It was late Sunday evening and LAX Airports was as loud and chaotic as always. Children screamed, pushing their parents, stressed from traveling hassles, into screaming themselves. Women argued with employees at check-in over the size and number of bags that were allowed as carry on. Men repeatedly walked through metal detectors in the endless security lines, each time finding one more lone paperclip in their pocket to remove.
But near the airport's main entrance, all noises turned to excited whispers and pointing of fingers, as a young blonde woman, approximately age twenty five, walked through the doors, rolling behind her a Louis Vuitton Monogram Idylle suitcase, the matching duffle hooked on her left arm. Her heels clacked on the marble floors, and she neglected to remove the oversized sunglasses on her face, even while indoors. Newly arrived out of towners, descending down escalators on their way to baggage claim were in for a treat, already claiming a celebrity sighting. Some of the more seasoned locals who held their share of "run ins" with the rich and famous managed to stifle any sort of reaction. A few clueless people glanced around helplessly, at a loss for why one woman had managed to draw so much attention to herself merely by existing. But quickly they caught on to the clear message being conveyed: She was definitely somebody.
Unfortunately, the plane heading from Los Angeles, California to Albuquerque, New Mexico, was a packed flight. First class was completely booked, and the blonde woman, clearly a celebrity, who was often used to private flights or at least a seperate section, found herself situated in a window seat, on a three seated aisle, a middle aged woman directly beside her, with her, a little girl to the furthest left.
"Oh my goodness." The woman said, once she had fully adjusted herself and the little girl in their seats, "What are the odds I'd end up on a flight seated beside a famous actress? It's a pleasure to meet you."
The blonde woman, who had removed her sunglasses during security, and placed them in her purse, smiled curteously and nodded.
"My granddaughter watches that movie of yours all the time. That modern day fairy tale one." The woman shook her head, unable to think of the title.
"It's my favorite!" The little girl leaned over and grinned.
At this point, the blonde's smile turned genuine, and she too leaned across, to be face to face with the child.
"Hi!" She beamed, "What's your name?"
"Anna." The little girl replied. Her blonde hair was twisted into two braids, and she shyly played with one of them when she spoke.
"That's a beautiful name! You're very pretty." The actress replied.
"Thank you." The girl giggled, and grabbed on to her grandmother's sweater bashfully.
The woman smiled, but then sighed. The shade of blue of the little girl's eyes flooded her mind with troubles, and she suddenly had no desire to interact with anyone. She leaned fully back in her seat, staring straight ahead, trying to meditate and relax her mind.
"So what brings you to Albuquerque? Or are you just crossing over?" The middle-aged lady asked.
The blonde jumped. After deciding she wanted to be left alone, she had assumed her wish would be automatically granted, but apparently, she hadn't payed her dues in the way of small talk. For a moment she appeared to be formulating an answer, and then she carefully replied, "Family ties."
"Oh! Are you from Albuquerque?" The woman appeared to take delight in this, smiling fully, her top lip revealing her gums.
"Yes. I lived there my whole childhood actually."
"So did I! I moved to Pasadena when I was in my twenties, and had my family there. But my eldest recently took a job back in New Mexico, and now that she's settled in her new home, I'm flying out there with her little girl." She patted Anna's leg and smiled. "My name's Marie, by the way."
"Hi." The other woman smiled softly, prompted by the introduction to repeat her hello.
The captain began talking to the flight passengers through speakers, causing everyone to fall hush. The safety precautions were reviewed as the flight began preparing for take off. The warning to put away all electronic devices was issued, but the blonde reached under her seat into her bag, and withdrew her iPod anyways. The stewardess stared at her, and the blonde raised her eyebrows, daring for her to say something. The stewardess did not, and even shook her head, as if to answer no to the woman's challenge. For the rest of the flight, the celebrity on board had a diversion, and did not speak another word to any of the passengers.
"I was watching TV today and I saw a commercial." Mckenzie stated.
Troy sucked in a deep breath, and glanced over at his four year old, seated in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead, as they drove to the movies. Technically, he knew that his daughter was supposed to be in the backseat, and probably even seated in some carseat or booster seat, or whatever was appropriate for a girl her age. But Mckenzie hated being babied, and Troy hated having to upset her, and so he tried to choose his battles, and keep her as happy as he could, turning off the airbag in the passenger seat, and allowing her to ride shotgun in every outing.
His sharp intake of breath, however, had nothing to do with the theory that Mckenzie's current placement in their car could compromise her safety. There were times when Mckenzie brought up commercials, merely because she wanted a toy being advertised, just like every other child. But when she spoke in that placid tone, not turning to look at Troy for even a moment, he knew she was being serious, and he knew why.
"It was a preview for something new." She continued.
"Oh?" Troy asked casually, waiting for her to dive into the kill.
"With my Mommy." Mckenzie finally concluded.
Troy shivered. For some reason, it always bothered her when he heard Mckenzie refer to her mother as, well, her mother.
"Did it look like a good one?" Troy tried to ask the question only in a detached manner, but failed miserably, sounding startingly cold and bitter.
Mckenzie seemed to notice his tone, and turned towards him, checking to see if the hate in his voice was directed at her.
"So did it?" Troy relaxed his voice and tried to sound as gentle as possible to make up for his error in tone.
"It's a grown up movie." Mckenzie said, "But I still want to see it."
Troy sighed loudly, "Mckenzie, you said you wanted for me to take you to go see that Pixar movie. What did I tell you about fibbing?"
Mckenzie's bottom lip quivered, as it began to pucker out, Troy recognizing the look all to well. She had not been the one to originate it, but rather had seemed to inherit it, and not from the Bolton genes pool either.
"Mckenzie..." Troy tried to say her name in a way that would pacify her, and stop any screams or cries before they began.
"You never let me see her! You never let me do anything I want, and you don't even care!" A sob rattled from her, and she crossed her arms across her chest in a pout as the tears began to pour from her eyes.
"Baby please don't cry." Troy winced, uncomfortable, hating to see his little girl in tears, no matter the circumstances.
"I want to see my Mommy." Mckenzie insisted, defiant even through the wet sticky mess she had created on her face.
Troy inhaled deeply. It was natural for children to cry for their mommies. Of course, this usually constituted the want of a living being, and not the wish to see them on a giant screen, while the child shared their time with her with a hundred other people.
He finally nodded, and muttered, "Okay", immediately hating himself from caving in. He didn't think he could handle having to see her, even on a moving screen, especially after the recent news he had recieved. Not only that, but he wasn't sure if he was truly making the best parenting choice by continuing to take Mckenzie to see those films, when she never saw her real mother in the flesh. At the same time, by those standards, him forging letters to Mckenzie wasn't wise either, but he still continued with that. He just couldn't allow himself to think too long term. He tried his best to keep Mckenzie appeased in the here and now, hoping she wouldn't resent him for it later in life.
"Really?" Mckenzie's tone turned chipper, and she wiped away at the salty residue on her cheeks with her left wrist.
Troy nodded grimly, and reached for the dial on the radio, turning up the latest annoying pop hit, too distracted to be bothered by the music.
Troy felt both of his palms sweating as he held Mckenzie's hand with his right one, and her popcorn in his left.
"You sure you don't want to see that movie about the talking animals?" He offered weakly.
Mckenzie only glared at him in response, and he tried to push back his anxiety.
He didn't want to see her. Not in person, not even on a movie screen. Everytime he did, his heart rate increased, with both a familiar beat he recognized from long ago, and with new surges of anger. Both feelings were ones Troy tried his best to hold hostage and control, and seeing her face never helped him in this feat.
"She looked so pretty in the preview." Mckenzie was saying, as they walked down the corridor of theaters, while Troy kept his eyes peeled for their showing.
"This one." Troy led her into the dark room, ignoring her comment.
During the previews Troy felt as if he were on death row, waiting to finally be placed in the electric chair. When the film finally started, Troy jolted, shocked that her face was the first shown in the very first scene.
"There she is!" Mckenzie whispered excitedly. She reached blindly down for a peice of popcorn, and bounced in her seat while she munched.
Troy tried to ignore the nauseating feeling in his gut for Mckenzie, satisfied at least to see such visible happiness on his daughter's face.
"Yep." He muttered. He directed his eyes to the blurry moving background of the scene, trying to direct his focus anywhere but her face.
It was an hour into the movie, when the moment came that made Troy regret letting Mckenzie persuade him to let her see it. He began to feel uneasy as he saw the main male character leading her, the star, up to his apartment. Silently he willed that coffee would be all the camera would show. But he wasn't so lucky. He was fully ready to cover Mckenzie's eyes, when they entered the bedroom, but by mistake never saw it coming when, while still in the kitchen, the girl lifted her shirt up over her head. Troy gasped, and his hand flew across his daughter's already scarred eyes. Troy himself wanted to scream, and glanced about the theater in bewilderment at the audience, horrified that they had seen a part of his former lover, that for so long he had thought belonged to his eyes only.
He couldn't stand it. She was even more undressed on the screen now, and even knowing it was all acting, Troy knew if he saw her having sex with another man he would completely lose it.
"Let's go." He whispered to Mckenzie.
Her eyes were still sheltered by his large hand, and she blindly asked, "What?"
"Let's go." He said it much louder this time, causing a couple of people near him to make shushing noises.
"No Daddy, I haven't seen the end!" Mckenzie argued.
"I don't care. This movie isn't appropriate for you anyway. We're leaving." Troy picked her up, and Mckenzie began to cry tears of anger, punching Troy squarely across the chest one time. He ignored the soft blow, and carried her out of the theater.
He felt guilty for taking her to the movie, and just as guilty for making her leave it. It seemed all he was capable of as a parent, were mistakes.
When Troy pulled the car into the driveway, a still sniffling Mckenzie, arms crossed angrily, in tow, there was a strange car parked in the driveway. A black mercades, that appeared to be a few years old.
Mckenzie was unbuckling her seatbelt, eager to be as far away from Troy as possible.
"Shit. A rental." As Troy came to his realizations, Mckenzie was already bounding out of the car.
"No Mckenzie wait!" Troy called, but she slammed the door, and ran towards the front porch.
"Fuck!" Troy yelled loudly, before he too jumped out of the car, hurrying after his daughter. He cursed himself for never moving the spare key from under the welcome mat.
Mckenzie ran straight through the front door without obstacle, as the door had already been unlocked by the house's other current inhabitant. Troy hurried after her, and walked through the front door, hurrying towards the kitchen.
Mckenzie had already reached her destination, and stood, frozen, staring at the blonde woman who sat at the kitchen counter with shock, too afraid to speak a word.
Troy swallowed. He was too late, and now they all were face to face, before he could even prepare his daughter.
He looked at the blonde woman, who gave him a small half smile from the table.
Troy's nostrils flared, and he glanced down at the ground in both agitation and nervousness, before he spoke.
"Hey Sharpay."
A/N: Hey y'all! Sorry it's been so long. Things have been pretty crazy. But I'm here, with another chapter, finally! So please please leave me some nice lengthy reviews. I'll really appreciate it, and be sure to write you back.
On a random note, and sorry for always using my A/Ns to forum other topics, but have any of you twitter users noticed that all your tweets have dissapeared, or is there just something irked with my account?
Oh, and Hellcats is almost here! (Yayy!) Can't wait to watch Ashley tonight on Jimmy Fallon!
Oh yeah, and in an effort to put a smile on her face, I dedicate this chapter to didush. ;)
xoxo.