Sydney POV
I bring my car to a stop, and put it in park.
Beside me, Austin is opening his door and turning to the back to get Olivia.
By the time he's got her, Ellie and Mom are already walking to the door.
This should be a quick in and out thing.
Stupid phone.
When I catch up to mom, she's already explaining what's going on with my phone to a representative.
"Can I see your phone please ma'am?"
I hand over my phone, and the rep excused himself, and went to the back.
Instinctively, I scan the room to see how many eyes are on mom.
Not many.
That's an awesome thing about LA. People who actually live here aren't all that impressed by celebrities.
You get used to seeing them, as insane as it sounds.
Austin's been stopped more times in the last 3 weeks than I have. And he was gone for half that time to stupid Oregon.
He never did anything for our 6 month anniversary, and we haven't gone out since he got back.
I know he's got something up his sleeve though.
School starts in 5 days, so he's kind of out of time.
"Hey." Ellie said, causing me to jump and turn to her.
"Hi. How are you? You've been quiet recently." I say.
She's just been eating like…
"Eh. I need to talk to you about that." She said, as the rest of my thought bounced around my head.
Mad.
Boy trouble.
It's what she ALWAYS does.
"Is this about Aaron?" I ask.
She nervously gulped, then nodded.
"I knew he'd been too quiet." Austin said, causing both Ellie and I to jump.
"Baa!" Olivia called out to us, looking sad and wanting to grab us.
I take her and Olivia promptly grabbed Ellie's shirt and made a quiet and soft sound.
"Thanks. I'll take your advice." Ellie smiled, and then kissed her cheek.
"So what's the deal with him?" Austin asked, as Olivia climbed onto my shoulder.
"He's just gone quiet, and he's posted pictures of him with another girl on Splashface."
Suddenly, Olivia speaks for us all when her face goes from happy, to irresistibly sad, and hangs her head.
"I know right?" I say softly, causing Ellie to smile softly.
When I glance over at Austin, he's already on his phone.
"Whatcha looking up?"
"Our friend Mr. Bailey." Austin said darkly.
Sarcasm included clearly.
I glance back to see mom messing around on some device the size of a pearPhone.
"Is that her?" Austin asked, sounding sad.
Brunette.
Short hair, cut right at the ear.
You look like a pixie bitch.
"Yeah." Ellie said quietly.
"She looks older to me." Austin said.
"I don't know whether she is or not."
"Leave that to me…" Austin said.
"Sydney!" I hear Mom call me over.
I quickly turn and walk back to her and the representative.
"So, I looked into your issue, and it is a hardware issue with the actual phone. It will have to be sent back to our repair center, and it will be ready within a month."
I'm phoneless for a month?
"Ok, well we'll have to go ahead and buy a new phone then. She needs a phone for school and work." Mom jumped in.
Quickly, the rep sputtered "That won't be necessary ma'am; it will be fixed on schedule and in accordance to our repair guarant—"
"You're not listening to me." Mom said firmly, cutting him off. "We need a new phone. The 8i. Now please."
"Alright, what color?" He asked me.
"White please."
He nodded, and then scrambled away.
"Thanks mommy."
"No problem sweetie. You need a phone. Just don't tell your brother you're getting an upgrade too please." She smiled.
"I won't. But I wasn't expecting you to use force there." I admit.
She smiled slightly. "I usually don't, but it's in my arsenal. Good to see it's still effective."
"I can't be mean."
Suddenly mom snorted, and then buried her face in her hands.
"Then what do you call how you treated Austin the other day?" She asked me, as she dug out some tissues and wiped her nose.
"I…that was for a reason."
"Sweetie, you know I love you. But your father is right when he says you have my temper." She smiled at me.
"You say it like it's a bad thing." I say.
"No, its how I beat off that stupid Danielle chick."
"I thought you did that by subterfuge?"
"Yeah, but your father needed more convincing. So I bullied him into blocking her out. Until she came over. Then she jumped into her grave."
Ouch!
I try not to cringe.
Guess this is my first experience with "Cutthroat Mom", the one that has Jordan splattered on the walls, Danielle apparently in a grave, and CMZ as a non-entity.
And those are the ones I know about.
Austin remarked once he was sort of surprised how nice and sweet Mom was, because apparently she can get really nasty about several things.
TV Career, My actual Dad, and our family's privacy to name a few.
"Ok, here's your phone, just let me activate it…" The representative came back, and moving at 1000 MPH.
He quickly had my phone reloaded with all my apps, contacts and pictures.
Mom charged it to our standing account, and thanked him.
Then we walked back to Austin and Ellie.
"Ok. Let's go eat. What are you guys in the mood for?"
Austin and Ellie looked over, both looking serious.
"Italian? I don't know." Ellie said.
"Ok. Let's go." Mom said.
Olivia tugged on a loose hair as we go back to our car.
Austin cued up Olivia's movie again, for the drive over.
It wasn't long though. Within 20 minutes we were downtown, near the label and parking in the garage.
It's weird not parking in mom's spot.
It is her spot though.
I end up having to go up an extra level, and squeezing between a Escalade and a Hummer.
"Jeez guys, do you think you could come closer?" Austin grumbled, as he squeezed past the mirror of the Escalade.
"Nope."
"Haha. Sarcasm detected." He smiled.
Olivia giggled.
I smile and quickly grab Austin to steal a kiss.
Haven't kissed him all day.
"Thanks. I was trying to think of a way to sneak one in, but I hadn't thought of that." Austin said.
"Go me." I say happily, then spotting Mom and Ellie chatting near a pillar.
"You got the 8i?" Ellie said once I got close enough.
"Yep."
"What's it like?"
"Yeah Syd, between driving, walking and talking, what is your new phone like?" Austin monotoned.
Ellie scowled at him, then almost threw the baby bag at him.
I thought it was in their car.
"Thanks. I'm now Mr. Mom. How do I look?" Austin froze, looking like a model.
"The bag brings out your eyes sweetie." Mom smiled.
I laugh, and Ellie begrudgingly smiled.
Then Olivia thought it was a good idea to bang the side of Austin's head with her hand.
"Ow! Sweetie that hurt!" Austin jumped, turning to look at her.
"No. Don't do that." Mom said firmly to her.
But Olivia was looking at Austin, wide eyed.
"Please don't do that. That hurt me." Austin said, looking right at Olivia.
She slowly grabbed Austin's shirt, laid her head down onto his chest and made a sad noise.
I smile, and mom dug into the baby bag for Olivia's headphones.
She didn't react as she put them on her.
The walk from the building to our restaurant was silent, with the silence filled by the sounds of downtown.
"4 for Valentine?" Mom said to the host, who grabbed menus and led us to a booth next to a window.
"You guys are awfully quiet. Everything ok?" Mom asked, as everybody settled in.
"Yeah. We're fine." I say.
"Can you hand me the bag please honey?" Mom asked Austin, who immediately passed it over to Ellie, who gave it to mom.
"Thank you…now what about you Ellie? How are you?"
"I'm ok…thanks for asking." She smiled slightly.
She's not going to buy that.
"How's your friend? The guy you mentioned a few weeks back." She pressed the issue while simultaneously pulled out a bottle for Olivia.
"I…he's fine. Haven't talked to him in a couple of weeks, but I guess we're ok."
Mom glanced at her, then took Olivia from Austin and started feeding her.
"So everything isn't ok."
Ellie didn't respond at first, but then shook her head.
I give Austin a nervous glance, as Mom is clearly thinking up her next move.
To fill the void, our waitress came by and got drink orders, and Olivia got burped.
"Is there another girl you think? Do you have any reason to suspect him of something?" Mom finally spoke up.
Ellie just bit her lip.
"She actually has 4 reasons." Austin said simply.
My mom immediately looked startled.
"4?"
"Not including Ellie, that is."
"I'm lost." I say.
"Ok. In the last 2 months, Aaron has posted pictures with 5 girls. Ellie, and 4 other ones. Ellie is the oldest one out of those pics."
Mom frowned.
"Where did you find these pictures?"
"Splashface." Austin said simply.
I pull his phone out of his pocket, to find that Aaron's page is already up.
…
"They're all ugly." I say firmly, then smile at Ellie.
She makes a distracted waving motion, then sips her drink and looks at her phone at the same time.
Mom then snatched the phone from me, and was briefly quiet.
"I say you should text him and make him choose."
"Huh?" Ellie glanced over at her.
"Tell him, it's me, or these other 4. Choose."
"Are you crazy?" Ellie said, looking at my mom.
"According to CMZ yeah, but nobody cares what they think. Do it." Mom said simply.
A Ellie typed on her phone, our waitress dropped by again.
Mom got a salad.
Austin got a BLT.
I got a Panini.
Ellie got a tour of Italy.
Trying to eat her feelings.
…
"Has he replied back?" Mom asked.
Ellie quickly sipped her lemonade.
"He's ignoring her. He saw the message." Austin frowned.
"What do you mean?" I say.
"Everybody is always looking at their phones nowadays. He had to have seen the message." He clarified.
I glance back to mom, and she has a nasty frown on her face.
"I won't say anything to your mom and dad. But this boy is backing away, and you're too special to back away from. You understand me?"
Ellie smiled, and nodded.
"Great. Enough about that. How about school?"
Austin, Ellie and I all groan.
Mom just smiled and laughed in response.