The fan meet and greet went awful and the only thing that went worse was the concert. All through out while they were changing costumes the other guys were yelling at him to get it together. They had alienated him afterwards. They were all over in one corner talking and he was left to fend for himself alone with no one, not even Shayna, to comfort. Aaron called and his parents had gotten into a massive fight. It got so bad his father actually hit his mother. His dad had been drinking and he knew that was the only reason his father lost control.
His dad was not a violent person. When they were kids it was his mother who did all the spanking because Bob just couldn�t do it. There were even times when his dad told them to pretend they had been spanked after their mother delegated the dirty deed to him. Lately, it had gotten to the point where his parents didn�t even seem to like each other anymore. They had actually gone months at a time without seeing each other. While one was on tour with Aaron the other was at home. It was very convenient, the deception of always having one parent with Aaron at all times seemed very responsible to the outside world.
His family was broken down into two categories to strangers. They were either a cool new age Partridge Family or they were the new breed of dysfunction. He agreed with everyone that thought they belonged in the same forest of family tress as the Simpsons, the Connors and the Addams families. As far as he was concerned, the Osbournes were prefect compared to his family. Take away the foul language and they were a pretty loving and tight knit group. That was not the case with the Carter clan.
�Let�s load up gang. Back to the hotel. Remember, buses pull out at nine in the morning, sharp.� Such bullshit. They wouldn�t leave until ten thirty. They never left or arrived anywhere on time. Most of the time it wasn�t because they were running late it was because their schedule was filled by the minute and once something ran late it set off a domino effect. He was the last one to leave the room and head for the van that was waiting to take them to the hotel. He wondered how long he was going to get the silent treatment.
What could she have been doing to miss the concert. She didn�t even bother to let him know that she wasn�t going to be there. It wasn�t until half way through the concert after he asked one of their assistants to bring Shayna backstage was he told she wasn�t there. He opened the door and sitting in a T-shirt and a pair of socks with her hair in a ponytail was Shayna eating a bowl of ice cream with all kinds of nuts and fruit and whipped cream,
�What are you doing?� She smiled,
�Watching The Big Easy. It is so cool. Look at this,� She grabbed the remote and began to look for something,
�Doesn�t Cameron Diaz look like a young Ellen Barkin? I mean, even some of the same goofy mannerisms and stuff.� He looked over at the television screen just to pacify her then walked away. He didn�t give a damn about some movie or Cameron Diaz. Besides, he saw her at an MTV event and she wasn�t that attractive. At least not anymore. She was hot in The Mask with Jim Carrey but she went down hill and not to mention she had more acne than a teenager.
She went back to watching the movie and didn�t even bother to ask him anything about the concert or explain her reasons for not being there. Now just wasn�t the time to bore her with tales of drama from his family. Besides, what advice could she give him. Her family was just as screwed up as his own.
Her father ran out on the family and hadn�t bothered to show his face since he left, her mother hadn�t had a date since her husband walked out on her and he was surprised Shayna�s hot to trot little sister hadn�t brought home a kid yet. He remembered the way she would prance around the house when she came and spent a week with him and Shayna one summer. He was surprised she didn�t just jump his bones. The entire week was spent with her in little bikinis, shorts and bending over in very arousing positions. She may not have thought she was being obvious but it was very obvious to him. Especially since she didn�t act that way when Shayna was around. That was the thing about dysfunction. You tended to gravitate towards other situations of it.
The only girl that meant anything to him that didn�t really have any craziness in her life was Amber Massoli. She was this beautiful Italian girl with the most beautiful blonde hair and bright green eyes. She was a real family girl. He could still remember her little brother and sister, Tony and Bianca. Their family was awesome. They ate dinner together, without the TV on at a table and actually talked about their day and things going on in their lives. He saw it first hand since he had eaten dinner with them quite a few times. Even when he didn�t eat over at their house he was able to taste Mrs. Massoli�s great cooking because she would send over a huge plate by Amber.
Amber was a cool girl. They met just days after she returned home for the summer from her first year away at college. During that time, he was dating many girls, one of which was Shayna. So it was okay that Amber was a virgin and didn�t want to go all the way. By the end of the summer he had gotten her to give him oral sex though. So young but still so independent. She didn�t nag him, she didn�t try to have all his time. He figured it was because she was so close to her family and friends and wanted to spend as much time with them as she could during the summer before going back to school. She wouldn�t neglect them for a guy she knew wasn�t going to mean anything to her. After that summer they never even talked to each other again. But, he still remembered so much about her. That�s what he wanted out of life but that wasn�t what he would ever get. Born into dysfunction, you die in it too. One way or another.
He was sitting out on the balcony with his cell phone in his hand looking out at the dark night. He had left numerous messages for Aaron and Angel on their cell phones but there was no answer from either of them. Shayna was inside still watching her movie. He had been outside for over half an hour and she hadn�t bothered to come out once. She was so into that movie. Just as he was about to dial Aaron�s number again the phone rang,
�Yeah, what the hell is going on? Why didn�t you answer your phone?� He needed to know what was going on even though he didn�t want to know.
�I�m in Key West with BJ and Angel.�
�Who�s with you guys? What are you doing there?� He never knew where his family was one hour to the next. They were a very unpredictable family. If Aaron said they were at Miami International Airport getting ready to fly out to Los Angeles he would have believed it.
�No one is with us. It�s just the three of us. We didn�t want to hang around the house.�
�What are you guys doing?�
�We just left a club and we�re getting ready to go to another one.� He rolled his eyes and shook his head at the situation,
�Do you guys have a hotel room? You don�t need to be driving.� There wasn�t a doubt in his mind that all three of them were drinking. Even Aaron and Angel and they were only sixteen. It seemed weird to anyone who was not in the life they led but to him, it was ok. It really was. Aaron was making more money than most adults would ever see in their lifetime. He was expected to be an adult and responsible in every way possible when it came to his career. He should at least be able to enjoy the perks of being a responsible adult.
Chapter 18a