Hollywood's Princess [PUBLISHED]

Chapter Four: Affected

I forked some potato salad into my mouth as we all sat in eerie silence. My mom was seated on my right while Adam was on my left. My dad sat across of me with Kate by his side. Axel was next to Kate was oh-so-gracefully devouring the meal cooked by my mother. Taylor sat at the head, ignoring the awkward air in the room. At the other end of the table sat Marcus, Axel’s manager who was tapping on his phone, ignoring his surrounding, only taking a peek out of his phone to bite into his food.

I was surprised when Axel Brooks showed at my front door but it started to make sense when our two managers appeared behind him. They said they were here about some business but before any work, my mother insisted they eat dinner with us.

So here we are in this extremely compromising position.

“This roast beef is delicious, Aunt May,” Adam complimented to cut off the silence. My mother muttered a meek thank you as she kept on eating.

“I hope you still have room for desert,” my mother suddenly said, standing up and zooming to the kitchen. I leaned back on my chair and slowly settled my utensils on my empty plate.

Soon enough, my mother came in with her famous apple pie, something Adam quickly perked up to. The minute it was set on the table where it was already sliced into pieces, Adam jumped into the biggest slice and placed it on his plate.

Axel was never to back down on food so he took the second to the largest one and started digging in.

Boys.

Taking a piece for myself, I started to eat with small bites as I was quite losing my appetite. The silence was back once again, aside from the sounds of the clattering utensils on the ceramic plates.

After we were all stuffed with our bellies popping out. We started to clean up, I volunteered to clean up with my mom and Adam while the rest of the group lounged in the living room.

“Well, that was fun,” I stated sarcastically, dumping most of the dishes near the sink.

Even if I had a dishwasher, I opted to wash the dishes with my hands when I’m with my mom. Being with her made me feel the urge to become more domesticated.

“You mean awkward,” Adam coughed out, taking each plate and drenching them with water.

“That wasn’t one of the most pleasing meals,” my mother agreed, transferring the leftovers into tupperwares to place them in the fridge.

“Who are those people anyway?” he asked, scrubbing harshly on one of the stained plates.

“My manager, Taylor,” I sighed, “Along with Marcus, Axel’s manager.”

“I’ve heard of that guy before,” he acknowledged.

“You better have. He’s been a stiff competition for the longest time now.”

And this is the time when my mother popped into our conversation, “But I admit that I enjoy seeing you two together.”

My head snapped at her direction as I prevented myself from breaking into an outburst, “What?”

“I mean, if my observations are correct, he’s the only thing in this town that’s preventing you from breaking.”

“Mom!” I protested, “Can’t you see that he drives me insane?!”

Her eyes calmed down from the teasing glint it was showing and turned into one of motherly love, “I can see that you’re the real you when you’re with him.”

I paused for a moment to process her words. She smiled at me and patted my cheek lightly, “I’ve seen this town change you, Sophia. As your mother, I would love you no matter what but that boy surely is not that big of an enemy.”