"Daddy?" A little girl, about four years old asked, her blue eyes looking into her father's identical ones. He smiled down at her, and held her closer to him.
"Yes, Destiny?"
She played with her stomach, drawing circles over it. "When I grow up, I wanna shine. Like a star." She spread her arms wide, showing her father exactly what she meant.
"Do you?" He shifted his body so that he could hold her without her falling and cracking her head open. "What do you want to do?"
She wrinkled her nose, deep in thought. "I don't know." She looked at him. "I like dancing. And cheerleading. Jessica says it's really fun." She spoke of her cousin who was two years older than her, and on the state's cheerleading team. Since she was so young, she couldn't join just yet.
"What about singing? Or playing the piano? Or guitar?" Destiny shrugged. He smiled, "How bout…I teach you all of those things?" The little girl's eyes brightened as she looked at her father.
"You really will?" She opened her arms wide and hugged her father. "I love you daddy!"
The seventeen year old girl held the microphone in her hand, her blue eyes narrowed as her beautiful long hair flew in the breeze behind her. Her tanktop strings did the same, as her heels clacked on the floor of the stage. The opening drum beat and chords to her next song was playing throughout the stadium.
She smirked at the crowd of about 40,000 occupants, and jerked her head. The mic was brought to her lips as she began singing. "Saw him dancin' there by the record machine, I knew he must'a been about seventeen. The beat was going strong, playin' my favorite song. An' I could tell it wouldn't be long until he was with me, yeah me. .." As she continued singing, she moved about the stage with the same energy, and emotions as she usually did. The same actions the crowd loved, the same actions everyone knew her to have.
"I love rock n' roll, so put another dime in the jukebox, baby. I love rock n' roll, so come and take your time and dance with me!" She ended the song a couple minutes later, her hand in the air, flashing her signature peace sign.
"How y'all doing tonight?" She asked, moving a strand of hair away from her glossed lips. "Are y'all pumped?"
The crowd went wild and she smiled, motioning for her back up band to get on with the next song.
After the concert, she was tired. She was so tired, she could barely keep her eyes open, heck, she could barely keep them open the last five songs of her set. Quickly going into her dressing room, she sat in her chair, and looked through her handbag for the picture she always glanced at before and after the show. A personal ritual of hers not many people knew about.
Tears came to her eyes as she touched it, unsure if it was the lack of sleep, or if she really was sad about it. "I love you, Daddy. Thanks for always believing in your shining star." She whispered and kissed the picture.
The door abruptly opened and her mother walked in, talking obnoxiously on her blackberry, yelling at whoever was on the other line.
"Mom." She said, she looked at her, turning in her seat after quickly tucking the picture safely in her bag. "Mom!"
Her mother looked at her, "Miley. Not now, sweetie."
"But Mom!" Miley's voice was distressed as she brought her hand to her stomach, a reminder for her mother of what she should and shouldn't be doing. Her mother quickly ended the call and looked at her daughter.
"Goddammit, Miley, that was the head of Hollywood Records." She ran her fingers through her shoulder length blonde hair. "What's so important?"
Miley suddenly became angry, "Can you…I don't know, give up my popularity and fame for five fucking minutes? I'm your daughter. Not your fucking robot."
"Don't you use that tone with me. What's going on? Why are you so…distressed?"
"The baby." Miley reminded her, "We need to be more careful."
"It's your baby sweetie." She told her, "you're only two months along. In about three more, you'll be showing, you can't go out anywhere without the paps knowing and the media sucking it up. It'll be the perfect story, and you know that."
"No. I mean that I feel like shit and you're constant yelling is giving me a damn headache." Miley sat down on the couch, holding her head for emphasis. "I didn't sign up for this when I decided to do this so long ago. I didn't sign up to get pregnant, or make all this money. I just want a normal life for once."
"Well. You aren't getting that, so I think it's time to give up that dream." Tish told her, she held her blackberry to her ear again, and left the room.
Miley let out a loud groan of frustration. She picked up her phone and dialed her best friend's number. The best friend who's child she also happened to be carrying. She learned a lesson, don't ever let Demi talk you into a fun night at the Joe's house….you'll just end up fucking your best friend and carrying his baby.
"Hello?"
"Hello." She said, her voice cold. "How are you?"
"I'm doing great, and you?" He asked, sounding cheerful. Shocker.
"Just swimmingly. My mother's a controlling bitch, ya know, as she always is."
"Miley, there's no breaking news bulletin there. What a surprise."
"Screw you."
"You already did." She could imagine him smiling on the other end.
"You're an ass, you know that?"
"Yeah, so I've been told. So, to what do I owe the pleasure of receiving this lovely phone call? Aren't you in Portugal?"
"Don't remind me." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm exhausted."
"You don't…are you sure that's good…for the baby?"
"I'm not doing anything like flipping or something like that. I'm just singing, dancing, and that's pretty much it."
"Still though, be careful."
"You should've thought of that two months ago." She growled, "Remember? It's your fault."
"My fault? We were drunk."
"But you weren't as much as I was."
"True." He said, "But maybe I wanted it, and maybe you wanted it too."
"Oh, I hate when you make a point. Asshole."
"You're a pain in my ass. You know that?"
"I know." She smiled, "I'll talk to you later?"
"You sure will. I have no choice."
"If you were here, I'd so smack you." She said, "Well, I should probably get off before my mother hires a hitman. Love you."
"Love you as well, Mi." She hung up, holding the phone close to her chest, she smiled, and sighed happily. At least she still had his support, even if they weren't exactly a couple…yet.