Kylie

As soon as we get home, Mom doesn't stop talking. She sounds like a mosquito buzzing in my ear. Just like when we went to Egypt and the damn things would be buzzing in my ears. No matter how many times I swiped them out of the way, they would just get closer to my eardrum.

“The thing is, you’re going to need to stay at the ranch. This thing is going to make you regret the rest of your life.”

I’m twenty-four. I have so many years ahead of me. Being dropped by my agent, label, and even my makeup artist is not the end of the world.

“Could you believe Tracey? I mean, to complain? She's not even that good, and she wants to get rid of me,” I say in my defense.

She holds on to both of my shoulders as if she’s trying to wake me up from a nightmare.

“You did hear what they were saying, didn’t you, dear?”

I wish that she would stop calling me that. It must be the most condescending name ever, one that she never used until I came to stay at her house two weeks ago.

“Yes, Mother.”

“I wish you wouldn’t call me that. It makes me sound so old.”

“Now, can you stop calling me dear?”

That’s exactly what I said to her when she started to call me that. The only thing I've heard since I’ve been here for the last two weeks, is: ‘Dear, can you put that on the table? Dear, can you not put that in your mouth? Dear, can you wear something else but a hoodie?’

“Anyway, I spoke to Terrance,” she says as we walk into the living room. My stepdad, Terrance, is sitting in his chair, the same place that he occupies every time I come into this house. He's always reading the sports news. I swear if he had a job in sports, he would be a millionaire.

“When?”

She ignores me as she continues to talk. “And it seems like our children have gone off the radar at the moment. I don’t get it. You guys are not exactly kids, so I’m not sure why you behave like them.”

Does she really want me to answer that one? Besides, if she's referring to the boy who used to live next door, Noah.  I tried to stop my thoughts there, but Noah entered them anyway. I shook my head thinking about him, and then with a half smile I recalled he’d always been a bit weird, so that’s nothing new.

“Anyway, we’ve decided that maybe staying at the ranch is a good idea. You'll get fresh air. There's no McDonald's or Burger King. There’ll be no sneaking out and having late night snacks because everything's closed around there.”

I’m confused. Where is she talking about?

I’m about to ask her, but as usual, she’s doing all the talking. So, I distract myself like I do whenever she goes on one of her rants. That's when I realize that I dropped my phone on the table. But, now it’s safely in her hands, and she's dialing a number. I start to panic. "Mom, I’m not staying with Jason."

She laughs. “I wouldn’t be asking you to do that.”

Which means that she's talking about the boy that I really tried to avoid, Noah. Shit, I don't want to be in the same room as him, let alone go and stay with him.

“So, I’m giving him a call, and I think that it’ll be good if you could ask him.”

She shoves the phone into my hand. I hear his voice on the other end saying hello.

“Noah, it’s me.”

Besides, Noah’s diet consists of eating well Monday through Friday and drinking too much at the local bar every weekend. Damn, I hate him sometimes—especially now.

“Kylie, it’s been a while. I thought that now you’re famous you’ve forgotten about the little people.”

There’s one thing about Noah—he’s far from little. He’s slightly over six feet tall, with a killer body and a smile that gets him laid every week.

“No.”

“So, what do I owe the pleasure?”

I start to get wet at the idea of pleasure and Noah in the same sentence. Damn, why does he still have that effect on me after all this time?

“I thought that I could come and visit you.”

Silence on the phone, but then he sounds as if he’s up to something, as if he’s running.

“Were you running or something?”

Again, he doesn’t answer, and then I think that maybe he’s gone and this whole thing was a bad idea. I knew that the moment Mom said his name and dialed his number. Besides, we're supposed to be keeping our distance from each other. Forever.

“Noah?”

“Yes?”

He sounds completely out of breath.

“What’s going on? Are you busy?”

“No.”

I should have hung up. The last time I called him was around six months ago to make sure that he wasn't going to be at my mom's birthday party. Now, I'm calling him to stay at his house. This is silly—no, it's fucking stupid. I’m the one that said it never happened, when he came to see me and took my virginity that night. I’m the one that told him that it could never happen again. We used to live next door and we were friends, until we crossed the line and we thought that we were ruining our friendship. Even though I wanted more, I never admitted it, but then again Noah never gave me the chance to tell him how I felt.

I decide that this conversation is on the road to nowhere, so I walk away from Mom and Tony and say, “Is this about what happened last time?”

“What happened last time?”

Oh, I don’t know Noah. We were drunk, fucked each other’s brains out, and it was the best sex that I’ve ever had, and then when you woke up in the morning, you said ‘that didn’t happen.’ So, I told you that it never did and would never happen again.

“Nothing.”

He doesn’t say anything again.

“Okay, so if you’re cool with me spending a little while with you then… that’s cool.”

“What do you mean by a little while?”

It seems like someone’s woken up.

“Well, I was thinking a week.”

Mom’s behind me prodding me. “Longer than that.”

Where did she come from? Shoot, I wonder if she heard what I said earlier?

“Or a month.”

“Great. If you do, you need to do something for me.”

“What?”

As long as it’s not having sex with you ever again, then I’m good.

“Don’t worry, we’ll discuss it when you come. By the way, when are you coming?”

I want to change my mind. The only thing stopping me is knowing that Mom has a key to my apartment. I could always rent a hotel suite.

“Tomorrow!” Mom blurts out. She’s so damn close to me that she’s squeezing her body next to mine.

“In that case, I better get your room ready.”

Have I got a room? Since when? I've never been to his new house.

I’m about to ask, when once again Mom shouts out, “Great!”

I move away from her. She’s annoying me. I’m about to say something else, but before I even get the chance, Noah’s hung up. Mom runs into the living room where I had just left the pair of them so that I could have a private conversation with Noah.

“Noah’s agreed for her to stay with him.”

Terrance nods, half-interested. “Great.”

I look at Mom, and she’s acting as if she’s won the lottery. “Being in the country with no access to junk food would do you a world of good.”

Not really!

“And you can ask Noah to help you out by maybe going for walks with you in the morning.”

“Seriously, Mom I’m not a dog.”

“I know that, dear. Why do you always have to be so crude?”

She doesn’t need to know the answer to that. I don’t want to go. I feel like a child being made to eat their vegetables on a Friday instead of making their weekly run to McDonald’s. I don’t want to do this, especially when Noah said that I had to do him a favor. One whole month living in the same house as him is going to be tough.

Mom grabs my hand and says, “This is so exciting. You’ll see. Not only will you lose weight, but you’ll have a number one hit.”

I must have my dad’s genes because I don’t feel happy or even a little excited about being under the same roof as Noah. In fact, all I feel is fear. I don’t know if I want him to control himself, or if I want to control myself—and that’s the issue.