A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you enjoy!
The other girls arrived at the Lymans', and the sleepover took full swing. Josh and Brandon tried to stay downstairs, out of the way, but Maddy kept peeking looks, curious as to what they were up to. She was ten years old and looked up to her older sister. Without a mother, Carly was the maternal figure for the young girl, something Carly knew all too well. She knew she had to be a model for her younger sister, and it was sometimes exhausting. She sometimes didn't feel like she was able to be a regular teen. Carly had big shoes to fill.
"What do you think about this one?" Courtney asked her friends. She had brought over numerous tank tops and jeans to model to decide what to wear on her date tomorrow night. Luke Mardor had finally asked her out this week for Saturday night. It was the one thing she had to look forward to.
"I like the other one better." Megan said. The other one was more low-cut and showed a little bit of cleavage. Her father would never let her out of the house showing cleavage.
"My dad would kill me." Courtney admitted.
"So wear a shirt over it." Megan told her. Though Courtney didn't quite get along with her parents right now, she still didn't really enjoy trying to pull one over on them. But then again, she looked really hot in it.
"You think that would work?" She asked her friends. They all nodded, and she threw a modest Henley shirt over top of it. That would work.
"Alright, I'll go for it."
Josh knocked at the door over the loud chick music, and Carly turned it down for a moment.
"Come in!"
Josh opened the door and leaned in, but wasn't planning on staying.
"Will you turn it down a bit, sweetheart? We can't hear the movie."
"Oh, yeah." She said, glancing at the stereo. "Sorry, we'll keep it down."
"Courtney, can I talk to you too for a minute?" He asked her, motioning with his head. Courtney had almost forgotten Josh's promise earlier. He knew she was upset, and offered to talk about it when she came over. Courtney looked around at her friends for a moment. She couldn't tell whether they thought it was funny, sweet, or really dorky. Courtney decided she didn't care and got up to leave. She followed Josh downstairs into the dining room, away from the music, and away from Carly's brother and sister.
"You look like you're doing better now." Josh admitted as they sat at the table. Courtney was comfortable, and leaned back on the chair, propping her knees on the edge of the table.
"Yeah, I'm not at home, so things are good." She smirked a little bit. Josh knew their family was going through a rough time. Sam and Ainsley really missed their daughter, as well as Courtney, but in different ways. Their nest was slowly becoming empty, so they seemed to tighten their hold on their younger daughter, savoring the time they had left with her. Courtney missed having someone to share her parents' attention with. She loved her parents, but they were just too much. At least she had someone to rant too with her older sister here.
"How can I help?" He asked her bluntly. Josh was all about getting things done, moving ahead, and solving problems. Courtney raised her eyebrows, not quite knowing how to answer.
"Get them to stop?"
"Stop doing what?" Josh immediately answered. He didn't think Courtney quite knew exactly what was bothering her, so he was going to make her spell it out for both him and herself.
"Being…assholes."
"Courtney." He warned her. Josh had been friends with her parents forever.
"Sorry. They just won't leave me alone. They think I can't handle myself."
"Well, have you done anything to make them believe you couldn't?"
"I don't know."
Josh tilted his head to the side and studied her. She knew exactly what she did.
"Okay, okay. So I like to have a little fun, but who doesn't? And so what if I don't get straight A's all the time."
"You're perfectly capable of straight A's."
"B's are fine."
"But you're not average."
"A 'B' is above average." She argued.
"You are well above average, Courtney, and you know it. They want you to succeed and put forth effort."
"Well,
maybe I don't want to get into an Ivy League school." She pointed
out. "I'd be just fine going to a public university."
"That's
fine if you want to, but are you just saying that because they want
you to?"
Courtney thought for a moment. She wasn't quite sure.
"Think about that this weekend." Josh told her, slapping the table lightly. Courtney got up, and started to walk away. She guessed their talk kind of help, but then again, Josh was probably on her parents' side. But he had never steered her wrong. Courtney rejoined her friends upstairs.
CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI
The next day, the five teenage girls that were sleeping in Carly's room were still fast asleep after most likely a late night at 10 a.m. Josh was trying to get Madeline going by making her a good breakfast of pancakes and fruit in preparation for her gymnastics meet today. Surprisingly, Madeline hardly ever got nervous before a meet. She had a few butterflies in her stomach, but for the most part, she was always fine.
Josh was singing to himself as he scooped the pancakes out of the pan and dished them out onto Maddy's plate.
"Daddy, you're so weird." She told him as she poured on the syrup.
"Oh, she's my sweet little thing!" Josh sang, "She's my pride and joy!"
Maddy just shook her head, and Brandon tramped down the stairs, his hair all bed-heady in his pj's.
"You making some for me?" He asked his father, taking a seat at the
breakfast bar.
"I can." Josh said, and he went back to work, pouring the batter into the pan. Brandon glanced over at his sister. His dad only cooked breakfast when she had a big meet.
"You have a meet today?" He asked her. Maddy rolled her eyes unbelievably, and glanced down at her gymnastics uniform jumpsuit she was wearing.
"Duh!" She told him.
"Maddy, be nice." Josh told her, as the batter sizzled.
"You nervous?" He asked his little sister, as he stole a bit of banana from her plate.
"She's never nervous." Josh said for her.
"Not really, but there's supposed to be this really good girl there today. Ali Parsons?"
Josh thought about the name, thinking it sounded familiar. Donna had a daughter in gymnastics, she knew, but it mustn't be her, because she didn't have the same last name.
"Is she older or younger?"
"Eleven, I think."
"Don't worry. You'll kick her ass." Brandon told her, as Josh dished out his pancakes.
"Language, Brandon."
"I can't say 'ass'?"
"We don't kick people's asses in this house."
"It won't be in this house, it'll be at the gym." Brandon reasoned.
Maddy quickly finished her pancakes, because they were running late. She had her uniform on underneath her jumpsuit, and her hair was already clipped up in a high ponytail and doused generously with hair spray. She would need to stay away from all flames and fire.
"Gotta run." Josh told his son, and ruffled his hair as he scooted Maddy out the door. "Oh, and tell the girls they need to clean up before they leave."
"Yep." Brandon called over his shoulder. He was looking forward to seeing all the girls in their pj's.
But for now, Brandon had the entire living room and the big screen tv to himself, so he switched on ESPN. He had some peace and solace for now, until the girls woke up.
