"Oh, my God!" Angry, slender fingers raked through short, wavy reddish brown hair as the woman attached to it let out a furious groan.
"Mother! For GOD's sake, as well as mine, talk to him. Meredith, there's more behind the story, I know it." There was silence for a moment. "You know what, mum, I am SICK and tired of this bullshit from you. Every single month, almost on the dot, father does SOMETHING to piss you off and you two are getting SEPERATED. For the past three years I have been on my own, working in a bookstore you refuse to believe I work in, and living off of what I earn and what daddy pays for. Dad is a GOOD man, Meredith, and I know you know this but it seems you are just looking for unnecessary attention from the WRONG PERSON. I am your DAUGHTER, remember? If this was the first or SECOND time that this happened... no, no, let me finish," The angry woman ground her teeth as her mother tried to interrupt. "I would be understanding, very sympathetic, at the thoughts of my parents getting a divorce or SEPERATING, whatever the hell you'd like to call it," Her cultured, southern tone was beginning to lose it's grace, "but not after three YEARS of it, Mother! Why don't you REALLY get a divorce so that way I can believe ONE thing you tell me?"
Letting out a deep breath, the woman sank back onto the sofa littered with embroidered vintage pillows. She listened for a moment and then let out an exasperated gasp. "EXCUSE ME? Do I want you and daddy to get a divorce? No, that's not what I was SAYING, Mother, do NOT twist my words around..." She waited for the woman arguing with her on the other end to shut up. "You can't GROUND me, I'm twenty three years old! But of course YOU forget this, because obviously you've FORGOTTEN how many times you said YOU were going to separate from daddy, too!" Before her mother could argue back, she hit the off button on the cordless phone and put it back on it's cradle.
She let out an angry sound, standing up and walked around the coffee table three times before marching into the kitchen. She opened the freezer and got out a pint of New York Style Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream and grabbed a spoon before rushing dramatically back out into the living room. She stopped, looked around, and then marched to the back of the room to sit in the bay window. She opened the blinds to reveal rain splashing against the glass, and she sighed.
Sitting down, she watched the rain as she took a first bite of ice cream. Sighing, she leaned her head against the glass. She loved Sacramento when it rained... It made the lights of the city below her townhouse glitter.
Lauren Thompson hated being 'rich'. The daughter of a Senator, she had moved to Sacramento to get away from the publicity. Her father was incredibly wealthy, and she, being an only child, was his favorite person.
He spoiled her... lovingly, of course.
He had bought this great, three-story townhouse for her, and paid to have it fixed up. She never wanted for anything, but the day she got a job at a small travel bookshop and let a certain-type-of-person roommate move in with her, her mother had just about disowned her.
Of course, the only time she refused to agree that she had 'disowned' her daughter was when her mother had another one of her crisises. Or as Lauren called them, 'Meredith-moments'. One day Lauren knew she wouldn't be able to take it, and when that day came, she had no idea what she would do.
Her mother was a crazy, dramatic woman. She had never laid a hand on Lauren, because Meredith was afraid what her husband might do to her... But when Meredith drank, and whenever Jake wasn't around... her mother would torment her verbally. Cruel, harsh words no mother should ever utter to her child, any child for that matter.
Lauren put the ice cream down on the table beside the bay window, and leaned her forehead against the pane of glass, like a sad child might do. She sighed, reminiscing on things best left unthought of, unspoken of, never remembered.
But still... they haunted Lauren... She sighed again, her mind sucking her into memories she would much rather forget.
Lauren stood in her room, smiling to herself, her hands on her hips, legs spread. A paintbrush was held in her right hand, and paint smudged one cheek.
'This'll be the best art project Koltin High will ever see!' Lauren said in her mind.
The canvas in front of her was an oil painting that had taken her months to finish. It was a landscape, one of rolling green hills with splashes of blooming colour. Bright hues of blue and white completed the background, and in between one of the hills stood a little cabin, which she had painted red to stand out.
She called the piece 'Home in Ireland'. Just because it felt right.
Lauren was excited. She wanted to show her father, but she knew that he wouldn't be home for at least a few hours.
Classical music played softly on the air, and Lauren felt content.
Until she heard something bang against the wall outside.
'Oh, no.' was the first thing that entered Lauren's mind. She wanted to run.
The door that led into Lauren's room burst open, and Meredith, standing in her white silk robe and slippers, stepped inside. She held a glass filled with bourbon and ice, and Lauren knew her mother had been down stairs, doing her usual thing... watching soap operas and drinking.
Lauren stepped back, 'Yes, mama?'
Meredith merely eyed her daughter through her slit-eyed gaze. She seemed to tilt slowly forward and then backward, and Lauren was afraid her mother might pass out right there on the wood floor. "What are you doing, sweeting?"
"N-nothing, just painting."
Meredith's perfect, gracefully arched eyebrows rose, and her nose wrinkled just the tiniest bit. "So THAT's what that smell is..."
Lauren said nothing, and her mother walked over to the desk and put her glass down with a loud clank. Lauren winced. She wanted to yell and scream and tremble and beg her mother to love her, but Meredith was... different. She wasn't a mother.
Meredith stood still, emotions raged on her face just at they raged in her body. Lauren's mother turned her head, and locked her gaze on Lauren. She walked slowly over, standing just a foot away, and before Lauren realized it, her mother reached out and smacked her. Lauren fell to the floor from the force of the blow, and she instantly curled, afraid her mother would started kicking her the way she had last time.
Meredith merely began to cry, wrapping a hand around her eyes and putting her other on her hip. She sobbed out, and kicked her daughter once. "It's all your fault I'm like this, you stupid worthless shit. Oh, God! I could have been something great, but you... You had to come along..." She kicked her daughter again, slipping on the wood floor and landing with a hard bump. Lauren looked over as her mother slumped to the floor and sobbed.
Lauren watched, wide-eyed, but unmoving. She waited. A few minutes later, her mother stood up and grabbed her drink, and fled from the room dramatically, the ice clinking in her glass.
Lauren began to cry, too.
What had she done?
Lauren awoke, startled. She looked around, and realized she was still alone. The apartment had gone dark, and a sliver of moonlight shone brilliantly on the dark wooden floor. She straightened, and suddenly her throat hurt as her dream hit her.
"Oh, God..." Lauren moaned, rubbing her forehead. She remembered that day... She had been fifteen, a sophomore in high school.
Lauren shook her head, willing the thoughts and images away.
But she remembered the next morning, when her mother had come in her room and sat next to the bed, gently waking Lauren. Her mother had hugged her, and wrapped her arms around her and whispered, "Did I say or do anything to you yesterday?"
"No, mama." She had answered.
Her mother kissed her cheek, and then look down at the wrist she was holding that had a few bruises on it.
"Darlin', what DID you do?"
"I... It happened during soccer. I was playing soccer."
"Oh.. alright. Well, come on, I thought we could go shopping." Meredith had smiled at her daughter, one of Meredith's glamorous, wide, eye-reaching smiles that made you want to smile back.
Lauren hadn't wanted to smile back. But she did, and she got up, and went with her mother.
Lauren was glad she wasn't living at home anymore. Her mother barely remembered her drunken rages, but when she did, she would spoil her child, too. Like it was her way of making up for anything she had said and done.
Lauren stood up and stretched, then put the lid back on the half melted ice cream. She walked slowly into the kitchen, flipping on the lights.
As she was looking through the refridgerator, she heard the door open.
"Lauren?" She heard a man's voice.
"Hey, dahlin, I'm in here."
Robbie Young walked into the kitchen, smiling, and put his briefcase on the
counter. "That little Southern accent of yours..." He laughed, wrapping his arms around Lauren. He had said this and done this every day since he had met her.
(A/N Okay..... Just do this for me. Anyone watch Will & Grace? Well, if you do, imagine a mix of Jack and Will... or if you've seen Sweet Home Alabama, the really cool black guy. I think you'll get the picture ;-D).
Lauren laughed, hugging Robbie. "Dahlin, I do it just to make you happy. Now make me happy and make us something to eat."
Robbie laughed again, taking off his coat. He sighed, setting it over the back of a stool chair behind the breakfast counter in the nook. "Hmm... what do you want to eat?"
Robbie Young was a prestigous lawyer in a prestigous law firm. Lauren loved the way he seemed to be two different people, but still the same person. She gazed admiringly at him, knowing he was his sweet self at home and a direct, powerful person in the courtroom.
"How about chicken?"
Robbie opened the freezer, and Lauren stared at him from behind. Robbie was almost 6 foot, with a lean build and broad shoulders. He had reddish brown hair with which he wore longer than most men did in a punk-looking way. He had deep, chocolate brown eyes and smooth skin, and his ears were pierced, those of which he took out when he had to go into court. He was sexy, in every sense of the word... But, unfortunately...
"What kind?"
"Barbeque?"
Smiling, Robbie pulled some frozen chicken out of the freezer and placed it on the counter. He began to get our supplies for a fruit salad and butter for the bread. "Well, how was your day?"
"Um, it was nice, hun. Nothing new... went to work, slept, and oh... Meredith called. We had another 'blow out' when my mother decided to have one of her 'Meredith moments'."
"Uh-oh. What happened?" Robbie placed the chicken in hot water in the large stainless steel sink and wiped the silver fixtures down. He pulled a knife out of the draw and grabbed for the apples, and Lauren got up to help him.
She was quiet for a moment, and as she began to cut the cantalope, she said, "Well, she called and said she and Jake were getting a divorce, again... And that I had to do something about it because I was Miss Perfect like daddy always said I was."
When she didn't say anything, Robbie snorted. "What the hell do they put in the bourbon down in Louisiana?"
"I have no idea, but I'd sure like to know. Anyway, she wants me to go down to Louisiana and talk to my father, but honestly, after the past million times I've gone down to just about be their marriage counselor, all they do is argue and then kiss and make up. Come on, Robbie, we know that this happens about once a month."
Sighing, Robbie pushed the cubed apple slices into a blue glass bowl, and began to cut up strawberries. "You know what, you can't go down to Louisiana. I mean, you have a job, you have a life here, you have me to look after," With that, he looked over and smiled and winked at her, "and you have this date with me this Firday that you absolutely cannot miss, honey."
Lauren laughed, taking the bowl and adding the cantelope slices. "Really now, dahlin? We have ourselves a date?"
"That we do, with Aiden and Felice."
"Ah, and where are we going?"
"To a nightclub."
Lauren laughed and began to slice open an orange. "And you expect me to tell Meredith this?"
"That I do." Robbie continued to slice the strawberries as precisely as he was luring her into this trap.
"What's in it for me?"
At that, Robbie let out a loud laugh. "That satisfaction of getting to hang out with your bestest friends in the world, that's what."
"Ah, okay... I'll tell her I murdered somebody and that I can't make it. Somehow I'll fit that I'm going on a wild sexcapade in there, too. Keep her guessing."
Robbie laughed, "You do that..."
************************************************************************
"Mother! For GOD's sake, as well as mine, talk to him. Meredith, there's more behind the story, I know it." There was silence for a moment. "You know what, mum, I am SICK and tired of this bullshit from you. Every single month, almost on the dot, father does SOMETHING to piss you off and you two are getting SEPERATED. For the past three years I have been on my own, working in a bookstore you refuse to believe I work in, and living off of what I earn and what daddy pays for. Dad is a GOOD man, Meredith, and I know you know this but it seems you are just looking for unnecessary attention from the WRONG PERSON. I am your DAUGHTER, remember? If this was the first or SECOND time that this happened... no, no, let me finish," The angry woman ground her teeth as her mother tried to interrupt. "I would be understanding, very sympathetic, at the thoughts of my parents getting a divorce or SEPERATING, whatever the hell you'd like to call it," Her cultured, southern tone was beginning to lose it's grace, "but not after three YEARS of it, Mother! Why don't you REALLY get a divorce so that way I can believe ONE thing you tell me?"
Letting out a deep breath, the woman sank back onto the sofa littered with embroidered vintage pillows. She listened for a moment and then let out an exasperated gasp. "EXCUSE ME? Do I want you and daddy to get a divorce? No, that's not what I was SAYING, Mother, do NOT twist my words around..." She waited for the woman arguing with her on the other end to shut up. "You can't GROUND me, I'm twenty three years old! But of course YOU forget this, because obviously you've FORGOTTEN how many times you said YOU were going to separate from daddy, too!" Before her mother could argue back, she hit the off button on the cordless phone and put it back on it's cradle.
She let out an angry sound, standing up and walked around the coffee table three times before marching into the kitchen. She opened the freezer and got out a pint of New York Style Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream and grabbed a spoon before rushing dramatically back out into the living room. She stopped, looked around, and then marched to the back of the room to sit in the bay window. She opened the blinds to reveal rain splashing against the glass, and she sighed.
Sitting down, she watched the rain as she took a first bite of ice cream. Sighing, she leaned her head against the glass. She loved Sacramento when it rained... It made the lights of the city below her townhouse glitter.
Lauren Thompson hated being 'rich'. The daughter of a Senator, she had moved to Sacramento to get away from the publicity. Her father was incredibly wealthy, and she, being an only child, was his favorite person.
He spoiled her... lovingly, of course.
He had bought this great, three-story townhouse for her, and paid to have it fixed up. She never wanted for anything, but the day she got a job at a small travel bookshop and let a certain-type-of-person roommate move in with her, her mother had just about disowned her.
Of course, the only time she refused to agree that she had 'disowned' her daughter was when her mother had another one of her crisises. Or as Lauren called them, 'Meredith-moments'. One day Lauren knew she wouldn't be able to take it, and when that day came, she had no idea what she would do.
Her mother was a crazy, dramatic woman. She had never laid a hand on Lauren, because Meredith was afraid what her husband might do to her... But when Meredith drank, and whenever Jake wasn't around... her mother would torment her verbally. Cruel, harsh words no mother should ever utter to her child, any child for that matter.
Lauren put the ice cream down on the table beside the bay window, and leaned her forehead against the pane of glass, like a sad child might do. She sighed, reminiscing on things best left unthought of, unspoken of, never remembered.
But still... they haunted Lauren... She sighed again, her mind sucking her into memories she would much rather forget.
Lauren stood in her room, smiling to herself, her hands on her hips, legs spread. A paintbrush was held in her right hand, and paint smudged one cheek.
'This'll be the best art project Koltin High will ever see!' Lauren said in her mind.
The canvas in front of her was an oil painting that had taken her months to finish. It was a landscape, one of rolling green hills with splashes of blooming colour. Bright hues of blue and white completed the background, and in between one of the hills stood a little cabin, which she had painted red to stand out.
She called the piece 'Home in Ireland'. Just because it felt right.
Lauren was excited. She wanted to show her father, but she knew that he wouldn't be home for at least a few hours.
Classical music played softly on the air, and Lauren felt content.
Until she heard something bang against the wall outside.
'Oh, no.' was the first thing that entered Lauren's mind. She wanted to run.
The door that led into Lauren's room burst open, and Meredith, standing in her white silk robe and slippers, stepped inside. She held a glass filled with bourbon and ice, and Lauren knew her mother had been down stairs, doing her usual thing... watching soap operas and drinking.
Lauren stepped back, 'Yes, mama?'
Meredith merely eyed her daughter through her slit-eyed gaze. She seemed to tilt slowly forward and then backward, and Lauren was afraid her mother might pass out right there on the wood floor. "What are you doing, sweeting?"
"N-nothing, just painting."
Meredith's perfect, gracefully arched eyebrows rose, and her nose wrinkled just the tiniest bit. "So THAT's what that smell is..."
Lauren said nothing, and her mother walked over to the desk and put her glass down with a loud clank. Lauren winced. She wanted to yell and scream and tremble and beg her mother to love her, but Meredith was... different. She wasn't a mother.
Meredith stood still, emotions raged on her face just at they raged in her body. Lauren's mother turned her head, and locked her gaze on Lauren. She walked slowly over, standing just a foot away, and before Lauren realized it, her mother reached out and smacked her. Lauren fell to the floor from the force of the blow, and she instantly curled, afraid her mother would started kicking her the way she had last time.
Meredith merely began to cry, wrapping a hand around her eyes and putting her other on her hip. She sobbed out, and kicked her daughter once. "It's all your fault I'm like this, you stupid worthless shit. Oh, God! I could have been something great, but you... You had to come along..." She kicked her daughter again, slipping on the wood floor and landing with a hard bump. Lauren looked over as her mother slumped to the floor and sobbed.
Lauren watched, wide-eyed, but unmoving. She waited. A few minutes later, her mother stood up and grabbed her drink, and fled from the room dramatically, the ice clinking in her glass.
Lauren began to cry, too.
What had she done?
Lauren awoke, startled. She looked around, and realized she was still alone. The apartment had gone dark, and a sliver of moonlight shone brilliantly on the dark wooden floor. She straightened, and suddenly her throat hurt as her dream hit her.
"Oh, God..." Lauren moaned, rubbing her forehead. She remembered that day... She had been fifteen, a sophomore in high school.
Lauren shook her head, willing the thoughts and images away.
But she remembered the next morning, when her mother had come in her room and sat next to the bed, gently waking Lauren. Her mother had hugged her, and wrapped her arms around her and whispered, "Did I say or do anything to you yesterday?"
"No, mama." She had answered.
Her mother kissed her cheek, and then look down at the wrist she was holding that had a few bruises on it.
"Darlin', what DID you do?"
"I... It happened during soccer. I was playing soccer."
"Oh.. alright. Well, come on, I thought we could go shopping." Meredith had smiled at her daughter, one of Meredith's glamorous, wide, eye-reaching smiles that made you want to smile back.
Lauren hadn't wanted to smile back. But she did, and she got up, and went with her mother.
Lauren was glad she wasn't living at home anymore. Her mother barely remembered her drunken rages, but when she did, she would spoil her child, too. Like it was her way of making up for anything she had said and done.
Lauren stood up and stretched, then put the lid back on the half melted ice cream. She walked slowly into the kitchen, flipping on the lights.
As she was looking through the refridgerator, she heard the door open.
"Lauren?" She heard a man's voice.
"Hey, dahlin, I'm in here."
Robbie Young walked into the kitchen, smiling, and put his briefcase on the
counter. "That little Southern accent of yours..." He laughed, wrapping his arms around Lauren. He had said this and done this every day since he had met her.
(A/N Okay..... Just do this for me. Anyone watch Will & Grace? Well, if you do, imagine a mix of Jack and Will... or if you've seen Sweet Home Alabama, the really cool black guy. I think you'll get the picture ;-D).
Lauren laughed, hugging Robbie. "Dahlin, I do it just to make you happy. Now make me happy and make us something to eat."
Robbie laughed again, taking off his coat. He sighed, setting it over the back of a stool chair behind the breakfast counter in the nook. "Hmm... what do you want to eat?"
Robbie Young was a prestigous lawyer in a prestigous law firm. Lauren loved the way he seemed to be two different people, but still the same person. She gazed admiringly at him, knowing he was his sweet self at home and a direct, powerful person in the courtroom.
"How about chicken?"
Robbie opened the freezer, and Lauren stared at him from behind. Robbie was almost 6 foot, with a lean build and broad shoulders. He had reddish brown hair with which he wore longer than most men did in a punk-looking way. He had deep, chocolate brown eyes and smooth skin, and his ears were pierced, those of which he took out when he had to go into court. He was sexy, in every sense of the word... But, unfortunately...
"What kind?"
"Barbeque?"
Smiling, Robbie pulled some frozen chicken out of the freezer and placed it on the counter. He began to get our supplies for a fruit salad and butter for the bread. "Well, how was your day?"
"Um, it was nice, hun. Nothing new... went to work, slept, and oh... Meredith called. We had another 'blow out' when my mother decided to have one of her 'Meredith moments'."
"Uh-oh. What happened?" Robbie placed the chicken in hot water in the large stainless steel sink and wiped the silver fixtures down. He pulled a knife out of the draw and grabbed for the apples, and Lauren got up to help him.
She was quiet for a moment, and as she began to cut the cantalope, she said, "Well, she called and said she and Jake were getting a divorce, again... And that I had to do something about it because I was Miss Perfect like daddy always said I was."
When she didn't say anything, Robbie snorted. "What the hell do they put in the bourbon down in Louisiana?"
"I have no idea, but I'd sure like to know. Anyway, she wants me to go down to Louisiana and talk to my father, but honestly, after the past million times I've gone down to just about be their marriage counselor, all they do is argue and then kiss and make up. Come on, Robbie, we know that this happens about once a month."
Sighing, Robbie pushed the cubed apple slices into a blue glass bowl, and began to cut up strawberries. "You know what, you can't go down to Louisiana. I mean, you have a job, you have a life here, you have me to look after," With that, he looked over and smiled and winked at her, "and you have this date with me this Firday that you absolutely cannot miss, honey."
Lauren laughed, taking the bowl and adding the cantelope slices. "Really now, dahlin? We have ourselves a date?"
"That we do, with Aiden and Felice."
"Ah, and where are we going?"
"To a nightclub."
Lauren laughed and began to slice open an orange. "And you expect me to tell Meredith this?"
"That I do." Robbie continued to slice the strawberries as precisely as he was luring her into this trap.
"What's in it for me?"
At that, Robbie let out a loud laugh. "That satisfaction of getting to hang out with your bestest friends in the world, that's what."
"Ah, okay... I'll tell her I murdered somebody and that I can't make it. Somehow I'll fit that I'm going on a wild sexcapade in there, too. Keep her guessing."
Robbie laughed, "You do that..."
************************************************************************
