Song of the chapter: Everybody by The Backstreet Boys
Emily's POV
"Thanks for watching Lucy again," I said to my parents when Austin and I picked her up from their house. Austin came because we were heading to the studio again to rehearse for the tour.
"No problem, honey, we love watching her," my mom said.
Austin took Lucy from my dad's arms. "I hope you were good for grandma and grandpa," Austin told her.
She nodded and sleepily cuddled into Austin's shoulder. "Yeah, she had quite the morning," my dad said. "Don't be surprised if she's out cold by the time you get in the car."
"Too late." I pointed to Lucy, who was already sleeping.
My mom smiled. "She's such a little angel. I'm expecting another kid soon from the two of you."
"Mom!" I exclaimed.
"Sorry, honey, but you know I love babies."
"Penny, don't pester them," my dad sighed. "There's plenty of time-" he stopped mid sentence when my mom elbowed him.
"Plenty of time for what?" Austin asked.
"For you guys to have another kid in the future," my mom cut in. "You know, when you're older. And it's planned."
"Okay, we're going to go now before this talk gets even more awkward. Austin, let's go." I gave my parents one last look before heading down the sidewalk to the car. "Thanks again!"
"Anytime!" My parents went inside before they barely finished talking.
I sat in the vehicle while Austin put Lucy in her carseat. It was alot harder to do it when she was asleep so he took longer. When he finally got in and drove off, I spoke.
"That's it."
He glanced at me. "What?"
"Something's up with my parents and I'm going to find out what."
Austin sighed. "Emily, I'm sure you're overreacting."
"How am I overreacting?" I exclaimed.
"Jeez, could you scream any louder? You'll wake the kid up!"
"How am I overreacting?" I repeated.
"Because your parents didn't do anything. Maybe they've just got alot on their plates right now," he replied.
I shook my head. "No."
"Well, whatever, do what you want."
We stayed quiet for the rest of the drive. Austin dropped me and Lucy off at the house before he went to rehearse. I had originally planned to go with him, but I couldn't with Lucy asleep. It was better if I stayed home with her.
While she slept in her room, I went to the basement. There were four rooms in the basement, including the main part. I went to my office and straight to the closet where I kept boxes of photo albums.
"Alright, let's see what I can find," I said as I grabbed the first box. I rifled through album after album, seeing pictures I had seen many times before.
After an hour, I gave up. "Maybe Austin was right, maybe I am overreacting." Lucy started crying. "And my mother duties are calling."
Pancakes met me at the top of the stairs and followed me to Lucy's room. "Hey, sweetie." I picked up her sniffling form and sat on the rocking chair in the corner of her room. "That wasn't a very long nap. Pancakes, go get me Binky."
She wagged her tail and trotted over to our room. She came back a minute later dragging Lucy's blanket in her jaws.
"Good girl," I smiled. I bent to grab the blanket and scratched Pancakes' head. "Alright, Luce, let's get you comfy." I spread Binky over her and she immediately curled into it, closing her eyes again.
"Works every time," I whispered, smiling.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I dug it out and answered it. "Hello?"
"Hey," Austin said.
"Oh, hi. Just a minute." I set my phone down and brought Lucy back to her crib, setting her back in. I went to pick up my phone again and quietly left the room, heading downstairs. Pancakes stayed in Lucy's room. "Okay."
"How's everything going?"
"Everything's fine, Lucy just woke up but she's asleep again," I said. "How are rehearsals going?"
"Great! The band is taking a break right now, so I thought I'd call you to check in."
"Awe, aren't you sweet," I said.
"I know, I'm the sweetest." I knew he was smiling on the other end, I could tell from his voice.
"Think you'll be ready for the tour next week?"
"Oh yeah, I'll be good. We're almost done everything anyway, so it's not like we're squeezing everything in and rushing through sets," Austin said.
"That's true," I agreed. "Well, I'm glad."
There was a silence between the both of us, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. Would Lucy and I go along, or stay behind?
Austin spoke up first. "Emily, we'll talk about that when I get home," he said softly.
"Austin-"
"Ems, don't worry, alright? We'll figure something out," he said. "We always do."
I sighed. "I know. I'm just a little worried, that's all."
"Well, please don't worry. You'll make me worry."
"But then you'll make me worry even more."
He started laughing. "We can never keep things smooth, can we?"
"No, not really," I agreed. "But I'll let you get back to rehearsing! See you when you come home."
"Alright, I love you, Ems."
"Love you too," I smiled. "Bye."
I hung up and thought for a second before dialing my mom's number. She picked up on the second ring. "Hi, honey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, mom," I said quickly. "Um, I was wondering if I could come by and pick up some things later on from the house."
"Things? What things?" she asked.
"Like, old things. From when I was younger. Photo albums and such," I said.
"Okay," she said slowly. "Why do you need those?"
"Taylor, Quinn and I are putting together photo albums for Sheridan and Lucy, and we wanted to see what kinds of things you did for me," I lied. Well, it wasn't a complete lie. Taylor and Quinn were going to be helping me with this.
"Oh, well, alright. Just come by whenever," my mom said.
"Okay, I'll be there sometime this evening."
"Sounds good, honey. See you then."
"Bye."
I made supper and two hours later, Austin was pulling into the driveway. Lucy had woken up an hour earlier and was crawling around on the ground in the dining room where I could still see her from the kitchen. She crawled more than she walked, which was odd, because she had her walking down really good. Well, whatever floats her boat, I guess.
"I'm home!" Austin called from the hallway as the front door shut.
"I'm in the kitchen!" I yelled. "Lucy, go see daddy."
"Daddy!" She screeched, standing up and running into the hallway.
"Hey, Luce!" I heard Austin say, followed by a shriek of joy and giggling. "How was your day with mommy?" They came back in a few seconds later, Austin carrying Lucy.
"She slept for a while," I told him as he gave me a hello kiss.
"Good, she won't be cranky then," he said. He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind me. "Smells amazing. What're you making?"
"Lasagne," I told him. "It's almost ready."
"Awe, yes," he exclaimed. "Your lasagne is to die for."
"Well, thanks," I grinned.
"I'm going to go change," he said, running out of the room.
When he came back dressed in sweat pants and a sweater, I had already set the table so we sat down to eat. I put Lucy in her high chair and set some crackers down in front of her, as well as some vegetables.
"So, how were the rest of rehearsals?" I asked.
"Awesome," he said, his eyes lighting up. Every time he talked about a show, or anything that related to his work, you could see his passion for it in his eyes. They always lit up like a Christmas tree.
I smiled. "Excited for your first show? It's in San Diego, right?"
"Yeah, I'm so pumped! We need to talk about what's happening with you and Lucy."
I grabbed my glass of water. "Do we have to?"
He looked at me. "Yes, Emily, we have to."
I pouted. "But I don't want to."
"I know you don't want to, but it needs to be done. You've always been on tours with me, but having Lucy now changes things."
"Austin, you know I want to be there with you, but I just don't know if bringing Lucy on a three month tour is a good thing. Especially if it's on a tour bus. She's only one," I said. "And I'm not leaving her with my parents or your mom for that amount of time."
He was quiet for a few seconds. "Well, when I perform closer to home, that's not a problem. You could always fly out if I'm farther," he suggested.
"Not when you're across the country. Did you forget you're up in Canada for part of the tour?"
"Emily, I don't want to be away from you and Lucy for that long," he said firmly.
I was quiet for a minute while I thought it over. "Okay, how about this," I finally said. "For the first part of the tour, Lucy and I will stay here. When you go to Canada, we'll fly out for a few days and then come back. When you get to the last leg of your tour, we'll come with you. I'll just rent hotels for me and Luce. How does that sound?"
"Sounds better than not seeing you for three months so I'll take it," Austin said.
I nodded. "Alright. So it's settled then."
It hurt to know that this would be the first tour without seeing Austin everyday and not seeing every single one of his shows, but we needed to sacrifice some things for Lucy's sake. Her needs came first now. This tour was going to be hectic.