"Well, this is surprising." Beck's mother, Priya Oliver, remarks when she answers the phone "I was beginning to think that you'd lost my number."

"Very funny..." Beck rolls his eyes, leaning against the window of his hotel room to look out at the city below

Not only can he see the better part of downtown Charleston, his room also has a fantastic view of the harbor...and the Atlantic Ocean just beyond it. The view often offers him momentary peace when he looks at it, which he has needed quite a bit of since he's arrived.

"Nothing funny about a boy who doesn't speak to his parents." Priya reminds him "And you usually only call when something is wrong. So get on with it."

"Ma..." Beck sighs

It's true that he rarely speaks to his parents these days, and it's even more rare that he sees them in person. That has been a consistent fact since he first started working in Hollywood as a teenager. Beck doesn't notice the lack in communication, but Priya and her husband, James, certainly do. To them it seems like Beck feels as if it's beneath him to have anything to do with them, that his career and his personal life are more important than they are. Like his mother said, he usually only contacts them when something is wrong.

"What's wrong, Beck?"

She doesn't have much patience for him anymore, which is heartbreaking. Ten years ago she would've given anything for a chance to talk to her baby boy for even five minutes, but now she dreads the bullshit that she knows he is about to spew. Who does he need to complain about now? What magazine has done him wrong by depicting him as anything other than a saint? It could mean absolutely anything.

"Ericka filed for divorce." He tells her "It should break in the press any day now. I wanted you to hear it from me and not read it in a headline somewhere."

"Well that's very considerate of you." Priya nods "Is there anything else?"

"Really? That's all you have to say?" Beck scoffs "I'm getting divorced for a second time, Ma. There's no way you don't have some kind comment to make."

"Oh, I have plenty of comments." Priya assures him "I'm just going to save them for somebody who actually cares to hear them."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means..." Priya hesitates, choosing her words carefully "It means that if I said what I was really thinking, all of my comments would be wasted on you. You don't always like to hear the truth, Beck."

"That's not true."

"Fine then." Priya sighs "I'm surprised Ericka didn't leave you sooner. You've behaved like an asshole for your entire marriage. Everything was always about you and I don't know how she stomached you for as long as she did."

"Wow..." Is all Beck can say "Tell me how you really feel."

"I just did."

"Alright, well...thank you for being honest, I suppose."

"You hear that a lot from people, don't you?" Priya asks him "Negative comments like that."

"I do." Beck affirms "It seems like the entire industry has had it out for me since the start."

"So let me ask you a question, Beck..." She sighs "How many people to you need to hear say things like that before you're able to look in the mirror and admit that it might be true?"

"Alright, that's enough." Beck insists "Are you going to keep insulting me, or can I tell you the other thing that I'm calling about?"

"Don't tell me Ericka is pregnant..."

"No, she's not..."

"Who is then?"

"No one." Beck assures her "I just...okay. I've been filming on location in Charleston for about a month now, and I ran into Jade West. Do you remember her?"

"How could I forget her?" Priya can't help but laugh

When Beck and Jade had dated back in high school, Priya would have been the first to admit that she was never Jade's biggest fan. However, when Beck moved to New York and started working, she started to feel a bit sorry for the young girl. It couldn't have been easy to navigate a long-distance relationship like that, and her son certainly wasn't making it easy on her, but Jade stood by him regardless. When she learned that they had broken up after their high school graduation, at Jade's request, Priya almost felt as if she respected the girl. Beck hadn't been a good boyfriend to her in months, and he deserved to lose her.

"Well, it turns out..." Beck hesitates "Look, Ma...there's no gentle way to say this so I'm just going to come right out with it, alright? Jade and I have a child together. A daughter, Avery. She's fifteen, and she's been living out here with Jade."

"I know." Priya tells him

"You know?" Beck is shocked "And you didn't think to say anything to me about it?"

"Well, I didn't know for sure until just now when you confirmed it." Priya admits "But I've always had my suspicions."

"Care to elaborate?"

Beck feels himself growing annoyed. Not only has his mother joined the ranks of antagonists pitted against him it seems, she'd aided in hiding his daughter from him for close to fifteen years. He's in the position now to consider what he would do if the roles were reversed, and if Avery were in his position...well, he certainly would be acting kinder towards her than his mother is to him right now.

"Jade is one hell of a writer, Beck." Priya says "I've read all of her books."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"She dedicated one of her books to her daughter, and mentions her in the bio in the back of the other two." Priya explains "She's made her away around the morning talk shows over the years promoting them too. One day a few years back I remember seeing that she would be on and sat down to watch just out of curiosity. They asked her about her daughter, she gushed about her, mentioning that she was about to start middle school. I did the math, your father and I found Jade's instagram and noticed that her little girl was almost a tiny version of her...with the exception of her big brown eyes. It wasn't hard to put it all together."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I wouldn't have dared." Priya shakes her head "For one thing, we didn't know for sure, and the last thing we needed was for you to go making a stink about it in the media and making yourself look worse than you already had. For another, I think Jade did the right thing keeping that child away from you. You weren't ready to be a father, and who knows what damage you might've done."

"You didn't care about potentially having a relationship with your only grandchild?" Beck shifts his phone from one ear to another "If it were me, I would've-"

"You would've acted irrationally, just as you've been doing for the past sixteen years since you got your first taste of fame and completely lost your mind." Priya cuts him off "Beckett James, I need you to understand that I don't enjoy speaking to you like this. I hate saying these things to you, but you need to hear them. For the record, I still don't think you're ready to be a father, but it's inevitable now. Hopefully the experience humbles you a bit, and you're able to turn your life around. I'm afraid that if you don't, you're going to end up very lonely. No one likes a narcissist."

Beck has heard these words before. He's read them online and in gossip magazines. He's rolled his eyes as publicists, managers, and even ex-girlfriends tried to convince him to look at how he was acting. Up until now though, he'd been able to brush them off. Hearing them from his mother, hearing her attack his character and tell him it's a good thing he missed so much of his daughter's life...these words hurt him more and cut deeper than they ever have before.

"Ma..."

"I'm begging you to look in the mirror." Priya says gently "Ask yourself if the person you see is someone your daughter would be proud of. Not because he's 'hot' or because he's won a lot of awards, but because he's a good person who would still be a good person without all of the glitter and gold. I know he's in there. He's been hiding for a very long time, but he's in there..."

"I don't really know what you want me to say here..." Beck admits

"You don't need to say anything." Priya assures him "Just...think about it."

"Alright..."

"Alright."

"We'll talk soon." Beck promises her "I'll try to call more often, you have my word on that."

"We'd love to hear from you."

"You'll fill Dad in?"

"Of course I will."

"Alright, well..." Beck sighs "I'll talk to you later, I guess...I love you."

"I love you too, Beck." Priya tells him "Congratulations on becoming a parent. I think you'll soon come to find it's one of the best things you can be."

Beck ends the call and stares back out the window again, unsure of what to think.

Is he really that awful of a person?

Is he so awful that even his parents think his daughter was better off without him in her life?

Surely that can't be true.

He slides his phone into his pocket and slumps across the room, over to where his laptop is sitting on top of the desk. He types in his password and watches the screen light up, then navigates to the internet and launches a search engine.

Beck has looked himself up before, in fact he does it quite often. Usually it's to boost his ego, to read reviews of his movies that sing his praises or see the comments people are making about his new photos. This time, however, he doesn't go looking for anything specific...and he's disappointed by what he sees. Not much of it is positive. Twitter threads bashing his behavior, video complications of his 'biggest diva moments', even memes that poke fun at him for being conceited. It's not just one person either, or a small group of people, it seems to be a rather general consensus.

Exhaling, he leans back in his chair, a bit too stunned to think clearly. No wonder Avery had called him a narcassist the other day when they first spent time together. No wonder she had admitted she's afraid of him disappearing on her. After seeing what he just saw, hearing from his mother what he just had, he would probably have the same fear.

He has ease her fears.

He has to do better.

He has to be a good dad to Avery.