The next day, under the dark cloak of night, Tory's house stood as a fragile refuge from the chaos of the outside world. Knock, knock, knock. The sound of a knock on the door cut through the silence, hesitant but full of intent. Sam stood there, his heart heavy, his eyes shining with a mixture of regret and hope as he waited, the cold night wind blowing against his skin.
Tory opened the door, her face serious, her blond hair falling in messy strands that framed an expression of surprise and distrust. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice dry but with a trace of vulnerability that she couldn't hide, her brown eyes sparkling in the dim light of the porch.
"I…" Sam began, the words catching in his throat, until his eyes fell on Tory's hand, wrapped in a makeshift ice pack. "Oh my God, your hand… What happened?"
"You don't have to pretend to care…" Tory snapped, her tone sharp as a blade, her shoulders tense as she took a step back, the barrier between them rising like an invisible wall.
"I came here to apologize for what I said last night…" Sam said, her voice softening, carrying a weight she couldn't shake. "And also to listen to you…"
Tory was silent, her eyes narrowed for a moment before she turned away without saying anything, entering the house with heavy steps. Sam hesitated, the air between them thick with a tension that seemed to pulse, but he followed her, crossing the threshold as if entering an unfamiliar battlefield. Inside, chaos reigned—furniture out of place, dishes piled in the sink, the air thick with the smell of something burning that no one had bothered to put out.
Tory sank into a chair, her body hunched as if she were carrying the world, and pressed the ice to her injured hand, the sound of the plastic against her skin echoing in the silence. "I wanted to win that tournament more than anything…" she murmured, her voice low, almost lost in the air. "After our fight, when they gave me the trophy… It was the…" She paused, her eyes distant as she searched for the words. "The second best moment of my life. But then I saw Silver with that judge, and it destroyed me. I felt like a fraud… I wanted revenge on Silver, but I ended up siding with Kreese, getting caught up in more lies… And now my life is hell."
Sam was silent for a moment, her eyes wide as she absorbed every word, the weight of Tory's confession crashing over her like a wave she hadn't expected. "I didn't know what you were going through…" she said, her voice soft, filled with an empathy she didn't know she could feel. "Now that I know, we can help each other… Manta confirmed that it was Silver who attacked him at the old dojo, but he's afraid to go to the police."
"I knew Silver was involved," Tory replied, her eyes hardening for a moment, "but not that he did it himself…"
"But there's no way to prove it," Sam said, frustration tingeing his voice as he crossed his arms.
"If it happened in the old dojo, maybe it did…" Tory replied, his tone thoughtful, his eyes fixed on a distant point as an idea began to form.
"Listen…" Sam began hesitantly, his fingers playing with the sleeve of his shirt as he gathered his courage. "I also have to apologize for yesterday… I shouldn't have said that. It probably ended your relationship with Roby…"
Tory was silent, her gaze lowered, the weight of Sam's words hanging between them like a dark cloud. "You were angry," she said finally, her voice low, almost a whisper. "It's normal… Besides, I was the one who said that to you that day and humiliated you…"
"Yeah…" Sam admitted, his voice cracking as the memories came back like sharp knives. "That hurt so much… I'm still trying to deal with it…"
Tory hesitated, her eyes fixed on the melting ice in her hand, the silence between them heavy with a weight that seemed impossible to break. "You… are you back with Clark?" she asked, her voice almost trailing off, her lowered gaze hiding a storm she was struggling to contain.
"Yes, we're together again…" Sam replied, her voice firm, but with a trace of uncertainty that she couldn't hide.
"I see…" Tory muttered, squeezing her injured hand tighter, a grimace of pain crossing her face as an "arrrg" escaped between her teeth, the sound echoing like a muffled scream in the silence of the room.
Sam noticed, her heart clenching as she watched Tory's silent struggle. "Just now, you said winning that trophy was the second best moment of your life…" she said, her voice softening, her eyes searching hers with gentle curiosity. "What was the first?"
"!!!" Tory's eyes widened, shock flashing across her face like lightning, her body stiffening as she tried to shut herself out. "I don't have to answer that…"
"Tell me," Sam insisted, his tone gentle but firm, an invitation she didn't want to miss. "I want to hear…"
"Do you want to hear it?" Tory snapped, her voice rising with a mixture of anger and vulnerability, her eyes flashing as she turned to Sam. "Okay, then. That was when he took my virginity… That was the best moment of my life." She paused, her eyes shining with tears she fought to hold back, her voice shaking as the words came out like a river she could no longer hold back. "I've always loved Clark. When I met him on the roof of the school, I didn't know it, but I had already fallen in love with him there… And it just grew more and more every day. Then he made me a promise, said he'd always be with me, that he'd never leave me. Right after that, he said he had to go away for a year, to do who knows what in Mystic Falls. Then he comes back and starts dating you… DO YOU KNOW HOW I FELT ABOUT ALL OF THAT?"
Sam was silent, her eyes wide as she listened, the weight of Tory's words bearing down on her like a storm she hadn't expected, each confession a blow that reverberated in her chest.
"I was jealous," Tory continued, her voice breaking as the tears finally escaped, tracing bright lines down her face. "I wanted him all to myself, I wanted him to keep his promise to me… Then one night, he finds me. We go out together on a mountain, on a starry night with a full moon, and we make love… I've never done that before… But it was the best night of my life. The way he held me made me a woman right there, I remember it every night…" She paused, sobs interrupting her words as she wiped her face with shaking hands. "After our fight, he disappears… again… I couldn't take it anymore and I tried to move on, I started dating Roby to try to forget him, but I can't…" The tears were falling freely now, her body shaking as she confessed. "I can't forget him, Samantha…"
Sam froze, shock washing over her face like a wave, her eyes wide as she absorbed every word, every tear. She really does love him… , she thought, her heart clenching with a mixture of compassion and confusion, the weight of that revelation falling over her like a stone into a still lake.
"What if I told you that you could have him?" Sam asked, his voice low but firm, cutting through the silence like an unexpected ray of light.
"!! What?" Tory exclaimed, her eyes wide, shock replacing the tears as she wiped them away with the back of her hand. "What do you mean by that?"
"I need you to talk to Clark about what you're feeling…" Sam said, her tone filled with a determination she didn't know she had, her eyes fixed on Tory's.
Tory stared at her, her face contorted in a mixture of disbelief and confusion. "Are you crazy?" she asked, her voice rising to an almost hysterical pitch. "You want me to confess to your boyfriend? Do you have problems?"
"Just do it, okay, Tory?" Sam insisted, her voice soft but firm, a request that carried more weight than she cared to admit.
Tory hesitated, her eyes searching Sam's for what seemed like an eternity, the silence between them pulsing with a tension neither of them could name. "Okay… I'll do as you say," she finally said, her voice low, barely above a whisper. "But not now. Let's go figure out this Manta thing…"
"Okay…" Sam agreed, relief mixed with an uncertainty she couldn't shake, as they both stood up, the weight of that moment still hanging between them like an unspoken promise, a path neither of them knew where it would lead.