•Behind the Scenes• Walker Scobell x OC

•Chili•

"WE'RE LEAVING!"

The thing is, a normal teenage girl should be confused when her parents tell her that they are leaving for 3 months. Piper wasn't confused, she was frustrated.

She hadn't even reached the door to her house on the way home from school when her parents cornered her on the porch steps.

"When?" Piper said in a bored voice. She was used to these words.

The summer air tickled her neck, blew her curls, and sent tendrils of dust and dirt rising up from their front yard. The DIY wind chime Piper made when she was in second grade hung from the awning, clanging loudly. She winced at the terrible noise, wanting to rip it off of their house.

"Monday, so start packing. You will be living with your Uncle Rick this time." Her mother stated, drawing Piper's attention back to her.

Piper's head snapped up. This was new. She only met Uncle Rick when she was young, but she still remembered the stories he would make up every night for her. He was a sweet man, with compassion that Piper admired.

"They will be filming, so don't bother them." Her mother said.

Her mother had sharp features, with tight, pulled skin due to the harsh bun she always seemed to wear. Her nose was pointed, and her lips were always puckered in a natural frown. She only wore suits, and even when Piper was a child, she only saw the usual business attire everyday. Her eyes were sharp, and if you dared talk back to her, she would glare at you with her dark irises.

Her father was nearly the opposite of her mother, with a round face and round cheekbones. When Piper was younger, she thought her father was Santa, considering he was plump and had flushed skin. He always stood to the side when her mother lectured her, not joining his wife but not preventing the harsh words that left her mouth.

They were a duo in filming, a package deal almost, so when they had to leave to film, they went together, leaving Piper with her Aunt Carol. They would leave for three months, texting her once a week to see if she was still alive before going back to ignoring her. Once they got back, Piper would meet them at the airport, although there were no dramatic hugs or tears shed, just a simple "nice to see you, the car is waiting outside,".

Piper had grown accustomed to this life, the missing permission slip signatures and the non-existent family dinners. She was an only child, with no siblings to talk or bond with. She would spend her days at her friend's house instead, where their parents would treat her like their own.

She tightened the grip on her backpack strap hanging off of one shoulder and pushed past her parents, entering her home. Piper made sure to huff extra loudly and stomp her way up the staircase, even though she knew her parents wouldn't care.

There was no "How was the last day of school?" or any "What did you do today?"s because they simply weren't concerned or cared about her.

She knew that she shouldn't be this affected but it was getting to the point that she'd accept anything, even a tiny smile when she walked through the door everyday.

She opened the door to her room and threw her bag on the ground next to her desk. Piper loved her room, and she made sure to decorate it to her taste. Photos of her friends hung on the wall above her wooden desk, and across from the desk was her bed, with little roses on the comforter. The wall next to her bed had films that she enjoyed hanging up, and a big bookshelf that stood on the other side of her bed, filled with as many books as possible. Her mother hated her room, and called it "messy" and "unorganized" but Piper didn't care.

Piper walked over to her closet, sighing, bringing out a suitcase from the corner where she always kept it. Opening it on her floor, she laid out clothes that she could bring. She was starting to get more excited about visiting her uncle rather than her aunt who enjoyed staying in the entire day with her cats. As much as Piper wanted to deny sharing anything in common with her parents, she couldn't deny her love for filming. The fact that she would get to be on set somewhere was exciting, considering she was rarely allowed on set with her parents.

She hummed a tune to herself as she packed, folding her wardrobe into the suitcase, carefully putting things into neat piles. It was Friday, and they were leaving Monday, so she still had a few days to pack, but she wanted to get it done while she was still energized.

In the end, she had two suitcases and a carry-on packed full, I mean, she was gonna be with her uncle for three months. Just as she finished zipping up the last of her things, she heard her mom's voice call out sharp and clear, "Dinner!"

She slowly plodded her way down the stairs, exhausted from the long day. When she reached the dining room table, she saw a steaming bowl of chili. Why chili when summer is starting? Piper had no idea but she wasn't going to make a comment on it.

She helped herself to some cheese and avocado and sat down in her designated seat that she had picked when she was three. Her mother sat at the head of the table, carefully spooning the hot liquid into her puckered lips. Her father sat across from her, taking large gulps of the chili, yelping that it was hot, and then gulping down another large spoonful.

The three of them ate their chili silently, and the only thing Piper could hear was the clanging of the metal spoons hitting the bowl and her father slurping from his spoon. After a few minutes of this, Piper stood up to get a second helping, but not before her mother reached out her hand, stopping her from walking further.

"Do you need a second helping?" Her mother questioned.

Piper looked down at her bowl. She really hadn't had that much, just one bowl's worth of chili, but her mother gave her a look and raised an eyebrow that suggested otherwise.

"What do you mean?" Piper muttered, staring at the last drops of chili that were left in her dish.

"Nothing, just that you don't want to be eating all of Uncle Rick's and Aunt Becky's food while you're there." Her mother replied, returning to eating her own food.

Even though her mother hadn't said not to get a second helping, Piper felt obligated not to. She sat back down in her chair silently and listened to her father guzzle the rest of his soup for the rest of dinner, and not until after she cleared their dishes and wiped the pan holding the chili did she go up into her room and cry.