I wake up the next day and am surprised to see that my father is talking to my uncle in the kitchen. I know this because my father is yelling and I hear my so called uncle calming him down. I don’t want to show myself so I hide in the corner of the wall and over hear their conversation. “Why would you treat my daughter like that? You were like a brother to me with or without my ex-wife. You were my friend even before her. How could you betray me like this?” My father yells at him.
“What are you talking about?” My uncle says. “Betray? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. All those times I left Brittany with you, you treat like she’s nothing. Your daughters were supposed to be her friends, not the evil step-sisters.” My father says angrily.
“Is that what she told you? I’m sorry Joe, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He says denying everything. I let a tear slip from my eye and walk into the kitchen. “Brittany, could you please explain how I never treated you badly when you were younger.” My uncle says.
“If I were to do that I’d be lying to all of us.” I say wiping at my eye to get rid of the tear. “I don’t see why you hate me so much, so do us both a favor and just leave. I don’t even know why you bothered showing your face.”
“What did I ever do to you that were so bad?” He asks confused.
“You really don’t remember do you?” I ask. He shakes his head and I smile at him. “I’m going to say this once. Every time I was over you’d be drunk off your ass. That’s probably why you don’t remember anything.” I say before walking away. “Oh, and daddy, I’m going to hang out with Luke at the hotel. I’ll see you there?” I ask walking up to him giving him a kiss.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a few hours, I just have a meeting to attend to.” He says kissing my forehead. Love you sweetie.”
“Love you too.” I say before running back upstairs to get ready. I end up just putting on my black floral jumper shorts. I wear my pink five inch wedges. I put my hair in a side braid and I do my makeup before putting my silver ‘love’ necklace ending the outfit with the engagement ring. I run down yelling a bye on my way out. Just as I slam the door shut Luke meets me at the drive way. I get into the passenger seat and kiss him.
“You look beautiful.” He tells me pulling the car into reverse. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Yeah, much better actually, I told my father and he was just talking to my uncle.” I say and he looks at me confused.
“What did your uncle do?”
“Nothing now, but a long time ago before my mother left us. But now that he’s back I wanted to tell my father.”
“Tell your father what?” He says and it hits me that I was too upset to tell him anything yesterday.
“When I was a kid, he used to treat me like crap when he watched me. His daughters were mean to me. I haven’t seen him since before my mom left and now he just shows up. It just brought back those memories and I’m not ready to relive them. But hopefully I don’t have to see him again.” I say.
“Isn’t he your dad’s friend?” Luke asks.
“Yeah, this is why I don’t care if they see each other and talk. I just don’t want to be near him, or his kids. I just want to avoid him. Which is why I called you, he was over.” I explain. He just smiles at me and takes my hand just as we reach the parking lot. He pulls into the employee parking lot and I jump out the car excited to start the day. Luke walks around the car and takes me by the waist before making his way into the hotel. He goes behind the desk to get started and I kiss him. “I’ll be outside swimming.” I say grabbing my very own towel from the shelf underneath the desk. “Meet me outside during your break.” I say before rushing off to the back door.
“Oh, look Brianna, it’s Brittany.” I hear from a girl next to me. I look at her and throw my head back and groan. “You remember us?” She asks. She as in Bianca, Brian’s daughter, well daughters.
“How could I forget, you’re my darling cousins. Correct?”
“You have a fairly well memory I could see.” She says with a smirk. “How are you doing? I see you’re getting famous.” She says and I smile.
“You guessed right, now if you’ll excuse me. I don’t want to be interrupted.” I say before taking off my jumper and heels. I walk away from them throwing my stuff on a lawn chair. I dive into the 9 feet pool. I look to see Brianna and Bianca whispering to each other and I swim to the shallow end of the pool trying to listen. “No, you heard dad, we have to get her to agree.” I hear Brianna say.
“Agree to what?” I say aloud and she turns frightened.
“You’ll know eventually.” She says turning to her sister. “Come on, we have to discuss this in private.” She says grabbing Bianca’s arm and leading her back into the hotel. I start to swim freely until I hear someone dive into the pool. Once I’m above water I turn to see who’s in the pool with me.
“Robert?” I ask looking at him shocked. “Aren’t you supposed to be on the job?” I ask.
“No your dad gave me a day off for myself.” He explains. “Want to race?” He says pointing to the water. I nod my head before heading off the shallow end. “Loser pays for dinner.” He says.
“Okay, but Luke’s coming along with us.” I say and he nods. “On the count of three.” I say counting down. “One.” I yell before diving into the water and swimming as fast as I could. Five seconds later I touch the wall of the deep end and turn around and make my way back to the shallow end. As I reach for the shallow end someone grabs onto my foot and pulls me down. I start to kick trying to reach for the top. Five seconds later, the pressure on my foot is released and I swim to the surface and look to see Rob on top of someone trying to fight him in the water. “Rob, what’s going on?” I ask coughing out the water.
“This douche bag was trying to drown you.” He says explaining and I look to see Drew. He smiles at me.
“Great hotel your father has here. Congrats.” He says.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him crossing my arms.
“Oh, nothing, my cousins just came from Florida, they’re staying here for a week, I’m just hanging with them.” He says pointing behind him, there is a group of five boys all looking our way smirking.
“You touch her again and you’re dead.” Robert says to Drew shoving him under water before he walks up to me. “You okay?” He asks I nod my head before getting out of the water and wrapping myself in my towel grabbing my shoes and my jumper. I walk into the hotel and go up to Luke.
“You’re back early.” He says smiling.
“Yeah, well we have an unwanted guest visiting.” I say.
“Who?” He asks looking at me confused and worried. “Did something happen?” He asks.
“No, Robert was there to stop him before something could have happened to me though.”
“Brit, who’s out there.” He asks getting worried.
“Luke, it’s fine. It’s done with, you’re on the job I don’t want you to lose your job.”
“Brittany, if you don’t tell me who’s out there I’ll walk out there myself…” he says beginning to walk out but I grab his arm so he could look at me.
“It’s Drew, but please don’t go out there, he’ll just file a complaint about you and my father is going to question it, and besides Rob was there to talk to him.” I tell him with a smile. “Just get back to work.” I say, “I’ll be back in a few minutes I’m going to shower and dress.” I say before going up to my room that my father set up for me to use when I stay here with Luke. Once I’m done getting ready, I go downstairs and see my father walking in with Brian, my uncle.
“Hey, could I talk to you for a minute?” My uncle says to me with a small smile. I nod my head and kiss Luke telling him I’ll be back. “I know what I did hurt you. I just didn’t today you’ll be thinking about it.”
“Well you put me through a lot.” I say crossing my arms over my chest.
“I know, but it’s not going to happen. We grew up, I stopped my drinking problem and I’m happy with who I am. I’m ready to forgive myself when you’re ready to forgive me.” He looks like a sad puppy and I just smile at him opening my arms.
“You’re forgiven Uncle.” I tell him with a smile. He wraps his arms around me and kisses my head.
“I’m proud of you Brittany, your mom would be so proud.” He says and it takes me a minute to realize what he said.
“Would? Uncle does that mean…” without me even having to finish his sentence my uncle just nods his head with a sad smile on his face.
“I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but she died two years ago. She overdosed on drugs.”
“No, I would have known. Someone one would have called me or something. My father would have told me.” I say shocked. “It’s not possible.”
“I didn’t think you’d care, after all, she left you guys.” He tells me putting an arm on my shoulder.
“Of course I would care. She’s my mother for crying out loud. She gave birth to me.” I say before running away from him. “You should have fucking told me.” I yell at him before storming over to my father’s office. “Daddy, please tell me it’s not true.” I cry out to him. He looks at me confused.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about sweetie.” He says.
“Where’s mom?” I ask through my tears. He looks down and bites his lip. I start to sob just as Luke runs in to see what the problem is. “How could you have not told me? I thought I trusted you.” I yell in tears. “Two years, two fucking year’s dad. You hid this from me for that long.” I scream out to him. Luke takes my hand and I shove it off before running away from him. I know I shouldn’t even care about my mom. But after finding out I’ll never be able to see her again. I just don’t understand why my father would keep this from me. It’s like he doesn’t love me. He didn’t want me to attend my own mother’s funeral. I shake my head before running up the stairs. I run into my room and lock the door. I know they’re all going to come up and try to open it with the master key. I wipe my tears before taking the suitcase out of the closet and stuffing my clothes in it. I’m done with everything. I’m done with my life in L.A. I’m not going to sing anymore, and I’m sure as hell not going to be okay with my father. So I do the only thing I think of. I grab my bag of clothes and walk out the hotel. It’s hard walking out knowing Luke is calling my name but I do my best to ignore him and walk out the hotel like my ass was on fire.
I walk home, and decide the best way to do this is to just pack a duffle bag for now. It’ll be harder to leave with too many bags. I call up Chloe and see if I could come over. So once I get there I tell her not to let Luke know I’m here. Once I get to her room I break down and cry. “Awe, Brittany why the tears?” She asks taking my hands in hers.
“Why does everyone betray me? There’s nobody in the world who would ever look out for me.” I say through my tears I cover my face and let out a sob. “It’s not fair to go through this.” I say looking at her. I wipe my tears away trying to calm down.
“What’s going on?” She asks confused.
“You know how my mom walked out on me a few years ago?” I ask. She nods her head saying she understood. “Turns out she’s been dead for the past two years, and I had no idea about it until today.” I say letting out the tears again. “I know, I know I shouldn’t care because she left me and never looked back. But it’s just I always felt that maybe, just maybe there was a chance I could still see her and make things right. I mean she’s my mother. I deserved to know, I deserved to go to her funeral. My father knew about it and he acted as if he never found out. I could care less if he cared about it or not. But he didn’t have the right to hide it from me. I’m her daughter for crying out loud.” I say looking her dead in the eye. “If my father didn’t care enough to tell me the truth two years ago, he sure as hell wouldn’t care if he went home and didn’t find me there.” I say through my tears.
“You don’t have to run away. Maybe there was a reason why he didn’t tell you.” She tells me.
“There must be, but doesn’t mean it’s an excuse. He should have told me.” I say.
“I know that. You should have went to the funeral, but taking it out on your dad won’t change anything will it?” She says.
“It won’t, but he’ll at least know what it feels like to feel betrayed.” I tell her just as my phone rings. I look at the caller I.D and groan. “It’s Luke.” I tell her. She tells me to answer it and I ignore her throwing the phone across the room not caring if it breaks or not. “I have a better idea.” I say throwing my hair in a ponytail and getting up. I hold my hand out for Chloe to grab and she grabs it with a confused look on her face.
“What are you doing?” She asks.
“You’ll see.” I say taking her down to my car.
Ten minutes later I pull up to the parking lot. “Brittany, we shouldn’t be here.” Chloe says eyeing the building.
“Don’t be silly, isn’t there where Luke comes to blow some steam, or any other teenager who wants to forget.” I say walking up the line. Five minutes later, I hear my name being called.
“It is her.” Some guy says walking up to me. Chloe steps in front of me to stop them.
“Look boys. I know you want an autograph or a picture, but today is really not a good day. So please don’t make it harder on her.” She says to them and they walk away right away. I smile my thanks before the bouncer asks for our I.D’s we hand them over to him before he gives it back stamping our hand. I look around the club and shake my head.
“I honestly don’t know why I came here. It’s not going to do anything for me.” I say before walking over to the entrance. Someone taps my shoulder and I turn around to see a twenty something year old smiling creepily at me.
“Want to dance?” He asks.
“I’m engaged.” I say walking away from him. He takes my hand and spins me around.
“He won’t have to know.” He says coming closer to me.
“Get off.” I say shoving his hands away. “You don’t know me.” I shout at him before running away from him. I accidently bump into someone and before I know I’m lying on the floor with some type of drink all over my body. I close my eyes for a few minutes and I hear all sorts of sounds.
“Ma’am, are you okay?” I hear someone say in my ear. I open one eye to see a huge crowd of people around me and mystery guy. I turn my face to look at him and nod my head.
“I’m fine. Sorry for bumping into you.” I say leaning on my elbows. I look around to see if Chloe was nearby. “How long was I out for?” I ask confused.
“Half an hour.” He says giving me his hand to help me up.
“I’ve got it from here.” I hear a voice and turn to see Luke storming over to us. “Are you fucking crazy Brittany?” He asks. “Do you not understand I’ve been trying to call you for the past hour? I have to get a call from Chloe saying you fainted at a fucking club.” He yells at me.
“Stop yelling at me. As if I haven’t been through enough. Nobody fucking cares about me.” I yell back through my tears. I get up and run from him. He calls my name and runs after me. “Luke, just leave, you obviously don’t love me.” I say.
“I don’t love you? I would have never proposed to you if I haven’t. I care about you Brittany, more than you can imagine.” He says.
“If you loved me, if you truly loved me, you would have gotten to me before I got here.” I say. “You would have asked what was wrong with me, not what I was doing at a club.” I say pulling at my hair. “You don’t love me. Nobody fucking loves me.”
“Stop saying nobody loves you. You have so many people who love you.” He whispers taking my hands.
“Nobody loves me. I’m motherless and my father hates me.” I say.
“Motherless?” He asks confused. When he says that word I lose it I fall to my knees and cry out. “Brittany, what happened?” He says kneeling right in front of me. He pulls me into a hug before holding me at arm’s length. “Baby, please talk to me.” He whispers holding my face in his hands gently. I shake my head unable to talk. My lips tremble and Luke notices because the next thing I know is his lips are on mine. “I’m here for you baby. Don’t push me away. I know what you’re going through. Just talk to me.”
“My mom’s been dead for two years.” I whisper to him before looking at the floor. “My father was one of the first people to know but he’s never told me.” I tell him. “I didn’t deserve to go to my mother’s funeral.” I say through my tears.
“Baby, maybe you shouldn’t take it hard. You haven’t seen her since you were little. What difference does it make?”
“It makes all the difference in the world. At least you knew your father. I could have had the chance to make things right between us. I was actually thinking of it. It’s not fair. I wanted to know my mother.” He takes my hand and takes my hand to the car.
“Chloe get in.” Luke says to her. She’s in the corner her arms crossed looking worried. She rushes to sit in the back. We drive for a few minutes before I pass out. “Brit, wake up we’re home.” Luke whispers in my ear. I open one eye and see that he dropped me off my house.
“I’m not going in there.” I say to him.
“Your dad’s worried.” Luke says.
“I don’t care. I don’t want to see him right now.” I say.
“You’re going in there whether you like it or not.” He says. “You’re talking to your dad about it before it’s too late.” He says opening the door and coming to my side. I grunt in response before we both walk up the steps. He opens the door and my father is in front of me within a heartbeat.
“Where the hell were you?” He yells. I roll my eyes and walk past him about to go up the stairs. “Brittany, don’t you dare walk away from me. Where the hell were you for the past five hours.”
“Out.” I shrug my shoulders about to continue my journey to my room before he grabs my shoulder and turns me around. As soon as I glare at him, he slaps me across the face. “I hate you.” I scream at him.
“How could you ever do that? This is your fault don’t blame her. Blame yourself before you go on slapping your daughter.” I hear Luke yell at my father. I don’t get to hear the rest of their argument because I slam my door shut locking it, and locking myself in the bathroom. I touch my face where my father slapped me before I fall to the floor. I start to cry and shake uncontrollable before I pass out on the floor of the bathroom.