Tangled Youth

Chapter 9

"Boone?" Boone looked up from laptop, where he had been laboriously writing an essay for one of his college applications. He was trying to make the essay original, but he was just some rich WASP from Southern California, and there was nothing interesting about him that set him apart. It was clear that the only way he could get into a really good school was through connections, which was something Boone had, thanks to his mother.

"Yeah?" Boone responded to his step-father, who was standing next to the desk that Boone had been working at.

"Your mother wants me to… your mother – " Boone waited expectantly for his step-father to finish his sentence. "Your mother wants me to give you a talk." Adam grimaced, as did Boone.

"A talk?" Boone asked, almost frightened. "Like, a… like a sex talk?"

"Yes," Adam looked down. "Do you want to go somewhere to talk?"

"No, but I also don't want to be on house arrest for the rest of my life," Boone quipped, "So sure. Where do you want to go?"

"We'll see when we reach the car, I suppose." Adam told Boone, and Boone, a little confused and reluctant, followed Adam to the car. Adam put the keys into the ignition and said, "Look, Boone. I have no idea how to do this, and I know that you're a good kid, and I sure as hell don't want to do this. So, I'm not going to."

"Fine," Boone shrugged, feeling like he had just been spared, big-time.

"Want to get some ice cream?" Adam asked. Sabrina was a health-freak, and the closest thing they ever got to ice cream was these weird Japanese frozen rice balls that cost about five bucks a pop and were still disgusting.

"Okay," Boone said. They drove in relative silence, until Boone broke it. "Um, Adam?"

"What?" Adam asked.

"Why'd you marry my mom?"

"Why did I marry your mother?" Adam tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "Well, she's… she's smart, and she's independent. I like that about her."

"If you don't mind me asking, what was Camilla like?"

Adam frowned. "Hasn't Shannon told you anything?"

"No, not really. It makes her really upset to talk about it."

"Well, I don't really want to tell you what happened if she hasn't. You two are very close, and there must be a reason why she hasn't told you. If she's not comfortable with it, then I don't want to betray her trust."

Boone nodded. "Sort of like my mother. And why she hasn't told me about my dad."

"It's an extremely sensitive issue for her, Boone. I think you have a right to know about that. He is your father, and if you want to pursue a relationship with him, then I don't think Sabrina can stop you." Adam pulled into the driveway of a small ice cream store.

Once they had bought their ice cream (Boone got rocky road in a cone, Adam got vanilla in a cup), they sat down at a table outside. It was a balmy day, but then again, what day in Malibu wasn't? "Do you know anything about it, Adam?" Boone asked, regarding the situation with his father.

"Yes," Adam said, taking a bite of his ice cream. "I'm surprised that she hasn't told you anything. You are seventeen, but Sabrina is still grasping onto this image of you when you were ten."

"Parents never like watching their children grow up," Boone noted. "Except for the fact that now she can leave me home alone without feeling guilty about it. You know, I don't even know why she had me in the first place. I'm pretty sure I was an accident." Boone had no idea why he was spilling his guts to a man he hardly ever talked to. Worse, everything that he was saying probably would get back to his mother – like she wasn't mad enough at him already.

Adam sighed. "Don't tell your mother I'm telling you this. I mean, we are supposed to be having a sex talk, which isn't really happening, so let's just keep all of this a secret, okay?"

"Okay," Boone agreed, eager to finally hear something about his father, but at the same time, a little apprehensive.

"Well," Adam struggled. "I don't know everything, but I do know quite a bit."

"Okay…" Boone urged his step-father to continue.

"His name is Samuel, but he might go by Sam."

"What's his last name?" Boone asked. Suddenly, he felt like an idiot. His mother's maiden name wasn't Carlyle, so obviously, Samuel's last name was Carlyle. Sabrina's maiden name had been something awful like Dillingham or something, and obviously, when she was a famous entrepreneur, that wouldn't do. "It's Carlyle, isn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose it is," Adam said. "He lives in an apartment in LA, I believe. When your mother became pregnant with you, she was planning on marrying Sam and playing off the pregnancy as planned to her parents. Obviously, that didn't work out, she hasn't told me why, but now her parents don't talk to her. But she hadn't been cut off the trust fund, I don't think, so she had enough money to take care of you and hire babysitters and such."

Boone was not impressed. This story was not nearly as ground-breaking as he had expected it to be. "So I take it my mom and this Sam person don't talk?"

"No, of course not. Except I think he called a few times when you were young, but Sabrina wouldn't let him keep in touch with you because she didn't want him to hurt you."

"That's it?"

"I think so. That's all I know."

"Oh," the disappointment Boone was feeling was evident in his tone. At least, though, he now had enough information to find him, and get the story from "Sam" himself. "Well, thanks for telling me."

After they finished their ice cream, they got back in the car and drove back to the Carlyle/Rutherford mansion. When they pulled into the driveway, Adam hesitated before getting out. "Just remember, kid, always use protection." He said, and then started walking towards his home office.


"Hey, Boone," Shannon cornered Boone as he started up the stairs. She was dripping wet and wrapped in only a small towel that displayed cleavage and legs. Well wasn't it his lucky day? "Um, Anna called like three times yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Boone wondered why he was just hearing about this now.

"Yeah," Shannon answered. "So you should call her back. You have something in your hair." Shannon reached a manicured finger towards the top of his head and flicked something off of it. "There, it was like a piece of fluff or something. Well, clearly, I should go get dressed…"

"Oh." Boone said. "Well I'm finishing my USC application, which I'm sure will be just as thrilling."

"I'm sure," she smiled, hoisting the towel tighter around her body, as it had been slipping. Boone took out his cell phone and sat on the impossibly hard 5000 dollar couch. It was ironic, he thought, that although the couch was so expensive, it was still less comfortable than the 79 dollar special at Ikea. Blaring on the screen of his cell phone, were the words, "7 new voicemail messages." Four were from Anna, two were from Shannon, and one was from Sabrina.

The first message was from Sabrina, from two nights ago. He hadn't bothered to turn on his cell phone while he was at Anna's, because it might be rather… compromising to have a cell phone in your pants pocket. Ew, Boone thought, like a ditzy ten year old girl. "Boone, where are you? It's a school night and I've never had to institute a curfew, but I'm instituting one now, and it's ten thirty PM, and what do you know? It's eleven, so you'd better be home in five minutes. Bye."

The next one was from Shannon. "Hey Boone, it's Shannon. Uh, it's like, midnight, and you're not home… you're probably with Anna, and when I say with Anna I mean with Anna… wow, I just got a really bad picture in my mind. Anyway, I just got back from this date with this guy… and it totally sucked. All he wanted was to get into my pants, and… you know what? Come home! This house is fucking creepy without you! God!"

The next one was also from Shannon. "Oh my god. Boone, you should see your mother right now. She is completely freaking out, like she's gone psycho or something! She's gotten this strange idea that you are currently in a gas station bathroom in Chino snorting cocaine, and I told her that it's more likely that you're having hot sex with Anna in her swanky 8-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills, but she doesn't… damn! Now she's yelling at me! Get back here this fucking second, otherwise I'm going to prosecute, I mean, persecute you!"

"Hey Boone, it's Anna." She giggled. "So, I had a lot of fun last night," she said slowly, "And I thought that maybe you could come over again after school today, unless you're too tired, but I have an idea of something that might help re-energize you." She giggled again. In current time, Boone rolled his eyes. "Anyway, call me back. I love you, bye."

The next message was also from Anna. "Hey, so it's lunchtime at Saint Fuckworth's, and I can't find you. Are you like, avoiding me or something? Oh, and there's this rumor going around that you came to school stoned, but baby, I don't even think you know what that means. So I think I stopped that rumor. Being stoned doesn't have to do with rocks, just so you know. That was mean. Was that mean? Anyway, Shannon is rolling her eyes at me, so I gotta go. I love you!" In current time, Boone blinked confusedly.

"Hey Boone. It's after-school on Friday, and I'm looking at my bed, and I was trying to figure out what was wrong with it, and guess what?" In the message, she sounded a little annoyed. "I found out, Boone. It's that you are not in it. And I was trying to think if there was any reason, any reason at all, why you might not want to be in my bed, and I couldn't. But obviously, there is, and I'd be really interested to find out what it is! Okay! So call me when you figure it out. Love you." Her voice was laced with sarcasm.

"Boone! Why the fucking hell haven't you called me! I mean, did I do something wrong? Did I do something wrong? Or maybe it's you! Maybe you're the jerk! I mean, what kind of guy doesn't call their girlfriend for two days after sleeping with them for the first time? I mean, here I am, throwing myself at your feet (like, literally) and you don't even have the decency to call me? God, you're being an asshole! L… never mind!"

Shit, Boone thought. He was in trouble. He was thinking about his apology strategies when Sabrina appeared in the living room, carrying a Louis Vuitton tote bag.

"Goodbye," Sabrina said, still sounding a little bitter.

"What? Where are you going?" Boone asked.

"Oh! Didn't I tell you? I have a client in Santa Barbara – it's a very high-profile function, and their wedding is being held tomorrow up there, and I decided that it would be best just to stay the weekend there. Adam is coming as well."

"Why didn't anybody tell me this?" Boone asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Nobody ever told him anything.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to be out all night on Thursday?" Sabrina asked rhetorically, taking a few steps towards the door. "Now. Listen to me. There will be no parties, no drugs, and most importantly, no sex."

"Where do you get the idea I'm into drugs or parties? I've never gotten drunk in my life."

"No sex, Boone."

"I'm a good kid, okay?" It sounded like Sabrina was talking to some kind of a criminal.

"Watch your sister," Adam started down the stairs, his carry-on bag galumphing down the stairs.

"Adam, don't ruin the carpeting," Sabrina said.

"Watch Shannon, make sure she doesn't get into any trouble, okay, Boone?" Adam continued, ignoring his wife.

"Uh huh," Boone said.

"Okay, bye." Sabrina lingered by the door, waiting for Adam to catch up. "No –"

"Yes mother, no sex." Boone finished for her. "Thanks."

Within seconds after Sabrina locked the door behind her, Boone realized that he was home alone. It was kind of strange, having this huge house to himself. Boone went upstairs and into his room, sitting on his bed, and dialed Anna's number. He wasn't sure how he was going to make her not upset anymore, so he decided to apologize profusely, and then charm her. That would probably work, he decided.

"Hello?" Anna picked up.

"Hi, Anna?" He said weakly. "It's –"

"Why haven't you called?" She exploded.

"Anna, I'm really sorry. My mom was – "

"You know that is the worst thing you can do, right? Not calling me for that long after we, you know… I mean, that sort of gives me a bad impression, you know?"

"Anna, listen to me. I'm really, really sorry. My mom caught me sneaking home, and she yelled at me, and grounded me, and then I was at school, and I didn't see you, but I was so exhausted, and I forgot to do my English assignment, so that's what I was doing at lunch. And my cell phone was off so I didn't get to check my messages until just now."

"Well, aren't you just full of excuses?" She said coolly.

"It's not my fault, okay? I know it sounds like a load of crap, but I'm not lying. I wouldn't lie to you, okay, baby?" He thought that maybe calling her a pet name would help her forgive him – Anna had a weird thing for pet names, even though it sounded a little unnatural.

"I don't know…" he could hear her smile in her voice, and he was pretty sure that forgiveness was coming soon. "I guess you wouldn't lie."

"I'm not. And I'm really sorry I didn't call you. I should have."

"Yeah. I guess I'll forgive you," she allowed.

"Okay," he smiled in relief. "So, what are you doing right now?"

"What are you doing right now?" She retorted.

"I just had this really weird experience – I went out for ice cream with my step-dad."

"Oh," Anna said, sounding uninterested. "That's weird."

"And then Adam and my mom left to go to Santa Barbara for the weekend. It was weird, they didn't even tell me they were leaving. My parents never tell me anything."

"Are you home alone?" She suddenly sounded a lot more interested.

"Shannon's here, but besides that, yeah."

"Oh," Anna said, and neither of them said anything for a second. "So?"

Suddenly Boone understood. "You wanna come over?" He asked, trying to put a flirtatious tone in his voice.

She giggled. "Yeah," she said. "When should I come?"

"Whenever," he told her, craning his neck towards the clock on his nightstand, which read 5:32 PM. "Maybe after dinner?"

"'Kay," she responded, sounding giddy. "I love you."

"Me too," he said, not sure if it was true. "So I'll see you at eightish?"

"Yeah… I can't wait!"

"Bye."

"Bye, baby," she said. Boone still wasn't sure if he liked this nickname very much. Honestly, he didn't understand it. I mean, why did people call their significant others' 'baby' anyway? It's not like they were babies, per se. Whatever, Boone thought, and took out that damn application again. He really had come to hate it.

After a few hours of filling out forms and answering stupid questions like, "What extra-curricular activities have you participated in that had a great impact on your life?" and heating up leftover chicken, begging Shannon to eat it, and going back to answering stupid questions, the doorbell rang.

"Is that Anna?" Shannon called from her bedroom.

"Yeah, I think so." Boone stood up to go get the door, and Shannon followed. When he opened the door, Anna was standing on the steps, swaying a little.

"Hey, ba – " she started, walking into the entryway. But her words were interrupted when she passed out on the floor with a resounding thud.

I think this chapter was really pointless, but tell me what you thought anyway, k? Thanks, and if you haven't, please read my one-shot Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have. Thank ooo!