Turn Right

Three Days Later

Miley, Nick, Joe, Kevin and I were watching When A Stranger Calls while we waited for it to be time for the guys to go to an interview. Both Miley and I spazzed out when the scary music came on but the guys just laughed at us. Then the hotel door bell rang and the guys jumped this time and Miley and I burst out laughing. I stood up and walked over to the door and opened it…there stood my mother.

“Hey Rach,” she said softly.

“Mom…what are you doing here?” I asked in shock as I heard the others pause the movie.

“I thought I’d stop by for a visit…wanna come out with me for some Starbucks?” she questioned. I just stared at her…she looked over my shoulder.

“Hey guys, Miley,” she waved.

“Hi Ms. Lewis,” they chorused.

“Guys who’s at the…” Denise began saying as her, Anna and Paul came out to us.

“Oh…Tara…” Denise and Anna started.

“We weren’t expecting you here,” Paul added.

I snapped out of my trance and tried to prevent myself from glaring at her.

“She was wondering if I could go out to Starbucks with her…can I?” I asked as I kept my eyes on my mothers.

I felt the tension build in the room and I knew everyone was giving each other strange looks…but as I studied my mothers face, I saw she looked…annoyed? Almost hurt. Good.

“Of course Rachael…” Denise said.

“I don’t see why not…you’re off for the day…just keep in touch,” Anna added.

I took the risk of looking behind me and Nick, Joe, Kevin and Miley all had confused looks…except Nick had also a hint of sympathy. Anna was trying not to glare and was trying to be the responsible ‘mom figure’…because to me, she was like an older sister, taking the place of a mom. Denise was in shock but was doing the same thing Anna was doing. Paul was…he was the one who was glaring. He was, but wasn’t…it was like a half-glare…but he didn’t say anything.

“I’ll be back later,” I mumbled as I grabbed my jacket and left with my mother.

We began walking down the hallway and when we got outside, we took a taxi to the nearest Starbucks, went in, ordered and sat down…all the while, not a word was spoken.

“So…how’s tour?” she asked.

“It’s great…I really love it…and the fans are amazing,” I murmured.

“That’s good," she commented. We were silent again.

“Why did you ask permission to come out with me?” she asked in almost a mocking manner but I continued to look down at my drink. “You never ask permission to do anything you want to do”

“That’s not true,” I mumbled.

“Okay…most of the time you don’t, and that’s because you like being independent, I got that…you get it from me, that’s why I never questioned it…and now you ask but you ask Denise and Anna…not even your mother,” she said, sounding lower at the end.

“I was just being polite…making sure I had nothing going on today”

“And if you did? Does that mean you wouldn’t have came out with me?”

“Yea kind of” I snapped as I looked up at her. “This is my job now mom, I cant just skip out on a photo shoot or an interview, I have to be there,” I added and we were silent again.

“What are you really doing here?” I asked.

“Like I said before…I thought I’d come by to see you…we missed each other for Christmas and New Years…”

“Is that new to you?”

“Look, all these years I was trying to do my best as a single parent, it was hard…and it still is…”

“I get it that you were a single parent mom and I get it if you thought it was hard but to me it was like you weren’t even trying, maybe if you actually tried acting like a mom then you and me wouldn’t be in such a mess,” I snapped at her.

“I did try…”

“Yea, and then it was too hard, so you just gave up…why’d you give up?” I asked more gently.

“I felt like I couldn’t do it,” she murmured.

“What if I felt like I couldn’t be at the top, where I am today? Should I have given up? Even if my own mother did and even if she didn’t believe I could do it…should I still have given up then?” I questioned but she didn’t reply.

“Dad was the one who always believed in me…why couldn’t you?” was the last thing I said.

Then I stood up, put my sun glasses on and put my jacket back on. “I’ll see you back at home when tour’s over,” I said and then walked out.

I texted Anna as I started walking down the sidewalk and in minutes she was next to me, in a rental car. I got in and she continued driving. We didn’t talk on our way back to the hotel, although she tried to get me to. We got back and I put a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt on and collapsed on the couch as I just began to watch t.v. It was 7:30 at night and the guys were already on the road, heading to their interview and Miley was on her way to a photo shoot on the other side of town. I felt my eyes close…and then I was asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Rachael…are you up dear?” someone asked and as I opened my eyes, everything was blurry but once I re-gained focus, I saw it was Denise.

“Are you alright hon?” she asked and I just nodded. “Do you want to talk about it? What happened after you both left?” she questioned lightly and I did my best to shrug.

“Nothing really…we just kind of talked…she was upset with me asking permission to go out with her…”

“I think that shocked all of us,” she joked lightly and I cracked a smile.

“I explained to her how this was my job now…and she explained to me how it was hard being a single parent…I told her I understood that but it’s not like he tried very hard…she said it was too hard so she gave up…then I asked her if I should’ve given up if I thought it was too hard and if she didn’t believe in me…just to sum it up for you,” I told her and she gave me a look with sympathy.

“Thank you for being there for me,” I whispered.

“It's my pleasure,” she whispered back and we hugged.

“Rachael” Anna rushed in, to us with Paul. “Your mom’s in the hospital,” was all she said and my jaw dropped.