Bright Like a Diamond

Chapter 4. Blackjack & Somber Thoughts

The Vega Residence - December 9th, Senior Year

...

"I'm just gonna go right out there and say it," Beck started as he rose his glass up in the air. "Tori's house beats Andre's grandmother's out every day of the week!"

"Indeed," Jade added, raising her glass as well.

"Totally!" Cat chimed in, taking a sip of her fruity cocktail rather than toasting.

"Damn straight," Rex said in agreement. "Raise yo glass up sucka," he ordered Robbie.

"Oh, come on. Andre's grandmother's house wasn't that bad!" Robbie challenged.

The rest of the group glared at Robbie. Tori, the lone exception, looked more confused than anything else. Even Andre seemed to be in agreement with the rest of the group.

"You're kidding, right?" Jade barked.

"What!? I happened to have a very good time. Thank you very much." Robbie countered, though the uneasiness in his voice didn't do much to reinforce his case. It was apparent by the way the rest of the group was alienating him that his optimism wasn't welcome.

"Speak for yourself. You didn't get thrown out of a window," Rex snapped back.

At this point, Tori's confusion was melding more into curiosity than it was confusion. There was a story to be told and she was already interested. "Wait, why'd Rex get thrown out of a window?"

Andre took a sip from his drink – maybe his third or fourth at this point, he wasn't entirely sure – and simply looked across the poker table at Tori. "I'll give you three guesses."

"Jade!" Tori blathered out, to which Jade's eyes widened in disrespect. Tori sunk slightly in her seat, "Not Jade?" She wasn't entirely sure of why she had blamed Jade, but it just seemed appropriate, given the less than perfect relationship between her and Robbie's puppet.

Beck chuckled slightly at Tori's guess, to which Jade redirected her gaze at him, "Guess again."

Tori thought for a moment and then had a look of disbelief on her face. Perhaps more accurately, she was surprised why it had taken her as long as it had to single out what was arguably the most obvious candidate as to why a puppet would be thrown out of a window. "Andre's grandmother?"

"Bingo!" Rex exclaimed.

Tori found herself laughing, even though it was far from what she might have expected out of Andre's grandmother. In the time that Tori had known her, she had seen the woman punch a laptop, break into Sikowitz's house, and even one time shooting at the pizza delivery guy because she thought he was an intruder. In actuality, the idea of her throwing Rex out of a window was actually a pretty plausible one.

"Hey, now while I appreciate the vote of confidence Rob. I have to agree with Beck on this one," Andre spoke, hoping to put a rest to the obvious contrast in opinions. For as noble as Robbie was to try to argue that last week wasn't AS bad as they were making it out to be, it pretty much was. Rex being thrown out of the window was – in the grand scheme of what Andre's grandmother could have done – pretty tame. "Thankfully though, our game is back where it belongs," he said, shooting a smile to Tori who responded with the raising of her glass. "Thank you Tori, for not being gone for another week!"

"Agreed," the group added, glasses being raised, clattering against one another, a couple drops of liquid falling onto the table but for the most part remaining within their respective glasses.

"So, Vega," Jade began, to which Tori immediately started to disappear within her seat. She knew that this was going to happen, that Jade was going to ask her about what happened, no doubt hoping that some sort of punishment was going to be dealt out. Given what had ultimately happened, she wasn't entirely sure that Jade would be pleased. Come to think of it, there was no way that Jade was going to be happy once Tori was done with the story. "What happened with you and Helen?"