Ever After

Chapter Forty-One

"For what?"

"Pretending to be his goody-two-shoes girlfriend for two months to help with his public image," I said, quietly.

My mother raised her eyebrow at me. "And what were you planning to do with two hundred thousand dollars?" She asked, a stern expression now plastered onto her face.

"I was planning to use it for University."

My mother stayed silent for a moment before heaving out a heavy sigh. "Anna Carson Lovette," she said, sternly. "How many times do I have to tell you that you don't need to worry about the University tuition fee?"

I stared at her. "Probably more than i can count."

"Exactly," my mother whispered. "You're making things so much harder then it is and now, look. You have a famous celebrity paying for your tuition fee when you probably don't even want to attend University."

My eyes shot up and I stared at my mom. "What makes you think I don't want to go to University?" I snapped.

"I know you better then you know yourself," my mother said, half-smiling at me. She  then shrugged. "You're not happy, you're only happy when you're in front of the piano or playing the guitar. And I know you would much rather be doing something greater with your life than sitting in one-hour lectures in University."

I just stared at my mom for only a mere second before averting my gaze away from her.

"Look, I don't tell you this enough but--" my mother pressed her warm hand against my cheek and forced me to look into her eyes. "-- as long as your happy with whatever you choose to do with your life, I don't care. I want you to be happy and I don't want you feeling as though you need to please your parents by doing whatever they want you to do. Do what you want because at the end of the day, it's your life-- not ours."

 My eyes dropped down onto my hands and whispered. "Why can't somebody just tell me what to do?"

My mom laughed as she kissed my forehead. "Only you can do that," she whispered back.

"Thanks," I said to my mom as she got up.

"For what?"

"For letting me know if I fuck up my life that you won't beat me with the wooden spoon."

My mother rolled her eyes. "Give the cheque back to Vincent." she said. "Because whether you want to want to go to University or not, I'll be the one paying-- not you nor Vincent. Now get up. Your second-last reherasal for the Cotillion waltz is in thirty minutes."

~~~~~

Since Vincent wasn't able to make it for the last few rehearsals, Simon stepped in to be my partner. It wasn't that big of a deal to him and Gracie considering the fact that they were one of the few couples who actually got the choreography down right. After the rehearsal, I made my way out the church to catch the next bus that would lead me to Vincent's old house.

I could have sent it back to him but I figured the risk of the cheque being lost was too great of a risk to take. I also didn't want to stop by his condo since I wasn't ready to see him again and because there was a great chance that Vincent was back in Los Angeles or God knows where now. So the only option I had left was to give it to his parents.

Once i got to the Gray's house, like always, Jennifer and Michael welcomed me with opened arms. They then lead me to the living room where they offered me milk and cookies. This almost made me laugh because they did the exact same thing when I was I kid and I dropped by whenever Vincent was late coming home.