"Charlie, stop molesting my baby!" Momma calls from the dining room.
Yeah, that's right. She's all the way in the freakin' dining room. The twins got her attention by screaming bloody murder at each other; so she left me here with a Charlie on top of me. You'd think she would've helped me first. You'd think.
"She's not a baby!" Charlie yells back before putting both hands on my chest. "She's got boobies!"
My eyes go wide. Charlie just grabbed my ta-tas! Oh my God, she just grabbed my ta-tas! As if I wasn't already having a hard enough time keeping my thing down! Now she wants to go grabbing on my lady bits?!
Beets, beets, beets… I continue to chant to myself. My voice is so loud in my head I'm afraid I'm gonna start talking about the nasty things out loud.
I swipe at Charlie's hands, and they move…they just move downward. She's taken to tickling me again.
I hold my breath, squirm and concentrate on beets, but I can feel it coming. The stretching. Beets aren't strong enough for this! How can they not be strong enough? I don't think there's anything in the world I hate more than that stuff.
My thing's peaking. Not enough for Charlie to feel, but it's enough to make me panic. I try to think of beets in a more tangible way, like the smell, the taste, everything. But it's still not working. I have to find something I hate more than beets.
Think Vega think. What do I hate more than beets? There's got to be something!
Then it comes to me. When I was eleven, my mothers split up. They were on their way to a divorce. I lived with Mom, and I only got to see my Momma every other weekend. I hated that. I hated that more than anything I've ever hated before in my life.
My thing goes down as I start to relive the fear that had been the possibility of my family being destroyed forever.
That's when Momma rescues me, right when I don't need her anymore.
Go figure.
"Charlie, get off." She yells as wraps her arm around Charlie's middle and pulls. "Vega's Mom wants to talk to her."
"Ok." I get up and practically run to my momma's laptop without giving Charlie so much as a backwards glance. I know Momma's got the video chat set up. That's how I always talk to Mom when she's on tour.
"No more molesting my baby, got it?" I hear Momma tell Charlie before I'm out of earshot.
I can feel the tips of my ears burning. I really wish she would stop saying that!
When I get to the den, I roll my eyes a bit. Ayla and Aiden are already here and I know the conversation between them and Mom is nothing short of boring and one-sided. I mean, they're three.
Aiden doesn't say much. He'd rather play with his toys than to talk to his mom through the "TV" as they calls it. And Ayla keeps telling mom to come out of the TV so she can give her a big hug.
"Alright you two, my turn." I say, my way of sending them away.
Aiden doesn't have to be told twice. He runs away as fast as his little legs can carry him.
Ayla, on the other hand, has to be told a million times by both me and Mom before she stops with the stubborn pouting and gives Mom a kiss by slobbering all over the screen.
Gross.
"Go play with Charlie." I tell her as I help her out of the chair. My sister grins and runs away to find Charlie immediately. She seems to really like her, which is understandable. I feel the same way.
"Hey mom," I say as casually as I can once it's just me and her. Though I do know there's absolutely no way Momma didn't tell her about my "problem" already.
"So," she smiles at me, waiting for me to pick up where she left off.
As if!
"Yeah?" I ask. I feign a bit of cluelessness, hoping she'll get the hint and not pursue the matter.
No such luck.
"How's your sleepover going?" she asks with a grin so wide she looks like one of those sock puppets the twins watch in the morning.
"Good." I shrug.
"Just good?" she inquires disbelievingly.
If she thinks I'm going to willingly spill the beans, I'm going to seriously question whether or not this woman loves me. She can't not know me and still claim to love me, right?
"Yep." I answer, sitting back and crossing my arms over my chest.
"So what's your friend like?"
"Nice."
Kind of.
"Is she enjoying herself?"
Yes."
I think.
"Are you enjoying yourself?"
"A little."
Too much.
"I'm not gonna get anything out of you am I?" She sighs.
I narrow my eyes. The way she emphasized the "you." Not good.
"What are you talking about?" I ask suspiciously.
"Tell her to come here." She answers.
My eyes widen. Hell no!
"Just real quick, please." She pouts when she sees the look on my face.
"No."
"Come on Vega, I wanna meet her." My mom presses even more.
"No way." I shake my head back and forth.
"But Jade got to meet her."
"Mom." I roll my eyes. What is she, like five?
"I know," Mom sighs. "You like Jade more than me. You always have." She adds that part on quietly, with the smallest promise of tears to come.
Guilt trip. Ugh, I hate those things!
"Fine." I relent. "Charlie!"
"Yeah!" She yells back.
"Come here. My mom wants to meet you!" I scowl at Mom as I say this. She's got the cheesiest grin on her face. How can she live with herself, knowing she manipulated her baby like that?
"Hello?"
I turn around and see Charlie. She's got her phone to her ear, and she's walking toward me slowly. I don't know why, but I keep expecting her to make a big deal out of things. I mean, I'm about to introduce her to TORI. I expected her to come running so fast that she literally has to skid to a stop in front of me.
But she doesn't.
When she reaches me, she puts a finger to her lips, the universal sign to shut the heck up. "No, she's in the bathroom." She says into her phone.
I frown. Who is she talking to? "Who's in the bath-
Her eyes go wide and she covers my mouth with her hand.
Oops.
"No, that was the TV." She pauses and rolls her eyes. "I don't know. I gotta go. I'll call you back!"
She sends me a quick glare before plopping down in the seat next to me and giving the laptop her attention.
"Hello, you must be Charlie," Mom smiles.
"Hey momz, nice to meet you." Charlie says politely before shooting another glare my way.
Okay, that's enough. "What?" I hiss back at her.
"Nothing." She snaps.
"It's not nothing." I scowl.
She turns her body towards me, giving me her full attention. "The next time I'm on the phone with my brother, try not to say anything. I can't convince him you're not around if you're talking."
"How was I supposed to know who you were talking to?" I snap back.
"You didn't have to. I told you to be quiet."
"I don't have to listen to you!"
My mom starts laughing, completely interrupting us and stopping our fight. I was supposed to be letting Mom meet Charlie and catching up with my mom, but instead, I completely forgot she was even present!
That's so rude. It's not like I get to see her in person for a few more weeks. The least I can do is give her my undivided attention when she actually does have the time to spare for me.
Charlie's phone rings and she looks down at the screen briefly before jumping up and saying, "Crap, crap, crap. It's him again."
Then she glares at me, again, before excusing herself and running away
"She's a cutie." my mom says as soon as Charlie's gone.
My eyes widen. "Mom!"
"I can see why you like her," She continues. "Are you still having problems with your "little Vega"?"
"Mom!" I snap, my whole face turning red. This is so embarrassing.
She could care less if I'm embarrassed though. She's waiting for an answer.
"No," I whisper. "It's fine now. I got it under control."
"That's good." She smiles. "Now, gimme a kiss. I gotta go."
I frown at her. I will do no such thing. I mean, normally I'm not above kissing the screen on my momma's laptop; but Ayla just slobbered all over it.
I shake my head. "Ayla slobbered on the screen. I'll kiss you when you come home. A real kiss." I negotiate.
"What if I don't come home?"
"Huh?"
"What if I get in a car accident, or a plane crash? Think of how troubled you'd be knowing you didn't kiss your mom goodbye, Vega."
Guilt trip.
That's okay, I got something for that.
"Mooommyyyy," I cry, putting an emphasis on the name I haven't called her since I was the twins' age. "I love you so much; and if you died before I got to see you again I'd never be right in the head again, but please, please, don't make me kiss Ayla's spit," I beg, interlacing my fingers together in a prayer-like fashion.
She's buying it. I can tell. Her eyes start to water and she puts a hand to her chest. Hm, I wonder if calling her Mommy instead of Mom can get me out of trouble sometimes.
"I love you too, baby." She whispers.
Damn. Guilt trip again.
This time it's my own fault. I tried to manipulate my mother, and now I feel like maybe playing with her emotions is a bit evil. She really is a good person.
She leans forward a little and I know she's about to exit out, but I can't let her go yet. "Mom, wait!"
She blinks, confused and a bit startled by my sudden outburst. But she's not gone. She pulls back, waiting for me even though she's super busy.
Because I'm important to her.
"Can…can I have a kiss before you go?"
The smile she gives me is blinding and I can't help but to smile back before pressing my lips to the screen just as she does the same on her end.
Yeah, I just kissed Ayla's spit. But my mom…I wanted to show her that she's important to me too.
I do, however, wipe my mouth vigorously once she's gone.
I head out, searching for Charlie. I feel bad. She's my guest and it seems as though we've spent more time apart than together.
She's in the living room, crawling around with Ayla and Aiden. I have no idea what the heck they're playing. Charlie probably doesn't know either as she's still on the phone with her brother. "She's not here, she's on tour. You know that." She says with a roll of her eyes.
Must be talking about my mom.
"She's still in the bathroom." She says next.
I roll my eyes. Her brother is gonna think I'm taking a massive dump.
Charlie looks up and sees me. "Bye Ross." She says, ending her conversation with her brother; whose name is apparently Ross. Ross Lynch if he and Charlie share the same last name. Not all siblings do….wait, Ross Lynch?
"Your brother's Ross Lynch." I blurt out.
"Huh?" Charlie gives me the cutest confused expression on the planet, but I'm not to be deterred by her cuteness.
"Ross Lynch, from Austin and Ally? I press.
"Oh, yeah." She shrugs, like it's no big deal.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You never asked."
She's right, I never asked.
"Don't tell me you like him." She rolls her eyes. "If you two started dating"-
"Nah, I'm gay." I cut in.
My eyes go wide. Why did I say that?! I did not mean to say that! I just…I didn't want her to think I'd suddenly want to hang out with her just to get to meet him…
Sort of like the way I keep expecting her to find my parents more fascinating than me.
Charlie doesn't so much as frown at me when she hears the g-word come out of my mouth. She just shakes her head and says, "Even if I tell him that, he wouldn't care. He still likes your moms."
What? That's it? She's not gonna start feeling weird around me, questioning every look I've ever given her? Regret any time she's tried to hug me, or even the fact that she just grabbed my ta-tas not even a full hour ago?
"Vega, Charlie, come help clean up!" Momma yells from the kitchen.
Charlie sighs deeply before stomping toward the kitchen with me right behind her. She looks Momma right in the eyes and places her hands on her hips.
Oh no. She's so feisty. My thing really likes that.
Now to concentrate on things I hate. Like Squirrels, I hate those things. The way they scamper about; and they're so noisy when they do it.
"Have you ever had a guest before?" Charlie demands.
"Charlie…" Momma growls out a warning. And I know Charlie isn't gonna take a hint.
Okay time to amp it up to wide ruled paper. I hate it. There's just so much freakin' space.
"I'm just saying, you're supposed to wait until I've been here a bunch of times to make me start cleaning up," she says; and the only thing saving her from Momma's wrath is the fact that we are cleaning up despite the fact that Charlie's arguing about it.
"Well, I figure you just made yourself so darn comfortable I might as well treat you like family." Momma says in the sweet voice that's really not so sweet.
Charlie opens her mouth to rebuttal and I switch to the stupid roses. Black ones, blue ones, green ones, purple ones…they all make me sick. Why color a flower? It's a flower!
"Vega, you okay?" I blink as I feel a warm hand on my forehead, Charlie's warm hand.
Peak.
Crap! Time to pull out the big guns. Beets, beets, beets, beets…
There. That did it. All's tucked down and under.
"Vega?" Charlie frowns.
I shake my head a little, clearing my thoughts and focusing on the girl in front of me. "What?" I answer her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I was just thinking." I'm careful to be as casual sounding as possible because I know Momma's watching me.
"Thinking about what?"
"What we're gonna wear for picture day tomorrow." I make up on the spot.
Damn I'm good.
"Oh, did you come up with anything?"
"Uh…No." Okay, so I'm maybe not that good.
"I got stuff in my bag; we can go figure something out." Charlie shrugs. "But that's only if Mommie Dearest will excuse us."
Momma's eyes widen.
"Run!" I scream.
Now there's no escaping Momma if she wants to get you, but lucky for us, Aiden fell down and needs her sweet talking. But we still run. Fast. All the way to my room and shut the door. I end up tripping over Charlie's bag, the one I was too lazy to put all the way in my room.
Charlie laughs and helps me up.
I laugh too. I mean, it was my own fault. I shouldn't have left her bag in the way like that.
I help her put the bag on my bed and she opens it up and starts pulling out all kinds of stuff. Make up, hair stuff, clothes…
No wonder that sucker was so heavy!
Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, she takes off her shirt and puts another on.
"What do you think of this top?" she asks.
What do I think? I think I just saw Charlie with her shirt off.
"No?" she asks, taking whatever expression on my face as a sign that I don't like what I'm seeing. And because I seem to not like what I'm seeing, she takes her shirt off, again, and tries another.
My jaw hits the ground and I start to have an excruciatingly hard time swallowing. I realize I've seen girls with their shirts off before. I have to change in front of a bunch them in the girls' locker room after gym; but they're just girls. This is Charlie. Charlie! And she's modeling for me. Beets can't save me from this! Not even my parents' almost divorce can.
"How about this shirt with this skirt," she asks as she casually shimmies out of her jeans so she can try on said skirt.
I run to the bathroom. My safe haven.
"Momz!" I hear Charlie yell from outside the door
"Stop screaming at me!"
"Vega's in the bathroom again!"
Tattle teller.