Chapter 15 Facing the Past
Facing the Past
Crew
Carly returns from the restrooms and sits down on the empty seat from me without a word. That’s odd. She doesn’t ask me to move over or switch seats, but I pass her shrimp dish over to her, and she starts eating. Silence.
Is it me, or does she look shaken up? Like she just had an interaction with a dictator or something. Her leg is bouncing so high that I can hear the quiet thud it makes every time she hits the underside of the table.
Vinny, Ali, and I exchange a quick glance at each other because all three of us can sense something’s off. Just like it was that time she returned from her cousin’s brunch, and her mood was a little…dampened, to say the least.
“Enjoying the food?” I ask Carly before closing my eyes at how awkward that sounded.
At least she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she keeps eating her food and staring off in the direction she came from.
I follow her gaze to the restrooms, where a woman in a cream-colored coat and sunglasses heads out from, and my blood boils. That’s not possible, is it?
But I recognize those sunglasses anywhere. They’re burned into my brain, because of all the outings I had as a child, where she would slide them on to lower her chances of being discovered.
She holds her hat in one hand while pushing her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose. Her gaze lingers on Carly and me for a little longer—though I’m not sure her main focus is on the pretty girl next to me—before she pushes the front doors open and exits briskly.
“Crew,” Vinny warns. “Please don’t—”
Too fucking late. I’m not sorry for being pissed that my own mother chose to spy on me with the worst disguise known to mankind.
A sunhat? At night? Could she be any lazier?
It’s bad enough that she attempts to spy on me. What’s worse is that she “softly insulted” Carly—typical Teresa Shentu and her backhanded compliments—and walked away like nothing happened.
Hell no.
I haven’t seen Carly cry, and I don’t plan on it today because there is no way she should be crying when all I want to see is that goddamn smile of hers while she celebrates her hard work.
Making my way out of the booth, I practically storm outside the restaurant and towards my mother, something I haven’t done in years.
“If you’re trying to spy on me, at least have some decency,” I hiss at her once I’m close enough.
She scoffs at my comment, turning back around to face me. “Sorry for being concerned about my only child.”
Concern? Is that what this was? Yeah, I’m not buying the saint act she’s pulling. She may have won an Oscar once or twice, but she’s not getting any accolades for her performance tonight.
“Bullshit,” I snap. “If you were concerned about me, you would have actually listened to me as a kid instead of yourself!”
“Well, I’m trying to make sure you’re not embarrassing yourself. Hanging out with those obnoxious people.”
I scoff. “That’s rich, coming from you.”
“Being around me is better than being around that loud-mouthed girl who insulted me,” she sneers, gesturing behind me. I turn my head to find all three of my friends not-so-subtly watching this interaction, likely with bated breath because none of them has ever met my mother before today.
They all know who she is, but they don’t know her like I do. They never saw the betrayal I faced from her or the aftermath. None of them were there for it, and I did my best to keep it tempered down from any website I could think of.
“Don’t bring her into this. It’s my life, and you’re not allowed to have a say in it anymore.” I’ve spent the past four years keeping her out of it, done so much to make sure that I have the kind of control over it.
I’ve moved on from her antics.
“Hell, why would you even bring Dad into it? Even he is above this.”
“Someone had to talk to you, and you wouldn’t respond to me. Have you become so high and mighty that you’re embarrassed to be around your own mother?”
“Embarrassed?” This is seriously getting out of hand.
“No, mother. I have not once been so high and mighty. I have become tired. And right now, I’m not about to let you ruin the first good thing that’s happened to me in years because of your selfishness.
Not everyone is going to bow down at your whim just because you’re famous. ”
“Well, so are you!” She calms down, brushing her bangs to the side and placing her hat on top of her head. “Like it or not, Crew, you’ll always be famous. You’re going to look back and thank me for it.”
“For putting me through a lifestyle I didn’t even want?” I retort. The only thing I would thank her for, at this moment, is for giving me enough material to write a stellar college essay, earning me a spot at my top choice.
“I made you who you are, Crew Shentu!” She heads towards her car, a blinding white Sedan, and opens the front door. “Don’t forget that. I’m the reason you’re the person you are. Not those so-called friends. Your family.”
As she enters the driver’s side of the car and moves out of the parking lot, I rub a hand over my face as the realization washes over me. I faced my mother for the first time in four years. And won.
There was no giving in to her demands. I thought, after all this time, I would fall back into my old habits if I spoke to her again, but it looks like they died. Hard.
I don’t know how long I’m standing here before a soft voice snaps me back into reality.
“That seemed intense.”
I snap my head to the right so fast that I almost give myself whiplash. Carly stands behind me, creasing her brows. She rubs her arms, which are covered in long blue sleeves.
“She must be why you don’t like the nickname I give you,” she says.
“Only at first.”
A sad smile washes over her face and disappears quickly as she places one hand on my shoulder. “Did I make things worse between you two? I’m sorry if I did.”
“Don’t worry.” If anything, I feel a little better now that she's here. I don’t understand how Carly can do that.
She just appears with a few words to say, and I’m immediately calmer than I was before.
I don’t know how, but she went from being the one person I wanted to avoid at all costs to the only person I want to be around.
Asking about how Carly managed to insult my mother will be saved for another day, even though I can assume it’s about the hat.
“Maybe it’s time I give you a new nickname,” she announces.
I shake my head. “Nah, Movie Star is starting to grow on me. But enough about me, let’s head back inside.”
Carly furrows her brows. “Are you sure?”
I nod, more certain of it. “Tonight’s all about you, Firecracker. We’re not about to let my mother ruin it, aren’t we?”
I just know Carly wants to ask more. About why my mother and I are strained, or what she said about her—as well as Vinny and Ali—but she doesn’t.
Carly doesn’t push unless it’s absolutely needed.
Instead, she nods and slings an arm over my shoulders, where I swear I felt a jolt of electricity down my spine and the urge to bend down slightly and kiss the top of her head.
Her face begins to relax, that goddamn smile returning to her face, and she hooks her arm through mine. “You know what? She’s not ruining a damn thing.”
As I look behind me at the empty parking spot where my mother's car was only a moment ago, I can’t help but think back to then. Back when I was just a kid, who got forced into making a name for myself. When I left it all, I left the bashful and optimistic Crew behind to fend for the wolves.
“You know what?” She turns to me before we enter the restaurant. “I may not know about what happened between you two, but I’m proud of you, Crew. For facing it head-on.”
But then I take note of the girl next to me. The one who carries herself with a hop to each step, and I remember that there are still good people in the world. Not everyone is trying to tear me down. Some people lift me up.
I have Carly next to me, who reminds me of that every single day just by being herself.
Every day I’m around her, I feel a small piece of hope find its way back to me.