Sydney POV
The pace of the crowd streams thru the hallway happily.
School's done.
I hop out of the stream of people walking to the buses or the parking lot at my locker.
A moment later, a strong pair of hands gently touches me, then spins me into a hug.
Ahh.
"How are you?" Austin smiled down at me.
"I'm great. How about you?" I smile back.
"Better now. I missed you."
I laugh and turn to unlock my locker.
"You always say that."
"Doesn't mean I don't mean it. I do mean it." He countered.
"I know."
I swing open my locker and deposit my binder, then shut it again.
"You don't need to drop anything?" I ask.
"Nah. Your mom texted me back by the way."
I smile to myself.
Mom gave him her and dad's number on Monday.
When I went to drive him home, he kept on saying how he couldn't believe he got Cat Valentine's cell phone number.
He still hasn't had the guts to get a picture. But at least he's capable of holding a conversation with her now.
He's so normal.
And so star struck.
He loves Mom. When I went to his grandmother's house, he showed me old posters he used to collect of Mom, cut from magazine and printed off online.
I admit that at first, when he said he was a fan of Mom's I was suspicious. But, he obviously is, with the mountains of evidence to back it up.
"Oh yeah? What'd she say?" I smile.
"She said I'm welcome for dinner. She wasn't thinking of cooking, but she might do something now."
"Yay." I smile.
Austin's grandma is playing bridge with some friends tonight, so Austin was going to have to fend for himself tonight.
Not anymore.
He suddenly reached out and rubbed my arm. "You good?"
I smile and nod.
"Yeah, I'm good."
I'm nervous.
He smiled and took my hand, then guided us towards the parking lot.
"Thank you for inviting me along today. It means a lot to me." He said quietly, swinging our hands back and forth.
"No problem. I don't want to do this alone."
"And your mom and dad are cool with this? Us going to meet your real dad by ourselves?"
I smile and nod.
What they don't know won't hurt them.
"Okay then. So…in the park downtown. Right?"
"Right." I say. "Memorial Park downtown."
I unlock the car with a happy beep, and we get in.
Since Austin's mom has the car he was using, I'm driving him everywhere.
He has the backup keys to it, and he got everything out he needed back before he dropped it off at his old house.
His mom…she's so cold. She didn't even react when Austin started boxing his stuff up. It was his dad that said something.
I wasn't there during all this, but apparently his dad texted him and said that he shouldn't cut his parents out like he was.
Austin said back "Once you guys get it together and start being parents and not children, then I'll come back. And no more yelling at me. That too."
Words got exchanged, and nothing really changed. Mom doesn't care, Dad can't get thru to him.
Not that I want him to get thru. I think he's doing the right thing.
Austin kicked on the radio and quietly sung along to a jingle for a car dealership as I drove onto the highway.
It should be a down time to get into downtown.
I wonder what he thinks about me.
He…Dad never did say when he saw him last. For all I know he saw him the day before he ripped down the curtain about us.
Making this Jordan guy real.
And a nightmare.
I wish it was simpler. That Dad was my actual dad. And not some weird guy who's picture at the time looks like a loser.
I really, REALLY hope he isn't some loser.
Dad said he is a manager at an insurance place downtown. Austin said you have to be smart in order to be the manager of anything. And since it's safe to assume it's a national company's branch in LA, it's even harder.
This would have been so much simpler if dad would have slept with mom.
That way I could just go into their bedroom and cuddle with daddy. My daddy.
I haven't been able to do that since he told me.
It feels like I'm with a different person. Like a nice guy that clearly cares, but there's suddenly this wall I don't want to break.
Austin helped write the emails I wrote to him, saying that I did want to meet him, where to meet, and that I'd be bringing my boyfriend.
He happily agreed and said any day that I could make it would be great.
So we scheduled today.
It's a pretty day. Sunny, no clouds. A day that usually makes me smile.
But I'm just too nervous.
What if he takes one look at me and hates me?
Suddenly I feel Austin put his hand on my leg.
"Hey…breathe. You're stressing out. You'll be fine."
I sigh and frown.
"What if he hates me? That can happen. What then?"
"He won't hate you. Nobody normal can hate you. You're an amazing and beautiful girl okay?" he smiled at me as I stopped at the light close to Republic's garage.
It's a short walk to the park, and I'll get to use this parking pass for the first time ever.
The CEO guy said that I could park in the spot reserved for my mom for the time being. Which was nice of him.
"We don't know that. I…we don't know anything about this. This could be awful." I say.
"Well then, it'll be awful together. With me. This'll be fine."
I silently pull into the ticket area and flash my pass, then the barrier lifted.
3rd level.
That's where Mom's spot is.
Even though she's their biggest client, parking goes by seniority. And a lot of people came before her.
"So this is it huh? Where you'll be this summer." He said quietly.
"Uh huh. Dreary huh." I joke, since he hasn't seen the inside.
That'll be for another happy day.
I pull up to mom's spot and stop, and grab my purse and hop out.
It's right next to the elevator and stairs.
I press G and we go down to the ground floor.
The door opened to the lobby, where the guy at the desk tipped his hat.
"Hello Miss Valentine. And hello sir."
"Hi." I smile.
Austin also said "Hi." quietly.
He holds the door for me and we start walking to the park, him holding my hand.
"You'll be fine. Totally fine." He said.
"How are you so confident?" I ask. "Your family is a mess. Where do you get it?"
He went a little pale, but then said "I get it from you."
"Huh?"
"Look, want some Jet Brew?" He pointed to a little stand at the edge of the park.
"Okay."
We stroll over happily.
"Hi. What can I get you all today?" The barista asked.
"Uhm, can I get a venti caramel macchiato with a shot of expresso please?" I ask.
The lady wrote on a cup, then handed it to her coworker.
"And for you sir?" She asked Austin.
"Can I have an iced latte please? Venti." He smiled.
She nodded and tapped her screen. "Your total is 9.61."
Austin handed her his card, and she swiped it and gave it back.
Then he signed a receipt and we went to wait off to the side.
Suddenly the stand is kinda busy.
"Caramel Macchiato! Shot of expresso!"
I spring forward and grab my drink.
Then I turn to get a straw, and Austin has already beat me to it.
I giggle and smile at him.
"Thanks."
He smiled just as the lady called out his drink.
He snagged a straw before I could return the favor.
"Meanie." I say.
He smiled, then turned and looked up.
I turn too and stop.
It's him.
He saw us at the little coffee stand.
He's walking towards us.
I look down and nervously sip my drink.
"Sydney? I'm Jordan. Hi." He smiled, clearly nervous.
"Hi." I say.
Then Jordan looked to Austin.
"Jordan Prentice." He extended his hand.
Austin smiled and shook it. "Austin Harper sir. Nice to meet you."
"Same here. I was just sitting down over here, I can get my drink and be right back…?" he said, looking to me.
"We can follow." I smile.
I want him to like me.
"Okay. That's cool."
We started walking to a spot about 20 feet away, where there's a Jet Brew drink by itself.
"My boss let me get off a little early today. Sorry about the professional attire." He scooped up his drink.
"It's fine." I say softly.
He's wearing dress shoes, slacks, dress shirt and a tie.
He is a manager.
"Where do you want to sit?" He asked me.
"Uhm…"I shrug.
"Back there is nice. She'll like it." Austin took charge, pointing for us to go deeper into the park.
"Sure. Go ahead." He said.
I nervously sip my drink as we all walk to a secluded area where nobody is at except for an empty running trail.
Austin popped onto this little rock outcropping, and I sat down on a bench next to him.
Jordan sat across from me.
"So…" He began. "How are you?"
"I'm good. How are you?" I ask.
"I'm great. Wonderful. Long day at work, but glad it's over. You two had school today I take it. Right?" He asked.
"Yeah." I nod.
"We go to Hollywood Arts." Austin said. "What do you do?"
"I'm a manager a few blocks from here for Moore Insurance." He said.
"Never heard of them." Austin said.
"It's high end insurance. We don't sell insurance to normal people. It's a solely celebrity driven insurance company. Values privacy, speed, security, blah blah and blah." He smiled.
I giggle and smile, then sip my drink.
"Your parents. Your house, all your cars, including a new one a few days after your birthday. All insured by us."
"How do you know all that?" I ask.
This is weird.
He knows where we live?!
"Your father calls me. I'm sort of his personal broker for the company. You guys' account is the main reason why I'm in the position I'm in now." He said, then sipping his drink.
"What do you mean?" Austin asked.
"Sydney's parent's account is worth over 20 million dollars once you add in the house, cars, life insurance, flood, earthquake…it's expensive. And a cash cow for the company. So since I'm in charge of that account personally, I get to manage a section of the floor." He said.
"I…how much of that is the house?" I ask.
He sighed and bit his lip.
"I can't say exactly off the top of my head, with the claim that just came in…" He said quietly. "But I'd say about 60 percent."
Austin suddenly spit out his drink and started coughing.
I hop up and rub his back.
"Sorry." I smile. "he…he's a big fan of Mom's. He's still not used to…all that." I tell him.
He smiled. "Take your time."
About a minute later, I sit back down.
"So…you know all that stuff about us?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Have for about 10 years, once your mom and dad's address got leaked to the press due to a cyber attack, so your father called me since he knew I worked for the company, and we just worked out an agreement."
"What about my mom?"
He suddenly went red and rubbed his neck.
"Your mom…doesn't like me."
"Because of what happened?" Austin asked.
I whip around and glare at him.
"Yeah. Something like that." Jordan said quietly.
"Uhm…I have a question. If you don't mind."
"Sure. No, go ahead. Ask me anything." Jordan said, putting his drink aside and giving me his full attention.
"I…why'd you do what you did? I don't…really get why you did it?"
"Why I ditched your mother?" He asked.
I nervously nod.
He sighed. "I was a coward. And a kid. I don't know if either of you know, but I'm a year younger than your mom. She was 19, I was 18. And I freaked. I just knew I couldn't support you adequately, and could practically see both you and you mother being miserable if I stuck around. So I left and tried to stay as far away as possible."
"As possible?' Austin said.
"Yeah. I've kept tabs on you, or at least tried to online for years. The last time I saw you in person…"
He suddenly dove for a briefcase.
"Then." He handed me a picture.
WHOA.
WHOOOOOOAAAA.
I hear Austin hop off his seat and look over my shoulder.
It's Mom, Dad and me.
Years and years ago. You can just tell by Mom's dress.
I'm holding Dad's hand.
They're all in nice clothes, except for me.
I'm wearing sweatpants and a shirt.
I'm tiny.
…
"That's the last time you saw me?" I gulp, handing the picture back.
"You can keep it. And yeah. It was the summer of 2014. I just signed you away for good. I gave my information to your father, who said he'd want to tell you the truth about what happened years later. You guys went right, I went left. But I stopped, pulled out my phone and took that picture."
I barely hear Austin say "Wow…"
"I'm so small." I say.
"You were like barely a year and a half old." Jordan said.
Austin looked up. "Nothing since then?"
Jordan shook his head.
"My…he wanted to tell me all this time?" I ask him.
Jordan nodded. "Yeah. Your mom was opposed to it for whatever reason. But obviously he overruled her, since you now know."
"Why didn't you approach earlier?" Austin asked.
"She wouldn't know who I am. And even though I'm her father, what am I supposed to do? I didn't have any good way to approach it."
"Did you want to?" I ask.
Did he want to see me?
"Absolutely. Every day it seems like I think about you, what you might be doing, and so on."
"But you knew our address. You knew where I was." I say stuffily.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I could talk to you. Your mom had a restraining order put on me when you were like 3. It expired last year." He said.
"Why?" Austin said.
"I have no idea. As I said, she hates me. I guess she has a reason to."
"Have you talked to her?" I ask.
He sighed. "No. I send an email once a year. Saying that I'd love to go have lunch. Talk about it. Because I don't want her to hate me. But…" He shrugged, then took a breath.
"Your dad. Robbie. He told me when he called to say that he was going to spill the beans to you, he said that your mom can never even open the emails. She gets too emotional and stuff."
"Sounds like things are still pretty tenuous." Austin said.
"Tenuous isn't the right word. Between her mom and I, we literally have had no contact since that picture got taken. Your father and I get along, since he says he understands my logic."
"He does?" I ask.
DADDY?
"Yeah, he does, but always puts the disclaimer that he disagreed with the move."
"Oh." I say.
"I know you're probably confused and maybe mad about all this." Jordan said. "But Robbie loves you. He's your dad. He's literally gone to hell and back for you to be happy. So I hope you don't hold anything against him and my behalf."
"I…I'm not. It's just all so weird." I say.
"You won't like this answer, but you'll understand when you have kids. I messed up. Big time. As I said, I was a kid and a coward. Your father made it work and bridged a big gap. He really should get an award or something for that."
"How often do you guys speak?" Austin asked.
"Not much…almost never casually. I spoke to him two weeks ago about a insurance claim for a crash. Mind if I ask you a question?" He turned to me.
"No, sure." I say.
He suddenly bent down and pulled out a package of unopened tissues, then handed them to me.
I take one out and try to clean myself up.
"Did you get a car recently? Because your policy was updated to include a Range Rover right after your birthday."
"Yeah. Some dummy hit me at a red light." I say stuffily.
"He ran the light. Not Sydney's fault." Austin added.
"I saw that. I was just curious." He said.
"Do you have a family?" I ask nervously.
"Huh? Oh…yeah. I do." He said, and then dove back to his briefcase. "Wife, two young kids."
"Do you have a picture?" I smile.
He nodded and flipped thru several pieces of paper.
"Here."
…
I hear Austin laugh barely and smile.
There's Jordan, a woman that clearly is his wife and a boy and girl dangling off their shoulders.
It's a professional photo.
"They're all really cute." I say, handing the photo back.
"Thank you. Uhm…my wife. I told her about what happened…years ago. Before we got together for good. She wrote you something. You don't have to read it. But I know she'll go thru my briefcase when I get home, so…"
Austin laughed and I took the envelope he held out to me.
It has "To Sydney" on the front in curly letters.
Obviously written by a woman.
"What is her name?" Austin asked.
"Katie. Haven't been together long. Got married 4 years ago."
"How old are the kids?" I ask.
"3 and 1."
I nod.
"You didn't want another Sydney situation. So you waited to have kids." Austin said.
"Austin!" I get up and whack his arm.
"No, he's right. Very smart to think of that. Good job." Jordan complimented him.
"Thanks sir." Austin replied.
"So, you go to the same school as your mom and dad did?" He said.
"Yeah." I smile.
"And is school good?" he asked.
"Great. All A's." I smile.
"Awesome. What about you?" Jordan asked Austin.
I smile.
They're talking.
"Same. All A's."
"Wonderful. That's awesome. I saw you joined splashface a few months ago. How do you like it?" He asked me.
"It's good. Fun. Kind of overwhelming. Having so many followers and I haven't done anything yet." I say.
"You're Cat's daughter. You should be proud of that. I know it might be a burden sometimes, but life is a lot easier for you because of it." He said to me.
I nod.
"By the way, if you don't mind I'd like to follow you on there." He said.
"You don't follow me?" I ask.
"No…didn't want to piss your mom off. And you did it right before you found out, so I played it safe. Do you mind?" He asked.
"Go ahead. I'll follow you." I smile back.
He smiled himself.
"I won't keep you guys much longer. It's almost dinner time. But I did want to tell you that my wife and I would love to have you for dinner. We can work out the details over email."
"Okay. I think I have your number." I say.
"You do?" He asked.
"Yeah…didn't you give her dad a sheet with all your information on it?" Austin asked.
"No…he must have made that. He has all the information." Jordan said.
"Dinner sounds fun. I'd love to. I don't know when though." I say.
"No rush. We don't really go out anymore, so pretty much any night will be fine." He said.
"I'd like to come too. If that's alright." Austin smiled.
"That'd be no problem. You guys clearly are together." He said.
"We are?" I say nervously.
"Yeah." He smiled. "You can just tell by how you guys look at each other."
Uhh…
"You're not mad…are you?" Austin asked.
"What? No. Not at all. As long as she's happy I'm cool with basically whatever." He said, getting to his feet.
Austin and I both get up.
"It was great meeting you sir." Austin shook his hand again.
"Same." Jordan said.
Then he looked to me.
I impulsively tackle him into a hug.
"It was great meeting you." I smile, then let him go.
He has a small, but shocked surprised look on his face.
"Great meeting you too."
He then turned and waved.
Then walked away.
I watch him go, then sip my drink.
"That went well I think." Austin said.
"Yeah. He's actually a nice guy."
"Just made a mistake." Austin said.
"Are we sure about that? Maybe he did the right thing." I say.
"Nah…I love your dad. He's great. But a dad should always be there. Regardless of what happened."
WHAT?
I feel myself get mad, but go for my phone instead of screaming at him.
…
…
OH NO.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
"Uh oh." I say.
"Uh oh what?" he asked.
I knew I made a mistake coming downtown.
I have 800,000 splashface mentions.
I clicked on the first one, and it said "WE FOUND THE GUY!"
It's Austin and I holding hands.
This couldn't have been more than an hour ago.
It was taken from like 50 feet away.
How did I not notice.
"Whoa. Is that…that's us." He said.
Uh oh.
They still don't know who he is.
But know they've seen us together. And they've got his face.
It probably won't take long now.
"Syd…Sydney." Austin said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I look up at him.
"We can still get away quickly. Let's just take the back way in okay? We'll be fine."
He knows how paranoid I am about getting spotted.
But I still slipped up.
"Let's go. Hurry." I say, grabbing my stuff and starting to run.