a phone call or text that might not come instead of growing a pair and calling him herself.

"We need to go in there," Tori said, heading for a quirky store named Retail Slut. You would think the name would have made her want to avoid the store. Instead, it did the opposite for Tori. There were so many stores on Melrose Avenue that she'd expressed no desire to enter, yet she decided to head straight towards that. I purposely stayed put and just glanced around my surroundings.

Melrose Avenue was a popular section of Los Angeles that seemed to attract mostly young people, but there were tourists of all ages. It was what you'd expect to see in Los Angeles, with a few stragglers that stood out and made me look back in alarm. I was glad some of these people were so over the top. It made blending in so much easier. No one paid attention to plain old me – even if my face was all over the internet as a meme – when there were people with huge, blue mohawks walking around.

Luckily for me, there were also plenty of distractions available here. I'd been completely on edge for the past two days, ever since my audition. Nora and Rachel had told me they would call me soon to tell me their decision. But what did "soon" actually mean? A day? Two? A week? Every time I heard my phone ring, I hoped it was one of them.

Of course, it never was. I should have known better than to expect such a speedy reply. It wasn't like I was a widely recognized actress they were dying to get their hands on. I would consider myself lucky if I even got a call back.

To say I was startled when my phone rang just then would be an understatement. I squeaked and nearly dropped my phone. My excitement faded as quickly as it had surfaced. It was just Tori's brother.

"What do you want, Adrian?"

"Why are you snapping at me already? I was just calling to see where you and Toro were." Adrian had the habit of calling his sister Toro. I would have felt bad for her had she not reciprocated with the name Heroin.

"We're on Melrose Avenue."

"Sweet," he said. "Me and the rents are checking that out tomorrow."

"That's nice."

"Well, you're in a shitty mood," Adrian said.

"Sorry. I'm just really on edge right now and your call got my hopes up. Again." My mom called at least three times a day, and while I loved talking to her, the sound of my phone ringing was slowly driving me to the brink of insanity.

"Oh, yeah, the casting thing," he said. "Let me know how that goes. Anyway, I'll let you and Toro get back to shopping or whatever."

"Tori just went inside Retail Slut, so I think whatever would be the word for it," I said with a cringe.

Adrian just chuckled. "Good luck with that. I'll see you later."

"Alright. Bye." I hung up and when I looked up, Tori was making her way over to me.