Page 26 of Shameless
Britney pressed her hand to her heart. “Michael and I are getting married soon, and I thought it would be nice if he came over here and saw where I came from.”
Her father said, “Well, stick around for the party. We have Billy grilling in the backyard soon.”
Britney stepped back and tugged my hand. “We’ll check into the hotel and come back.”
Her mother said, “Hotel? Don’t be crazy. We have your room ready.”
Britney’s eyes widened. “My old bedroom?”
Her mother said, “We figured if you ever came back, you’d want something. So go and show your fiancé and then be back to help.”
Part of me wondered if I should offer to help with the food. For the past month, I’d been having fun learning how to cook some.
As we walked down a hallway with paneled-wood walls, I whispered, “They seem nicer than expected.”
She came closer and pointed toward a door in the back. “I don’t know what’s going on right now, Michael. If you weren’t here, I’m certain my return would have gone very different.”
“Whatever happens, we’re in it together,” I promised.
Seeing the world she’d come from was interesting. We’d grown up quite differently, and perhaps her strength had come from having to stand on her own two feet for a long time.
Chapter Nine
Britney
* * *
As I stepped into my room, which I’d always assumed was turned into a sewing room or a man cave or even an exercise room, I realized it was exactly what I remembered. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that because I’d been sure they would toss everything related to me.
My bedsheets were black. My earrings were all silver and still on my old wooden vanity. And my secret door was full of NSYNC, Backstreet, and One Direction photos though in front of them was Amy Winehouse. I’d thought if I could have dark hair like hers, my life would somehow be tragic.
My hairs stood on end as I remembered my conflicted teenage years while the door closed behind me. I turned and faced the sexy, sweet, tall muscular guy beside me and said, “This is embarrassing.”
He passed Amy and stood at the closet door. “You were into boy bands. It’s cute.”
I rubbed my neck. “I figured they’d burn everything here.”
My full-size bed wasn’t going to be comfortable to sleep in. I doubted Michael’s legs would even fit.
“Why?” he asked.
I took a deep breath and remembered we’d agreed to having no sex, which was probably good since I was hearing guests in the backyard. Everyone there was acting like the weekend was the same as one twenty years ago, and I had goosebumps.
“Because they always took Ava’s side,” I said.
I closed my eyes and hugged him. His sense of calm was a rock that I needed. As the hug ended, the sound of guests and people in the backyard grew. He peeked out the plastic blinds and said, “I want to go help Billy if that’s okay.”
And win over my family in the process. I nodded since I needed to figure out how we were going to either sleep there or get out of there. “Go.”
He kissed my cheek and left.
I collapsed on the bed, which had still had Britney Spears’s perfume sitting on the nightstand next to it. I’d doused myself with it as a teen and laughed. Even as a teen, I’d been two sided—edgy, dark, and standoffish on one side but wanting to bounce and dance to boy bands when no one was around. I squirted some on, and memories came back.
I shook off the trip down memory lane and headed outside.
In the backyard was my family and the sound of beer cans being opened as people laughed.
I took a deep breath and realized the day wasn’t horrible. As I stepped outside, I saw Michael working the grill, and he waved at me.
