Motherly Advice

While Devon and Ana are finishing up their last tasks for the day, Fen is at home. He had finished his day early and was able to get in some time at the gym. As he's in the kitchen grabbing a bottle of water, his mother comes home.

"Hey, mom." He says walking out of the kitchen.

"Hey Honey." Lauren greets him with a smile. "Just came back from the gym?" She asks looking at him. "I can feel the perspiration in the air." She jokes.

"Yeah, I did. I was able to get in a workout today." Fen comes over to the couch and sits down. Lauren sits beside him. "It was good for me, and helped me work some frustration out." He admits honestly.

Lauren sets her purse down on the floor. "Frustration. Hmmm…Dare I ask about what?"

Fen sighs and looks down at the floor, his bottle of water hanging loosely from his hand.

Lauren gives him a knowing look. "Might this frustration be about a certain young lady, named Ana Hamilton?" She inquires.

Fen sighs and looks up and then down again. "Mom...," His voice trails off.

Lauren nods her head. "It is about her." She pauses for a moment thinking. "I guess you haven't gotten the chance to tell her how you feel yet."

Fen shakes his head and puts a hand behind his neck. "No." He sighs deeply.

"Okay, well…" Lauren reaches over and taps him on the knee. "Well, don't give up. Find the right moment to do so." She encourages him.

Fen shakes his head in frustration. "I've tried to do that; I was going to do it the other night at the opening of Society."

Lauren nods listening.

"But I didn't get the chance." Fen remarks unhappily. "We had agreed to dance and then talk later in the evening. I was going to tell her how I felt about her performance and how I…." His voice trails off.

"Felt about her." Lauren finishes for him. "Go on."

Fen nods. "Yeah, that was the plan. But when her performance was over and I went to talk to her, she changed her mind. She said she didn't feel like dancing because she was tired."

A thoughtful look comes across Lauren's face as her son says this. "Well, maybe she was tired."

Fen motions with his hand. "And I told her if she didn't want to dance, we didn't have to do that. I told her we could still talk. I suggested we could maybe go somewhere private and talk…"

Lauren smiles and moves a little on the couch. "Go You."

Fen lets out a laugh. "Mom..." He continues. "And when I made this pitch, she gave me a look, like…."

"Like what?" Lauren probes.

Fen shrugs his shoulders remembering that moment. "Like she was going to agree to talk with me. But then… suddenly, it's like her mood changed, and she said she didn't even want to talk with me." He relays.

Lauren frowns when she hears this. "And you don't know what prompted this sudden mood change?"

Fen turns his hand up. "I don't know mom. All I know is the hope I had to express myself to her evaporated very quickly."

Lauren taps a finger to her cheek thinking. "That is strange, Fen. But maybe she really wasn't feeling well and whatever was bugging her started bothering her again."

Fen shakes his head. "Yeah, and maybe I would have bought that, if later in the evening I hadn't seen her…" His voice trails off, and he sighs again thinking about it.

"Seen her do what?" Lauren asks.

"Dancing with Kyle Abbott." Fen remarks annoyed. "She was dancing with him and they seemed like they were having a good time." He informs Lauren. Fen looks down and back up at Lauren the frustration mounting on his face. "She managed to make time for him." He shakes his head again and takes a sip of his water.

Lauren folds her hands on her knees and turns her head to the side and gives Fen a look. "Why didn't you go and politely cut in?" She asks. "When you saw her dancing with Kyle, you should have seized that moment to cut in and ask her to dance with you." She remarks firmly.

Fen gives her a look. "I… I didn't do that because I thought maybe the problem was that she just didn't want to dance with me." Fen confesses unhappily.

Lauren frowns. "Oh, no, I don't think that is the case."

"Maybe it is mom." Fen speculates.

Lauren shakes her head. "The way you talk about Ana and your relationship, I would think she would be happy to dance with you." She pauses thinking. "It may be something else."

Fen shrugs. "I don't know what that would be."

Lauren pats his knee. "Maybe you will find out." She pauses and gives him a loving look. "My advice to you would be to keep trying. You'll figure out the right way and time to tell her how you feel." She smiles at him. "And if it's meant to be, it will happen."

Fen nods taking in his mother's advice. "I just hope another guy doesn't get in the way before that happens." He muses.

Lauren purses her lips. "Like who? Like Kyle?" She asks.

Fen nods. "Yeah." He frowns. "It would hurt if Ana was interested in another man, let alone Kyle."

Lauren nods understanding. "I know that you and him don't care much for each other."

"Like at all." Fen states frankly. "I've already had other women prefer Kyle over me, if Ana also preferred him, that would really stink."

Lauren nods. "Well, honey maybe that is not the case."

"I don't know mom; I saw him and her talking again today and they seemed to be having a pretty engaging conversation." Fen reports to her.

"You saw them together again?" Lauren inquires.

"Yeah, I did right before Ana and I did our songwriting session today." He pauses and takes another sip of water. "I went over there to see what they were talking about and he had invited her to participate in some type of group. It's supposed to be a group of different people in different industries giving their opinions on what types of clothes they like." He informed her.

Lauren nods. "To coincide with the launch of Jabot's new line of apparel." She comments filling in the blanks.

Fen nods. "Right, so Ana said she was going to do that and I…"

"You what?" Lauren asked.

"I volunteered to be a part of the group as well." Fen informs her.

Lauren laughs. "So, you did decide to cut in there."

Fen smiles. "Yeah, I guess you can say that. Kyle was resistant at first, but Ana convinced him to let me be a part of the group. I will be contributing as an upcoming artist from Hamilton-Winters."

Lauren looks at him impressed. "Nice." She comments.

"Yeah, when I saw them together again mom, I just didn't like the thought of him possibly trying to push up on my... He stops.

Lauren smiles.

"Soon to be lady, I hope." Fen finishes. Him and Lauren both laugh.

"Yeah, hopefully it will work out sweetie."

Fen nods. "I hope so." Him and Lauren talk a little bit more and then she heads into the kitchen to get dinner started. Fen smiles as she walks away, her advice regarding Ana etched into his mind.