What She's Doing Now (Sequel to The Great Pretenders)

Happy In The Meantime

By Lit

It's just another reason why
It all comes down to you and I
Just have another drink
Waste some time with me
We're happy in the meantime

Lucy opened the door to the suite she was sharing with the girls for the night in a hurry. Her heart was beating 100 miles an hour at the thought of spending alone time with Matt. It was a completely bad idea but she figured as long as she knew it, it would be okay.

Charlie was flipping the channels on the large king size bed in one of the bedrooms while the shower ran. Lucy assumed that Kate was in there.

"Where have you been?" Charlie asked grumpily. "You left us on the bus by ourselves."

"I rode with the band, Miss Bitchy." Lucy replied "Are you over your tantrum?"

Charlie sulked "I wasn't having a tantrum. Don't you find it the least bit unbelievable that he embarrassed me that way..again?"

Lucy pursed her lips as if she was considering it. In the end she just shook her head, "Actually no, I don't see any problem with it at all. That guy was way older than you."

"We were just talking," Charlie insisted.

"True, but there aren't many reasons that a guy that old is going to chat up a girl he knows is younger." Lucy said.

"He did the same thing with Alec," Charlie cried.

"Alec Lentz is a douchebag. Even his mother thinks that," Lucy said as she took a deep breath and sat at the edge of the bed "You have to give Sanders a break."

"Give him a break?"the teenager asked tossing the remote to the side.

"Yeah, he just figured out he was the dad of a beautiful teenage girl..."

"Ugh mom, really?"

"Well seriously," Lucy continued "It's not like you're a little girl. Not one that will blindly latch on to him and love him unconditionally. Only toddlers and kids do that. That's what he's used to. He has to realize that you're a little more grown up and he needs to trust...trust ME..that's I've done a good job in teaching you right from wrong. And trust you that you're going to do the right thing. It's going to take some time on his part. Plus he's seen the crappy way girls get treated sometimes. He doesn't want that for you."

"I always do the right thing." Charlie huffed.

Lucy gave her daughter an "Are you serious?" look.

"Okay so I do the right thing most of the time," Charlie said.

"You certainly didn't react the right way tonight," Lucy frowned.

Charlie was smart enough to look embarrassed and kept quiet.

"Yeah that means that whenever he tells you what to do, you need to listen..."

"But..."

"But nothing Charlie. That's the price of having him be your dad. If you want him to really be your father, then you need to give him respect."

"He has to respect me too."

Lucy shook her head because she felt like she was talking in a loop. "You both have to work on it. It's not going to happen overnight. And it sure as hell is not going to happen if you act like an asshole and say whatever pops into your head without thinking of the consequences."

"I don't do that," Charlie said petulantly.

"You do too," Kate's voice cried from the bathroom as the running water stopped. Lucy laughed.