come back, be here, EDDIE ROUNDTREE.

TRACK 10 / CLOSURE.

But that wasn't it.

It hit her when she had finished the fine details of one of her latest paintings, the one that she had every intention of presenting to Emily in the hopes that she'd buy it─ although Emily had been itching to get her hands on an Odette Miller original that Odette could present her with anything she had painted since she had been back in LA and Emily would be satisfied. Except Odette was a perfectionist and would only be able to hand off the best she could do. She felt this overwhelming pressure now that someone was wanting her art as opposed to Odette herself reaching out to art galleries with anything she thought they'd want and never what she loved, and it was nothing like painting what people were paying her do to. It needed to be fucking perfect and Odette had lost track of how many paintings she had started and given up on because there was something about them that was wrong.

Now she found herself standing in front of her easel, brown eyes staring at the painting in front of her as she looked for any imperfections. And if Odette was being honest, she couldn't find any. Even when she had left to have a shower and get dressed to take the finished painting to Emily, there was nothing.

But when she caught sight of her signature in the bottom corner, she saw it. There was nothing wrong with it, Odette had signed her name time and time again that she could do it with her eyes closed─ and she could, her and Romeo had done so on one of their traditional drinking nights and it was no different from when Odette could do it sober and eyes wide open. It didn't take her long to figure out what was wrong with it.

It was enough to get her on the phone with Romeo.

"I think I want to change my last name," she blurted out the second he started talking, cutting him off.

"Oh wow, I'm going to have to sit down for this," he replied and there was a moment of silence before he continued. "What brought a name change about?"

Odette shrugged despite him not being able to see it. "I just. . . Being Odette Miller is something I don't want to be anymore, makes me feel tied to her and the more I think about it, the more I wonder if that's why I'm still unable to get her out of my head."

Romeo hummed. "It would also be the biggest fuck you to her."

She laughed. "Is that you saying go for it?"

"What are you even considering? Summers is the obvious choice and Lucy would be crying to know you took her name."

"Honestly, I didn't get that far, but Odette Summers does have a nice ring to it," she replied, a smile on her face as she repeated the name in her head on repeat.

"You know, I'm a bit annoyed I didn't think of this years ago, do you know how annoying it is feeling the same way you do and not being able to do anything since I've already made it?" He complained.

"Just marry Ivy as your beard and take her last name."

"Hey, speaking of, Roundtree would also be a good option─"

"I'm going to cut your hair off, Romeo."

"Oh, come on, I couldn't pass up the opportunity!"

"Ro, I can't. . . I think you're. . . Hanging up. . ." She said, trying her best to act as if there was an issue with the call, all before slamming down the phone on the receiver.

Shaking her head at her brother's antics, she allowed herself to have a moment, still standing in front of the phone in which she asked herself if she wanted this. But there really was no question about it.

When she had moved into Lucy's when she was freshly eighteen, there had been jokes thrown around that she was Lucy's daughter, especially to the point in which the two of them stopped correcting everyone. While Lucy wasn't her biological mother, she was more of a surrogate mother that Odette clung onto throughout her life; she had always been the person who ensure that Odette was eating on set and taking plenty of breaks, a complete contrast from Katrina Miller's approach. Katrina had taught Odette all the things a mother shouldn't, whereas Lucy had shown her how one was meant to be. The words had never been spoken out loud, but if someone were to ask Odette about her mother, she would've told them about Lucy.