come back, be here, EDDIE ROUNDTREE.

TRACK 05 / THE NAME OF THE GAME.

I just wished that I realized there was more going on than what I was aware of. I was used to talking to them while they were off wherever. If it wasn't Karen, then it was Eddie, sometimes it was all three of the boys on the phone together. But it was never Billy, I never asked about him because honestly, I didn't fucking care. If we talked about the tour, it was always how the shows went or them talking about the sights, a lot of "oh, you would've loved it". I was so wrapped up in my own bullshit to fucking notice the signs. )

Odette had grown used to entering the living room and seeing Camila sitting there talking to Lucy. Throughout her pregnancy, Camila had leaned on the two of them, Lucy was there to hold her hand through it all, something that Odette was barely any help with because she hadn't had any children at that point in her life, and while Lucy never had any kids of her own, being there when Katrina was pregnant with both Odette and Romeo, she was more helpful than Odette could ever be. Where Odette was helpful, was more keeping Camila company with all their friends, plus Billy, being off on tour, as well as buying Camila everything she needed for when her daughter would finally be born. And of course, Camila had protested her doing so, but it didn't last long when they got around to going shopping. But on days when Odette was locked in her studio, it was just Camila and Lucy.

So it didn't come to a surprise to see both of them when she went into the kitchen to grab something to eat, only taking a break because she could hear Eddie's voice in the back of her head when she saw exactly how much time had passed. Camila sitting at the dining room table with a cup of tea in her hands while Lucy moved around the kitchen as she baked.

"And she finally emerges from her tower," Lucy commented, much to Odette's annoyance.

She rolled her eyes as she grabbed a handful of chocolate chips. "You sound like Eddie."

"How is he?" Camila asked, a knowing grin on her face that left Odette wondering what exactly she did know.

"Fine. . ." She replied, staring at Camila through narrowed eyes. "It's been a few days since we last talked though."

That seemed to have changed the mood instantly, Camila frowning but covering it up with taking a sip of tea. It was something that Odette wanted to comment on but before she could, making sure that her mouth wasn't full of chocolate chips as she spoke, Lucy changed the subject completely. It was subtle, but it left Odette still surrounded in questions.

"Your brother called," she commented.

Odette scrunched up her nose in disgust. "What'd that asshole want?"

Lucy swatted her with a tea towel, hitting Odette in the leg and causing her to move into the dining room where it was safe.

"He's finished filming and he'll be over today."

She nodded. "And will he be with company or─"

"Just Ivy."

The James stayed in New York went unsaid and so once more, Odette nodded, preparing herself to witness her brother moping in his LA apartment while his best friend and the person he'd been in love with since he was eighteen but far too scared to make a move had stayed behind. It had been an art she had perfected, stoking up on ice-cream, wine and dusting off her brother's records that only consisted of classical music to play in the background as he wallowed in his silence. And while normally she'd grab him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him down so they could be eye level which would allow herself to drill into his head that he was being stupid and if he'd just say something, then he'd realise that he was being stupid.

Although now, there would be an underlying hypocrisy underneath all that advice if she were to say anything to him this time around, anything she would say to him would be the very words that he'd say to her if he knew about Eddie─ which if Odette was being honest, she wouldn't be surprised if he did in fact know considering Romeo and Karen talked almost as much as she did with him, it meant that she would have to work harder to keep Eddie from ever meeting her younger brother. She knew what Romeo would say to her, he'd tell her that she was being stupid (very much her words) and would remind her that she had less to lose than he would if she made a move (his words), and at least she knew there was something there. Which, admittedly was true, she couldn't forget the look on Eddie's face when she had kissed his cheek when she last saw him, how it was as if all she had felt had been left behind with the lip stick stain that painted his cheek, nor could she get over the fact that whenever Warren would pass Eddie the phone, he always said "go talk to your fucking girl, Eds" and it left her blushing like a teenager.