"This whole trip has been a bust. Let's just go home to Utah," Cleo says walking into the lounge. Austin can't help himself when he smiles at her referring to Utah and their house as home. He always had a good feeling about moving them to Utah, he knew she would love it. "While I am sure you miss those lamas of yours, I think staying in LA for one more day may be a good idea," he says. She wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. She was always stubborn. "You want to drive around LA? How are we going to do that when someone shoves a camera in your face every five seconds? I saw what happened at the airport. That was fucking insane by the way...there was a girl who landed up crying because she could not deal with her emotions at having seen you. How big are you?" she asks.
"I do alright," he shrugs. He hates boasting about his accomplishments, it feels weird and slightly asshole-ish. He is big. Very big. He has been referred to as this generation megastar, his concerts are all sold out months prior, he walks red carpets, people have fan pages for him, and there is even a restaurant and theme park named after him with his face slathered everywhere. His music has raked in so much cash that he does not know what to do with all of it. He needs to live three times over to spend it all and he is not frugal. He likes splashing out, it's a horrendous habit. But, he works hard for their money and it's not like they can take it with them when they die - so spend it and have fun.
Late nights, early mornings, long days and nights, sleep deprivation, and burnout are all common occurrences in his life. He is not good at saying no, but that's where Cleo had been so important - she gave no fucks about saying no and was very protective of Austin's downtime back in the day, shamefully he hid behind her like a little bitch. She protected him. But, Dre had stepped in for Cleo while she slept. His management team and Dre had planned for the day and months to follow Cleo waking up, that is the only reason he has disposable time to focus on her right now. Dre and his team are in the middle of a shit storm and running stories in the media in an attempt at some damage control. Austin feels bad given how stressed Dre is when he phones. But, Dre has insisted he focus on Cleo and his career will be there when he gets back. Cleo has so much on her plate right now it has been easy to hide how big his career has gotten and selfishly he likes that he is just him to her.
"I think you are downplaying it. When we get back I want you to show me everything about your career. Right from the very beginning till now."
"OK, deal."
"OK...let's go home now."
"Tonight. I have a plan for the day first."
Cleo groans and flops down onto the couch, she does not look happy about staying. "Baby, Decon said we need to try different things-"
"Photos are not working. I stare at photos for hours and nothing rattles loose. And before you suggest meeting more people the answer is no. Daisy was a good start, but the two after that have left me kind of fucked up."
"Would it help if I told you those were the only two people that would offer bad experiences?"
She sits up and stares at him then sighs heavily. "Fine, I know better now not to trust you. What do you have planned?" she asks. Austin moves and sits next to her, she takes his hand in hers.
"Remember that apartment you and Shaz used to share?"
"Yeah, the little box. You moved in there with us right?"
"Yeah. Well, I arranged for us to visit it. It will be a little different because people are living in there but maybe just being there will unlock a memory or two."
"Can we go home after?"
"We will, but before we go to the apartment I thought we could spend the day doing things we always used to do."
