iLive.Laugh.Love by Aimie

Chapter7: "i'M Her Mom And It's Time I Started Acting Like it"

"Samantha"
Am I in trouble?

"Yeah?" I ask walking into my mother's room.

"I am your mother and let's face it, we haven't really gotten to the part in our lives where we should bond..." I sigh, so she hasn't noticed that I accidently broke her curling iron.

"Okay..."

"Do you want to go to the mall with me?" she smiles "You know, buy some clothes, chat over smoothies...That kind of stuff"

I ponder on this. When has my mom ever paid attention to anything I say? She spent a whole 14 years of life ignoring me as much as possible and she thinks that she can fix it now by going to the mall? Wait, does she think she's cool? Her cool? Please. But...maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

Here goes. An overdressed emo mom with her daughter at the mall. This should be fun.

"Sure" I shrug.

"Good!" she smiles grabs her car keys and we head out.

Walking through the mall isn't as much fun as watching my mom stop at every store and stare at the manager or male model. It's funny really, how desperate she is. She walks in and starts having a conversation with the man. Age doesn't matter any man is available.

You should have seen her talking to the old decrepid man in his 60's it was sick.

I walk past her and get both of us a soft pretzel.

"Back here again?" a voice asks.

"Charlie!" I chew my pretzel and give him a hug.

"Haven't talked to you in a while" he says "I'm here with Nela"

"Ahh, so you're here with you wife?"

"Wife? I'm not married" he scowls

"But--Nela.."

"Nela is my niece" he smiles. "She's out there buying some stuff. I got really attached to her because she reminds me of my daughter"

"I thought you weren't married." I reply sarcastically.

"I'm not..but I was." his face shows a saddened expression.

"How old is Nela?"

"You're age"

"So your daughter would be just about my age, right?" I smile.

"Yeah."

He follows me to a bench and we both sit down. "What happened to her?"

"I was forced to leave her"

"Why? You're not in the army are you?" I chew on my pretzel slowly.

"No. When her mother and I divorced, she wouldn't let me see her" he smiled at me.

"Oh. So that's why you got attached to Nela?"

"Yup. But she can't replace my daughter."

"I see"

We stay in silence for a few minutes, I turn and look at my mother smiling at me with 2 large bags. She walks over to me, as she's walking I notice her expression change once she has seen Charlie.

"Sam?" she walks over. Charlie's eyes widen.

"Is that your mom?" he asks.

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason" I see a tear slide down his face. His blue eyes are now almost a river.

"Sam, what...who are you talking to?" she asks looking at Charlie.

"Mom, this is Charlie" I point to him. I can see my mom's breath is stuck in her throat.

"Oh" she whispers. Her face softens and her expression looks hurt. "Why are you talking to him?"

"He's a good friend of mine" I smile. "He's really nice"

Okay maybe it's just me or are they having a 'connection'?

"Oh, Sam can you...can you go to Abercrombie for a minute?" she asks.

"But I don't like Aber--"

"Go!" she yells with a voice that I have never heard from her before.

"Okay" I put my hands up defensively. I pretend to be walking to the store but I just behind a garbage can to hear their conversation. I'm nosy, remember?

"What are you doing here?" she asks him angrily.

"Laila..." he starts.

"The lawyer said that you couldn't be in the same state as we are" she closes her eyes and sits down rubbing her temples. I have never seen my mother so frustrated. Sad yes, but not frustrated.

"Is it a crime that I want to see my daughter?" My eyes widen. WHAT?!

"Okay, you saw her now leave" she points somehwere.

"Laila, I can't" he sighs "I own a store here"

My mom chew her gum furiously and begins to cry. "Tell me Max, what did I do to deserve this?"

"Laila don't cry..."

"How's Anne?" she asks angrily.

I see his look down at the floor. Is he my...is he my dad?

"She died" he says "She died in childbirth"

"Oh, well I'm sorry to hear that!" she screams "Where's your kid?"

"He died with her" he whispers

MY DAD!? His real name isn't Charlie? I'm confused.

"Oh" she says quietly, "You are such a horrible father that's why you're childeren never stay with you"

How can she be so cold?

"Oh?" he asks standing up. "Well you haven't exactly been the most perfect mom now have you?!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Not from what Sam tells me!" he laughs "I'm a bad dad? At least I listen to her! You never.."

"Look, Max, I am her mother okay? And it's about time I started acting like it." she says.

He raises an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah sure"

"I admit, I have done a lot of things that were--"

"I could fight a custody battle for Sam after all that you did!" he says. Is he serious? "And you know what Laila, I think I will. And you will never see HER again"

I see him take his cellphone out. NO!

"Please!" she tries to take the phone away. "Don't"

"You have more time for you boyfriends than Sam. Hell, you don't even feed her. She has to look for food outside her house. You disgust me" he says dialing "If I had known what a good for nothing...uh...I would have fought the custody battle harder."

"PLEASE!" she cries.

"But, I pitied you. I know how much a girl needs her mom. But it looks like you weren't a mom to her at all" he scoffs.

"MAX!"

"Hello? Yes? I..."

"NOT MY DAUGHTER!" she screams taking the phone away from him and threw it in the garbage can. He rolls his eyes.

"Laila, you need help"

"I need help?" she asks "Look at you! Trying to take my daughter away!"

"She needs a better home, people that love her. Not you"

"You don't give a shit about her" she spits in his face.

CHARLIE/MAX: 2 MOM: 3

He wipes the saliva off his face. "You're wrong!" he screams "I love my daughter!"

"Maybe her, but you never loved me" she scowls.

"I did Laila." he sighs "So this is what it's comming to? A fight about love?"

"No. You don't love either of us" she says clutching her purse "Or else you wouldn't have left us like you did"

I can see my mother's pretty face wet with tears. "You have no idea what I went through!" she yells accusingly, she pauses and sits back down. "Me, personally"

"Everything isn't about you!" he screams. He looks down and sits next to her. "I'm sorry."

"I thought...we thought that you'd come back" she cries "For a year I wrote to you"

"What?"

"I did, everyday, telling you to come back. You never did" she whispers.

"I didn't recieve any letters..."

I'm puzzled. What's going on now?

"I see," she says and looks out. "What happens now?"

"Sam already knows me"

"We could pretend..."

"I'm tired of pretending!" he says "I want her to--"

"I know" I say comming out of my hiding space.

"SAM?!" they both look at me surprised.

"I heard everything" I say. I hiccup. I think I'm going to cry, this is overwhelming. "I..."

"Sam, honey, I..." my mother starts.

I stare at Charlie. I stare really hard and I can see myself staring into my own eyes. He looks just like I imagined him. Tall, handsome and with blue eyes.

"I..waited so long" I sniff and wipe my eyes with my sleeve "To see your face"

He looks down at me and smiles. He kneels in front of me.

"I always wanted to see you" I cry. "To hug you"

"Oh, Sam...You see the damage you did to her?" he yells at my mom.

"NO MORE YELLING!" I scream with such force. "I just..." I fling my arms qround his neck and begin to cry.

I think that sometimes you have to go through the pain, to experience the joy. Do you have any I idea how much I fanatazied about meeting my father? When I was younger my imaginary friend was my father. I would talk to him every night and pretend he was reading a story to me. I would pretend a hug and kiss. Some words of love. Something that gave an idea of who he was.

Instead of the PRINCE rescuing the princess, my father would rescue me.

"Sweetheart" my mom chokes out.

"D...dad" I say letting go of him. His face becomes happy with joy and he bgins to cry as well.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear that" he hugs me again.

I don't know how long I spent hugging my newfound father, but it was long. I took turns hugging both of them. It was long time before my mother finally decided that I could talk to him, hang out with him. She'll never forgive him, that's for sure. But she said that for my sake she would make it work.

-- TIME LAPSE--

"Hey" I smile at my father who is walking into my house.

"Hey yourself, how are you today Princess?" he asks.

"Don't call me that," I shake my head.

"I always wanted to" he smiles "Where do you want to go?"

"Actually, I want to talk to you about something..." Here it goes "I have a boyfriend"

His solemn expression turns into a curious one. "Oh? What's his name?"

"Freddie" I smile as I say his name.

"Your tech producer?"

"Yes"

"I thought you thought that he was a dork?"

"So are you but I love you anyway" I smile. "I was wondering if..."

"I could talk to him?" he smiles.

"Yup, you know to get to know him better..."

"I shall do as you say, Madame" my father bows in front of me. I curtsey.

"Thank you" I say in a British accent. I smile. I love my father and eventhough I haven't seen him in years I still love him.

I grab my phone and call Freddie, he comes over.

Knock, knock.

I get up from the sofa and open the door.

"You asked me to come over?" he asks smiling.

"Yup. I want you to meet someone" I smile and show him my dad.

"A man?" he asks.

"Not just any man, he's my..my father" I say

"What? I thought that..." he suddenly looks scared.

I pretend to look at the watch I don't have on "Oh, look a the time? Not time to explain! Is it really that late?" I grab my jacket "Bye!"

You know, life's really turning up now isn't it??

I walk over to the Groovy Smoothies and get my favorite 'Strawberry Spice' and walk to the park. I sit down and start reading my book. I'm reading again! And you thought it wouldn't last, ha!

-
A/N: I think that Sam is alot happier. Don't you?? Max, I think, is more like the fun parent since he hasn't seen Sam in so long. I think he's more laid back. Laila on the other hand might get strict...you never know. There's a first time for everything.

OoOh and you girls out there ( if u've had boy friends b4,) you know how it is when ur dad talks to him. There's gonna be trouble, if you don't know what kind all you first time boyfriends who are visiting their girlfriends father read Nature9000's story "To Date Her". It really captures everything that happens. He really hit the nail on the head. I remember...ahh good times...good times. For me at least!

I had this special event that I had to go to and I got my nails done. They're huge and I can't type. I'm not used to this, I am so immature. So sry for any spelling, grammer, punctuation errors I may have. I usually re-read things but it's kinda late and I'm tired. Gotta hit the sheet (NOT LIKE THAT U PERVS! J/K J/K!)

And you know I luvv you all, right,
Amy