"Pop
Life"
Chapter 85
"Adriana?"
I wake up with my mama standing over my bed.
"Hmmm?"
"Brad...you need to get going, your cab is here," mama says a little louder.
"Brad?" I ask and then I turn over and see Brad waking up next to me. "Oh God...we fell asleep talking." I sit up and rub my face. I'm afraid to look in mama's eyes. I know I'll see disappointment in them.
"The cab's downstairs?" he asks groggily.
"Yeah, hurry up," mama says.
He stands up and runs across the hall to the bathroom.
"Mama..." I start but she cuts me off.
"Later, Adriana," she says before she leaves my room.
I sit on the bed, waiting for Brad to come back in.
"I'm sorry I had to leave like this," he says hurrying to put a couple of things in his bag.
"Yeah, me too. I'll walk you down."
"Thanks."
Before we leave my room he gives me a quick kiss. "I had to do this here, I didn't think it would be appropriate to kiss you in front of your parents right now."
I give him a weak smile.
We walk downstairs. I don't see either of my parents.
"I would like to tell them goodbye," he says at the door.
"No, it's okay, I'll tell them you said goodbye."
"And thank them for their hospitality."
"Okay...I'll miss you."
"You too."
He leans down and gives me a quick kiss and heads out to the cab.
"Sorry," I hear him say to the driver before I shut the door.
I walk into the kitchen where my parents are waiting for me.
"Brad says bye and thanks for your hospitality."
Daddy looks up from the paper and mama's back is to me.
Neither say anything. I slowly sit down at the table, across from daddy. Cody comes running into the room.
"What's for breakfast?" he asks, going into the refrigerator and getting a gallon of juice out.
"Whatever you fix yourself," mama says.
"Oh. I guess it will be cereal then."
"Is your sister up?" mama asks, without turning around.
"Yeah, she's right there," he kids, pointing at me.
Daddy looks at Cody.
"Uh, I didn't hear her."
Cody looks at me and gives me a "what's going on look". I shrug.
"I don't think I got to tell you last night but your show was cool," Cody tells me.
"Aww, thanks. Did you notice some of the stuff we used that were your ideas?"
He smiles and nods. "Yeah. Now where's my royalties?" he asks, holding out his hands.
"Ha ha," I say.
"I'm starving." He stands up and gets a bowl out.
While he's trying to figure out which cereal he wants the phone rings. Mama walks over and answers it.
"Hello? Oh hey Jamie Lynn. Yes, of course the show was wonderful..." she leaves the room, which means she's going to talk about what she saw this morning.
"Daddy?"
"Hmm?"
"You guys flying home tomorrow?"
He puts the paper down as Cody sits down with his bowl of cereal.
"I'm staying but your mom, Cody and Ashleigh are flying back."
"Oh. Are you coming with me?"
"I'll be at the shows that are close by. Uncle JC and I are still going to be working on the Christmas album."
"Oh," I nod. "Like will you be at tomorrow's show?"
He nods. "Uh huh."
"Good." I study my hands that lay on top of the table. "I'm hungry too."
I stand up and get a bowl out.
"I just can't believe she'd do that, Jamie Lynn," Britney says as she sits on her bed with the phone to her ear.
"Brit, it's not that bad. You know they wouldn't do anything they weren't supposed to do. They were just missing each other and were talking and fell asleep."
"I know...it was still hard to see them in bed together. His arm was wrapped around her."
"Brit?"
"What?"
"How old were you when you first slept with Justin?"
"Jamie Lynn now isn't the time to talk about my sex life."
She laughs. "I don't mean sleep with him...I mean fell asleep next to him."
Britney started to bite her fingernail. "I was seventeen."
"See."
"Adriana's only sixteen."
"She'll be seventeen next month and she has an eighteen year old boyfriend. Frankly I think he's a saint for going out with someone who's younger than him at that age. I don't know how he can handle it. Especially with you and Justin as parents."
"Heyyy. He is a good boy and he's nineteen now. I really am not mad at her...right now I'm just kind of weirded out by it."
"I can see that. Go talk to her. She loves you so much."
"I know," Britney sighs. "You know I love her more than anything."
"So get off the phone with me. How is Justin taking it?"
"He's okay. We're both giving her the cold shoulder right now. I just think we want her to realize she can't let something like that happen again. What if Ashleigh had walked into room this morning?"
"She would have thought it was a slumber party," Jamie Lynn laughs.
Britney smiles at that statement. "You're probably right. Okay, I'm going to go talk to Adriana."
"Good. I'll talk to you later...love ya."
"Love ya too."
Mama comes back down to the kitchen.
"Adriana, can I talk to you please?"
I take a bite of cereal before I nod and get up from the table. I run up the stairs and find her in her bedroom.
"Close the door," she says standing by the window.
I shut the door and start walking towards her. "Mama I'm sor...."
"I know you're sorry," she says holding up her hands. "I know nothing happened."
"Okay..."
"I don't know what I'm feeling right now. It was just a little strange to see you in bed with your boyfriend."
"We were just talking and next thing I knew you were waking us up."
"I understand that. It happens."
"So you're not mad?" I ask sheepishly.
She shakes her head. "No, I wasn't mad. Like I said, it was just a shock. I know you'd never disrespect us."
I shake my head. "No, I wouldn't."
She walks over to me and touches my hair. "I love you."
"I love you too," I say as I hug her.
We pull apart. "And I do like Brad...a lot. Have you two talked about..." she pauses.
"What?" I ask, giving her a confused look.
"Well, you're awfully close and there's been a couple of times when you've been by yourself."
"You mean sex?"
Mama shuts her eyes for a second. "Yes."
"Well kind of. He understands that it's important to me to wait. I need to be in love mama. And a little older. I just remember all the things you told me. And you know what? I really didn't even need to tell him that...he just knew."
She smiles. "Good. That makes me like him even more."
We go back downstairs and I smile at daddy as I sit back down. He smiles back and looks up at mama. She gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze as she walks by.
"Whatcha readin?" I ask Tony as I walk into the dressing room in the venue in San Diego.
"Reviews from your LA show."
"Oh," I say as I sit down in the chair opposite from him. "Do I want to know?"
Tony's good to me because he usually weeds out the reviews for me. I don't mind reading reviews that say they didn't like the show but I want to know why other than the fact that they think I'm a teeny bopper act. I don't mind constructive criticism.
"It's good. They have some interesting points," he says.
"Oh...okay. I'll read it later. What's this?" I ask picking up a daisy with a note.
"Oh, a fan left it with security."
I open up the card and read.
Ana,
Really loved your show in LA.
I can't wait to see you tonight too.
You have something special on stage
when you perform. It's addicting to watch.
Sincerely,
M
"Sincerely M?"
"Huh?" Tony asks, looking up from the paper.
"This guy...I'm assuming it's a guy," I say flipping the card over, "signs this with the letter M."
Tony scrunches his eyebrow together. "Weird."
I nod.
"That was sweet though." I set the flower and card aside. "Okay, time to go learn," I say standing up when I see Jenine walk in the room.
"Daddy still isn't here?" I ask Tony right before I'm about to go on.
"He said he's almost here. When you look out in the VIP area he'll be there smiling at you."
"Okay."
And he was right, when I run out to the catwalk during the first song I see daddy sitting down in the VIP section. He winks and smiles at me.
When I get to my bus after the show, daddy's already waiting for me.
"Great show," he says, standing up and hugging me.
"Ewww, daddy I'm all sweaty."
He laughs. "That's okay. I see that you changed a couple of things."
"You could tell?" I ask dabbing my face with a towel.
"Well, I could tell. They were subtle but I liked the changes."
"Good. They were your suggestions, ya know."
"I know," he winks at me. "Go on, go take a shower."
I start to walk to the back of the bus. "I'm glad you made it tonight."
"Me too. I wouldn't miss one of your shows unless there was a good reason."
I nod and walk back into my bedroom.