by Mercy Amare
“After a few years, I’ll think about it. And don’t even think about asking me before I’m twenty-one,” she says sternly.
“How long has it been since you’ve had a boyfriend?” I ask Stacy.
She coughs. “Umm… Like… Five years…”
“Five years? Why so long?”
“Anna didn’t like him…”
I did the math in my head. Anna was four year old then. I look at her.
“Fine, I didn’t like him with Anna. He just wasn’t good with kids.”
“Wait, wait, wait…” Alec holds up his hand. “You’re telling me you haven’t had sex in five years?”
Stacy’s cheeks turn pink. “Actually, we didn’t date long enough to get to that point. It’s been about ten years now.”
“I would die,” Alec says dramatically. “Bridgett is making me wait, and it’s killing me.”
“You’ll live.” Bridgett rolls her eyes at Alec.
“We have to get you a boyfriend,” I say. I too can’t believe she’s gone ten years. I can’t even go a whole day without sex with Stephan.
“Is Chris Hemsworth single?” Bridgett asks dreamily.
“Seriously? Again with Thor?” Stephan shakes his head. “What is it with your family’s unhealthy obsession Thor?”
“He’s married,” Stacy says, almost sadly. “If he wasn’t, I would have already asked you to introduce me.”
I can’t help but laugh at Stephan’s expression. “You’re a boy. You can’t possibly understand.”
“What about Channing Tatum?” Bridgett asks.
“Married,” Stacy answers.
Alec rolls his eyes. “Seriously, I am out of here if you guys keep talking about hot guys.”
“I’m with you.” Stephan gets up from the table, and he and Alec go into the living room where Mona, Ethan, and Anna are playing X-Box.
“Have you used online dating sites?” Bridgett asks.
“No way. No telling what kind of creeper I would meet online.”
“You don’t need an online dating site,” I say. “You’re twenty-six. You are still young and hot… You know, California guys are hotter. I just lucked out with Stephan. You should totally move to Cali.”
“It’s so expensive,” she answers. “Besides, I’m in the middle of a school year. I can’t just quit my job, and pack up Anna…”
“Wait until the summer,” I say. “You can get a job teaching out there, and you can live in my pool house.”
“Her pool house is bigger than this house,” Bridgett tells her.
Stacy considers my words. “I’ll think about it. But I thought you were coming back here after your tour…”
“I’ll probably be in LA for a while. I really enjoy my job a lot more now that I’m not being bossed around,” I say. “I’ll probably slow down a bit so I can enjoy some time with Stephan, and you two. But I am not sure I was to live next door to the devil… Sarah would become a problem if we lived here.”
“So what’s the deal with you and Alec?” Stacy asks Bridgett. “From the commercials of the documentary, I was under the impression that you two hated each other. I guess things have changed.”
Bridgett grins at the mention of Alec. “He is different than what I thought. And I don’t know if he’s the one, but I do know that I never felt this way about Martin. I really think I’m starting to fall in love with him.”
“Is it sad that I am jealous of two nineteen year olds?”
Bridgett and I laugh.
Stacy pushes her plate away, puts her forehead on the table, and groans. “Not funny.”
My mission: find a boyfriend for Stacy. And fix this thing with Stephan’s mom.
Yeah, I really don’t want to do that second part.
7:23 PM
Not very popular with “moms”
After the failed brunch, Sarah never came out of her bedroom, so everybody migrated to my house. We ordered Chinese takeout for dinner, and now everybody is watching a movie. Well, everybody except Stephan. He’s staring out the window. I know he’s upset about his Mom, and I wish there was something I could do about it.
“Want to go outside for a minute?” I whisper.
He nods his head, and follows me out the back door. We sit on the edge of the pool, and dangle our feet in the water. He doesn’t say anything, but I wait for him. I know he just needs a few minutes to think.
“I’m sorry for the way my mom acted today,” he finally says. “I don’t know what has gotten into her. She was more upset about having you there than having Mona there, which makes absolutely no sense.”
“She probably feels like she’s losing everybody she’s ever loved. First your dad, and now you…”
“She knew I would get married eventually. Certainly she didn’t think I would live with her forever.”
“Not forever, no,” I say. “But I’m sure she didn’t expect you to leave before you even graduated high school. And we jumped straight from boyfriend and girlfriend to husband and wife. We were never engaged, and she never had time to adjust to the idea.”
“You’re defending my mom.” Stephan sounds surprised.
Wow. I guess I am. “Well, she is my mother-in-law. Plus, I’m kind of used to not being very popular with moms. I think you’re forgetting my own mother hated me. And of course Bridgett’s mom… Who also happens to be my aunt…”
“You’ve had it pretty rough. I’m sorry. I’m going to talk to her. I can’t believe she said that about you. It’s not like her.”
“Whatever,” I say, brushing it off. I am trying to pretend like it’s not a big deal, but it is.
“No, it’s not alright. Mom or not, she’s not allowed to say stuff like that about you.”
“Thank you, Stephan. I’m not used to having other people stand up for me. I’ve always just stood back and let the people I care about walk all over me. Since meeting you, that’s all changed,” I say. “You’ve given me courage. I guess I’m just scared because she’s your mom. What if you listen to her? What if you decide that I’m not good enough for you?”
“I don’t care what my mom says about you, Scar,” he says. “Like I said, if I had to choose between her and you, you would win — hands down. If I loved my mom more than I loved you then I’d be with the wrong girl.”
He’s so totally right.
Stephan stands up, and holds his hand out. “Come on. Let’s get back in there, and enjoy the rest of our Thanksgiving.”
He helps me up, and we walk back inside.
Even though I love everybody in this room, I can’t help but think that my dad isn’t here. Even though I know he has done me wrong, I still want him here.
Hopefully he will be next year.
Monday, November 31
8:37 AM
The bitch is going down.
Monday morning is back to work as usual. Part of me is disappointment that my time off is over, but the other part of me is excited to be back to work. I love my job. I just wish that I didn’t have to work such long hours. Today I am in the studio. I’m excited because I only have three more songs to record and I know that they will go fast. As long as I stay on track, I will get two weeks off before the tour.
The documentary airs next Tuesday, and I’m a little nervous. I haven’t seen the episode yet. MTV said we have to come film some commentary and do some voice-overs before it airs, but I haven’t had time. They said as long as we come in by Friday, they’ll have time to edit it before it airs. I just hope that there isn’t anything embarrassing on it.
Alec walks into the studio an hour late. He has black circles under his eyes, and he looks like he hasn’t slept in a few days. “Sorry I’m late,” he tells Otto.
Otto nods to acknowledge him, and then asks, “Ready to lay down some more vocals, Scarlett?”
“Wait…” I say to him, and then walk over to Alec. “What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.” Alec is lying. I can tell by the way he’s avoiding eye contact
with me.
“No, you’re not,” I say sternly. “Now tell me what’s wrong.”
“Bridgett broke up with me.” He is finally looking me in the eyes, and I can see the pain. My heart is breaking for him.
“What? Why?” It doesn’t make sense. Why would Bridgett break up with him?
“I don’t know. I thought we were happy. But after we went to see her mom, she started acting different. Last night I finally just asked her what was wrong, and she said that she didn’t want to be with me anymore. I tried to talk to her… to see what I did wrong. She then told me that I didn’t do anything wrong, but she doesn’t feel the same way about me as I do about her.”
My thoughts go back to what she said on Thursday. “No, that can’t be. She told me on Thanksgiving that she was falling in love with you. She can’t just… fall out of love that fast. Something had to have happened.”
“Well I didn’t do anything, so I don’t know what happened. All I know is that I can’t fix it.”
“It was her mom. She… is a controlling, manipulative bitch. She probably said something to Bridgett.” I massage the temple of my head with my fingers. I seriously think I’m getting a migraine. “I have to do something.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he says. He’s trying to act like he doesn’t care, but I know better. “If she really wanted to be with me, she wouldn’t let anything come between us.”
“That’s not true, Alec. She’s damaged.”
“Scarlett,” Otto says. “We need to get started. I really want to finish this by Wednesday night so I can go back home to my family next week.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” I tell Otto. I go into the recording room, and take a deep breath before putting on my headphones. I promise myself right there that I won’t let Bridgett’s mom ruin her life. I will do everything in my power to stop her. She already tried to ruin my life once.
The bitch is going down.
7:17 PM
She does suck.
My day is spent recording and trying to cheer Alec up. Everything with the album is going well, but trying to cheer Alec up — not so much. I am completely frustrated with Bridgett. Why is she still letting her mom affect her when she’s over one thousand miles away? I’m also frustrated with her love drama. And as hard as I try not to get sucked into it, I always do! It’s like the harder I try, the further I sink. It’s a never ending battle with the two of them.
The good news is recording will be done tomorrow morning.
The bad news is that I’m set to start a radio promotion for my new single Wednesday… That’s on top of the promotions for the documentary. I think on Wednesday I have five radio interviews, and two television interviews. When I mentioned how much I was dreading it, Bridgett said something like “You get to talk about yourself all day. How hard can it be?” This made me laugh, because it is hard. Especially doing so many in one day. You don’t want to say the same things over and over again, but sometimes you just can’t help it. I hate sounding like a broken record.
Tonight, the tutor is coming over to try and catch Stephan, Mona, and I up on our school work. We’ve fallen pretty behind. Or, at least I have. I think Mona and Stephan get time to work through the day when I’m not there. Keeping up with school is harder than I thought it was going to be.
On my way home from the studio, I get a phone call from Stacy. I already miss her and Anna, so talking to them is exactly what I need.
“Hey, big sis,” I answer.
“You won’t believe what happened today.” I can hear excitement in Stacy’s voice.
“What?”
“Today at school, Mrs. Parker was out sick, and they couldn’t find anybody on such short notice… So they got one of the substitutes from a nearby high school to come,” she tells me. “So I’m walking to class, when I see the most gorgeous man I have ever seen in my life. He’s tall, maybe 6’4”, he’s got spiky blonde hair, and the most gorgeous gray-blue eyes… He kind of reminds me of Eric from True Blood… I stop in my tracks, and just stare at this super sexy guy. And I know it’s stupid, but I couldn’t help it. I was like some kind of lovesick teenager in a trance. So he walks up to me, and introduces himself. His name is Matthew Thorne. And then he asked me out.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.” She lets out a squeal of excitement.
“Wow! That’s so awesome, Stacy! I told you that it would happen!” I can’t help but be excited with her. “When are you going out?”
“Friday night,” she answers. “I just had to call and tell you. I’ve been dying to share the news with somebody.”
“That’s amazing. And you better call me after your date and let me know how it goes,” I say. “Oh, and I know it’s been a while, but don’t have sex on your first date. Always make ‘em wait ‘til the third.”
“Maybe we can have a date Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Three dates.” I know she’s joking… Sort of…
I laugh. “Let me know how that works out for you.”
“I will. I have to go though. It’s my bedtime.”
“Goodnight.”
“Night.”
I hang up my phone just in time to pull up to my house. Now I just have to decide what to do with Bridgett. Do I avoid her because I’m mad at her? Or do I tell her that I’m mad? Do I even have a right to be mad?
Yes, yes I do. She dated my best friend, and then broke his heart. I can’t lose Alec. I refuse to lose him.
I should probably just march up to her room and tell her how much she sucks. Because she does suck. But I think I’m going to go with avoidance. I like avoiding. Avoiding is safe, and it gives me time to figure out exactly what I want to say to her.
Okay, I know what I want to say. But that is probably better left inside my head. No need in telling her that. I’ll think of something a bit nicer, then I confront. I don’t want to piss her off, because that would just make things worse.
Good plan, Scar, I tell myself on the walk inside my house.
As I walk up to the front door, I nearly run into one of the camera guys. I glare at him. “How does it feel to stalk me for a living?”
“It feels very good. This job pays a lot, and I have five kids,” he says.
I laugh. “Oh, God. I would totally want to stalk me too. Seriously, five?”
He nods. “All girls.”
I walk inside, ignoring the cameras. Some days it’s harder than others, and today is harder. Probably because they weren’t around me for like five whole days, and now that I’m back in LA they’re back to following me.
Stephan, Mona, and Bridgett are all chilling by the pool, so I change into my bikini and go outside to hang out with them.
“One more day,” I tell them, as I climb into the hot tub beside Stephan.
“Then we don’t have to see Alec again until the tour, right?” Bridgett asks.
I glare at her. “No. He is my best friend. So we will still hang out. If you have a problem with it then, well, it’s your problem.”
“Just asking. You don’t have to jump me.” Bridgett climbs out. “I’m going to head up to my room. I have a few episodes of Pretty Little Liars on my DVR to catch up on.”
As soon as she walks inside, Stephan turns to me. I know he’s waiting for an explanation.
“She dumped Alec. Like for no reason. Well, she told him a reason, but she lied. She told him that she didn’t like him as much as he liked her. But it’s not true. At Thanksgiving she told Stacy and me that she was falling in love with him. I know this all has something to do with her crazy mom. Or maybe her crazy ex-boyfriend. Either way, I will figure it out.”
“Just when I thought things were finally going good between them.” Stephan frowns. “I really hope they don’t start fighting again.”
“Me, too.”
“I think I’m going to head inside too,” Mona says and winks at me.
Oh. Privacy. Well, besides Peter. I turn to them. “You guys can just go home. We are
done filming for the night.”
“See you tomorrow,” he says. The camera crew follows him.
And finally, Stephan and I have privacy.
Hot tub sex? I’m thinking yes!
7:45 PM
Boys are so easily distracted.
“How was your day?” Stephan asks.
I scoot close to him, and rub my finger up his chest. “Do you really want to talk?”
“I like talking to you.”
I push my lips against his and straddle him. “What was that?” I ask.
“I said I like making out with you.” He’s grinning at me.
“I think you more than like it,” I say, putting my hand on the bulge in his swimming shorts. “You know, we’ve never had sex in a hot tub before. I’m thinking that this needs to be fixed.”
Stephan doesn’t have to be told twice. He pulls the string on my bikini bottom, and puts them beside the hot tub. He pulls my head back down and starts kissing me again. The kisses are fast and needy. He pulls the string on my top, and I instinctively put my hands over myself.
“Stephan! What if somebody comes out here. They’ll see my naked…”
He laughs. “They’ll see a lot more than that.”
Stephan starts kissing me again, and thoughts of anybody seeing us disappear. He gently kisses his way from my lips, to my ear, and down my neck. “I love you,” I whisper to him.
“I love you too.”
“I want to get married.”
He backs away from me and gives me a questioning look. “It’s a little late for that, Scar…”
“No. I know that. I mean, I want to have a wedding and invite our families.”
“That’s a lot of work. And you have the tour coming up in like a month.”
“I meant after the tour. Maybe your mom could plan it, and we could have it next summer, that way everybody could be there.”
“I get it,” he says. “You’re doing this for my mom.”
“Maybe. But also for the rest of the family that didn’t get to come to the wedding… And for me, because I can’t remember our wedding. But you’re right. It is mostly for your mom. She needs this.”
